Andrew Lutzke
Nothing really to report as this took place only two days after the Beach Blast PPV and was actually taped before the PPV aired.
Missy Hyatt announces that New Japan has won the rights to the NWA World title tournament. Bill Watts hopes WCW Tag Champs The Steiners make a good accounting of the company tonight and beyond in this NWA Tag tournament.
NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament Round 1: Joe and Dean Malenko vs. Nikita Koloff and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
The Malenkos are representing “Europe”. Well their dad did portray a Russian. Joe grapples with Steamboat and at best neutralizes him. Malenko and Steamboat go through a great counter wrestling sequence. Dean tags in and we get a taste of a Dean Malenko/Steamboat dream match. Dean’s really small! Nikita tags in and bullies Malenko around with power. Dean manages a suplex but Koloff no sells it. Dean is flap jacked and Steamboat comes in to work more technical holds with the grappling brothers. They botch a flying head scissors and the Malenkos hit a double team move behind the refs back. Dean tries a fireman carry and almost drops Steamboat. Joe gets a series of near falls before they botch another move as Joe bumps off a face buster before Steamboat can drive him down. Koloff tags in and blows through both men before dropping Dean with a clothesline for the win. A fun match if only for seeing unfamiliar faces but the Malenkos really botched more moves than you’d expect to deem this a great match or anything close to it.
NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament Round 1: Tom Zenk and Marcus Bagwell vs. Rick Rude and Steve Austin
Rude takes it right to pretty boy Bagwell and tags Austin in to swarm him with punches. Zenk tags in to help his team regroup. The heels pounce on him as well and rough him up with forearms, a suplex and plain old kicks and punches. Bagwell tags in and gets the same treatment. Zenk tags back in and finds himself on the receiving end of a piledriver right away. The heels take turn battering Zenk before Bagwell makes the hot tag. Austin cuts off his fiery comeback by raking his face. Rude delivers a Rude Awakening for the win soon after. A total squash.
Dr. Death and Terry Gordy are upset that they aren’t lined up against The Steiner Brothers. Williams calls them “queers.” I’m flabbergasted that made it past the censors.
NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament Round 1: “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and Terry Gordy vs. Larry and Jeff O’Dea
Larry looks old and flabby. He’s 47 years old here and looks even older. He was a long time NWA promoter and Australian champion, so they must be throwing him a bone here. This can’t end well for the O’Dea family. Gordy and Williams both down Larry. Jeff tags in and is tossed with a back suplex. Larry tags back in and Gordy dumps him on his neck with a backdrop and Williams powerslams him for the win. I cringed watching the hosses beating up this old fart.
Sting comes down in a tuxedo to talk about Big Van Vader. The fans will make Sting feel like a bigger man than Vader is at the Bash.
NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament Round 1: Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham vs. Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton
Windham and Anderson start. They trade blows before Anderson is dropkicked to the floor. Rhodes and Eaton tag in and Eaton absorbs a plethora of elbows before being sent to the floor. Anderson comes in to roughhouse Rhodes but Rhodes proves he can give as well as he gets. Windham tags in and is quickly given a cheap shot to place the heels in control. This doesn’t go on long though as Rhodes is tagged in but he too finds himself under a two on one assault.
Eaton delivers a flying kneedrop but Rhodes somehow kicks out of that. Eaton drops Rhodes with a bulldog to try and embarrass Rhodes by beating him with his own move. Anderson adds a spinebuster for good measure. Rhodes improbably kicks out of that too. Eaton misses an Alabama Jam and is bulldogged for the win. Good match – unfortunately JR mentioned that the Dangerous Alliance would have to face off if Arn and Eaton won and that eliminated any chance of the heels winning obviously.
Gordy and Williams reveal that the Steiner Brothers opponents from Puerto Rico were injured in a “car wreck”- wink wink and gee whiz. The Steiners are available to face off with them tonight now. Sort of odd to book the heels as the confident ass kickers who are going out of there way to face off with the best tag team in the world.
NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament Round 1: The Fabulous Freebirds vs. Silver King Uno and Dos
Things start off fast and the heels accidentally collide. Garvin avoids a senton and Hayes makes his way in to punch his smaller foes. The heels double team Hayes and keep him off balance with a series of high spots. Hayes has had enough of this wrestling garbage and starts to stall and dance. They trade eye rakes as JR apologizes for the match sucking balls because the Freebirds suck and the Luchadores are causing a styles clash. The Silver Kings toss the Birds together, chuck them to the floor and deliver a plancha unto them. Uno flies into Dos though to end that flurry. Hayes ignores the fans “DDT” chants and just rolls up one of the Mexicans for the win. Bowling shoe ugly.
NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament Round 1: Jushin Liger and Brian Pillman vs. Beef Wellington and Chris Benoit
Benoit and Liger kick things off. Both men flip the other across the ring to establish equal skill. Wellington and Pillman talk smack and that ends with Wellington dropkicked to the floor. Wellington greets him with a flying clothesline after that. Pillman is then sent to the floor but he avenges that by suplexing Wellington to the cement.
Benoit and Liger tag back in but Benoit grounds the high flyer fast and then distracts the ref so Wellington can slam Liger over the top rope. Wellington misses a follow up plancha. Both men tag off and Pillman and Benoit square off. Benoit is side stepped quickly and sent to the floor. A big backdrop from the top rope is followed up by a flying dropkick. They then trade hard chops before Liger and Wellington are once again tagged in. Wellington is bumped to a floor and launched on from high altitudes. Benoit tries to change his team’s fortunes by delivering a back drop from the top rope but Liger shifts his weight and crashes down on him. Benoit then follows the match trend and bumps to the floor so Liger can moonsault down on him. Wellington tags in and dead weights Liger on a back suplex. The heels are thrown together and Wellington is nailed with a moonsault for the win. Very much a spot fest, but a fun match.
NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament Round 1: The Head Hunters vs. Hiroshi Hase and Akira Nogami
The Head Hunters are Bob Cook and Joe Cruz under masks as Dominican Republic representiives. What a waste of the New Japan talent. The Head Hunters use a few clotheslines but Nogami delivers a flying enziguiri to stop their early rally. Nogami absorbs a stun gun and a back breaker before delivering a spin kick. Another spin kick sets up Hase coming in and battering the masked jobber with kicks. He misses a top rope knee drop and allows the masked men some token offense. The Japan duo rally to hit dual bridging suplexes for the win. A glorified squash. The ref had made the heels have only one man in the ring while attempting a pinfall only a minute before allowing both New Japan stars to be in the ring for the finish. I’m sure the NWA board received a strongly worded letter from Jack Veneno for this.
Special interview with Ron Simmons. He cuts a promo talking about wanting to be the first black world champion. Harley Race and the Super Invader interrupt. Race uses some racist comments to incense Simmons and a brawl ensues. Hercules takes some slow motion bumps and Race flies like a pro from Simmons attack.
Bonus fun: This interview was apparently scripted as you can see Ventura mouthing the words as Race says them. This would also occur during Saturday Night Main Event promos when Heenan was involved I believe.
The NWA president wants to hold the rest of the tournament at the Great American Bash, but Bill Watts is usurping his authority and ordering the Steiners vs. Gordy and Death tonight. Watts says the NWA president has resigned over Watts over ruling his wishes.
NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament Round 2: The Steiner Brothers vs. Terry Gordy and Steve Williams
It is kind of odd for the announcers to put this over as a “dream match” all night, yet the match just took place on PPV two days earlier. Rick rides Gordy amateur style several times. Scott and Gordy do a Greco Roman stalemate before Scott clings to him and drops him with a belly to back suplex. Dr. Death tags in. He and Scott clash to a stalemate as both men score takedowns but are unable to follow up with any devastating moves. Rick tags in and suplexes Dr. Death across the ring. This frustrates Williams and he shoves Rick during their grappling scuffle. Rick scores a takedown and slams forearms into Death. Williams tries to decapitate Rick with a clothesline to change the pace of the match. Gordy tries to keep the advantage but eats a belly-to-belly suplex and that allows Rick to tag out. Scott drives Gordy down with a double underhook suplex.
A Frankensteiner is avoided thanks to a timely rope grab by Gordy. An injured Scott is locked in a modified STF and then tossed across Williams knee. Dr. Death and Gordy take turns putting the hurt on Scott. Scott’s leg is worked over for several minutes before Rick manages to tag in. The Dog Faced Gremlin clotheslines Death to the floor and endures a slugfest with Gordy. After laying Gordy out, the ref informs Rick that he didn’t see the tag and Scott is still the legal man. Dr. Death clips Scott’s knee on the floor and Gordy and Rick continue to trade bombs.
Dr, Death turns a press slam into a powerslam for a near fall I totally bought as the finish. Scott somehow musters a brief comeback that is cut off by Gordy sneaking in and clipping his bad knee. Williams snags the pin off that. That was a fairly clean win all things considered. Entertaining match that definitely had a unique psychology behind it as the men kept things very pure sport based.
Final thoughts: A unique night of action with some unfamiliar faces making up a big chunk of the card. Nothing outside of maybe the main event is worth going out of your way to see.
Vader remains Sting’s focus, but can’t be bothered to appear for the second straight big time WCW card. A pre-taped promo would suffice.
Next time we head to the Great American Bash where the tournament continues and Vader actually appears!
