OOOLD SCHOOOOL

[Dirty Eddie]

Spivey vs Luger was a great little match!

 

I often find Luger a chore to watch, in fairness.

 

But like I said, I honestly think Luger suffered from being too big. His earlier matches with Windham, Flair and Hansen were much better, in part due to Luger been pretty agile and fast for a man of his frame.

[JNLister]

The Sturgis shows were best for exposing RD Reynolds for the total spastic he is.

 

In the Death of WCW it was a "Disgrace" that they booed a Benoit vs Malenko 30 minute draw because THEY DIDN'T LIKE WRESTLING, but they didn't comment on the fierce booing of all the Black and Japanese lads wrestling. Obviously Stevie Ray's lack of Moveset and poor Ringwork makes racism ok.

 

You've said this many times. In fact it's almost a cliche that the moment somebody mentions Bryan Alvarez or RD Reynolds or wrestling books, you'll trot this story out.

 

But where in the book does it mention this? I've just looked through the section of Hog Wild 1996 (pages 75 through 78) and there's no mention whatsoever of the Benoit-Malenko match. Just to make sure, I've checked through the entirety of the chapter on 1996, plus the sections on the Hog Wild shows in later years. No mention.

 

As you say there's also no mention of the crowd booing Harlem Heat (or any mention of that match whatsoever.) However, it does talk about the Madusa-Bull Nakano match, describe Sonny Onno as a walking stereotype, and specifically say the match was "playing to the xenophobic nature of pro-wrestling crowds, especially those containing thousands of (likely inebriated) biker."

 

To recap that, the book makes no complaint about the Hog Wild 96 crowd not respecting da workrate of Benoit-Malenko, but does specifically complain about them being racist and WCW playing to it.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

I dont know whether it was in the Death of WCW or not (read it once, found it more guilty of reinventing history than WWE's Rise and Fall of WCW DVD), but RD Reynolds DID say that. It may have been in his lists book, it may have been in an interview or it may have been on his website blog or daft radio thingy (or more than likely even in his FSM article), but I remember there was even a thread about it on here back in around 2005/06 mentioning how thick it was. This was pre-Benoit murders, when nobody imagined he could fart, let alone be disrespected. There's plenty of comments and bits of tosh RD Reyolds has said, nobody needs to make anything up to make him look bad.

 

Alvarez can be overbearing and quite annoying, but he's better than having to pair up with RD Reyolds. They're not even in the same world, let alone worthy of writing a book together.

[JNLister]

Just checked and it's in the WrestleCrap book. If you want another reason to laugh at Reynolds, his listed co-writer on that book is Randy Baer. Which is, erm, his real name.

[Devon Malcolm]

Is that the same masked team of Thunder and Lightning from IWA Puerto Rico?

 

No. Lightning was Jeff Farmer (nWo Sting), but I don't know who Thunder was.

[PowerButchi]

Just checked and it's in the WrestleCrap book. If you want another reason to laugh at Reynolds, his listed co-writer on that book is Randy Baer. Which is, erm, his real name.

 

I await my apology with bated breath.

[JNLister]

Why would I apologise when what I said was correct?

[PowerButchi]

I apologise

 

I accept your apology.

[WWFChilli]

I accept your apology.

 

Meltzer *****

[fraserbee]

Spivey vs Luger was a great little match!

I agree. I'd rate this as one of Luger's best ever singles matches.

[Devon Malcolm]

WCW SATURDAY NIGHT - 15/1/94

 

No pissing around this week as they get straight into a tag team rematch from last week as Pretty Wonderful are followed quickly into the ring by Bagwell & Scorpio who decide against twatting around with the fans this week, presumably pissed off with last week's defeat courtesy of the loaded headbutt from Mr Fat Neck himself, The Masked Assassin.

 

This is a pretty good match as well with Bagwell and Roma doing most of the work this week. The ending looks a bit botched with Orndorff out of position before Scorpio pins Roma with a dodgy looking roll-up. I think Scorpio was supposed to knock Orndorff off the apron as he hit the ropes there. Orndorff scotches any suggestion he's to blame, though, as he nearly decapitates Scorpio with a clothesline after the match. Super. Nice little beat-down after that as well.

 

Pillman does a promo with the fucking chicken suit meant for Col. Robert Parker again. Christ, they dragged this storyline out. He's wrestling Steve Austin later in the main event, though, so that's okay.

 

Next up is Ron Simmons! Strange match, this, because they had clearly decided before the match that he was going to turn heel ahead of his match with Ice Train at Clash Of The Champions, but he gets a massive babyface reaction from the crowd despite wrestling a pretty heelish match-up against poor Scott Studd, who he squashes in about two minutes, pinning him after a spinebuster.

 

He then gets an interview with Mean Gene before Ice Train comes out to interrupt by saying lots of stuff that you can't make out because Okerlund is still pointing the mic at Simmons! Probably just as well because Ice Train was a notoriously shit promo and all you really hear out of him here is "Mr Simmons! Mr Simmons!" Mr Simmons gets bored of this shit after unsuccessfully trying to talk him out of their match by slapping the microphone into his face. Now THAT is a pipebomb.

 

The Natural Dustin Rhodes then squashes The Gambler in about a minute. I remember The Gambler pretty well, actually, I think he was around WCW for a good few years, and I always liked jobbers that got a gimmick to work with.

 

Speaking of which, the world's most unconvincing babyface tag team Maxx Payne & Cactus Jack are out next to face Bob Cook (YAY!) and....The Sheik?! I think there have been about 17 Sheiks in wrestling, but this one isn't the pencil wielding nutter nor the one that won the NWA World Title recently. In fact, I've no fucking idea who he is. All I know is when he takes off the trademark Sheik headscarf, he's not even fucking Arabian! He's just your common or garden pasty white American bloke! Completely bizarre.

 

This one takes about three minutes although Cook gets some good offence in on Cactus, who gets some revenge later with a very nice single arm takedown into Payne's armbar submission finisher. More importantly, though - The Bob Cook Fanclub was in attendance, and they had a nicer looking sign this time. It had a picture on it. Smart. Cactus then does an interview with Okerlund which consists of him dropping Flintstones references, for some reason. That'll show them Nasty Boys!

 

Holy fuck, it's Erik Watts - and he's got a shot at the World TV Title! AHAHAHA! He gets a huge babyface pop coming out, even by the standards of the Saturday Night nutters in attendance. They're not so happy when Lord Steven Regal comes strolling to the ring, with one idiot at ringside holding up a sign (or a piece of ripped-off cardboard that he's written on in felt tip) that says, "Steven Regal Is Uncool!" Even more ridiculous than that is Ventura on commentary saying that Erik Watts can beat any wrestler in WCW on his day. I think he was serious as well. Oh, Jesse.

 

Actually, hilariously, aside from one European uppercut, Watts has ALL the offence in this match until he tries a flying crossbody, bounces off the ropes, and Regal pins him with a modified abdominal stretch into a cradle or something. It looked poncey, anyway. Not an unfamiliar Regal match, it has to be said.

 

Next up it's Tex Slazenger looking to get some revenge against Johnny B Badd for calling him ugly or something. Badd's pissing around with his shooter takes up more time than the match, which is over in about 2 minutes when he reverses a powerbomb attempt into a roll-up. That was supposed to be part 2 of the three-way main event as well! Shanghai Pierce jumps in the ring to twat Badd with his boot afterwards but misses and gets Slazenger instead. You're better off with the pigs, lads.

 

Time for the proper main event as Stunning Steve Austin makes his way down with Col. Rob Parker, closely followed by Flyin' Brian and that fucking chicken head. Christ almighty.

 

Really good match, this - goes about 10 minutes and shows the great chemistry these two had as partners and enemies. Austin works Pillman's arm for most of the match before Pillman rolls Austin up for a surprise pin when Austin is too busy yapping with Parker on the outside. A post-match beatdown and attempted chickening of Pillman is broken up by Dustin Rhodes.

 

And that's your lot! Not as good as last week's, but at least we didn't have the Shockmaster this week.

[BionicRedneck]

An absolute goldmine of mainly Japanese old school brilliance in great quality on this YouTube channel.

 

Plenty of forgotten gems and lots of cool stuff I've never seen before, like this Antonio Inoki/Dusty Rhodes vs. Hulk Hogan/Stan Hansen match from 1981. Inoki is about as ridiculously over as you'd expect and the crowd seem to get a kick out of Rhodes, presumably because the Japanese enjoy watching a fat bloke dance as much as the rest of us. It's not a classic or anything, but as I was completely unaware of its existence, it's enjoyable all the same.

 

Hogan even has the nWo beard.

[Richie Freebird]

Okay, so earlier in the day I watched RAW and Nitro both from the 17th of August, 1996. Here

[PowerButchi]

Jim Powers had been around wrestling for years by 1996 (He started doing jobs up north in 1984), but he hung around WCW until about 1999. Probably had most of his singles success in WCW on shows like Pro and Worldwide.

[Richie Freebird]

Cheers Butch. To me, he just seemed to have a star look about him, fantastic build and muscle definition. I