Today is the clueless putz himself Steven Richards.

Richards started in ECW in 1992, even having the first match at the ECW Arena. We’ll pick things up in the same promotion (well the same letters at least) on February 4, 1995 at Double Tables.

Stevie Richards vs. Tommy Dreamer

Richards is Raven’s main lackey and helping in the war with Dreamer. They shove each other up against the ropes to start with Richards cowering like you would expect him to. To the floor now with Richards nailing him in the face and taking Dreamer’s shirt. Back in and Dreamer hammers away before planting Richards with a swinging neckbreaker.

Richards is tossed back to the floor and whipped into the barricade as this is getting violent. Back inside with a low blow to Stevie with a frying pan but Stevie pops back up with a backdrop. The DDT catches Richards out of nowhere but Raven grabs Dreamer. Stevie gets back up for a superkick and Tommy is in trouble. Another superkick is blocked with a low blow and Dreamer grabs the rollup pin.

Rating: D. Richards wasn’t much to see in the ring and that was very apparent here. The match wasn’t any good and was just there for Raven to interfere. The perk of a feud like Dreamer and Raven is they could have a bunch of matches with other guys to keep their big showdowns fresh.

We’re going to look at what is considered ECW’s best match by a variety of reviewers. This is from Gangstas’ Paradise and it’s double dog collar, 2/3 falls.

Tag Team Titles: Pitbulls vs. Raven/Stevie Richards

The Pitbulls are challenging and they’re done if they lose. There’s no Richards in sight to start so Raven looks to be going it alone. Beaulah says Richards broke his arm last night so we should make this 2/3 falls. The Pitbulls agree and Raven ties himself up to #2. The brawl is on and #2 starts choking Raven over the ropes as #1 runs to the back. A chair to the head has Raven in even more trouble as #1 drags Richards (with both arms looking fine) out with the collar attaching them.

Richards gets beaten up with a chair as Raven piledrives #2 through the table for a fast pin. The second fall begins with #1 taking a double DDT for two as #2 makes the save. Another table is brought in as #1 beats on Richards even more. With Raven down, a Super Bomb through the table is enough to tie things up as we get down to the real stuff with the third fall.

We take a quick break to look at both falls and come back to see Richards a bloody mess. #1 takes Richards into the crowd where Richards nails him with a chair. Raven and #2 fight in the aisle until #2 sends in another table. The referee goes down (like it matters) and here are the Dudleys (Dances With Dudley and Dudley Dudley) to beat up the Pitbulls. The champions hit Super Bombs but the Pitbulls pop right back up. A double DDT takes down all four villains and both Dudleys take Super Bombs of their own.

We get another table brought in but #2 leaves a Super Bomb on Raven short, driving the back of his head into the edge of the table. The referee wakes up and counts a VERY slow two so Raven busts out some ether to knock out #2 (Joey: “TAKE THAT CRAP TO SMOKY MOUNTAIN!” Yes it was a jab at Cornette’s booking.).

Raven sends #2 through two tables but is too spent to follow up. #2 is taken to the back as Richards gets crotched on the top and suplexed through a table. An unhooked Raven comes in for the save as Francine comes in to go after Richards and gets in a catfight with Beaulah, only to have Raven DDT her down. This brings out Dreamer to chain himself to Raven and lay him out with a DDT….and the pin?

We’re still not done yet though as heel referee Bill Alfonso (heel because he follows the rules) comes out to reverse the decision. Since Dreamer wasn’t in the match, the pin doesn’t count so he still hasn’t officially beaten Raven and the match continues. This brings out Commissioner Tod Gordon to yell at Alfonso but Bill nails him in the face.

Big Dick Dudley is here to chokeslam Dreamer, which Alfonso has to unban as Alfonso had made it illegal to protect himself from the chokeslamming machine 911 who had been wanting to chokeslam Alfonso for months. This immediately brings out 911 to plant Alfonso with a chokeslam for a standing ovation. The Pitbulls get back in to Super Bomb Raven for the pin and the titles.

Rating: B. It’s a good brawl, but the impressive part is all the intricate booking coming together to make the whole thing work. They were juggling about five stories at once here and everything was hitting to perfection. It’s not a masterpiece due to the match itself being nothing great, but the storytelling was really good.

Here’s a quick match at November to Remember 1995.

El Puerto Ricano vs. Stevie Richards

Richards is a goofy putz (Joey’s words) here and is Raven’s (top heel here) lackey. Richards gets a gift from the unnamed Blue Meanie who comes over the guardrail with a shirt that says Blue Meanie. The gift is a Flock of Seagulls half shirt. The non Clueless Putz (never did anything of note) jumps Richards and we’re off.

Ricano hits a missile dropkick and dives on Meanie to take care of him. He goes up too many times though and Richards slams him down to take over. Flock of Seagulls dude hits a powerbomb and the other guy (you type Ricano over and over again) is in trouble. He gets draped over the top and takes another Stevie Bomb. Blue Meanie comes in and misses a moonsault. Richards hits a superkick to end this. More or less just a squash.

We’ll jump ahead to House Party 1996 for a match with a hardcore legend.

Sabu vs. Stevie Richards

Richards slips getting into the ring and falls on his face. He also has a bad arm coming into this. Richards runs to start and throws in a chair. Yeah, throw a chair to Sabu. Joey agrees with me, saying that it’s like handing a chainsaw to Leatherface. Sabu has enough of the standing around so he hits a suicide dive to take over. Back inside and Sabu hooks a chinlock but Stevie powerbombs him out of the corner to take over.

Sabu will have none of that and comes back with a slingshot flipping legdrop. Off to an armbar of all things but it only lasts a few seconds. Richards is placed on the top rope and with the help of a chair, Sabu “hits” Air Sabu to knock him to the floor. Sabu slams him to the floor and both guys are down. Richards gets sent into the railing and Sabu sets up a table. Blue Meanie saves Stevie and we head back inside.

Sabu gets caught in an electric chair position but he rolls Richards over the top and out to the floor. This show needs to hurry up and end because it’s REALLY dragging badly now. Richards head fakes Sabu and the crazy one goes through the table. That would be the crazy one Sabu in case you were confused. Meanie gets in a kick on Sabu and they head inside again. Stevie drops a top rope punch for two as we see that he’s not the best on offense.

A Frankensteiner gets two for Sabu and both guys are spent. Richards is sent to the floor and Sabu finally dives over the top with a slingshot rana onto Meanie. Richards gets a horribly botched one of his own from Sabu and the guy in the bright yellow pants takes over again. Richards is placed on a table but Meanie makes the save.

Paul E of all people comes out to beat up Meanie and Sabu hits a dive through Richards through the table. Back inside and that only gets two as this match just keeps going. Richards rolls him up for two and hits the Stevie Kick for another two. A Sabu DDT gets the same and it’s chair time again. Sabu goes up and hits the Atomic Arabian Facebuster (flip leg drop with the chair) to get a pretty anti-climactic pin.

Rating: C-. This just kept going and going and it was only decent to begin with. Sabu would be pushed much harder over the next few months as he would feud with Taz while Richards would somehow get into the world title #1 contenders match at Barely Legal. This wasn’t awful but it dragged a lot which really hurt it.

Another match with another hardcore guy from Cyberslam 1997.

Balls Mahoney vs. Stevie Richards

Mahoney likes leather it seems. Uh…yeah. Use your imagination here people. It’s BWO Stevie here. A little trivia here is that Rob Feinstein, as in the RF in RF Video and a former owner of ROH is playing the Syxx (X-Pac) parody of 7-11 here. Balls has short hair here. He must trim them. The fans aren’t sure who they like here but it seems to be Stevie. I think the BWO is face here but it’s kind of hard to tell in the ECW Arena.

Stevie uses speed to take over, likely just offering Balls some to get him down. Off to an armbar now as the arena flashes his chest to the fans. Oh dear. Fujiwara Armbar now by Stevie (named after Mr. Fuji if you’ve been curious as to that for some odd reason). Balls pounds away for a bit and then it’s right back to Stevie’s armbar. Ten punches in the corner and then Stevie climbs the ropes backwards and rubs his tiguts in Balls’ face. So he wants Balls around his….never mind.

Another clothesline by Balls gets two. Balls has next to no offense outside of clotheslines and punches. He tries a spinwheel kick with Richards on the apron and yet he hits the floor before Richards. As in like 5 seconds before Richards. Stevie chills on the floor for a minute or so until Balls drags him back in. Middle rope elbow has Stevie in trouble.

This is boring if you couldn’t tell as we’re at about 8:30 so far. Yes, these two get eight and a half minutes. Balls gets a modified atomic drop (more like an elevated punch to the balls, thereby making Stevie’s voice elevated) and makes fun of the BWO. Top rope leg drop misses and it’s a Stunner by Stevie to give him control for all of half a second. Powerbomb and a superkick miss so Stevie kicks him in the balls and then the chin to end this.

Rating: D-. See, this is where the problems came from for ECW. In short, the matches aren’t that good. The characters are ok and the stories are more developed, but at the end of the day the wrestling just wasn’t there for the most part. They had some good talent, but a lot of the time it was a guy that punched a lot and had a finisher and that’s about it. They knew no basic stuff and it was glaringly obvious at times. Also, this getting nearly 13 minutes is a bit much.

Richards would start up the BWO and jump up the card, somehow getting into a #1 contenders match at Barely Legal.

Stevie Richards vs. Sandman vs. Terry Funk

This is under elimination rules and the winner gets Raven later in the night for the World Title. Richards is the leader of the BWO but he’s starting to be taken a bit more seriously as a main event guy. He used to be Raven’s lackey but has now struck out on his own. Sandman, known for drinking and smoking on the way to the ring, busts himself open with a beer can on the way to the ring. He and Raven have a long history as well so he would make sense as a challenger too. Funk is the grizzled veteran looking for one more hurrah and is taking Dreamer’s place tonight as Dreamer wanted his mentor to get the title.

Sandman downs another beer and spits it in Stevie’s face while still holding his Singapore cane. All three guys circle each other until Terry and Richards lock up. Sandman breaks it up and chops Stevie in the corner, only to get in a fight with Funk. An early spinning toehold is broken up by Richards and Terry takes a bunch of elbow drops from both guys. Sandman and Richards get into it so Terry hits four straight neckbreakers on Stevie for two.

With no real provocation, Sandman throws in a ladder which blasts Funk in the back of the head. He suplexes the ladder down onto Richards and hits Terry in the head again for two. Terry and Sandman climb the ladder in the corner but Funk moonsaults down onto a standing Stevie instead. Still on the ropes, Sandman picks up the ladder and drops it down onto Richards’ back for two.

Stevie superkicks the ladder into Sandman’s face for two before both of them climb the ladder for no apparent reason. Funk falls into them to knock everything over and all three guys are down. With Stevie down, Sandman and Terry take turns ramming each other face first into the ladder. Richards gets back up and catapults the ladder into the others’ faces and everyone is down again. The Stevie Kick nails Sandman for two and Terry takes one for the same.

Sandman throws both of them plus the ladder out to the floor and dives over the top, knocking the ladder into Richards’ face. Back in and Terry suplexes Stevie but Sandman throws in a trashcan, nailing Terry square in the head. Funk doesn’t seem to mind and even helps Sandman with a spike piledriver on Stevie. Sandman crushes him under the ladder but Terry can only get two.

Terry nails Sandman in the face with the ladder to send him to the floor as Dreamer rants about Raven getting to face the winner while fresh. A double powerbomb is enough to pin Richards and get us down to one on one, sucking some life out of the crowd. Sandman and Terry shake hands then punch each other in the face, only to have Terry backdrop him out to the floor and onto Stevie.

We get barbed wire brought in but Terry wraps Sandman’s shirt around his face and hammers away. The barbed wire is whipped over Sandman’s back to cut him open, but Sandman wraps it around himself and drops a top rope legdrop for two. Stevie is still here for some reason as the trashcan is put over Sandman’s head, setting up a superkick to knock Sandman silly. Terry adds a moonsault for the pin and the title shot.

Rating: C-. This was the hardcore mess that you have to expect with ECW. Sandman wasn’t much of a wrestler in the technical sense but the fans were way into him and he could throw a solid punch. Funk winning was the best option with Dreamer not being an option, but the fans were WAY behind Stevie here and an upset wouldn’t have been a terrible idea.

Richards would jump to WCW for a few matches, including this one on Nitro, August 18, 1997.

Stevie Richards vs. Scotty Riggs

Richards charges to the ring like a maniac. Riggs grabs the wrist to start before nearly botching a monkey flip. A dropkick puts Richards on the floor but he rams Scotty’s shoulder into the post to take over. Back in and a sitout spinebuster gets two for Stevie but Scotty comes back with some clotheslines. Richards loses his half shirt and gets caught in a side slam for two. Raven jumps the railing as Stevie hits the Stevie Kick for the pin.

Rating: D. I guess this was to set up future stuff but that didn’t make this any easier to get through. Riggs is just not that good and Richards is a comedy character which doesn’t make for an interesting or good match at all. Not much to see here but that would be the case for a lot of Nitro matches.

After a year or so doing nothing of note, it was off to the WWF with one of Richards first matches taking place on Smackdown, October 14, 1999.

Stevie Richards vs. Val Venis

Richards comes out as Dude Love because he’s a bit out there. Val counters a monkey flip with a hot shot but walks into a superkick for two. Back up and Venis slams him down and hits the Money Shot for the pin in just over a minute.

Richards would become Steven Richards and lead the Right to Censor as a parody of the PTC. Here he is at Summerslam 2000.

Right to Censor vs. Too Cool/Rikishi

Too Cool and Rikishi are WAY over at this point and even won the tag titles over the summer. The RTC is Richards/Goodfather/Bull Buchanan at this point. Some of Goodfather’s former women come out with Rikishi, one of which would become known as Victoria. It’s a big brawl to start until we get Scotty pounding on Buchanan. Hotty backflips over Buchanan and pulls him down before getting two off a high cross body. Off to Sexay for a double suplex before Goodfather comes in and falls to the floor. He shoves Victoria down before punching Sexay in the face to take over.

Buchanan gets in some shots of his own and it’s off to Richards for his cheap shots. A powerbomb gets two and JR sounds stunned. Steven gets crotched on top and superplexed down allowing for the hot tag to Rikishi. The fat man cleans house and Victoria throws Richards back in the ring. The RTC is sent into the corner with Too Cool being launched into all of them at once, but Bull gets in a quick ax kick to take the Samoan down. Scotty loads up the Worm but Steven kicks his head off for the pin.

Rating: C. Basic six man tag here to get the crowd going. A fast paced act like Too Cool and Rikishi is always a great choice to start up a show as the crowd gets fired up for the entrance and hopefully stays hot for the rest of the show. The RTC was a fine choice for a heel stable as they took away what the fans wanted to see and the people were glad to see them get beaten up.

Another match from No Mercy 2000.

Val Venis/Steven Richards vs. Billy Gunn/Chyna

Steven refers to Gunn as rectally obsessed. That somehow fits. Who came up with the stupid name? They need to be drug out into the street and shot. Val and Rikishi start us off which is as riveting as it sounds. Val punches Chyna on the floor and goes into the steps for his troubles. This is going nowhere fast. I hate that expression but it fits here.

Chyna spins Richards around by the tie. She goes off on him and the heels are in trouble. Val goes after the arm of Billy as this is setting new standards for boring. Chyna gets a very weak tag for the beatdown. Handspring elbow to Val as Billy helps to beat him up. Pedigree attempt but Eddie comes down to hit her with the loaded flowers and Val gets the pin.

Rating: F. Sweet GOODNESS this was boring. I get the injury thing but at the same time this had nothing at all to it. Get on to the next match please.

The RTC would start going downhill but they had one more decent night at No Way Out 2001.

Jerry Lawler vs. Steven Richards

Tazz does commentary in Lawler’s place. He’s still a wrestler so this is a new thing for him. He’s a bit like his normal commentating self but not all the way yet. Lawler makes a full entrance despite being at the commentary desk not 2 minutes ago. We see a clip of the RTC stopping the (XFL’s) Las Vegas Outlaws cheerleaders last night. RTC was a parody of the Parents Television Council who got on Vince every 9 seconds for something he did.

This is the walking definition of a catch your breath match as the fans need something worthless to bridge the gap from the war they just saw to the last two matches. Lawler expands his offense from just punches by adding in rapid fire punches. This is why it’s great to have someone like Lawler around: you can throw him in there for something like this and you know he’s going to at least be passable, especially since he only wrestles like twice a year so his expectations are very low.

Kat and Ivory go at it for a bit but the distraction allows Richards to take over. Richards misses a splash in the corner and Lawler takes over for a bit. Apparently if he wins Kat gets to lose her clothes. Ivory comes in and Teddy Long takes FOREVER to get rid of her. Kat tries to hit Richards with Ivory’s belt but she nails Lawler by mistake for the pin. Kat has to join RTC now, but she was released in like two weeks, resulting in Lawler quitting. They were married at the time.

Rating: D. This was pretty weak but at the same time it was about as good as it was going to get. It was on the level of a pretty bad TV match but like I said this was designed to just fill in about 10 minutes so that the fans could breathe a bit. Nothing special at all but it did its job I guess.

Richards would become his old self around this time and win 21 Hardcore Titles. We’ll skip past that as there’s almost nothing to talk about most of the time. Here he is on Raw, January 13, 2003.

Steven Richards vs. Hurricane

Set up earlier, meaning Trish and Victoria are with the guys here. Steven’s suplex is countered and Hurricane takes him down with a clothesline. Hurricane hits the Blockbuster (minus most of the flip) and the Eye of the Hurricane for the pin in less than 90 seconds.

From Raw, September 8, 2003.

Scott Steiner vs. Steven Richards

Somehow Steiner has a job at this point. He also has Stacy who is his girlfriend/head freak at this point, which would change very soon. This is angle advancement for Steiner vs. Test, the latter of which is at ringside here. Richards tries to jump Steiner to start and gets pounded down in the corner as a result. There’s a clothesline for Richards and it’s push-up time. Richards gets a boot up in the corner but walks into a Downward Spiral for the pin. Nothing match here.

One more Raw match on May 3, 2004.

Kane vs. Steven Richards

Chokeslam, pin, 37 seconds.

So it’s pretty clear that a change is in order and thankfully that came in the form of JBL being a jerk and attacking Blue Meanie for real at One Night Stand 2005. The result was the BWO getting a PPV match at Great American Bash 2005.

Mexicools vs. BWO

Oh where do I begin. Ok so the Mexicools are Juvy, Psicosis and Super Crazy as really stereotypocal Mexicans (ride lawnmowers, carry rakes etc). The BWO is here because at One Night Stand, JBL legitimately beat up Blue Meanie. WWE gave Meanie a job for like two months so he didn’t sue them. This is their only match of note. The BWO comes out on big wheels for absolutely no apparent reason. American Chopper joke maybe?

Juvy vs. Nova starts us off. Things break down and the BWO takes over. Psicosis finally hits a corkscrew plancha to take over on Nova. Back to Juvy as Nova gets beaten down. He Hulks Up (NWO parody remember…..in 2005) and Cole messes up the BWO’s names. Hot tag brings in Richards who cleans house. Side slam gets two on Psicosis. Everything breaks down and Crazy hits a moonsault onto Richards followed by a guillotine legdrop by Psicosis for the pin.

Rating: F. This was on PPV. Once you get that through your heads, you’ll get why this was a failure.

Richards would be part of the new ECW, including this match on SNME XXXIII.

Sabu vs. Stevie Richards

And here’s your token ECW match that no one will care about. This is an extreme rules match thank goodness. Richards is talented if nothing else. He doesn’t get an entrance though so there we are. Sabu kind of hits a triple jump moonsault but kind of doesn’t which is a good result for him. It’s table time and an Arabian Facebuster later we’re done.

Rating: N/A. Sabu would be gone in a few weeks as Van Dam and he had gotten caught in the car with the pot and the kettle and the dinette set.

Here’s a slightly more competitive match on ECW on Sci-Fi, May 15, 2007.

CM Punk vs. Stevie Richards

Richards is very fired up here and Punk has taped up ribs. Punk fires off some kicks and nails a t-bone suplex for two. Stevie comes back with a knee to the ribs and rips off the tape to kick at the ribs even more. Off to a bow and arrow but Punk floats over and gets two off a jackknife cover. A double stomp to the rips gets two on Punk and we hit the abdominal stretch. Richards misses a charge in the corner and Punk fires off his usual kicks and knees but to the back. A neckbreaker out of the corner gets two and the GTS is good for the pin.

Rating: C. I liked this more than I thought I would as Richards was thinking out there by going after the injured body part. You would be surprised how many wrestlers would ignore the big taped up ribs and go after an arm or a leg. It’s such a basic idea and that’s all you need to do a lot of the time.

Richards would jump to TNA as a doctor (don’t ask), starting at Victory Road 2009.

Abyss vs. Stevie Richards

I’m in awe of how stupid this angle and character is but whatever. Abyss has just started wearing his current entrance attire that makes him look like a homeless man. Stevie has some kind of pipe or something and beats on Abyss with it. They continue to confuse me by calling him Stevie Richards and acknowledge his background in wrestling.

I’m not even going to rant about how stupid that is but whatever. Again we’re told how great Abyss can be. And again we ignore that he’s a former world champion. Are they ashamed of that or something? They say AJ is a former world champion here even though he had only won NWA Titles at this point. I really hate that clapping Abyss does.

It’s stupid when Christian does it but it’s just freaking idiotic when Abyss does it. We head into the crowd so we can kill off some time to go along with the brain cells. Seriously, what is the appeal of the monster being all child-like? Is that supposed to be interesting or funny or something? I’d assume it’s based off of being ironic or something but in order for irony to work it needs to be interesting which this just flat out isn’t.

Since it’s TNA, of course Stevie starts bleeding. That’s a real problem with TNA today: they think blood makes a match better. Blood can help a match, but only when it’s done both in moderation as well as properly. TNA has a real issue with it as they do it so often that it loses all effectiveness. The fans are insane and rather annoying here, wanting Stevie to get hurt more and more.

Somewhere a man named Lee is crying. And now it’s chair time because we need to kill off more time in this match. Just like the previous match, this is a glorified squash. He pulls Stevie up after two from Shock Treatment. Daffney brings Stevie a stun gun that he’s used lately. Instead he runs into a Black Hole Slam. He uses the tazer on him and smoke comes out of it. There’s the pin and I need a stiff drink.

Rating: D. This was even worse than the previous match as this one was even more of a squash. It was about 95% Abyss dominance which isn’t interesting at all. Then again neither of these guys are interesting characters so that likely has a lot to do with it. Richards as a doctor never quite worked.

Time for an ECW reunion show at Hardcore Justice 2010.

PJ Polaco vs. Stevie Richards

Richards has the BWO with them despite not being Big Stevie Cool here. The fans chant Polaco’s name (Justin Credible which I’ll be referring to him as) and then Stevie Richards. The fans want blood and an hour (almost) into it we haven’t had any. Justin hits a jumping spinning DDT which was one of his signature moves back in the day at least.

The fake Meanie is one of the Phi Delta Slam guys if anyone remembers them. He’s a security guard at times too. The matches here aren’t completely awful but this comes off as so low rent that it just can’t be taken seriously. And remember, this is TNA’s PPV offering this month. It’s not like the real PPV is next week or anything. This is it for August.

And That’s Incredible ends….nothing as Nova jumps up. Stevie Kick ends this in something that would NEVER have happened in the original company. The lights go out and Sandman is here to no music at all. White Russian Leg Sweep and Justin is back up before like a second. Cane shots put him down again.

Rating: D+. Not too bad here but the booking was just bad. I know Justin is crap but he was world champion for five months in the old days while Stevie was billed as a clueless putz. This didn’t work that well but it could have been FAR worse. Keep in mind that these grades are on an adjusted scale here as most of these would be fails or worse.

One final match at Bound For Glory 2010 with Richards as part of EV 2.0.

Fourtune vs. EV 2.0

This is a one ring WarGames match. A man from each team starts and after a set amount of time (5 minutes I think) there’s a coin toss and another guy comes in from the winning team. That goes on for two minutes then a guy from the losing team comes in. Two more minutes of that and then the winning team gets the advantage again. Alternate until all 8 are in and then we lower the roof, complete with weapons. No pins or submissions until everyone is in.

EV has Dreamer, Sabu, Rhyno, Richards and Raven. Yeah ten people in there great. Foley is with them. Flair brings out AJ, Storm, Roode, Kaz and Morgan. Fourtune has the advantage so screw the coin flip idea. Flair is in an undershirt. Oh dear.

The old guys go at it before the match starts and we try to figure out who starts the match. Kaz and Richards to start. Again Taz wants to say ECW and can’t do it. Kaz beats the heck out of him to start. And he continues doing so. Well that’s what you get for sending in Richards as your leadoff man.

Stevie gets a Downward Spiral into a modified Koji Clutch but AJ comes in seconds later to make it 2-1. Richards is of course in WAY over his head and gets destroyed. Figure four on Richards and he’s almost dead. Dreamer is in next. How in the world is this guy feuding with AJ Styles?

Dreamer spits mist or something at AJ as Richards gets back into it. All of Fourtune is in blue which is a cool idea I guess. Roode goes in third as this is going to take awhile to just get everyone in. Flair punches Dreamer through the camera hole. I love that thing as it gives you far better shots.

Sabu comes in and hooks a seated crossface chickenwing on AJ which we’ll call a camel clutch for fun I guess. This is REALLY slow now with EV controlling. Dreamer is bleeding fairly badly. Storm is in so it’ll be Morgan and Raven or Rhyno in last. Storm turns the tide and we get BEER MONEY!

With nothing left in the other minute here’s Raven who looks stupid with blonde hair. He cleans some house and shoves a snot rag in someone’s face. Ah ok it was Roode. Dreamer gets his crotch stepped on for fun. Dude seriously, Raven is your hot tag in essence? Roode is busted open.

Sabu is busted too. Morgan comes in as the final member of Fourtune. He drills Richards and drills Sabu back first into the cage. Dreamer takes the elbows in the corner as the advantage does the same thing it’s done the whole time so far. Raven is bleeding too so every member of EV who is in the match is busted.

Big Gore to Storm and here comes the roof. This is where the advantage is supposed to come for EV I guess. Flair and Foley get into it of course as is their custom. EV takes over and there are bigger weapons on top of the cage such as a table, a ladder and something else that I can’t make out.

Raven and Morgan beat the tar out of each other as EV is mostly in control. Morgan goes for the Carbon Footprint and misses, hitting the door which doesn’t move at all. Kaz gets drilled into the door and there it goes. Richards and Kaz go up and we set up the ladder up there. This always scared the living heck out of me.

Sabu dives through the door to take out Morgan and maybe Storm. Richards sets up the table on top of the cage and Kaz goes up the ladder and here’s Kendrick on top of the cage too. Kaz goes through the table and Kendrick appears to be meditating or something. In the ring Dreamer drills AJ in the leg and drops him on a chair, winning the match. Yes, EV won the match and everything seems to be fine with it. WELL OF COURSE THEY ARE.

Rating: D+. Not much here as there were a lot of very slow spots. Also the Kendrick thing just did nothing for it. The weapons were ok but the ending felt kind of tacked on. This never got to the level that they wanted it to get to and that hurt it a lot. This was one of the weaker matches they’ve done with this gimmick and I think a lot of that is due to the participants. Oh yeah. DID I MENTION EV 2.0 JUST FREAKING BEAT FOURTUNE and that TOMMY DREAMER PINNED AJ FREAKING STYLES??? And people wonder why this company can’t be taken seriously.

I’m going to wrap it up there because I don’t think I can manage to sit through Stevie Richards as champion of an ECW tribute promotion. Richards is a guy whose athletic abilities are underrated but his comedy stuff more than makes up for it. He’s a talented guy and found his niche as a goofy lackey to someone like Raven. The guy is good and nailed the role he was given most of the time.

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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Monday Nitro #187
Date: May 3, 1999
Location: Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone

It’s the go home show for Slamboree and even though a lot of stuff changed last week, we’re right back where we were seven days ago. Flair is still insane but is getting to face Piper for control of the company this Sunday, even though both are fired. On top of that we’re getting ready for Page vs. Nash and in theory Nash won’t give away the title if he wins it again. Let’s get to it.

We open with Flair, Anderson and the nurse in a limo and on his way to the arena. There’s a bus next to them full of the mental patients. A guy that looks a lot like Scott Hall is driving.

Video on last week’s two World Title changes.

DJ Ran.

Nitro Girls.

Gorgeous George workout video.

The Nitro Girls have a website.

Video on Flair being insane.

MORE DJ Ran, now with a Nascar driver.

Kidman/Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Armstrongs

Non-title. Steve and Kidman trade arm holds to get things going before a dropkick sends Steve over to his corner. Both guys tag out and it’s Steve running over Rey with a clothesline. Mysterio comes back with some dropkicks and brings Kidman back in, only to have him sent out to the floor.

That goes nowhere so Kidman comes back in and avoids a charge before taking Steve down with something resembling a Bodog. Rey comes in with a springboard seated senton as everything breaks down. Steve’s powerbomb to Kidman is countered and Kidman puts him on top before launching Rey up for a top rope hurricanrana and the pin.

Rating: D+. The Armstrongs didn’t get to do much here but there was only going to be so much done with a week before a three way Tag Team Title match. Rey and Kidman are a good team but they seem like they’re there to be beaten by a bigger name team and not as a long term thing. Then again most smaller teams usually are.

Post match the Horsemen come in and beat down the champions. Raven and Saturn come out for the save before beating down Kidman and Mysterio. This brings the Horsemen back in to put Raven and Saturn in their holds and stand tall.

Highlight reel of Jackhammers.

The Cat vs. Buff Bagwell

We get the usual insults to the “rednecks” by Miller before he offers Buff the five seconds. Buff poses at him and gets kicked in the face for his efforts. Back up and Buff dropkicks him out to the floor and the stalling begins. Miller gets back in and wants a handshake, only to stall even more by standing around.

Some armdrags put Cat down but Onoo gets in a few shots to take over. Not that it lasts long though as Bagwell comes back with a swinging neckbreaker, only to have Onoo block a sunset flip to really put Miller in control. A chinlock doesn’t last long but Miller rakes the eyes to stop Buff again. Bagwell makes a quick comeback and Onoo’s latest interference backfires, allowing Buff to hit the Blockbuster for the pin.

Rating: D-. This felt like it went on forever and the match never got interesting. Bagwell had a nice string of wins going here as he’s getting ready for the US Title match on Sunday. Granted it’s not like a win over Miller means all that much as he’s about as uninteresting as you can be at this point. Really dull match.

Miller yells at Onoo post match.

DJ Ran the third.

Flair and his large company arrive and immediately go to the ring. Ric yells about wanting Sting, Savage, George and Goldberg out here. Before they come out here, he fires Savage and grants himself a World Title match in Charlotte. This brings out Savage and the girls as we go to a break. Back with Savage and Madusa beating up the security that tries to arrest them.

Flair grabs George as the cops come to the ring and arrest Savage. Robinson talks trash and struts but George breaks free and slaps him down. The nurse chokes George out as Flair insults Goldberg and Sting. This brings out Sting to punch Ric in the face, followed by Goldberg who does the same. Sting and Goldberg brawl, beat up security and brawl some more until a ton of guards break it up. Somehow this whole thing took over fifteen minutes.

After a break, Flair is talking to Stevie Ray of all people and offers Stevie $100,000 to take Nash out tonight. Ray agrees.

Nitro Girls.

Hardcore Hak vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

The winner gets Knobbs on Sunday for the title King of Hardcore. Wasn’t Bigelow the King already? They throw weapons in before the match and trade trashcan shots to start before Bigelow nails him with a pair of lids. A mop to Hak’s face sets up the required Surge container shot. Bigelow puts him into a ladder and through two tables but Hak hits a quick bulldog onto a ladder and actually works the leg a bit. We take a break because this match needs to keep going for some reason. Bigelow superplexes Hak through two tables as Knobbs comes in with a trashcan to beat on both guys and the match is thrown out.

Rating: F. Am I to understand that a hardcore match just ended in either a doublt DQ or a no contest? I had to sit through another of these messes and now I’m probably going to have to sit through a triple threat match on Sunday? Horrible non-match with nothing redeeming whatsoever. Well maybe the Surge was good.

Ray tells the Black and White that Flair gave him $50,000 to take out Nash. The mental patient AAA was in the bathroom because….I really don’t think I want to know why.

Video on Piper.

AAA warns Nash about the Black and White’s plans.

Konnan vs. Horace Hogan

Konnan threatens the Black and White with unidentified backup. Horace gets dropped with a bulldog to start and they head to the floor for some brawling. Back in and Horace takes over with a few clotheslines and puts on a chinlock. A big boot and splash get two for Horace before we’re back to the chinlock. Horace goes up and dives into a boot, setting up Konnan’s usual offense. The Sunrise goes on but the Black and White runs in for the DQ.

Kevin Nash runs out for the save and cleans house with Konnan. So much for them fighting a few months ago.

Some more of Flair’s friends from the hospital are in the production truck.

Flair, Anderson and Robinson are in the back when David Flair and Samantha come in. Ric thanks his son for helping him and puts him in the main event tonight. David is happy and leaves with Samantha but Ric is smiling. He tells Robinson to book David vs. Meng and also wants Robinson to tell Meng that David thinks Meng can’t go in the ring anymore. Anderson shakes his head.

Piper arrives in a limo because WCW doesn’t understand wrestling fans. He charges into Flair’s office and beats him up as cops come in for the save. Piper slaps one of them as well and puts a Reality Check shirt on Flair.

After a break, Flair sends Scott Steiner after Nash.

More DJ Ran and Nitro Girls.

We go to a press conference with Lex Luger and Liz but the signal goes out before anything can be said.

Scott Steiner asks Mysterio where Nash is. Rey points him to a dressing room and Steiner goes in, only to get beaten down by Buff Bagwell. That might be the worst segment I have ever seen on so many levels.

DJ Ran and the Nitro Girls, maybe two minutes after the previous time.

David Flair vs. Meng

Samantha has officially been named Torrie for no apparent reason. No that it matters as David sends her to the back, making this match far less appealing. Flair tries some chops and gets about as far as you would expect. A big headbutt puts him on the floor but Meng throws him back in so he can no sell even more of David’s offense. Meng actually does sell a few shots to the ribs but he rakes David’s back to slow him down again. A suplex sets up the Tongan Death Grip to mercifully end this quick.

Ric comes out and laughs at David as he’s taken out on a stretcher. He tells his son to never try to get rid of him again.

Video on Diamond Dallas Page.

Gorgeous George workout video again.

Here’s DDP with something to say. It’s his standard promo now: he’s come a long way, he doesn’t care what the people think, he’s old but new while Flair is old and old.

Nitro Girls AGAIN.

TV Title: Curt Hennig vs. Booker T.

Booker is defending in this rematch from Thunder. Hennig takes him down with a shoulder and busts out a cartwheel of all things. The champ’s throat gets snapped across the top rope and Hennig starts on the leg by wrapping it around the post. This brings out Stevie Ray but he misses the slap jack shot. Rick Steiner comes out and attacks Booker for the DQ.

Cops are told to go get the inmates.

WCW World Title: Ric Flair vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Page is defending and Robinson is referee. Feeling out process to start with Page shoving Flair into the corner and stomping away. Some choking has Flair in trouble but he comes back with chops and right hands in the corner. A hiptoss sends the champ out to the floor and Ric chops away against the barricade. Both guys are sent into the barricade and Flair chops him up the aisle.

What looked like a low blow gets Page out of trouble and they head back inside. A swinging neckbreaker gets two on Flair and we hit the chinlock for a few seconds. Page fires off elbows to the head in the corner but Ric snapmares him down and drops a knee for two. More choking lets Page send Flair out to the floor. Back in and Flair gets slammed off the top for another near fall and there’s a Figure Four on Flair. Robinson is freaking out but he and Ric start whispering to each other.

Ric finally makes a rope but Page puts it right back on. You don’t see that too often. Flair lifts Page’s leg off of his to break the hold, which you don’t see that often either. Back up and Page’s discus lariat gets two before we hit the chinlock. Flair pops up and elbows Page in the jaw before going up. Oh come on Flair you would think……HE ACTUALLY HIT THE AX HANDLE! Savage and George come to the ring as Flair hooks the Figure Four. Robinson goes after George as Savage slips Page a foreign object for a shot to the head. Another referee comes out to count the pin.

Rating: C-. The match wasn’t bad but it was a bit too messy. It also didn’t help that we had a heel vs. a heel in a city where one of the heel was going to be a face but the heel that is a face has been acting especially heelish all night long. To be fair though there were so many other problems with this show that this was bearable.

Overall Rating: F. Other than Gorgeous George’s outfit, this was one of the most worthless shows I can remember in a very long time. Without the awesome cruiserweight matches or Page and Sting stealing the show, this is a bunch of stories starting and stopping in one night (we can also add another entry to the list of World Title matches with no hype) with either no logic or continuity.

Then you have the pay per view coming up. Flair was attacked by Piper and never mentioned it. You would think Page was defending against Flair and Nash was facing Stevie Ray on Sunday. Page getting another title win is fine but at least have him be on camera with Nash instead of having Flair try to take Nash out, which Nash didn’t address either. You had Steiner and the Black and White trying to take out Nash, which was used to build up Bagwell vs. Steiner and Konnan vs. Ray. That’s good, but Nash doesn’t have a single word for Flair? That’s the other problem: why wasn’t Page doing that?

Finally, what was up with Flair? He was supposed to be insane but he still seems perfectly rational and had two plans tonight (hiring people to go after Nash and the stuff with David) plus wrestled like he has for years. The story seemed like a way to get us to Piper vs. Flair, which is happening in 1999 because WCW thinks that’s enough to combat whatever Raw was running at this point. By the way, this show was up against a main event of Steve Austin vs. The Rock. Maybe they were lucky this disaster happened this week.

There was no thinking put into this show and it really showed. They kind of put the focus on Slamboree but it felt like the TV show was the much bigger priority here. There’s a thought to that, but when the TV show is a disaster like this with everything going all over the place, the strategy doesn’t work. It was a mess this week and Slamboree looks ok at best.

One last note: Nitro is preempted on May 10 by the NBA Playoffs so there won’t be another Nitro review up for two weeks.

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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Today’s Wrestler of the Day is genocidal and homicidal yet keeps getting jobs somehow. It’s Sabu.

Sabu got his start in the mid 1980s after training with his uncle the Sheik. We’ll pick things up in Minnesota in 1991.

Chris Candido vs. Sabu

Candido is about 19 here and Sabu has the Original Sheik with him. There’s no commentary here so if there’s a story I’m unaware of it. Feeling out process to start with Candido being sent into the corner. Sabu grabs a chair and Chris wisely runs. Sheik takes the chair away and Candido nails a pair of suplexes. Sabu sends him to the floor a few times before catching Chris with a suicide dive. Back in and Sabu hits a quick springboard moonsault for the pin.

Rating: D. This was pretty horrible but that’s understandable as neither guy was anything more than a glorified rookie. Sabu would get, I guess you could say better, in a few years while Candido would actually improve. There’s nothing to the match but guys need ring time at this stage of their careers.

Off to Japan for a match in Michinoku Pro from December 10, 1993.

Sabu vs. Jerry Lynn

Sabu dives at Lynn’s legs to take him down fast but Jerry cranks on a leg lock to take over. Back up and a clothesline gets two for Sabu before he puts on a leg lock of his own. Jerry climbs the corner for an armdrag but Sabu takes him right back down to the mat to crank on the leg some more. A hurricanrana gets two on Jerry but Sabu misses a moonsault press. Jerry’s connects for two and a German suplex gets the same. Sabu nails a leg lariat and goes up top, only to get dropkicked down to the floor.

A big flip dive takes him down again and they head back inside. Lynn gets knocked to the floor with a spin kick and Sabu nails a big dive of his own. They bust out the table with Sabu nailing a flip dive onto Lynn on the table but the wood doesn’t break. Jerry pops up and nails him in the head with the table before planting Sabu with a tiger drive onto the table. It STILL doesn’t break so Lynn throws him back in, only to miss a top rope splash. The Arabian Press gives Sabu the pin.

Rating: C-. Even as a rookie Lynn was looking polished in the ring. The table stuff was freaking sick looking as I guess Japan made thicker tables. It wasn’t a great match or anything but it’s weird to see guys with names this big being curtain jerkers. At least the match wasn’t half bad and Sabu’s stuff was far more impressive back then.

It’s off to ECW now with one of the company’s most famous matches at the Night the Line Was Crossed.

Shane Douglas vs. Sabu

This is a #1 contenders match and the title match will take place immediately afterwards. Heyman runs out with a phone and blasts Shane’s manager, Sherri, to take her out. With over an hour to go, this is the main event, and yes it’s that long. Joey has audio trouble so while he’s shouting you can’t understand a word of it. You can hear the crowd so clearly my audio is working.

Ah there he is. If there’s no winner here then it’s a three way for the title. The time limit here is only 15 minutes so I’m not expecting much. 911 is on the floor with Heyman as it’s all Shane at this point. Sabu hits a spinning kick which is really just an elbow as the foot never gets close. That’s par for the course with him though so there we are. Five minutes in and this is one sided. The king of Bombay, Michigan works the right arm of all things and the fans want Funk.

Dang he really is cranking on that thing and it looks great. The arm work goes on for a very long time. Shane gets out with an FU of all things. Man Cena if you’re going to use the same moves at least don’t copy them. DAng dude. Ten minutes in and it’s not bad so far. Shane with a big boot? What the heck??? He’s not even tall enough for that but whatever.

We hit the floor with three minutes left. It’s pretty clear that Funk is going to be involved here. It’s not like that was a real secret or anything. Sabu gets a chair on the floor and it results in Shane being on a table. Good thing Sabu misses it completely and lands in the crowd. Sabu is more or less dead with 30 seconds left. For no apparent reason Shane doesn’t cover him and here’s Terry.

ECW Title: Shane Douglas vs. Terry Funk vs. Sabu

Ok so is this 60 minutes or are Shane and Sabu going 75? Sabu leaves, I guess with an injury and it’s Shane vs. Terry. Given that we have less than an hour in the tape and there are post match interviews, the whole thing is an hour but Funk only has to go 45. Ok then. Funk hits a piledriver on the floor but we can’t see all of it since it’s not on the camera side. To be fair the same thing happened at the end of the 94 Rumble so that’s a thing of the times and not ECW.

Funk hits a pair of DDTs in the ring (one like a football being spiked and one being like a basketball being bounced according to Joey). Terry wants a chair so about 6 people throw them in. They get piled up and Shane takes ANOTHER DDT on them. Seriously that’s all we’ve had from Funk so far: DDTs and a piledriver. Shane manages to beat Funk to his feet after that DDT which is odd.

Shane beats on Funk who now has a bad back it seems. This is moving REALLY slowly and nothing of note is happening. We had a long stretch of brawling in the audience and nothing of note happened. Douglas mixes things up with a DDT of his own. How innovative! All Shane here as Funk is busted open. The referee goes down at some point and this is literally putting me to sleep.

They slug it out for a bit and then head into the crowd. We’re 30 minutes in here and are in the crowd. This has been far from great like it’s built up to be. For some reason the arena looks like it’s full of smoke. So yeah the whole one hour three way dance thing is pretty much nonsense. Ah here’s Sabu FINALLY after being gone about fifteen minutes. Funk comes up towards the announce table and steals a mic, Joey’s in this case, thinking he’s yelling at the crowd and therefore the guys in the ring. The problem is that he’s yelling into Joey’s mic so only the people watching the tape can hear him. Brilliant.

We’re thirty five minutes in and Sabu is in a spinning toehold. 911 comes in and lets Heyman hit Funk with the phone (it’s Paul E. Dangerously but you get the idea). Terry gets a neckbreaker on the guy whose neck would be broken by Benoit later on but Heyman saves again. The triple sleeper spot hits which is either creative or idiotic. I’m not sure why it would be idiotic but it has that feeling to it. Again, no idea why.

Now it’s basically who can get the longest leg lock on Sabu. Shane puts on a Figure Four, but remember that Ric Flair is a horrible man. We hit 40 minutes and Heyman saves Sabu again. Sabu botches the heck out of a springboard moonsault. Sherri is in the ring for no apparent reason. Axl and Ian Rotten come out to help Funk as Shane gets two on Sabu. Sabu botches a rana and Terry leaves. Yeah…..this whole triple threat has been a triple threat for about 3 minutes out of almost 45.

A springboard legdrop hits Shane in a clip from Rise and Fall of ECW. And here are the Rottens to beat up both guys again. This is making my head hurt. We’re 45 minutes in so I only have 15 minutes left. Joey says 15 minutes left in what match? So somehow we’ve gone from Terry Funk vs. Shane vs. Sabu to Shane/Sabu vs. the Rotten Brothers. Sabu fights the Rottens to the back and Shane is alone in the ring. He just stands there and here comes Sabu….oh never mind he has to fight one of the Rottens again first.

Funk comes back, as do Paul, 911 and Ian Rotten. And now there’s no one in the ring. Hat Guy is back by the concession areas and Funk vs. Shane spills outside. This must have been RIVETING for the live crowd with no video screens. And Funk beats up the referee. Joey tries not to laugh while asking why. With ten minutes left Shane and Terry are beating each other up and we now get the clock going again on how long can all three guys be in the ring for. So far out of 50 minutes I’d guess it’s about 9 minutes.

Sabu hits a top rope moonsault and Funk’s knee is hurt. Joey says the match was over 15-20 minutes ago. To quote him, what match? Shane vs. Terry? Shane vs. Sabu? Sabu/Shane vs. the Rottens? Terry vs. one of them? Sherri vs. the laws of time and gravity? The referee stays dead for the better part of ever. He must have been watching the match.

Five more minutes and the fans suddenly get that this is going to a draw. Another new match breaks out with Terry beating up Sherri. Four minutes left and nothing at all is happening. The bald Heyman is knocked out by Shane. Let’s see: Rottens, Sherri, 911, Heyman….yeah I think that’s all. We’ve only had five run-ins so far. Three minutes and we’re out of here (the clock is ticking and we’re in the clear).

Sherri’s boot gets used a lot as Joey makes me angry by saying this is like Piper vs. Valentine from 1983. The camera goes black for a minute and we have two minutes left. Funk beats up Heyman for no good reason. Less than a minute to go and the referee has now been out over ten minutes from a single headbutt. Can we get this guy some medical attention? Two near falls within the last five seconds and that’s it. The fans give them a standing ovation for absolutely no deserved reason. This was bad…..like very bad.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t horrible and there have been far worse matches, but for this to be considered a classic or even a very good match is a joke. This “hour long triple threat” is more like a 15 minute triple threat, two fifteen minute singles matches, a 4 minute tag match and a bunch of standing around.

Sabu was SPENT about half an hour into this and he just laid on the mat for most of the time. I was bored to death watching this because the longest stretch where they’re all in the arena is about 8 minutes long. I have no idea what the standing ovation was for as this was just way too long and while it’s not horrible, it’s definitely not anywhere close to as good as it’s made out to be.

Sabu would jump to WCW in late 1995 in a kind of strange hire. Here’s his biggest match with the company from Halloween Havoc 1995.

Mr. JL vs. Sabu

JL is short for Jerry Lynn in case you didn’t know that. And yes, it’s the same Sabu. The reason he’s here is he’s the Sheik’s nephew and Sheik was the king of Detroit back in the day. Lynn is in a mask here. WOW it’s weird hearing Sabu being talked about by Tony. Also that sounds like La Parka’s future music but I’m not sure. Both guys are in purple which is odd to see. They do all kinds of flying around ringside with Sabu doing all kinds of crazy dives etc.

We even get a Bobo Brazil reference to make this even more off the wall. This is pretty good for today’s standards despite being sloppy, but for 1995 this was INSANE. I mean remember, WWF was running stuff like Mabel vs. Taker at this time so having Lynn vs. Sabu on a major PPV was ridiculous. Sabu wins it with a moonsault and Sheik throws a fireball at Lynn and hits him in the mask. Ok then. Heenan freaks over this and wants to know how to do that. Don’t ask Hogan. He tried it once and it didn’t work at all.

Rating: B+. Somewhat above average match, but considering the timeframe, this was insanity. Rey was nearly a year away from changing the whole idea of what cruiserweight wrestling was, but everyone knew this kind of stuff rocked. Sabu can be passable when he’s not trying to do a garbage match, and this is an example of that.

Back to ECW at November to Remember 1995.

Hack Meyers vs. Sabu

Meyers is more or less just a biker. You know this might have been a better surprise if he hadn’t come out earlier. Sabu works on the knee of all things to start and messes up a snapmare (Meyers landed on him). Time for a chinlock. FEEL THE EXTREME! It’s chair time and a slingshot dive in with the chair gets two. We go to an armbar and the fans are calling it boring.

Springboard leg lariat gets two and we hit the chinlock again. Meyers makes a comeback and hits a powerslam for two. A weird facebuster off the top which is Hack’s finisher gets two. They go to the floor quickly but Sabu drops a leg for two. Meyers wins a slugout but Sabu goes onto Meyers’ shoulders and gets a DDT to take him down. Spinning leg lariat puts Meyers outside and Sabu hits a diving rana to the floor.

After a bit more brawling on the floor we go back in but Sabu dives into a powerbomb. Release suplex put Sabu down but Meyers goes up and gets caught in a victory roll off the top for two. This is going WAY too long for a big return over a glorified jobber. Meyers goes up but gets dropped on a chair. Sabu hits a rana to put them on the floor AGAIN. Sabu sets up a table and dives over the top through it, half killing Meyers. That only gets two in the ring so Sabu slams him and the Atomic Arabian Facebuster (flipping double legdrop with a chair in between) ends this FINALLY.

Rating: D. See, when a superstar like Sabu returns, it should be total dominance. This mostly was, but the fact that it took so long made Sabu look kind of weak. Not his worst stuff, but at the same time it just went way too long at about 13:00. Heyman would manage Sabu for awhile until we got to his match with Taz.

Another random match from House Party 1996.

Sabu vs. Stevie Richards

Richards slips getting into the ring and falls on his face. He also has a bad arm coming into this. Richards runs to start and throws in a chair. Yeah, throw a chair to Sabu. Joey agrees with me, saying that it’s like handing a chainsaw to Leatherface. Sabu has enough of the standing around so he hits a suicide dive to take over. Back inside and Sabu hooks a chinlock but Stevie powerbombs him out of the corner to take over.

Sabu will have none of that and comes back with a slingshot flipping legdrop. Off to an armbar of all things but it only lasts a few seconds. Richards is placed on the top rope and with the help of a chair, Sabu “hits” Air Sabu to knock him to the floor. Sabu slams him to the floor and both guys are down. Richards gets sent into the railing and Sabu sets up a table. Blue Meanie saves Stevie and we head back inside.

Sabu gets caught in an electric chair position but he rolls Richards over the top and out to the floor. This show needs to hurry up and end because it’s REALLY dragging badly now. Richards head fakes Sabu and the crazy one goes through the table. That would be the crazy one Sabu in case you were confused. Meanie gets in a kick on Sabu and they head inside again. Stevie drops a top rope punch for two as we see that he’s not the best on offense.

A Frankensteiner gets two for Sabu and both guys are spent. Richards is sent to the floor and Sabu finally dives over the top with a slingshot rana onto Meanie. Richards gets a horribly botched one of his own from Sabu and the guy in the bright yellow pants takes over again. Richards is placed on a table but Meanie makes the save.

Paul E of all people comes out to beat up Meanie and Sabu hits a dive through Richards through the table. Back inside and that only gets two as this match just keeps going. Richards rolls him up for two and hits the Stevie Kick for another two. A Sabu DDT gets the same and it’s chair time again. Sabu goes up and hits the Atomic Arabian Facebuster (flip leg drop with the chair) to get a pretty anti-climactic pin.

Rating: C-. This just kept going and going and it was only decent to begin with. Sabu would be pushed much harder over the next few months as he would feud with Taz while Richards would somehow get into the world title #1 contenders match at Barely Legal. This wasn’t awful but it dragged a lot which really hurt it.

It’s time for probably Sabu’s biggest match ever. The match over a year in the making, from Barely Legal.

Taz vs. Sabu

This is billed as the Grudge Match of the Century and has been built up over going on two years. Sabu charges to the ring without an entrance but stops long enough for the big match intros. Taz is the hated villain at this point which will become important later. They slap each other to start before Taz nails a hard clothesline to send Sabu staggering to the floor. Back in and Sabu fights out of the Tazmission (Taz’s choke) and they hit the mat for some amateur stuff.

It’s Taz in control with an ankle lock but he lets Sabu up and offers him a free chance at his leg. That goes very badly for Sabu as Taz takes him down and fires off some hard crossface shots to break Sabu’s nose. The blood sends Sabu into another level and he pulls Taz out to the floor so he can throw him into the crowd. Sabu runs back inside for a HUGE double jump dive to send Taz sprawling down on the concrete.

They fight into the crowd as things pick up a lot. Sabu gets the better of it for a good while, only to be sent face first into a wall. Back to the ring now and Taz puts on a chinlock while cranking on the leg as well. They slug it out from their knees with Sabu getting the better of it until Taz takes it back down to the mat. Sabu kicks him in the face and nails a quick slingshot legdrop.

A chair is brought in for Air Sabu in the corner but Taz drops him face first on the chair to take over again. Back up and a very hard clothesline gets a near fall on Sabu as things slow way down. Taz is sent outside again but casually steps to the side so Sabu’s dive hits barricade. A suplex sends Sabu back into the crowd and Taz orders his lackeys (Team Taz) to bridge a table between the barricade and the ring. Sabu puts Taz on the table but Taz counters a tornado DDT and sends Sabu through the wood instead.

Back in again and Taz is favoring his shoulder. Instead he stomps away at Sabu but falls down to the mat in pain. Sabu nails a top rope hurricanrana for two followed by a top rope legdrop but Taz rolls outside, seemingly in the better shape of the two. Taz slaps on a head and arms Tazplex to drop Sabu on his head and soften up the neck. Sabu comes back with a t-bone suplex of his own but Taz just stands up and poses at him. After a failed attempt at a Tazmission from Sabu, Taz nails some more hard suplexes and puts on the real Tazmission for the win.

Rating: B-. Here’s the one thing that has always given me issues with both this match and the show in general: yes this was a huge grudge match and built up for over a year, but they never say WHY these two hate each other. It’s simply established that they do and while the match is really physical, it would have been nice to have a ten second explanation of the backstory (Sabu had walked out on ECW and Taz had yelled about it on TV as a result. Sabu later came back and the feud started as a result of Taz’s comments) would have been nice. I only know that explanation through outside research.

The match itself was a very physical back and forth match, but it never felt like the blood feud that it was supposed to be. There are parts of that in here, but the wrestling sequence early in the match felt like it belonged in another feud entirely. It’s entertaining and goes by very fast though, making a breath of fresh air after the TV Title match.

Sabu would get back into the World Title picture at Born To Be Wired.

ECW World Title: Terry Funk vs. Sabu

Sabu is challenging and this is a barbed wire match, which means the ropes have been replaced by barbed wire. Terry heads to the corner to start but Sabu dropkicks the knee out and we head to the mat. Funk tries to throw him into the wire but Sabu puts the brakes on. Sabu does the same as Terry but Terry rolls to the floor to escape. Back in and Sabu puts on a quick camel clutch which goes nowhere.

Funk hits a neckbreaker and a scary looking piledriver for two. They both try to ram the other into the wire and it’s Sabu getting the advantage, but Terry gets his hands up and avoids the pain. Sabu hurricanranas Terry down for two but Funk kicks him off and into the wire for the first gasp from the crowd. Terry rakes Sabu’s eyes into the barbed wire which is pretty sick stuff.

An Irish whip sends the challenger into the wire again and Funk crotches him on it for good measure. Sabu’s tights are ripped up and man are his legs skinny. After some more pain for the guy from Bombay, he sends Terry into the corner and the wire as a result, followed by a chair shot. Funk’s face gets sent into the barbed wire and Sabu finds a spike from somewhere to pound into Funk’s head. This is getting violent in a hurry.

With Funk up against the wire, Sabu hits Air Sabu to drive him further into said wire for two. Air Sabu (it’s a running diving leg attack using a chair as a springboard) misses on its second attempt and Sabu is hung up in the wire. In a famous spot, Sabu’s bicep is sliced open and things slow WAY down. The solution to the cut? Fonzie brings in a roll of tape and tapes the GAPING WOUND closed to keep the match going.

A neckbreaker puts Sabu down but Terry can’t follow up. Sabu goes NUTS and starts pounding on Funk but Terry just punches him in the face to take over again. They both head to the floor and slug it out but are quickly back inside so Funk can put on the spinning toe hold. Fonzie (Sabu’s manager in case you’re not familiar with ECW, which makes me wonder why you’re reading this) tries to interfere but gets pulled across the wire as well.

Funk slices open Fonzie’s shirt and cuts his back with it. The champ gets some wire cutters from somewhere and clips some wire off, which he whips Sabu with to slow him down even more. Fonzie gets beaten up some more and it’s back inside for more brawling. Sabu cuts more of the wire down and here’s RVD to pound on Funk. He takes Terry to the floor and wraps him in barbed wire so Sabu can drive Terry through a table.

Now Dreamer comes out to take out Van Dam (literally) and the guys in the match head back inside. Sabu pulls off a big section of wire and wraps himself in it before diving through Funk through a table. To complete this mess, they’re stuck together because Funk was wrapped in wire as well so they get back in the ring in a big ball and Sabu gets two. They’re still stuck together and since there’s nothing else they can do, Sabu shoves Terry’s shoulder back down and gets the pin and the title.

Rating: D-. To the shock of no one who is paying attention, this was a major mess. It was a total freakshow and the ending made it even worse as they couldn’t even do the right ending because they got stuck. Also this would wind up meaning NOTHING as Douglas got the title a week later because in ECW, Shane Douglas MUST be world champion. Just a mess here and it had almost absolutely nothing to do with wrestling.

Here’s a hardcore dream match from Terry Funk’s Wrestlefest. Yeah it happened before but it still sounds cool.

Sabu vs. Mankind

This is old school Mankind with the brown leather vest I guess you would call it. He had been Dude Love around this time so this was a quick change. It’s Foley so I can’t complain. This should be pretty decent. They mention RVD losing to Dory Funk Jr. Dark match or not on the DVD I guess. Yep based on some other reviews, that match did happen just before this one.

No clue where it is but whatever. Sabu hits a nice spin kick to get us to the floor followed by a nice plancha. We’ve got a chair in there now. What took him so long? Foley tries to do his head in the ropes spot but it doesn’t work as the ropes here suck. Sabu sets up a table between the ring and the rail. It’s weird hearing Styles talk about Mankind. There goes the table.

Foley loses his mask. The triple jump hits and I think Foley drops an F Bomb but gives his way of jabbering it likely wasn’t. Foley wakes up and just goes off on Sabu and hits the Double Arm DDT and does some Cactus Jack mannerisms. Fonzie, Sabu and the referee get the Claw but the bell has already rung. The announcer says it’s a DQ. Screw telling us who won or anything. Not important. Joey points out that Foley would win because Fonzie ran in.

Rating: C-. Solid brawl here as Sabu wasn’t as insane as normal so this was far better. When he’s calmer he’s much more watchable. Foley was his usual great self here. Putting these two in a brawl is a recipe for awesome so this worked fine other than the cheap ending.

Back to ECW for a showdown with Sabu’s partner.

TV Title: Sabu vs. Rob Van Dam

Van Dam is defending and Jeff Jones is refereeing, making things even crazier. Feeling out process to start with Sabu diving for Rob’s leg but only hitting the mat. Van Dam misses a spin kick and flips Sabu over into a standoff. Rob grabs a mic and says he isn’t going to fight his partner and friend. Jones says the match has to happen and Sabu goes after the champion with a springboard kick to the face. A slingshot legdrop gets two and Rob heads outside, only to be taken down by a dive from Sabu.

Back in and Sabu puts on a camel clutch but Van Dam is quickly in the ropes. Both guys flip over the others’ back and then dropkick each others’ knee. Rob takes over and puts on a quickly broken surfboard before putting the boots to Sabu. The hold has hurt Sabu’s leg so Rob puts on a half crab. A superkick puts Sabu down and it’s time for a table. Rob bridges it between the ring and apron but Sabu dives through the ropes to take out the champion.

Sabu puts him on the table but Van Dam bails into the crowd. That’s fine with Sabu as he dives off the table and onto Rob in a big crash. They slug it out on the floor until Rob puts him on the barricade for a Van Daminator. Alfonso wouldn’t hold the chair so Rob kicks the chair into Sabu’s face himself. Sabu comes back by blocking a suplex and crotching Rob on the barricade as well before taking him down with an Asai moonsault.

That’s only good for two back inside so Sabu throws a chair at the downed Van Dam. The Triple Jump Moonsault misses and Alfonso pats Van Dam on the back. A slingshot kick to the face puts Sabu outside again and Rob hits a big flip dive to take him out. Back in and Sabu blocks a suplex from the ring through a table at ringside before suplexing him back inside.

The table is bridged between the ring and barricade but Van Dam quickly stands up after being put on the table. Sabu tries a springboard DDT through the table but the table doesn’t break and they fall off to the side. It doesn’t look like the most painful move so Van Dam being back on his feet is acceptable. The partially broken table is set up inside the ring and Sabu hurricanranas Van Dam through the wood. Since this is ECW, Rob is right back up and in control less than a minute later.

Rob puts the chair on Sabu’s face and drops a top rope leg onto him but falls to the floor in pain as a result. Sabu puts Van Dam on the barricade and hurricanranas him down to the floor. Back in and Rob snaps off a Van Daminator. The frog splash gets two more and Sabu is literally throwing a chair at Van Dam’s head eight seconds later. A triple jump legdrop crushes Van Dam for two but Rob pops up and monkey flips Sabu onto the chair.

An Arabian Facebuster to the back of Rob’s head gets no cover and Sabu brings in a table. It breaks before he can set it up so Rob kicks Sabu onto the broken table, drawing booing from the fans. Van Dam brings in a fresh table and kicks Sabu onto it for a HUGE frog splash….for two. Naturally Sabu is right back up with a flip legdrop and a German suplex for two but Rob comes back with the split legged moosault. It’s another near fall though so Sabu pops up with a springboard moonsault for two of his own. Time runs out and it’s a draw.

Rating: D+. This is the kind of stuff that makes pure wrestling fans hate ECW. It’s not about the tables and the chairs and the violence. It’s about the complete lack of selling of ANY of these moves. Both guys were hitting big moves to each other but they would pop up a few seconds after taking one and act like it was a mild annoyance. No one stayed down in this entire thing, no one ever had a lengthy advantage and no one ever had any psychology at all. I guess you could say the story is they’re equally matched, but when you’re equal at being really bad at something it doesn’t look good.

The match was exciting to a degree because of all the high spots, but there was stuff in here that neither guy should have been able to kick out of. I wasn’t skipping stuff between the spots either. They were just popping up that quickly. It eventually desensitizes the fans because the big moves don’t mean anything, so why should they care when either guy hits another big spot? The problem is this was a staple of ECW and would become a bigger and bigger problem over the years. Jeff Jones wasn’t a factor in the match at all.

Now they’re partners again at Heat Wave 1998.

Tag Team Titles: Jinsei Shinzaki/Hayabusa vs. Rob Van Dam/Sabu

Van Dam and Sabu are defending. Shinzaki is better known as Hakushi in the WWF. Jinsei is known for having Japanese symbols drawn all over his torso, back and face. Neither team can agree on who is going to start. It’s finally down to Van Dam vs. Hayabusa. They circle each other for a minute to start until Rob leg trips him. That goes nowhere so Alfonso gets up on the apron and blows his whistle a lot. Van Dam takes Hayabusa down with a Japanese armdrag and poses.

Back up and Hayabusa kicks Rob in the leg, draws in Sabu and tags in Jinsei for a Vader Bomb and two. Van Dam comes back with a kick to the face but walks into an enziguri to the back of the head. Jinsei walks across the top rope (think Undertaker’s Old School though he walks around a corner and keeps going) and chops Rob in the head but misses a knee drop.

Sabu comes in with a slingshot legdrop for two and we hit the chinlock. Back up and Hayabusa comes in off a tag but gets dropkicked in the knee. A slingshot splash gets two for Sabu but he walks into a nice dropkick, sending him running to the floor. He comes back in and takes out Hayabusa’s knee again before putting on something like an ankle lock. Hayabusa gets to the ropes so Sabu puts on a camel clutch.

Van Dam comes in and dropkicks Hayabusa while he’s still in the clutch, so Shinzaki hits a springboard missile dropkick to take Van Dam down. Sabu is sent to the floor as well so Hayabusa nails a big springboard moonsault to take them out. Van Dam and the challengers fight into the crowd so Sabu hits a big dive to take all three out. Hayabusa is draped over the barricade for a spinning kick to the back.

In the ring, Sabu dropkicks Jinsei’s knee, setting up a surfboard from Van Dam. Sabu adds a top rope chair shot to the ribs for two. Hayabusa comes back in for a double bulldog on Van Dam followed by a springboard swanton bomb from Hayabusa and a springboard knee drop from Shinzaki. Sabu makes a save and Van Dam kicks Hayabusa’s head off for two. Everything breaks down and Sabu is superkicked into a German suplex for two. Rob’s top rope spinning splash gets another near fall on Jinsei as the guys are getting tired.

Jinsei powerbombs Van Dam down and Hayabusa nails a 450 but Sabu dives in for a save. A rolling splash/legdrop combination gets two on Hayabusa and a Boston crab/legdrop combination gets the same on Shinzaki. Sabu brings in a table but gets taken down by a top rope shoulder, giving Jinsei two. Van Dam’s knee gets twisted but is still able to go up top for a Van Daminator to a crotched Hayabusa.

Jinsei twists Van Dam’s knee again but the table collapses under Van Dam’s weight. Hayabusa’s top rope splash gets two and two more tables are sent in. Sabu hits an Arabian facebuster on Hayabusa and Jinsei takes a Van Daminator. The challengers are put on a table and a top rope splash from Van Dam/a top rope legdrop from Sabu at the same time give Sabu the pin on Shinzaki.

Rating: B-. The tables at the end drag this down. They’re just not needed to make the match work as everything was clicking without them. The chairs weren’t too bad but the rest of it didn’t work. I liked the wrestling stuff a lot better than the brawling but that’s the general rule of thumb for ECW. The problem was after the tagging ends, it’s your standard ECW brawl. This show has been very good so far though and the match was definitely good.

Taz would break Sabu’s neck but intentionally give him the FTW Title. This set up a title vs. title match at Living Dangerously 1999.

ECW World Title/FTW Title: Taz vs. Sabu

Winner take all. Sabu has a broken jaw coming in and is the FTW Champion. Taz’s jaws are fine, though he has a biceps injury as he comes in as ECW Champion. Taz says we should make this falls count anywhere to give the fans something special. Sabu is fine with that and takes Taz down by the leg to start. Taz can’t hook a German suplex as Sabu grabs a rope and tries an armbar. That’s fine with Taz as he puts on a headscissors but they roll into the ropes.

Now we get violent as Taz hammers on the broken jaw and hits a Brooklyn Boot (just a running boot) to the jaw. It doesn’t have much effect as Sabu hits a springboard leg lariat and a slingshot flipping legdrop for two. We get our first chair for Air Sabu and Taz bails to the floor. Sabu baseball slides him into the crowd and tries the big springboard dive, only to have Taz get a chair up just in time.

They fight into the crowd and as usual it’s a lot of walking around without a lot of brawling. Sabu nails Taz with a chair but Taz doesn’t seem to notice. They get back to the barricade and turn over a lot of chairs before Sabu goes to the ramp for another dive back into the audience for two. Both guys get back onto the ramp but Taz throws Sabu back into the crowd. That doesn’t go anywhere so it’s back to the ring.

Sabu takes out Taz’s knee and bridges a table between the ring and barricade. They slug it out in the ring until Taz grabs a belly to belly overhead Tazplex to send Sabu through the table, taking out a camera in the process. Sabu gets dropped face first onto the barrcade and the jaw comes back into play. Taz yells about Flair and Hogan as he hammers on Sabu. That earns him a chair upside his head but Alfonso wants to throw in a towel and end the match.

Taz won’t let that happen though and sends Alfonso backing up the ramp. He throws Sabu off the ramp again so Alfonso throws a chair at Taz. It buys Sabu a breather and he comes back with a Fameasser in the ring for two. We hit the camel clutch as Sabu is bleeding from the mouth. He lets go of the hold less than five seconds after putting it on and gets another table. Taz puts him on the table but Sabu turns it over and hits a middle rope hurricanrana for two. Another hurricanrana is countered into a sitout powerbomb to put both guys down.

Back to the floor again with Sabu putting Taz on yet another table. He goes to bridge a table over the barricade but Taz is back up and takes it back inside. Sabu tries a slingshot powerbomb to the floor but hits his feet on the barricade so they stop suddenly and Taz has no impact coming down. He sells it anyway and is laid on the table over the barricade so Sabu can hit a big splash off the top. That’s only good for two as well so Sabu takes it back inside for an Arabian Facebuster and another near fall as Taz puts his foot on the ropes. That shouldn’t count in a falls count anywhere match and the fans let the referee know.

Taz comes back with a pumphandle Tazplex for two of his own but Sabu is up first with a chair to the face. The Triple Jump Moonsault gets two more and a springboard legdrop gets the same. A head and arms Tazplex gets two and Sabu tries to set up another table. It’s laid in the corner for a dragon Tazplex, the same move that broke Sabu’s neck. Naturally, it’s only good for two here. Alfonso throws in the towel but it doesn’t count for some reason. Instead Taz puts on the Tazmission and Sabu passes out to make Taz undisputed champion.

Rating: D. More than anything else, this felt really long. It’s basically the same match they’ve had every time and all the chairs and tables get really old after awhile. I’ve seen Sabu keep things toned down and have entertaining matches but that’s not what we’ve gotten from him in ECW so far. This would be the end of the FTW Title and more or less the end of Taz vs. Sabu.

Here’s a one off match from November to Remember 1999.

Sabu vs. Chris Candido

There’s no story mentioned here if one exists. Tammy is back with Candido who just recently returned from injury. Sabu dives at Candido to start but only hits mat. They slug it out with Chris being knocked out to the floor, only to come back in and get punched some more. Sabu’s springboard kick to the face is caught in a belly to back suplex for two but a HUGE backdrop sends Candido back to the floor.

Sabu nails a big dive over the top to take Candido down again but they’re quickly back inside with Candido hitting a delayed vertical suplex. A middle rope legdrop gets two for Chris but he misses a swan dive. Sabu gets a chair for the Triple Jump Legdrop and two more. Now a table is bridged between the apron and barricade but Candido dives on Sabu as he’s setting it up. Back in and Sabu nails a top rope hurricanrana for two and Sabu before he goes after the Candido’s spine.

We hit the camel clutch but Candido breaks it up in just a few seconds. Sabu is laid on a table but Candido misses a top rope legdrop and drives himself through the wood. Some kicks to the leg have Candido in even more trouble and it’s back to the camel clutch. Again the hold doesn’t last long before Air Sabu connects in the corner and Candido falls face first onto the chair. Chris gets kicked out to the floor again, setting up a HUGE springboard dive from Sabu into the crowd.

They brawl further into the audience but are quickly back to ringside with Sabu in control. Another chair is thrown in and Sabu nails a top rope splash for two. Back to the camel clutch but Sabu lets go of it again after about five seconds. He takes too long setting up a table which falls over almost immediately. Sabu lays Candido on the half set table for a top rope legdrop and two.

The Triple Jump Moonsault misses and Candido gets two each off a powerbomb and piledriver. A superplex gets another near fall on Sabu and Candido sets up a chair for no apparent reason. Sabu comes out of the corner and uses the chair as a springboard for a clothesline. Tammy crotches Sabu on the top and Candido nails a great looking to rope hurricanrana.

A second swan dive and piledriver both connect but Candido gets a table instead of covering. Sabu is right back up and puts Candido on the table as Tammy interferes again. Candido gets up but Alfonso puts Tammy on the table. Chris dives on Tammy as Sabu jumps through the table, followed by a top rope Arabian Facebuster and the camel clutch to give Sabu the submission.

Rating: D+. This was WAY too long at nearly eighteen minutes. Candido was doing everything he could but Sabu was all table and chairs with some dives in between. The camel clutch being broken only a few seconds after it was applied got annoying fast. There was an attempt at some psychology but the match completely broke down at about the halfway point. This was one of Candido’s last appearances as he would wrestle a few times on ECW on TNN before heading to WCW early in the new year.

After ECW went under, Sabu was one of many wrestlers to go to the WWA promotion. Here he is at the Reckoning.

Sabu vs. Joe E. Legend

Shane jumps in on commentary to further annoy me. Legend quickly takes it to the mat into a headscissors before we get to the insane stuff. Joe wins a quick slugout and chokes in the corner but gets caught in a springboard tornado DDT for two. We head to the floor for a flip dive by Sabu before Legend stomps away back inside. They head back outside for a big springboard dive from Sabu as Shane blames Sabu for killing ECW.

We get our first table brought in but Legend runs him over with a clothesline before it could be set up. Sabu is busted open as Legend spears him into the barricade. Some right hands have no effect on Joe so he gets two off a big boot to the face back inside. We hit the chinlock until Legend kicks a chair into Sabu’s back for no cover. Sabu pelts the chair into Joe’s face and an Arabian facebuster with the chair gets two.

There’s the camel clutch on Legend but Joe gets to the ropes pretty quickly. Legend comes back with a northern lights suplex as the fans want the table. Joe is sent to the apron and knocked over the table so we can brawl on the floor a bit. That goes nowhere so Joe takes him back inside and gets two off a powerbomb. Sabu crotches him on the top and hooks a top rope rana for two. Joe avoids a top rope splash and kicks Sabu in the head for two. A chokeslam powerbomb gets two on Sabu but the fans still want the table.

Legend’s Vader Bomb only hits chair and an Arabian Press gets two. Air Sabu is caught in a fireman’s carry drop sending Sabu face first onto the chair. Sabu finally puts him on the table and the triple jump legdrop sends Legend through it to pop the crowd. Back in and the chair is pelted into Legend’s face again before going up top. After breaking up a superplex attempt, the top rope Arabian Facebuster is good for the pin.

Rating: D. This wasn’t terrible but it was LONG, running nearly 18 minutes, or a lot longer than any Sabu match should last. Legend was decent enough but he isn’t the most exciting guy in the world. All the fans wanted to see was Sabu put someone through a table so the match could have ended after that point. Not bad, but WAY too long.

Off to TNA, starting as Weekly PPV #6.

NWA World Title: Sabu vs. Ken Shamrock

This a ladder/submission match, which is exactly what it sounds like. After a LONG recap of last week’s ladder match with Sabu vs. Malice, we’re ready to go. The fans seem to be completely behind Sabu here. Shamrock controls to start and goes for a leg hold but Sabu makes the rope. Sabu gets a quick rollup for two so the rules are basically thrown out the window so far. Apparently security has walked out of the building. Not like it makes a difference or anything.

Shamrock grabs an armbar but Sabu gets out before it can go on full. Sabu actually tries a leg lock but Shamrock is like boy please and counters into a leg bar. The springboard leg lariat takes Shamrock down and the slingshot legdrop looks to set up an armbar. I don’t think the pins count anymore. Apparently Ricky Steamboat is in charge next week.

Sabu gets knocked to the floor and we get the first ladder brought in with like four minutes left. The ladder gets kicked into Sabu’s face before it gets into the ring. Sabu and Shamrock brawl up the ramp with Sabu being through into one of the mini cages near the stage. Sabu is busted open but he manages to send Shamrock into the barricade.

It’s table time but the springboard flip dive by Sabu misses Shamrock, sending Sabu through the table on the ramp. Cool looking dive though. FINALLY a ladder is brought in but as Shamrock goes up, Malice runs in and chokeslams him down. Malice gets the belt itself and leaves to end the show.

Rating: D. Other than a few spots from Sabu, this was really boring. They had a no contest in a ladder match. That’s hard to do but they managed to do it here. Shamrock is a really boring champion but thankfully he’ll only have the title for a few more weeks. This is the last match Sabu would have with the company for almost a year and it’s a shame he couldn’t go out on the one he had last week which was way better.

And again at Weekly PPV #89.

Sabu vs. Monty Brown

From April 14, 2004 and this is under hardcore rules. For you old guys, Brown is basically an intelligent Ahmed Johnson but about 10 years older. Sabu tries to jump Brown but gets sent into the corner with ease and pummeled like he stole something. Brown sends him into the ropes but gets caught in a springboard tornado DDT for two. A quick arm tie neckbreaker gives Brown control again but Sabu comes right back with a springboard middle rope huricanrana for another near fall.

It’s already chair time with Sabu pelting it at Brown’s head and staying there in a great visual. A stiff right hand sets up an overhead double underhook suplex from Monty but he takes too long going to the middle rope. Brown comes back again with hard right hands to the face and ribs. He wasn’t all that well rounded at this point if you didn’t notice. The Pounce (basically a hard shoulder block/spear) sends Sabu flying through the ropes and out to the floor.

That’s fine with him as he’s able to pull out a table, only to have Brown punch him in the face yet again. Sabu rams him face first into the table and hits a springboard dive to take Monty down. Another chair is pelted at Brown’s head for two (remember falls count anywhere) but he easily whips Sabu into the crowd. Brown hits a series of backbreakers across his knee before throwing Sabu into a pile of chairs.

A third chair is pelted at Monty’s head and Sabu drags a table out from behind the stands. They head into the locker room but Sabu comes flying back out. Abyss walks through the door before powerbombing Sabu through the table. Brown comes out of the locker room and squares off with Abyss but some dark haired chick comes out to calm Abyss down and take him away. A quick Pounce ends Sabu.

Rating: D+. This was just there to get a hardcore match on the set. Brown was a guy that seemed to have a ton of potential and would have been great as an over the top Scott Steiner style character. He never got pushed to the top though and I can see why that never happened. Sabu was his usual self here.

Sabu would head to the WWE for the ECW reunion show One Night Stand 2005.

Sabu vs. Rhyno

Yep it’s chair time early and Rhyno gets popped with it. I usually hate these things, but even I’m not stupid enough to think they meant nothing at all. Sabu is dominating this for the most part and it’s not as bad as I expected it to be actually. There’s not much to say about this.

The referee takes a gore and here’s Van Dam again. He gets the Chair Surf which is a move I’ve always liked. Yep it’s table time as it’s a Sabu match so there we are. Something that was supposed to be an Arabian SkullCrusher doesn’t work as I think the chair gets away from Sabu but it could have been worse I guess.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t much. Like I said though it could have been far worse though as they had Sabu keep the weapons toned down here so that’s all fine and good. Far from great but these three had to be on the show somewhere. Sabu wouldn’t stick around or anything but there wasn’t anything for him to do at this point.

It’s back to TNA, starting with Unbreakable.

Sabu vs. Abyss

James Mitchell wants to make it No DQ and of course it is. Sabu fires away with right hands but they have next to no effect. Abyss throws him around but Sabu keeps coming, likely due to his history of head trauma. A big boot puts Sabu down but he keeps coming back with chops. The fans want tables less than two minutes into the match. Does foreplay mean nothing to these people?

Instead Sabu gets a chair and pounds away with it, including hitting an Arabian Facebuster with it for two. A clothesline puts both of them on the floor and there’s the table. That one is broken though (as in it broke while he was setting it up) so Abyss sets up one of his own. Sabu uses the distraction to hit a flip dive over the top rope and out onto Abyss. They head back in and Sabu charges straight into a backdrop through the two tables at ringside. That’s a bad stretch of luck for him there.

Abyss sets up a table in the ring but takes FOREVER to do it, allowing Sabu to come back with chair shots to the head. Now the fans want thumbtacks. These people are never satisfied. Sabu goes up top with the chair and drives Abyss through the table for three, but Mitchell puts Abyss’ foot on the rope. You know, because in a match based on pure carnage, a foot on the rope is good enough to break it up.

Abyss goes under the ring and gets the tacks which are spread on the mat. They take turns teasing going into the tacks for a bit until Sabu whacks Abyss with a chair. That gets nowhere so Sabu springboards into a Black Hole Slam onto the tacks for the pin with no feet on the ropes this time.

Rating: C+. It’s Abyss vs. Sabu in a hardcore match. What else were you expecting here? They beat on each other with weapons for awhile, Sabu got thrown around a lot, Abyss got hit in the head with a lot of stuff, and someone got thrown into the tacks. What else were you expecting here? The match was just ok but eventually they would have a solid hardcore match with barbed wire everywhere which was a lot better.

Time for some violence at Turning Point 2005.

Abyss vs. Sabu

This is barbed wire massacre, which means the ropes are replaced by barbed wire, which Abyss is terrified of. Abyss stomps on the chair that Sabu tries to bring in with him, so Sabu gets a barbed wire ball bat to scare Abyss away. Sabu tries to drive him into the wire but settles for a chair shot instead. Another doesn’t put Abyss down so he launches himself off the chair into a powerbomb position.

That gets Abyss down but he launches Sabu into the wire which draws a big gasp from the crowd. Sabu comes back with some punches but his cross body is caught and Abyss drops him throat first onto the wire. Sabu has a spike of some sort which he jabs into the shoulder of the monster, drawing blood. He tries another move off the chair but launches himself into the wire AGAIN. Dude, IT ISN’T WORKING FOR YOU!

With Sabu still tied up in the wire, Abyss charges but gets caught in a drop toehold into the wire. A chair shot gets two for Sabu. Abyss shrugs that off and chokeslams him onto a chair for two. Mitchell throws in a barbed wire covered chair and for SOME REASON, he tries an Earthquake onto it. The wire goes into Abyss’ crotch and I cringe a bit. That chair goes onto Abyss’ head twice and down he goes.

Abyss rolls to the floor so Sabu hits a huge flip dive over the wire to take Abyss out. Sabu throws a barbed wire board into the ring but gets draped over the wire stomach first. Back inside now and Abyss sets for a chokeslam onto the board, but Sabu bites the fingers to escape. Sabu winds up being launched into the air and landing stomach first on the wire. Abyss brings in another wire covered board and puts it in the corner. Due to the laws of wrestling, his charge misses and he gets all stuck in the wire. Sabu kicks Abyss down onto the other board into a sandwich, then drops a leg onto the top board for the pin.

Rating: C-. I’m not sure what to call this. For the violence and shock value it was fine, but as far as wrestling goes there was nothing here. Thankfully this was the ending to this feud which went on for months on end. The ending spot was pretty awesome but most of this was just a total freak show. They had to do this first too because of the ropes, which is annoying but there was no way around that.

With another ECW reunion show coming, Sabu would head back to WWE for a few shows, starting with One Night Stand 2006.

Smackdown World Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Sabu

Rey is booed out of the freaking building. Naturally he’s only the World Champion here instead of the World Heavyweight Champion because that’s how they roll here. This is under extreme rules, like every other match here should be but of course isn’t because that’s not the WWE way. Rey has a chair during the big match intros. Sabu grabs one before the bell and the fans are totally behind Sabu. Joey: “Mixed reaction here for Rey.” Taz: “Nah they’re booing him.”

After some basic wrestling stuff they duel with the chairs and guess who wins that. Air Sabu in the corner but Rey gets a drop toehold to break up the Triple Jump Moonsault. 619 misses and you would think Rey had just banned rainbows. BIG chair shot sends Rey to the floor and the brawl is on. It’s table time with the table set up as a bridge between the ring and the railing.

Rey is placed on it but moves as Sabu starts setting up. Sabu gets sent into the steps and a moonsault press gets two for Rey. Camel clutch by Sabu which draws a Sheik chant. Naturally he lets it go to grab a table. Arabian Facebuster has Rey in trouble as he left the table on the floor. Table is set up in front of the aisle but Rey knocks him onto it and hits a seated senton through it to put both guys down in the aisle.

Sabu’s arm is messed up and Rey tries something like Air Sabu in the corner but Sabu gets out of the way and hits a springboard leg lariat to take Rey down. Triple Jump Moonsault gets a close two. It was more like a knee drop to the face but close enough. Sabu gets all ticked off and pelts the chair at the head of Rey to take him down. Onto the bridged table from earlier and a big front flip dive over the top through the table takes both guys out. And here are some suits to say that they can’t continue and we’re done. I’ll spare you a very long rant about how stupid this is.

Rating: C+. This would have been higher if this had a finish. Rey wasn’t used to being hated like this so they went against it for the sake of having a decent match. That being said, taking the superhero out of the match in case it got too extreme is incredibly stupid. Oh screw it. Here’s that rant I mentioned.

This is the first shot to killing ECW. Let’s take a look at some of Sabu’s more famous stuff. He’s ripped open a bicep and glued it back together to continue a match. He’s had to be cut out of barbed wire after winning a match. He’s been set on fire. He’s been put through more tables than you can count. He’s been beaten up, stomped on, kicked, smacked around, choked out and everything else you can think of, but here he can’t continue because of going through a single table.

Just think about that for a minute. How weak does that make him look? The old grizzled hero of the people now can’t take a single shot through a table by doctors’ orders. How many times do you remember a doctor being around in ECW? The very idea of a DQ in ECW was blasphemy. You can see right here how it’s a WWE show and not an ECW show at all.

This would be a sign of things to come for the company as I’ sure you remember the Zombie being on the first show on Sci-Fi. Yes, as in a dead guy that craves human flesh. It’s as stupid as it sounds. Anyway, ECW was dead and the proof should have started right here. Stupid moment as even Rey winning on a fluke pin would have made more sense here. Just terribly stupid and a way to make ECW look weak from the get go.

Anyway take a guess as to how the fans take this one. The replay shows that it was more or less a jumping DDT to Rey so he should be hurt a good deal worse.

Time for what was called a dream match from Vengeance 2006.

John Cena vs. Sabu

This is an EXTREME LUMBERJACK MATCH which sounds like something off a bad video game. The lumberjacks are Viscera, Trevor Murdoch, Lance Cade, Rob Conway, Snitsky, Matt Striker, Charlie Haas, Val Venis, Tommy Dreamer, Balls Mahoney, Stevie Richards, Little Guido Maritato, Roadkill, Danny Doring, Justin Credible, Al Snow, and The Sandman. Let’s get this over with. Matt Striker pretending to be a wrestler is so cute.

This whole show needs to end like NOW. Cena gets a very mixed reaction to put it mildly. Of course the lumberjacks get in a big showdown and Cena has a black eye from Sabu from Monday. The lumberjacks do their usual thing as I wonder what the point of a lumberjack match is. Were there ever lumberjacks used for one? This turns into a contest of who can throw the other person to the floor the most.

Cena takes a cane shot from Sandman and Sabu hits the Triple Jump as he becomes an Olympian apparently. He hooks that horrible looking one armed camel clutch of his as Cena makes his comeback. And a low blow stops that. Lawler HATES ECW. That’s an understatement if there ever was one. The big fight finally breaks out so Cena goes to the floor and hits an FU on Richards to put him in the crowd. Sabu throws a chair at Cena and it wraps around his head in a cool visual.

Cena pelts it at Sabu and hits an FU over the top through a table. When I say through I mean Sabu hits the edge of the table and looks like he broke his back. He taps to the STFU to just further bury ECW as this wasn’t even 7 minutes.

Rating: D. What a mess this was. I have no idea what the point of this was other than to just get Cena on the card somehow. This wasn’t any good at all and I can’t really blame Sabu for it as this was going to be bad no matter who was in it. I’m still trying to get the point of this and I think it’s in vain.

Sabu would be one of the early big stars on the new ECW. Here’s one of his big matches at Summerslam 2006.

ECW Title: Big Show vs. Sabu

Big Show is defending after Sabu beat Van Dam in a ladder match this past week. It’s extreme rules, which is a rarity for these title matches anymore. Sabu starts fast by swinging a chair and gets a quick one count off the Arabian Facebuster. The chair is set up in the middle of the ring but Big Show drops Sabu face first onto the steel. Big Show crushes the chair with his boot and chops Sabu down with ease.

We hit an early bearhug but Sabu pokes the eyes to escape. A springboard is caught in a fallaway slam from Big Show to send Sabu to the outside. The small one grabs a chair to blast Show in the face before dropkicking it into Show’s face. Sabu it too banged up to immediately cover so it’s only a one count. With nothing else working, Sabu loads up a table in the corner and hits a tornado DDT for no cover.

Sabu finally knocks him through the table off a springboard from the chair but Show pops up and electric chairs Sabu down. A Vader Bomb crushes Sabu and Show brings in two sets of steps. He bridges a table across them but his chokeslam is countered into a DDT through the table. Sabu sets up another table but charges into a chokeslam through it for the pin.

Rating: D. I don’t care. Seriously that’s the first thing that came to my head. This was less than nine minutes and the ending was never in double at all. At least a third of the match was spent setting up the next spot, especially near the end. The early days of WWECW with the old ECW guys were just torture to get through as it was clearly trying to recreate magic and it wasn’t anything of note. Dull match here and it would be several months before ECW picked up.

Sabu would join the ECW Originals in their war with the New Breed at Wrestlemania XXIII.

New Breed vs. ECW Originals

It’s Elijah Burke/Matt Striker/Kevin Thron/Marcus Cor Van vs. Rob Van Dam/Tommy Dreamer/Sabu and for no reason whatsoever this is a regular eight man tag instead of the Extreme Rules match we would get on ECW a few days later. Striker starts with Sabu and Matt is in early trouble. It’s quickly off to Sandman vs. Burke but before Sandy does much he brings in Dreamer. Cor Von hits Dreamer in the back and comes in to pound away a bit.

It’s quickly back to Burke (the New Breed’s leader and more famous as D’Angelo Dinero) for the running knees to the back for two. Thorn comes in to crush Dreamer into the corner and put on a chinlock. Back up and a sitout powerbomb gets two for Thorn and here’s Cor Von again. Burke comes in as well but Dreamer takes them down with a simultaneous neckbreaker/reverse DDT combo. The hot tag brings in Van Dam and there’s the top rope kick to Thorn. Rolling Thunder lands on Striker as everything breaks down. With everyone else on the floor, Van Dam Five Stars Striker for the pin.

Rating: D+. Seriously, why wasn’t this the Extreme Rules match? The whole point of ECW is to be extreme but we got a seven minute tag match which went nowhere at all. The theory was to finally let these guys get on Wrestlemania, but Van Dam had been on it before and won a title here. Nothing to see here at all.

After a few years on the indies, Sabu would head to TNA for Hardcore Justice 2010 and a rematch with his old rival and partner.

Sabu vs. Rob Van Dam

It’s 10:15 so hopefully we’re out before half past the hour. Other than that this is going to go WAY too long. Fonzie is in a yellow jacket and RVD comes out first. The fans say this is classic. Sabu is bald. They start out with a feeling out process because they know each other so well. Sabu does his point to the sky and RVD does his pointing. It would be nice if they actually did something.

In an interesting thing Fonzie sends a chair in but does it right down the middle. We hit the crowd for a bit as the chanting is just idiotic. Sabu botches….something and then the camel clutch is on. The bald guy doesn’t look half bad all things considered. With both guys down, Fonzie throws both of them a bottle of water. Both get tables as a result. Oh this isn’t going to end well.

Van Dam hits some slingshot legdrops and Fonzie tries to revive Sabu. Sabu hits a rana to send RVD into a chair in the middle of the ring. It looked totally fake but not bad at the same time. Clutch is on again for like 2 seconds. Triple Jump Moonsault is blocked by Van Dam and Sabu is bleeding from somewhere. Van Assassin hits (the one footed dropkick into the chair while the guy is crotched) and Sabu to the floor. Ok so that lasts like a second and we’re back now. Morrison, watch an RVD match to see how you do the split legged moonsault, I beg of you. Rolling Thunder to the chair hits for two. Five Star ends it.

Rating: D+. While a mess, this is what it was supposed to be: a war. They beat each other up and it really isn’t as bad as anyone is saying it is. It’s bad, but this is what the match was supposed to be. There was no way it was going to be a classic, but this really wasn’t horrible. It held my attention for the most part and had some decent spots. For the ending to this show, this was bearable.

We’ll wrap it up with Sabu getting a title shot at No Surrender 2010.

X Division Title: Sabu vs. Douglas Williams

They say that this is the only singles title match tonight, which means the TV Title still isn’t on the line, which is a good thing. These X Factor things are again annoying. We get all these things already but we need a Powerpoint presentation to tell us them again? The Bombay, Michigan thing always makes me chuckle. Williams out moves Sabu to start as Sabu isn’t sure what to do here.

He’s one of those guys that can be decent in the ring but when he gets bad he gets really bad. It depends on how insane he goes I guess. We start on the mat a lot which is a nice change of pace. Slingshot legdrop is kind of a slingshot double boot as it sets up the one arm camel clutch. That name always makes me chuckle.

A table is set up at ringside but we get into the ring before it can be used. The fans of course aren’t happy about us sticking to actual wrestling. Taz talks about his rivalry with Sabu, which is a good thing. I’ve long since thought Lawler needs to remind fans that he used to be a wrestler and even a world champion. Most young fans probably don’t know that and it probably would give him credibility.

Sabu brings in a chair but does nothing with it again. Triple jump moonsault is just barely ok as it gets two. Loud Sabu chant which will be validation to keep him around according to Dixie. We hit the mat again and Williams uses some insane spinning chinlock. This hasn’t been great but it’s no trainwreck at all. Sabu goes No Mercy with a springboard back elbow. Williams kicks the chair into Sabu’s balls and gets a gutwrench suplex for two.

Sabu goes for a big assisted dive but can’t quite get it so he just jumps, and I use that word loosely, over the top. Williams is put on the table but Sabu goes through it instead. Was there a point to that being in the match at all? I mean what did that add at all? Hebner tries to get rid of the chair, allowing a belt shot to the head of Sabu to make Williams retain. Well at least he kept the belt.

Rating: C-. This wasn’t bad really. It’s no classic or anything, but this was much better than I was expecting. Sabu didn’t go completely insane and as usual, it was far better that way. Williams definitely should have won and thankfully he did. This was definitely a passable match and a nice surprise in a way.

Sabu is a guy who was very different when he got started and influenced a lot of wrestlers over the years. The problem is that he’s very much like Vince Russo: when you can keep him on a leash and keep him under control, he can be very entertaining. When he goes nuts, everything falls apart and the guy is a disaster. He’s screwed up some things in wrestling, but there are far worse people to watch.

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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And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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Today is a guy that found a character and ran with it for his entire career: Curtis Hughes.

Hughes got started in 1988 in the indies before making it to WCW as the generic monster Big Cat. We’ll pick things up at Clash of the Champions XIII.

Big Cat vs. Brad Armstrong

Big Cat is a large muscular man who would eventually become a bodyguard named Mr. Hughes. He wants Lex Luger in the near future. Cat runs Armstrong over with a shoulder and Brad isn’t sure what to do with him. Brad scores with a quick dropkick but runs into a backbreaker with two more thrown in as a bonus. Another hard shoulder block puts Brad on the mat and we hit the bearhug. That goes nowhere so Cat picks Brad up in Luger’s Torture Rack for the win via referee stoppage.

Rating: D+. Just a squash here to set up the Big Cat vs. Luger match. Cat had a good look and a lot of power but he felt like a monster of the month for Luger or Sting to vanquish down the line. It wasn’t a bad match and it did its job well enough, but there’s only so much quality you can pack into a four minute squash.

Hughes and his buddy Motor City Madman made the mistake of ticking off Sid Vicious. Here’s his punishment at Starrcade 1990.

Motor City Madman/Big Cat vs. Skyscrapers

The Skyscrapers are Sid Vicious, a Horseman at the moment, and Dan Spivey, who are two monsters who liked to destroy people. The Madman and Big Cat went after Sid on a recent Clash of the Champions, so tonight it’s a reunion with Spivey to hurt the annoying guys. It’s a big brawl to start with the Madman being sent to the apron. A double backdrop puts Cat down and a double powerbomb ends the Madman after about a minute. Total and complete domination here.

He would get a shot at the meaningless Six Man Tag Team Titles at WrestleWar 1991.

Six Man Tag Titles: Junkyard Dog/Ricky Morton/Tommy Rich vs. Stage Patrol/Big Cat

Where do I even start? Ok so odds are you haven’t heard of these titles before, and there’s a good reason for that: they were only around for less than nine months. The titles were first won seven days before this show at a live event. Now one might ask why they didn’t have the first champions crowned here on PPV. It’s WCW in 1991. There’s your answer and it’ll answer most of your questions. The State Patrol is Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker and Lt. James Earl Wright, who is most famous for being one half of the State Patrol. Big Cat is Mr. Hughes and he’s one of the challengers here.

Cat and Dog start things off. I think you can see JYD’s gut expanding from here. He hits Cat with some headbutts and it’s off to Morton and Wright. Morton speeds things up with armdrags and it’s off to Rich. Rich slams him down and hooks an armdrag followed by an armbar. Off to Parker who gets the exact same treatment. Back to Morton for some atomic drops and then back to the same armbar again.

The Dog comes back in to crank up the fat levels of this match. Big Cat comes in again and wants a test of strength. That goes nowhere so it’s back to Morton to face the State Patrol on his own. The numbers catch up with him and it’s time for Morton to start selling. Parker drop toeholds him down and Cat hits an elbow for two. Dropkick gets two. Morton slugs back against Parker but gets powerslammed down for two.

The State Patrol keeps up the double teaming, hitting a bulldog for two. Back to Parker as I’m seeing why this team never went anywhere. Cat comes back in for a big old backbreaker for two. Parker misses a charge and there’s the hot tag to JYD. He hits the Thump (powerslam) but Cat makes the save. In a smart move, Morton immediately dives on Parker and gets the pin to retain.

Rating: D. Technically this was barely passable but what in the world was the point to this match? On second thought what was the point to these titles? The match wasn’t any good as it was in essence just a bad TV main event, which doesn’t exactly fire me up for the rest of the show. This was an odd choice all around.

Around this time Big Cat would become Big Cat Hughes and start wrestling in a nice shirt, suspenders and sunglasses. His character was a bodyguard, which he would stick with for the rest of his career. We’ll start things off in Japan at the WCW/New Japan Supershow I.

Big Cat Hughes vs. El Gigante

This is out of order for some reason as this is supposed to be the Steiners tag match. Hughes is for once not the bodyguard character. Gigante is more commonly known as Giant Gonzalez and is about 3-4 inches taller than Khali. He also has about 1/3 of the talent. To give you an idea of his size, when he’s on the floor his head is over the top rope. When he’s in the ring his tights (half shorts) nearly go above the top rope. Where the top turnbuckle would be is the height of his crotch, as in about the chest/shoulders of a guy the height of Cena.

Fonzie of ECW fame is the referee. This is more or less a squash as Hughes is about 315lbs and Gigante slams him with one arm after holding him up for awhile. He sets for a suplex and literally, as in I timed it, holds him in a front facelock while playing to the crowd for 34 seconds before doing anything. Hughes couldn’t step on his foot or something in 34 seconds? Really? A jumping boot sets up the Claw Hold to end it.

Back to America for a Lethal Lottery tag match at Starrcade 1991.

Big Van Vader/Mr. Hughes vs. Rick Steiner/Nightstalker

Nightstalker is a big man who did nothing of note for years until he became Adam Bomb in the WWF. He’s also subbing for the injured Diamond Stud here. Hughes is Big Cat from last year and now a big security guard in a suit. Vader is a monster, weighing 400lbs and running through everyone he ever faces. Rick and Vader start which is probably the best solution for everyone. Vader pounds him upside the head and clotheslines Steiner down before running him over with ease.

Rick gets back up and pounds away with right hands and a Steiner Line to send Vader to the floor. Back in and Steiner somehow manages to suplex Vader down but hurts himself. Hughes, the smaller man on the team at 6’8 and 375lbs, gets the tag. Steiner easily backdrops him down but is hesitant to tag in Nightstalker. A belly to back suplex puts Hughes down but Nightstalker reaches over and tags himself in. He doesn’t pay attention to Vader and is run over by a clothesline. Rick doesn’t realize he was tagged and Vader splashes Nightstalker for the pin.

Rating: D+. I’m a sucker for the Steiners throwing big people around and that’s what we got here. The match was nothing of note, but it was more along the lines of setting up a match between the Steiners and Hughes/Vader, which I don’t remember ever actually happening. Nightstalker was clearly in over his head here, but to be fair he was a replacement.

Here’s that same formula on steroids at Clash of the Champions XVIII.

Steiner Brothers vs. Mr. Hughes/Big Van Vader

Vader makes his Clash in ring debut here and looks like a total monster. He’s about 6’4 and weighs over 400lbs, making Mr. Hughes the smaller member of the team. Scott and Hughes get things going with Hughes wrestling in a suit and suspenders. Hughes is easily taken down twice in a row but gets in a shot to the ribs to take over. He runs Scott over with a shoulder block but Scott comes back with a great looking overhead belly to belly suplex, sending Hughes out to the floor.

Vader comes in and easily throws the Steiners to the floor, so the Brothers come back in with a double clothesline from the same corner to fire the crowd up all over again. Off to Rick with a headlock on Vader but the monster easily slams him down. A quick suplex drops Rick again and Vader just pummels him in the face. Vader easily picks him up for a gorilla press but Rick comes out of the corner with the Steiner Line and a belly to belly suplex.

Another Steiner Line puts Vader on the floor, only to have him come back in with a hard clothesline of his own. Vader goes up top but Rick nails him with a right hand and a belly to belly superplex to bring Vader down. Back to Scott for a German suplex as the crowd is just amazed by these throws. Vader catches a charging Scott in a powerslam before sitting on his chest to break up a sunset flip attempt.

Hughes comes in again but misses a charge into the corner, allowing Rick to come back in off the tag. One of the highest backdrops you’ll ever see puts Hughes down again and everything breaks down. Vader accidentally nails Hughes with a clothesline and Rick hits the top rope bulldog for the pin.

Rating: B. The Steiners continue to do things that should not be humanly possible with those suplexes. Seeing Scott easily throw Vader and Hughes around like that is something that almost has to be seen to be believed and Rick’s were hardly anything to look down on. Awesome stuff here and a great way to wake up the crowd early on.

One more WCW match at WrestleWar 1992.

Mr. Hughes/Cactus Jack vs. Ron Simmons/Junkyard Dog

No idea why Hughes is there instead of Abdullah but whatever. Cactus jumps JYD on the way to the ring and beats the living tar out of him. And people wonder why I love Foley. Being this insane wasn’t done back in the day so Jack was definitely a scary character back then. Simmons was a hot thing back then and would be world champion in the fall. JYD gets taken off so this more or less becomes a singles match.

Mr. Hughes vs. Ron Simmons

Officially isn’t a handicap but Jack is acting like a manager here. You could really tell they were getting the idea of how useful Foley could be around this time and it worked. Simmons beats them both up and I’m sure this had nothing to do with the racial issues going on behind the scenes at this point. I always liked him back then though as he was kind of a Rock like character as he was a beast athletically but not much on the mic at all.

We get a Bill Watts reference but I don’t think he had taken over yet. Hughes was a guy that I never got the appeal of but he did his job very well as a big monster that anyone could bring in for a quick feud with a face. This is a glorified squash for Simmons as there was no way he was going to lose here. Simmons hits a spinebuster and after Cactus comes in a shot to the knee ends it. Kind of weird.

Rating: D+. Nothing that special here but it was a way to get Simmons over which was the idea here. It was also less than six minutes long which was a good thing for them here as Hughes was never really that good. Jack vs. Simmons would turn out to be a decent little match and feud but it never went anywhere due to Watts and the NWA screwing it up.

Hughes would sign with the WWF as the monster bodyguard in 1993. Here’s one of his first Raw matches on May 31, 1993.

Mr. Hughes vs. Bert Centeno

Hughes throws Bert around with ease before hammering away at his back. A big boot gets two with Hughes pulling him up at two. Mr. chokes on the mat and finishes with a Boss Man Slam. Total squash.

Off to the 1993 King of the Ring.

First Round: Mr. Hughes vs. Mr. Perfect

Perfect gets a very nice pop. Heenan being sick of Perfect is great too. Savage keeps referring to this as the finals for some reason. Hughes beat Kamala and Perfect had to beat Doink three times to get here. Heenan goes on a rant about how he made perfect and Ross just says wrong. That was great. Hughes is of course dominating but he’s just not that good at all.

He’s very limited in the ring but to be fair for someone his size there’s only so much he even has to do. Perfect bumps on a level that is usually only reserved for Shawn and Flair. Bret is shown in an inset about who he’d rather face and he actually gives an answer, saying he would rather fight Perfect.

That’s not something you hear that often. Perfect makes his comeback and actually hits a backdrop on Hughes. It kind of sucked but there we are. In a very stupid ending, Hughes just grabs the urn and blasts Perfect with it. Well ok then that’s one way to end it. That was dumb.

Rating: D+. This was just bad. Hughes just flat out wasn’t interesting at all as he was such an incredibly bland character. I mean seriously, he’s a bodyguard for hire. At least with Diesel they weren’t mercenaries but were characterized as the main guy’s friends. Hughes was the main guy and that’s just a failure. Perfect did everything he could out there, but he can’t make a good match out of nothing, and that’s what he was asked to do here.

Hughes wouldn’t last long in the WWF as he would head to ECW soon after as Shane Douglas’ bodyguard. Here’s a match from some point in 1994.

911 vs. Curtis Hughes

They stare each other down and talk a lot of trash to start before a collision goes nowhere. Hughes hammers away to take over before hitting a pretty good chokeslam for two. 911 Hulks Up but a low blow puts him right back down. Curtis Hughes loads up the Boss Man Slam but 911 just stops him cold. A HUGE chokeslam (and remember that Hughes is probably about 400lbs) gives 911 the pin.

Rating: D+. That chokeslam at the end brought this way up. This was basically a battle of the bodyguards so the match was only going to be so good. It’s also a good thing that they kept this really short instead of letting them bore everyone to death. 911 wasn’t much to see but when he started beating people up, he could be very fun.

After several years on the indies (and some time as HHH’s bodyguard where he didn’t wrestle on TV), Hughes would return to the WWF in 1999. Here he on Raw, September 13, 1999.

Chris Jericho vs. Gotch Gracie

Gotch is in a mask. Jericho has only been around for about two weeks at this point. He’s feuding with Ken Shamrock to start, so this is inside a cage against a Gracie. You MMA fans will get the joke. Jericho quickly takes him down to start and cranks on the leg to make Gracie tap. That’s not enough for Jericho though so he puts on an abdominal stretch and lets it go before Gracie can tap. A brainbuster gets the posing cover for two before the Liontamer gets the real submission. Total joke of course but I chuckled.

Gracie would unmask as Mr. Hughes, setting up this match on Smackdown, September 16, 1999.

Curtis Hughes vs. Ken Shamrock

Hughes now wrestles in a shiny blue shirt with no sleeves. Jericho brings out El Dopo to referee, which may or may not be Jericholic Howard Finkel under a mask. Shamrock charges the ring to double leg Hughes and hammer away. Hughes backdrops him out to the floor and sends him into the barricade.

It doesn’t have a ton of effect though as Shamrock throws him into the post and steps. He makes the mistake of chasing Jericho though, allowing Hughes to take over. Jericho chokes with a rope as Dopo watches on. Back in and Hughes drops an elbow but gets caught in the ankle lock. Curtis grabs the ropes and Dopo DQ’s Shamrock after about half a second.

Rating: D. More angle advancement here with Jericho ticking Shamrock off before their showdown at Unforgiven. There wasn’t much to the match but there wasn’t supposed to be. Hughes did his thing here and there’s nothing wrong with a guy there for one single idea, especially when he looks as tough as Curtis.

Jericho and Hughes would team up on Heat, October 10, 1999.

Dudley Boys vs. Chris Jericho/Curtis Hughes

The Dudleys are brand new here as well. D-Von and Hughes get things going with the Dudley nailing a big shoulder block. Hughes comes back with a clothesline and brings in Jericho to face Bubba. Chris hammers him down and hits the Lionsault for no cover. Back to Hughes who walks into a sidewalk slam for two as the announcers talk about some mud wrestling from Raw. Hughes runs over D-Von until Bubba trips him up to take over. Jericho calls Hughes an idiot and I don’t see this ending well for him. Curtis goes over for a tag and Chris walks out. The 3D ends this quick.

Rating: D+. This was the beginning of the end for Hughes but it’s not like he was going to last long either way. That’s the kind of character he has: someone you bring in for a few weeks to advance a character and then let him go. The Dudleys were still getting things together in the WWF but they would take off soon.

From the next night on Raw.

Headbangers vs. Curtis Hughes/Chris Jericho

Mosh launches Jericho into a hotshot to start before throwing him into the Tree of Woe. Off to Thrasher who gets caught in a butterfly backbreaker before Hughes comes in for a headlock. The Headbangers take him into the corner for some stomping but Hughes comes back with a clothesline to Mosh. Back to Jericho who grabs the Walls but Thrasher makes the save. A double flapjack plants Jericho and Hughes tries to make a save, only to hit his partner. Jericho decks Hughes and walks out again, setting up the worst Stage Dive (powerbomb/legdrop combo) I’ve ever seen for the pin.

Rating: D. I think we’ve covered this already.

Here’s the blowoff on Smackdown, October 14, 1999.

Chris Jericho vs. Curtis Hughes

They slug it out in the aisle to start with Jericho sending him into the steps before the bell. A missile dropkick gets two but Hughes hammers away in the corner. Jericholic Howard Finkel slides in a chair and offers a distraction so Jericho can blast Hughes in the head for the pin.

As I said, Hughes is a guy that took a very basic character and ran with it for years. He’s still on the indies (minus about 150lbs) as the same character and it’s going to work until he retires. It’s such a basic character that you can work it into a ton of stories and that’s something very good to fall back on. His matches weren’t great but he played his role very well and looked intimidating.

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:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Thunder
Date: April 29, 1999
Location: Bryce Jordan Center, State College, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko

The question coming out of Monday is will anything that happens tonight actually mean anything. Nitro saw two World Title changes resulting in Diamond Dallas Page winning and losing the title on the same show. We’re still on the way to Slamboree with Nash vs. Page for the title and Flair vs. Piper (both of whom may be fired) for control of the company. Let’s get to it.

After the opening sequence, we get some clips of Flair in the hospital on Monday. Thankfully Scott Hall’s bizarre cameo is omitted.

TV Title: Booker T. vs. Curt Hennig

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

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

Rating: D+. That sleeper just crippled anything the match had going for it. This Booker vs. Stevie stuff isn’t the most interesting story in the world but maybe they’ll actually have a match as a result unlike Rick and Scott. Hennig was coming back from an injury here and he didn’t look like his usual self.

Hotline plug

The Nitro Girls are getting their own site.

Video on Nash.

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

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

WCW will be on QVC soon.

Video on Goldberg.

Here’s Buff…..dressed like Scott Steiner. Oh this could be good. Tenay: “I would say that’s a Buff Bagwell imitation of Big Papa Pump.” You can’t buy analysis like this people! Buff talks about partying at Penn State and how much it made him realize Michigan really sucks. He’s nailing the screech in Steiner’s voice. Buff tells us to close our eyes and picture the Big Bad Doodoo Daddy.

He was at Motel 6 watching BET last night to find more lines to steal and came up with this one: “I’m not a player. I’m just on parole a lot.” If Bagwell wants a US Title shot at Slamboree, that’s what Buff is going to get. He’ll show Bagwell that there’s no bigger liar than Scott Steiner. Flush him if you hear him. This really wasn’t as funny as it could have been but the voice was awesome.

Jerry Flynn vs. Stevie Ray

Ray hammers on him in the corner to start but gets caught by some kicks. Jerry catches one of Stevie’s kicks and turns it into an ankle lock. That goes nowhere so Jerry tries an armdrag into a cross armbreaker. Vincent offers a distraction and Horace comes in to break it up because the Black and White are a bunch of inept morons. After a beatdown on the floor, Stevie slams him down and drops a leg for two. Jerry pops up and nails a spinkick, only to get distracted by Horace so Ray can hit a bad looking Slapjack for the pin.

Rating: D-. Does anyone else find it sad that the Wolfpac is basically done but we have the Black and White stooges around, taking the whole group to beat up Jerry Flynn? Stevie just isn’t any good in the ring and it’s showing here. He’s one of those wrestlers whose offense consists of forearms to the back and a lot of shouting. Granted that’s better than Flynn who can’t even talk.

Hardcore Hak vs. Kevin Nash

Hak loads up a ladder and table before Nash’s music hits. He charges at Nash to start but Big Kev grabs a kendo stick to send Hak into the corner. Nash picks him up for a suplex onto the ladder before driving it into Hak’s ribs over and over. The table is set up in the corner but Hak reverses a whip to send Kev through it.

Some kendo stick shots put Nash down and puts the ladder on top of him for the slingshot legdrop. Nash is sent hands first into the ladder but he grabs the stick to blast Hak in the ribs. He can’t follow up though and Hak nails him a few more times to put Nash back down. A top rope swanton onto the ladder onto Nash gets two. Chastity comes in with a fire extinguisher but Nash takes it away and blasts Hak. The Jackknife through the table is enough for the pin.

Rating: D. This was a few steps ahead of the usual hardcore stuff and it’s mainly due to having less weapons than the other matches. There were only a few in this one as opposed to the dozen or so that we usually get. It also helped that there was some actual wrestling in between the spots instead of weapon shot after weapon shot. It’s still bad but it at least resembled a match.

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

This Week In WCW Motorsports.

Goldberg vs. Meng

We get a very loud Goldberg chant out of nowhere. That’s as obvious of a piped in chant as I’ve ever heard. They trade slams to start and Meng bails to the outside. Back in and Meng rakes the eyes to take over before planting Goldberg with a backbreaker for two. Goldberg pops up with a kick to the face and a powerslam of his own, only to get his eyes raked again. Meng hammers away with various chops, kicks and punches before superkicking Goldberg down for two. More punches have very little effect and Goldberg pops up with a superkick, setting up the spear and Jackhammer for the pin.

Rating: D+. Basically a longer version of the standarg Goldberg match. He had to try a bit here but Meng has gone from unstoppable killing machine to standard power heel. They did such a great job of setting him up as a one off challenger last year but now this is the best we can get. It’s a sign of the times for WCW.

Page comes out to talk about what happened on Monday and thanks people like the Masked Assassin, Jake Roberts and Dusty Rhodes for helping him out. He doesn’t think much of the fans though and tells those who got on the bandwagon to “no not suck it. Jump off!” We get some good old fashioned cheap heat when Page asks what town we’re in. He’ll give Bigelow the shot tonight, even though the fans don’t deserve it.

QVC promo.

Slamboree ad.

Randy Savage vs. Disciple

Savage has Miss Madness, Madusa and Gorgeous George with him here. Why he’s playing a face here after helping the heel Page out on Monday isn’t clear. Randy grabs an armbar to start before they shove each other around a lot. Disciple gets taken down and chinlocked before it’s back to the armbar, followed by another chinlock for a change of pace. Choking ensues and Savage drills him with an elbow to the jaw for two.

Disciple fights back with his wide range of punches, kicks and choking before dropping an elbow for two. We hit a chinlock on Savage as this isn’t quite the same level I’m used two with Macho. More punching and choking from Disciple before Savage throws him to the floor out of boredom. Savage is sent into the barricade and Disciple puts on the sleeper on the floor. Madusa makes a save and sends Disciple into the post before Savage sends him back in for the big elbow and the pin.

Rating: D-. Of all the people on WCW’s roster for Savage’s first real match back, they pick Disciple? The match was horrible and most of it was due to Savage having nothing to work with. Disciple’s entire offense was built around punching and choking which really doesn’t make for a well done match. Also, Savage needed help from the girls to beat the Disciple? Really?

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

Hardcore and Page is defending of course. Page slugs away to start but gets knocked out to the floor with a big right hand. Back in and Bigelow drops him throat first across the top rope, sending Page back outside for another breather. It’s time to bring in some weapons but Page dives over the top to take Bigelow back.

We take a break and come back with Bigelow knocking him down the aisle before taking Page over to the announcers’ table. He loads up a regular table but Page rolls away, sending Bigelow crashing down onto the concrete. Page sends him into the barricade a few times and they come back towards the ring with the champion in control. More weapons are brought in though and a trashcan to Page’s back gets two on the floor.

They head back inside for the top rope headbutt from Bam Bam but Page is up at two. A side slam gets the same but Page comes back with a discus lariat for a near fall of his own. The floatover DDT drops Bigelow but the referee gets bumped. Bigelow gets two off a suplex but Page low blows him for the same. Greetings From Asbury Park is countered into the Diamond Cutter….and Savage comes out to drop a big elbow on Bigelow for good measure. Page gets the easy pin.

Rating: D. I really don’t see the need for this to be a hardcore match. The Savage thing didn’t need to be there as Bigelow was out cold before Macho came out. I like Page winning matches on TV, but he needs to do something different in the ring as he’s basically having the same matches he was before save for the occasional low blow.

Overall Rating: D+. This show tried for a change and I’m sure it has nothing to do with WWF having a pilot for some show called Smackdown at the same time. It was another show that didn’t need to exist, but I definitely prefer a show with a bunch of people I kind of care about over a show with a bunch of people I barely recognize. The hardcore matches for the guys in the main event were annoying but bareable, which is more than I can usually say for this show.

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:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

We’re going back to the 90s again for a look at the second full year of Monday Nitro. The previous year closed out with WCW on a hot streak but things would pick up even more in the coming year. WCW would go on a run that had the WWF and Monday Night Raw not only on the ropes but on the brink of death.

Over the course of the year, Nitro was must see TV with action, drama, violence and the NWO running roughshod all over WCW. The stories were as compelling as ever and made you want to come back the next week to see what was going to happen. In addition to the top story, 1997 also saw the rise of the future with stars such as Rey Mysterio Jr., Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Goldberg becoming some of the most interesting parts of the show.

In this book, we’ll look at every episode of Monday Nitro from 1997 and see why they were so unstoppable all year. Each show is broken down segment by segment and match by match with historical context, ratings and analysis of what worked or didn’t work about each segment and how the shows added up to being so successful for WCW.

The books runs over 400 pages on a Kindle and only costs $3.99, or the equivalent in other currencies. If you don’t have a Kindle or e-book reader, there are several FREE apps you can use to read it on pretty much any electronic device. You can find those from Amazon here.

You can pick up the book from Amazon here.

From the UK Amazon here.

From the Canadian Amazon here.

Or if you’re in another country with its own Amazon page, just search KB History of Monday Nitro and my books will be the first things that pop up.

Also you can still get any of my previous books on the WWE Championship, Monday Night Raw from 1998 and 2001, Monday Nitro from 1995-96, In Your House, Summerslam, Starrcade, ECW Pay Per Views and Clash of the Champions at my author’s page here.

I hope you like it and shoot me any questions you might have.

KB

Monday Nitro #186
Date: April 26, 1999
Location: Fargodome, Fargo, North Dakota
Attendance: 11,482
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone

Things are shaking up with less than two weeks to go before Slamboree. The two people in the upcoming World Title match have flipped sides and allegedly Flair has flipped his lid, even though he really hasn’t done much to back that up. I have a bad feeling about some of the stuff we’re going to have to sit through tonight. Let’s get to it.

In Memory of Rick Rude, which they actually spell using his real name.

We open with a recap of the major points of last week’s show with a focus on the Piper/Flair stuff and the ending with what I guess you would call a double turn.

Now we’re at the mental hospital and this can’t end well. A doctor and nurse have the most painfully scripted conversation you can imagine, talking about how Flair is treating this place like a hotel. The nurse tells the patients that there will be no Nitro tonight when Flair’s music comes on. He struts in wearing his robe and University of Florida boxers, talking about how this is his hotel. Flair watches the TV, meaning he’s watching himself in theory. He dances with the nurse who eventually walks away disgusted. I can’t say I disagree.

Opening sequence.

JJ Dillon is with Charles Robinson and says that Robinson is Vice President of WCW. Since Flair is out of action, Robinson is in charge and above the Commissioner. This is going to be a LONG night.

Nitro Girls.

Tenay is filling in for a sick Heenan. He and Tony are fine after weeks of bickering before the announce teams were split.

Here’s Piper to get things going in the arena. Piper thinks he’s in charge now with Flair gone so Randy Savage is reinstated and getting a US Title shot tonight. He mentions Page which brings out the champion to a loud chorus of boos. Piper wants Page to defend against Sting tonight but Page doesn’t seem to thrilled with the idea. Roddy goes to leave and then makes the match for 9pm sharp.

DJ Ran.

Konnan vs. Brian Adams

This is fallout from the Black and White attacking Konnan last week. After some catchphrases, Konnan quickly takes Adams into the corner for ten punches, only to get caught by an atomic drop and clothesline. An elbow to the back of the head has Konnan in trouble and a gorilla press gutbuster gets two. We hit a bad looking reverse chinlock on Konnan. Dude at least crank on it or flex a bit. Adams crotches himself while trying to jump on Konnan’s back but stops the comeback with a powerslam. Konnan comes right back with the usual and hooks the Sunrise but the NWO runs in for the DQ.

Rating: D-. What else were you expecting from something like this? Neither guy was exactly a ring general and the moves they were using ranged from sloppy to just bad looking. I guess the Black and White was trying to prove a point but this was a rather dull way to go about it.

Video on Sting.

The announcers talk about Page vs. Sting.

The Horsemen have attacked Kidman and Saturn, making the next match a handicap match.

Scott Armstrong/Steve Armstrong vs. Raven

After ranting about fat women in operas, Raven quickly escapes a double team attempt in the corner and bulldogs the brothers down. It’s already chair time with both Armstrongs taking the drop toehold onto the steel. Steve finally gets in a shot on Raven but winds up hitting his brother a few seconds later. Both guys take ten right hands in the corner but Scott finally nails a superkick to get a breather. The breather is short lived though as his second superkick hits his brother, allowing Raven to DDT Scott for two. Scott pops up and nails Raven with the chair though and actually gets the upset pin.

Rating: D+. This was short and energetic, but was there any real need to have Raven lose here? The Armstrongs are about as low level of a tag team as you can have in this company but they get a pin over a guy getting a title shot in a few weeks? This is more of the odd booking this company has been using lately.

Raven beats up the Armstrongs again post match, making the booking even more head scratching.

Flair calls Robinson to yell about Piper having power. He wants the National Guard called in to deal with this and yells at other patients to stop touching his robe. Flair hangs up and walks off with a very muscular nurse.

We look at the same package that opened the show.

Gene brings out Charles Robinson for a chat. He says that Piper has no authority here but we’ll still get Sting vs. Page tonight. This brings out Piper to call him a leprechaun, causing Robinson to slap him in the face. Security comes down to arrest Piper and Robinson fires him for good measure. The match with Flair is still on at Slamboree of course.

WCW World Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sting

Page is defending. Sting is wearing white wraps on his feet and a necklace of all things. The champion is quickly shoved down to start but he comes back with a big right hand. Sting easily wins a slugout and knocks Page back to the floor for a breather. Back in and Page drives in the shoulders but Sting sends him outside again. This time Sting goes after him and rams Page face first into the announcers’ table.

Back in and the Stinger Splash connects but Page makes the ropes to avoid the Scorpion. Page bails again and gets some water before heading back inside where Sting hammers away. The champ slows things down with a hammerlock and a big clothesline. They head outside and up the aisle with Sting dropping him throat first across the barricade. A slam in the aisle has Page in trouble but the referee reminds Sting that he can only win the title in the ring.

Sting takes him back inside for some right hands in the corner but a low blow and hot shot stops Sting cold. A belly to back suplex drops Sting again but he comes back with the shoulder block and falling low blow. Page is up first though and rakes the paint off Sting’s face. Some slaps fire Sting up again but Page grabs a swinging neckbreaker for two. The champ hits a low blow of his own and chokes away in the corner.

Page wraps the knee around the post but Sting kicks him into the barricade. Now things speed up with Sting’s shots to the face and bulldog followed by the top rope splash for two. They head outside again with Sting being sent into the barricade. Page grabs something like a Diamond Cutter across the top rope but Sting comes back with ten face rams into the buckle and the last one onto the mat.

A sitout powerbomb gets two for the champion and a big lariat drops Sting again. Back up and Sting grabs a piledriver but kneels down like a tombstone for two. Now he tries a regular tombstone and finally plants him for a VERY close two. The fans are totally behind Sting here. Page comes back with a jumping floatover DDT for two more but Sting blocks the Diamond Cutter out of the corner and grabs the Death Drop for the pin and the title.

Rating: B+. This took awhile to get going but the last few minutes of this were awesome. As is almost always the case, there’s no substitute for a long, good match and that’s what we got here. This is actually a bit ahead of the Goldberg match for Page which is quite the accomplishment. Really good stuff here and the best main event style match WCW has had in forever. Also, how nice was it to not have any commercials in this?

More Flair yelling at Robinson with Ric telling him to make Sting vs. Goldberg for Slamboree. One of the inmates is now called AAA.

Cruiserweight Title: Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Psychosis

Psychosis is defending for a change. The champ grabs a headlock to start and takes Rey down to the mat, only to miss a Stinger Splash in the corner. Psychosis counters a headscissors by dropping Rey throat first across the top rope. He lifts Rey up for a powerbomb and drops his face onto the top turnbuckle in a vicious looking crash. A reversal suplex drops Rey over the top rope again and a dropkick sends him to the apron.

Psychosis charges at him but they both fall to the floor with Rey taking over for the first time. Rey’s superplex is countered into something like a falcon’s arrow. The Horsemen come out to grab the Tag Team Titles but Rey dives on both of them. Psychosis gets in a cheap shot to take over but Rey comes back with a tornado DDT out of nowhere for the pin and the title.

Rating: C-. What in the world was the point of this? Rey is now a five time Cruiserweight Champion and Psychosis’ seven days as champion is the only break from Mysterio, Kidman and Guerrera as champion since August. It’s ok to let someone else in there for a change and I don’t see why Psychosis had to lose the belt this fast. Let him beat a few low level guys to give the division a chance to breathe a bit.

The Horsemen destroy Rey post match.

Nash comes out and says he’s been told his title shot at Slamboree has been turned into Goldberg vs. Sting. That’s not cool with him but he’d like a four way tonight with Page, Goldberg and Sting, winner takes all.

Flair calls Robinson and says make the four way. He hits on the nurse a bit more and they try some amateur wrestling stuff until the nurse from earlier comes up to glare at them.

Erik Watts vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Please make it quick. Thankfully there aren’t any weapons in sight for this one. Bigelow misses a charge in the corner and gets caught in a springboard bulldog. Erik tries a hurricanrana but winds up backdropping Bigelow instead. It’s somehow worse than it sounds. Bigelow pops up with a big clothesline followed by the Swan Dive and Greetings From Asbury Park for the pin. At least it was short.

Sting comes out sans belt but with fresh paint. He’s up for a four way tonight.

TV Title: Booker T. vs. Meng

Booker is defending. A hard shoulder puts the champ down but he comes back with a forearm and dropkick. Booker shrugs off some forearms and slams Meng a few times, only to walk into a powerslam for two. That gets Meng nowhere as Booker nails his pair of kicks but the side kick sends Meng into the referee. This brings out Stevie Ray as the ax kick takes out Meng. Booker crotches himself on the ropes after missing another kick. There’s the Tongan Death Grip but Stevie nails Meng with the slap jack, giving Booker the pin.

Rating: C-. This didn’t have enough time to go anywhere but Meng was just there to give Booker someone to beat up to retain the title. The Stevie Ray and Booker T stuff needs to go away. The team is done and Booker is on his way to becoming something big in the singles division. Stevie is just kind of dragging Booker down at this point and that’s not good.

Post match Rick Steiner of all people comes out and beats on Stevie until Booker pulls him off. Booker and Steiner yell at each other, likely setting up Booker’s next challenger.

Video on Nash.

We get a special look at Hogan’s knee surgery. Bischoff had to talk him into getting it done because Hogan wants to beat up Page.

Video on Goldberg.

Back to the hospital where Flair tells Robinson to make Steiner vs. Booker T. for Slamboree and make the main event tonight No DQ. Flair teaches some patient to dance….and here’s Scott Hall in patient clothes to throw a toothpick at Ric. Naturally, no one talks about this or ever brings it up again.

Brian Knobbs vs. Hardcore Hak vs. Horace vs. Mikey Whipwreck

This is hardcore and the winner of this gets Bigelow at the PPV. Everyone has a kendo stick and Hak stays on the floor to start. He finally gets in and all three guys beat him down with the sticks. Knobbs brings in a ladder to splash onto Hak for two. We actually take a break in this match and come back to see Horace hitting Knobbs with a Surge barrel.

Brian nails Hak with a ladder but Hak knocks him to the floor. A table is set up on the floor but Knobbs uses the weapons cart on Hak. Back in the ring and Horace kicks Mikey in the face as Knobbs chairs Hak. Mikey drops a leg onto a chair onto Brian’s head as the table has been bridged between the apron and barricade.

The Surge container comes back in and Hak slides in another table. Horace beats on Hak with the weightlifting belt on the floor as Chastity sprays someone with the fire extinguisher. Hak dives over the top but only hits table but pops right up to nail Knobbs with a stick. Not that it matters as Knobbs sends Hak to the floor and drops the ladder on Mikey for the pin.

Rating: F. When half of the people in your match have jobs because of Hulk Hogan, you can tell it’s not going to be much to see. This was the usual hardcore mess with nothing interesting save for some product placement from Surge. These are getting less and less interesting and it’s going to get even worse in the future.

US Title: Randy Savage vs. Scott Steiner

Steiner is defending and has something to say before the match. He doesn’t like a lot of what Piper does but he does like this match with Savage. Randy comes out with an unnamed woman in a gown wearing a sash like a beauty pageant contestant. Steiner wants one more stipulation though: if he wins, he gets to spend some time with George. Robinson is refereeing in most of a suit. They circle each other and do a lot of pointing for a minute or so before finally locking up. Steiner shoves him into Robinson….and that’s a DQ.

Post match the three girls strip Robinson down to his University of Florida boxers, just like Flair.

Video on George training. This is exactly what you would expect.

WCW World Title: Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash

Sting is defending after having won the title earlier tonight. The match begins after a break with Page off in the crowd, leaving Goldberg and Sting to beat on Nash in the corner. Now it’s Goldberg getting double teamed before the champion has to fight off both monsters. Goldberg suplexes Nash but Sting breaks up the cover. Page is back at ringside as Goldberg has knocked both guys down. A powerslam drops Sting for two as Page still hasn’t come in.

Goldberg loads up the spear but Page breaks it up from the apron and comes in with a neckbreaker for two. Nash DIVES to break up the pin and thankfully there isn’t a quad laying on the mat as a result. Sting gets jumped from behind by Nash but comes back with right hands to the jaw. Goldberg and Page are both down until Page goes to the corner, earning himself a Stinger Splash. The other two get Splashes of their own and Sting is the only man standing.

Nash pops back to his feet and cleans house by booting them all in the face. Goldberg breaks up a Jackknife on Page before choking Page on the mat. He sends Page to the floor but gets taken down by Sting. The champ hammers away on Nash in the corner until Page comes back in with a low blow for the save. Now it’s Goldberg slamming Page but taking a Stinger Splash. Nash keeps trying to steal pins in a smart move.

There’s a side slam to Sting for two and Goldberg superkicks Page down to give Nash the same. Goldberg dives at Page but rams his head into Page’s knee to scramble his brains. Nash chokes Sting in the corner but misses a big boot. He gets caught in the Scorpion but Sting lets go, only to get speared down by Goldberg. The Jackhammer plants Sting but Savage breaks it up for no apparent reason. Savage throws Page some knuckles to knock Nash out before a Diamond Cutter (Nash turned to the side so it was half Cutter and half neckbreaker) gives Page the belt back.

Rating: C+. Dang it’s a good thing Savage joined up with Page. We almost had more than two top good guys in the whole company (I don’t think Piper counts when seemingly no one can stand him). This was energetic with Nash doing more work than I’ve seen him do in years. Page winning the title back is odd but it’s pretty tame given some of the stuff WCW has done in recent weeks.

Page runs through the crowd to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Much like last week, the wrestling is more than good enough to make this a watchable show. However, the stories are so out there that they drags things back down. Basically we’re right back where we were when Nitro came on the air last week, other than Flair being in a mental hospital with Scott Hall. Mysterio has the title back, Page is still champion, and we’re still looking at Page vs. Nash for the title at Slamboree.

That’s why these title changes make me shake my head at WCW. They had an idea that could have drawn a good rating with Page vs. Sting and it makes sense to put it on right when Raw starts. What doesn’t make sense is giving that match about fifty minutes of build. That could have easily headlined a big PPV but instead they decided to give it less than an hour?

If that’s not enough, we have a big gimmick match for the title which also could have headlined a PPV, so it gets about ninety minutes of build and most people probably didn’t hear about it. This impatience is maddening when you could build this stuff up for weeks instead of minutes. They’re pouring away what could be millions of dollars in PPV money for the sake of maybe beating Raw for one night. The fact that this show had a bigger gap than the week before or the week after should have been a hint but WCW never seemed to learn.

Let’s go back to something mentioned earlier: Ric Flair is currently in a mental hospital and happened to run into Scott Hall. Nothing is mentioned of this again, Scott didn’t say a word, and I highly doubt we’ll see Scott again for several months. That’s not something you should be able to just see and walk past, but WCW apparently doesn’t feel the need to address this and thinks we’ll just kind of go along with it. It comes off like a joke and that’s not the kind of thing you should be seeing on national TV in a segment that is stupid already.

Overall this was a good show, but the stupid stuff is REALLY stupid and drags down the rest of the show. This also needs to be an hour less which is standard for almost all wrestling shows. They just do not need to be three hours and the extra hour always hurts things. You make this two hours and have Flair at the arena in a suit instead of being in a hospital and the show is about twice as good.

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:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LWSOTGK

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

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.

 

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Here’s an 80s pretty boy: Tom Zenk.

Zenk got his start in 1984 and we’ll pick things up in his rookie year against Jimmy Garvin in the AWA.

Jimmy Garvin vs. Tom Zenk

After a good while spent on getting Garvin’s clothes off, we’re ready to go. Jimmy grabs a headlock to take him down to the mat but Zenk fights up with a slam. Garvin starts cranking on the leg to slow things down until Tom counters into a chinlock. That goes nowhere as Garvin hammers away on him in the corner. Off to a chinlock on Zenk for a bit before Jimmy throws him out to the floor. Garvin chokes on the rope but Tom comes back in with a hiptoss, only to miss a dropkick. Back up and Tom runs into a boot in the corner, setting up Garvin’s brainbuster for the pin.

Rating: D+. Garvin was better than his most famous period would suggest but this wasn’t the most interesting match in the world. Zenk was pretty generic here but that’s what you have to expect from a rookie like this. It was your standard chinlock/choke match which can only go so far.

Still in the AWA on January 10, 1985 in Winnipeg.

Nick Bockwinkel vs. Tom Zenk

Feeling out process to start with Nick quickly taking him down off a headlock. Back up and the slow start continues until Nick throws him out to the floor. Zenk comes back in and gets sent face first into the buckle, only to nail a dropkick and hiptoss for two. Bockwinkel sidesteps the other dropkick though and nails the piledriver for the pin. Short and almost a squash here.

Off to 1986, still in the AWA.

Masked Superstar vs. Tom Zenk

In theory that’s Ax of Demolition. Superstar has one of the top heel managers, Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie, in his corner. The masked man hammers away against the ropes and plants Zenk with a hard slam. A stiff right hand to the face has Zenk reeling and Superstar throws him out to the floor. Back in and a running clothesline sets up a swinging neckbreaker to pin Zenk.

Zenk would get hired by the WWF to be part of the next young, fast paced tag team. He and Rick Martel would hook up as the Can-Am Connection with one of their earlier matches taking place on Superstars, January 24, 1987.

Don Muraco/Bob Orton vs. Can-Am Connection

This would eventually open Mania III. I’ve always liked that one so this should be at least good too. They start immediately which is fun. Danny Davis is the referee here. Fink does his third voiceover of the night. Dang he’s getting paid tonight. We have Martel vs. Orton here. The Connection was good but I’ll take Strike Force any day. Fuji calls out the Connection in an inset interview. Speed vs. what you could call power I guess is always fun.

Zenk was good but his attitude was absurd. This isn’t as good as Mania would be but it’s ok for what it is. Also that’s what a show like this is for: polishing for the major show which I’d certainly say Mania was. You know, just the biggest card of all time. It’s a big brawl and they throw it out. Solid until then I guess.

Rating: C-. Not bad for what it was. It’s rare enough to see four big names in a match here but this worked fine. The Connection was a good team and the heels were always good for a quick one. Decent enough for a power vs. speed match, even though Muraco and Orton weren’t the strongest team in the world.

Something WWF would do a lot of back in the day was one night tag team tournament for a title shot later in the night. One of these took place in Toronto on March 15, 1987. Here are the Connection’s two matches.

First Round: Jerry Allen/Dan Spivey vs. Can-Am Connection

This is a very odd choice for a team here. Mike Rotunda had left and Spivey had no partner. Allen on the other hand….was a jobber. He’s kind of like the Carlito of his day, minus the credibility. Yeah think of him like that. Allen and Spivey get no reaction. Can-Ams are the young pretty boys who get big girl pops. Jimmy talks about his clients’ three matches at Mania, including saying that Alice Cooper couldn’t carry a tune if it had handles on it.

That line would be in Honky Tonk Man’s future song, so I wonder who wrote that one. Valiant is REALLY annoying. Allen and Zenk start us off. Wow I’d be so riveted to this match. They botch a leap frog. That’s hard to do. Jimmy lists off some songs his band had. For those of you that don’t know, Hart was in a mainstream band called the Gents and they actually weren’t that bad. They toured with the Beach Boys in the 60s.

We hit the formula stuff so that’s fine. They mention Allen isn’t Spivey’s full time partner. At this time, Valiant is Demolition’s manager. This isn’t very interesting at all. To be fair that could be due to a lack of heel talent. There’s a lot of that going around tonight apparently. This match has been 80% rest holds. Everyone comes in at once and in a pretty weak looking spot, Martel hits Allen with a cross body for the pin.

Rating: D. Just boring as all all goodness here. It was mainly due to the terrible heel team though so I can’t complain much there. The Connection was pretty solid though so I have to give them the benefit of the doubt here. Just a bad match overall though as Allen and Spivey seeming to be a thrown together team.

Semi-Finals: Can-Am Connection vs. Demolition

Demolition is kind of popular here, foreshadowing their face turn…a year and a half from now. Ok so it’s not foreshadowing at all. This is apparently a main event in any arena in the entire world. When anyone says that, the first thing that comes to my mind: WHY IS IT NOT MAIN EVENTING THIS SHOW THEN??? Demolition is dominating for the most part here as you would expect them to. What follows is more or less as basic of a match as you could possibly ask for.

This simply isn’t much to talk about but it’s not bad. Demolition dominates for a good while until Martel gets the hot tag. Everyone comes in, the legal guys go to the floor, Zenk hits the post, and there’s your countout to put Demolition in the finals.

Rating: C-. Not as bad, but still not very good whatsoever. The screwy endings continue here which is rapidly getting on my nerves. It’s another formula match here which is fine but it’s getting very repetitive. Demolition was clearly going to be a big deal in the division but it was still a little ways away.

Here’s Zenk’s most famous match in the opener of Wrestlemania III.

Can-Am Connection vs. Don Muraco/Bob Orton

No story here as they’re just two teams having a match. The Can-Am Connection is Rick Martel (Can) and Tom Zenk (Am) which would kind of evolve into Strike Force. Martel and Muraco start things off with Rick hitting a quick shoulder to take Don down. A hip block and a kind of monkey flip put Muraco down again and it’s a standoff. Zenk comes in for a double monkey flip and it’s off to Orton who gets armdragged down as well.

Bob gets hit from one corner to the other until Zenk takes him down with an armbar. All Connection so far. They trade full nelsons and Muraco hits Orton by mistake for two. Bob gets his arm cranked on a bit until FINALLY making the tag out to Muraco. The bad luck continues for the heels as Don is slammed down and has his arm worked on as well.

Orton and Muraco finally start cheating with a knee to Zenk’s back and a shot from the middle rope. Zenk and Bob ram heads and it’s a double tag as everything breaks down. The heels are sent into each other and a double dropkick takes Orton down. Muraco gets double teamed and a cross body with a trip from Zenk is enough for Martel to get the pin.

Rating: B-. I’ve called this the best opening match in Wrestlemania history and I don’t think it’s that far off from the truth. There are definitely matches of higher quality, but think about what an opening match is supposed to do. It’s designed to set the tone for a show and this one did that. It’s about five and a half minutes long and the good guys beat the bad guys with some nice continuity. It’s nothing flashy but it wasn’t supposed to be. This is a very nice, basic tag match and the crowd was into it, which is all it was supposed to accomplish. Good stuff here.

One more WWF match at SNME XI.

Can-Am Connection vs. Iron Sheik/Nikolai Volkoff

He tries to sing and gets hit in the head with a 2×4. Isn’t that called massive assault? Zenk and the Sheik start us off. Duggan, after BASHING VOLKOFF IN THE HEAD WITH A BOARD just sits right back in the front row. Sheik gets a good abdominal stretch on Sheik. This show needs to end. Duggan runs in AGAIN and Martel rolls up Sheik for the pin.

Rating: D-. I have no idea how you can get away with the whole Duggan thing but the 80s were a very strange time for good guys. I mean, look at Hogan cheating like there was no tomorrow if nothing else. The Connection would be gone soon but they weren’t terrible at this point.

The Connection would split due to Zenk leaving over a contract issue. Martel would wind up teaming with Tito Santana as Strike Force and it’s hard to believe their push wasn’t originally planned for the Can-Am Connection. Anyway, it was off to WCW for Zenk where he would have a good bit more success. We’ll start things off at Clash of the Champions VIII.

Cuban Assassin vs. Z-Man

Z-Man is Tom Zenk, a young guy in great shape freshly over from the AWA and the WWF before that. Assassin gets hiptossed over and a dropkick sends him to the floor as Z-Man is starting fast. Back in and we hit the top wristlock on the Cuban followed by an armbar. Assassin fights up and headbutts Z-Man to take over, only to miss a middle rope headbutt. Z-Man grabs a sleeper and gets the quick win.

Rating: C-. Z-Man looked good and that’s exactly what you need out of a debut match like this. The Assassin was nothing special and therefore a good choice for a jobber here. Z-Man would stick around for a few years and thankfully switch away from the sleeper, which really didn’t work for a high flier like him.

Z-Man would be paired with Brian Pillman in another young fast team. They would actually pick up the US Tag Team Titles from the Freebirds in early 1990. Here’s the rematch at Wrestlewar 1990.

US Tag Titles: Freebirds vs. Brian Pillman/Z-Man

The Birds are challenging here. They get sent to the floor immediately and the champs steal their clothes and dance around as Badstreet plays in the background. Funny moment. The crowd is all over the Birds. They weren’t much in the ring but they were heat machines. Today is Flair’s birthday according to JR. We finally get going with Brian vs. Hayes. Brian knocks him around with a clothesline and Garvin fluffs his hair.

Speaking of Garvin here he is and he gets Z-Man. Z takes him down with a headlock but misses a dropkick. Garvin, ever the Rhodes Scholar, ducks his head and gets kicked in the face. Back to Brian for another headlock. Hayes comes back in and things are going slowly to start, implying that they have a lot of time to work with. Sunset flip with a great jump gets two for Pillman.

Z-Man works on the arm and goes into a Fujiwar Armbar to Hayes. Back to Garvin who loses any advantage that Hayes had gotten on Z-Man. Pillman comes in as the fans seem a bit distracted. Hayes comes in and hooks a sleeper (sleep hold according to Ross) as JR talks about Paul Boesch, the promoter of Houston Wrestling for decades, demonstrating this hold in the second World War.

Brian escapes and sends him into the corner but charges into a great left hand to put him down. Brian rolls through a cross body for two. Back to Garvin as this is going a lot longer than I was expecting it to go. Since Garvin can’t manage to keep Brian in one place he makes the tag to Z-Man. Z-Man puts the Z Lock (sleeper) on Hayes but Garvin comes off the top for the save.

Garvin hooks a chinlock as this match has gone well over fifteen minutes so far. Now they mix things up with a Hayes chinlock. After 18 minutes, we’re told this is a rematch from the finals of the tournament where Z-Man and Pillman won the titles in the first place. Z-Man gets a small package for two. Hayes is like enough of that and goes back to the chinlock. JR thinks Hayes looks like Alice Cooper. Terry wants to know if Hayes knows who Buffalo Bill is.

Hayes goes up and kind of steps off with no significant contact being made. Back to Garvin as this needs to end really soon. Who decided to give the Birds over twenty minutes? Top rope fist gets two for Hayes after a non-tag. Bulldog gets two as Pillman breaks it up. Back to the chinlock #4 but Zenk drops him with a DDT of his own. There’s the tag to Pillman and the fans care more than I expected them to. Pillman cleans house but Hayes brings in a title but Pillman comes off the top with a cross body as the title is being taken out to retain the titles.

Rating: D. Technically the match was fine but MY GOODNESS this ran long. It clocks in at almost twenty four minutes which is just far too long. Pillman and Zenk can easily go that long but the Birds were already through their whole set of stuff at about 10 minutes in. The solution of course? Go 14 minutes past that. WAY too long and if you cut this to like 12 minutes it’s probably an okish match.

Same idea but with the TV Title at Clash XIV.

TV Title: Z-Man vs. Bobby Eaton

Z-Man is defending and Eaton comes out to LOUD canned BOBBY chants instead of theme music. Feeling out process to start with both guys trading holds on the mat. Z-Man can’t hiptoss him down and we have another standoff. Eaton takes him down with an armbar to take over but goes up top and gets dropkicked out to the floor.

Back in and Z-Man cranks on the arm so Eaton pops him in the jaw and sends the champion into the buckle. Eaton goes up again but gets dropkicked out of the air to change momentum. Z-Man tries to speed things up but charges into an elbow in the corner. Eaton’s top rope knee drop gets two but Z-Man is too close to the ropes. A pair of rollups get two each for Z-Man before he backslides Eaton to retain the title. Replays show Eaton’s shoulder was up just before the pin but it doesn’t change anything.

Rating: C-. Z-Man wasn’t great in the ring but he was a good fast paced act that could make for an entertaining match. Eaton was still trying to find himself as a singles guy after the Midnights broke up but it would take a few more months. Z-Man had already lost the title to Arn Anderson but the title change hadn’t aired on television yet.

Z-Man’s biggest feud in WCW was against Steve Austin who had recently taken the TV Title from him. Here’s a rematch from Clash XVI.

TV Title: Z-Man vs. Steve Austin

Austin is defending and has the evil Lady Blossom with him. They fight up against the ropes to start and then take it into the corner for a little variety. Z-Man grabs a hammerlock and takes it to the mat but Austin is in the ropes pretty quickly. A shoulder puts the champion down but Z-Man doesn’t follow up for some reason. Another shoulder drops Austin again but they fight up against the ropes instead of anyone trying a pin.

Austin takes him down with a headlock but Z-Man counters into an armbar. Back up and Z-Man hits a superkick but Austin bails to the floor. Z-Man dives onto the ramp to take Austin down but misses a top rope cross body. We hit the chinlock on the challenger for a few moments before Z-Man fights up and charges into the Stun Gun. Austin doesn’t cover and gets small packaged for two before getting caught in the sleeper. Steve is quickly in the ropes where Lady Blossom gives him a foreign object to knock out Z-Man and retain the title.

Rating: D+. Much like some of the other matches tonight, this was pretty dull stuff. It was a lot of laying around and Austin bailing to the floor before getting in a single shot to cheat. It makes sense for Austin to run like that, but Z-Man not following up just stopped any momentum that he had going.

Z-Man would go after the Light Heavyweight Title against former partner Brian Pillman at Wrestlewar 1992.

Light Heavyweight Title: Flying Brian vs. Z-Man

This should be awesome. These two used to be the US Tag Champions. Jesse wants the cheating to start before the match even begins. I love heel announcers when they’re good at what they do and he’s one of the best of them. They keep doing the same stuff because they know each other so well. That’s an old tactic but it works very well no matter what so I can’t complain.

Crowd is oddly dead here, but I think it’s because there hasn’t been much to cheer for in about an hour. Jesse does some play by play here which is very different. Him basically drooling over the idea of a punch being thrown is great. This starts off pretty slowly but it’s going with the slow build as you can tell the ending is going to be awesome. Z-Man misses a Vader Bomb so Pillman can take over again.

And now it’s half crab time for no apparent reason. Pillman would soon join up with Austin to make the Hollywood Blondes who were as awesome as you can be in a 6 month reign as a team. A figure four goes on and Z-Man has a bad knee. They’re going with a more mat based and psychology heavy match here and it’s working rather well. The crowd is hot for it which is a good thing.

Z-Man can sell the knee work very well too. Crucifix, one of Pillman’s signature moves, gets two. Jesse is BEGGING for them to cheat. Z-Man gets a cross body but goes too high with it and nearly breaks Pillman’s neck (which more or less happened at last year’s Wrestle War which we’ll get to later) but it only gets two.

Both guys are down and more or less out. In a nice bit of psychology, Z-Man fakes a knee injury and kicks Pillman as he’s coming down in a cross body. Nice move out of Bret Hart’s book….although that might not have been written yet. Z-Man misses a missile dropkick and Pillman gets a rollup to retain. Nice ending.

Rating: B+. Another very good match here. Pillman was just awesome at this point and this was no exception. Excellent match here with two guys just going out there and having a blast. Z-Man was insane for the most part and it’s a shame because he was very good in the ring when he wasn’t ticked off. This was a great match with a mixture of a lot of styles. I can’t quite get it into the A range, but it’s well worth watching if you’re bored.

Without much success, Z-Man would be put into another pretty boy tag team with Johnny Gunn. Here they are in a six man at Halloween Havoc 1992.

Z-Man/Johnny Gunn/Shane Douglas vs. Arn Anderson/Michael Hayes/Bobby Eaton

This should be good. Gunn is more famous as Tom Brandi. So we have three guys who are young and muscular vs. a heat machine and two wrestling masters. We’re in Philadelphia. You can fill in the blanks yourselves. Gunn and Anderson start things off with Anderson pounding him into the corner. Gunn comes back with a bad dropkick and Z-Man hits one of his own. The good guys clear the ring and get booed out of the building.

Z-Man comes in legally and cranks on Arn’s arm until Bobby comes in to take over. Eaton pops him with a right hand and the place ERUPTS. Off to Hayes who gets cheered too because he’s the king of playing to a crowd. Shane comes in to work on Michael’s arm and is booed in the process, which isn’t something you would ever expect to see in Philly. Back to Eaton who is armdragged down immediately.

Eaton takes Shane into the corner and pops him with a right hand too, but he gets promptly taken down by a flying headscissors. Back to Z-Man who these people just hate. He hooks a leg bar as Jesse rants about Shane probably being a right wing Republican. Z-Man hooks a sleeper on Anderson but it’s quickly countered. Back to Hayes who pounds away and hooks a chinlock on Zenk. Eaton comes in but leaves quickly with a blind tag to Arn.

Anderson KILLS Z-Man with a clothesline and the place erupts again. Even Jesse is stunned by this and he doesn’t stun easily. Hayes hooks a rear chinlock but Zenk slams him into the mat to escape. Double tag brings in Shane vs. Anderson but Eaton cheap shots Douglas in the knee to stop the comeback, again getting a pop from the audience. Eaton drops a top rope knee drop onto the knee and hooks a Figure Four (with help from Hayes of course). Shane turns it over and atomic drops Anderson, but they hit heads. Hot tag to Gunn and everything breaks down with Gunn hitting a Thesz Press to pin Hayes. The booing is great.

Rating: C+. If this has been ANYWHERE other than Philadelphia, this would have been an excellent opener. I can’t say the fans turned on the good guys because they were never on their side in the first place. You had to know this was coming if you knew anything about the city, but the match itself was fine. Jesse’s reactions to the crowd were entertaining too as he sounded genuinely surprised.

We’ll wrap it up with Z-Man’s last big match in WCW at Slamboree 1993. This one needs a lot of explanation.

Tag Titles: Hollywood Blondes vs. Dos Hombres

This is in a cage. This is one of those angles that is so full of backstory it’s unreal. Ok so who in the world are Dos Hombres. Well they’re “luchadores” in masks. However, they’re introduced as Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas. Now one of them is Steamboat. The other however, isn’t Shane Douglas. It’s actually Tom Zenk. So in other words, we have a guy portraying Shane Douglas portraying a luchador who everyone “knows” is Shane wearing a mask.

Now that probably requires an explanation too. Steamboat and Douglas had been tag team champions and feuded with Brian Pillman/Barry Windham. Windham had to leave for some reason so they substituted in Steve Austin and made the team the Hollywood Blondes. They eventually won the titles and held them for like six months. Oh and these are UNIFIED tag titles, because the NWA thinks people still care about them because the NWA is stupid.

Anyway, the new champs beat the former champs time after time. They were scheduled to face Dos Hombres, some new team from Mexico, in what was supposed to be a squash. However, Dos Hombres started fighting like Douglas and Steamboat to the point that everyone said yeah that’s Steamboat and Douglas. They were even introduced by those names. Anyway, the thing is that Douglas had been fired and in the non-title match it was Brad Armstrong under the mask. In this match which is for the titles, it’s Tom Zenk. Got all that?

Despite this being in a cage they have to tag which gets annoying fast. Steamboat and Austin start but it’s off to Pillman very quickly. Yeah that’s Steamboat. You can tell those chops anywhere. Pillman can’t put him into the cage and there’s an armdrag. Off to “Shane” who is way too skinny to be who he’s portraying. There are two guys in suits that keep getting shown and I don’t know who they are.

Both “Shane” and Austin block head shots to the cage but Austin goes in back first just a bit. Both guys hit the ropes and Austin gets backdropped. Not much of a cage match here but a pretty good wrestling match up to this point. Austin eats cage in the first good shot into it. Back to Steamboat (I think) against Pillman who takes over. Yeah there’s an armdrag so it’s “Shane” who got tagged in.

Gorilla press puts Pillman’s back into the cage. Off to Austin who can’t do much because his back hurts from going into the cage. He gets caught in the Tree of Woe but from the top of the cage instead of the corner. The challengers do the camera thing that the Blondes are known for in a funny bit. Austin gets down and takes over again. I have no idea which Hombre is in there.

Middle rope elbow gets two for the future rattlesnake that has hair here. The Blondes have to hide the use of a towel. In a cage match? Pillman comes in and jumps into a boot to put both guys down. I think that’s “Shane” in there but I’m really not sure. They’re full body suits so you can’t tell them apart at all other than mannerisms. Austin cuts off the tag at the last second and we keep at it.

“Shane” gets a dropkick to send Austin into the cage. Oh yeah that’s a Steamboat shot from the apron. Austin blocks another tag with something like a spinebuster. Larry says that Austin can be a legend if his body holds up. Holy prognostication Larry! Rocket Launcher sends Brian into “Shane’s” ribs and they both down again. There’s the tag to Steamboat who cleans house. Austin tries to hide and there’s the Flair shot from him. You figure out what I mean by that and why the audience laughed at it.

Everything breaks down and Steamboat takes the mask off. He climbs the cage and takes out BOTH Blondes for two with a huge cross body! AWESOME! Even the bell goes off inadvertently and I can’t blame them. Steamboat DDTs Austin for two and does the same to Pillman. Stereo dropkicks get two. In a rushed but kind of sweet ending, the Hombres get the champs in opposite corners and whip them together but Pillman reverses and sends Steamboat into Austin who hits a Stun Gun to retain.

Rating: B. Good match, although I’m really not sure why it was inside a cage. Anyway, the point is that this was solid stuff as the Blondes were totally awesome throughout their entire run so this was pretty much an automatic good match. Zenk is good in the ring but he was in over his head with these guys. The backstory is a mess but it was still a breath of incredibly fresh air after watching the legends go at it for an hour.

Zenk is a guy that wasn’t the best worker in the world but he had a great look and could pass on his decent skills. However, to say he screwed up by running his mouth is an understatement. I can’t do them justice, but the rants he went on about backstage politics in WCW are some of the funniest things you’ll ever hear and I highly recommend looking them up.

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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Thunder
Date: April 22, 1999
Location: Orlando Arena, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 9,429
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko

Welcome to the bottom of the cliff for WCW. On Nitro earlier this week we saw DDP turn heel for no apparent reason, Nash turn face after being one forever but then save Goldberg for no apparent reason and then Flair committed to a mental hospital for reasons of WCW being stupid. Hopefully a taped Thunder picks things up a bit. Let’s get to it.

The announcers run down the card, which actually doesn’t sound too bad. A six man between Benoit/Malenko/Kidman vs. Mysterio/Raven/Saturn sounds very appealing.

Hardcore Hak vs. Hugh Morrus

Morrus takes the kendo stick away and nails Hak to start as Larry is already ripping on the hardcore stuff. Now it’s trashcan lid time followed by a mop to Hak’s head. Hak comes back with a trashcan shot as Chastity starts handing in even more weapons. They head outside where Morrus reverses a whip into the barricade and nails Hak with another stick. Back in and Hak sends him face first into a chair because he doesn’t know how to do many regular wrestling moves. He draps Morrus over the top rope and drops a leg over his back before bringing in a table.

That’s not enough so he brings in a ladder but Morrus grabs a powerslam. No Laughing Matter connects for no cover. Hart comes in to set up two tables but Chastity sprays him with a fire extinguisher. The guys actually in the match climb the ladder with Morrus being shoved through the tables. Hak’s White Russian legsweep through the pieces of the table is enough for the pin.

Rating: N/A. That’s going to be my standard grade for this stuff going forward for the simple reason of this isn’t wrestling. Hak got over because of his entrance in ECW and that’s about the extent of his usefulness. This was a disaster and I believe Morrus was injured and out for a few weeks as a result of this. It doesn’t even have the stupid charm that ECW has half the time.

Video on Nash vs. Page.

We look at the Black and White attacking Konnan on Nitro.

Konnan vs. Scotty Riggs

Konnan hammers away at Riggs, sending him looking for his mirror. The bulldog and low dropkick have Riggs in even more trouble and Konnan fires off more punches in the corner. Back in and Scotty fires off punches of his own followed by an actually awesome dropkick. We hit the chinlock for a bit before Riggs elbows Konnan down to stop his comeback bid. After a Rick Rude hip swivel, Riggs suplexes him down but misses a top rope ax handle. Konnan kicks him in the ribs, hits the X Factor and hooks the Tequila Sunrise for the win.

Rating: D. Riggs’ continued employment astounds me but I’m assuming that dropkick has something to do with it. Konnan was his usual self here, even though he’s fallen through the floor ever since getting thrown out of the NWO. He’s just there anymore and doesn’t do anything but get on my nerves with his odd language.

Video on Flair vs. Piper.

Video on the awesome fourway from Monday.

Vampiro vs. Al Greene

They trade armbars to start until Vampiro grabs a full nelson. That goes nowhere either so Greene shoves him off and nails a shoulder. Greene takes him down but Vampiro rides him on the mat to send Al out to the floor. Vampiro hits a plancha and takes him back inside for some chops. This is already going nowhere. A suplex puts Vampiro down but he comes back up with a superkick and a high cross body. Instead of covering off that, Vampiro grabs a rollup for the pin.

Rating: D+. The high spots helped a bit but this was only a step or two above the previous match. Vampiro really doesn’t hold up but at least he’s somewhat better as a face. On the other hand, it’s hard to hate someone named Big Al. Seriously, try it sometime. Anyway this was about what you would expect from this kind of match.

Hotline shill.

TV Title: Booker T. vs. Bobby Duncum Jr.

Booker is defending. Tenay offers condolences to Rick Rude’s family as Rick passed away two days earlier. They trade some headlocks and Booker gets taken into the corner for some kicks to the ribs. Booker fights back with some kicks and a clothesline to send Bobby out to the floor. Duncum pulls him to the floor though and ties Booker’s feet with his bullrope. Because he’s a cowboy you see, because WCW loves cowboys.

We take a break and come back with Bobby holding a chinlock. A big boot and belly to belly get two on Booker and we’re in the chinlock all over again. They head outside with Bobby having a pair of chairs taken away from him. Serves the cheater right. Back in and a top rope clothesline gets two for Duncum and we’re back to the chinlock. A clothesline puts Booker down for two more and it’s time for the bullrope again. Booker ducks a big swing and hits the ax kick and missile dropkick to retain.

Rating: C-. Duncum had a good look but being a cowboy is only going to take him so far. It gets dull watching a guy just carrying a rope and wearing a hat as the entirety of his gimmick. Booker is still doing well but he’s back in the same rut he’s been in for years with just having random matches that don’t lead anywhere.

Video on Bagwell calling out Steiner.

Buff Bagwell vs. Fit Finlay

After starting a USA chant, Buff takes him down with a quick armdrag to send Finlay out to the floor. Back in and Finlay nails him in the face with a European uppercut and slams Buff face first onto the apron. He tries to bring in a chair ala Duncum and has it taken away just like Bobby. Back in and Finlay pulls on Buff’s nose (seriously) but Buff fights up with a jawbreaker. They trade slams and Buff nails a headbutt but walks into a knee to the ribs. Another European uppercut staggers Buff and the rolling fireman’s carry gets two. Buff stops a charging Finlay in the corner with a boot and nails the Blockbuster for the pin.

Rating: D+. They’re firmly in the “here’s wrestling” mode tonight with no real emotion or energy to anything. Buff’s face run continues to work well enough, but he’s only a little bit ahead of Scotty Riggs as far as in ring abilities. Finlay was his usual good self but he didn’t have much to work with here.

This Week in WCW Motorsports.

We look at Flair being committed on Monday.

Disco Inferno vs. Rick Steiner

After a commercial for some reason, Rick quickly kicks Disco out to the floor before choking him down in the corner. More punching and choking ensues as this is all Steiner so far. Some kicks send Disco running out to the floor out of fear for this boring match. Back in and Disco nails the swinging neckbreaker and a middle rope elbow. He goes up again but dives into a belly to belly suplex. A regular suplex sets up the Steiner Bulldog followed by a kind of STF to make Disco tap.

Rating: D-. Total squash here and the rise of Rick Steiner begins. This is another one of those things in 1999 that really makes me shake my head as Rick would get worse and worse in the ring and get higher and higher on the card as a result. Disco got in almost nothing here and might as well have been from In The Corner To My Left.

We look at Page embracing the dark side to end Nitro.

Goldberg vs. Ernest Miller

Miller offers him the five count but kicks Goldberg at two. Some kicks have Goldberg staggered but he just punches Miller in the face. Sonny Onoo tries to interfere but Goldberg gorilla presses him at Miller and immediately spears both of them down in a cool looking spot. Jackhammer ends this quick.

Kidman/Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio Jr./Raven/Saturn

Main event time and Kidman doesn’t look thrilled with his partners. The three teams are scheduled for a triangle match at Slamboree which sounds awesome. Robinson is guest referee of course. Mysterio and Malenko get things going with Rey hammering away in the corner. An armdrag takes Malenko down and we get a standoff. Off to Raven vs. Kidman with the bird enthusiast driving shoulders in the corner.

Raven crotches him on the top rope and Saturn nails a missile dropkick to put Kidman on the floor. A plancha nails Kidman on the floor as Mysterio protests. The argument allows Kidman to tag in Malenko for a dropkick to Saturn’s knee. Dean chokes away and Kidman is hesitant to come in under such circumstances. Saturn’s powerbomb attempt is countered but Raven breaks up a Shooting Star attempt.

That’s fine with Saturn as he belly to belly superplexes the crotched Kidman across the ring. Off to Raven for an atomic drop but Kidman sends him into the corner and tags out to Dean. Raven and Saturn take over on Malenko just as easily before tagging in Mysterio for a dropkick. Malenko suplexes Rey down and we take a break.

Back with everyone in the same spot due to the wonders of taped shows. Saturn has a red headdress for no apparent reason. Benoit goes after Rey’s knee, drawing in Saturn for an attempted save. That’s exactly what the Horsemen want as they switch behind the referee’s back to keep control. Dean gets two off a suplex and brings in Kidman who tries to help Rey up.

Benoit will have none of this compassion stuff and tags himself so he can throw Kidman to the floor. A superplex drops Rey again as the Horsemen keep control. Dean throws Mysterio outside and everything breaks down. That goes nowhere as Malenko takes Rey back inside and bends Mysterio’s back over his knee.

Rey finally takes Malenko down with the sitout bulldog and makes the tag to Saturn. Everything breaks down again with Rey tagging himself back in after a few seconds. Kidman clotheslines Malenko “by mistake” but Anderson crotches Rey on the top. The spinebuster plants Rey and Kidman protests, but Dean dropkicks Kidman onto Mysterio for a fast count pin.

Rating: B-. Take six guys and give them about fifteen minutes to be awesome. It wasn’t a classic but it blew away everything else on this show. This likely sets up some tension between the Tag Team Champions as we head into Slamboree. That match is going to rock given the talent in the ring. Good main event here.

Overall Rating: D+. The main event brings this up a good bit as everything else was basic, boring stuff that didn’t need to exist. At the end of the day though, I’ll take dull, generic wrestling over stuff that insults my intelligence, making this show a bit more tolerable than the worst of Nitro. It’s also a step up over some of the worst Thunders they’ve had over the last few months.

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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And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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