-12/7/88
-From the UGC Arena in Chatanooga, TN
-Opening video features the Road Warriors turning on Dusty and spiking him in the eye.
-Hosts are JR & Bob Caudle
-Match 1: NWA United States Tag Team Championship Tournament Finals: Eddie Gilbert & Ron Simmons VS The Fantastics
-Jason Hervey does the ring announcing. Babyface reaction for Simmons & Gilbert, bit of a mixed reaction for the Fantastics. Simmons and Fulton start. It's Simmons powers VS Fulton's speed, and they take turns hitting moves, with the crowd popping big, especially for Simmons' power moves. Both teams make tags, and the pace picks up. Rogers tags Fulton back in. Fulton avoids a hiptoss and shakes his ass at Gilbert. Gilbert gets pisses after Fulton gets a small package for a near-fall, but they end up shaking hands...to boos. Simmons tags, but Fulton outmaneuvers him before tagging in Rogers. Rogers misses an elbow from the top, and Simmons football tackles Rogers, sending him flying through the ropes. Gilbert and Fulton get back in, and tempers start to flare a little bit more. Simmons and Rogers back in, and Simmons cannot handle Rogers' speed. Gilbert comes in, and things don't go any better for him. Both teams tag, and Fulton hits a big legdrop on Simmons for two.
-Rogers back in, and he hits a back elbow, and a jackknife cover gets two, before Simmons bullies Rogers into the corner, and works him over before tagging Gilbert. Gilbert pounds on Rogers, and gets two off a belly-to-back suplex. Simmons is back in, and doesn't break clean when he and Rogers are in a corner. Simmons misses a corner charge, allowing Rogers to tag Fulton. Fulton comes off the top right into a powerslam. Simmons tags Gilbert, who almost pins Fulton before being sent into the ringpost. Rogers bumps Gilbert off the apron, sending him into the guardrail, and Gilbert's arm is injured. Rogers isn't sure what to do at first, but the Fantastics do start working over the injured arm. Gilbert is now the face-in-peril, and the crowd is right with him.
-Small, high-pitched "Tommy" chant is soon drowned out by a much deeper-toned "Eddie" chant. Gilbert counters a hammerlock throw into the corner, sending Rogers face-first into the turnbuckle. Rogers tags Fulton in, and he ends up running into a hot shot. Eddie does not make the tag, and ends up striking his arm on the ringpost after missing a charge, and Fulton schoolboys him for the pin and the titles. Really long opener, just short of 30 minutes. Match picked up quite nicely after Gilbert's arm injury.
-Match 2: The Italian Stallion VS Dr. Death Steve Williams (w/Kevin Sullivan)
-Williams completely outwrestles Stallion, who can only manage to counter when Williams misses on something. Stallion manages to lock in a short arm scissors. Doc turns the tide, and gets Stallion on his back while still in the hold. Doc uses the ropes for leverage to try to score the pin, but he cannot get it, and Teddy Long ends up kicking his hand off the ropes. Stallion hits a flying crossbody, but Doc throws him off and through the ropes. Doc keeps Stallion on the outside, and Sullivan gets a cheapshot in. Doc gets a big delayed vertical suplex for two. Stallion tries to fight back, but Doc ends up locking in a sleeper. Stallion escapes after almost getting put out, but misses an elbowdrop, allowing Doc to regain control. Stallion takes a cheapshot from Sullivan and an axe handle off the apron from Doc before he fights back again. Corner punches from Stallion are countered with an inverted atomic drop. Doc misses a big splash from the top, and Stallion fires up. Doc catches Stallion while he was attempting a flying crossbody, and Oklahoma Stampede finishes it for Doc. Match was really slow paced, and nothing special to fill the time it was given.
-Match 3: Ivan Koloff VS Paul Jones
-Koloff has one arm tied behind his back. After some brief offense from Koloff to start, match is clipped to Jones nailing Ivan in the throat with a foreign object. Koloff fights back, and ends up nailing Jones with the same object for the pin. The Russian Assassins attack Ivan until the Junk Yard Dog makes the save. Match was there to hype a tag match between The Assassins and Koloff/JYD.
-Match 4: NWA Six Man Tag Team Championship: Road Warrior Animal (w/Paul Ellering) VS Dusty Rhodes
-Winner gets to select new partners to hold the belts with. Dusty is wearing an eye patch. Dusty rushes the ring and attacks right off the bat. Dusty sets up the figure 4, then stops to knock Teddy Long out of the ring for no reason. Dusty gets the hold, but Ellering saves for Animal. Dusty takes control again until Hawk runs in. The Road Warriors look to set up the Doomsday Device, but Sting makes the save for Dusty. Dusty gets a hold of a plastic chair and goes after Animal's leg. Tommy Young comes out and calls for the bell, disqualifying Dusty for the use of the chair, even though JR had said at the beginning of the match that the DQ rule had been waived. Pretty much an angle to take Dusty off the 6 man tag championship team and to set up another match for Starrcade.
-Tony Schiavone & Lex Luger react to the last match and preview the main event.
-Match 5: The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair & NWA United States Champion Barry Windham (w/JJ Dillon)
-Mixed reaction for the Midnights, while the Horsemen get a pure heel reaction. Flair & Eaton start. Flair "woooo" 's at Eaton, and takes a stiff slap to the face for it. Eaton keeps control of Flair. Flair Flip in the corner, and Flair ends up walking right into a punch from Lane, who is then tagged in. Lane gets an enziguiri on Flair, who tags Windham. Lane is getting some pops for his moves and playing to the crowd. Windham gets Lane in position for a flying elbow, but Windham misses and Lane knocks Windham out of the ring with a kick. Tags are made by both teams, and Eaton keeps control for his team, as the crowd increasingly gets behind the Midnights. Eaton tags in Lane, who quickly gets a Figure 4 on Flair. The Midnights keep control of the match. Eaton wins a slugfest against Flair. Promo from Paul E. Damgerously airs in the middle of the match, plugging the Midnight Express VS Original Midnight Express tag match at Starrcade. The Midnights get a two man flapjack on Flair for two. Eaton rolls up Flair for two, but Windham sneaks in and nails Eaton to turn the tide. Windham works over Eaton, then tags Flair. Flair lands a kneedrop to the face, then gives Eaton a receipt with a slap to the face.
-Windham drops Eaton on the guardrail, and Flair adds a vicious chop. Windham gets a flying clothesline on Eaton for a one count. Eaton is face-in-peril for a little bit, until he makes the hot tag to Lane. They go high-low on Windham, and Lane superkicks Flair over the top. Eaton hits a legdrop from the top, but the ref is distracted. Cornette goes after JJ, but Flair gets a hold of JJ's shoe, and nails Eaton before rolling Windham on top for the pin. Really strong main event. Odd to see the Midnights working as faces, but it went very well.
-The show overall is OK, with a long opener that doesn't pick up until about half-way through and two matches that are pretty much just angles to set up Starrcade. The main event is very good and worth checking out if you haven't seen it.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #16: Clash of the Champions III "Fall Brawl"
-9/7/88
From Albany, GA
-So the company tradition of having events called "Fall Brawl" when it's still Summer starts here.
-Cool opening video details Sting's previous attempts to dethrone Horsemen champions at the first two Clashes.
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair
-Announcers are Jim Ross & Bob Caudle
-Tony & Flair preview tonight's event. Flair is very low-key while schilling for the NWA.
-Match 1: NWA Television Championship: Mike Rotunda [c] (w/Kevin Sullivan) VS Brad Armstrong
-I am now convinced that "Hooray for Mr. Touchdown" should be Jack Swagger's entrance music. Rotunda takes Armstrong down with a fireman's carry. Rotunda goes for a crossbody off the top, but Armstrong rolls through for a close near-fall. Armstrong keeps out-wrestling Rotunda, but cannot put him away. Rotunda tries to get out of an armbar by giving Armstrong a wedgie. Rotunda eventually has enough of being out-wrestled, and turns the match with a knee to the gut, before sending Armstrong outside for abuse from Sullivan. Rountda keeps pounding away, but then he cannot put Armstrong away. Armstrong fights out of a rear chinlock, but then is floored with a big clothesline. Armstrong almost gets the pin with a sunset flip after the referee keeps Sullivan from interfering. Dr. Death comes out to cheer Armstrong on, and gets a big reaction himself. Rotunda keeps Armstrong in a pinning position as the time limit ticks down, but cannot keep him down for the pin. JR plays this up as a big moral victory for Armstrong, even though he didn't win the title. Nothing spectacular, but the comebacks and near-falls were well-timed, and the crowd was molten for the finishing stretch.
-Jim Ross & Bob Caudle announces that Jimmy Garvin has a broken leg and will be out for a while, and bemoan the fact that action is spilling outside the ring, and surmise that a suspension should be forthcoming for Sullivan, especially since Dusty was recently suspended. The video of Sullivan breaking Garvin's leg is shown, as he jumps Garvin at a TV taping and slams a couple blocks down on his leg. Garvin's selling of the injury is pretty great.
-Match 2: Dr. Death Steve Williams & Nikita Koloff VS The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan)
-Dr. Death keeps control of Butch before tagging Nikita. The Sheepherders have no idea how to react to Nikita. I love the Sheepherders both falling out of the ring after a double noggin knocker. The faces completely dominate the match, and Dr. Death even goes up top for a splash on Luke. The momentum finally takes a turn when Williams misses a charge in the corner, and hits the ringpost. Heel miscommunication allows Williams to tag Nikita. Nikita fires up on Luke, until Morgan trips him up from the outside. Butch sends Nikita into the ringpost twice. The Sheepherders pound on Nikita for a while. Nikita finally punches Luke in the face, which sends Luke over the top, but no DQ. Nikita finally gets to his corner, but Morgan pokes Williams with his flag pole, so Dr. Death is not ready for the tag. Luke misses a splash from the top, and Nikita finally makes the tag. Williams gets his knee clipped and makes the tag right back out to Nikita, who simply hits Butch with the Russian Sickle for the pin. Odd final strecth with an out of nowhere finish. Match was decent before that.
-Tony & Flair preview the next match.
-Match 3: Kevin Sullivan (w/Gary Hart) VS Dusty Rhodes
-Dusty no-sells a Sullivan clothesline, and goes right after both Sullivan and Hart. Hart in turn bitches to JR & Caudle. Dusty connects with a series of elbows in the corner, but when Tommy Young tries to separate them, Sullivan sneaks a punch in to turn the tide. Hart nails Dusty with his shoe, then passes Sullivan the spike. Sullivan nails Dusty in the chest, and gets two off that. During the match, JR notes that Dusty has agreed to a Dog Collar match between he and Sullivan. Dusty fights back, but then Al Perez comes out to nail Dusty with a chain. Perez and Sullivan work Dusty over, and Tommy Young does not call for the DQ. Dusty then suddenly rolls up Gary Hart...and Young counts the pin?! WHAT. THE FUCK. WAS THAT? Match was nothing before the finish and...I'm not even sure what I just saw there.
-Match 4: Russian Chain Match: Ivan Koloff (w/Paul Jones) VS Ricky Morton
-This will be contested under "touch the corners" rules. JR notes that Morton is dedicating this match to his ailing father, and that Paul Jones thinks that Koloff has to prove himself. Koloff takes control off the bat until Morton smashes his nuts with the chain. This lasts momentarily, as Koloff uses his big strength advantage to retake control and touch two of the corners before Morton can pull him away. Morton fights back, hitting Koloff's knee with the chain, but cannot pull Koloff around the ring. Really basic match. Morton manages to drag Koloff to the first three corners until Jones hands his riding crop to Koloff, and they hang onto it for leverage, until Jones loses his grip, and Morton touches the fourth corner. The Russian Assassin attacks Morton after the match. Koloff finally has enough of Jones and decks him, causing the Assassin to attack Koloff, then another masked Russian aids in the beatdown of Koloff. The body of the match was nothing special, but the finish was nice (I thought they'd have Koloff drag Morton around, with Morton touching the corners behind Koloff's back before they fight over the fourth corner), and the post-match turn was interesting.
-JR interviews John Aires (not sure if that is spelled correctly), a two-time Super Bowl Champion, who will referee a future Flair/Luger World title match. He says he won't be intimidated by either wrestler.
-Match 5: NWA United States Championship: Barry Windham [c] VS Sting
-Sting goes with a yellowjacket motif. Fast-paced start, and Sting sends Windham to the outside with two dropkicks. Windham does a Flair flop off some punches. Windham takes the match outside the ring, where he builds momentum. Windham gets a big suplex, then takes a moment to taun the football player. Windham tries a Stinger Splash and misses, then dangles over the top rope until Sting gives him a little shove to send him flying over the top. JJ wants a DQ, but none comes. Sting busts Windham open and slams his head into the time keeper's table, and Windham falls over the guardrail. Sting locks in a sleeper. Windham holds on, and counters with a shin breaker. Windham works on Sting's leg and locks in a Figure 4, getting some help from JJ. The ref catches them, and makes Windham break the hold. Sting tries a suplex, but Windham counters by locking in the Claw on Stings chest. Sting fights back, but Tommy Young is bumped. Sting gets the Stinger Splash and gets ready to lock in the Scorpion Deathlock, but JJ enters the ring with a chair. Sting cuts him off, but takes a weak chairshot from Windham. Tommy Young tries to count the pin, but Aires stops him, and tells Young that Windham hit Sting with a chair. This is enough for Young to instantly declare Sting the winner. Sting is denied a title yet again. Match was OK, a little disappointing.
-Flair flips out about Aires involvment in the U.S. title match, and the prospect of him reffing the match between he and Luger. Tony plugs the NWA Main Event show.
-Nothing worth going out of your way to see here, and that Dusty match was just perplexing.
From Albany, GA
-So the company tradition of having events called "Fall Brawl" when it's still Summer starts here.
-Cool opening video details Sting's previous attempts to dethrone Horsemen champions at the first two Clashes.
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair
-Announcers are Jim Ross & Bob Caudle
-Tony & Flair preview tonight's event. Flair is very low-key while schilling for the NWA.
-Match 1: NWA Television Championship: Mike Rotunda [c] (w/Kevin Sullivan) VS Brad Armstrong
-I am now convinced that "Hooray for Mr. Touchdown" should be Jack Swagger's entrance music. Rotunda takes Armstrong down with a fireman's carry. Rotunda goes for a crossbody off the top, but Armstrong rolls through for a close near-fall. Armstrong keeps out-wrestling Rotunda, but cannot put him away. Rotunda tries to get out of an armbar by giving Armstrong a wedgie. Rotunda eventually has enough of being out-wrestled, and turns the match with a knee to the gut, before sending Armstrong outside for abuse from Sullivan. Rountda keeps pounding away, but then he cannot put Armstrong away. Armstrong fights out of a rear chinlock, but then is floored with a big clothesline. Armstrong almost gets the pin with a sunset flip after the referee keeps Sullivan from interfering. Dr. Death comes out to cheer Armstrong on, and gets a big reaction himself. Rotunda keeps Armstrong in a pinning position as the time limit ticks down, but cannot keep him down for the pin. JR plays this up as a big moral victory for Armstrong, even though he didn't win the title. Nothing spectacular, but the comebacks and near-falls were well-timed, and the crowd was molten for the finishing stretch.
-Jim Ross & Bob Caudle announces that Jimmy Garvin has a broken leg and will be out for a while, and bemoan the fact that action is spilling outside the ring, and surmise that a suspension should be forthcoming for Sullivan, especially since Dusty was recently suspended. The video of Sullivan breaking Garvin's leg is shown, as he jumps Garvin at a TV taping and slams a couple blocks down on his leg. Garvin's selling of the injury is pretty great.
-Match 2: Dr. Death Steve Williams & Nikita Koloff VS The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan)
-Dr. Death keeps control of Butch before tagging Nikita. The Sheepherders have no idea how to react to Nikita. I love the Sheepherders both falling out of the ring after a double noggin knocker. The faces completely dominate the match, and Dr. Death even goes up top for a splash on Luke. The momentum finally takes a turn when Williams misses a charge in the corner, and hits the ringpost. Heel miscommunication allows Williams to tag Nikita. Nikita fires up on Luke, until Morgan trips him up from the outside. Butch sends Nikita into the ringpost twice. The Sheepherders pound on Nikita for a while. Nikita finally punches Luke in the face, which sends Luke over the top, but no DQ. Nikita finally gets to his corner, but Morgan pokes Williams with his flag pole, so Dr. Death is not ready for the tag. Luke misses a splash from the top, and Nikita finally makes the tag. Williams gets his knee clipped and makes the tag right back out to Nikita, who simply hits Butch with the Russian Sickle for the pin. Odd final strecth with an out of nowhere finish. Match was decent before that.
-Tony & Flair preview the next match.
-Match 3: Kevin Sullivan (w/Gary Hart) VS Dusty Rhodes
-Dusty no-sells a Sullivan clothesline, and goes right after both Sullivan and Hart. Hart in turn bitches to JR & Caudle. Dusty connects with a series of elbows in the corner, but when Tommy Young tries to separate them, Sullivan sneaks a punch in to turn the tide. Hart nails Dusty with his shoe, then passes Sullivan the spike. Sullivan nails Dusty in the chest, and gets two off that. During the match, JR notes that Dusty has agreed to a Dog Collar match between he and Sullivan. Dusty fights back, but then Al Perez comes out to nail Dusty with a chain. Perez and Sullivan work Dusty over, and Tommy Young does not call for the DQ. Dusty then suddenly rolls up Gary Hart...and Young counts the pin?! WHAT. THE FUCK. WAS THAT? Match was nothing before the finish and...I'm not even sure what I just saw there.
-Match 4: Russian Chain Match: Ivan Koloff (w/Paul Jones) VS Ricky Morton
-This will be contested under "touch the corners" rules. JR notes that Morton is dedicating this match to his ailing father, and that Paul Jones thinks that Koloff has to prove himself. Koloff takes control off the bat until Morton smashes his nuts with the chain. This lasts momentarily, as Koloff uses his big strength advantage to retake control and touch two of the corners before Morton can pull him away. Morton fights back, hitting Koloff's knee with the chain, but cannot pull Koloff around the ring. Really basic match. Morton manages to drag Koloff to the first three corners until Jones hands his riding crop to Koloff, and they hang onto it for leverage, until Jones loses his grip, and Morton touches the fourth corner. The Russian Assassin attacks Morton after the match. Koloff finally has enough of Jones and decks him, causing the Assassin to attack Koloff, then another masked Russian aids in the beatdown of Koloff. The body of the match was nothing special, but the finish was nice (I thought they'd have Koloff drag Morton around, with Morton touching the corners behind Koloff's back before they fight over the fourth corner), and the post-match turn was interesting.
-JR interviews John Aires (not sure if that is spelled correctly), a two-time Super Bowl Champion, who will referee a future Flair/Luger World title match. He says he won't be intimidated by either wrestler.
-Match 5: NWA United States Championship: Barry Windham [c] VS Sting
-Sting goes with a yellowjacket motif. Fast-paced start, and Sting sends Windham to the outside with two dropkicks. Windham does a Flair flop off some punches. Windham takes the match outside the ring, where he builds momentum. Windham gets a big suplex, then takes a moment to taun the football player. Windham tries a Stinger Splash and misses, then dangles over the top rope until Sting gives him a little shove to send him flying over the top. JJ wants a DQ, but none comes. Sting busts Windham open and slams his head into the time keeper's table, and Windham falls over the guardrail. Sting locks in a sleeper. Windham holds on, and counters with a shin breaker. Windham works on Sting's leg and locks in a Figure 4, getting some help from JJ. The ref catches them, and makes Windham break the hold. Sting tries a suplex, but Windham counters by locking in the Claw on Stings chest. Sting fights back, but Tommy Young is bumped. Sting gets the Stinger Splash and gets ready to lock in the Scorpion Deathlock, but JJ enters the ring with a chair. Sting cuts him off, but takes a weak chairshot from Windham. Tommy Young tries to count the pin, but Aires stops him, and tells Young that Windham hit Sting with a chair. This is enough for Young to instantly declare Sting the winner. Sting is denied a title yet again. Match was OK, a little disappointing.
-Flair flips out about Aires involvment in the U.S. title match, and the prospect of him reffing the match between he and Luger. Tony plugs the NWA Main Event show.
-Nothing worth going out of your way to see here, and that Dusty match was just perplexing.
Monday, May 16, 2011
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #15: Great American Bash '88
-7/10/88
-From the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross
-Match 1: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Sting & Nikita Koloff
-Hot start for the challengers, and Sting almost pins Tully with a small package right off the bat. Sting dives over the top onto AA to a HUGE pop. Arn reverses a Nikita whip and stops to congratulate himself, allowing Koloff to clothesline him, then Tully. Match is clipped to Sting taking Tully down with an armdrag. Nikita forces Tully's shoulders down for several two counts, but can't pin him. After Tully misses a charge in the corner, the challengers work on his arm, including faking a tag while Arn has the ref distracted. Match is clipped again to the champions working over Nikita. Arn goes up, and flops right onto Arn's knees. Tags are made, and Sting takes over on Tully before hitting a huge bulldog on Arn. Sting gets the Stinger Splash, then the Scorpion Deathlock on Tully, but the time limit expires, and the champions retain. Match was clipped way too much to really be able to give an opinion on it. I didn't like the finish though, they did that way too often for it to be effective.
-Match 2: NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Fantastics [c] VS The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette)
-Stan Lane introduces Cornette as "the man who sold Mike Tyson his first workout video". This could be good. This is titles VS ten lashes, with Cornette placed in a straightjacket and locked in a cage that is hund over the ring. Cornette trying to bribe the ref as he's being placed in the straightjacket is awesome. This match is also heavily edited, pretty much going right to the finishing stretch, as Bobby Eaton KO's Fulton for the pin and the titles, to a big pop. The Fantastics protest, but the chain is in Fulton's tights, as Eaton placed it there while pinning him. The Fantastics get a hold of Cornette and give him lashes anyway. Jim Cornette getting prepared pre-match was longer than the portion of the actual match that was shown.
-Match 3: The Tower of Doom: Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda, Al Perez, The Russian Assassin, & Ivan Koloff VS The Garvins, The Road Warriors, & "Dr. Death" Steve Williams
-The Tower is three levels, with each getting smaller as they go up. 2 men will start, and every two minutes, another man will enter. The first team to completely escape the Tower (fighting from top to bottom) will win, and Precious is standing in the ring with the key to the bottom cage, so she basically will determine who wins. The heels enter to an instrumental version of "Hooray for Mr. Touchdown", so I have Revenge of the Nerds flashbacks. Ronnie & Ivan start. The top cage is too small for them to do anything but trade blows. The trap door to go to the 2nd floor is only supposed to be open for 10 seconds, but Tommy Young can't get it open, and it takes Ronnie forever to get through it. Dr. Death and Rotunda enter, and because Garvin left the top cage my himself, it leaves Williams stuck 2-on-1. Animal and Perez enter next, and Animal helps Dr. Death make it to the 2nd level. Ivan gets out too, leaving Animal stuck 2-on-1 on the top level. Ronnie gets to the bottom level and out when Precious lets him out. Animal gets some offense in before falling to the numbers game while Williams works over Koloff. Animal & Perez make it to the 2nd level, making that 2-on-2, while Hawk and the Assassin enter, and the heels keep their 2-on-1 advantage on the top cage.
-The final period starts. Perez and Animal make it to the bottom and out. Jimmy Garvin is at the top cage with Sullivan and Rotunda, who just cannot make it down. Rotunda finally makes it to the 2nd level. Koloff, The Assassin, and Hawk make it to the bottom level. Hawk manages to escape, and the Russians follow. Dr. Death makes it down and out, leaving Jimmy Garvin in the 2nd level with Rotunda and Sullivan. Rotunda makes it down and out. Sullivan tries to make it out, but Garvin stops him. Jimmy tries to incapacitate Sullivan with the SPINNING TOE HOLD OF MILD DISCOMFORT. It doesn't work, and they both make it to the bottom level. Sullivan goes for Precious, who kicks him away. Jimmy gets the brainbuster, and after some struggle with the lock, gets out when Sullivan accidentally pushes him out.
-Sullivan locks the door, leaving him alone with Precious, forcing the babyfaces to climb back into and through the Tower to save her. Sullivan chokes Precious with something until Hawk makes the save. The match itself may have seemed like a great idea, but it ended up being like the WonkaVision, illogical and completely unneccessary. The whole point of the match seemed to be Precious turning on Jimmy, and that didn't happen. The best part was the post-match drama, with the faces having to through the Tower to save Precious from Sullivan.
-Match 4: NWA Television Championship: Mike Rotunda [c] (w/Kevin Sullivan) VS Sting
-This is from the Greensboro, NC stop on the tour. This doesn't go long before Sullivan and Rick Steiner try to interfere. Sting handles everyone, and the DQ is not called for, because Sting was never actually struck by anyone interfering. Sting controls the match until Rotunda manages to send him outside. Sullivan attacks Sting with a metal bar, and Steiner adds a cheapshot of his own. Rotunda keeps control with headlocks. Sting takes control and has Rotunda set for the Scorpion Deathlock, but Steiner runs in, and this time Tommy Young wastes no time in calling for the DQ. Nothing match. Don't know why this was included.
-Match 5: NWA United States Championship: Barry Windham [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Dusty Rhodes
-We are back in Baltimore. Dusty controls early, and hits his SHITTY ASS FUCKING DDT. That move is annoying me more everytime I see it. Barry takes a walk, but Dusty keeps breaking the count. Dusty bounces around and pops Windham with several right hands, sending Windham to the outside. Dusty keeps the pressure on, laying Windham out with a clothesline on the floor. Windham comes back finally. They fight over a slingshot, and Dusty sends Windham over the top, to the floor. This does not draw a DQ. JJ distracts Dusty, allowing Windham to retake control. Windham gets the claw, but cannot keep Dusty down.
-Great spot as Dusty climbs up to the top while still locked in the Claw. He prepares to drop a big elbow, but simply does not have the energy, and he falls back down. Dusty fights out, and tries for a Figure 4, but Windham counters with the Claw. Windham gets Dusty set up for a superplex, but Dusty pushes him down, wiping out Tommy Young in the process. Dusty gets the Big Fat Elbow, but Young is still out. Ronnie Garvin rushes out...and nails Dusty with the Hands of Stone, to the shock of everyone. Dusty is out, and Windham applies the Claw for the pin to retain. Match was hot until the extended Claw sequences, but that was quite a swerve with the Ronnie Garvin turn.
-Backstage, Garvin receives a briefcase full of money, and apparently aligns himself with Gary Hart. I am guessing there was a bounty on Dusty at this point.
-Match 6: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Lex Luger
-Crowd just HATES Flair. Lex, of course, controls the early going. His smile after a Flair chop made me legit LOL. Flair sells a Gorilla Press like it killed him, rolling outside and falling over the guardrail. Cute bit as Flair calls Tommy Young outside to abuse him, only for Young to shove him back, then bail into the ring and hide behind Lex. Luger works on Flair's back, locking in a bear hug. Flair fights back, but Luger comes back with a flying clothesline for a near-fall. Flair tries going up top, and Luger shakes the ropes until Flair falls, crotching himself on the top rope. Flair finally seizes an opening and goes after Luger's knee. Flair gets the Figure 4, but has to release it when Luger almost turns it over. Some more back and forth, with Lex taking complete control at the twenty minute mark. Flair dives at Luger, and it takes forever for them to fall over the top to the floor. Flair screams bloody murder about his leg. Flair, then JJ ram Luger's head into the ringpost, busting him open.
-The announcers note that the Maryland State Athletic Commission commissioner is calling Tommy Young over. Lex's wound stops bleeding almost right away, which proves to be a huge problem. Lex gets Flair in the Torture Rack, and the crowd LOSES THEIR SHIT when it looks like Lex has won the title. However, the match was stopped because of the cut, and Flair retains. That was much, much worse than the finish to the Starrcade '84 main event. What was with Dusty and his apparent need to royally piss everyone off at least once per big event?
-Nothing particularly special here. The first two matches are clipped too badly to pass judgement on (especially the second). The Tower of Doom is ridiculous, and the bonus TV title match is on here for no apparent reason. The Ronnie Garvin turn was a nice surprise, but the finish of the main event completely ruins a decent match and a big moment that the crowd was just dying for.
-From the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross
-Match 1: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Sting & Nikita Koloff
-Hot start for the challengers, and Sting almost pins Tully with a small package right off the bat. Sting dives over the top onto AA to a HUGE pop. Arn reverses a Nikita whip and stops to congratulate himself, allowing Koloff to clothesline him, then Tully. Match is clipped to Sting taking Tully down with an armdrag. Nikita forces Tully's shoulders down for several two counts, but can't pin him. After Tully misses a charge in the corner, the challengers work on his arm, including faking a tag while Arn has the ref distracted. Match is clipped again to the champions working over Nikita. Arn goes up, and flops right onto Arn's knees. Tags are made, and Sting takes over on Tully before hitting a huge bulldog on Arn. Sting gets the Stinger Splash, then the Scorpion Deathlock on Tully, but the time limit expires, and the champions retain. Match was clipped way too much to really be able to give an opinion on it. I didn't like the finish though, they did that way too often for it to be effective.
-Match 2: NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Fantastics [c] VS The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette)
-Stan Lane introduces Cornette as "the man who sold Mike Tyson his first workout video". This could be good. This is titles VS ten lashes, with Cornette placed in a straightjacket and locked in a cage that is hund over the ring. Cornette trying to bribe the ref as he's being placed in the straightjacket is awesome. This match is also heavily edited, pretty much going right to the finishing stretch, as Bobby Eaton KO's Fulton for the pin and the titles, to a big pop. The Fantastics protest, but the chain is in Fulton's tights, as Eaton placed it there while pinning him. The Fantastics get a hold of Cornette and give him lashes anyway. Jim Cornette getting prepared pre-match was longer than the portion of the actual match that was shown.
-Match 3: The Tower of Doom: Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda, Al Perez, The Russian Assassin, & Ivan Koloff VS The Garvins, The Road Warriors, & "Dr. Death" Steve Williams
-The Tower is three levels, with each getting smaller as they go up. 2 men will start, and every two minutes, another man will enter. The first team to completely escape the Tower (fighting from top to bottom) will win, and Precious is standing in the ring with the key to the bottom cage, so she basically will determine who wins. The heels enter to an instrumental version of "Hooray for Mr. Touchdown", so I have Revenge of the Nerds flashbacks. Ronnie & Ivan start. The top cage is too small for them to do anything but trade blows. The trap door to go to the 2nd floor is only supposed to be open for 10 seconds, but Tommy Young can't get it open, and it takes Ronnie forever to get through it. Dr. Death and Rotunda enter, and because Garvin left the top cage my himself, it leaves Williams stuck 2-on-1. Animal and Perez enter next, and Animal helps Dr. Death make it to the 2nd level. Ivan gets out too, leaving Animal stuck 2-on-1 on the top level. Ronnie gets to the bottom level and out when Precious lets him out. Animal gets some offense in before falling to the numbers game while Williams works over Koloff. Animal & Perez make it to the 2nd level, making that 2-on-2, while Hawk and the Assassin enter, and the heels keep their 2-on-1 advantage on the top cage.
-The final period starts. Perez and Animal make it to the bottom and out. Jimmy Garvin is at the top cage with Sullivan and Rotunda, who just cannot make it down. Rotunda finally makes it to the 2nd level. Koloff, The Assassin, and Hawk make it to the bottom level. Hawk manages to escape, and the Russians follow. Dr. Death makes it down and out, leaving Jimmy Garvin in the 2nd level with Rotunda and Sullivan. Rotunda makes it down and out. Sullivan tries to make it out, but Garvin stops him. Jimmy tries to incapacitate Sullivan with the SPINNING TOE HOLD OF MILD DISCOMFORT. It doesn't work, and they both make it to the bottom level. Sullivan goes for Precious, who kicks him away. Jimmy gets the brainbuster, and after some struggle with the lock, gets out when Sullivan accidentally pushes him out.
-Sullivan locks the door, leaving him alone with Precious, forcing the babyfaces to climb back into and through the Tower to save her. Sullivan chokes Precious with something until Hawk makes the save. The match itself may have seemed like a great idea, but it ended up being like the WonkaVision, illogical and completely unneccessary. The whole point of the match seemed to be Precious turning on Jimmy, and that didn't happen. The best part was the post-match drama, with the faces having to through the Tower to save Precious from Sullivan.
-Match 4: NWA Television Championship: Mike Rotunda [c] (w/Kevin Sullivan) VS Sting
-This is from the Greensboro, NC stop on the tour. This doesn't go long before Sullivan and Rick Steiner try to interfere. Sting handles everyone, and the DQ is not called for, because Sting was never actually struck by anyone interfering. Sting controls the match until Rotunda manages to send him outside. Sullivan attacks Sting with a metal bar, and Steiner adds a cheapshot of his own. Rotunda keeps control with headlocks. Sting takes control and has Rotunda set for the Scorpion Deathlock, but Steiner runs in, and this time Tommy Young wastes no time in calling for the DQ. Nothing match. Don't know why this was included.
-Match 5: NWA United States Championship: Barry Windham [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Dusty Rhodes
-We are back in Baltimore. Dusty controls early, and hits his SHITTY ASS FUCKING DDT. That move is annoying me more everytime I see it. Barry takes a walk, but Dusty keeps breaking the count. Dusty bounces around and pops Windham with several right hands, sending Windham to the outside. Dusty keeps the pressure on, laying Windham out with a clothesline on the floor. Windham comes back finally. They fight over a slingshot, and Dusty sends Windham over the top, to the floor. This does not draw a DQ. JJ distracts Dusty, allowing Windham to retake control. Windham gets the claw, but cannot keep Dusty down.
-Great spot as Dusty climbs up to the top while still locked in the Claw. He prepares to drop a big elbow, but simply does not have the energy, and he falls back down. Dusty fights out, and tries for a Figure 4, but Windham counters with the Claw. Windham gets Dusty set up for a superplex, but Dusty pushes him down, wiping out Tommy Young in the process. Dusty gets the Big Fat Elbow, but Young is still out. Ronnie Garvin rushes out...and nails Dusty with the Hands of Stone, to the shock of everyone. Dusty is out, and Windham applies the Claw for the pin to retain. Match was hot until the extended Claw sequences, but that was quite a swerve with the Ronnie Garvin turn.
-Backstage, Garvin receives a briefcase full of money, and apparently aligns himself with Gary Hart. I am guessing there was a bounty on Dusty at this point.
-Match 6: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Lex Luger
-Crowd just HATES Flair. Lex, of course, controls the early going. His smile after a Flair chop made me legit LOL. Flair sells a Gorilla Press like it killed him, rolling outside and falling over the guardrail. Cute bit as Flair calls Tommy Young outside to abuse him, only for Young to shove him back, then bail into the ring and hide behind Lex. Luger works on Flair's back, locking in a bear hug. Flair fights back, but Luger comes back with a flying clothesline for a near-fall. Flair tries going up top, and Luger shakes the ropes until Flair falls, crotching himself on the top rope. Flair finally seizes an opening and goes after Luger's knee. Flair gets the Figure 4, but has to release it when Luger almost turns it over. Some more back and forth, with Lex taking complete control at the twenty minute mark. Flair dives at Luger, and it takes forever for them to fall over the top to the floor. Flair screams bloody murder about his leg. Flair, then JJ ram Luger's head into the ringpost, busting him open.
-The announcers note that the Maryland State Athletic Commission commissioner is calling Tommy Young over. Lex's wound stops bleeding almost right away, which proves to be a huge problem. Lex gets Flair in the Torture Rack, and the crowd LOSES THEIR SHIT when it looks like Lex has won the title. However, the match was stopped because of the cut, and Flair retains. That was much, much worse than the finish to the Starrcade '84 main event. What was with Dusty and his apparent need to royally piss everyone off at least once per big event?
-Nothing particularly special here. The first two matches are clipped too badly to pass judgement on (especially the second). The Tower of Doom is ridiculous, and the bonus TV title match is on here for no apparent reason. The Ronnie Garvin turn was a nice surprise, but the finish of the main event completely ruins a decent match and a big moment that the crowd was just dying for.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #14: Clash of the Champions II "Miami Mayhem"
-6/8/88
-From the James L. Knight Center in Miami, FL
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Bob Caudle
-Match 1: NWA United States Championship: Barry Windham [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Brad Armstrong
-Lots of cuts away from the action early on. Armstrong stays a step ahead of Windham with armdrags and slams. Windham gets Armstrong in a headscissors after pulling the hair, and Teddy Long asks the crowd if there was a hair pull, and actually makes Windham break the hold when the crowd says "yes". It happens a second time, and Windham is really not happy about it. After giving a clean break in the corner, Windham punches Armstrong right in the face as Armstrong is about to reciprocate. Armstrong comes back with several takedowns, frustrating the champion. Windham comes back with a big powerslam for a near-fall. After a punch and a bodyslam, Windham locks in a Figure 4, getting some aid from JJ. This goes on for quite a while, but Armstrong does not give it up. Windham misses an elbow from the top, and Armstrong finally fights back. Armstrong does not sell the leg at all, as he works like a tag babyface who just got the hot tag. Armstrong goes for a cross-body off the top, but Windham rolls through and applies the Claw for the pin. Nothing special here, and Armstrong not selling the leg during his comeback is pretty inexcusable.
-In between the ring introductions for the next match and the bell, #1 Contender for the World title Lex Luger shows up...and promptly gets attacked by the Horsemen. Damn, Luger's white tux was spiffy too. Tony & Bob are very upset with the Horsemen for this.
-Match 2: NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Fantastics [c] VS The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan)
-Some good action early on, but the announcers spend most of the time talking about Luger VS Flair. Caudle immediately goes from that to being apprehensive that the Sheepherders might try to literally murder the Fantastics. The USA VS New Zealand angle is played up, and the crowd is into it. Pretty solid, if unspectacular action. Really dumb spot as the Fantastics take turns covering both Sheepherders at once, and Teddy Long counts every time. The Sheepherders decide to start cheating themselves at the fifteen minute mark, sending Tommy Rogers over the top rope, into the guardrail, then whacking him across the back with one of the title belts. They then follow up with a chairshot to add injury to injury. Luke covers Rogers, and decides to bite the bottom rope for no apparent reason.
-Heel miscommunication almost allows Rogers to make the tag. Butch gets a vicious knee across Rogers' midsection for two. As Fulton has Teddy Long distracted, Luke tries to whipe Rogers into a chair held by Butch, but Rogers reverses the whip, sending Luke into the chair, and allowing Rogers to finally make the tag. Fulton quickly gets a roll-up on Luke for the pin to retain. I was hoping for a wild Fantastics VS Midnights style brawl, and get a pedestrian formula match instead.
-Match 3: The Garvin Brothers (w/Precious) VS Mike Rotunda & Rick Steiner
-Kevin Sullivan is locked in a cage at ringside. Steve Williams joins the commentary team. Weird moment early on as Steiner runs into Ronnie, and does a Marty Jannetty style twisting bump off it. Rotunda takes Jimmy down with a fireman's carry, then gets up with a big shit-eating grin on his face. Jimmy responds with one of his own, and Rotunda is not happy about it. Sullivan keeps calling Precious over, and at one point, she nods at him, which Tony actually notices. Sullivan has a piece of paper that he mentions is notarized at one point. Rotunda & Steiner switch while holding Ronnie in an armbar, and Teddy Long actually makes them switch back, because he did not see a tag. Pure tag formula as Ronnie plays the face-in-peril, while Sullivan keeps trying to get Precious to let him out.
-Ronnie finally makes the tag to Jimmy, who doesn't clean house, instead he gets a front facelock on Steiner. Ronnie gets back in, and takes Steiner down with a school boy for a couple two counts. Ronnie gets a sunset flip on Rotunda, who makes it to the ropes before Teddy Long kicks Rotunda's hands off them, allowing Ronnie to complete the move. I hate that spot. Steiner tosses Ronnie through the ropes, and he crashes into a cameraman. The match breaks down, and Precious stupidly goes over to Sullivan, who steals the key to lock himself out. As he does, Jimmy rolls Rotunda up for the pin. Sullivan escapes the cage, and immediately chokes Precious until Dr. Death makes the save, Precious gets pissed for some reason, and walks away from the babyfaces. Match was as much about the drama at ringside as it was in the ring, and the split focus hurt the match quality a little bit, IMO.
-Match 4: Al Perez (w/Gary Hart) VS Nikita Koloff
-Both men get mixed reactions. The beginning is a little different, as this is a grudge match where the competitors try to out-wrestle each other instead of brawling from the get-go. They do eventually go to the outside, and Perez takes over, culminating in Perez slamming Nikita on the floor. Perez tries to slam Nikita off the apron into the ring, but Nikita shifts his weight, and almost gets a pin off that. Perez keeps control until Nikita catches an attempted kick, and goes to town with a flying shoulderblock, and punches in the corner. The crowd gets 100% in Nikita's corner. Nikita sends Perez over the top with a back elbow. Hart protests, and Larry Zybisko runs in. He immediately takes a Russian Sickle, but Teddy Long calls for the bell anyway. 3-on-1 beatdwon ensues, Hart covers Nikita with his jacket, allowing Perez and Zybisko to nail Nikita with a chain. Decent enough match. I'm hoping that there's something on the GAB with these guys involved.
-Match 5: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Sting & Dusty Rhodes
-AA immediately takes Sting outside, but ends up clotheslining the ringpost. Sting goes right to work on the arm, and things don't go better when Tully is tagged in. Dusty comes in and goes to town on Tully to a MASSIVE crowd reaction. Dusty gets the Figure 4 on Tully, but JJ distracts Teddy Long, allowing AA to break it up. Dusty gets worked on for a bit before coming back with a flying clothesline, then a dropkick on Tully before tagging Sting. Sting promptly gets the Stinger Splash on Tully and goes for the Scorpion Deathlock, but AA breaks that up. That turns the tide, as the champions work Sting over, including a big DDT on the floor from AA. Sting manages to get a hot shot on Tully, and makes the tag before AA can stop him. Dusty cleans house and gets the big fat elbow on AA, but Tully saves. The match breaks down, and Sting stupidly throws Teddy Long down. When Teddy gets up, Dusty does the same. Barry Windham runs out, and Teddy finally calls for the bell. Windham locks the Claw on Dusty, allowing the rest of the Horsemen to work Sting over. Dusty bleeds thanks to the lengthy Claw. Match was better than the other tags, but needed a finish.
-Overall, the show is not nearly as good as the first Clash of the Champions, although YMMV is you're really into tag formula wrestling.
-From the James L. Knight Center in Miami, FL
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Bob Caudle
-Match 1: NWA United States Championship: Barry Windham [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Brad Armstrong
-Lots of cuts away from the action early on. Armstrong stays a step ahead of Windham with armdrags and slams. Windham gets Armstrong in a headscissors after pulling the hair, and Teddy Long asks the crowd if there was a hair pull, and actually makes Windham break the hold when the crowd says "yes". It happens a second time, and Windham is really not happy about it. After giving a clean break in the corner, Windham punches Armstrong right in the face as Armstrong is about to reciprocate. Armstrong comes back with several takedowns, frustrating the champion. Windham comes back with a big powerslam for a near-fall. After a punch and a bodyslam, Windham locks in a Figure 4, getting some aid from JJ. This goes on for quite a while, but Armstrong does not give it up. Windham misses an elbow from the top, and Armstrong finally fights back. Armstrong does not sell the leg at all, as he works like a tag babyface who just got the hot tag. Armstrong goes for a cross-body off the top, but Windham rolls through and applies the Claw for the pin. Nothing special here, and Armstrong not selling the leg during his comeback is pretty inexcusable.
-In between the ring introductions for the next match and the bell, #1 Contender for the World title Lex Luger shows up...and promptly gets attacked by the Horsemen. Damn, Luger's white tux was spiffy too. Tony & Bob are very upset with the Horsemen for this.
-Match 2: NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Fantastics [c] VS The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan)
-Some good action early on, but the announcers spend most of the time talking about Luger VS Flair. Caudle immediately goes from that to being apprehensive that the Sheepherders might try to literally murder the Fantastics. The USA VS New Zealand angle is played up, and the crowd is into it. Pretty solid, if unspectacular action. Really dumb spot as the Fantastics take turns covering both Sheepherders at once, and Teddy Long counts every time. The Sheepherders decide to start cheating themselves at the fifteen minute mark, sending Tommy Rogers over the top rope, into the guardrail, then whacking him across the back with one of the title belts. They then follow up with a chairshot to add injury to injury. Luke covers Rogers, and decides to bite the bottom rope for no apparent reason.
-Heel miscommunication almost allows Rogers to make the tag. Butch gets a vicious knee across Rogers' midsection for two. As Fulton has Teddy Long distracted, Luke tries to whipe Rogers into a chair held by Butch, but Rogers reverses the whip, sending Luke into the chair, and allowing Rogers to finally make the tag. Fulton quickly gets a roll-up on Luke for the pin to retain. I was hoping for a wild Fantastics VS Midnights style brawl, and get a pedestrian formula match instead.
-Match 3: The Garvin Brothers (w/Precious) VS Mike Rotunda & Rick Steiner
-Kevin Sullivan is locked in a cage at ringside. Steve Williams joins the commentary team. Weird moment early on as Steiner runs into Ronnie, and does a Marty Jannetty style twisting bump off it. Rotunda takes Jimmy down with a fireman's carry, then gets up with a big shit-eating grin on his face. Jimmy responds with one of his own, and Rotunda is not happy about it. Sullivan keeps calling Precious over, and at one point, she nods at him, which Tony actually notices. Sullivan has a piece of paper that he mentions is notarized at one point. Rotunda & Steiner switch while holding Ronnie in an armbar, and Teddy Long actually makes them switch back, because he did not see a tag. Pure tag formula as Ronnie plays the face-in-peril, while Sullivan keeps trying to get Precious to let him out.
-Ronnie finally makes the tag to Jimmy, who doesn't clean house, instead he gets a front facelock on Steiner. Ronnie gets back in, and takes Steiner down with a school boy for a couple two counts. Ronnie gets a sunset flip on Rotunda, who makes it to the ropes before Teddy Long kicks Rotunda's hands off them, allowing Ronnie to complete the move. I hate that spot. Steiner tosses Ronnie through the ropes, and he crashes into a cameraman. The match breaks down, and Precious stupidly goes over to Sullivan, who steals the key to lock himself out. As he does, Jimmy rolls Rotunda up for the pin. Sullivan escapes the cage, and immediately chokes Precious until Dr. Death makes the save, Precious gets pissed for some reason, and walks away from the babyfaces. Match was as much about the drama at ringside as it was in the ring, and the split focus hurt the match quality a little bit, IMO.
-Match 4: Al Perez (w/Gary Hart) VS Nikita Koloff
-Both men get mixed reactions. The beginning is a little different, as this is a grudge match where the competitors try to out-wrestle each other instead of brawling from the get-go. They do eventually go to the outside, and Perez takes over, culminating in Perez slamming Nikita on the floor. Perez tries to slam Nikita off the apron into the ring, but Nikita shifts his weight, and almost gets a pin off that. Perez keeps control until Nikita catches an attempted kick, and goes to town with a flying shoulderblock, and punches in the corner. The crowd gets 100% in Nikita's corner. Nikita sends Perez over the top with a back elbow. Hart protests, and Larry Zybisko runs in. He immediately takes a Russian Sickle, but Teddy Long calls for the bell anyway. 3-on-1 beatdwon ensues, Hart covers Nikita with his jacket, allowing Perez and Zybisko to nail Nikita with a chain. Decent enough match. I'm hoping that there's something on the GAB with these guys involved.
-Match 5: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Sting & Dusty Rhodes
-AA immediately takes Sting outside, but ends up clotheslining the ringpost. Sting goes right to work on the arm, and things don't go better when Tully is tagged in. Dusty comes in and goes to town on Tully to a MASSIVE crowd reaction. Dusty gets the Figure 4 on Tully, but JJ distracts Teddy Long, allowing AA to break it up. Dusty gets worked on for a bit before coming back with a flying clothesline, then a dropkick on Tully before tagging Sting. Sting promptly gets the Stinger Splash on Tully and goes for the Scorpion Deathlock, but AA breaks that up. That turns the tide, as the champions work Sting over, including a big DDT on the floor from AA. Sting manages to get a hot shot on Tully, and makes the tag before AA can stop him. Dusty cleans house and gets the big fat elbow on AA, but Tully saves. The match breaks down, and Sting stupidly throws Teddy Long down. When Teddy gets up, Dusty does the same. Barry Windham runs out, and Teddy finally calls for the bell. Windham locks the Claw on Dusty, allowing the rest of the Horsemen to work Sting over. Dusty bleeds thanks to the lengthy Claw. Match was better than the other tags, but needed a finish.
-Overall, the show is not nearly as good as the first Clash of the Champions, although YMMV is you're really into tag formula wrestling.
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #13: 3rd (and final) Annunal Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup
-4/22 & 4/23/88
-From Greenville, SC (4/22) & Greensboro, NC (4/23)
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross
-Match 1: Crockett Cup First Round Match: Jimmy Valiant & The Mighty Wilbur VS Ivan Koloff & Dick Murdoch
-Wilbur is a huge hillbilly in the vein of Uncle Elmer. He overpowers both the heels early fairly easily. Valiant dominates Koloff, but can't do anything against Murdoch. Valiant takes a knee to the back from Murdoch, and the Russian Sickle from Koloff for the pin in quick order.
-Match 2: Crockett Cup First Round Match: "Dr. Death" Steve Williams & Ron Simmons VS Mike Rotunda & Rick Steiner (w/Kevin Sullivan)
-The first thing JR mentions about Williams & Simmons is that they played college football. Rotunda & Steiner are members of the Varsity Club at this point, and Rick is now wearing the headgear. Dr. Death overpowers Rotunda, and hits a couple football tackles on Steiner, before missing a third and crashing into the turnbuckles. After taking a beating from Rotunda, Simmons comes back with a running clothesline, but is in the Varsity Club corner, so that leads to him being double-teamed. Dr. Death wears out Rotunda in the ring, but Simmons is the legal man, and Kevin Sullivan spikes Simmons, leading to a countout. This was OK.
-Match 3: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: NWA World Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) VS Kendall Windham & The Italian Stallion
-Match is clipped to Kendall taking Tully down with an armdrag. Arn gets tagged in, and takes one himself. Kendall tags in the Stallion, and AA takes over on him, before tagging in Tully, who Stallion fights back on before tagging Kendall. Kendall can't keep the momentum going for his team. Arn plants Kendall with a spinebuster to a babyface reaction. Match is clipped to Kendall tagging in Stallion, who lowers his head too soon, and Arn spikes him with the DDT for the pin. Needed more Horsemen offense.
-Match 4: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) VS The Jive Tones (Shaska Whatley & Tiger Conway Jr.)
-Match is clipped to Animal hitting Whatlet with a flying shouler block. Hawk drops Conway with a Gorilla Press. After ducking a flying clothesline from Whatley, Hawk comes off the top with a flying clothesline of his own for the pin. The five minute announcement was made, maybe two minutes were shown.
-Match 5: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: The Fantastics VS Al Perez & Larry Zybisko
-The Fantastics take a tour around ringside to greet the fans. After taking some punishment, Tommy Rogers lands on his feet after taking a Zybisko backdrop in a spiffy spot. Fulton & Perez do some nice exchanges, leading to Perez drilling Fulton with a German Suplex. Perez tags Zybisko, who gets a shoulder breaker for two. Neat finish as Perez hits a flying forearm on Fulton, he opts not to go for the win, instead, he tags in Zybisko. Fulton tries to small package Zybisko, but Perez holds on to Larry's arm to prevent the move from being completed, until Rogers dropkicks Perez out of the ring, allowing Fulton to finish the small package, and get the pin.
-Match 6: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: Lex Luger & Sting (w/Magnum T.A.) VS Dick Murdoch & Ivan Koloff
-Luger was supposed to team with Barry Windham, but Barry joined the Horsemen, and practically handed the World Tag titles back to Tully & Arn. I hate it when that happens. Luger does a really awkward looking dropkick, catching Koloff right in the stomach. Sting gets a big reaction upon being tagged in. The heels try to double-team Sting in the corner, but Sting fights out. Murdoch takes him down with an armbar anyway. Murdoch chokes Sting with a chain behind the ref's back to put him in peril. Koloff gets into a shoving match with ref Randy Andeson, allowing Murdoch to hit Sting in the back with a folded-out chair on the outside. Stinger Splash sets Murdoch up for a Figure 4, but Koloff saves, and the match breaks down. Murdoch tries to slam Sting from the apron into the ring, but gets rolled up and pinned instead.
-Match 7: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan)
-JR dubs Cornette "The Louisville Lip". The Sheepherders jump the Midnights before the bell. Crowd does not know how to react to this heel-vs-heel match. Eaton is heel-in-peril. Butch has Eaton pinned, but Morgan distracts the ref, allowing Lane to nail Butch with the tennis racket for the pin to a small pop.
-Match 8: Prince of Darkness Death Match: Kevin Sullivan (w/Rick Steiner) VS Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious)
-Both men are hooded. This is no-DQ. Tony Schiavone the live ring announcer interrupts Tony Schiavone the taped match commentator. JR suggests the Sullivan should have had Rotunda with him instead of Steiner, because JR is pretty sure Rotunda graduated. Your typical blindfold match. Garvin gets a small package for the pin. After unmasking Sullivan, Steiner jumps Garvin before he can unmask. Ron Garvin makes the save, but Rotunda makes in 3-on-2 long enough for Sullivan to spike Ronny in the chest.
-The majority of the Bunkhouse Stampede finals is shown. It was bad enough watching it once.
-Match 9: Crockett Cup Third Round Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) VS The Powers of Pain (w/Paul Jones & Ivan Koloff)
-This is the only 3rd round match that is shown. The Powers of Pain & Ivan Koloff are the six man tag champions at this time, but the PoP do not wear their belts. Animal controls the early going. Barbarian is clotheslined over the top by Hawk, who is not DQ'd for some unknown reason. To make it worse, Hawk picks up the ring steps and throws them at Barbarian, and is still not DQ'd. JR puts the PoP over as a much-improved team, as they get the advantage even after Barbarian accidentally drops an elbow on Warlord, which JR says would have cost them the match before. Barbarian gets a beautiful kick to the face on Hawk for two. Warlord returns the favor to Hawk to smaking his leg with a chair. Hawk is trapped in a bearhug for a lengthy period by Barbarian. Animal gets the hot tag, and after laying out Barbarian, accidentally clotheslines Randy Anderson. Road Warriors get the pin on Barbarian after a double-clothesline with Teddy Long counting, but Randy Anderson comes to, and tells Teddy to DQ the Road Warriors instead. Really dumb Dusty Finish spoils a decent match.
-Match 10: Texas Bullrope Match: The Midnight Rider VS JJ Dillon
-JJ throws powder into the Rider's face right off the bat to gain the advantage. The Rider quickly takes control, and soon finishes JJ off with a shot with the bell from the top rope. Rider chokes JJ with the rope, and Tony's casual call of the Rider trying to "do him in" in Tony's words is funny. The masked Texan runs in for the save. Dr. Death runs in to even the odds, but the Texan works him over until the Rider comes back to chase him off. Not sure who the Texan was, but that Midnight Rider reminds me of someone...
-Match 11: Crockett Cup Semi-Final Match: Powers of Pain (w/Paul Jones & Ivan Koloff) VS Sting & Lex Luger (w/Magnum T.A.)
-Pretty slow start. Sting takes a vicious boot from the Barbarian to send him over the top, and no DQ is called for. Luger gets the hot tag, and the babyfaces take control. Warlord gets Luger up in slam position, but Sting dropkicks Luger's back, allowing him to fall on top of Warlord fort the pin. Pretty boring except for that Barbarian big boot.
-Match 12: Crockett Cup Semi-Final Match: NWA Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) VS The Fantastics
-After a brief flurry in the beginning, the Horsemen really take it to the Fantastics, Fulton in particular. The Horsemen seem to be going through the motions here. Hot tag is finally made Rogers, and the Fantastics get the Rocket Launcer on Arn, but Tully saves. JJ hands Arn his shoe, which Arn uses to KO Tommy Rogers and get the pin. I hope the Horsemen were saving their best for the finals.
-Match 13: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] (w/Barry Windham) VS Nikita Koloff
-Windham leaves righ after the ring introduction, receiving high-fives from Tully and JJ. Match is clipped to Koloff out-wrestling Flair. Match appears clipped again to Koloff no-selling a kick to the gut and pounding on Flair in the corner, before falling prey to an inverted atomic drop. Nikita fights back and locks Flair in the Figure 4, but Flair gets to the ropes. Nikita looks like he's going to work Flair's leg some more, but they end up going to the outside, and Nikita sends Flair into the ringpost, busting Flair open. Nikita keeps working Flair over, but cannot pin him, even after the Russian Sickle. Flair backdrops Nikita over the top, and for the first time this show, that draws a DQ. Weak. Sauce.
-Match 14: Crockett Cup Final Match: NWA World Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) VS Sting & Lex Luger (w/Magnum T.A.)
-Lex takes control of Arn early on, and the Horsemen do a good job of stopping the momentum. That doesn't last long, as Sting gets a big gorilla press slam on Tully, and the pace picks back up. Sting & Luger start using heel tricks, as Sting calls Luger in without a tag being made. As Arn tries to make the tag, Luger nails Tully to prevent it. Things go wrong for the faces when Sting misses a Stinger Splash. Tully sends Sting outside and drives him into the guardrails. AA gets the spinebuster, but Sting manages to kick out. Sting keeps fighting back, but every time he starts to build momentum, the Horsemen make a tag. AA DDT gets another near-fall. Lex FINALLY gets the hot tag. He runs into a AA spinebuster for two, and the match breaks down. Magnum trips up Arn, causing a near-fall. AA goes after Magnum, allowing Luger to school boy him for the pin. This was pretty decent, and I get the feeling I may have been more into this if it weren't for the draining experience that these shows are.
-Nothing really bad, but nothing really awesome on this show either. Really glad I am done with these. JR & Tony sounded like they were on downers when they recorded their commentary, as they were almost monotone during the whole thing.
-From Greenville, SC (4/22) & Greensboro, NC (4/23)
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross
-Match 1: Crockett Cup First Round Match: Jimmy Valiant & The Mighty Wilbur VS Ivan Koloff & Dick Murdoch
-Wilbur is a huge hillbilly in the vein of Uncle Elmer. He overpowers both the heels early fairly easily. Valiant dominates Koloff, but can't do anything against Murdoch. Valiant takes a knee to the back from Murdoch, and the Russian Sickle from Koloff for the pin in quick order.
-Match 2: Crockett Cup First Round Match: "Dr. Death" Steve Williams & Ron Simmons VS Mike Rotunda & Rick Steiner (w/Kevin Sullivan)
-The first thing JR mentions about Williams & Simmons is that they played college football. Rotunda & Steiner are members of the Varsity Club at this point, and Rick is now wearing the headgear. Dr. Death overpowers Rotunda, and hits a couple football tackles on Steiner, before missing a third and crashing into the turnbuckles. After taking a beating from Rotunda, Simmons comes back with a running clothesline, but is in the Varsity Club corner, so that leads to him being double-teamed. Dr. Death wears out Rotunda in the ring, but Simmons is the legal man, and Kevin Sullivan spikes Simmons, leading to a countout. This was OK.
-Match 3: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: NWA World Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) VS Kendall Windham & The Italian Stallion
-Match is clipped to Kendall taking Tully down with an armdrag. Arn gets tagged in, and takes one himself. Kendall tags in the Stallion, and AA takes over on him, before tagging in Tully, who Stallion fights back on before tagging Kendall. Kendall can't keep the momentum going for his team. Arn plants Kendall with a spinebuster to a babyface reaction. Match is clipped to Kendall tagging in Stallion, who lowers his head too soon, and Arn spikes him with the DDT for the pin. Needed more Horsemen offense.
-Match 4: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) VS The Jive Tones (Shaska Whatley & Tiger Conway Jr.)
-Match is clipped to Animal hitting Whatlet with a flying shouler block. Hawk drops Conway with a Gorilla Press. After ducking a flying clothesline from Whatley, Hawk comes off the top with a flying clothesline of his own for the pin. The five minute announcement was made, maybe two minutes were shown.
-Match 5: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: The Fantastics VS Al Perez & Larry Zybisko
-The Fantastics take a tour around ringside to greet the fans. After taking some punishment, Tommy Rogers lands on his feet after taking a Zybisko backdrop in a spiffy spot. Fulton & Perez do some nice exchanges, leading to Perez drilling Fulton with a German Suplex. Perez tags Zybisko, who gets a shoulder breaker for two. Neat finish as Perez hits a flying forearm on Fulton, he opts not to go for the win, instead, he tags in Zybisko. Fulton tries to small package Zybisko, but Perez holds on to Larry's arm to prevent the move from being completed, until Rogers dropkicks Perez out of the ring, allowing Fulton to finish the small package, and get the pin.
-Match 6: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: Lex Luger & Sting (w/Magnum T.A.) VS Dick Murdoch & Ivan Koloff
-Luger was supposed to team with Barry Windham, but Barry joined the Horsemen, and practically handed the World Tag titles back to Tully & Arn. I hate it when that happens. Luger does a really awkward looking dropkick, catching Koloff right in the stomach. Sting gets a big reaction upon being tagged in. The heels try to double-team Sting in the corner, but Sting fights out. Murdoch takes him down with an armbar anyway. Murdoch chokes Sting with a chain behind the ref's back to put him in peril. Koloff gets into a shoving match with ref Randy Andeson, allowing Murdoch to hit Sting in the back with a folded-out chair on the outside. Stinger Splash sets Murdoch up for a Figure 4, but Koloff saves, and the match breaks down. Murdoch tries to slam Sting from the apron into the ring, but gets rolled up and pinned instead.
-Match 7: Crockett Cup Second Round Match: NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan)
-JR dubs Cornette "The Louisville Lip". The Sheepherders jump the Midnights before the bell. Crowd does not know how to react to this heel-vs-heel match. Eaton is heel-in-peril. Butch has Eaton pinned, but Morgan distracts the ref, allowing Lane to nail Butch with the tennis racket for the pin to a small pop.
-Match 8: Prince of Darkness Death Match: Kevin Sullivan (w/Rick Steiner) VS Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious)
-Both men are hooded. This is no-DQ. Tony Schiavone the live ring announcer interrupts Tony Schiavone the taped match commentator. JR suggests the Sullivan should have had Rotunda with him instead of Steiner, because JR is pretty sure Rotunda graduated. Your typical blindfold match. Garvin gets a small package for the pin. After unmasking Sullivan, Steiner jumps Garvin before he can unmask. Ron Garvin makes the save, but Rotunda makes in 3-on-2 long enough for Sullivan to spike Ronny in the chest.
-The majority of the Bunkhouse Stampede finals is shown. It was bad enough watching it once.
-Match 9: Crockett Cup Third Round Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) VS The Powers of Pain (w/Paul Jones & Ivan Koloff)
-This is the only 3rd round match that is shown. The Powers of Pain & Ivan Koloff are the six man tag champions at this time, but the PoP do not wear their belts. Animal controls the early going. Barbarian is clotheslined over the top by Hawk, who is not DQ'd for some unknown reason. To make it worse, Hawk picks up the ring steps and throws them at Barbarian, and is still not DQ'd. JR puts the PoP over as a much-improved team, as they get the advantage even after Barbarian accidentally drops an elbow on Warlord, which JR says would have cost them the match before. Barbarian gets a beautiful kick to the face on Hawk for two. Warlord returns the favor to Hawk to smaking his leg with a chair. Hawk is trapped in a bearhug for a lengthy period by Barbarian. Animal gets the hot tag, and after laying out Barbarian, accidentally clotheslines Randy Anderson. Road Warriors get the pin on Barbarian after a double-clothesline with Teddy Long counting, but Randy Anderson comes to, and tells Teddy to DQ the Road Warriors instead. Really dumb Dusty Finish spoils a decent match.
-Match 10: Texas Bullrope Match: The Midnight Rider VS JJ Dillon
-JJ throws powder into the Rider's face right off the bat to gain the advantage. The Rider quickly takes control, and soon finishes JJ off with a shot with the bell from the top rope. Rider chokes JJ with the rope, and Tony's casual call of the Rider trying to "do him in" in Tony's words is funny. The masked Texan runs in for the save. Dr. Death runs in to even the odds, but the Texan works him over until the Rider comes back to chase him off. Not sure who the Texan was, but that Midnight Rider reminds me of someone...
-Match 11: Crockett Cup Semi-Final Match: Powers of Pain (w/Paul Jones & Ivan Koloff) VS Sting & Lex Luger (w/Magnum T.A.)
-Pretty slow start. Sting takes a vicious boot from the Barbarian to send him over the top, and no DQ is called for. Luger gets the hot tag, and the babyfaces take control. Warlord gets Luger up in slam position, but Sting dropkicks Luger's back, allowing him to fall on top of Warlord fort the pin. Pretty boring except for that Barbarian big boot.
-Match 12: Crockett Cup Semi-Final Match: NWA Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) VS The Fantastics
-After a brief flurry in the beginning, the Horsemen really take it to the Fantastics, Fulton in particular. The Horsemen seem to be going through the motions here. Hot tag is finally made Rogers, and the Fantastics get the Rocket Launcer on Arn, but Tully saves. JJ hands Arn his shoe, which Arn uses to KO Tommy Rogers and get the pin. I hope the Horsemen were saving their best for the finals.
-Match 13: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] (w/Barry Windham) VS Nikita Koloff
-Windham leaves righ after the ring introduction, receiving high-fives from Tully and JJ. Match is clipped to Koloff out-wrestling Flair. Match appears clipped again to Koloff no-selling a kick to the gut and pounding on Flair in the corner, before falling prey to an inverted atomic drop. Nikita fights back and locks Flair in the Figure 4, but Flair gets to the ropes. Nikita looks like he's going to work Flair's leg some more, but they end up going to the outside, and Nikita sends Flair into the ringpost, busting Flair open. Nikita keeps working Flair over, but cannot pin him, even after the Russian Sickle. Flair backdrops Nikita over the top, and for the first time this show, that draws a DQ. Weak. Sauce.
-Match 14: Crockett Cup Final Match: NWA World Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) VS Sting & Lex Luger (w/Magnum T.A.)
-Lex takes control of Arn early on, and the Horsemen do a good job of stopping the momentum. That doesn't last long, as Sting gets a big gorilla press slam on Tully, and the pace picks back up. Sting & Luger start using heel tricks, as Sting calls Luger in without a tag being made. As Arn tries to make the tag, Luger nails Tully to prevent it. Things go wrong for the faces when Sting misses a Stinger Splash. Tully sends Sting outside and drives him into the guardrails. AA gets the spinebuster, but Sting manages to kick out. Sting keeps fighting back, but every time he starts to build momentum, the Horsemen make a tag. AA DDT gets another near-fall. Lex FINALLY gets the hot tag. He runs into a AA spinebuster for two, and the match breaks down. Magnum trips up Arn, causing a near-fall. AA goes after Magnum, allowing Luger to school boy him for the pin. This was pretty decent, and I get the feeling I may have been more into this if it weren't for the draining experience that these shows are.
-Nothing really bad, but nothing really awesome on this show either. Really glad I am done with these. JR & Tony sounded like they were on downers when they recorded their commentary, as they were almost monotone during the whole thing.
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #12: Clash of the Champions I
-3/27/88
-From Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross, with Bob Caudle making an appearence in the opening.
-Tony mentions that the NWA Board of Directors will meet sometime this week to discuss the situation with Dusty, Magnum, and Jim Crockett that took place the day before this show, but doesn't go into any specifics for those that may have missed what he's talking about.
-Match 1: Amateur Wrestling Match for the NWA Television Championship: Mike Rotunda [c] (w/Kevin Sullivan) VS Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious)
-Rule changes are that this will be contested in three 5 minute rounds, and it only takes a one count to get a pin. Teddy Long looks like Black Gallagher: UPS Worker. Garvin controls the early going, with Rotunda bitching about non-existant cheating the whole time, leading to Rotunda escaping an overhead wristlock by pulling Garvin's hair. Rotunda takes over the end of Round 1 with NCAA-Approved kicks, stomps, and a clothesline before nearly getting a pin. Garvin gets Rotunda in trouble early in Round 2. Sullivan tries to interfere, so Precious cuts him off. Sullivan responds by lifting her off the ground by her neck! The distraction allows Rotunda to school-boy Garvin for the one count pin to retain. Garvin gives Rotunda a really shitty brainbuster right after the pin. Rick Steiner runs in for a 3-on-1 beatdown, but Precious nails him with a 2X4, then tries to strangle Sullivan to death with a coat hanger! Pretty good psychology during the match while it lasted, and the post-match save by Precious was something else.
-Match 2: NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Midnight Express [c] (w/Jim Cornette) VS The Fantastics
-Cornette has some fans in the house tonight. That is one sweet mullett on Bobby Eaton. Complete chaos to start with. Chairs fly all over the place, tables are overturned, and Randy Anderson does nothing about it. Awesome double-team by the Midnights, as Eaton hits Tommy Rogers with a cross-body while Lane takes his legs out from underneath. Cornette holds a table on the outside, and Eaton sends Rogers head-first into it. The Midnights really do a number on Rogers, but neglect to go for the pin. Rogers tries to fight back, and actually gets a visual fall on Lane with a sunset flip, but Randy Anderson is busy with Bobby Fulton, so he can't make the count. Lane slams Rogers on a table that's laying on the outside, prompting Cornette to do a happy dance. Eaton tries to one-up Lane by giving Rogers a bulldog on the same table.
-Rogers finally makes the tag, but Randy Anderson doesn't see it (or Cornette running in to hit Rogers with the tennis racket), so Fulton says "fuck this" and tosses Anderson over the top rope. The Fantastics get the Rocket Launcher for the pin (as counted by Tommy Young), but Anderson returns to DQ the Fantastics for being tossed over the top rope. The Midnights get Fulton in position as Cornette goes to town with his belt as JR freaks out. Rogers finally makes the save with a chair. Really wild match and well worth going out of your way to see.
-Match 3: Six Man Chicago Street Fight Barbed Wire Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) & Dusty Rhodes VS The Powers of Pain & Ivan Koloff (w/Paul Jones)
-Big USA chant off the bat. Animal dons a hockey mask (not the old style Jason wears, sadly), to protect an injured eye. Pretty much a big schmozz dominated by the babyfaces. Animal powerslams Warlord, and Barbarian makes it worse by accidentally hitting Warlord with an elbowdrop, and that gets the pin for Animal in pretty short order. The heels go after Animal's injured eye after the pin, and get him in trouble until Dusty saves. Nothing much to see here.
-Match 4: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Barry Windham & Lex Luger
-Lex dominates early, and gets Tully in the Torture Rack, but Arn makes the save by kicking Lex in the quad. Windham gets in, and nearly finishes Tully with a lariat and a powerslam. Windham gets Tully in a sleeper, and holds onto it, even after they slip to the outside. Tommy Young won't allow a tag between AA and Tully because Arn's hand was sticking through the ropes, but Arn comes in anyway, spiking Windham with a DDT (that's how you do it, Dusty) and a spinebuster for a near-fall. Windham plays FIP for a while, coming close to making a tag several times. He kicks out of Tully's Slingshot Suplex, then finally makes the tag. Lex explodes once he's in. JJ gets worried and tries to interfere with a chair, but Luger sends AA head-first into the chair, and gets the pin for the titles off that to a HUGE pop. Really strong tag formula match, worked by the masters of it on the heel side. Smart move to keep Luger out of it for the most part between the beginning and finish.
-Match 5: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] VS Sting
-Match has a 45 minute time limit. There are 5 judges at ringside, and JJ will be locked inside a cage so he can't interfere. The judges are NWA Board member Gary Juster, Sandy Scott, Penthouse Pet of the Year Patty Mullen, Ken Haskel from the New Leave it to Beaver, and Jason Hervey from the Wonder Years, and Eric Bischoff's soon-to-be BFF. Only Hervey gets an on-screen graphic on the celebrity side. Kayfabe-wise, why does the NWA seemingly go out of their way to pick unqualified judges for World title matches that they decide need them? Really slow pace to start, as Sting keeps stopping Flair's attempts at offense, and intimidation. I like Tony announcing the stand-by matches, in case this match does not go the limit. Gives the impression that it's not certain that it will. Sting stays in control, almost pinning Flair with a side headlock. Flair's chops only serve to annoy Sting. There's a mix up as Flair is supposed to avoid a dropkick and it appears that he does, but then Flair flops off it. Flair keeps trying, but Sting cuts off every attempt at building offense and momentum that Flair has. Sting misses a flying elbow into the corner.
-Flair FINALLY makes some hay with an inverted atomic drop, and takes Sting outside to whip him into guardrail. Flair just pounds on Sting for the next 7-8 minutes until Sting makes another comeback, which ends when Sting stupidly tries a flying clothesline out on the floor, and ends up clotheslining the ringpost. Sting makes another comeback and locks in the Scorpion Deathlock, but Flair makes it to the ropes. Sting keeps shrugging off any attempts at offense from Flair, until Flair connects with a shinbreaker. Flair gets the Figure 4 at the 30 minute mark. Sting reverses the hold, then after it's broken, decides it's time to yell "DO YOU KNOW HOW TO PARTY, OR WHAT?!". Sting completely destroys Flair as we hit the 40 minute mark. Sting tries for the Deathlock, but gets kicked off, and sent to the outside. Stings keeps control of the final minutes, and has Flair in the Scorpion Deathlock at time expires. The judges votes: Mullen-Flair, Juster-Sting, Scott-Draw. The other two are not show, but the match is declared a draw, and Flair retains. A really good showcase for Sting, as he legitimately controlled most of the match, and showed good fire and demonstrated how much he wanted to win the title.
-Overall, a really, really good show for the first Clash. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it if you have the opportunity.
-From Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross, with Bob Caudle making an appearence in the opening.
-Tony mentions that the NWA Board of Directors will meet sometime this week to discuss the situation with Dusty, Magnum, and Jim Crockett that took place the day before this show, but doesn't go into any specifics for those that may have missed what he's talking about.
-Match 1: Amateur Wrestling Match for the NWA Television Championship: Mike Rotunda [c] (w/Kevin Sullivan) VS Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious)
-Rule changes are that this will be contested in three 5 minute rounds, and it only takes a one count to get a pin. Teddy Long looks like Black Gallagher: UPS Worker. Garvin controls the early going, with Rotunda bitching about non-existant cheating the whole time, leading to Rotunda escaping an overhead wristlock by pulling Garvin's hair. Rotunda takes over the end of Round 1 with NCAA-Approved kicks, stomps, and a clothesline before nearly getting a pin. Garvin gets Rotunda in trouble early in Round 2. Sullivan tries to interfere, so Precious cuts him off. Sullivan responds by lifting her off the ground by her neck! The distraction allows Rotunda to school-boy Garvin for the one count pin to retain. Garvin gives Rotunda a really shitty brainbuster right after the pin. Rick Steiner runs in for a 3-on-1 beatdown, but Precious nails him with a 2X4, then tries to strangle Sullivan to death with a coat hanger! Pretty good psychology during the match while it lasted, and the post-match save by Precious was something else.
-Match 2: NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Midnight Express [c] (w/Jim Cornette) VS The Fantastics
-Cornette has some fans in the house tonight. That is one sweet mullett on Bobby Eaton. Complete chaos to start with. Chairs fly all over the place, tables are overturned, and Randy Anderson does nothing about it. Awesome double-team by the Midnights, as Eaton hits Tommy Rogers with a cross-body while Lane takes his legs out from underneath. Cornette holds a table on the outside, and Eaton sends Rogers head-first into it. The Midnights really do a number on Rogers, but neglect to go for the pin. Rogers tries to fight back, and actually gets a visual fall on Lane with a sunset flip, but Randy Anderson is busy with Bobby Fulton, so he can't make the count. Lane slams Rogers on a table that's laying on the outside, prompting Cornette to do a happy dance. Eaton tries to one-up Lane by giving Rogers a bulldog on the same table.
-Rogers finally makes the tag, but Randy Anderson doesn't see it (or Cornette running in to hit Rogers with the tennis racket), so Fulton says "fuck this" and tosses Anderson over the top rope. The Fantastics get the Rocket Launcher for the pin (as counted by Tommy Young), but Anderson returns to DQ the Fantastics for being tossed over the top rope. The Midnights get Fulton in position as Cornette goes to town with his belt as JR freaks out. Rogers finally makes the save with a chair. Really wild match and well worth going out of your way to see.
-Match 3: Six Man Chicago Street Fight Barbed Wire Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) & Dusty Rhodes VS The Powers of Pain & Ivan Koloff (w/Paul Jones)
-Big USA chant off the bat. Animal dons a hockey mask (not the old style Jason wears, sadly), to protect an injured eye. Pretty much a big schmozz dominated by the babyfaces. Animal powerslams Warlord, and Barbarian makes it worse by accidentally hitting Warlord with an elbowdrop, and that gets the pin for Animal in pretty short order. The heels go after Animal's injured eye after the pin, and get him in trouble until Dusty saves. Nothing much to see here.
-Match 4: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Barry Windham & Lex Luger
-Lex dominates early, and gets Tully in the Torture Rack, but Arn makes the save by kicking Lex in the quad. Windham gets in, and nearly finishes Tully with a lariat and a powerslam. Windham gets Tully in a sleeper, and holds onto it, even after they slip to the outside. Tommy Young won't allow a tag between AA and Tully because Arn's hand was sticking through the ropes, but Arn comes in anyway, spiking Windham with a DDT (that's how you do it, Dusty) and a spinebuster for a near-fall. Windham plays FIP for a while, coming close to making a tag several times. He kicks out of Tully's Slingshot Suplex, then finally makes the tag. Lex explodes once he's in. JJ gets worried and tries to interfere with a chair, but Luger sends AA head-first into the chair, and gets the pin for the titles off that to a HUGE pop. Really strong tag formula match, worked by the masters of it on the heel side. Smart move to keep Luger out of it for the most part between the beginning and finish.
-Match 5: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] VS Sting
-Match has a 45 minute time limit. There are 5 judges at ringside, and JJ will be locked inside a cage so he can't interfere. The judges are NWA Board member Gary Juster, Sandy Scott, Penthouse Pet of the Year Patty Mullen, Ken Haskel from the New Leave it to Beaver, and Jason Hervey from the Wonder Years, and Eric Bischoff's soon-to-be BFF. Only Hervey gets an on-screen graphic on the celebrity side. Kayfabe-wise, why does the NWA seemingly go out of their way to pick unqualified judges for World title matches that they decide need them? Really slow pace to start, as Sting keeps stopping Flair's attempts at offense, and intimidation. I like Tony announcing the stand-by matches, in case this match does not go the limit. Gives the impression that it's not certain that it will. Sting stays in control, almost pinning Flair with a side headlock. Flair's chops only serve to annoy Sting. There's a mix up as Flair is supposed to avoid a dropkick and it appears that he does, but then Flair flops off it. Flair keeps trying, but Sting cuts off every attempt at building offense and momentum that Flair has. Sting misses a flying elbow into the corner.
-Flair FINALLY makes some hay with an inverted atomic drop, and takes Sting outside to whip him into guardrail. Flair just pounds on Sting for the next 7-8 minutes until Sting makes another comeback, which ends when Sting stupidly tries a flying clothesline out on the floor, and ends up clotheslining the ringpost. Sting makes another comeback and locks in the Scorpion Deathlock, but Flair makes it to the ropes. Sting keeps shrugging off any attempts at offense from Flair, until Flair connects with a shinbreaker. Flair gets the Figure 4 at the 30 minute mark. Sting reverses the hold, then after it's broken, decides it's time to yell "DO YOU KNOW HOW TO PARTY, OR WHAT?!". Sting completely destroys Flair as we hit the 40 minute mark. Sting tries for the Deathlock, but gets kicked off, and sent to the outside. Stings keeps control of the final minutes, and has Flair in the Scorpion Deathlock at time expires. The judges votes: Mullen-Flair, Juster-Sting, Scott-Draw. The other two are not show, but the match is declared a draw, and Flair retains. A really good showcase for Sting, as he legitimately controlled most of the match, and showed good fire and demonstrated how much he wanted to win the title.
-Overall, a really, really good show for the first Clash. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it if you have the opportunity.
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #11: The Bunkhouse Stampede
-1/24/88
-From the Nassau Colliseum in Uniondale, NY
-Hosts are Bob Caudle & Jim Ross. Tony Schiavone does the ring announcing.
-Match 1: NWA Television Championship: Nikita Koloff [c] VS Bobby Eaton (w/Jim Cornette)
-The Midnights are still U.S. tag champs at this point. Caudle calls Eaton a "high flyer". The "good luck" hugs between Eaton & Cornette draw some jeers. Lots of stalling early. Cornette's advice to Eaton: "He'll make a mistake, he's stupid". Eaton's early attempts at offense only serve to piss Nikita off. Nothing much happens until they exchange some blows on the outside. Eaton gets whipped across the apron into the ringpost, but he doesn't bump off it. Eaton works a side-headlock for a couple minutes, then makes the mistake of trying to brawl with Koloff on the outside. Koloff sends Eaton into the post, and Eaton bounces off that, into a cameraman, and down. Koloff follows that up with a hiptoss on the floor, which wakes the crowd up. Eaton manages to turn the tide, and works a hammerlock once they get back inside.
-Crowd tries to get themselves into the match with a big "Cornette Sucks" chant. Eaton lives up to his "high flyer" billing with a missile dropkick for two, but then goes back to the hammerlock. Eaton sticks with it for a long time, even as Tony starts counting down the minutes left. Koloff finally fights out, and hits the Russian Sickle as time expires. Stan Lane runs out for the two-on-one beatdown on Nikita as Cornette holds the ref back. Nothing inspiring here, and a painfully obvious finish to boot.
-Match 2: Western States Heritage Championship: Barry Windham [c] VS Larry Zbysko (w/Baby Doll)
-Windham has an injured knee going into this match, courtesy of the Four Horsemen. Baby Doll doesn't want to leave the ring to start, and a fan responds to this by yelling "TAKE IT OFF!". Windham outwrestles Zbysko early, who responds by throwing a dropkick...that misses. Windham keeps taking Larry down, pissing him off more and more. They have a brief shoving match, and Larry reacts like a little kid; "He started it!". Larry gets a leglock on Windham, whose F-bomb is bleeped out. Windham fights out and hits an enziguiri, but misses a flying elbow/senton from the top. Zbysko goes back to the leg, which pays off when Windham tries a suplex, but his leg buckles. To the outside, and Zbysko turns the tide again by sending Windham into the ringpost. Windham responds by crotching Zbysko on the same ringpost, but misses a dive and goes through the ropes. They smack heads for a double-KO spot. Larry misses a high knee in the corner.
-The ref gets bumped, and Windham goes for the cover anyway. Baby Doll counts to make Windham think he's won, and then Larry KO's Windham with Baby Doll's high-heel shoe for the pin and the title. Match was pretty slow for the most part, but at least Zbysko showed more energy and reacted more during those parts to keep it somewhat interesting. The finish makes Windham look like a complete idiot, as he stared right at the ref as he went down before the finish.
-Match 3: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Road Warrior Hawk (w/Paul Ellering)
-Hawk comes out to "Iron Man", which is an awesome selection. Hawk overpowers Flair to start, then ramps things up by stomping a mudhole in him. Hawk completely dominates the first five minutes. Flair tries to fight back, but Hawk no-sells. Nothing works at all for Flair until he manages to sneak in a low-blow undetected by the referee. Flair pounds away, but lowers his head too early for a backdrop, and Hawk counters with a hangman's neckbreaker. Hawk's follow-up, a fistdrop, misses to turn the tide back to Flair.
-Flair starts working the knee, and adds another low-blow while the ref is talking to Ellering, just because he can. Flair's glee at having Hawk where he wants him is tremendous. Flair locks in the Figure 4 and uses the ropes for leverage, but Hawk manages to reverse it. Flair has to be bleeped reacting to the pain he is in now. Flair makes the mistake of going up top, and naturally gets caught, and tossed. Hawk comes out of the corner with a clothesline, but catches the ref as well on the follow-through. Hawk busts Flair open and keeps pounding away. Superplex appears to have the match won for Hawk, but the ref is still out. JJ sneaks into the ring and gingerly hits Hawk on the back with a chair, which Hawk thankfully no-sells, and goes after JJ. Flair gets a chairshot to the head...for two. Hawks no-sells an impressive delayed vertical suplex from Flair. Hawks has Flair in a world of trouble, but Flair nails Hawk again with the chair to draw the DQ and retain the title. Another fairly long match, but more enegertic than the previous two.
-JR and Caudle put the last match over as the most physical title defense Flair has ever had.
-Caudle runs down the list of the production crew members.
-Recap of the finish to Windham/Zbysko.
-Match 4: The 3rd Annual Bunkhouse Stampede Finals: Dusty Rhodes VS Tully Blanchard VS Ivan Koloff VS The Warlord VS Arn Anderson VS Lex Luger VS The Barbarian VS Road Warrior Animal
-Dusty is the U.S. Champion and winner of the previous 2 Bunkhouse Stampedes. Tully & Arn are the World Tag Team Champions, and Lex has apparently turned face, getting a positive reaction and (kind of) slapping hands with fans. This is a battle royale...inside a cage. The last man inside the cage wins the match and $500,000.00. Warlord wears a lifeguard shirt...ok. Arn and Dusty briefly work together on Ivan until Dusty turns back to work on Tully. Animal tries to push Tully over the top of the cage while Dusty almost gets Ivan out the door. Barbarian almost gets Dusty over the top, but then loses his grip, and is crotched on the top rope. The Powers of Pain work Lex over while Animal rubs Tully's face in the cage. Luger goes nuts after getting whipped with a belt, and Dusty gets a hold of it to hit anything that moves, finally waking the crowd up. The Horsemen tie Lex by his neck into the ring ropes. Animal FINALLY gets Ivan Koloff over the top and out for the first elimination. Animal kicks Warlord out the door, then gets hit from behind by (I think) Barbarian to eliminate him too. Animal is NOT happy about that.
-Lex gets Tully in the torture rack. Arn & Tully work for quite a while to get Lex out. Their long struggle ends up with all three going out at the same time, leaving Dusty and The Barbarian. Paul Jones hands Barbarian some brass knucks. He KO's Dusty, but can't put him out. Dusty knocks Barbarian over the top and out to win the check and a giant boot. I am as shocked as you are. This match, and the concept behind it are so horrible, I'm legitimately surprised that Vince Russo hasn't resurrected it somewhere.
-JR goes into schilling mode, saying that nothing is as physical as the NWA.
-Nothing worth going out of your way to see here, unless you want to check out the novelty of Hawk challenging Flair, and that main event is craptastic.
-From the Nassau Colliseum in Uniondale, NY
-Hosts are Bob Caudle & Jim Ross. Tony Schiavone does the ring announcing.
-Match 1: NWA Television Championship: Nikita Koloff [c] VS Bobby Eaton (w/Jim Cornette)
-The Midnights are still U.S. tag champs at this point. Caudle calls Eaton a "high flyer". The "good luck" hugs between Eaton & Cornette draw some jeers. Lots of stalling early. Cornette's advice to Eaton: "He'll make a mistake, he's stupid". Eaton's early attempts at offense only serve to piss Nikita off. Nothing much happens until they exchange some blows on the outside. Eaton gets whipped across the apron into the ringpost, but he doesn't bump off it. Eaton works a side-headlock for a couple minutes, then makes the mistake of trying to brawl with Koloff on the outside. Koloff sends Eaton into the post, and Eaton bounces off that, into a cameraman, and down. Koloff follows that up with a hiptoss on the floor, which wakes the crowd up. Eaton manages to turn the tide, and works a hammerlock once they get back inside.
-Crowd tries to get themselves into the match with a big "Cornette Sucks" chant. Eaton lives up to his "high flyer" billing with a missile dropkick for two, but then goes back to the hammerlock. Eaton sticks with it for a long time, even as Tony starts counting down the minutes left. Koloff finally fights out, and hits the Russian Sickle as time expires. Stan Lane runs out for the two-on-one beatdown on Nikita as Cornette holds the ref back. Nothing inspiring here, and a painfully obvious finish to boot.
-Match 2: Western States Heritage Championship: Barry Windham [c] VS Larry Zbysko (w/Baby Doll)
-Windham has an injured knee going into this match, courtesy of the Four Horsemen. Baby Doll doesn't want to leave the ring to start, and a fan responds to this by yelling "TAKE IT OFF!". Windham outwrestles Zbysko early, who responds by throwing a dropkick...that misses. Windham keeps taking Larry down, pissing him off more and more. They have a brief shoving match, and Larry reacts like a little kid; "He started it!". Larry gets a leglock on Windham, whose F-bomb is bleeped out. Windham fights out and hits an enziguiri, but misses a flying elbow/senton from the top. Zbysko goes back to the leg, which pays off when Windham tries a suplex, but his leg buckles. To the outside, and Zbysko turns the tide again by sending Windham into the ringpost. Windham responds by crotching Zbysko on the same ringpost, but misses a dive and goes through the ropes. They smack heads for a double-KO spot. Larry misses a high knee in the corner.
-The ref gets bumped, and Windham goes for the cover anyway. Baby Doll counts to make Windham think he's won, and then Larry KO's Windham with Baby Doll's high-heel shoe for the pin and the title. Match was pretty slow for the most part, but at least Zbysko showed more energy and reacted more during those parts to keep it somewhat interesting. The finish makes Windham look like a complete idiot, as he stared right at the ref as he went down before the finish.
-Match 3: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Road Warrior Hawk (w/Paul Ellering)
-Hawk comes out to "Iron Man", which is an awesome selection. Hawk overpowers Flair to start, then ramps things up by stomping a mudhole in him. Hawk completely dominates the first five minutes. Flair tries to fight back, but Hawk no-sells. Nothing works at all for Flair until he manages to sneak in a low-blow undetected by the referee. Flair pounds away, but lowers his head too early for a backdrop, and Hawk counters with a hangman's neckbreaker. Hawk's follow-up, a fistdrop, misses to turn the tide back to Flair.
-Flair starts working the knee, and adds another low-blow while the ref is talking to Ellering, just because he can. Flair's glee at having Hawk where he wants him is tremendous. Flair locks in the Figure 4 and uses the ropes for leverage, but Hawk manages to reverse it. Flair has to be bleeped reacting to the pain he is in now. Flair makes the mistake of going up top, and naturally gets caught, and tossed. Hawk comes out of the corner with a clothesline, but catches the ref as well on the follow-through. Hawk busts Flair open and keeps pounding away. Superplex appears to have the match won for Hawk, but the ref is still out. JJ sneaks into the ring and gingerly hits Hawk on the back with a chair, which Hawk thankfully no-sells, and goes after JJ. Flair gets a chairshot to the head...for two. Hawks no-sells an impressive delayed vertical suplex from Flair. Hawks has Flair in a world of trouble, but Flair nails Hawk again with the chair to draw the DQ and retain the title. Another fairly long match, but more enegertic than the previous two.
-JR and Caudle put the last match over as the most physical title defense Flair has ever had.
-Caudle runs down the list of the production crew members.
-Recap of the finish to Windham/Zbysko.
-Match 4: The 3rd Annual Bunkhouse Stampede Finals: Dusty Rhodes VS Tully Blanchard VS Ivan Koloff VS The Warlord VS Arn Anderson VS Lex Luger VS The Barbarian VS Road Warrior Animal
-Dusty is the U.S. Champion and winner of the previous 2 Bunkhouse Stampedes. Tully & Arn are the World Tag Team Champions, and Lex has apparently turned face, getting a positive reaction and (kind of) slapping hands with fans. This is a battle royale...inside a cage. The last man inside the cage wins the match and $500,000.00. Warlord wears a lifeguard shirt...ok. Arn and Dusty briefly work together on Ivan until Dusty turns back to work on Tully. Animal tries to push Tully over the top of the cage while Dusty almost gets Ivan out the door. Barbarian almost gets Dusty over the top, but then loses his grip, and is crotched on the top rope. The Powers of Pain work Lex over while Animal rubs Tully's face in the cage. Luger goes nuts after getting whipped with a belt, and Dusty gets a hold of it to hit anything that moves, finally waking the crowd up. The Horsemen tie Lex by his neck into the ring ropes. Animal FINALLY gets Ivan Koloff over the top and out for the first elimination. Animal kicks Warlord out the door, then gets hit from behind by (I think) Barbarian to eliminate him too. Animal is NOT happy about that.
-Lex gets Tully in the torture rack. Arn & Tully work for quite a while to get Lex out. Their long struggle ends up with all three going out at the same time, leaving Dusty and The Barbarian. Paul Jones hands Barbarian some brass knucks. He KO's Dusty, but can't put him out. Dusty knocks Barbarian over the top and out to win the check and a giant boot. I am as shocked as you are. This match, and the concept behind it are so horrible, I'm legitimately surprised that Vince Russo hasn't resurrected it somewhere.
-JR goes into schilling mode, saying that nothing is as physical as the NWA.
-Nothing worth going out of your way to see here, unless you want to check out the novelty of Hawk challenging Flair, and that main event is craptastic.
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #10: Starrcade '87 "Chi-Town Heat/Glory Bound"
-11/27/87
-From Chicago, IL
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross
-Match 1: Sting, Michael Hayes, & Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) VS Eddie Gilbert, Rick Steiner, & Larry Zbysko (w/Baby Doll)
-Eddie Gilbert being announced as being from "Every Girl's Dream" is awesome. Sting countering with "from Every Man's Nightmare" even more so. JR states that this is a result of Sting leaving a group that he had with Steiner & Gilbert. Rick blindsides Sting with a punch and a clothesline to start, so Sting responds by sending him outside, diving out onto him, then a missile dropkick when they get back into the ring. Pier sixer results, and the faces clean house. Rick gets caught by the faces, and Larry tags in to a huge "Larry Sucks" chant. Larry gets more of the same, including getting grabbed by the nose by Hayes, before tagging out to Gilbert. The heels finally get some offense in on Garvin at the seven minute mark. Garvin frees himself from a Zbysko abdominal stretch just past ten minutes in, and makes the hot tag to Sting, who gets caught himself after a breif flurry of offense. Larry takes a nice bump off a Sting Irish Whip. Another Pier Sixer breaks out, and Hayes thinks he has Zbysko pinned after a bulldog, even though the ref stops at two and points at the ropes. Hayes kicks out of a Steiner belly-to-belly with under 30 seconds to go. Hayes gets a sunset flip on Gilbert as time expires. Really hot opener, but it could have used a definite finish.
-Match 2: UWF Heavyweight Championship: "Dr. Death" Steve Williams [c] VS Barry Windham
-Windham still holds the Western States Heritage title at this time. Mixed reaction for both men. I'm sure JR will not hold back on talking about Williams' college football career. Williams gorilla presses Windham early, who escapes and gets a roll-up for two. Crowd gets somewhat restless early, as you can hear a smattering of "boring" chants starting very early on. Very technical babyface match, which is unappreciated by some members of the crowd. Big pop when Williams tries for a leapfrog, but can't jump high enough, and ends up taking a headbut to the lower nutsack region. Crowd is not happy when Windham refuses to take advantage. Dr. Death takes some time to really get back into the match. Windham helps out by missing a cross-body, sending himself out over the top, onto the floor, and hitting his head on the time keeper's table in the process. Dr. Death catches Windham coming back in and pins him to retain. The crowd is NOT happy with how this match went. I appreciated the story they were (I think) trying to tell, and wonder if there was any follow-up to Windham not taking advantage of Williams' misfortune, but Williams not extending Windham the same courtesy.
-Match 3: "Skywalkers" (Sacffold) Match: The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette & Big Bubba Rogers) VS The Rock N' Roll Express
-The Midnights are the U.S. Tag Team Champions still, but this is non-title. Bubba goes after Ricky Morton before he can even start to climb the scaffold, leaving Gibson to fight by himself up top. Bubba wants to climb up to make it 3-on-1, but Morton steals Cornette's tennis racket, and knocks him down before climbing up himself. Gibson got busted open at some point, showing the first color of the night. Eaton quickly follows suit. Pretty meandering brawl that doesn't hold my interest at all. RnR win. Cornette sends Bubba to the top. He takes a kick to the nuts from Gibson, who then runs away and steals Bubba's hat and coat. I yawn and am ready for the next match.
-Match 4: NWA Television Championship VS UWF Television Championship Unification Match: Nikita Koloff [NWA] VS Terry Taylor [UWF] (w/Eddie Gilbert)
-Terry tries to get offense on Nikita, who simply no-sells, looks scary (which Taylor sells pretty well), and works Taylor's arm. Taylor makes the mistake of talking shit, only to take a bitch slap and a backdrop in response. Taylor gets a near-fall after a knee lift and a ropes-assisted pin attempt. His exhasperated "I had him, I had him" while in Nikita's hammerlock is great. Nikita whiffs on a Sickle attempt, allowing Taylor to get his first real offense, including a STIFF knife-edge chop on the outside. Taylor pounds away until the fifteen minute mark, at which Nikita says "fuck this selling shit" and fights back, until taking a fucked-up inverted atomic drop, which sends Nikita to the mat tailbone-first. Taylor gets into a shoving match with Earl Hebner, which leads to Nikita getting a school boy for two. Gilbert clips Nikita's leg with a chair, then assists Taylor with his Figure 4, until Hebner figures out what's going on. Nikita has had ENOUGH of this and snatches Gilbert. Taylor crashes into Gilbert, and the Russian Sickle gives Nikita the belts. Good start, boring as hell body, HOT finish. A modern-day comparison would be Edge winning the I-C title from Randy Orton.
-Match 5: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-Arn starts with Hawk, and freaks out as Hawk reverses his overhead wristlock. Tully gets battered by Hawk, who prevents him from taking a walk. Crowd is obviously molten for the hometown boys, who twart every attempt at offense the Horesmen try early on. The Horsemen finally get some offense in on Hawk after AA clips Hawk's knee while he has Tully in a gorilla press. With AA & JJ distracting the ref, Tully whacks Hawk's knee with a chair. Hawk becomes the face-in-peril, and Tully locks in a Figure 4. AA takes a shot to the nuts, allowing Hawk to make the tag. The match breaks down and Tully throws Tommy Young to the outside. AA is thrown over the top. Road Warriors get the Doomsday Device on Arn, and Earl Hebnre comes out to count the pin, and there was much rejoicing. Wait a second, *knock knock*...who's there?...Dusty...Dusty who?...DUSTY FINISH!...FUCK! Yes, Tommy Young comes to and DQ's the Road Warriors for Arn getting thrown over the top. Why he doesn't DQ the Horsemen for Tully firing him through the ropes is a mystery. Match was OK, but did Dusty really have to break out that finish here?
-Match 6: Cage Match for the NWA United States Championship: Lex Luger [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Dusty Rhodes
-If Dusty loses, he is gone for 90 days. Johnny Weaver holds the key to the cage. Luger gets a small amount of cheers after being announced as being from Chicago. LOL Moment: camera shows a close-up of a grimacing Dusty as he has a hammerlock on Lex, to which JR says "Not just another pretty face." Match is pretty basic, which reminds me of a quote about Lex from Bret Hart's book (which I just read again), which was something along the lines of Lex being a safe, mechanical worker who went with the basics and stayed there. Dusty is busted open after being sent into the cage. Dusty makes a big comeback after taking a lot of punishment, and appears to have the match won with a sleeper, but JJ nails Johnny Weaver with a chair to steal the key, and slides a chair into the ring. This backfires, as Dusty hits Lex with his shitty DDT on the chair for the pin and the title. Hot finish, but Lex is boring as shit when he's on offense.
-Match 7: Cage Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ronnie Garvin [c] VS Ric Flair (w/JJ Dillon)
-Match is cut to Garvin controlling Flair. Garvin gets the 10 punches in the corner, and follows up with the Garvin Stomp. Flair takes over and works on Garvin's leg. Crowd pops big as Flair locks in the Figure 4. Flair continues to work Garvin over, until Garvin reverses a whip, and sends Flair face-first into the cage. Flair bleeds, of course. Garvin levels Flair with some STIFF chops. Flair tries to climb out, and you can figure out how that works for him. Garvin locks in his own Figure 4. After a chop exchange, Garvin gets a cross-body off the top, then a backslide for two counts. Garvin gets a sunset flip off the top, but Flair blocks and almost gets the pin by using the ropes. Tommy Young breaks that, allowing Garvin to get a two count. Hands of Stone gets two for Garvin. Flair hot-shots Garvin into the cage for the pin to regain the title. Match was nothing special, but the crowd was hot mostly throughout. Lots of people cheering for Flair. I've read that was because no one bought Garvin as the champ, since he only won it for Flair to win it back (thus no one would put Garvin over in the meantime).
-An OK show with a really hot Chicago crowd. The bodies of the matches are pretty boring, and I struggled to pay attention at times, but the finishes are hot at least.
-From Chicago, IL
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross
-Match 1: Sting, Michael Hayes, & Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) VS Eddie Gilbert, Rick Steiner, & Larry Zbysko (w/Baby Doll)
-Eddie Gilbert being announced as being from "Every Girl's Dream" is awesome. Sting countering with "from Every Man's Nightmare" even more so. JR states that this is a result of Sting leaving a group that he had with Steiner & Gilbert. Rick blindsides Sting with a punch and a clothesline to start, so Sting responds by sending him outside, diving out onto him, then a missile dropkick when they get back into the ring. Pier sixer results, and the faces clean house. Rick gets caught by the faces, and Larry tags in to a huge "Larry Sucks" chant. Larry gets more of the same, including getting grabbed by the nose by Hayes, before tagging out to Gilbert. The heels finally get some offense in on Garvin at the seven minute mark. Garvin frees himself from a Zbysko abdominal stretch just past ten minutes in, and makes the hot tag to Sting, who gets caught himself after a breif flurry of offense. Larry takes a nice bump off a Sting Irish Whip. Another Pier Sixer breaks out, and Hayes thinks he has Zbysko pinned after a bulldog, even though the ref stops at two and points at the ropes. Hayes kicks out of a Steiner belly-to-belly with under 30 seconds to go. Hayes gets a sunset flip on Gilbert as time expires. Really hot opener, but it could have used a definite finish.
-Match 2: UWF Heavyweight Championship: "Dr. Death" Steve Williams [c] VS Barry Windham
-Windham still holds the Western States Heritage title at this time. Mixed reaction for both men. I'm sure JR will not hold back on talking about Williams' college football career. Williams gorilla presses Windham early, who escapes and gets a roll-up for two. Crowd gets somewhat restless early, as you can hear a smattering of "boring" chants starting very early on. Very technical babyface match, which is unappreciated by some members of the crowd. Big pop when Williams tries for a leapfrog, but can't jump high enough, and ends up taking a headbut to the lower nutsack region. Crowd is not happy when Windham refuses to take advantage. Dr. Death takes some time to really get back into the match. Windham helps out by missing a cross-body, sending himself out over the top, onto the floor, and hitting his head on the time keeper's table in the process. Dr. Death catches Windham coming back in and pins him to retain. The crowd is NOT happy with how this match went. I appreciated the story they were (I think) trying to tell, and wonder if there was any follow-up to Windham not taking advantage of Williams' misfortune, but Williams not extending Windham the same courtesy.
-Match 3: "Skywalkers" (Sacffold) Match: The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette & Big Bubba Rogers) VS The Rock N' Roll Express
-The Midnights are the U.S. Tag Team Champions still, but this is non-title. Bubba goes after Ricky Morton before he can even start to climb the scaffold, leaving Gibson to fight by himself up top. Bubba wants to climb up to make it 3-on-1, but Morton steals Cornette's tennis racket, and knocks him down before climbing up himself. Gibson got busted open at some point, showing the first color of the night. Eaton quickly follows suit. Pretty meandering brawl that doesn't hold my interest at all. RnR win. Cornette sends Bubba to the top. He takes a kick to the nuts from Gibson, who then runs away and steals Bubba's hat and coat. I yawn and am ready for the next match.
-Match 4: NWA Television Championship VS UWF Television Championship Unification Match: Nikita Koloff [NWA] VS Terry Taylor [UWF] (w/Eddie Gilbert)
-Terry tries to get offense on Nikita, who simply no-sells, looks scary (which Taylor sells pretty well), and works Taylor's arm. Taylor makes the mistake of talking shit, only to take a bitch slap and a backdrop in response. Taylor gets a near-fall after a knee lift and a ropes-assisted pin attempt. His exhasperated "I had him, I had him" while in Nikita's hammerlock is great. Nikita whiffs on a Sickle attempt, allowing Taylor to get his first real offense, including a STIFF knife-edge chop on the outside. Taylor pounds away until the fifteen minute mark, at which Nikita says "fuck this selling shit" and fights back, until taking a fucked-up inverted atomic drop, which sends Nikita to the mat tailbone-first. Taylor gets into a shoving match with Earl Hebner, which leads to Nikita getting a school boy for two. Gilbert clips Nikita's leg with a chair, then assists Taylor with his Figure 4, until Hebner figures out what's going on. Nikita has had ENOUGH of this and snatches Gilbert. Taylor crashes into Gilbert, and the Russian Sickle gives Nikita the belts. Good start, boring as hell body, HOT finish. A modern-day comparison would be Edge winning the I-C title from Randy Orton.
-Match 5: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-Arn starts with Hawk, and freaks out as Hawk reverses his overhead wristlock. Tully gets battered by Hawk, who prevents him from taking a walk. Crowd is obviously molten for the hometown boys, who twart every attempt at offense the Horesmen try early on. The Horsemen finally get some offense in on Hawk after AA clips Hawk's knee while he has Tully in a gorilla press. With AA & JJ distracting the ref, Tully whacks Hawk's knee with a chair. Hawk becomes the face-in-peril, and Tully locks in a Figure 4. AA takes a shot to the nuts, allowing Hawk to make the tag. The match breaks down and Tully throws Tommy Young to the outside. AA is thrown over the top. Road Warriors get the Doomsday Device on Arn, and Earl Hebnre comes out to count the pin, and there was much rejoicing. Wait a second, *knock knock*...who's there?...Dusty...Dusty who?...DUSTY FINISH!...FUCK! Yes, Tommy Young comes to and DQ's the Road Warriors for Arn getting thrown over the top. Why he doesn't DQ the Horsemen for Tully firing him through the ropes is a mystery. Match was OK, but did Dusty really have to break out that finish here?
-Match 6: Cage Match for the NWA United States Championship: Lex Luger [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Dusty Rhodes
-If Dusty loses, he is gone for 90 days. Johnny Weaver holds the key to the cage. Luger gets a small amount of cheers after being announced as being from Chicago. LOL Moment: camera shows a close-up of a grimacing Dusty as he has a hammerlock on Lex, to which JR says "Not just another pretty face." Match is pretty basic, which reminds me of a quote about Lex from Bret Hart's book (which I just read again), which was something along the lines of Lex being a safe, mechanical worker who went with the basics and stayed there. Dusty is busted open after being sent into the cage. Dusty makes a big comeback after taking a lot of punishment, and appears to have the match won with a sleeper, but JJ nails Johnny Weaver with a chair to steal the key, and slides a chair into the ring. This backfires, as Dusty hits Lex with his shitty DDT on the chair for the pin and the title. Hot finish, but Lex is boring as shit when he's on offense.
-Match 7: Cage Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ronnie Garvin [c] VS Ric Flair (w/JJ Dillon)
-Match is cut to Garvin controlling Flair. Garvin gets the 10 punches in the corner, and follows up with the Garvin Stomp. Flair takes over and works on Garvin's leg. Crowd pops big as Flair locks in the Figure 4. Flair continues to work Garvin over, until Garvin reverses a whip, and sends Flair face-first into the cage. Flair bleeds, of course. Garvin levels Flair with some STIFF chops. Flair tries to climb out, and you can figure out how that works for him. Garvin locks in his own Figure 4. After a chop exchange, Garvin gets a cross-body off the top, then a backslide for two counts. Garvin gets a sunset flip off the top, but Flair blocks and almost gets the pin by using the ropes. Tommy Young breaks that, allowing Garvin to get a two count. Hands of Stone gets two for Garvin. Flair hot-shots Garvin into the cage for the pin to regain the title. Match was nothing special, but the crowd was hot mostly throughout. Lots of people cheering for Flair. I've read that was because no one bought Garvin as the champ, since he only won it for Flair to win it back (thus no one would put Garvin over in the meantime).
-An OK show with a really hot Chicago crowd. The bodies of the matches are pretty boring, and I struggled to pay attention at times, but the finishes are hot at least.
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #9: The Great American Bash '87
-Listing has the matches taking place at the 7/4/87 show in Atlanta, the 7/18/87 show in Charlotte, and the 7/31/87 show in Miami.
-Tour higlights to start off with, focusing, of course, on the War Games.
-Tony starts us off with a proper introduction from inside the War Games cage, and previews that match.
-Commentators are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross
-Match 1: War Games I "The Bomb": The 4 Horsemen & JJ Dillon VS Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors, & Paul Ellering
-The crowd is ready for some death and dismemberment as the face team enters. Dusty & AA start it off, and it doesn't go well for Arn. Dusty, ever the sportsman, hits Arn in the nuts, then flips off the Horsemen. JR calls Dusty "The Living Legend". Hope that Zybisko hasn't seen this. Dusty dominates the first segment, and Arn gets opened up. The Horsemen win the coin toss to gain the advantage. Tully enters, and Dusty fights both off with elbows for a short time before falling to the numbers game. Animal joins the fun to make it 2-on-2. The faces control until Flair enters to give the Horsemen the advantage again. Dusty's leg gets worked over. AA holds Animal for some Flair punches before Dusty makes the save. Nikita enters, and shrugs off an attempt at offense by Flair & AA before going after Tully. Dusty goes up top, and waits for Nikita to hold AA's leg out before diving onto it. Animal and Dusty hit AA in the gut with a double-dropkick as Lex Luger enters.
-Luger & AA occupy Animal & Dusty, allowing Flair & Tully to take Nikita out with two spike piledrivers. Arn adds a DDT on top of that, and Nikita may be legally dead. Hawk enters and goes after any Horseman he sees, including stomping a mudhole in Luger. JR of course goes nuts during all of this, exclaiming that we will never see action like this again. JJ enters and makes the mistake of going after Hawk, whose "really?" reaction to JJ's attempt at offense is really funny. Ellering enters last to start "The Match Beyond" portion of War Games. Ellering goes after JJ, and grinds his spiked wrist band into JJ's face. The faces isolate JJ, and the Road Warriors give him a version of the Doomsday Device, which causes JJ to land awkwardly and fuck up his shoulder. Hawks grinds JJ's face into the cage with his foot until JJ gives it up. Wonderfully chaotic, with both teams actually having a strategy to win the match instead of just doing a bunch of moves and cage spots. Good psychology with the Horsemen only having a distinct advantage when they had the numbers in their favor. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't seen it.
-Match 2: Western States Heritage Champion Barry Windham VS Rick Steiner (non-title)
-Match is clipped to Windham giving Rick a backdrop. JR & Tony note that Windham is the first holder of his title. Rick just kills Windham with a couple clotheslines, drawing pops as he does so. Odd to see Rick wrestling without the headgear after all these years. Rick knocks Windham outside, and throws him into anything Rick can find. Rick slams Windham from the outside to the inside with a jackhammer, but Windham rolls through to get the pin. Too short to mean much, but if you like seeing a Steiner kill an opponent with clotheslines, then you'll like this one.
-Match 3: Cage Match for the NWA United States Championship: Nikita Koloff [c] VS Lex Luger (w/JJ Dillon)
-Nikita has a neck brace on after taking the spike piledrivers in the first War Games. Bob Caudle and David Crockett have the call on this one. Match is heavily clipped, as Luger goes from 100% fresh to covered in sweat in the matter of seconds. Luger v e r y s l o w l y works Nikita's neck over, and the match really drags as a result. JJ reminds Lex that it's no-DQ, so go for a piledriver. Nikita fights out of a lengthy chinlock, but walks into a swining neckbreaker. Luger follows that up with a full nelson, but since he's no Chris Masters, it doesn't finish. Another chinlock. Nikita fights out of that, but accidentally takes the ref out along with Luger in an unconvincing bumb. JJ hands Luger a chair, which he uses to nail Nikita in the back. Torture Rack gives Luger the title. Dreadfully boring clipped, I can't imagine how bad it must have been with the full 30 + minutes.
-Match 4: Dick Murdoch (w/Eddie Gilbert) VS Steve Williams (w/Magnum T.A.)
-"Captain Redneck" and "Dr. Death" are two of the best wrestling nicknames ever. Williams' left arm is in a cast. Match is clipped to Gilbert distracting the ref, allowing Murdoch to hit Williams twice on the arm with a wrench. It's not announced beforehand, but Tony & JR note that this is Death Match/Last Man Standing rules, requiring a 10 count instead of a pin or submission. Murdoch continues to go after Williams' broken arm, but can't put him away. JR can't resist going into Williams' college football past. Murdoch's wobbly-kneed sell of Williams' punches is tremendous. Williams misses a charge into the corner, but comes off the top to nail Murdoch on top of the head with the cast for the win anyway. Gilbert takes a shot too. Murdoch gets a hold of a chair and goes after the injured arm, but Magnum gives Williams his cane, which Williams uses to fight off the heels. This was OK, but again heavily edited.
-Match 5: The Fabulous Freebirds VS Ivan Koloff, Manny Fernandez, & Paul Jones
-Freebirds are over big as babyfaces here. Hayes starts off with Manny, and does a lot more dancing than wrestling. Hayes gives Manny a bunch of slams, and Manny calls for a timeout. Jones really conveys acting like he wants to tag, but not really wanting in the match well. Buddy Roberts gets tagged in, and he becomes the face-in-peril. That doesn't last long, as Ivan makes the mistake of tagging Jones, who is left to fight Gordy. The match breaks down, and Gordy quickly pins Jones with an elbowdrop. Way too short to give a real opinion on it.
-Match 6: "Lights Out" Barbed Wire Match for $100,000: NWA Television Champion Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon & Dark Journey) VS Dusty Rhodes (w/Barry Windham) (non-title)
-What a name for Tully's woman. Both men are dressed in street clothes. "Lights Out" is a fancy term for no-DQ. This is also apparently a ladder match, with the winner having to climb the ladder and retreive the $100K. Both men focus on grinding the other into the barbed wire, and bleed pretty quick. Windham slides the ladder into the ring, but Tully stops Dusty from climbing it. Dusty does a really shitty DDT. Tully almost gets the money, but gets pulled down. JJ hands Tully a black glove, which he uses to KO Dusty. JJ gets involved and bitch slaps the ref (why?). Windham helps Dusty out, and that allows Dusty to climb the ladder and get the cash. Not much here. I was expecting Tully to get the bag after Dusty got it, and be declared the winner because the ref was out, but thankfully, that didn't happen.
-Match 7: NWA World Heavyweight Championship Cage Match: Ric Flair [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious)
-David Crockett & Tony Schiavone have the call for this. If Flair wins, he gets Precious for one night. I was wondering how Jimmy was getting this title shot. Match is clipped to Jimmy pounding on Flair in the corner and getting a couple near-falls off that. Flair tries to escape, but gets tossed off the top rope, and put in the Figure 4. JJ's arm is in a sling, so this is after War Games I. Flair counters another Figure 4 attempt with an eye poke. Jimmy wins a chop exchange at the 15 minute mark. Flair tries to send Jimmy into the cage, but gets shoved off into it himself. Jimmy grinds Flair's head into the cage. Flair tries to escape again, but ends up getting his tights pulled down (to a disturbingly huge pop), and sent back inside. Jimmy tweaks his leg on a leapfrog, giving Flair an opening. Ronnie Garvin comes to ringside as Flair works over his brother's injured leg. Flair takes time out to spit at Ronnie and let him know exactly what he's going to do to Precious. Flair methodically destroys Jimmy's knee.
-Jimmy fights back with chops, and again Flair tries to escape and shows off his ass. Flair gets crotched on the top rope for a close near-fall. Jimmy tries for a brainbuster, but his knee gives out. Ropes-assisted Figure 4 gets the pin for Flair. Flair wants Precious now, but Ronnie saves her. What was shown started out really slow, but greatly picked up in intensity after Jimmy's ill-fated leapfrog.
-Match 8: NWA World Tag Team Championship VS NWA United States Championship Title VS Title: NWA World Tag Team Champions The Rock N' Roll Express VS NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express (w/Big Bubba Rogers)
-JR puts the rivaly over as equalling Celtics VS Lakers. Fast start with Gibson out-wrestling Eaton. Lane tries to duck from Gibson, but takes a kick to the ass, which sends him tumbling outside. Enziguiri sends Lane back outside. Morton tags in. Lane keeps pulling Morton's hair, but that doesn't work out the way Lane wants it to. Eaton and Morton try a test of strength. Morton litearlly walks up Eaton to get out of it in a really cool spot that I don't think I've seen before. No Cornette at ringside for the Midnights, and Tony & JR note how much quieter it is. Gibson tries the headscissors on Eaton, but gets too close to the ropes, and is punched in the face by Lane. This leads to Gibson playing the face-in-peril. The match breaks down, and the RnR hit the double dropkick on Eaton, but Lane saves. Big Bubba runs in behind the ref's back and drops Morton with the Bubba slam, but the ref sees Bubba's hat and sunglasses laying in the ring, and a ref actually uses his head for once, and DQ's the Midnights. No titles change hands. Match was OK, but it was nice to see a ref not be a complete idiot, which as we all know is extremely rare.
-Match 9: War Games II "The Explosion": The Four Horsemen & The War Machine (w/JJ Dillon & Dark Journey) VS Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors, & Paul Ellering
-JJ is out due to injury. The War Machine is a really generic looking big guy with a black bodysuit and a mask. AA and Dusty start it off again. The editing is strange, because depending on the angle of the camera, the lighting is drastically different, and makes it look like two different matches spliced together. AA lowers his head, and takes the sitty Dusty DDT. Dusty of course, dominates AA, and the Horsemen win the coin toss. This time, War Machine is second in. The heels bust Dusty open and work him over until Hawk enters to even the sides. He almost slams War Machine, but can't quite do it. Match is pretty much the same as the first one, just with War Machine in there instead of JJ. Ellering has some really fruity looking tights this time around. The War Machine is cornered, and Animal rubs Ellering's spiked wristband into his face for the submission. Not as good as the original.
-Show was pretty decent, but really only the first War Games is worth going out of your way to see.
-Tour higlights to start off with, focusing, of course, on the War Games.
-Tony starts us off with a proper introduction from inside the War Games cage, and previews that match.
-Commentators are Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross
-Match 1: War Games I "The Bomb": The 4 Horsemen & JJ Dillon VS Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors, & Paul Ellering
-The crowd is ready for some death and dismemberment as the face team enters. Dusty & AA start it off, and it doesn't go well for Arn. Dusty, ever the sportsman, hits Arn in the nuts, then flips off the Horsemen. JR calls Dusty "The Living Legend". Hope that Zybisko hasn't seen this. Dusty dominates the first segment, and Arn gets opened up. The Horsemen win the coin toss to gain the advantage. Tully enters, and Dusty fights both off with elbows for a short time before falling to the numbers game. Animal joins the fun to make it 2-on-2. The faces control until Flair enters to give the Horsemen the advantage again. Dusty's leg gets worked over. AA holds Animal for some Flair punches before Dusty makes the save. Nikita enters, and shrugs off an attempt at offense by Flair & AA before going after Tully. Dusty goes up top, and waits for Nikita to hold AA's leg out before diving onto it. Animal and Dusty hit AA in the gut with a double-dropkick as Lex Luger enters.
-Luger & AA occupy Animal & Dusty, allowing Flair & Tully to take Nikita out with two spike piledrivers. Arn adds a DDT on top of that, and Nikita may be legally dead. Hawk enters and goes after any Horseman he sees, including stomping a mudhole in Luger. JR of course goes nuts during all of this, exclaiming that we will never see action like this again. JJ enters and makes the mistake of going after Hawk, whose "really?" reaction to JJ's attempt at offense is really funny. Ellering enters last to start "The Match Beyond" portion of War Games. Ellering goes after JJ, and grinds his spiked wrist band into JJ's face. The faces isolate JJ, and the Road Warriors give him a version of the Doomsday Device, which causes JJ to land awkwardly and fuck up his shoulder. Hawks grinds JJ's face into the cage with his foot until JJ gives it up. Wonderfully chaotic, with both teams actually having a strategy to win the match instead of just doing a bunch of moves and cage spots. Good psychology with the Horsemen only having a distinct advantage when they had the numbers in their favor. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't seen it.
-Match 2: Western States Heritage Champion Barry Windham VS Rick Steiner (non-title)
-Match is clipped to Windham giving Rick a backdrop. JR & Tony note that Windham is the first holder of his title. Rick just kills Windham with a couple clotheslines, drawing pops as he does so. Odd to see Rick wrestling without the headgear after all these years. Rick knocks Windham outside, and throws him into anything Rick can find. Rick slams Windham from the outside to the inside with a jackhammer, but Windham rolls through to get the pin. Too short to mean much, but if you like seeing a Steiner kill an opponent with clotheslines, then you'll like this one.
-Match 3: Cage Match for the NWA United States Championship: Nikita Koloff [c] VS Lex Luger (w/JJ Dillon)
-Nikita has a neck brace on after taking the spike piledrivers in the first War Games. Bob Caudle and David Crockett have the call on this one. Match is heavily clipped, as Luger goes from 100% fresh to covered in sweat in the matter of seconds. Luger v e r y s l o w l y works Nikita's neck over, and the match really drags as a result. JJ reminds Lex that it's no-DQ, so go for a piledriver. Nikita fights out of a lengthy chinlock, but walks into a swining neckbreaker. Luger follows that up with a full nelson, but since he's no Chris Masters, it doesn't finish. Another chinlock. Nikita fights out of that, but accidentally takes the ref out along with Luger in an unconvincing bumb. JJ hands Luger a chair, which he uses to nail Nikita in the back. Torture Rack gives Luger the title. Dreadfully boring clipped, I can't imagine how bad it must have been with the full 30 + minutes.
-Match 4: Dick Murdoch (w/Eddie Gilbert) VS Steve Williams (w/Magnum T.A.)
-"Captain Redneck" and "Dr. Death" are two of the best wrestling nicknames ever. Williams' left arm is in a cast. Match is clipped to Gilbert distracting the ref, allowing Murdoch to hit Williams twice on the arm with a wrench. It's not announced beforehand, but Tony & JR note that this is Death Match/Last Man Standing rules, requiring a 10 count instead of a pin or submission. Murdoch continues to go after Williams' broken arm, but can't put him away. JR can't resist going into Williams' college football past. Murdoch's wobbly-kneed sell of Williams' punches is tremendous. Williams misses a charge into the corner, but comes off the top to nail Murdoch on top of the head with the cast for the win anyway. Gilbert takes a shot too. Murdoch gets a hold of a chair and goes after the injured arm, but Magnum gives Williams his cane, which Williams uses to fight off the heels. This was OK, but again heavily edited.
-Match 5: The Fabulous Freebirds VS Ivan Koloff, Manny Fernandez, & Paul Jones
-Freebirds are over big as babyfaces here. Hayes starts off with Manny, and does a lot more dancing than wrestling. Hayes gives Manny a bunch of slams, and Manny calls for a timeout. Jones really conveys acting like he wants to tag, but not really wanting in the match well. Buddy Roberts gets tagged in, and he becomes the face-in-peril. That doesn't last long, as Ivan makes the mistake of tagging Jones, who is left to fight Gordy. The match breaks down, and Gordy quickly pins Jones with an elbowdrop. Way too short to give a real opinion on it.
-Match 6: "Lights Out" Barbed Wire Match for $100,000: NWA Television Champion Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon & Dark Journey) VS Dusty Rhodes (w/Barry Windham) (non-title)
-What a name for Tully's woman. Both men are dressed in street clothes. "Lights Out" is a fancy term for no-DQ. This is also apparently a ladder match, with the winner having to climb the ladder and retreive the $100K. Both men focus on grinding the other into the barbed wire, and bleed pretty quick. Windham slides the ladder into the ring, but Tully stops Dusty from climbing it. Dusty does a really shitty DDT. Tully almost gets the money, but gets pulled down. JJ hands Tully a black glove, which he uses to KO Dusty. JJ gets involved and bitch slaps the ref (why?). Windham helps Dusty out, and that allows Dusty to climb the ladder and get the cash. Not much here. I was expecting Tully to get the bag after Dusty got it, and be declared the winner because the ref was out, but thankfully, that didn't happen.
-Match 7: NWA World Heavyweight Championship Cage Match: Ric Flair [c] (w/JJ Dillon) VS Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious)
-David Crockett & Tony Schiavone have the call for this. If Flair wins, he gets Precious for one night. I was wondering how Jimmy was getting this title shot. Match is clipped to Jimmy pounding on Flair in the corner and getting a couple near-falls off that. Flair tries to escape, but gets tossed off the top rope, and put in the Figure 4. JJ's arm is in a sling, so this is after War Games I. Flair counters another Figure 4 attempt with an eye poke. Jimmy wins a chop exchange at the 15 minute mark. Flair tries to send Jimmy into the cage, but gets shoved off into it himself. Jimmy grinds Flair's head into the cage. Flair tries to escape again, but ends up getting his tights pulled down (to a disturbingly huge pop), and sent back inside. Jimmy tweaks his leg on a leapfrog, giving Flair an opening. Ronnie Garvin comes to ringside as Flair works over his brother's injured leg. Flair takes time out to spit at Ronnie and let him know exactly what he's going to do to Precious. Flair methodically destroys Jimmy's knee.
-Jimmy fights back with chops, and again Flair tries to escape and shows off his ass. Flair gets crotched on the top rope for a close near-fall. Jimmy tries for a brainbuster, but his knee gives out. Ropes-assisted Figure 4 gets the pin for Flair. Flair wants Precious now, but Ronnie saves her. What was shown started out really slow, but greatly picked up in intensity after Jimmy's ill-fated leapfrog.
-Match 8: NWA World Tag Team Championship VS NWA United States Championship Title VS Title: NWA World Tag Team Champions The Rock N' Roll Express VS NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express (w/Big Bubba Rogers)
-JR puts the rivaly over as equalling Celtics VS Lakers. Fast start with Gibson out-wrestling Eaton. Lane tries to duck from Gibson, but takes a kick to the ass, which sends him tumbling outside. Enziguiri sends Lane back outside. Morton tags in. Lane keeps pulling Morton's hair, but that doesn't work out the way Lane wants it to. Eaton and Morton try a test of strength. Morton litearlly walks up Eaton to get out of it in a really cool spot that I don't think I've seen before. No Cornette at ringside for the Midnights, and Tony & JR note how much quieter it is. Gibson tries the headscissors on Eaton, but gets too close to the ropes, and is punched in the face by Lane. This leads to Gibson playing the face-in-peril. The match breaks down, and the RnR hit the double dropkick on Eaton, but Lane saves. Big Bubba runs in behind the ref's back and drops Morton with the Bubba slam, but the ref sees Bubba's hat and sunglasses laying in the ring, and a ref actually uses his head for once, and DQ's the Midnights. No titles change hands. Match was OK, but it was nice to see a ref not be a complete idiot, which as we all know is extremely rare.
-Match 9: War Games II "The Explosion": The Four Horsemen & The War Machine (w/JJ Dillon & Dark Journey) VS Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors, & Paul Ellering
-JJ is out due to injury. The War Machine is a really generic looking big guy with a black bodysuit and a mask. AA and Dusty start it off again. The editing is strange, because depending on the angle of the camera, the lighting is drastically different, and makes it look like two different matches spliced together. AA lowers his head, and takes the sitty Dusty DDT. Dusty of course, dominates AA, and the Horsemen win the coin toss. This time, War Machine is second in. The heels bust Dusty open and work him over until Hawk enters to even the sides. He almost slams War Machine, but can't quite do it. Match is pretty much the same as the first one, just with War Machine in there instead of JJ. Ellering has some really fruity looking tights this time around. The War Machine is cornered, and Animal rubs Ellering's spiked wristband into his face for the submission. Not as good as the original.
-Show was pretty decent, but really only the first War Games is worth going out of your way to see.
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #8: 2nd Annual Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup
-4/10 & 4/11/87
-From the creatively named Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD
-Host is Tony Schiavone.
-Pretty long video basically recaps the whole event, and even spoils the winner. Thanks guys.
-Match 1: Crockett Cup Tournament First Round Match-Bill Dundee & The Barbarian VS Tim Horner & Mike Rotunda
-Match is clipped to Dundee sending Rotund into the barricade on the outside. Dundee's blue with darker blue stars tights look like a little kid's pajamas. Barbarian has control on Rotund until he misses a diving headbut. Horner gets the hot tag and has Barbarian pinned after a cross-body, but the ref has to send Dundee & Rotund out of the ring. Horner gets Barbarian in a sleeper, but Dundee hits him with a really weak punch behind the ref's back, and that gets the pin for the heels. Match was brutally clipped, but what was shown looked OK, except for the finish. Possible poll question: is Tim Horner Mike Rotunda’s worst tag team partner?
-Match 2: Crockett Cup Tournament First Round Match-Jimmy Valiant & LazorTron VS Shaska Whatley & Teijho Khan
-Tron dropkicks Khan, who looks like a character model for Mortal Kombat. Match gets comedic with Whatley's selling, and heel miscommunication. Tony mentions that Tron is the World Junior Champion. Tron (who looks like someone at a cosplay convention) has the pin after a flying forearm on Whatley, but brawling between the other two distract the ref. Right as the ref turns around, Tron backdrops a charging Whatley over the top, drawing the DQ. Worse gimmick for Hector Guerrero, LazorTron, or the Gobbledy Gooker?
-Match 3: Crockett Cup Tournament First Round Match-Ivan & Vladimir Petrov VS Brad & Bob Armstrong
-Match is cut to the Russians double-teaming Bullet Bob. Bob with some great facial expressions while in Petrov's bear hug. Brad gets the hot tag and cleans house. Brad gets a sleeper on Koloff, then intentionally turns his back so Petrov can grab the chain and nail him with it. The ref sees this and calls for the DQ, and the Armstrongs win in a big upset. Not much to comment on here.
-Match 4: Crockett Cup Tournament Second Round Match-The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS Jimmy & Ronnie Garvin (w/Precious)
-Match actually starts at the beginning, with the Garvins starting out hot. Cornette is rocking a pink tuxedo jacket with matching pink shoes. The Garvins almost get their hands on Cornette, and Jimmy stupidly almost gets his team DQ'd by taking a swing at the Midnights with Cornette's tennis racket. Match is cut to the Midnights gaining control. Heel miscommunication allows Jimmy to make the tag to Ronnie. Ronnie KO's Eaton with the hands of stone, and Eaton almost takes a bump over the top before thinking better of it. Ronnie sets Eaton up for a piledriver on the floor, but Cornette nails him with the tennis racket, and Ronnie is counted out. Ronnie drops the ref after he refuses to reverse the decision. Are there going to be ANY clean finishes on this show?
-An announcement is made that Ricky Morton has an eye injury, so the Rock 'N Roll Express have withdrawn from the tournament.
-Match 5: Cage Match-Big Bubba Rogers (w/Jim Cornette) VS Ole Anderson
-So Ole is out of the Horsemen at this point, and gets a big face reaction as he goes right after Bubba to start the match. Tommy Young counts Bubba as he chokes Ole, causing Cornette to remind him that this is a cage match, and Bubba can choke if he wants to. Young very quickly starts to count either man down if they fall to the mat. Cornette's bad advice allows Ole to turn the tide. Ole is busted open, so we have our first color on this video. Bubba chokes Ole down and almost out with his suspenders. Bubba misses a splash from the top, and Ole follows up with a piledriver. Bubba cannot get up before the ten count, so Ole wins. It would have been nice to have some mention that the ten count was the only way to win. Nothing to write home about here, as Ray Traylor was not good at all at this point, IMO.
-As a special bonus on this release, they added three of Magnum T.A.'s most high profile matches: his U.S. Title win over Wahoo McDaniel, a title defense against Kamala, and his second U.S. Title win in the “I Quit” match against Tully. Since only the Wahoo match hasn't been on a previous release I have reviewed in this thread, I will skip the other two.
-Bonus Match: Cage Match for the NWA United States Championship: Wahoo McDaniel [c] VS Magnum T.A.
-Tony & David Crockett are the commentators on this match. Tony talks about Magnum quickly establishing himself with quick victories. Wahoo drops Magnum with a back-kick to the nuts. Magnum fires back, so Wahoo goes to the eyes. Magnum won't back down, and keeps coming back. Magnum sends Wahoo into the cage, and Wahoo's wobbly selling before falling is pretty great. Wahoo sends Magnum into the cage, but can't keep him down for the three count. Wahoo keeps pounding on Magnum and cutting off his comeback attempts, but cannot put him away. Wahoo tries to escape, but Magnum catches him with a belly-to-back suplex for a near-fall. Wahoo tries to build momentum, but runs into a belly-to-belly suplex for the pin, and to say the crowd goes wild would be an understatement. Pretty good match for the style it was contested in.
-Match 6: Crockett Cup Quarter-Finals-The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-Cornette has changed into a Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase styles jacket for night two. Match is clipped to Animal getting a powerslam on Eaton. Hawk has Lane beaten after a flying clothesline, but Eaton rushes to make the save, and Animal runs in to stop him, causing the ref to miss the pin. The Midnights take over via cheating, including Eaton nailing Hawk on the top of his head with Cornette's tennis racket. The Midnights try everything they can to put Hawk down, including throwing him over the top when the ref's back is turned, and another shot with the tennis racket. Animal finally gets the hot tag and all hell breaks loose. Cornette throws fire at Animal (which he basically no-sells). Animal gets a hold of the tennis racket and lays waste to the heels, but the ref sees this, and DQ's the Road Warriors. The Roadies lay out the Midnights after the bell. Pretty decent from what was shown.
-Match 7: Crockett Cup Quarter-Finals-Rick Rude & Manny Fernandez (w/Paul Jones) VS Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff
-Teddy Long is the ref, sporting his old “Black Gallagher” look. Manny & Rude come out wearing title belts, but no mention is made of what title they hold. Dusty works over Manny, causing the heels to ask Teddy to look at Dusty's elbow pad. The heels manage to take over, and Rude sends Dusty into the ring post, almost resulting in a count-out. Dusty plays face-in-peril. Dusty finally comes back, and after it breaks down for a bit, Manny goes up top for a cross-body and almost misses Dusty, who manages to catch him and roll through for the pin, getting a very quick count from Teddy. Almost all of what was shown was Dusty eating offense from Manny, which was OK, if not terribly exciting.
-Match 8: Crockett Cup Quarter-Finals-Lex Luger & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) VS Brad & Bob Armstrong
-Tully misses a charge in the corner, and Brad does the smart thing and tries for the quick win with a missile dropkick, but that only gets two. Tully sends Brad into the ropes, and JJ pulls the top rope down, sending Brad crashing to the floor. Tully starts working over Brad's back, and the fifteen minute announcement is made, showing that this has been clipped to shreds, as there's been about one minute shown at that point. Bob tries to turn the tide, and the match breaks down for a little bit. This allows JJ to aid Tully in hitting a double-clothesline on Bob, and that gets the pin for the Horsemen. Not enough shown to really comment on it.
-Match 9: Crockett Cup Semi-Finals-The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff
-Match is JIP at the five minute mark, with Dusty nailing both of the Midnights with Bionic Elbows and strutting. Nikita has a neck brace on, and I have no idea why. Dusty makes the mistake of tagging him in, and Nikita becomes the face-in-peril. Cornette distracts the ref, allowing Eaton to nail Nikita from behind. The Midnights focus on Nikita's injured neck for quite a long time. Nikita finally gets something in with a flying shoulderblock on Eaton for two. After heel miscommunication, the Russian Sickle on Eaton gets the pin, with another quick count from Black Gallagher. From what I saw, this seemed pretty much to be a copy of Dusty & Nikita's match the last round, just switching the roles of the two. Cornette's temper tantrum after the pin is pretty funny.
-Match 10: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] VS Barry Windham
-Match is JIP with Windham responding to Flair chops by punching him in the face. Flair quickly gets the Figure 4 and uses the ropes for leverage, but Windham will not give up, even going to the point of pulling Tommy Young out of his way. Flair and Young get into a shoving match. Flair catches Windham with a back elbow which sends Windham over the top and into the barricade, but does not draw a DQ. Flair sets up for a piledriver on the Flair, but Young threatens to DQ Flair for that. Windham gets a sunset flip and a backslide for near-falls, and Flair takes a walk. Windham really starts working Flair over, and gets another near-fall after a delayed vertical suplex, but Windham is lazy with his cover, so he doesn't get the pin. The fight goes out to the floor, and Windham stupidly tries for a piledriver, but gets back dropped. Flair goes up top...AND GETS THE CROSS-BODY!...but Windham rolls through for another near-fall. Back on the outside, Flair catches Windham with a low blow. Flair tries for a delayed vertical suplex, but Windham gets out of it, and Flair backs into a sleeper in an awkward spot. Flair goes up top again, but gets caught and launched this time. Windham locks in a Figure 4, which really needs Flair cursing him out while in the hold to be complete. Flair dives at Windham, and both men tumble out of the ring, but neither go over the top. Windham gets a missile dropkick for the pin, but Flair's foot is on the bottom rope, so the match continues. A series of roll-up reversals gets a couple more near-falls for Windham. Windham tries one more roll-up out of the corner, but Flair reverses and pulls the tights to get the pin and retain the title. Your standard “Flair takes a beating but escapes with the belt” match, but that is usually good ---> great, and this match is no exception.
-Gary Michael Cappetta introduces Magnum T.A. who is in really rough shape. He hugs it out with Dusty & Nikita to huge pops.
-Match 11: Crockett Cup Tournament Finals-Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff VS Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger (w/JJ Dillon)
-Complete introductions for this one. Nikita takes Tully over the top with a clothesline, causing them both to go out, but no DQ is called for by Earl Hebner. EARL SCREWED TULLY & LEX. The Horsemen remove Nikita's neck brace. They work Nikita over, making him the FIP for this match. Huge “Nikita” chant as he struggles to stay alive. Nikita gets worked over for a long time, then FINALLY makes the hot tag to Dusty, who hits everything in sight with Bionic Elbows. Dusty and Lex brawl on the outside, and Tully accidentally hits JJ inside the ring. Tully tries for a piledriver on Nikita, but Dusty COMES FLYING OFF THE TOP WITH A CROSS-BODY for the pin and the million dollars. Match was the same as the others for Dusty/Nikita, but at least the finish was hot.
-This release is a lot better than the one for the previous year's, since there's A.) commentary and B.) half the matches, making it a much less draining viewing experience.
-More highlights as the credits roll.
-From the creatively named Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD
-Host is Tony Schiavone.
-Pretty long video basically recaps the whole event, and even spoils the winner. Thanks guys.
-Match 1: Crockett Cup Tournament First Round Match-Bill Dundee & The Barbarian VS Tim Horner & Mike Rotunda
-Match is clipped to Dundee sending Rotund into the barricade on the outside. Dundee's blue with darker blue stars tights look like a little kid's pajamas. Barbarian has control on Rotund until he misses a diving headbut. Horner gets the hot tag and has Barbarian pinned after a cross-body, but the ref has to send Dundee & Rotund out of the ring. Horner gets Barbarian in a sleeper, but Dundee hits him with a really weak punch behind the ref's back, and that gets the pin for the heels. Match was brutally clipped, but what was shown looked OK, except for the finish. Possible poll question: is Tim Horner Mike Rotunda’s worst tag team partner?
-Match 2: Crockett Cup Tournament First Round Match-Jimmy Valiant & LazorTron VS Shaska Whatley & Teijho Khan
-Tron dropkicks Khan, who looks like a character model for Mortal Kombat. Match gets comedic with Whatley's selling, and heel miscommunication. Tony mentions that Tron is the World Junior Champion. Tron (who looks like someone at a cosplay convention) has the pin after a flying forearm on Whatley, but brawling between the other two distract the ref. Right as the ref turns around, Tron backdrops a charging Whatley over the top, drawing the DQ. Worse gimmick for Hector Guerrero, LazorTron, or the Gobbledy Gooker?
-Match 3: Crockett Cup Tournament First Round Match-Ivan & Vladimir Petrov VS Brad & Bob Armstrong
-Match is cut to the Russians double-teaming Bullet Bob. Bob with some great facial expressions while in Petrov's bear hug. Brad gets the hot tag and cleans house. Brad gets a sleeper on Koloff, then intentionally turns his back so Petrov can grab the chain and nail him with it. The ref sees this and calls for the DQ, and the Armstrongs win in a big upset. Not much to comment on here.
-Match 4: Crockett Cup Tournament Second Round Match-The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS Jimmy & Ronnie Garvin (w/Precious)
-Match actually starts at the beginning, with the Garvins starting out hot. Cornette is rocking a pink tuxedo jacket with matching pink shoes. The Garvins almost get their hands on Cornette, and Jimmy stupidly almost gets his team DQ'd by taking a swing at the Midnights with Cornette's tennis racket. Match is cut to the Midnights gaining control. Heel miscommunication allows Jimmy to make the tag to Ronnie. Ronnie KO's Eaton with the hands of stone, and Eaton almost takes a bump over the top before thinking better of it. Ronnie sets Eaton up for a piledriver on the floor, but Cornette nails him with the tennis racket, and Ronnie is counted out. Ronnie drops the ref after he refuses to reverse the decision. Are there going to be ANY clean finishes on this show?
-An announcement is made that Ricky Morton has an eye injury, so the Rock 'N Roll Express have withdrawn from the tournament.
-Match 5: Cage Match-Big Bubba Rogers (w/Jim Cornette) VS Ole Anderson
-So Ole is out of the Horsemen at this point, and gets a big face reaction as he goes right after Bubba to start the match. Tommy Young counts Bubba as he chokes Ole, causing Cornette to remind him that this is a cage match, and Bubba can choke if he wants to. Young very quickly starts to count either man down if they fall to the mat. Cornette's bad advice allows Ole to turn the tide. Ole is busted open, so we have our first color on this video. Bubba chokes Ole down and almost out with his suspenders. Bubba misses a splash from the top, and Ole follows up with a piledriver. Bubba cannot get up before the ten count, so Ole wins. It would have been nice to have some mention that the ten count was the only way to win. Nothing to write home about here, as Ray Traylor was not good at all at this point, IMO.
-As a special bonus on this release, they added three of Magnum T.A.'s most high profile matches: his U.S. Title win over Wahoo McDaniel, a title defense against Kamala, and his second U.S. Title win in the “I Quit” match against Tully. Since only the Wahoo match hasn't been on a previous release I have reviewed in this thread, I will skip the other two.
-Bonus Match: Cage Match for the NWA United States Championship: Wahoo McDaniel [c] VS Magnum T.A.
-Tony & David Crockett are the commentators on this match. Tony talks about Magnum quickly establishing himself with quick victories. Wahoo drops Magnum with a back-kick to the nuts. Magnum fires back, so Wahoo goes to the eyes. Magnum won't back down, and keeps coming back. Magnum sends Wahoo into the cage, and Wahoo's wobbly selling before falling is pretty great. Wahoo sends Magnum into the cage, but can't keep him down for the three count. Wahoo keeps pounding on Magnum and cutting off his comeback attempts, but cannot put him away. Wahoo tries to escape, but Magnum catches him with a belly-to-back suplex for a near-fall. Wahoo tries to build momentum, but runs into a belly-to-belly suplex for the pin, and to say the crowd goes wild would be an understatement. Pretty good match for the style it was contested in.
-Match 6: Crockett Cup Quarter-Finals-The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-Cornette has changed into a Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase styles jacket for night two. Match is clipped to Animal getting a powerslam on Eaton. Hawk has Lane beaten after a flying clothesline, but Eaton rushes to make the save, and Animal runs in to stop him, causing the ref to miss the pin. The Midnights take over via cheating, including Eaton nailing Hawk on the top of his head with Cornette's tennis racket. The Midnights try everything they can to put Hawk down, including throwing him over the top when the ref's back is turned, and another shot with the tennis racket. Animal finally gets the hot tag and all hell breaks loose. Cornette throws fire at Animal (which he basically no-sells). Animal gets a hold of the tennis racket and lays waste to the heels, but the ref sees this, and DQ's the Road Warriors. The Roadies lay out the Midnights after the bell. Pretty decent from what was shown.
-Match 7: Crockett Cup Quarter-Finals-Rick Rude & Manny Fernandez (w/Paul Jones) VS Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff
-Teddy Long is the ref, sporting his old “Black Gallagher” look. Manny & Rude come out wearing title belts, but no mention is made of what title they hold. Dusty works over Manny, causing the heels to ask Teddy to look at Dusty's elbow pad. The heels manage to take over, and Rude sends Dusty into the ring post, almost resulting in a count-out. Dusty plays face-in-peril. Dusty finally comes back, and after it breaks down for a bit, Manny goes up top for a cross-body and almost misses Dusty, who manages to catch him and roll through for the pin, getting a very quick count from Teddy. Almost all of what was shown was Dusty eating offense from Manny, which was OK, if not terribly exciting.
-Match 8: Crockett Cup Quarter-Finals-Lex Luger & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) VS Brad & Bob Armstrong
-Tully misses a charge in the corner, and Brad does the smart thing and tries for the quick win with a missile dropkick, but that only gets two. Tully sends Brad into the ropes, and JJ pulls the top rope down, sending Brad crashing to the floor. Tully starts working over Brad's back, and the fifteen minute announcement is made, showing that this has been clipped to shreds, as there's been about one minute shown at that point. Bob tries to turn the tide, and the match breaks down for a little bit. This allows JJ to aid Tully in hitting a double-clothesline on Bob, and that gets the pin for the Horsemen. Not enough shown to really comment on it.
-Match 9: Crockett Cup Semi-Finals-The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff
-Match is JIP at the five minute mark, with Dusty nailing both of the Midnights with Bionic Elbows and strutting. Nikita has a neck brace on, and I have no idea why. Dusty makes the mistake of tagging him in, and Nikita becomes the face-in-peril. Cornette distracts the ref, allowing Eaton to nail Nikita from behind. The Midnights focus on Nikita's injured neck for quite a long time. Nikita finally gets something in with a flying shoulderblock on Eaton for two. After heel miscommunication, the Russian Sickle on Eaton gets the pin, with another quick count from Black Gallagher. From what I saw, this seemed pretty much to be a copy of Dusty & Nikita's match the last round, just switching the roles of the two. Cornette's temper tantrum after the pin is pretty funny.
-Match 10: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] VS Barry Windham
-Match is JIP with Windham responding to Flair chops by punching him in the face. Flair quickly gets the Figure 4 and uses the ropes for leverage, but Windham will not give up, even going to the point of pulling Tommy Young out of his way. Flair and Young get into a shoving match. Flair catches Windham with a back elbow which sends Windham over the top and into the barricade, but does not draw a DQ. Flair sets up for a piledriver on the Flair, but Young threatens to DQ Flair for that. Windham gets a sunset flip and a backslide for near-falls, and Flair takes a walk. Windham really starts working Flair over, and gets another near-fall after a delayed vertical suplex, but Windham is lazy with his cover, so he doesn't get the pin. The fight goes out to the floor, and Windham stupidly tries for a piledriver, but gets back dropped. Flair goes up top...AND GETS THE CROSS-BODY!...but Windham rolls through for another near-fall. Back on the outside, Flair catches Windham with a low blow. Flair tries for a delayed vertical suplex, but Windham gets out of it, and Flair backs into a sleeper in an awkward spot. Flair goes up top again, but gets caught and launched this time. Windham locks in a Figure 4, which really needs Flair cursing him out while in the hold to be complete. Flair dives at Windham, and both men tumble out of the ring, but neither go over the top. Windham gets a missile dropkick for the pin, but Flair's foot is on the bottom rope, so the match continues. A series of roll-up reversals gets a couple more near-falls for Windham. Windham tries one more roll-up out of the corner, but Flair reverses and pulls the tights to get the pin and retain the title. Your standard “Flair takes a beating but escapes with the belt” match, but that is usually good ---> great, and this match is no exception.
-Gary Michael Cappetta introduces Magnum T.A. who is in really rough shape. He hugs it out with Dusty & Nikita to huge pops.
-Match 11: Crockett Cup Tournament Finals-Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff VS Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger (w/JJ Dillon)
-Complete introductions for this one. Nikita takes Tully over the top with a clothesline, causing them both to go out, but no DQ is called for by Earl Hebner. EARL SCREWED TULLY & LEX. The Horsemen remove Nikita's neck brace. They work Nikita over, making him the FIP for this match. Huge “Nikita” chant as he struggles to stay alive. Nikita gets worked over for a long time, then FINALLY makes the hot tag to Dusty, who hits everything in sight with Bionic Elbows. Dusty and Lex brawl on the outside, and Tully accidentally hits JJ inside the ring. Tully tries for a piledriver on Nikita, but Dusty COMES FLYING OFF THE TOP WITH A CROSS-BODY for the pin and the million dollars. Match was the same as the others for Dusty/Nikita, but at least the finish was hot.
-This release is a lot better than the one for the previous year's, since there's A.) commentary and B.) half the matches, making it a much less draining viewing experience.
-More highlights as the credits roll.
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #7: Starrcade '86 "Night of the Skywalkers"
-11/27/86
-From The Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC & The Omni in Atlanta, GA
-This is the Turner Home Entertainment video release, so I imagine it's heavily edited, besides featuring only six of the matches total.
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Rick Stewart (Atlanta) and Bob Caudle & Johnny Weaver (Greensboro).
-Match 1: Cage Match for the NWA Tag Team Championship: The Rock N' Roll Express [c] VS The Minnesota Wrecking Crew [Greensboro]
-Weaver mentions seeing one of the Horseman walking away with a title tonight, basically giving away the finish of the TV title match. Match is fought like a regular tag match, just inside a cage. The champions control the early going. A wide shot shows that the crowd is not lit at all, so it almost looks like they're wrestling in a giant hole. Robert misses a high knee in the corner, and naturally, the Andersons go right after it. Arn takes a silly bump after being sent into the cage. Robert busts out an enziguiri on Arn to make the tag, but Ole cuts off Ricky's offense almost right away. Match is obviously clipped as Ricky suddenly has a crimson mask. Vicious AA spinebuster looks to finish, but Robert makes the save. Ole and Ricky do the head-knocking spot a lot better than most present-day wrestlers who try it. Crowd is solidly behind the champions, breaking out into continual “Rock and Roll” chants. Crowd loses their shit when it looks like Ricky is going to make a tag. Match breaks down and as Ole tries to slam Ricky, Robert dropkicks his back, causing Ricky to fall on top for the pin to retain. Match was pretty good from what I saw, if pure formula.
-Match 2: Louisville Street Fight: Big Bubba Rogers (w/Jim Cornette) VS Ronny Garvin [Atlanta]
-Bubba looks so bad ass in his suit. Garvin keeps punching Bubba in the face, and it takes quite a few to knock Bubba off his feet. The ref counts while Garvin is on the floor, even though this is supposed to be a street fight. Garvin almost breaks his ass when Bubba tosses him to the outside and Garvin lands on the announce/time keeper's table. Cornette hands Bubba a roll of nickles, and he almost manages to KO Garvin with it. All of Cornette's instructions to Bubba are picked up on camera. Bubba no-sells some punches and goes up top, but he gets caught. Ref is bumped. Garvin hits Bubba with a piledriver, but Cornette nails Garvin with the tennis racket. Both men are out for the count, so the ref declares that since there has to be a winner, the first man to his feet will win. The ref sends Cornette flying out of the ring. Garvin gets up first, but Bubba holds on to the ref, allowing Cornette to whack Garvin on the knee with the racket, and Bubba gets to his feet to win. This was OK. Best part was definitely Cornette's antics.
-Match 3: Big Mama's Hair VS Paul Jones' Hair: Jimmy Valiant (w/Big Mama) VS Paul Jones [Greensboro]
-Manny Fernandez is forced by several babyfaces (especially Wahoo) to go into a cage is then lifted high in the air, so Manny has turned heel in between the GAB and here. Valiant dominates the match until Jones is able to pull something out of his tights and hit Valiant with it. Valiant blades off that. Jones misses a knee drop, but a second blow with the foreign object allows Jones to keep control. Valiant locks in a sleeper. Jones prepares to use the object for a third time, but Valiant smartly shoves Jones into the corner before he can. Valiant gets a hold of the object and KO's Jones for the pin. Pretty basic, but the psychology with the foreign object was sound.
-Valiant shaves Jones' head while Manny freaks out in the cage above. Manny finally gets out, attacks Valiant “from behind” (with Valiant looking right at him). Rick Rude joins the fun, and the two piledrive Valiant on a chair before heading out. Baron Von Raschke is among the babyfaces helping Valiant, so I am guessing there was some sort of double-turn. Anyone have any information on how that came about?
-Match 4: First Blood Match for the NWA Television Championship: Dusty Rhodes [c] VS Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) [Greensboro]
-Dusty has “TULLY” written on the sides of his head. JJ puts headgear on Tully, and Dusty successfully protests. JJ tries Vaseline, but Dusty wins that protest too. JJ pokes Dusty in the chest out of frustration, and Dusty lays him out with an elbow, drawing blood. Weaver mentions that Tully is the first of the Horsemen to compete tonight, confirming my suspicions about the result of this match being given away earlier by the editing changing the match order and spoiling this one. Match starts out with both men cautiously avoiding strikes before Dusty finally lands a headbut. Dusty dominates the match, but can't bust Tully open. After a ref bump, JJ tries to toss Tully his shoe, but Dusty stops that. Dusty teases nailing Tully with the shoe after a second ref bump, but tosses it away and pounds on Tully until he bleeds. JJ cleans Tully off while the ref is still out. JJ hands Tully a roll of quarters, and he nails Dusty with it to bust him open. The first thing the ref sees is Dusty bleeding, so he gives the match and the title to Tully. Dusty gets pissed and tosses the ref out of the ring before leaving. Good psychology, not a whole lot of action.
-Match 5: Scaffold Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) VS The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette & Big Bubba) [Atlanta]
-Tony builds up the match, and says that it's the first scaffold match in NWA history. Pre-match video has a good promo from Cornette, while the Road Warriors respond by tossing pumpkins off a scaffold. The Road Warriors go right up to the top, while the Midnights are understandably reluctant. The guys try hard, but there's only so much you can do in a scaffold match, and really, anything they do is just killing time before someone falls, which is the only selling point this type of match has. The two teams fuck around for a bit, mostly on the rungs holding up the scaffold, before they go to the underside of the scaffold, and the Warriors knock the Express off from there. Crowd was hot, if nothing else.
-Cornette is chased to the top of the scaffold and ends up jumping off the underside to escape, messing up his knee in the process.
-Match 6: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] VS United States Champion Nikita Koloff [Atlanta]
-Crowd is completely pro-Nikita here. I remember reading somewhere that after Magnum's car accident, they did an angle where Nikita started fighting on the side of good in his rival's honor. Flair tries some chops early on, but Nikita won't have any of it. Flair changes gears, and tries some of his trash-talk (“Don't get on the bad side of this, or you'll get your ass kicked!”). This, not surprisingly, doesn't work either. Nikita gets some power moves in, but Flair soon takes over. Flair busts Nikita open with some punches, which only serves to piss the big Russian off. Some more back-and-forth action, and there's (*sigh*) a ref bump. Koloff gets the visual pin, but the ref is out of it. Flair attacks from behind, and gets a two count from a second referee, who also gets dropped. Nikita chokes Flair in the corner, and the first ref tries twice to pull him away, but Nikita shoves the ref down both times, drawing the DQ. As several wrestlers try to keep them apart, the original ref tells the time keeper that the official decision is a double-DQ. OK match with a weak sauce finish.
-Do you like ref bumps and fuck finishes? Do you like watching people fall from high places? Then this is for you!
-Closing video shows highlights from the whole show, including the other matches that were not included on the video release.
-From The Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC & The Omni in Atlanta, GA
-This is the Turner Home Entertainment video release, so I imagine it's heavily edited, besides featuring only six of the matches total.
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Rick Stewart (Atlanta) and Bob Caudle & Johnny Weaver (Greensboro).
-Match 1: Cage Match for the NWA Tag Team Championship: The Rock N' Roll Express [c] VS The Minnesota Wrecking Crew [Greensboro]
-Weaver mentions seeing one of the Horseman walking away with a title tonight, basically giving away the finish of the TV title match. Match is fought like a regular tag match, just inside a cage. The champions control the early going. A wide shot shows that the crowd is not lit at all, so it almost looks like they're wrestling in a giant hole. Robert misses a high knee in the corner, and naturally, the Andersons go right after it. Arn takes a silly bump after being sent into the cage. Robert busts out an enziguiri on Arn to make the tag, but Ole cuts off Ricky's offense almost right away. Match is obviously clipped as Ricky suddenly has a crimson mask. Vicious AA spinebuster looks to finish, but Robert makes the save. Ole and Ricky do the head-knocking spot a lot better than most present-day wrestlers who try it. Crowd is solidly behind the champions, breaking out into continual “Rock and Roll” chants. Crowd loses their shit when it looks like Ricky is going to make a tag. Match breaks down and as Ole tries to slam Ricky, Robert dropkicks his back, causing Ricky to fall on top for the pin to retain. Match was pretty good from what I saw, if pure formula.
-Match 2: Louisville Street Fight: Big Bubba Rogers (w/Jim Cornette) VS Ronny Garvin [Atlanta]
-Bubba looks so bad ass in his suit. Garvin keeps punching Bubba in the face, and it takes quite a few to knock Bubba off his feet. The ref counts while Garvin is on the floor, even though this is supposed to be a street fight. Garvin almost breaks his ass when Bubba tosses him to the outside and Garvin lands on the announce/time keeper's table. Cornette hands Bubba a roll of nickles, and he almost manages to KO Garvin with it. All of Cornette's instructions to Bubba are picked up on camera. Bubba no-sells some punches and goes up top, but he gets caught. Ref is bumped. Garvin hits Bubba with a piledriver, but Cornette nails Garvin with the tennis racket. Both men are out for the count, so the ref declares that since there has to be a winner, the first man to his feet will win. The ref sends Cornette flying out of the ring. Garvin gets up first, but Bubba holds on to the ref, allowing Cornette to whack Garvin on the knee with the racket, and Bubba gets to his feet to win. This was OK. Best part was definitely Cornette's antics.
-Match 3: Big Mama's Hair VS Paul Jones' Hair: Jimmy Valiant (w/Big Mama) VS Paul Jones [Greensboro]
-Manny Fernandez is forced by several babyfaces (especially Wahoo) to go into a cage is then lifted high in the air, so Manny has turned heel in between the GAB and here. Valiant dominates the match until Jones is able to pull something out of his tights and hit Valiant with it. Valiant blades off that. Jones misses a knee drop, but a second blow with the foreign object allows Jones to keep control. Valiant locks in a sleeper. Jones prepares to use the object for a third time, but Valiant smartly shoves Jones into the corner before he can. Valiant gets a hold of the object and KO's Jones for the pin. Pretty basic, but the psychology with the foreign object was sound.
-Valiant shaves Jones' head while Manny freaks out in the cage above. Manny finally gets out, attacks Valiant “from behind” (with Valiant looking right at him). Rick Rude joins the fun, and the two piledrive Valiant on a chair before heading out. Baron Von Raschke is among the babyfaces helping Valiant, so I am guessing there was some sort of double-turn. Anyone have any information on how that came about?
-Match 4: First Blood Match for the NWA Television Championship: Dusty Rhodes [c] VS Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) [Greensboro]
-Dusty has “TULLY” written on the sides of his head. JJ puts headgear on Tully, and Dusty successfully protests. JJ tries Vaseline, but Dusty wins that protest too. JJ pokes Dusty in the chest out of frustration, and Dusty lays him out with an elbow, drawing blood. Weaver mentions that Tully is the first of the Horsemen to compete tonight, confirming my suspicions about the result of this match being given away earlier by the editing changing the match order and spoiling this one. Match starts out with both men cautiously avoiding strikes before Dusty finally lands a headbut. Dusty dominates the match, but can't bust Tully open. After a ref bump, JJ tries to toss Tully his shoe, but Dusty stops that. Dusty teases nailing Tully with the shoe after a second ref bump, but tosses it away and pounds on Tully until he bleeds. JJ cleans Tully off while the ref is still out. JJ hands Tully a roll of quarters, and he nails Dusty with it to bust him open. The first thing the ref sees is Dusty bleeding, so he gives the match and the title to Tully. Dusty gets pissed and tosses the ref out of the ring before leaving. Good psychology, not a whole lot of action.
-Match 5: Scaffold Match: The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) VS The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette & Big Bubba) [Atlanta]
-Tony builds up the match, and says that it's the first scaffold match in NWA history. Pre-match video has a good promo from Cornette, while the Road Warriors respond by tossing pumpkins off a scaffold. The Road Warriors go right up to the top, while the Midnights are understandably reluctant. The guys try hard, but there's only so much you can do in a scaffold match, and really, anything they do is just killing time before someone falls, which is the only selling point this type of match has. The two teams fuck around for a bit, mostly on the rungs holding up the scaffold, before they go to the underside of the scaffold, and the Warriors knock the Express off from there. Crowd was hot, if nothing else.
-Cornette is chased to the top of the scaffold and ends up jumping off the underside to escape, messing up his knee in the process.
-Match 6: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] VS United States Champion Nikita Koloff [Atlanta]
-Crowd is completely pro-Nikita here. I remember reading somewhere that after Magnum's car accident, they did an angle where Nikita started fighting on the side of good in his rival's honor. Flair tries some chops early on, but Nikita won't have any of it. Flair changes gears, and tries some of his trash-talk (“Don't get on the bad side of this, or you'll get your ass kicked!”). This, not surprisingly, doesn't work either. Nikita gets some power moves in, but Flair soon takes over. Flair busts Nikita open with some punches, which only serves to piss the big Russian off. Some more back-and-forth action, and there's (*sigh*) a ref bump. Koloff gets the visual pin, but the ref is out of it. Flair attacks from behind, and gets a two count from a second referee, who also gets dropped. Nikita chokes Flair in the corner, and the first ref tries twice to pull him away, but Nikita shoves the ref down both times, drawing the DQ. As several wrestlers try to keep them apart, the original ref tells the time keeper that the official decision is a double-DQ. OK match with a weak sauce finish.
-Do you like ref bumps and fuck finishes? Do you like watching people fall from high places? Then this is for you!
-Closing video shows highlights from the whole show, including the other matches that were not included on the video release.
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #6: The Great American Bash Tour 1986
-Opening video lists all the stops on the tour.
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & David Crockett
-Tony & David start out in studio talking about the highlights of the tour, then a music video package follows.
-Match 1-Hair VS Hair: Jimmy Valiant VS Sashka Whatley (w/Paul Jones)
-There must be a winner. Valiant arrives via a golf cart. Whatley nails Valiant the moment he steps into the ring. Valiant Hulks Up about 30 seconds in...but then gets knocked down after another punch to the face. Shaska tries a ropes-assisted pin (which Valiant makes no attempt to kick out of), but gets busted. Shaska busts Valiant open with a series of headbuts. A chant of “bald-headed geek” breaks out. Shaska completely dominates the match, with only moments of offense for Valiant. Valiant keeps hulking up, but goes down after a headbut. Shaska covers Valiant with just a knee, and Earl Hebner blatantly stops counting before Valiant kicks out. Valiant gets Whatley in a sleeper and appears to have it won, but Earl disappears, allowing Baron Von Raschke to interfere. Manny Fernandez attacks Raschke before he can nail Valiant with a loaded glove, and Valiant KO's Whatley with the glove for the pin. Match was all Whatley until the end, and what he had to offer was not particularly interesting.
-Valiant gets a lot of help to hold Whatley and to keep Paul Jones' Army out of the ring. Valiant tells Paul Jones that he is next. Whatley flips out upon waking and realizing that he has been shaved.
-Match 2-Hair VS Hair: Jimmy Valiant VS Paul Jones (w/Baron Von Raschke)
-There must be a winner here also. Match is clipped to Valiant working over Jones. Valiant opens Jones up with a foreign (not international yet) object. Raschke tosses his glove to Jones. Valiant counters with a loaded glove of his own, and KO's Jones. Manny Fernandez stops Raschke from interfering, but the ensuing brawl allows Shaska Whatley to sneak in and nail Valiant with a chair, allowing Jones to steal the pin.
-The fans go nuts after the pin, chanting “NO!”. Whatley's celebration dance is aces. Manny does not want the haircut to go down, but Valiant defiantly puts the chair down and takes his hair cutting like a man.
-David Crockett says that Valiant is still going to get Jones' hair.
-Tony Schiavone runs down the angle leading to a taped fist match between Ron Garvin and Tully Blanchard.
-Match 3-Taped Fist Match: Ron Garvin (w/Wahoo McDaniel) VS Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon)
-Match is contested like a boxing match, and consists of 10 three-minute rounds. Blanchard is the National Heavyweight Champion, but this appears to be non-title. Garvin KO's Blanchard before the bell rings. Garvin pounds away on Tully, who takes until they are one minute into round 1 before he can even get out of his robe. Garvin dominates round 1 and busts Tully open. Tully charges as the bell rings for the round, and gets KO'd again. Tully is out as round 2 starts, but JJ revives him with smelling salt. Tully tries to nail Earl Hebner, but misses. As round 2 ends, Tully tries to kick Garvin, who blocks the kick, and kicks Tully in the nuts.
-Tully finally gets some offense in round 3, pulling Garvin into the turnbuckle and stomping away before finally landing some punches of his own. Tully tries coming off the top, but Garvin catches him with a punch on the way down, and they both go down. Tully rolls to the outside and takes a swing at Wahoo, who counters with an Atomic Drop, and Garvin lays Tully out on the floor to end round 3. Garvin seems to have it won in round 4, but JJ breaks the count, and slips something to Tully, who nails Garvin with it for the win. This was pretty decent, and had a lot of heat. Some of the goofiness would draw some backlash online if it were to happen today.
-Match 4-Double Russian Chain Match: Ivan & Nikita Koloff VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-Pretty much an aimless brawl (not that I expected anything else). Koloffs seems to have the match won, but the ref is on the outside of the ring, Ivan pulls off the pin to go up top, and Ellering shoves Ivan off, crotching him on the top rope, and allowing Animal to get the pin.
-The Russians try to extract some revenge after the bell, but are thwarted.
-The Rock N' Roll Express have a concert...and it sucks. Crockett talking about their on-stage charisma is funny, as they both basically just stood there.
-Match 5: The Minnesota Wrecking Crew VS The Rock 'N Roll Express
-Arn is TV Champion at this point. This is built up by Tony & David as a #1 contenders match. Ricky Morton is coming off a broken nose (is this after getting his face rubbed in the floor during a Horsemen attack? Sounds like it is, from the commentary), but is not wearing a face guard, so Arn naturally goes after it. Ricky responds by drop-kicking Arn twice, hitting him on the nose both times. Crowd LOVES the RNR. Ole gains control and continues to go after Morton's nose. Arn launches Ricky over the top rope while the ref's back is turned, just because he can. Ole ups the ante by grabbing one of the photographer's cameras and choking Ricky with the strap. Ricky finally gets some offense in, as a two minute warning is given. Ricky gets a cross body from the top on Arn, but that only gets two. Arn tries a flying something-or-other in the corner, and ends up crotching himself on the middle turnbuckle. Ricky FINALLY makes the tag with 30 seconds remaining. Roberts locks Arn in a sleeper, and Arn is about to go out, but the bell rings for the time limit draw. The fight continues after the bell, and Robert cleans house with a chair. Pretty good match, especially after the Andersons took complete control and took turns working over Ricky.
-David & Tony talk about the best-of-seven series for the U..S title between Magnum T.A. and Nikita Koloff.
-Match 6-Match 4 in the best-of-seven series for the NWA United States Championship: Nikita Koloff (w/Ivan Koloff) VS Magnum T.A.
-I love the ring announcer introducing Magnum as “the vastly popular” Magnum T.A. Nikita leads the series 3-0 at this point. Slow start as the two feel each other out. Nikita dominates Magnum for quite a few minutes, to really put over how desperate Magnum's situation is. Magnum gets a sunset flip for the pin out of nowhere. Not much to it.
-Match 7-6 Man (Person) Tag Team Steel Cage Match: NWA World Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express & Jim Cornette (w/Bubba Rogers on the outside) VS America's Team of Dusty Rhodes and Magnum T.A. & Baby Doll
-Cornette is rocking some Jerry Lawler-esque gear. Cornette gets pumped to fight Baby Doll. Eaton charges her, but takes an arm drag! Dusty sends Eaton into the cage, and Cornette wants to bail. Magnum controls the Midnights for a little bit. After Magnum goes down, Cornette goes for a big elbow drop, and misses. Cornette really sells being scared to death well. The Express take turns beating on Magnum, and he is busted open. Eaton tries a dive off the top of the cage, but gets punched right in the face by Magnum on the way down. Things break down, and Baby Doll KO's Cornette for the pin. Fun while it lasted. Dusty did jack shit here.
-Dusty, having not done much of anything in the match, wants a piece of Bubba. He gets jumped by the Midnights, and they hold Dusty so Bubba can beat on him.
-Match 8-NWA World Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage Match: Ric Flair [c] VS Dusty Rhodes
-Jeez, ANOTHER event headlined by Flair VS Dusty? Long feeling-out process to start. This match is horribly boring to start. Basically, this is every Dusty VS Flair match I've seen...in a cage. Flair takes control with an extended heat segment, and really works over Dusty's leg. Dusty counters a Flair charge with a lariat, but that only gets two, as Flair's foot gets on the bottom rope. Flair tries to escape as Dusty finally fights back, but is sent back in. Dusty sends Flair into the cage, and Flair very obviously blades. Dusty wants to work on Flair's leg. Flair tries to bail again, and it's a full moon in North Carolina. As they fight on top of the cage, a Dusty headbut sends Flair back inside, crotching him on the top rope. Dusty accidentally punches the cage, and reacts like he punched a brick wall. Dusty locks in a figure 4, despite not actually doing much leg work. They trade near-falls at the twenty-minute mark. Dusty misses an elbow drop, but gets a small package for the pin and the title shortly after. HUGE pop for the title change, and the babyfaces come out to celebrate. Match was insanely boring for the first ten minutes, then slowly picked up until about the last five, which were pretty good.
-More highlights from the tour.
-Decent enough video release with some good action. I can understand why match 4 of the U.S. Title series on there, but why not include the last match as well?
-Hosts are Tony Schiavone & David Crockett
-Tony & David start out in studio talking about the highlights of the tour, then a music video package follows.
-Match 1-Hair VS Hair: Jimmy Valiant VS Sashka Whatley (w/Paul Jones)
-There must be a winner. Valiant arrives via a golf cart. Whatley nails Valiant the moment he steps into the ring. Valiant Hulks Up about 30 seconds in...but then gets knocked down after another punch to the face. Shaska tries a ropes-assisted pin (which Valiant makes no attempt to kick out of), but gets busted. Shaska busts Valiant open with a series of headbuts. A chant of “bald-headed geek” breaks out. Shaska completely dominates the match, with only moments of offense for Valiant. Valiant keeps hulking up, but goes down after a headbut. Shaska covers Valiant with just a knee, and Earl Hebner blatantly stops counting before Valiant kicks out. Valiant gets Whatley in a sleeper and appears to have it won, but Earl disappears, allowing Baron Von Raschke to interfere. Manny Fernandez attacks Raschke before he can nail Valiant with a loaded glove, and Valiant KO's Whatley with the glove for the pin. Match was all Whatley until the end, and what he had to offer was not particularly interesting.
-Valiant gets a lot of help to hold Whatley and to keep Paul Jones' Army out of the ring. Valiant tells Paul Jones that he is next. Whatley flips out upon waking and realizing that he has been shaved.
-Match 2-Hair VS Hair: Jimmy Valiant VS Paul Jones (w/Baron Von Raschke)
-There must be a winner here also. Match is clipped to Valiant working over Jones. Valiant opens Jones up with a foreign (not international yet) object. Raschke tosses his glove to Jones. Valiant counters with a loaded glove of his own, and KO's Jones. Manny Fernandez stops Raschke from interfering, but the ensuing brawl allows Shaska Whatley to sneak in and nail Valiant with a chair, allowing Jones to steal the pin.
-The fans go nuts after the pin, chanting “NO!”. Whatley's celebration dance is aces. Manny does not want the haircut to go down, but Valiant defiantly puts the chair down and takes his hair cutting like a man.
-David Crockett says that Valiant is still going to get Jones' hair.
-Tony Schiavone runs down the angle leading to a taped fist match between Ron Garvin and Tully Blanchard.
-Match 3-Taped Fist Match: Ron Garvin (w/Wahoo McDaniel) VS Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon)
-Match is contested like a boxing match, and consists of 10 three-minute rounds. Blanchard is the National Heavyweight Champion, but this appears to be non-title. Garvin KO's Blanchard before the bell rings. Garvin pounds away on Tully, who takes until they are one minute into round 1 before he can even get out of his robe. Garvin dominates round 1 and busts Tully open. Tully charges as the bell rings for the round, and gets KO'd again. Tully is out as round 2 starts, but JJ revives him with smelling salt. Tully tries to nail Earl Hebner, but misses. As round 2 ends, Tully tries to kick Garvin, who blocks the kick, and kicks Tully in the nuts.
-Tully finally gets some offense in round 3, pulling Garvin into the turnbuckle and stomping away before finally landing some punches of his own. Tully tries coming off the top, but Garvin catches him with a punch on the way down, and they both go down. Tully rolls to the outside and takes a swing at Wahoo, who counters with an Atomic Drop, and Garvin lays Tully out on the floor to end round 3. Garvin seems to have it won in round 4, but JJ breaks the count, and slips something to Tully, who nails Garvin with it for the win. This was pretty decent, and had a lot of heat. Some of the goofiness would draw some backlash online if it were to happen today.
-Match 4-Double Russian Chain Match: Ivan & Nikita Koloff VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-Pretty much an aimless brawl (not that I expected anything else). Koloffs seems to have the match won, but the ref is on the outside of the ring, Ivan pulls off the pin to go up top, and Ellering shoves Ivan off, crotching him on the top rope, and allowing Animal to get the pin.
-The Russians try to extract some revenge after the bell, but are thwarted.
-The Rock N' Roll Express have a concert...and it sucks. Crockett talking about their on-stage charisma is funny, as they both basically just stood there.
-Match 5: The Minnesota Wrecking Crew VS The Rock 'N Roll Express
-Arn is TV Champion at this point. This is built up by Tony & David as a #1 contenders match. Ricky Morton is coming off a broken nose (is this after getting his face rubbed in the floor during a Horsemen attack? Sounds like it is, from the commentary), but is not wearing a face guard, so Arn naturally goes after it. Ricky responds by drop-kicking Arn twice, hitting him on the nose both times. Crowd LOVES the RNR. Ole gains control and continues to go after Morton's nose. Arn launches Ricky over the top rope while the ref's back is turned, just because he can. Ole ups the ante by grabbing one of the photographer's cameras and choking Ricky with the strap. Ricky finally gets some offense in, as a two minute warning is given. Ricky gets a cross body from the top on Arn, but that only gets two. Arn tries a flying something-or-other in the corner, and ends up crotching himself on the middle turnbuckle. Ricky FINALLY makes the tag with 30 seconds remaining. Roberts locks Arn in a sleeper, and Arn is about to go out, but the bell rings for the time limit draw. The fight continues after the bell, and Robert cleans house with a chair. Pretty good match, especially after the Andersons took complete control and took turns working over Ricky.
-David & Tony talk about the best-of-seven series for the U..S title between Magnum T.A. and Nikita Koloff.
-Match 6-Match 4 in the best-of-seven series for the NWA United States Championship: Nikita Koloff (w/Ivan Koloff) VS Magnum T.A.
-I love the ring announcer introducing Magnum as “the vastly popular” Magnum T.A. Nikita leads the series 3-0 at this point. Slow start as the two feel each other out. Nikita dominates Magnum for quite a few minutes, to really put over how desperate Magnum's situation is. Magnum gets a sunset flip for the pin out of nowhere. Not much to it.
-Match 7-6 Man (Person) Tag Team Steel Cage Match: NWA World Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express & Jim Cornette (w/Bubba Rogers on the outside) VS America's Team of Dusty Rhodes and Magnum T.A. & Baby Doll
-Cornette is rocking some Jerry Lawler-esque gear. Cornette gets pumped to fight Baby Doll. Eaton charges her, but takes an arm drag! Dusty sends Eaton into the cage, and Cornette wants to bail. Magnum controls the Midnights for a little bit. After Magnum goes down, Cornette goes for a big elbow drop, and misses. Cornette really sells being scared to death well. The Express take turns beating on Magnum, and he is busted open. Eaton tries a dive off the top of the cage, but gets punched right in the face by Magnum on the way down. Things break down, and Baby Doll KO's Cornette for the pin. Fun while it lasted. Dusty did jack shit here.
-Dusty, having not done much of anything in the match, wants a piece of Bubba. He gets jumped by the Midnights, and they hold Dusty so Bubba can beat on him.
-Match 8-NWA World Heavyweight Championship Steel Cage Match: Ric Flair [c] VS Dusty Rhodes
-Jeez, ANOTHER event headlined by Flair VS Dusty? Long feeling-out process to start. This match is horribly boring to start. Basically, this is every Dusty VS Flair match I've seen...in a cage. Flair takes control with an extended heat segment, and really works over Dusty's leg. Dusty counters a Flair charge with a lariat, but that only gets two, as Flair's foot gets on the bottom rope. Flair tries to escape as Dusty finally fights back, but is sent back in. Dusty sends Flair into the cage, and Flair very obviously blades. Dusty wants to work on Flair's leg. Flair tries to bail again, and it's a full moon in North Carolina. As they fight on top of the cage, a Dusty headbut sends Flair back inside, crotching him on the top rope. Dusty accidentally punches the cage, and reacts like he punched a brick wall. Dusty locks in a figure 4, despite not actually doing much leg work. They trade near-falls at the twenty-minute mark. Dusty misses an elbow drop, but gets a small package for the pin and the title shortly after. HUGE pop for the title change, and the babyfaces come out to celebrate. Match was insanely boring for the first ten minutes, then slowly picked up until about the last five, which were pretty good.
-More highlights from the tour.
-Decent enough video release with some good action. I can understand why match 4 of the U.S. Title series on there, but why not include the last match as well?
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