The "I've just watched ..." thread

[air_raid]

45 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

100% agree on Sting/Vader feeling like a prize fight. A lot of Vader's title matches had that feel, which shows just what an aura the man had around him back then.

Vader was unbelievable and for a company that did a lot wrong, WCW booked him right for the majority of his time as a heel up until Hogan turned up. Vader was on ITV right when I was really getting into wrestling and there were 2 men in all of wrestling I was convinced I would never see get pinned clean, and they were Vader and The Undertaker. When they were building Vader vs Smithers, I was terrified that Bulldog was going to suffer serious injury. Vader scared the shit out of me, he looked inhuman.

[Devon Malcolm]

Continuing my run through NWA / WCW PPVs with Chi-Town Rumble.

Michael PS Hayes beat Russian Assassin I in a match that was way too long for an opener, but actually wasn't too bad, considering. Certainly expected a lot worse from this.

Sting's win over Hacksaw Butch Reed went even longer but was solid enough. They seemed to have a bit more chemistry than you might expect.

Midnight Express and Jim Cornette beat Randy Rose and fucking Jack Victory with Paul E Dangerously because Dennis Condrey didn't turn up. Victory was bloody awful and mostly stays out of the way, thankfully. Cornette bumps like a good 'un in this. Good fun, this.

Mike Rotunda regained the TV title from Rick Steiner after Kevin Sullivan came down and hinted that he'd done something to Spike. Steiner once again dragged Rotunda to a good one although the finish was shite.

They then pretty much repeated the finish for Lex Luger winning the US title from Barry Windham, the first of two matches that felt like they had time cut off. Made for a really good sprint though with Barry doing the injured hand spot. Really good match.

Road Warriors beat The Varsity Club in a fast-paced match as well. Not as much violence as I'd have liked from these four and they were a bit out of sync towards the end but not bad.

Then Flair and Steamboat had a masterpiece with Steamboat, of course, winning the title. Just inch perfect, this match, one I could never tired of watching.

Good show again, if rather unevenly paced.

[The King of Old School]

16 hours ago, air_raid said:

Vader was unbelievable and for a company that did a lot wrong, WCW booked him right for the majority of his time as a heel up until Hogan turned up. Vader was on ITV right when I was really getting into wrestling and there were 2 men in all of wrestling I was convinced I would never see get pinned clean, and they were Vader and The Undertaker. When they were building Vader vs Smithers, I was terrified that Bulldog was going to suffer serious injury. Vader scared the shit out of me, he looked inhuman.

I echo this entirely, he was the one as a kid that shit me up too. Such a monster.

I never felt that with The Undertaker, i just thought he looked weird.

[Accident Prone]

Finished up the last matches of the 'Puro For Dummies' set last night. I just want to talk about two incredible tag matches from the NOAH lads.

First, Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama.

By fucking God, Kenta Kobashi. And I mean that literally, as he is God to that crowd. Every second he was in the ring, the pro-Kobashi chants were deafening. When he wasn't the legal man, the chants for him to get involved were deafening. This just made my love for the man increase by ten fold. I mentioned elsewhere that I am very, very late on the ball with getting on the Kobashi train, but I'm real glad I have whilst I still have the free time. He's just perfect, isn't he?

I was hooked on every action and movement. Every near fall had me on the edge of my seat. This match is twelve years old and there I was reacting like it was live. What made this match even better, is that the set also includes Kobashi's matches with Takayama, Misawa and Akiyama before hand. The set is literally built for dummies as you get all the history before the big tag blow-off (like an old school camp wrestling show, funnily enough). I actually understood the call backs and the story telling going on.

Bit pissed off that the match immediately cuts to the next match as soon as the three count is registered, as I really wanted to revel in the aftermath like one would do with post-film credits.

Then there was KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Kota Ibushi & Naomichi Marufuji, again from 2007.

I love all these lads, but i have special stiffy for Ibushi. He's just perfect, isn't he?

All four go hell for leather with little filler. Just balls to the wall action jackson. Ibushi dazzles and I'm really annoyed that we never got that Ibushi vs KENTA singles match as they light each other up. The sequences between these two are just incredible and the crowd eats it all up. Ishimore and Marfuji refuse to be outshone so they up the ante with nutty highspots, whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

It's a breathless 25 minutes and, much like the last match, it makes me yearn for more.

I mentioned in a thread late last year that I was planning on a deep dive of 90's/00's All-Japan and NOAH, and a poster responded with something akin to "You'll love it and modern day wrestling will be ruined for you". I think I can see where they were coming from. 

Edited May 4, 2019 by Accident Prone
Spelling

[wandshogun09]

11 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Continuing my run through NWA / WCW PPVs with Chi-Town Rumble. 

Then Flair and Steamboat had a masterpiece with Steamboat, of course, winning the title. Just inch perfect, this match, one I could never tired of watching.

That’s my favourite of the 3 big Flair vs Steamboat matches in 1989. The other 2 are great too of course but I feel they get slightly overrated because the Clash one goes nearly 60 minutes and the WrestleWar one is the trilogy decider and has the Terry Funk post-match stuff etc. But purely as a match, for me, the Chi Town Rumble one is the best of the lot. It’s not overly long and the pace felt faster to me. 

[wandshogun09]

Carrying on with 1992, and we’ve got another Clash. This one is being treated as a bit special because it marks 20 years of wrestling on the TBS network, dating back to when Mid-Atlantic was shown on there in 1972. 

Clash Of The Champions 20

September 2nd 1992

Atlanta, Georgia 

We’re at Center Stage for this one and they’re bringing out some of the big guns and legendary names from the past. We open things up with Tony Schiavone and Missy Hyatt like any other show. But this time they’re joined by Gordon Solie and Andre The Giant! 

Andre is dressed like he’s the world’s biggest antique dealer on Dickinson’s Real Deal here. This was only about 4 months before he died, sadly, and you can see he’s having trouble getting about here. He looks happy to see Missy though. 

It’s a red carpet affair (minus the actual red carpet) and limousines are pulling up left and right. New WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ron Simmons (more on that later) is first on the scene with his wife. He looks cool as fuck. 

Damn! 

Bill Watts and Hank Aaron arrive. They’re followed by WCW president Bill Shaw who gets zero applause or fanfare whatsoever. Now we’ve got Jim ‘My Boy’ Barnett. No-one gives a shite about these old fucks. But wait...

It’s only Bruno Sammartino! 

Sting has just pulled up on a Harley Davidson now, in a leather jacket with no shirt underneath. It’s definitely 92. Can we just start the show? I can’t take all this excitement. Missy is the same, she seems overwhelmed watching all these men come...ah, forget it. 

Now we cut to Teddy Long who’s with Bill Watts, Dusty Rhodes and Robb Pitts. Who? You know Robb Pitts. He’s from the Atlanta City Council, apparently. He’s giving Watts a certificate proclaiming it ‘WCW Day’ in Atlanta...or something. He’s also a black man. Call me a cynic but I have a feeling this was done purely so the definitely not racist Bill Watts would be seen publicly shaking hands with a black man on TV because he’s definitely not racist. 

Dusty’s talking now. ”I’ll tell you we on fire tonight, too sweet to be sour, live and in colour, from downtown Atlanta, the Clash Of Champions. We will get funky like a monkey tonight, Teddy Long!” Even stood next to Teddy Long and Robb Pitts, Dusty is the blackest man there. 

I think we’re finally starting because Jim Ross and Jesse The Body are on my telly. And JR again just can’t resist having a dig at Jesse’s age. ”Jess, in 1972 you were in war, and I was a sophomore in college.” OK Jim, we get it. You’re younger than Jesse. But he was in Predator and you smashed up a bag of puppies. I know whose side I’m on. 

And it seems they’re already sick of Watts’ silly ‘no coming off the top rope’ rule. Ross says there’ll be a poll tonight where fans can vote on whether or not the rule should be rescinded. 

Bout time. And it’s about time. 

Stunning Steve Austin (c) vs Ricky Steamboat - WCW World Television Title No Disqualification match 

What a way to kick things off. Can’t go wrong with this. These 2 had so many tremendous matches between 92 and 94, in singles and in tags. All ranging from at the least ‘very good’ to at best ‘fucking incredible’. 

Ha, Paul E Dangerously is going to be suspended above the ring in a little cage so he can’t interfere. He kicks off about it but Doug Dillinger (who was stealing a paycheque even longer than wrestling was on TBS) shoves him in the cage. 

At around 10 minutes the match is a little bit too short to really become a classic. It’s still very, very good while it lasts but they’d go on to have better matches after this. The story of this one is that Steamboat had injured his ribs in the tag team tournament and Austin is attacking the ribs every chance he gets. Steamboat outsmarts him in the end though. The finish comes when Austin throws the Dragon outside and Steamboat crawls under the ring. Austin can’t find him and Steamboat comes out on the other side and hits the big cross body off the top for the win. 

Great finish. New TV champion. 

Arn Anderson & Beautiful Bobby Eaton vs Greg Valentine & Dick Slater 

This was a bit of an odd one. With the Dangerous Alliance being no more, Anderson and Eaton have kind of turned babyface here. And Michael PS Hayes is their new manager. Seems an odd fit. For one, it’s not like a team that includes Arn Anderson ever needed a mouthpiece. But Hayes being the talker he is, he manages to make it sound like it makes all the sense in the world in the pre-match interview. 

”I been co-hosting WCW Main Event on Sundays with Jim Ross...well actually, it’s my show, I let him talk. A little. Everybody wants to know what I’m up to. Everybody wants to know what I’m doing. Well ladies and gentleman, get your ear near the tube ‘cause Michael PS gon’ tell ya what’s brand spanking new. What you have here is a compile-ation of the best 3 tag teams that RULED the 1980s. The Midnight Express, The Four Horsemen and The Fabulous Freebirds. And now we are the best of the best.” 

The story is that Hayes knows Terry Gordy better than anyone due to their days together as part of the original Freebirds. So Arn and Bobby have brought him in as kind of their ‘secret weapon’ for when they get their inevitable title shot. There is logic to that, of course. There’s just something about the whole combination that feels weird. 

The Appleton sisters really let themselves go, didn’t they? 

Actually, if ever a team could’ve used a mouthpiece manager, it’s Greg and Dick. I actually like their grumpy, roughhouse, no nonsense look and style but they probably could’ve done with a manager. They do have Larry Zbyszko with a cast on his arm in their corner here but it’s a one-off due to Larry’s history with Double A and Beautiful Bobby. 

But yeah, it’s a solid little match. Only goes around 5 minutes. Slater looks like the Mel B off Bo Selecta actually. I don’t know if Arn and Bobby are actually supposed to be babyfaces here but they’re all wrestling like heels. Finish comes when Zbyszko accidentally twats Valentine with the cast, Bobby hits the Alabama Jam (off the second rope thanks to the Watts rule) and Arn gets the pin. 

 

JR interviews Bruno next. Bruno is raving about how good the Steamboat vs Austin match was earlier and also gets in a pop at the WWF. ”Thank God for the WCW because what I’ve been experiencing the past 10 years with that other league, it’s been a total embarrassment. It’s great to see professional wrestling at its best back again.” 

Of course, this is 1992. The same year Bruno appeared on Donahue with Vince McMahon, Superstar Billy Graham, Dave Meltzer etc to discuss such matters as steroid abuse and sex scandals in the WWF locker room. To say the Bruno-WWF relationship was strained at this time is an understatement.
 

I now learn that we should’ve got a Brad Armstrong vs Flyin’ Brian match here, for Armstrong’s recently won Light Heavyweight Title. But Armstrong suffered a knee injury and hasn’t been cleared to wrestle. Bill Watts reluctantly strips him of the belt and announces that there’ll be a tournament soon to crown a new champion. Jesse is interviewing a disappointed Brad Armstrong when Pillman comes out and just starts berating him for pulling out. 

”Your poor Daddy must be hanging his head in shame.” 

Pillman is such a dick here. Proper rips into him and then just slaps him in the face and walks off. I guess Flyin’ Brian’s a baddie now then. He’s such a natural as a heel and in just one segment here he’s instantly become more a interesting character than he has been his previous 3 years in the company. 

Ron Simmons (c) vs Cactus Jack - WCW World Heavyweight Title 

OK so a lot has gone on since the Great American Bash. Of course, Vader won the title from Sting that night. But on August 2nd in Baltimore, this happened...

Simmons got an unexpected crack at the title and shocked the world when he put Vader down for 3 and made history becoming the first black World Heavyweight Champion. 

Amazing moment. I remember seeing clips of this on Worldwide at the time. At that age I didn’t even understand race or the significance of what this moment meant. I was just chuffed because I was a Simmons fan and Vader scared me. But I knew something special had happened. People were actually crying in the crowd. I know Big Ron’s reign as champion was short and probably only even happened because of Bill Watts’ political reasons but, whatever the case, I’m glad it happened. 

Another short match here, under 10 minutes. It’s decent enough. Sloppy at times but I think I prefer it to their match at Superbrawl. 

Like always, Cactus can’t help but to throw himself onto the concrete floor. Simmons survives and weathers the storm though. And a spinebuster and powerslam later, it’s all over. Big Ron retains. 

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs The Barbarian & Butch Reed 

Bazza and Dustin are back in the hunt for gold here after coming close to winning the titles and the tournament at the Great American Bash. And The Barbarian and Butch Reed are back in WCW. They’ve come in as kind of henchmen for Cactus Jack and were part of a short-lived stable at this time which consisted of Cactus, Barbarian, Butch Reed, sometimes Jake Roberts and later on Tony Atlas. A right mish-mash, oddball collection. The Barbarian is back to his best look here. 

This is the version of The Barbarian I prefer. The old Powers Of Pain look with the mohawk really worked for him and made him look a total badass. Him and Butch make quite the formidable team and Windham and Rhodes find themselves getting overpowered for much of this one. They do mount a brief comeback but it’s fleeting and Barbarian wipes Windham the fuck out with the big boot. Windham is toast. Another fun, short match. 

Sting, Nikita Koloff & Steiner Brothers vs Jake The Snake Roberts, Ravishing Rick Rude, Big Van Vader & Super Invader - 8 Man Tag Elimination match 

Main event and you’ll notice a familiar name there. Jake The Snake has arrived. 

He popped up on the same Baltimore show where Ron Simmons won the title. He attacked Sting and gave him 2 DDTs on a chair before being ran off by half the babyface locker-room. 

This is basically a Survivor Series match in a WCW ring. The heels come out first and what immediately catches my eye is Super Invader’s appearance;

Old Herc’s clearly got back on the juice and the tanning bed since I last saw him looking a bit soft and very pale at WrestleWar. 

Vader and Rick Steiner kick things off and, as you’d expect, waste zero time knocking the shite out of each other. 

Scotty chucks Invader about like a frisbee. Jake picks his spots, slithering in and out. Koloff is the first eliminated when Jake rolls him up. Sting gets Invader out of there with a bulldog next. The action is non-stop here. The heels work over Rick for a bit and Scott gets himself DQ’d for coming off the top rope. Rick is counted out. It’s now 3 on 1 with Sting left alone with Jake, Vader AND Rude. Not good. But Vader nearly cocks it all up. He comes off the top with a big splash, not only getting himself DQ’d but also nearly killing his own partner Rick Rude in the process. 

But the numbers get too much for the Stinger and Jake finishes him off with the DDT. The bad guys win. 

Real fun show, that was. The main event was really entertaining, there wasn’t a bad match on the show and it was cool seeing the legends like Bruno and Andre there. Some of the waffle between the matches dragged on a bit but on the whole it was good. And on top of that, the votes are in, the fans have overwhelmingly voted to fuck that goofy top rope rule off. Result. 

Time to spin the wheel and make the deal next. 

Edited May 5, 2019 by wandshogun09

[TRSL]

Keep these reviews coming Wand, everyone of them has been top class.

[Wideload90]

I echo TRSL, you've made me want to go back and watch early 90's WCW, wand. Thank you.

I completely forgot how good Austin is at this point too. Most wrestlers today would Kill for talent like that.

[CavemanLynn]

Count me in for the WCW review love. Fabulous work, looking back at an era I've only recently got into, myself. Such an insane mix of talent, 15 year vets that didn't feel stale and the next generation starting to shine through.

A no DQ stip used by a face not to cheat but to hit his finish. Quality.

[wandshogun09]

1 hour ago, CavemanLynn said:

A no DQ stip used by a face not to cheat but to hit his finish. Quality.

Yeah, I meant to comment on that in the Steamboat vs Austin bit actually. Just shows how much of a pain in the arse that ‘no coming off the top rope’ rule became. They’d kind of backed themselves into a corner with it and by this point they clearly couldn’t be fucked with it anymore, hence making matches No DQ just so someone can hit their finish. Eaton having to do the Alabama Jam off the second rope was weak as well. 

Going beyond the Watts era though, even as a huge WCW fan, I never liked the rule where throwing your opponent over the top rope was an automatic DQ either. And that rule stuck around long after Cowboy Bill was gone.

Edited May 5, 2019 by wandshogun09

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Finished up watching the WWE Unreleased 1986-95 DVD set earlier and it was super fun watching some unique matches without commentary talking about unrelated nonsense (although Sean Mooney and Charly Caruso’s acting in the wrap arounds is pretty woeful)

Amongst the highlights on the set are

Hogan and Piper teaming up against Orndorff and Race some 20 months after their famous rivalry

The Mega Powers against Honky and the Hart Foundation 

Try out matches for Owen, Crush, Earthquake, Tatanka, Smoking Gunns and Taz

A Blindfold match between Jake and Martel 3 months before their infamous Wrestlemania match

Warrior and Bret teaming up against Papa Shango and Kamala which takes place at some point between Bret beating Flair and Survivor Series 92

Bret and HBK teaming up against Hakushi and Lawler 

A cage match between Diesel and Yokozuna

The infamous Toxic Turtles tag match

[wandshogun09]

Spin the wheel, make the deal. Spin the wheel, make the deal. Spin the wheel, make the deal. 

Spin the wheel, make the deal. Man, forget the goofy concept, what a shitty promo. 

Halloween Havoc 

October 25th 1992

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

We open up the show with Tony Schiavone and...Bruno Sammartino! 

They run through the card. A lot has happened since the Clash Of The Champions in September. Titles have changed hands, alliances have formed, rifts have developed and Rick Rude has shaved off his moustache! 😮 And he’s got to wrestle twice tonight apparently. Once defending the US belt against Koloff and then again challenging Chono for the NWA Title. 

Jesse’s loving Halloween. He looks like he’s ready to make some exploding carrots, whack some tights on and get the cattle-prod. 

YEAH! YEAH! 

You know we were on about JR clearly not enjoying working with Jesse? Well I get the feeling Jesse was well aware of it by this point and was ramping it up even more to piss him off. He’s hilariously loud and overbearing in the PPV opening here. He’s practically headbutting Ross with every word and shouting in his face as JR stands there flinching, rolling his eyes and generally looking like he’d rather be somewhere...anywhere else. 

On with the show. I’ve never seen the full thing. Maybe for good reason as I’ve heard a lot about it, and not much of it good. But I’ll find out for myself soon enough. 

Arn Anderson, Beautiful Bobby Eaton & Michael Hayes vs Shane Douglas, Z-Man & Johnny Gunn - 6 Man Tag 

Like I said before, this Anderson/Eaton/Hayes team is so odd to me. They come out to ‘Badstreet USA’ here which just highlights it further. Arn and Bobby are marching to the ring looking as serious as a case of the clap while PS Hayes struts and flounces about in a jacket Bet Lynch would’ve described as ‘a bit loud’. It’s a strange visual. That superfan Vladimir is in the crowd. Cunt was everywhere in the 90s, wasn’t he? Shane Douglas is back from a fairly short stint in the WWF. He’s fucked off the skateboard and Johnny Ace since he was last in WCW. He’s no longer a ‘Dynamic Dude’. Still has perhaps the most punchable face ever though. Johnny Gunn was better known (slightly) as Tom Brandi and Salvatore Sincere in the WWF a few years later. Not a bad little match. Typical Philly crowd booing the babyfaces. Although I don’t really blame them here. The Freebird Alliance are way cooler. Arn in particular is way over with this crowd.

What? The nothing happening babyfaces win! Gunn pins Hayes with a weak-arse Lou Thesz press. Get out. Crowd hates it. Not crazy about it myself. 

Backstage, Missy Hyatt is trying to get an interview with Rick Rude. She bumps into Harley Race and is fluttering her eyelashes in the hopes he’ll get her into the dressing room. Harley’s in no mood for this and politely tells her to piss off. 

Missy is in shock. ”OH MY GOSH! That was the first time Missy Hyatt’s not been invited into a locker room.” 

I bet. 

Ricky Steamboat vs Flyin’ Brian Pillman

Oh, this will be good. After their interactions in the show opening tag match at the Great American Bash, I’m very much looking forward to this. Flyin’ Brian is a full-on heel now. Same entrance music, same tiger stripe tights, but a completely different attitude and demeanour. 

He has a constant look of disdain on his face. A ‘who just farted?’ expression with the occasional cocky prick smirk thrown in. 

This only goes 10 minutes but they make the most of it. With the short time they set a quick pace right away and it’s non-stop from there. Pillman uses a nice mix of his old aerial stuff but he’s more aggressive and not shy about bending the rules anymore. Steamboat out-crafties him in the end though and gets the win after a series of pinfall reversals. Good match. 

Big Van Vader (c) vs Nikita Koloff - WCW United States Title No Disqualification match 

Swerve. Rude isn’t wrestling twice after all. Watts announces before the match that Rude has chosen Vader as his substitute to defend his title. Seems a pretty good choice, doesn’t it? Ole Anderson has banned Rick Rude, Madusa and Harley Race from ringside. Decent power match, this. I keep saying it but, fuck, Vader was a monster back in 92. Koloff has his moments here but all I can think is I wish this was roidy Koloff from about 1986 against Vader.

Now that would’ve been a battle of the bulls. 

Anyway, enjoyed this. Koloff puts up a real good fight. It was more competitive than I thought it would be. In the end though, Vader is just too much. 

Vader nails him with a big powerbomb. He ends Nikita’s night. 

And career. This was it for Nikita. His last match. Apparently he fucked his neck up in the match from a hard Vader clothesline and suffered a hernia later in the match. He called it a day shortly after. In a recent interview with Hannibal TV he confirmed this and said he could’ve came back after surgery but decided against it as he had a Lloyd’s Of London policy and was wanting to retire by 35 anyway. 

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes (c) vs Dr Death Steve Williams & Stunning Steve Austin - WCW & NWA World Tag Team Titles 

OK. Last time we saw Barry and Dustin they were losing to The Barbarian and Butch Reed at the Clash. Now just 6 or so weeks later they’re holding the WCW and NWA tag team titles. That’s because they beat Dr Death and Terry Gordy to win the belts on WCW Saturday Night at the start of October. 

This was supposed to be a rematch of that match but Watts says Terry Gordy has been suspended indefinitely for “breaching his contract”. Anyone know the story there? He never did come back to WCW. So Dr Death has to choose a new tag team partner to challenge for the gold. Of course, it ends up being Stunning Steve Austin. 

Steve Williams and Steve Williams there. 

We‘ve also been informed on this show that, despite their recent success, Windham and Rhodes have been having problems and there was footage at the start of the show of them slapping each other silly during a miscommunication in a recent TV match. Not good. 

Never seen this match. Looks incredible on paper and I love the combination of Williams and Austin. 

Dustin Rhodes and Dr Death start it off. Intense stuff. It becomes clear from early on that it’s probably going to be a long one when Gary Michael Cappetta keeps announcing how much time has elapsed in the match so far. Good action from all four men. Crowd are fucking dead though. It is slow in places when Doc and Austin are working over Rhodes for ages but it’s a good match and the crowd are just so bloody lifeless. 

Pace picks up in the last few minutes and the crowd wake up. A bit anyway. The end isn’t the best though, and really hurt the match overall, IMO. There’s a bunch of confusion when Austin pins Windham for a 3 count late in the match but it’s disallowed because Baz wasn’t the legal man. The timekeeper keeps ringing the bell anyway for some reason then everyone’s frantically trying to get a pinfall but the time runs out. 30 minute draw. Baz and Dust retain the belts. 

A good match that could’ve been so much better if it was 10 minutes shorter and we got an actual finish. The whole closing stretch was a clusterfuck, to be honest. Shame because there was a classic to be had here and, while it certainly wasn’t bad, it wasn’t what it should’ve been. 

 

We cut to an interview now on the stage with Paul E Dangerously, Big Van Vader, Harley Race and Madusa. And Paul E just starts ripping into Madusa with a proper misogynistic rant which basically consists of him saying that she’s inferior because she’s a woman. Nice. 

”You’re just a woman. Nothing but a woman. Inferior. Subservient. Nothing more than a chick that takes orders. You Madusa, have been good for one year, for one thing. And that one thing has been to take care of each and every one of Ravishing Rick Rude’s needs. But between you and me, the reason that I hired you for that job is because the other hooker that I had in mind had a previous obligation.” 

WHOA! Fucking hell. Wasn’t expecting this kind of shit from 1992 WCW. He then fires her and actually shoves her. She totally flips and batters him. She’s kicking the shite out of him as security (actually it’s just Doug Dillinger and a load of refs) run in to stop it. Where were they when Sweaty Paul shoved her? Nick Patrick looks a right sex pest here trying to restrain Madusa. With his pornstar ‘tache and his wandering hands. David Copp-a-feel. Paul E is going mental saying he’ll beat her with one arm behind his back and calls her a “bitch”. She breaks free and runs at him and he fucking legs it. Christ. Strong segment, especially for 92. 

 

Business is about to pick up. Because it’s time to SPIN THE WHEEL! 

It’s going to be of these match stipulations;

The excitement. The anticipation. The...’Prince Of Darkness?’ What the hell kind of match is that? What’s it going to be? What’s it going to be? 

He’s only bloody spinning it! My nipples are hard. It’s...it’s...

Schiavone tells us. In the most unenthusiastic way imaginable. ”It’s on Coal Miner’s Glove...it’s the Coal Miner’s Glove match. He...he’s ready. OK, there he goes, Sting. It is a Coal Miner’s Glove...for...Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal.” 

I suspect this was the point in the show where JR decided ‘Yeah, maybe this idea of wearing a toga at WrestleMania 9 ain’t so bad. I’ll call Vince back tonight, bah gawd.’ Legit there’s a look of despair on JR’s face now. 

Masahiro Chono (c) vs Ravishing Rick Rude - NWA World Heavyweight Title 

These two met in August in Japan the finals of the NWA World Heavyweight Title Tournament. Chono won, obviously. This is the rematch. There’ll be 2 referees for this one, each chosen by the combatants. Chono chose Kensuke Sasaki, Rude chose Harley Race. As if that wasn’t confusing enough...

Doesn’t look right at all, does it? What did he think he was doing? Rude without the moustache is like Superman without the cape, Popeye without the spinach or a Jeremy Kyle guest with teeth. It’s not the same. 

Also, Madusa just casually back out with Rude as if none of that stuff with Paul E happened. WCW could take logic and really bugger the hell out of it. 

To top it all off, Chono and Rude proceed to have a really dull 20 minute snoozer. I was so disappointed in this. Never been a massive Chono fan but he’s capable of so much better than this, especially with someone like Rick Motherfucking Rude circa 1992. One of these two must’ve been injured or something. It’s the only plausible explanation. It’s chinlock city for a big chunk of the match. Probably Randy Orton’s all time favourite match.  

Seriously, the highlight of the first 10 minutes is probably when Rude goes outside to get a back massage from Madusa...

Yeah, it’s neither man’s best outing. From what I read, the first match in Japan was much better but whether that’s true or not I don’t fancy watching it after enduring this. The finish comes when Chono slings Rude over the top rope and then submits Rude with the STF. Sasaki declares it a win for Chono but Race says it’s a DQ for Rude because of Chono throwing him over the top. Race’s call stands as he was the ref in the ring. So Rude wins by DQ but Chono keeps the title. Boring match, convoluted bollocks finish. 

Ron Simmons (c) vs The Barbarian - WCW World Heavyweight Title 

We get a clip before the match of Cactus Jack training The Barbarian by breaking fucking cinder blocks over his back. 

Didn’t see Mickey use that one in Rocky. 

This isn’t great either. It’s not really bad or anything, just not the kind of match you want following a 30 minute draw and a 20 minute Chono vs Rude snorefest. I like both these two though and it’s an alright battle of powerhouses. Maybe not the best choice as a PPV World Title match though. Simmons wasn’t really clicking as champ and Barbarian had only been back in WCW a month or two. It just feels cold. And again, the finish is a bit weak as Barbarian hits his top rope headbutt for a 2 count, then Big Ron just catches him with the powerslam out of nowhere and wins. These out of the blue finishes for Simmons kind of make it feel like he’s fluking it, which obviously isn’t really doing him any favours. It’s happened now against Vader, Cactus and The Barbarian. 

Oh bloody hell, Erik Watts has arrived. Schiavone and Bruno bring him out and Philly boos fuck out of him. Poor bastard hasn’t even done anything yet. 

Sting vs Jake The Snake Roberts - Coal Miner’s Glove match 

I’ve seen this before. I didn’t like it. After being treated to great matches like War Games, Sting vs Vader and so on, this just isn’t cutting it. I’ve never been a huge fan of Jake, to be honest. Bell to bell, anyway. Great character, of course. But aside from the Blindfold match with Rick Martel, I’m struggling to think of any matches of his I actually liked. And at this point he just seemed out of place in WCW. The debut attack on Sting was good, as were some of his interviews. But it never felt like a long term thing. 

Whatever. Wasn’t a fan of this at all. Not in love with Jake’s in ring stuff at the best of times, then you add in the Russo-like gimmick match and it’d take someone better than Sting to save it. 

Mercifully, it’s fairly short. Goes about 10 minutes. Sting climbs the poll and gets the glove, Jake tries to come at Sting with the snake. 

And the snake bites the fuck out of him as Sting pins him. 

Yeah not a good show, to be honest. Easily the worst I’ve seen during this trip through 1992. It actually started quite promisingly with the first 3 matches being good. But the Windham & Rhodes tag was an anti-climax and Chono-Rude and Sting-Jake were just plain poor, there’s no defending them. Oh well, 2 shows left of 92. The Clash looks quite good and I remember mostly enjoying Starrcade. Can’t win them all. 

[tiger_rick]

Best one yet.

[TRSL]

Wand you are the best poster on here. Another great review, keep them coming.

[WyattSheepMask]

Wand, have you thought about doing these as a podcast?