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

[Devon Malcolm]

Was that one of Public Enemy I saw in that South African tag team? Just started Starrcade and he tries something over the top rope, lands on his head on the outside and Rick Steiner just laughs at him.

[CTXRussomark]

Aye it's Rocco Rock. 

[Devon Malcolm]

Didn't know which one, but I thought it was one of them. What an idiot.

[Tommy!]

17 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

Starrcade 90 features a decent brawl for the tag titles if I remember correctly. Doom Vs. Arn Anderson & Barry Windham.

Otherwise the shows a bit shit from what I can remember. Not seen it in years.

It's been a while since I watched it but that Doom tag is the only thing I recall as really enjoying. It is a great match but has a bollocks finish and runs shorter than it really should from what I recall.

[RedRooster]

Not a match, but the first Starrcast is now free (or mostly free) on FITE TV. I tried watching the Death of WCW panel and I had to switch off after 5 minutes or so. RD Reynolds is embarrassingly bad, unwatchable. Perhaps he settles down but what I saw was painfully awkward.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

The second Starrcast is way more organised (which is funny considering how many people pulled out of the event.) The Brian Pillman panel is fantastic. Meltzer, Madden, Sullivan, Brian Pillman Jr and our very own Liam O'Rourke were tremendous on it. Nobody trying to be whacky and hilarious, just great conversation. They all treated Liam as an equal. Which they should, but being the wrestling business and how tiny penised so many are, I wouldnt have been surprised to see them try and cunt him off (like Bischoff did to Reynolds.)

But yeah, that Death WCW panel was fucking brutal. Bischoff stupidly exposed himself for hating a book he hadnt read or knew actually wrote it. And RD Reynolds is a car crash and looks like he's been in one. Probably the least funny man in wrestling, and that covers some ground.

Edited June 23, 2019 by IANdrewDiceClay

[Onyx2]

Alexa Bliss talking about getting breast implants. 

https://streamable.com/e19ok

No, it's not leery and predatory. I wouldn't have clicked on a link like this until I saw the reddit comments. It's a surprisingly emotional story of rebuilding her self-esteem because of her severe eating disorder. You assume she gets them done to get attention but actually forms part of a mental toolkit to rebuild her self image that her disorder tries to erode. Surprisingly moving. 

[SaitoRyo]

57 minutes ago, Onyx2 said:

Alexa Bliss talking about getting breast implants. 

https://streamable.com/e19ok

No, it's not leery and predatory. I wouldn't have clicked on a link like this until I saw the reddit comments. It's a surprisingly emotional story of rebuilding her self-esteem because of her severe eating disorder. You assume she gets them done to get attention but actually forms part of a mental toolkit to rebuild her self image that her disorder tries to erode. Surprisingly moving. 

'Dr. McMahon will come in an talk to you...'

[Bellenda Carlisle]

5 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

Alexa Bliss talking about getting breast implants. 

https://streamable.com/e19ok

No, it's not leery and predatory. I wouldn't have clicked on a link like this until I saw the reddit comments. It's a surprisingly emotional story of rebuilding her self-esteem because of her severe eating disorder. You assume she gets them done to get attention but actually forms part of a mental toolkit to rebuild her self image that her disorder tries to erode. Surprisingly moving. 

Not leary and predatory but you still come across as a bit odd here.

[tiger_rick]

58 minutes ago, Bellenda Carlisle said:

Not leary and predatory but you still come across as a bit odd here.

He really doesn't. I think he's being overly-protective because some on here will jump on you for fuck all. Nothing odd about thinking breast implants are narcissistic is there?

[wandshogun09]

It’s the Summer of ‘93 and WCW is off to the beach again. 

This is the sight that greets us at the top of the show before they hand over to Tony and Jesse at ringside. 

Living the life. 

Paul Orndorff (c) vs Ron Simmons - WCW World Television Title 

The stip here is that if Orndorff gets disqualified he still loses the title. So no cheap way to retain the belt here. It’s an OK match. Goes about 10 minutes or so. Orndorff with the usual stalling, arguing with fans, dirty tactics and top bumping. Really feels like Simmons has fallen hard since the world title reign at the back end of 92. Just feels like he’s lost so much momentum and is going nowhere at this point. Orndorff is a good opponent for him though and they have a pretty solid match. Typical of WCW though, they sour it with a shite finish. Orndorff goes for a piledriver and Simmons reverses and backdrops him over the top rope. Instant DQ. Mr Wonderful keeps the gold. Always hated that top rope DQ rule. 

2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs Tex Slazenger & Shanghai Pierce 

2 Cold and Bagwell are back. They’ve ditched the old pink and white marshmallow kegs though. This time they’re in purple and yellow. Like a pair of Cadbury’s Twirls. And Bagwell is showing why he’s buff, he’s the stuff and why the girls can’t get enough. 

Go on, lad. 

Slazenger and Pierce went on to become The Godwinns in the WWF a couple of years after this. They’re in some kind of cowboy gunslinger type gimmick here. Complete opposite to the goofy, slop throwing pig farmers everyone remembers them as. This is quite good actually. The Scorpio and Bagwell combo felt a bit odd couple-ish to me but they worked fairly well as a team. And it’s kind of fun seeing the future Henry and Phineas as a more serious and aggressive team. Scorpio and Bagwell get the win when 2 Cold hits yet another picture perfect 450 splash. He always absolutely nailed that, didn’t he? 

Missy Hyatt interviews Paul Orndorff now. He’s with The Equalizer...

...AKA Dave Sullivan AKA Evad or whatever the hell he called himself. Orndorff’s fun here bigging himself up as “the John Wayne of professional wrestling”. Missy mentions that Ricky Steamboat might give him a run for his money and Mr #1derful is having absolutely none of it saying Steamboat is an old man who puts black stuff all over his head to hide his grey hair. If this means Orndorff vs Steamboat is coming, I’m all for this mockery. 

Lord Steven Regal vs Erik Watts 

Oh fuck, I forgot Erik Watts was still about. Got a feeling this is going to be a right clusterfuck. Something like Regal’s dodgy match with Goldberg years later. Ha, Watts doesn’t even get a name graphic on his entrance. Someone in the truck cocked up. 

The real Regal is out next. Billed from “the tower of Blackpool, 18st 2lbs”. Watts is waving a little American flag trying to wind Lord Steven up. Cock. He’ll pay for besmirching Regal like that. This is actually very decent. Their styles didn’t clash nearly as badly as I expected and it was clearly Watts’ best showing of the ones I’ve watched so far. Although that bar was low. It’s alright though. Watts gets the STF but Sir William interferes and slaps him, which the referee somehow misses. The distraction allows Regal to roll him up and grab a handful of tights for a 3 count. 

Jesse interviews Regal and it’s class. 

“Erik Watts was supposed to be the All-American athlete. Some kind of brilliant amateur career. I didn’t even break a sweat beating him. And I noticed before that Mr Wonderful Paul Orndorff retained his World TV Title. Now as everybody knows I, his lordship, am on a mission from the Queen and I’m going to take back the World TV Title. So Mr Wonderful, I’d watch out. As the great Winston Churchill said, ‘We will fight them on the beaches, we will fight them in the trenches’, nowhere is safe when the Queen has sent his lordship on a mission. And William, I hope you have those crumpets toasted well. Let’s go.” 

I hope Orndorff vs Regal happened. Seems weird for Regal to mention it here if it didn’t, heels generally didn’t call out other heels in 1993, did they? 

Johnny B Badd vs Maxx Payne 

Oh, Christ. This shit. Completely forgot about this. They’re feuding over Johnny’s ‘Badd Blaster’ confetti gun thing. And Maxx actually shot Badd in the face with it (yes, confetti) at the last Clash. Maxx is announced as being “from the state of Euphoria”. Sounds nice. Always looks like he bloody reeks of BO and sweaty arse. Johnny B is wearing a mask, as if he got fucked up by confetti. Hardly Beefcake’s face being demolished in that parasailing accident is it? Confetti. And yep, this is a total dog turd of a match. Maxx Payne was useless and Marc Mero wasn’t equipped to carry the big lump. It starts off looking sloppy and uncoordinated and it goes downhill from there.

That can’t have been fun. 

Badd wins with perhaps THE worst crossbody ever when he slips off the top and has to come off the second rope instead. Cack. 

Hollywood Blondes (c) vs Arn Anderson & Paul Roma - WCW World Tag Team Titles 

The Blondes vs Horsemen rivalry continues. Roma looks jacked to fuck as usual. Austin and Pillman are a full on team at this point. They look the part and the chemistry they have is fantastic. They really stand out on these shows as something different and fresh that WCW just stumbled upon and lucked into. Shame their run is already nearly done. Roma spends a LOT of time in the ring in this one and the match kind of suffers for it, IMO. His timing seems off a lot, or he just didn’t gel with the Blondes too well. Whatever the case, the action is best when he’s on the apron. Double A battling the Blondes is ace. But the bulk of this saw Roma in the ring. Or at least it felt like it. 

The Blondes are quality though. Right pair of dickheads and their teamwork and manipulating of the rules and the ref and so on makes them such a great team of utter bastards. And once again, the Blondes come out on top. Arn hits the big spinebuster on Austin, Roma rolls him up but Pillman takes his head off with a clothesline and Austin reverses the roll-up and pulls the tights for the win. 

Wasn’t a bad match by any means but I wasn’t a massive fan. It goes around 30 minutes and for me that just felt too long, especially with Roma in for a big chunk of it.

Ravishing Rick Rude vs Dustin Rhodes - Vacant WCW United States Title 30 Minute Ironman match 

Been looking forward to this one. I remember these two having some belting matches in 93 but I don’t think I saw this one. Tony and Jesse talk about why the title is vacant and it stems from a match between these two on Worldwide in May where there was a double pin and both men had a shoulder up or some bollocks. I think I did see that match as a kid actually. 

”2 men. 30 minutes. That’s my dream.” - Missy Hyatt 

Aaaanyway...

They get off to an intense start but Rhodes takes control and works over Rude’s back and keeps taking the piss with his own hip swivelling. Rude eventually turns the tide though. First 10 minutes or so is fairly slow and methodical. Then out of nowhere...

Rude Awakening puts the Ravishing One up 1-0. At about the 15 minute mark Rude is still in control. Every time it looks like Dustin is coming back Rude cuts him off. Mostly suplexes, forearms and chinlocks. But he also takes time to blow snot into Dustin’s face. Fucking vile. Little over 3 minutes left and...

We’re all tied at 1-1 with only 3 minutes on the clock. Now there’s a serious sense of urgency from both men. Dustin is blasting Rude with all sorts of offence to try to get another fall. A big elbow off the top and a piledriver both get near falls. He nails Rude with a DDT and pins him but...

Time runs out. It’s a draw. 

A really good match but, to be honest, I think they’d have had an even better match without the Ironman stipulation. Shave 10-15 minutes off this and just let them do their thing and I think you’ve got an all-time classic. Still a good one. Wasn’t really a fan of the ending though. Still no winner and still no US champion. 

Barry Windham (c) vs Ric Flair - NWA World Heavyweight Title 

So here we have it. The Great American Bash 91 main event, 2 years later. 

“This could be the last hurrah for Flair.” - Jesse Ventura

To think they were saying that about Flair in 1993 yet he wrestled on another, what, 16/17 years or something mad like that? 

They only go just over 10 minutes. It’s a physical match, lots of chopping etc. Windham goes for a lot of high impact moves, big slams, clotheslines and suplexes.

It’s alright but nowhere near as good a match as these two are capable of. Nothing on their matches from 87, that’s for sure. And the finish is as flat as a gymnast’s tit as Flair slaps on the figure four and Windham’s shoulders stay down for the 3 count.

It looked like he fucked up there actually. Maybe he was meant to kick out. Regardless, Flair is the new NWA champion. 

It wasn’t a bad match but it did feel like a letdown considering how good they both can be and after the brawl they got into at the Clash. Windham being injured likely had a lot to do with it though. Sadly, Windham was pretty banged up physically around this time. His knee was fucked and I think he quietly disappeared from WCW shortly after this show. I don’t even remember if it was explained on TV where he went but he wasn’t really seen on the big stage again until he popped up in the WWF as The Stalker in 1996. 

Sting & British Bulldog vs Big Van Vader & Sid Vicious 

Was there ever a scarier tag team than Vader and Sid were in 1993? 

I mean, what would you do if these 2 came over and kicked your sandcastle over? Yeah, nothing. 

In kayfabe terms I guess they joined forces due to a mutual hatred of Sting and a mutual love for murdering jobbers. They also had the powerbomb in common. Hence their name - ‘The Masters Of The Powerbomb’. So Harley Race and Col Robert Parker smoked cigars and struck a little deal and that was that. 

Terrifying.

This match is so much fun. Sting vs Sid to start it off and they waste zero time. Sid’s chokeslammed Sting and gobbed on Davey Boy all within the opening minute or so. The crowd is on fire for this one. You can tell that it’s this match they were waiting for. I vividly remember all the buildup and anticipation for this one on Worldwide and being legitimately scared for Sting and Davey but of course we never got to see the PPV. 

Bulldog looks awesome here executing a fucking delayed vertical suplex on Vader! 

Fook me.

Sid and Vader take over though and put right beatdowns on both Sting and Bulldog. This is such an action filled and entertaining match. Not a dull moment to be found. Sting and Sid start brawling down the ramp as Vader crushes Bulldog with a huge moonsault! 

Sting sees it and sprints down the ramp and dives over the ropes to make the save. Davey Boy then hits a crucifix into a pin on Vader for the win. Bulldog pins the world champion clean in the middle. Top match, that was. 

Vader is fucking fuming after the match and poor Tony cops out and the Navy Seal just sits there. 

Monsoon would’ve at least knife-edge chopped him a few times. 

[RIDDUM_N_STYLE]

Decent little 9 minute featurette/documentary on long serving WWE referee Mike Chioda has gone up on the WWE YouTube channel, showing clips and stills of some of the matches he's reffed as well as going in to detail on how he started in the business as well as showing him observing and giving pointers to one of WWE's female refs 

[SaitoRyo]

Just watched the Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk match (more of an angle really) on the Network. It's from 1990 and is one of this week's Hidden Gems, if anyone wants to check it out. 

There's not a great deal to it, but nothing in wrestling in 2019 looks as good as Funk's punches here.

[JLM]

On 6/24/2019 at 2:44 PM, tiger_rick said:

He really doesn't. I think he's being overly-protective because some on here will jump on you for fuck all. Nothing odd about thinking breast implants are narcissistic is there?

Sadly it's not odd to think that but it's a perception that needs challenging. I don't think Black2 comes across as odd or creepy in pointing out that he was wrong to think that, and that the video changed his mind. I'd definitely be in the camp of people who'd tell Alexa Bliss she is absolutely gorgeous and doesn't need any work done, but even that's a very presumptuous stance to take as she's doing it for herself and not for my or anyone else's benefit. 

There's a girl at my workplace who has had lots of cosmetic surgery done and she gets all kinds of horrible bitchy comments from people about how vain she must be. She explained to me on a drunken night out that she had a physically and verbally abusive boyfriend for a number of years who managed to fully convince her that she was hideously unattractive and needed to have it done. People have this stuff done for a wide variety of reasons and "to get attention" is not necessarily the default one. 

Edited June 28, 2019 by JLM

[tiger_rick]

1 hour ago, JLM said:

Sadly it's not odd to think that but it's a perception that needs challenging. I don't think Black2 comes across as odd or creepy in pointing out that he was wrong to think that, and that the video changed his mind. I'd definitely be in the camp of people who'd tell Alexa Bliss she is absolutely gorgeous and doesn't need any work done, but even that's a very presumptuous stance to take as she's doing it for herself and not for my or anyone else's benefit. 

There's a girl at my workplace who has had lots of cosmetic surgery done and she gets all kinds of horrible bitchy comments from people about how vain she must be. She explained to me on a drunken night out that she had a physically and verbally abusive boyfriend for a number of years who managed to fully convince her that she was hideously unattractive and needed to have it done. People have this stuff done for a wide variety of reasons and "to get attention" is not necessarily the default one. 

Good stuff and I completely agree. I just don't think Onxy deserved to be called odd for that post. Especially given it recognised his own misgivings were unfounded.