-5/19/91
-From St. Petersburg, FL
-Hosts are JR & Dusty
-Match 1 for the WCW United States Tag Team Championship: The Freebirds (w/DDP, a Diamond Doll & Big Daddy Dink) VS The Young Pistols
-The Pistols are formerly the Southern Boys. U.S. tag titles are vacant because the Steiners won the world tag titles. Hayes gets some positive reactions to his preening. Armstrong avoids a cheap shot from Dink, and lays him, then both Freebirds out on the floor. Dink does manage to trip Armstrong, allowing Hayes to take over. Brad Armstrong rushes out, and challenges the Freebirds to make it 3-on-3. Since this is a title match, it's not happening, but after Brad leaves, the ref does eject Dink from ringside.
Both Freebirds get knocked outside. Pistols hit a double shoulder block on Garvin for two. Cute bit as Hayes tries to get the crowd behind the Freebirds to no avail. Garvin low-bridges Smothers to make him the face-in-peril. Some fans cheer for the Freebirds, and Dusty brings out the "we're so great because we let the fans cheer for who they want to" line that WWE has used for so many years. Smothers hits a nice super kick on Garvin, and makes the tag. Pistols gain the advantage, but they both miss missile dropkicks to turn the tide back to the Freebirds.
Smothers comes back and clotheslines both Freebirds outside, allowing Armstrong to hit a dive off the top. Armstrong holds Hayes up for a flying back elbow from the top by Smothers. Smothers holds Garvin for a missile dropkick from Armstrong, but the ref is bumped in the process. Someone in a weird bird costume runs out and drops both Pistols with clotheslines and DDTs from the second rope, and that allows Hayes to get the pin on Armstrong for the titles. Good opener.
-Missy Hyatt makes another attempt to get a dressing room interview. She runs into Terry Taylor, who says the situation between Dustin Rhodes & The York Foundation is not over. Hyatt sees Z-Man's stuff, and asks Taylor if Zenk is in the shower. Taylor tells her to go look...and of course, it's Stan Hansen (thankfully in boxers). He gives her a spanking with his hat, and kicks her out.
-Match 2: Brian Pillman VS Barry Windham [Taped Fist Match]
-Windham comes out to an instrumental version of "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing". Pillman gets a hip toss and flying shoulder block before landing several punches. Windham gets a body slam and goes up top, but Pillman dropkicks him off the top, to the floor. Pillman flies outside onto Windham. Pillman is on the attack, but Windham uses Pillman's tights for leverage to send Pillman face-first into the ring post. Windham is busted open from Pillman's punches. Windham takes Pillman onto the runway, then throws him off the runway, onto the guardrail. Pillman is now busted open.
Pillman lands some stiff overhand chops. Windham hits a belly-to-back suplex. They knock heads, but both don't stay down for long. Pillman goes up, but Windham shoves the ref out of the way, low-blows Pillman, and hits a superplex for the win. Windham adds some punches and a kick to the head after the bell. Another good match. Odd to see a superplex get the win after all these years.
-Match 3: Sid Vicious VS El Gigante ["Battle of the Giants" Stretcher Match]
-Gigante struggles to roll the gurney to ringside, so he just says fuck it and carries it. Gigante overpowers Sid. Sid lands a couple blows in the corner (which Gigante sells like he's going "weeeeeeeeee" in a roller coaster). Sid charges into a boot, and Gigante applies the big claw to Sid for the pin. Well that was brisk. One Man Gang and Kevin Sullivan attack Gigante. Gigante gets OMG on the stretcher, but OMG throws powder in Gigante's eyes to get some shots in before Gigante shrugs it off. Crowd sings the "goodbye song" to Sid, who will make his WWF debut in a few months. Don't see the point of making it a stretcher match if, you know, it didn't involve anyone getting put on the stretcher, but that's WCW for you.
-Match 4: Butch Reed VS Ron Simmons [Thunderdoom Cage Match]
-Teddy Long is locked in a cage that's raised above the ring. Everyone uses the Doom entrance musice. JR mentions that Simmons is Burt Reynold's favorite wrestler. Not sure what the difference is between a "Thunderdoom" cage and a regular cage. Both guys meet the cage in the opening moments. Reed sends Simmons into the cage again, and Simmons is busted open. Reed goes to work on the open wound. Simmons fights back, but whiffs on a dropkick.
Reed hits a couple fist drops. Simmons comes back with punches, but gets pulled into the cage wall. Reed hits a piledriver for two. Reed works Simmons over with unexciting offense, and the crowd is just dead for this. Crowd suddenly gets into it with a "Go Ron Go" chant. Simmons fights back, but lowers his head too early, and Reed hits a swinging splash, but Simmons gets his knees up.
Reed cuts Simmons off again with a high knee. Double clothesline puts both men down. Teddy tosses an international object into the ring. Reed misses a punch with the chain Teddy threw, and Simmons hits a vicious spinebuster for the win. Well that match sucked.
-Hilariously over-the-top sad and melancholy video for the Steiners VS Sting/Luger tag title match. Was there even an angle here beside Sting & Luger simply requesting a title shot?
-Match 5 for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Steiner Brothers [c] VS Sting & WCW United States Champion Lex Luger
-Slow start until Rick does a Jannetty sell off a Luger clothesline. Rick comes back with a big clothesline of his own for two. Rick takes another big bump off a running Luger clothesline. Rick is sent outside, and Sting dives over the ropes out onto him. Back in, Sting hits a bulldog, but Rick no-sells. Sting gets Rick upside down and rams him in the corner, stealing a page out of Rick's playbook. Rick avoids a Stinger Splash, and tags Scott. Scott hits a Tiger Driver and a tilt-a-whirl slam on Sting, and the crowd explodes. Sting hits a hot shot on Scott, and makes the tag.
Scott sets Sting on the second turnbuckle, and hits an overhead belly-to-belly throw for two. Scott misses a running clothesline, and flies outside over the top. Luger gets in, and hits a suplex for two. Luger gets a powerslam on Scott. Awkward moment is Scott is supposed to fight off the rack with a Russian Leg Sweep, but they both just fall down. Rick gets a blind tag, and hits a sweet bulldog off the top on Luger, then drops an elbow for two.
Sting hits a missile dropkick on Rick. Sting counters a tombstone from Scott, and hits one of his own for two. Ref gets bumped (Nick Patrick is having a bad night). Sting hits a Stinger Splash on Scott. Nikita Koloff comes out and tries to hit Luger with a chain, but Sting takes the bullet, and Scott gets the pin to retain the titles. Match was pretty great while it lasted, but was disappointingly short.
-We go TO THE BACK with Tony Schiavone. Nikita says Sting was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sting runs to the back and jumps on Nikita. The two brawl out into the parking lot.
-Match 6 for the WCW Television Championship: Arn Anderson [c] VS Bobby Eaton
-This should be great. Reversal series ends when Eaton catches AA with a hard right hand. AA walks into a high knee, then a big boot, then a clothesline for two. Eaton goes up, but gets launched off the top, onto the runway. AA goes for a piledriver, but Eaton counters with a backdrop. Back in, Eaton hits a double axe handle for two. Anderson starts working on Eaton's leg, wrapping it around the ring post.
Eaton fights back, and bashes AA's head into all three turnbuckles in one corner, but AA gets back on the injured leg to regain control. Match really slows down as AA ties up the leg. Eaton gets out, and lands a couple right hands. AA gets knees on a splash, but hits a spinebuster for two. Eaton hits a swinging neck breaker. Eaton goes up top. Barry Windham tries to interfere, but Brian Pillman cuts him off. Eaton hits the Alabama Jam for the pin and the title. Eaton is so excited, he hugs Nick Patrick after the pin. Match started out really good, then slowed to a crawl with all of Anderson's leg work. A nice feel-good moment with the Eaton title win.
-Tony Schiavone is outside Tasumi Fujinami's locker room. Tony gets a word with Hiro Matsuda, who says they are bringing the title back to Japan.
-Match 7 for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] VS IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tatsumi Fujinami
-Tiger Hatori is the official of record, with Bill Alfonso as a backup. Flair takes control early on with chops. Fujinami fights back with chops of his own, and hits a backdrop. Fujinami locks in a bow-and-arrow. Flair gets out, so Fujinami locks in a Boston Crab, then an Indian Death Lock. Fujinami hits a flying forearm for two. Fujinami knocks Flair outside, but makes the mistake of following him out, and Flair crotches Fujinami on the guardrail.
Flair goes to work on Fujinami's leg. Flair gets the Figure 4. Flair starts slapping Fujinami across the face while the hold is still on. Fujinami manages to reverse the hold. Fujinami locks in a Scorpion Death Lock. Fujinami hits a side suplex for two. Fujinami repeatedly tries to bridge with Flair on top of him, but can't do it. They go outside, and Fujinami rams Flair's head into the guardrail, busting him open.
They exchange strikes. Fujinami forgets to roll with Flair on an Oklahoma Roll. Flair goes up, and gets slammed down. Fujinami locks in an Octopus Stretch. Crowd chants "USA" while Flair struggles in the hold. Shoulder block sends both men outside. Flair can't hold Fujinami on a slam, and Fujinami almost pins him. Fujinami gets a small package for two. Fujinami accidentally smacks heads with Hitori, and Flair gets a school boy for the pin by pulling the tights with Alfonso counting. Match was weird in that it was worked more like an actual fight than usual in U.S. pro wrestling. I liked it in that sense, but the crowd really wasn't buying what they were selling.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: This was a pretty good show. The first couple matches were good. The next two, not so much. Then the show picked back up with the tag title match, and had a feel good moment with the Eaton TV title win. The main event was something different, and worth checking out if you haven't seen it.
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