Sage Cortez
With the change over to WCW came a new booker, but Dusty Rhodes was not quite able to start immediately as the WWF had a match planned for him at the Royal Rumble. I’m interested in seeing what happens in between Starrcade and that point, and whether or not they were running the show with the expectation of him taking the job or not. I’d guess that they probably were. Anyway, this is a light article, but a lot of interesting stuff happened. Let’s start with something that doesn’t quite measure up.
– Taped to air December 22nd, 1990, on World Championship Wrestling, from Center Stage Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia
Michael Hayes vs. Rick Steiner (NWA US Tag Team Champion)
Pre-Match Thoughts: If Hayes can somehow win this match, he and Garvin will get a title shot against the Steiners. Rick hadn’t worked a singles match in so long, it’s weird to see him doing so here. Or I should say I haven’t seen him work as a singles in so long.
Match Review: Hayes and Steiner lock up, and Hayes winds up strutting, causing Steiner to bite his butt. Oh dear. Hayes stalls and has it happen to him again, then Steiner goes to work on the arm after a takedown. Steiner admits that he cheated by pulling hair, then he goes to a headlock. Steiner takes Hayes down with a powerslam, and Hayes bails out to the floor. Now Jimmy Garvin shows up, just so Hayes can collect himself. We’ll see what’s up. Hayes slams Steiner a few times, and Steiner returns the favor three times, which is one more bodyslam than Hayes had. Oh wait. Four bodyslams. Hayes hits Steiner with a punch to avoid a superplex, and follows that with a bulldog. Hayes then plants Steiner with a DDT, and Steiner winds up on the floor. Garvin doesn’t attack or anything, and Hayes hits Steiner with some punches. This is weird. Steiner gets back in there and no-sells a turnbuckle shot, then lands some punches and follows with a backdrop. STEINERLINES ensue, then Garvin tosses Steiner a 2×4. Hayes fakes an injury, and hilariously Steiner gets disqualified for never hitting him with the board. YES, THAT’S AMAZING.
My Thoughts: That was a good finish, and it made things very interesting. It also fit Steiner’s character to get busted by something so dumb, so all around this was nicely done. *1/4 for the pedestrian match, but the way it ended was super cool.
– Taped to air December 29th, 1990, on World Championship Wrestling, from Center Stage Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia
Tom Zenk vs. Arn Anderson for the NWA Television Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is one of Zenk’s first matches after dropping the winning streak, or rather it was aired after dropping the winning streak. It was before that, but I guess that doesn’t apply here after all. Arn had this title for a year but he hardly defended it.
Match Review: Zenk takes Arn down with a quick arm drag, and Arn looks injured, sporting a bandage on his head and having his hand taped up. Zenk goes to a headlock, and takes Arn down with the shoulder. Arn applies a wristlock, but Zenk won’t go down to the canvas, and gets the advantage. Arn goes to the outside to stall, and comes back in to try to work on a hold. He misses an elbow drop after taking Zenk down, and back to square one again. This time, Arn takes Zenk down with a drop toe-hold only for Zenk to get control with a hammerlock. Arn reaches the ropes, and the commentary is stating that Arn is just trying to run out the time limit. We shall see. Arn dodges a charge to the corner, but falls down and grabs his knee. Is he faking? I hope so. He was, as he hits Zenk and knocks him to the outside. I dig it! He throws Zenk into the railing, and it’s time for a commercial.
Once that’s over, Zenk is selling his back inside the ring. Arn works on it with forearms, and he blocks a bodyslam attempt for a count of 2. Arn goes to a chinlock, doing so while sitting on Zenk’s back. Zenk fights his way out of it, then takes Arn down with a backslide for 2. Arn comes back with a backbreaker for 2, and Zenk tries a sunset flip, but it gets blocked. Back to the chinlock again, and Arn attempts to jump on Zenk’s back, but Zenk flips over and gets his knees up. Zenk drops Arn with a superkick for 2, and starts working on the leg, which causes Arn to leave the ring. He walks around the ring and gets back in, but Zenk puts him in a sleeper. Time limit thing is being pushed heavy. Arn puts Zenk in his own sleeper after a reversal, and he rolls Zenk up for 2. Arn then heads up to the second rope, and comes down with a big nothing. Zenk heads up top, and comes down with his MISSILE DROPKICK FOR 3 AFTER 18 MINUTES. The nearly year-long title reign with no defenses is over!
My Thoughts: This was a solid match, nothing super spectacular, but good. Arn was selling his ailments so well, and for the most part he carried Zenk, who did very little. Arn’s ailments took place in the street fight, in case I didn’t make that clear, and I don’t think I did. The match didn’t quite get going like I thought it would after the commercial, but that’s such a minor complaint. **3/4. I also didn’t like that Zenk won this title. Why do I keep crapping on this match? Trust me guys, it was good.
– Taped to air January 5th, 1991, on Worldwide
Bobby Eaton vs. Ricky Morton
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is a good way to start 1991, I anticipate this to be fun for however long it lasts. It’s not like the WWF was giving away matches on TV between two of their top five workers. Because of Starrcade, all the storylines appear to have had the reset button pushed on them, so everything is different here. There were promos done on a hilarious green screen, shocking to see production that bad.
Match Review: These two lock up, and Morton gets driven back into the corner. They reset, and Each guy blocks a hip toss, leading to a Morton backslide for 2. They lock up again, and this time Eaton slaps him. Morton comes back with punches to knock Eaton out of the ring, and when Eaton gets back in there, Morton tries to work on the left arm. Eaton knees him in the gut, and follows that with a suplex that gets blocked. Morton cradles Eaton up, Eaton reverses for 2, and Morton takes him down with a drop toe-hold. Morton then flips through a monkey flip attempt, and follows that with a backdrop. Eaton powerslams Morton, then knocks him to the outside. I thought Eaton may follow, but I guess not. Eaton tries to suplex Morton back into the ring, but Morton flips through it, only to be nailed with a clothesline for 2. Eaton goes to the short-arm scissors, and last time he did that in a match with Morton, the Freebirds ran down to the ring. Eaton and Morton then collide after Morton gets up, and Morton puts a sleeper on Eaton to follow. Eaton breaks it, but gets rammed into the buckle, and Morton heads up top. He comes down with a cross body, and goes for a victory roll, but the Freebirds are here for the DQ at 7:05.
Eaton stands around and watches, then he winds up slapping Hayes. WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? Morton and Eaton tease fighting again, and Morton offers his hand in friendship. WHAT IS THIS? The fans want to see Eaton and Morton shake hands, but Eaton KNOCKS HIM OUT. YES.
My Thoughts: This was a good match with a really good tease at the end. I wasn’t expecting them to shake hands, so the payoff in seeing Morton get knocked out was perfect. I’m super interested in seeing where this is headed, as I have not had it spoiled for me and I don’t know. **1/2, I would add more for the ending but I don’t do that.
– January 11th, 1991, from the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey
Ric Flair vs. Sting Highlights
I think it’s idiotic to do a title change off TV, but for whatever reason, WCW was hell bent on doing exactly that. Sting didn’t lose the title at Starrcade because it would have been terrible for him to lose the Black Scorpion feud. WCW really just fucked Sting from the start, there’s not a whole lot else to say about it. They didn’t make him look like a star and failed to treat him with the respect that somebody who pins Ric Flair deserved. Flair looks funny with that haircut, but it’s nice to know that they had some sort of video showing him capturing this title for the 7th time. It’s not nice to know that only 5,000 tickets were sold for this. The altercation between the Steiners and Horsemen in the hallway was good though, and made you think something else was ahead.
– Taped to air January 20th, 1991, on WCW Main Event, from Reaves Arena in Perry, Georgia
The Four Horsemen vs. The Steiner Brothers, Brian Pillman, and Sting
Pre-Match Thoughts: HELL YES, A MATCH WITH THE FUCKING FOUR HORSEMEN TOGETHER. At this taping, all tickets were five dollars, so they actually got people in the building. I am so hyped up to watch this match. We’re going to get a Sid/Scott Steiner confrontation here, imagine that. Imagine being in the arena to see this match. Just, damn. That’s all I can say.
Match Review: Sting and Arn intend to start the match, and Sting winds up in the wrong corner. He fights out of it, and Arn winds up in the wrong corner. He does not fight out of it, and we get a standoff between all eight guys. Hell yeah. Flair makes a legal tag in to face Sting, which is what people wanted to see the most. Flair’s chops do nothing to Sting, and Sting takes Flair down with a press slam. Flair goes to the eyes and tries the chops again, but Sting takes him to the corner for some punches. Flair gets thrown upside down into the other corner, and Scott Steiner knocks him off the apron. Sadly, we have a commercial.
Barry Windham tags in, and so does Rick Steiner. Windham arm drags him, but Rick comes back with a big STEINERLINE. Rick follows that with a powerslam that gets 2, so Windham goes to the eyes to stop momentum. He picks Rick up for a suplex that gets 2, and tags in Sid for the first time. Sid slams Rick, and misses an elbow drop. Scott tags in, and there’s the confrontation. Sid tags right out of there and brings in Arn Anderson, who gets dropped with a powerslam. Scott follows that with an atomic drop, and Arn takes shots from the babyface teammates now. Flair tags in there, and this is the matchup at Clash of the Champions. Flair poses and shows his muscles, and Scott returns the favor. Scott takes Flair down with a drop toe-hold, and puts Flair in his own finisher! Everyone runs into the ring, and we have three stereo figure-fours, as Sid and Rick Steiner just brawl with each other. Haha. Flair pokes Scott in the eye, and takes him down with a headlock that leads to a Scott bridge out to a backslide for 2. Pillman makes his first tag in, and exchanges chops with Flair for a bit, then gives him a hip toss and dropkick. Flair and Pillman chop each other again, and Flair goes down!
After a second commercial, we have Pillman and Arn locking up. Pillman throws Arn into the corner and backdrops him, then dropkicks both Arn and Windham. Pillman heads up top, and comes down with a cross body on both of them for 2. The Horsemen regroup, and Arn runs out of the ring before Pillman can do anything to him. He suckers Pillman around the ring, and Windham hits him with a clothesline. Now that’s teamwork. Sid press slams Pillman onto the rail, and Pillman starts selling his throat in expert fashion. Arn stomps on Pillman for a little bit as they’re both in the ring now, and Pillman goes for a sunset flip at first chance. Arn makes a blind tag to Sid, who breaks it up and throws Pillman into the buckle. Sid powerslams Pillman, and Rick attacks him from behind. The referee ushers him out, and Windham makes a tag in, hitting Pillman with a flying clothesline for 2. Flair tags in there, and trades chops with Pillman again. This time Pillman makes the tag out to Scott Steiner, and it’s house of fire time. Scott backdrops Flair, hits him with a STEINERLINE, and cleans out the rest of the team with STEINERLINES. Windham attacks Scott from behind, so all eight men are in the ring, and of course the match is going to get thrown out. This was about 17 minutes long.
My Thoughts: The WarGames sell was very strong here. It felt like they hadn’t even hit the scope of what could have been accomplished with the match, which is exactly how they needed to make people feel. This wasn’t supposed to be a great match, and that’s why they kept some of these guys away from each other. They also needed to force a feud, and it worked. Sting did jack shit in the match, which was weird. I was glad Pillman was in it so much as he was buried for almost the entirety of 1990 for no reason at all. ***1/2.
– Taped to air January 26th, 1991, on Worldwide, from the Municipal Auditorium in Columbus, Georgia
Arn Anderson vs. Bobby Eaton
Pre-Match Thoughts: It’s strange to see a heel vs. heel match, but Eaton had been walking the line a little bit. I think he’ll get cheered here. Eaton was also scheduled to challenge Tom Zenk for the TV Championship at Clash 14. The winner will become the #1 contender for this title, apparently. I guess that means after the Clash.
Match Review: These two shake hands with each other, and it’s time for them to lock up. They struggle over a wristlock, and Arn pulls the hair to knock Eaton down. He didn’t like that. Eaton elbows Arn to break a hammerlock and gets cheered for doing so, which makes him sound like the babyface here. Eaton slaps Arn, which sends him out to the floor, where they brawl. Arn accidentally clotheslines the post, and back on the inside Eaton has him in a hammerlock. Eaton drops Arn with a single-arm DDT, and keeps the hammerlock on. Arn breaks it with an elbow in a nod to earlier action, and follows that with a missed charge to the corner. Eaton smacks him around, and goes back to the arm. I just realized Barry Windham was on commentary. That’s different. Arn gets out of the hammerlock and works on Eaton’s arm, but a drop toe-hold allows Eaton to resume his work. Arn gets up and uses the SPINEBUSTER, and we’re headed to a commercial. Shit.
Back from that commercial Arn hip tosses Eaton on the floor, and follows that with a stiff clothesline. On the inside Arn covers for 2, and puts a knucklelock on Eaton. That isn’t used too much. Eaton kicks his way out, and takes Arn down with a clothesline. Arn is crafty, and knocks Eaton down, then stomps on his head. Eaton puts a sleeper on Arn, and it pops the crowd. Obviously he should be a babyface. Arn reverses to his own to a chorus of boos, and Eaton rams him into the buckle to break it. Arn comes back with a snap mare, but misses his pump splash from the second rope. Eaton hits Arn with a neckbreaker, and heads up top for THE BIG LEG DROP. Crowd is going nuts for Eaton right here and he hasn’t even turned. Eaton goes for a piledriver, but Arn reverses to a backdrop and they wind up in the ropes. Eaton and Arn try some pinning combinations, but Arn winds up cheating better than Eaton could and getting the victory at 10:43.
My Thoughts: This match was a lot of fun, and showed what both guys could do when working with someone equal to them. That was a welcome change from the Zenk match, and despite how bad WCW got in 1991, they still had matches like this where the best could work with the best. Just not so much on PPV. Anyway, the psychology here was great, and I loved the story telling of two guys trying to out-cheat each other. ***1/4.
I have some news notes regarding Michael Wallstreet. Apparently he walked out due to his contract, and in all likelihood the appeal of going to the WWF had something to do with it. That’s just a guess. As everyone knows, Dusty Rhodes was going to take over as the booker. I was going to watch Royal Rumble 1991 next, I haven’t seen that show in such a long time. I have a lot of WCW stuff planned, though. Should be fun recapping this year.
Best: The 8 man tag. That was fun and it was nice to know they were building to something else.
Worst: I don’t really have a worst, I suppose. Them intending to break up Doom sucks, though.
