OOOLD SCHOOOOL

[Vamp]

While we're on Chair shots, This one from JBL to Eddie is harsh as fuck, then Eddie fucking blades on top of it. Stupid.

 

I keep meaning to watch that match again. At the time I remember it all being pretty disgusting but also loving the hell out of, I kinda wonder if I'd still feel the same.

[The Cum Doctor]

WWE RAW 14/06/1993

 

We open with Mr. Fuji and Yokozuna and an interview from the previous night. Mr Fuji says he wants to have the celebration on the 4th of July. He says he wants to have the party at a famous landmark, while Yokozuna simply says "Hulkamania is DEAD!". Well, it made the point.

 

Mr. Perfect vs. L.A. Gore

 

There's nothing worse than a dull squash match. Squash matches that don't go any length of time really shouldn't be long enough to be dull, but this one was. Is it just me, or do a lot of Mr. Perfect's wins come out of absolutely nowhere. I do like the fact that his finisher is so good that it means you're fucked no matter what has gone before. Anyways, Perfect wins this match with the Perfect Plex, and not a moment too soon.

 

Razor Ramon now heads for the ring with a bag and I can only assume that there's money in there. Ramon says that The Kid doesn't necessarily have to beat him because nobody can beat him. Ramon offers ten grand and says that The Kid could go out and "buy a life". Vince asks what happens if Ramon loses again. He doesn't really answer that question, and just says The Kid won't stop him. I love Razor Ramon. He's just such a complete dickhead.

 

Doink the Clown vs. Marty Jannetty

 

Doink starts by trying to keep Jannetty on the floor and then sucker punches Jannetty when he tries to drag him out. Love how Doink is always made out to be smart as fuck. In a weird kind of switch to what I'd think would happen, Doink keeps trying to speed the pace of the match up, but Jannetty keeps going back to the Arm Bar and frustrates Doink. Not even the usual short cuts work for Doink much of the time. He does eventually take control of the match fair and square though. Some quality wrestling from Doink in this match when he takes control as well. The match ends with a double count out as the fight heads for the floor. A bit premature ending there, but that does the task of leaving us wanting more which we would get. It's a cracking wee match this one.

 

"The Rocket" Owen Hart vs. Dan Dubiel

 

I fucking love Owen Hart's music. He basically schools Dubiel for the first stage of the match before busting out some big stuff towards the end and he gets the win with the Northern Lights Suplex. Nothing too exciting here but a decent wee showcase of Owen Hart.

 

While the match is on, The Kid was having a conversation with Vince and says he'll take Razor's challenge.

 

"The King" Jerry Lawler vs. Mark Thomas

 

Jerry Lawler gets the microphone before the match and wants the fans to kiss his feet. Lawler really has the crowd eating out of his hands here. Add that to the god awful pink attire that he's sporting and you have problems. Lawler's arrogant wrestling style does a good job of riling up the fans as well. I love this. Lawler gets the win eventually with the Piledriver, with some added fist dropping. A highly amusing squash and Lawler was on fine form here.

 

They announce Jannetty/Doink for a 2/3 Falls Match for next week as well as The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Razor Ramon as well. Good show coming! This week's was a bit shifty it has to be said, but it had stuff to make up for the bad.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I didn't realise the Doink angle with Crush caused so much of a backlash in the media. Read this from the time:

Some negative mainstream press regarding the Doink/Crush angle in at least two newspapers this past week. The New York Daily News in a column by TV writer Bob Raissman wrote: "On the flip side of credibility, you have the kind of sleaze only the World Wrestling Federation is capable of generating. The toilet bowl Vince "Sir Swill" McMahon operates has no bottom. On Saturday's show, seen on Ch. 5, character Doink the Clown attacked wrestler Crush from behind with phony plaster cast. With paramedics placing a spine board under Crush's back, McMahon gushed about the possibility of Crush injuring his neck and vertebra. Considering the seriousness of recent injury suffered by Dennis Byrd, the script McMahon was working form could have been written only by an insensitive lowlife concerned only with exploiting the misery of others--and all in place to entertain your children." As a wrestling angle, I've seen far worse, but if you actually think about the Byrd injury on 11/30, the prominence of it in the new in New York, and the fact the angle was shot on 12/14, well, it doesn't say anything about what depths will be used that hasn't already been made clear in the past.

[air_raid]

They announce Jannetty/Doink for a 2/3 Falls Match for next week as well as The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Razor Ramon as well. Good show coming!

 

Yeah, she's a belter. I won't ruin the spot if you haven't see the match before, but sufficed to say I thought Kid was dead. The first year or so of Raw is weird in that for ages nothing interesting happens then you get spurts of excellent matches and/or storyline developments. The Razor/Kid arc, coinciding with some great matches (a lot of which involve Doink) make the summer months of 1993 well worth watching, still with Razors expertly executed face turn, the peak of Lawler as an antagonist (in the WWF at least) and a pair of not-Mounties turning up all still to come. Enjoy.

[NEWM]

Been watching quite a bit of 91/92 Superstars today, and have reminded myself how emotionally involved some of the heel beatdowns are. Be it Vince's weeping voice on commentary, the kids in the crowd with the shocked faces, or the multitude of ineffectual WWF officials, there was some horrid, horrid magic to them. Really fucking nasty, cynical kickings being dished out. - Flair slapping Piper about and causing mayhem at the desk.- The Beverly Brothers doling out an unprovoked shitkicking on Jim Neidhart's dodgy leg after Flair had left him for dead with the figure four- The Mountie shocking Bret Hart repeatedly in the neck after Jimmy Hart had chucked a bucket of water all over him- Jake, Savage and the cobra, obviously.- Hey Hogan, want to know what Sid's going to do to you at Wrestlemania? Just ask Virgil. That poor cunt got the message.- The Mountie again, with his NEW shockstick, leaving Sgt Slaughter for dead, basically. BZZT! BZZT! BZZT! Easy pickings for Ric Flair after that.- And of course, the most horrific and upsettingly brutal heel assault ever, Nailz and the Big Boss Man. I hate that entire squash, knowing that Nailz is coming.

[wandshogun09]

Nailz battering the Bossman legitimately scared me as a 7 year old kid. Especially seeing the state the poor Bossman was in with all the bruises and stuff after.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

91 and 92 went proper serious in places. It was odd. They did a angle where Warrior was locked in a coffin. Slaughter going around chucking fireballs into peoples eyes. Jake Roberts slapping Elizabeth and putting his cobras teeth into Savage's arm. Nailz beating the shit out of the Boss Man. Damien getting sat on and killed. There were a few things that were a bit close to the edge in that period. I don't know whether they wanted to make it more edgy or what, but woman beating and locking people in coffins isn't your typical Saturday morning viewing.Also, am I right in assuming the Mountie was anally raped the night of SummerSlam 91? There was a strong hint at it and we were all cheering that brutal man rapist along.

[PowerButchi]

Warrior being locked in the coffin is still the funniest thing in wrestling.Man suffocating to death? No worries. Send TONY GAREA AND RENE "LOOKS LIKE YOUR NAN" GOULET to beat the fuck out of a coffin with a hammer!Even when I was 6 it raised a smile.But I'd say the edgiest thing from that era was John Nord trying to fucking stab the Undertaker with a massive sword.

[hitman89762000]

Plus they had jannetty being thrown through the barbershop window, sherri getting a facefull of glass as well, mind way back in 1990 they went a bit serious there with the attack on hogan by earthquake that resulted in this video:

 

[Bus Surfer]

I remember Earthquake killing Hogan and ending Hulkamania on the brother Love show vividly. It had me in tears. I was fucking bawling. That comeback video is wonderful. That optimizes wrestling as a child for me.

[wandshogun09]

Ric Flair basically saying Elizabeth was a dirty sort who he'd given a free ride on Space Mountain to and had photos to prove it, was a bit racy for the 1992 cartoon era as well.

 

Then again, it was nothing compared to what was going on behind the scenes back then was it...

 

 

allegedly

 

What a strange mix WWF TV was back then. You'd go from Nailz beating Bossman black and blue in what looked like attempted murder, to a feud where Tatanka was angry at The Model over stealing some feathers.

[Devon Malcolm]

BUMP!

 

I had a day off work so I thought I'd watch Halloween Havoc 1993. Like you do. It's the one with the sketch at the start where Tony Schiavone turns child murderer.

 

Harlem Heat and Dave Sullivan v The Shockmaster, Charlie Norris and Ice Train

 

Harlem Heat are still called Kane and Kole here. The Shockmaster is now dressing like a builder since THAT incident, which Ventura on commentary cannot help but refer to again. He picks up the pinfall as well with that odd bearhug into a front weak-as-shit slam. Norris does absolutely fuck all aside from get clotheslined and dance like a berk after the match. Sullivan and Shockmaster have a brawl after the match. No idea if that became a feud or not - I could see it on a WCW Saturday Night midcard. Predictably dull opener.

 

Paul Orndorff v Ricky Steamboat

 

PAULA! PAULA! PAULA!

 

The Assassin and his incredibly fat neck accompanies Mr #1derful. Schiavone calls him a bad apple. Ventura says he's looking svelte. Compared to what? Big Daddy V?

 

It's notable that Steamboat was such a nice guy that whenever he did anything even slightly aggressive in any of his matches that Schiavone would always remark, "Wow, Steamboat showing some uncharacteristic aggression here!" EVERY SINGLE TIME. That said, Steamboat really is off his nut in his match, constantly chucking Orndorff into the ringside barrier and even grabbing Nick Patrick at one point. Must have singed his tongue doing the fire-spitting before the match.

 

It ends after Assassin distracts the referee with his fat neck as Steamboat hits the flying cross-body. He then gets shoved to the outside where Assassin headbutts him with the loaded mask. If you've never seen it, he stands there and loads something into his mask and then headbutts Steamboat in the back of the head. Why?! Just fucking punch him with it! Orndorff wins by count-out. Really good match as expected - Orndorff was awesome.

 

WORLD TV TITLE - Lord Steven Regal © v The British Bulldog

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again - it should have been renamed The Lord Steven Regal TV Title. He single-handedly kept that division going for ages.

 

Also, I never get bored of his facial expressions at the fans as he comes to the ring. Ventura says that Bulldog is a commoner and should be treated as such. I agree. Bloody 'Mancunians'. Regal pulls a right face when Michael Buffer introduces him. He must be a Gary Michael Cappetta fan as well. Ventura is brilliant on commentary, isn't he? He clearly loves Regal, calling all his moves and putting them all over while barely bringing himself to talk about Davey Boy.

 

Predictably it goes to a 15 minute time limit draw and Regal retains but this is an excellent technical match. Regal kicked out of the big running powerslam and time runs out just after Bulldog hits a nasty looking piledriver.

 

Right, now we're going to spin the wheel to make the deal for the later match between Vader and Cactus Jack. Eric Bischoff, who is watching proceedings, is dressed like a cowboy. I bet he wouldn't have pulled Kimberly Page wearing that. It's going to be a Texas death match, by the way.

 

US TITLE MATCH - Stunning Steve Austin v The Natural Dustin Rhodes ©

 

WCW's best theme music versus WCW's worst theme music. That Hollywood Blondes theme was FANTASTIC. Somebody's holding a sign that says "STUNNING STEVE - WRESTLER OF THE 90s!" That crystal ball works!

 

Austin was one of my favourites long before the Stone Cold incarnation. I was delighted when he popped up in WWE. He shows all the reasons here as well - his mannerisms and his scruffy style were really great. Goldust was really boring as Dustin Rhodes but this is one of his better matches where he's not in the gold suit. The crowd's not greatly in to this at the start and then they wake up when Austin hurts his knee in the corner. Schiavone accuses him of faking his injury. Ventura's not having it. Neither am I.

 

Rhodes retains after rolling up Austin who clearly kicks out at 2, only after Patrick counts Rhodes down for a 3 when Austin had his feet on the ropes and ordered the match to continue. A mess of an ending and then Austin twats Rhodes with the belt. Decent match.

 

WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE - Marcus Alexander Bagwell & 2 Cold Scorpio © v The Nasty Boys

 

Buff and Shane Diesel had just won the title on Saturday Night 'the night before'. I don't know if this match was scheduled anyway and if it was then that's stupid. Ventura's already taking the piss out of Bagwell. He HATES him. He says he can't dance. Don't stop there, Body. The Nastys are managed by Missy Hyatt. She's got short blonde hair here. She looks bloody amazing. I'll be back in a minute.....

 

Hang on, Bagwell just kissed her. Ugh.

 

The Nasty Boys had loads of bloody fantastic matches in WCW around this time. This is another good one. Bagwell takes some splendidly violent punishment for the most part and Missy hits him with a genuinely stiff right hand at one point. Fnarr. Scorpio gets the hot tag and hits the 450 splash on Knobbs but Saggs twats him with a boot while Randy Anderson gets a Bronski from Missy, and Knobbs covers Scorpio to regain the titles.

 

SID VICIOUS v STING

 

A bit of Sting's facepaint looks a bit like a swastika. Oh dear. Sid's sweating 100% pure stanozolol from the first minute.

 

This wastes no time in starting out - they're in the crowd and hitting each other with big stuff from the opening bell. Col. Parker gets his usual spot of strangling the babyface with his sweat-soaked hankie. Just after that a chant of "POWERBOMB!" goes up. Sid waffles Sting with a bizarre chair shot where he winds up like he's going to do a Barry Bonds on him and stops about a foot from his back and hardly pats him with it. Shit, I'm sounding like Fin Martin now.

 

A chant of "STING!" starts up but I reckon half of them were "SID!" This is a pretty good match. It probably goes a bit long and could have done with being the brawl it starts off being all the way through. Good match, though, with a good finish when Parker grabs Sid's foot by accident and Sid gets rolled up when he goes to throttle Parker.

 

WCW INTERNATIONAL WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH - Ravishing Rick Rude © v Ric Flair

 

Terry Taylor was the special enforcer for this one. Honestly. You know, I don't think I have ever seen anything from Taylor in his whole career that I enjoyed. That duck isn't broken here.

 

Rude calls the crowd "Louisiana losers". Oh look, Vlad is there but mostly obscured by some idiot with a sign. Ventura isn't happy that Flair has some fireworks go off during his introduction as he's only the challenger. Rude doesn't get any! Odd match, this, at the start. Flair locks on a Figure Four after 2 minutes, there's a rope break, and then works on Rude's leg for quite some time afterwards. For the most part, they seem to be wrestling in the wrong roles. There's a nasty spot where Flair does a flying cross-body and they both fly over the top rope and Rude lands hard on a chair. Flair also hits him with a clothesline off the top rope to the outside! The Nature Boy's on fire! Fifi's looking nice as well.

 

It's a stop-start match but not bad. There's a double ref bump and then Flair gets disqualified for using Rude's knuckle-dusters. Rude then tries to leave with Fifi and then Flair stops him and puts him in a Figure Four.

 

CACTUS JACK v VADER

 

Not sure why this was the main event, it's not for Vader's WCW Title. It was superb, though. Vader's not fucking around, he takes the mask off right at the start. Cactus dominates the first half until a really nasty spot at the ringside barriers puts paid to that. Then Cactus gets twatted with a horrible chair shot on the ramp, even by his standards, before Vader beats the count. Cactus doesn't because Harley Race stuns with a taser!

 

I never thought Vader was at his best in street fight type matches, oddly. I always thought he was best in the ring where he could just cut people off all the time and dominate them. Even so, a good match.

 

Really good PPV, that, with no real duds at all!

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Look at the names on that roster. I'd say WCW might have had a stronger roster in late 93 than WWF. Let's have a look at the following months WWF PPV.

 

WWF:

Bret Hart

Shawn Michaels

Randy Savage

Owen Hart

Lex Luger

The Undertaker

Razor Ramon

The 123 Kid

Marty Jannetty

Diesel

IRS

Adam Bomb

Rick Martel

Tatanka

Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner

Yokozuna

Crush

Ludvig Borga

Quebecers

The Bushwhackers

Men on a Mission

The Headshrinkers

Bastion Booger

Bam Bam Bigelow

 

WCW:

Rick Rude

Ric Flair

Steve Austin

Sting

Sid Vicious

Vader

Cactus Jack

The Nasty Boys

Marcus Bagwell

2 Cold Scorpio

Dustin Rhodes

Lord Steven Regal

Davey Boy Smith

Paul Orndorff

Ricky Steamboat

Ice Train

Charlie Norris

The Shockmaster

Harlem Heat

Evad Sullivan

 

The WWF might shade it (just for the Quebecers actually), but there really isn't much in it. Especially in terms of future stars on the WCW end. You cant go wrong with Rude, Vader Sting, Flair, Austin, Cactus and Steamboat.

[PowerButchi]

It was even better a year and a half prior when they'd just throw out random combinations of Rhodes/Windham/Steamboat/Sting/Steiners/Koloff/Eaton/Anderson/Zbyszko/Austin/Rude/Cactus in matches that really couldn't go wrong. Look those corps there. What a super roster of great in-ring talent.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, the WCW roster of 1992/93 was amazing. That period in WCW was brilliant, it's one of my favourite eras in wrestling. The roster was so stupidly good you couldn't really miss with almost any combination, pretty much every PPV in that period usually had at least one or two absolutely cracking matches.

 

Ventura did seem to loathe Bagwell didn't he? He used to love taking the piss that Bagwell went to a school called Sprayberry High as I recall. And he mocked Bagwell and Scorpio relentlessly when they debuted their new pink and white tights one week on Worldwide.

 

The Flair vs Rude matches were odd. They weren't bad matches but they never quite seemed to gel for whatever reason.