Slamboree ’94

Hulk Hogan finally signed his WCW contract in mid-April. He’ll be receiving $600,000 per PPV match and/or a percentage of the gross profit from the PPVs.
WCW agreed to a talent swap deal with ECW. Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton will be working shots for the company soon, with Cactus Jack and others to follow.
2 Cold Scorpio has been released after failing several drug tests in a row.
Steve Austin and Brian Pillman have both signed new multi-year deals. Both men met with the WWF but Titan is considered to have an unstable future due to Vince McMahon’s federal trial that is fast approaching among other issues.
Vader suffered a broken wrist at Spring Stampede, but he didn’t miss any dates.
In the face of legal threats from the WWF over The Boss’s gimmick being so close to the Big Bossman gimmick, WCW had Ray Traylor switch his name to the Guardian Angel.
Dave Sullivan injured his knee at Spring Stampede, which took him away from his planned feud teaming with Kevin Sullivan vs. The Nasty Boyz. Cactus Jack put off surgery to take his place in the feud.
Tom Zenk (yes, he’s still around) will be released in Mid-May.
Barry Windham is back and scheduled to be used as part of the Studd Stable. He’s already missing dates and some are concerned he won’t make Slamboree where’s he’s scheduled to be Ric Flair’s “mystery” opponent. The back up plan is to pull Terry Funk out of his legends match and plug him in against Flair. If Funk declined to work a different match at the PPV, then Dusty Rhodes was the next option to face Flair.
Larry Zybyzko is coming out of retirement to feud with Lord Steven Regal.
Vader vs. Rick Rude were scheduled to face off for Rude’s International title but Rude suffered a career ending back injury while working with Sting in Japan. WCW continued to promote Rick Rude vs. Vader up until the PPV despite knowing it would not be taking place.
WCW plugged a bunch of Sting vs. Rick Rude to headline house shows even though they knew both men would be in Japan. Once Rude got hurt and Sting returned to the US, WCW continued to plug the matches, but Sting no showed the events as he went back to Hollywood to tape more “Thunder in Paradise” episodes.
At the Worldwide tapings that revealed months of angles ahead of time Ric Flair apparently cut promos indicating that he would be facing Curt Hennig for the World title in August. Of course he’d not be champ by that point and Hennig wouldn’t come to WCW for another three years.
Sherri Martel had been cutting promos looking for the “perfect” man, leading to further speculation that Hennig was coming in.
Jerry Saggs has an injured shoulder and is expected to miss a bunch of time after the Nasties drop the belts at Slamboree.
Some cable guides had a Hogan vs. Flair tag team match listed as the main event for Spring Stampede.

Slamboree 94
Mean Gene (with old man glasses on) introduces the legends! They let every guy get intro’d so they can get a pop/booed. Last year they just had them all standing in the ring at the start. This is a much better idea. Tully Blanchard gets a big reaction. (Really a lot of missed opportunities for WCW and Tully in the 90’s). Terry Funk no shows and that throws Mean Gene and the next man out, Verne Gagne off. Verne looked like a goof because of it. Larry Hennig gets a nice pop (maybe because of Curt?) Wahoo McDaniel gets a nice reaction. A lot of southern legends are introduced and the Philly crowd doesn’t really react.

Nick Bockwinkel announces Rick Rude’s Big Gold Title win over Sting is null and void and Sting is going to be given the title back. Sting refuses the title and wants the title held up until either he or Vader win their one on one bout later tonight.

US Champion Steve Austin vs. Johnny B. Badd
Badd and Austin feel each other out in the early minutes. Sherri Martel is shown watching on in the audience. They trade some basic stuff and things remain slowly paced for a long period. The Brain and Schiavone both bury Badd for working a long arm bar instead of going for some high impact moves. Austin finally escapes and stomps a mudhole in him. Austin doesn’t do much interesting either, locking on some arm work. Badd scores a roll up in the late stages but Col. Parker distracts the ref. He gets another near fall, but Austin rakes his eyes before Badd can land a KO punch. Austin reverses his momentum during a back suplex and gets a sloppy looking 3 count. Shockingly dull match here. I wonder if they tried to work a slow paced 70’s style of match?

Ernie Ladd and Wahoo share some words. They are both happy to be among their peers and the fans.

DUSTY RHODES cuts a promo from Hollywood. Rhodes teases that he’s not retired.

Legends Match: Terry Funk vs. Tully Blanchard
The fans love them some Tully. The fans chant ECW and Funk jumps into the crowd. Blanchard greets him on the floor and the men beat the tar out of one another with punches and slaps. Funk sends Blanchard into the railing. Funk tries to chop the skin off of Blanchard’s chest while chewing Tully out. Funk finds a board and cracks Blanchard over the head. He then brings it in the ring and piledrives Blanchard on it right in front of the ref. The fans chant for blood. Funk DDT’s Tully on the ramp, then piledrives him once they get back in the ring. Funk busts out his moonsault, which must have made a few brains melt seeing that from the old man.

Blanchard fights back despite all of the hard-hitting moves. The ref is bumped. Funk brings in a chair and sets it up. He tries to piledrive Blanchard off the top rope onto it but Tully wisely hangs on and lets Funk take the bump alone. Funk grabs his branding iron meanwhile Blanchard shoves the ref down. Things go back onto the ramp and the ref throws the match out. Heenan does a great job selling fear as Funk wanders around the ring after the craziness settled down. This was a really fun brawl. I’m surprised Tully gave Funk so much of the match to shine.

TV Champion Lord Steven Regal vs. Larry Zybysko
Regal wastes all sorts of time as he plays Larry’s stall game while blowing off the threat of the Living Legend. Zybysko scores a few take downs and Regal is flustered. A spin kick to the belly sends Regal heading for lower ground. Regal tries to out grapple Zybysko and ends up tied up in knots. Regal finally gets fed up and starts an aggressive push with a series of European uppercuts and forearms. The crowd gets a bit restless as Regal locks on a standing crossface. Zybysko is then wrapped up in a crossbow. Larry, perhaps feeling the match getting away from him, starts throwing wild punches at Regal. Sir William cracks Zybysko with the umbrella, but Larry still manages to block Regal’s double underhook suplex, which he flips into a pin! The crowd popped huge for the finish after being quiet for much of the match. This was largely an entertaining well worked match.

Terry Funk declares that he isn’t a legend, he’s THE legend. He promises he is coming for Dustin Rhodes later tonight.

Hall of Fame ceremony: Harley Race, the crowd gives him love despite being WCW’s top heel manager. DA CRUSHER is next – my Grandpa’s favorite wrestler. : ) Ernie Ladd comes next. The Assassin’s Hall of Fame announcement comes with an opening remark about how the fans might be surprised that the Assassin would qualify. Ole Anderson strolls out to round out the field of living Hall of Famers. Dick the Bruiser’s kids accept the plaque for the deceased. A funny note about this ceremony is that WCW’s plaque makers made two plaques with Harley Race’s face on them, which left the Assassin without one.

Bullrope match: Dustin Rhodes vs. Bunkhouse Buck
Rhodes starts his assault before the men can even be tied together. Buck finds himself strangled with the rope and dragged around the ring. Rhodes stomps on Buck’s man parts, then uses the cow bell to batter his knee. The crowd again chants for blood. Rhodes wraps his opponent’s knee around the ringpost to continue the torture. Buck gets desperate and wraps Rhodes’ face in his own shirt, which allows Buck to get in a number of cheap shots. Buck ties Rhodes to the ringpost, with one arm behind his back. This makes him fare game for a series of fists and forearms. Rhodes goes low to buy himself enough time to become free.

Buck eats a number of punches, leaving him dazed and vulnerable for Rhodes to drive his own elbow into the cowbell, sending it into Buck’s skull. The ref is bumped, which allows Col. Parker to interfere at will. The heels miscommunicate, which allows Rhodes to KO Buck with the cowbell for the win. Terry Funk charges in afterward and the gang of thieves lay a beating down on him. This wasn’t nearly as good as their hate and blood filled brawl that they had at Spring Stampede. While they worked the bullrope gimmick well, it just didn’t make for anything special of a match. The over arching angle is coming together nicely though.

WCW World Champion Ric Flair vs. A Mystery Man
WCW trying to sell a PPV without having their World title match announced sounds like a recipe for disaster. Col. Parker comes out to the Horseman’s future music. Parker brings in Barry Windham as the surprise. Windham weighs in at over 300 pounds, roughly 50-70 pounds over his prime condition. He looks incredibly chubby. Windham is noticeably limping a bit, and his knee was far from 100% here. Flair uses chops a plenty but Windham is able to take over with a lariat. Windham takes control with some basic roughhouse tactics. Parker gets a free shot in. Windham delivers a superplex.

Things turn into a chopping contest. Flair delivers a suplex and locks in a figure-four. Windham gets a rope break but gets locked back in another figure-four, which again is quickly ended after a rope break. Both men end up flipping over the top rope and to the floor. They trade punches back in the ring. This match has absolutely zero flow. They really feel like they are just going through the motions. Flair hits a flying crossbody of all things to snag the win. Again the crowd was pretty much dead until the end. This match was probably among the lower tier for WCW World title matches not booked by Vince Russo.

Da Crusher wants some fat ladies to polka with at the after show.

WCW World Tag Team Champions The Nasty Boyz vs. Kevin Sullivan and Cactus Jack
The special ref is former Philadelphia NHL tough guy Dave Schultz. A four-way brawl breaks out before the bell can even ring. Chairs and plunder shots are traded as security scrambles to try and protect the fans. Knobbs is piledriven on the ramp as Foley finds a trashcan to batter the heels with. Foley misses a flying elbow and splats on the floor. Foley and Knobbs are smacked in the heads with chairs as the chaos is fast and furious. Foley’s bleeding. Knobbs eats another chair shot. Foley gets flipped off the ramp and falls through a table. Saggs uses scraps of the shattered table to pick apart Jack. They brawl back to the ring where Saggs and Schultz get into it. Jack cracks Saggs with the hockey stick and earns the pin. Saggs attacks Jack after the match but Maxx Payne comes down and smacks Saggs with a guitar. Knobbs tries to run from this four on one situation but Dave Sullivan appears in the entryway and cracks Knobbs with a crutch. This was another wild, entertaining brawl but the million plunder shot brawl had been done better before and after this bout. Saggs is laying in the ring with medics for a long while after the match.

After all that carnage they bring out Verne Gagne and Lou Thesz. Gagne wonders if Nick Bockwinkel is turning WCW into a mecca for mayhem.

WCW Big Gold Belt: Sting vs. Vader
Vader slowly tries to corner Sting and finally traps him. A series of fists down our hero. Vader delivers a stiff clothesline. Sting wakes up and connects with fist after fist to slowly knock Vader off his feet. He then delivers a delayed vertical suplex, but the pain barely registers on the monster. Vader mauls Sting down again and crushes him with a Vaderbomb. Then another. Sting won’t stay down however. Vader hovers over him and introduces his mitts to Sting’s jaw. Sting throws a few bombs out of desperation to down Vader and buy himself some recover time.

Yet another ref bump is followed up by Vader delivering a vicious looking chokeslam. Harley Race tries to hit Sting with a chair but Sting moves and Vader takes the shot. (A weak looking one at that) Sting gets a near fall. Vader is then clotheslined to the floor. He catches Sting with a powerslam once he gets back in. He elects not to take the three count and goes for the moonsault instead. Vader misses and Sting goes for the pin. Race climbs to the top rope and launches a flying headbutt. Sting avoids that and Race and Vader’s head bonk. Sting scurries to the top rope and delivers a flying splash for the win. On the scale of Vader vs. Sting matches, this was only good, and far from great. I really enjoyed the finishing sequence though.

Final thoughts: On paper things looked like we had great promise for an exciting night of action. In execution however things turned out to merely stay around an average baseline. Some of this is due to watching in hindsight, as things like Zybysko’s win and Flair’s opponent would have added a spark of surprise to the event. Funk vs. Blanchard and the tag title match would also stand out much better watching in 1994 before the Monday Night Wars brought weekly plunder full matches to the TV audiences and numbed us to the concept.