OOOLD SCHOOOOL

[The Cum Doctor]

The Mauler is Mike Fucking Enos! He was in a rich vein of form in WCW. He had some great C-Show matches, and a top bout against Benoit jerking the curtain at Souled Out '99. Also, he's reunited with Wayne Bloom tagging in 1998.

 

I've actually seen the Enos/Benoit match, and aye it was a good 'un. He also made me sit up and take notice as I said! One of them matches that get interrupted and ye think "cunts! I was enjoying that!".

 

WCW Nitro 03/06/1996

 

Last week we seen the introduction of Scott Hall to the mix as well as the beginning of the two hour Nitros!

 

The commentators talk about last week, and the shaving of the head of The Shark. They say that The Shark suffered a "brutal" haircutting. Aye, whatever. Anyways, he's out to talk to Mean Gene. Shark says that he won't cut the other half of his hair because he wants to be reminded of what happened to him. The Shark: "I'm not a fish." He then tells us his name will be John Tenta.

 

Big Bubba vs. John Tenta

 

Not really a match here. More of an angle. Why was Tenta not disqualified? Would YOU get into the ring if a guy had scissors? Instead, the referee gives the count out win to John Tenta.

 

High Voltage vs. The Faces of Fear

 

After a pretty good start for High Voltage, the Faces of Fear really laid the beating on. It was a hell of an entertaining beating too as it was just a great display of power and high impact. Barbarian throwing Rage around the ring was the highlight of the match. The Faces of Fear wound up winning with their Double Flying Headbutt in one of the more entertaining tag squash matches I've seen.

 

Mean Gene is backstage with Sting and Lex Luger. Mean Gene wants to talk about last week's main event and tonight's match with Luger and Sting facing The Steiners. Luger is sick of being painted as the bad guy. Sting says that Luger kicked one of the Steiners in the gut. Rick Steiner gets involved in all of this and then Sting sticks up for his mate. Steiner points in the face of Luger. Luger pushes Scott and it all kicks off. Mean Gene is having a hissy fit over this.

 

Disco Inferno vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman

 

Start as you mean to go on? They fuck up an Arm Drag right away in this match. To be fair, Pittman looks impressive here from that point onwards, grabbing Disco and throwing him about. The Waistlock Takedown right into the Doctor Bomb was pretty neat. Pittman wins in the end because, as he was about to lock in the Code Red ( or "that thing" if you ask Disco ), Disco Inferno decides to quit as if the submission was locked in, Disco wouldn't be able to lock his hands and dance anymore. Fair play! Fun squash match.

 

"Lord" Steven Regal vs. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan

 

I'm not a big fan of Jim Duggan, but this guy was really over at this point, and added to Regal's antics, it made the crowd VERY loud for this one. This match wasn't very good at all. It seen Regal going for shit that you'd not see him go for usually. You have Regal ready for a big match with Sting at the PPV, and the glorified jobber Jim Duggan basically kicked his arse and should have won. Once again, Nitro does good work one week and then do their best to undo it the next. Regal wins with a School Boy and he grabs the tights.

 

The Taskmaster vs. Prince Iaukea

 

Taskmaster certainly isn't in a good mood. He gets this match going by slapping the shit out of poor Prince Iaukea and then doesn't let up, winning this short squash match with the Double Stomp.

 

Mean Gene is in the ring with Jimmy Hart and The Taskmaster. Jimmy Hart wants to know why The Dungeon of Doom want to be aligned with The Horsemen. Mean Gene then brings up Chris Benoit. Taskmaster brings up Hulk Hogan and says that he will come after everyone and THAT is why the DoD and the Horsemen are aligned with each other. Taskmaster says that he's gonna take out Chris Benoit so as they can get rid of Hogan.

 

Ric Flair and Arn Anderson vs. The Rock N Roll Express

 

This is actually the debut of The Rock N Roll Express on Monday Nitro and this is something of a baptism of fire for them. For the first few minutes, the Horsemen didn't seem to know how to deal with the Horsemen, as they always wound up on their arses, but then Flair went to being the dirtiest player in the game. I don't think I've ever seen Anderson and Flair look this good as a tag team before. Their timing when taking Morton out of the match was superb, and certainly made it very clear that Greene and McMichael will be having a tough time. This was some great formula tag team match, which is no surprise as with Anderson and Flair on top notch and the Rock N Roll Express being masters of the formula. Anderson gets the DDT and Flair gets the pin.

 

Mean Gene is with Arn Anderson. Arn Anderson says that they are bigger, tougher and better than Greene and McMichael. Ric Flair then says that Debra loves Nature Boy and his football shirt was a gift from her and then says that they are better than anything from the NFL. Bobby Heenan then comes out. Heenan says that he has not been managing for years. Heenan says he's not going to manage Flair and Anderson and then he heads away. Flair is an angry chappy. Heenan says he will COACH though and he will be at ringside in Baltimore and he will show what coaching is all about.

 

The Giant © vs. Ice Train - WCW World Heavyweight Championship

 

I like how The Giant is facing huge guys when defending his belt, just to show just how dominant a champion he actually is. If he steamrolls through Ice Train, that'd only reinforce it. The Giant hits a Chokeslam and wins and that is the entire match summed up right there. Wow.

 

Scott Norton gets in the ring and he's not happy with what he just seen. The Giant then attacks Norton and lands a Chokeslam on him as well. He's not done though and lands another Chokeslam.

 

Mean Gene is with The Giant. The Giant wants to know why there's film packages of Hulk Hogan because HE is the champion. He then says Lex Luger is the man he wants to eliminate the most.

 

We come back from commercials and Scott Norton is still down, and then Hugh Morrus is now heading for the ring. It was supposed to be Hugh Morrus vs. Scott Norton.

 

Hugh Morrus vs. Scott Norton

 

Oh, so this match is actually going to happen then? The end result makes Norton look like a badass as he took the the two Chokeslams and still managed to win, but it went on for much too long. Anyways, Norton wins with a bunch of clubbing blows. You probably couldn't even get a pin like that at Survivor Series.

 

We now have another training video with McMichael and Greene doing some ring training. They have a new game plan. Don't care.

 

Sting and Lex Luger © vs. The Steiner Brothers - WCW World Tag Team Championships

 

At the start of this match, Randy Savage is on the phone talking to Bischoff and Heenan and he says that he isn't allowed to wrestle in front of the cameras, but he IS allowed to coach, and he will be coaching Greene and McMichael. This match was all sorts of fun from the word go as all four men were clearly raging with each other, although it wasn't untill Luger went mad on Scott Steiner that it really kicked off. Hoping to see more of this mini rivalry before the nWo thing kicks off properly. The match ends when The Giant hits the ring and the referee calls it.

 

Lex Luger attacks The Giant when he gets into the ring and he's really unloading on him. The Giant misses a charge and then everyone gets into the ring and they're ALL teaming up on The Giant and the fans are loving this. Luger sends The Giant over the top rope and he lands on his feet. That is an absolutely awesome angle there.

 

So that is the end of that segment. Heenan doesn't want Savage to unload on him at the Great American Bash. Scott Hall is then heading for the broadcast booth. Hall says he had such a good time last week that he came back for more. Bischoff keeps coming out and asking who "we" are. Sting turns up at the broadcast booth. He does a bit of moaning about Hall badmouthing everyone. Sting then decides that he wants Scott Hall one on one right here and right now. Hall says nobody tells him what to do and when to do it and then throws a toothpick at him. Security gets between Sting and Hall and Hall says he has a big surprise for him.

 

Great end to a great episode.

[air_raid]

The Mauler vs. Steve Doll

 

Speaking of useless pieces of crap, who the hell are these two guys?

 

The late Steve Doll formed a tag team in various companies with Rex King, arguably better known to mainstream fans as Timothy Well and Steven Dunn as Well Dunn, JTTS tag team in the WWF that were fond of losing to the Bushwhackers.

 

Personally I think their greatest contribution to the biz was the bright spark who quipped upon Steven's sad demise ;

"In summary - Timothy Well, Steven Done."

[Fox Piss]

Just started WCW Nitro

[air_raid]

- Do not like Goldust random green outfit.

 

Most of Goldust's stuff was random at the time. He was The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust, and he was doing whatever he felt like, whether that was dressing like a gimp, a baby, Marilyn Manson, his daddy, fuck knows.

 

- Is the start of the 1998 Royal Rumble with Terry and Cactus the best start to a Rumble ever?

 

I much prefer the way Ax and Smash face off in 1989, the Michaels/Undertaker collision in 2008 and Punk's "sermon on the mount" from last year, personally.

 

- Not to keen on Goldust 2nd outfit of the night.

 

See first comment. Also, in the context you're using it, it's "too."

 

- Serious amount of legit winners is what kills the Royal Rumble.

 

Do you mean lack of legit winners, because the whole way the Rumble was built right from the December 8th Raw, there was only one winner.

 

- Iron Mike likes Cold Stone.

 

... and refers to Shawn Michaels, ten year WWF veteran and three time WWF Champion as an "up and coming hungry young tiger."

[Fox Piss]

Sorry should of mentioned I have not watched a Royale Rumble since 2004. So a couple of your favourites I am yet to see.

 

School boy error on missing the

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I have such a different opinion on wrestling now. Back then my brain was conditioned to believe anything was possible. No matter how likely it seemed, I just hoped Austin was going to pull through it. Like Man United vs Blackpool. On paper they should have walked it, but you never were sure. If I was watching it now, there'd be no doubt, but there was a sense of excitment I can remember. The year after, when McMahon won me and all my mates genuinly thought that Austin wasnt going to WrestleMania after losing the Rumble. Fun times.

[paultravellfan]

I've been lurking on this thread for a while and I love every bit of it - I love WCW (well wrestling in general, but mostly WCW) from the 90s and Haraga's excellent Nitro reviews got me watching some Nitro's from 1996, and I have to say they are excellent.

 

Now I've had no problem locating any episodes of Nitro on Youtube or other video sharing sites, but for people who have been reviewing the more obscure shows like Pro or Saturday Night, where did you find them? Because I'm looking for a match between Rey Mysterio and Dean Malenko from WCW Pro on the 10th of August 1996 and I can't find the match anywhere. Apparently it was a pretty good match and I can well believe it because they had some great matches in 1996.

[The Cum Doctor]

WCW Nitro 10/06/1996

 

This is the go home show for The Great American Bash!

 

Booker T. vs. Scott Steiner

 

These two guys would become rivals for the big one in WCW about four years later. Great counter exchange at the start of this match as both men reverse the trademark moves of the other guy for a while. They certainly started as they meant to go on. Booker dominated much of the match and looked good in doing so, foreshadowing him being naw bad in the future. Scott Steiner basically ragdolls Booker whenever he gets the chance. Booker takes one too many chances and Scott Steiner winds up winning with the Belly 2 Belly Suplex to win a nifty wee opener.

 

Mean Gene is now on the aisle with Scott Steiner. He's there to talk about the match with Fire and Ice at the GAB. Debra is now out there and Scott decides to allow her to speak and goes away. Debra is concerned about Steve McMichael hurting someone. She's upset about it. She wants it ended before anyone gets hurt. Mean Gene is going to try and find Heenan.

 

Jim Powers vs. DDP

 

Okay, surely this can't be another close shave for DDP. They went from making him look great one week to shit the next. Considering the opponent, is he now going to look great again? They actually did a good job here of having DDP being his own worst enemy. The match was very two sided, but mainly because he kept on taunting and allowing himself to be distracted, and even through all of that he came through it, so a better job than last time. I just wish they'd decide whether they want him to look good or shit! DDP gets the win with the Diamond Cutter.

 

We then see a video package of the fued between Taskmaster and Benoit. That was quite good actually.

 

Konan is now speaking to Mean Gene about his match with El Goto at the GAB. Konan says Goto has to prove himself, like he did. He then speaks a bunch of shite.

 

Meng vs. Sting

 

How many times have these two guys faced off? I could have sworn these two guys faced off on a few PPVs the year previous to this. Meng gets a signal of intent in there early by beating the ever loving shit out of Sting right from the word go. Sting survived quite the onslaught here actually. The way he won almost seemed like it was out of desperation as he crotched Meng and then didn't give a toss how he locked in the Scorpion Deathlock, so long as Meng tapped and he was able to get the hell out of there. So as I said, Sting wins with the Scorpion Deathlock in an entertaining wee match.

 

Backstage with Bobby Heenan and Debra. Heenan accuses Debra of talking to Ric Flair all week and all night and then he takes her to Flair and Anderson. Heenan then slams the door on them. Debra runs out screaming and then The Horsemen attack a couple of people who were looking to help Debra. That was Renegade and Gomez, the opponents for the Horsemen.

 

David Taylor vs. Jim Duggan

 

Duggan is looking for revenge for the previous week. He was about to use an illegal weapon. How does he deserve to get any bit of revenge? Well, come to think of it, after complaining about being stopped from cheating the previous week, he wins with a taped fist against David Taylor. I guess he got that cheap win that he was looking for. As for the match itself, this is fucking terrible. Duggan wins with the tape fist as I said.

 

We found out during that match that Sting and Luger will be facing Double A and Ric Flair.

 

We're now with Jimmy Hart and Big Bubba backstage and it appears we're going to be talking about John Tenta. Jimmy Hart says that Tenta didn't pull his weight in the Dungeon of Doom. Big Bubba basically says that he's gonna kick the shit out of Tenta. Fair play.

 

Mean Gene now brings out Scott Norton who is going to be challenging for the WCW Title against The Giant, and then we're reminded of the beating of Scott Norton last week. Scott Norton don't care and he ain't scared and he now heads for the ring.

 

The Giant © vs. Scott Norton - WCW World Heavyweight Championship

 

I don't forsee this being a fun match for Scott Norton. This was a very short match, but it was a very spirited attempt from Scott Norton. He did get quite a bit of offense considering the opponent and the length of the match, but of course, he fell foul of the big man. It should be noted that The Giant was booked amazingly to this point. Giant wins when he Chokeslams Norton on the floor and then sends him back into the ring and pins him.

 

Luger comes down post-match and gets some shots on Giant. Giant throws him to the floor and then he sets a table. CHOKESLAM ... Luger comes back into the battle and he smacks Giant with a weapon. The Dungeon of Doom come out and Luger does a runner. The Giant is NOT happy. Lex Luger is at the broadcast table. Luger says that he has a lot more surprises on Sunday and leaves. Good setup for the big title match.

 

Billy Kidman vs. Steven Regal

 

This is a pleasant surprise! Okay, Kidman should be getting squashed in a big way here, but still, it looks good on paper doesn't it! Sure enough, Regal squashes him here, although he does get to show off a 450 Splash attempt. Regal makes Kidman tap with a brutal Boston Crab.

 

Sting hits the ring post-match and gets in a backhander and leaves. Niiiiiice.

 

The Nasty Boys vs. Public Enemy

 

Public Enemy hit the ring before their entrance music gets going and lay a beating on the Nasties to get us going. That was a very chaotic match from all four men. It was pretty messy, but wasn't that always going to be the case? The matches between these guys shouldn't be approached as classics or anything and this one is another fun one. The Nasty Boys lose the match via DQ after Knobbs takes the trashcan that Rocco Rock was gonna use and then uses it on him.

 

Sting and Lex Luger © vs. Arn Anderson and Ric Flair - WCW World Tag Team Championships

 

How awesome does this match look? Anderson and Flair have certainly been rewarded for their attack on Gomez and Renegade. If this match actually didn't get cut off there it could have been better. What is it about Sting and Luger being in the same match that turns everyone into repetitive idiots? There's only so many times that I can watch Ric Flair being hit with a Gorilla Press Slam. Once the Horsemen took control of the match things got a bit better outside of the obligatory annoying Flair spots. Luger and Sting get the win via DQ when The Giant hits the ring.

 

Giant knocks down Luger and then in comes Scott Steiner with a chair and he beats on Giant with it. Sting then brings a chair in and helps and all three men lay a beating on The Giant. Jimmy Hart calms down The Giant and sends him to the back, knowing what happens if he stays. The fans love that. The Giant is with Mean Gene and he says no rules.

 

So we go back to the broadcast table. Bobby Heenan is going mental and he has some words for Randy Savage. Eric Bischoff looks slightly amused by all of this. Scott Hall is now at the broadcast table. Bischoff says that he doesn't want any trouble. Bischoff wants to know where the big surprise is. Kevin Nash now has the microphone. Nash: "We ain't here to play." Nash says that nobody wants to face him and Hall. Nash manages to throw a Mein Kampf reference in there. Kudos. Nash then rips on the old age of some of the WCW mainstays. Eric Bischoff says he'll try and get the fight for Nash and Hall. He tells them to turn up to the Great American Bash.

[The Cum Doctor]

WCW Great American Bash 1996

 

Some great fueds going into this PPV. I can't wait for the main event with Luger and The Giant.

 

Fire and Ice vs. The Steiner Brothers

 

Oh man, I can't wait to see this one. I've often talked about The Steiner Brothers and how much fun they can be, especially when they are against two guys just as likely to do some throwing about as they are. They had a cracking match on Monday Nitro a couple of weeks before this one. Given what these two teams did in the past, this was a massive disappointment. It started well enough with the big hard hitting coming from both teams, but they couldn't really capitalise on that. It got really dull really fast. It burst into life every so often, but not enough. The Steiners won when Scott hit the Frankensteiner on Norton.

 

Konan © vs. El Gato - WCW United States Championship

 

El Gato looks like a Mexican ripoff of Tiger Mask. Apparently he's some sort of Mexican legend, but given WCW's record of talking shite, I'm going to take that information with a pinch of salt. With the quick reversals at the start, I thought we were going to see another handy Konan match, but what we wound up getting was two guys just trading submission holds and landing the occaisional high impact move with no reason. There was some fun to be had from this, but not much. Konan wins with the Alabama Slam.

 

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Marcus Bagwell

 

This is a Lord of the Ring match. If we're going by the usual good-shit pattern that DDP has been following, he should be made to look like shit in this match. DDP's selling is almost reminiscent of Hogan/HBK at times. Absolutely hilarious bumping from him. I liked that Bagwell was always wrestling like it was the biggest prize in the company that he was going for. DDP did his best to make it look ridiculous at times. DDP gets the win with the Diamond Cutter in a bit of a boring match.

 

Dean Malenko © vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. - WCW Cruiserweight Championship

 

Oooohhhh, this match should be an absolute cracker. I thought this match could have done with five minutes shaved from it. Dean Malenko was in full "take the body part home" mood, but what good is that when Rey wound up forgetting all about it anyways? Malenko was great when he was dominating like he always is, so I don't want to take too much away for that, but it certainly detracted from what could have been a much better match. Malenko wound up winning with a Powerbomb with the feet on the ropes.

 

Big Bubba vs. John Tenta

 

There aren't many things in wrestling worse than some other guy cutting your hair off. John Tenta doesn't get entrance music, because he's badass enough that he doesn't need it. The match was okay when Tenta was going mental and looking for his pound of flesh, but when Big Bubba took control of the match, it went downhill and actually became a horrible match. John Tenta wins when Bubba jumps off of the top rope and Tenta catches him with a Powerslam for the three count.

 

The Taskmaster vs. Chris Benoit, Falls Count Anywhere Match

 

Isn't this remembered as a pure classic or something? I know one of their matches had me absolutely loving it. That was quite a heated brawl there. It wasn't a pure classic brawl and there was far too much dead time in the match. Credit will go to both guys for creating such a heated atmosphere and then especially to Benoit for taking that mental throw down the steps. The closest thing we had to a wrestling match was the crotch spots, since they were working on a body part! Benoit wins with a Top Rope Superplex, with a table laid across the top rope.

 

Post match, Benoit lays some extra beating on Sullivan and Arn Anderson comes out and pulls him off... and then helps Benoit lay on the beating. Extra points for the synchronised stomping!

 

"Lord" Steven Regal vs. Sting

 

So this is the match that Regal wanted. A match with the "franchise" of WCW. You have to give credit to the booking here, as Regal was made to look like someone who can match Sting at every turn. Regal seemed to be working through every submission he had, which I also liked, as it made it clear what the gameplan was. Sting looked like he managed to survive more than anything, untill Regal backhanded him, and Sting suddenly remembered why he was there. Absolutely brilliant match. Sting winds up winning with the Scorpion Deathlock after the post-backhand flurry.

 

Arn Anderson and Ric Flair vs. Steve McMichael and Kevin Greene

 

I certainly don't expect a miracle match from these four guys. Well, as you'd expect, there is a lot of stalling in the early going of this one, but it's the kind of stalling I don't mind so much. Lots of little nods to the experience of the Horsemen and the anger of the footballers. There's a great moment when Greene is going pure batshit in the middle of the ring because he wants some action. The action was more than acceptable for what they were going for, so good enough. The Horsemen win when Mongo is offered money to join the Horsemen and he does so, and he hits Greene with the case.

 

Now we have something of a memorable angle. Eric Bischoff brings out Scott Hall and Kevin Nash as we find out if the war is on. The heat for Nash and Hall is pretty big at the moment. Eric Bischoff says that he has some questions that he has before he can give an answer to them. Bischoff then answers the challenge. Whit? What happened to the questions? We will see a match at Bash at the Beach. Nash and Hall both say that they do not work for the WWF. Hall wants to know who the three men are. Hall then punches Bischoff. NASH WITH THE JACKNIFE OFF OF THE STAGE ON BISCHOFF !!! Hall now has the mic and says that the real big boys are leaving the building. MASSIVE moment on the PPV and a cracker.

 

The Giant © vs. Lex Luger - WCW World Heavyweight Championship

 

The fued between these two guys has been great fun and has made me want to see what I expect won't be a great match. The match was fine. Giant had a gameplan of just going after the back of Luger, meaning that he couldn't do any of his power moves, which wouldn't have been a good idea to try in the first place. What The Giant did though was he made sure that Luger couldn't do the Rack. Lex Luger had the right idea of using his speed and agility advantage, but he'd lose that advantage whenever he'd go to the power. Good match. The Giant wins with the Chokeslam.

[Reznor]

I actually watched that Sting/Regal match just the other night, was good stuff.

 

El Gato was just Pat Tanaka was it not?

 

Remember that finisher Konan had in those days, some sort of fisherman buster/DDT thing, was spectacular as hell for the time.

 

I wasn't a huge follower of WCW around that time and never realised John Tenta worked under his real name latterly, i thought it was just Avalanche and Shark. You learn something every day......

[The Cum Doctor]

I'm thinking that Konan's finisher at this point is the Splash Mountain. He finished Liger with it at Slamboree and used it to win a match not long after.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Here's something that might interest you, if you haven't seen it. Its behind the scenes footage of the Great America Bash 1987. It features Sting, Lex Luger, Ron Garvin, Steve Williams, Road Warrior Hawk, Dusty Rhodes, Jim Cornette and the star of the show, Road Warrior Hawk. Its none-kayfabed, which is something to behold when your watching footage from this era. Its been around for ages, but its not been put on Youtube in a while. Its class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_JQ32sjFM4

[Baz Windham]

I watched the Bash recently too, similar thoughts, thought it was an up and down PPV at times but very good on the whole.

 

The Steiners won when Scott hit the Frankensteiner on Norton.

 

Only Just Finish aside I enjoyed that match though so I'm sure i'd like their Nitro one.

 

Sting's promo before his match with Regal was a bit odd, virtually said the english are a bunch of homosexuals, complete with Mean Gene limp wrist impression. I can see why people would like the match but i never really got into it and was a little dissapointed considering i'm a fan of both.

 

The Sullivan/Benoit match would have been more "wild" at the time but it still holds up okay, I'd have liked a bit more when they got back to the ring and the superplex in the ring seemed a bit tame for a falls count anywhere match. I really got into the end of the main where Luger was going for the rack, that was done well and a good match all things considered.

 

Some good storyline stuff that would have been even better at the time with the Mongo/Horsemen and Bischoff/Outsiders moments. The rest was solid to good (Tenta/Bubba aside naturally). I enjoyed Hog Wild even more which I watched after this (Already watched the BATB a while ago), It was a pretty stacked card when you look at the matches and those in them

[The Cum Doctor]

Finish aside I enjoyed that match though so I'm sure i'd like their Nitro one.

 

The Nitro match is much better I reckon. Just pure madness between the four guys. Anything with the words "Steiner" and "Nitro" together around this time is normally worth checking out.

 

Sting's promo before his match with Regal was a bit odd, virtually said the english are a bunch of homosexuals, complete with Mean Gene limp wrist impression. I can see why people would like the match but i never really got into it and was a little dissapointed considering i'm a fan of both.

 

Aye, odd just about sums it up. I don't think there's any chance that we would have seen a promo like that from them these days, had they been about.

 

I just loved that they made Regal look so dominant. He was facing a top guy in WCW and he was really taking him to town before he stupidly hit him with the backhander that started it all in the first place.

 

The Sullivan/Benoit match would have been more "wild" at the time but it still holds up okay, I'd have liked a bit more when they got back to the ring and the superplex in the ring seemed a bit tame for a falls count anywhere match. I really got into the end of the main where Luger was going for the rack, that was done well and a good match all things considered.

 

It was back in a time when crowd brawling wasn't as annoying as it is now too, so it'd have been hindered a LOT on viewings these days because of that. The Superplex with the table was kind of a cool visual even if the table didn't actually ADD anything. I agree that it was a tame finish. Especially after some of the stuff they were doing. Benoit getting launched down the stairs was fantastic.

 

The booking of The Giant really was superb at this point. The work on the back was brilliant, and for the first time that I can really remember, he was being smart, making sure that Luger couldn't get the Rack, knowing that it'd be a struggle if he managed to get it with a GOOD back. I love that sort of thing.

 

Some good storyline stuff that would have been even better at the time with the Mongo/Horsemen and Bischoff/Outsiders moments. The rest was solid to good (Tenta/Bubba aside naturally). I enjoyed Hog Wild even more which I watched after this (Already watched the BATB a while ago), It was a pretty stacked card when you look at the matches and those in them

 

I'm visiting a lot of this stuff for the first time, so I'm actually really enjoying it all anyways. I forgot Mongo was in the Horsemen, so when he nailed Greene I thought "WHAT?!?!". Then I was like "oh aye!".

[Boon Town Rat]

Posted these on another forum and thought id share them here...

 

I know Magnum covered this early in the thread but he's my take...

 

NWA 1989

 

Started watching all of this a few weeks back, currently up to Chi-Town Rumble, which ill be watching tomorrow night. So here show thoughts. The top liner is Flair vs Steamboat, this has been great, I've seen a lot of the feud before as its covered on the Ultimate Ric Flair DVD, but seeing outside the major angles and promos it brings so much more to the first match in Chicago. Gilbert plays the underdog awesomely, early on in the feud. Flairs face when Steamboat comes out sells the feud alone. The tag match is good, but I think it would of been better if it happened at a Clash because the crowd is about 100 people in the studio and they can't really make the reaction a live house crowd could. The interaction at the Clash is good, Bob Caudle looks like all his xmas's have come at once when Flair offers a female to him. But one thing that hurts the feud is that in Cincinnati for the Clash, during Steamboats match the crowd are calling for Flair. I've seen the Chi-Town match before I'm really looking forward to it more now for all the build up.

 

Luger and Windham is ok, it come from Windham turning on Luger the previous year, so don't know all the ins and outs of that feud but its for the United States title, also Windham must be joining the other 4 Horsemen, Tully, Arn and Dillionin the WWF soon. Sting is facing off with Butch Reed at the PPV, nothing to note their. The Varsity club/Road Warriors feud is really getting going. Liking Michael Hayes, but he's seems lost without one of his "brothers" by his side, hopefully that changes soon

 

But one feud I'm liking the most is the Orginal Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose) with Paul E against the Midnight Express (Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton) with James E. Great feud here, made even better by the promos by Cornette and Dangerously are as you expect brilliant, like Magnum said. Strange to see Cornette as a face is odd, but he is at his peak here. Ill report more when I watch Chi-Town Rumble..

 

Chi-Town Rumble

 

Just finished watching this, the opener was ok, Michael Hayes beating one of the Russian Assassins nothing of note here really. Sting rolled up Butch Reed in a 20 minute bore. The Original Midnight Express who are missing Dennis Condrey and have gained Jack Victory which takes a bit of heat from the match, against the Midnight Express. The stipulation was who ever took the fall would have to leave the NWA. Randy Rose did and he's out of here but an awesome match to say the least. Next was the first of 3 screwy finishes to matches on this card. Rick Steiner with his debuting brother Scott against Mike Rotundo, Steiner had Rotundo in a sleeper and fell back and Ricks shoulders were on the ground and were counted. The same thing happened in the US title match between Windham and Luger, this time it was a double pin with Luger raising his shoulder. Next was the home town heros Road Warriors against Kevin Sullivan and Steve Williams, this one is were one of each team got pinned but Hawk and Sullivan were the legal men and Animal and Hawk get the victory and retain the titles. And finally was the World Title, Flair Steamboat, this contain a ref bump but that couldnt take away from the brilliant match these two had, but like my notes from Clash Of The Champions 5, Steamboat is booed here when he won the title..