Sage Cortez
This is about as bad as pay-per-view cards get, supposedly. I can’t even dispute that by looking at the card. So much of what’s here sounds disastrous. For some reason, they put Bobby Eaton and Steve Austin in a scaffold match. The York Foundation concept has been eschewed for the time being as well. Oz is facing Ron Simmons. They’re wasting Brian Pillman by having him work with Johnny B. Badd. Missy Hyatt and Paul E. Dangerously are working the main event. El Gigante faces the One Man Gang. None of this sounds good! I also find that Scott Steiner’s injury has damaged the card fairly seriously.
– July 14th, 1991, from Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland
The show went straight into the first match, which was…
Terrence Taylor & Steve Austin (WCW TV Champion, w/Lady Blossom) vs. PN News & Bobby Eaton in a SCAFFOLD MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: For some insane reason, there was a rule added to this match where the teams could win it by capturing the opponents flag, located on the side of the scaffold where they started the match. What’s the point of that? Now the workers have to figure out another way to work around this awful gimmick. No PN News rap? Get the fuck outta here. Neither of these teams make sense, and it feels like a way to get Taylor and News on the show. Eaton and News had a really hard time climbing this stupid thing. I would be more afraid to climb down than take the bump off the scaffold to be honest with you. Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross are the commentators here.
Match Review: The scaffold is way too thin. It’s absolutely impossible to have a wrestling match on this thing. It’s like, maybe as wide as the base of one of the wrestlers. Austin and Eaton act like they’re going to start wrestling, but this thing is too small for them to do anything at all. Austin punches Eaton with the weakest shots, but Eaton smashes his face onto the wooden scaffold. Austin slides off, but Eaton makes sure he doesn’t fall the whole way off. PN News is just standing there. Now he gets on the scaffold, and Taylor decides to join him. News pushes Taylor so hard that only the rail at the back of the scaffold keeps them on, reminding me of Hawk breaking the rail a few years before. That spot was far too trusting. Austin starts punching News, and now we have a super lame four way “brawl.” News is close to capturing the opposition’s flag, and Taylor is close to doing the same. At least Eaton and Taylor are paired off. Taylor teases climbing down, and Austin is stomping a mudhole on News. News is dangling too far off this thing. Eventually he gets up to his knees, stands up, and starts choking Taylor. Eaton goes to grab the flag thanks to PN News being fat enough to hold Taylor and Austin back, and Eaton wins the match for his team at 7:23.
Blossom gives Austin something, and it’s perfume that he sprays in the eyes of News and Eaton. Austin also powders News, and the heels decide to climb down the scaffold. Eaton and News climb down at similar speeds, and Taylor takes a nice bump into the ring from the top rope. Now they brawl, which the crack production team misses. What a disaster. Somebody tells the heels to get back in the ring, they get cleared again, and that’s it.
My Thoughts: This is genuinely one of the worst matches I’ve ever seen, with the only appealing thing about a scaffold match (the bump) being removed from the equation. Absolutely horrible stuff. There was no action at all, wrestlers being afraid to wrestle, and two of the best wrestlers WCW had were completely wasted. I can’t imagine anything on the card being worse than this. -****1/2, with the production crew completely missing what may have been an entertaining post-match. How could I tell? This was a disaster.
Before things continue, Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone have an announcement to make. They talk about Ric Flair being stripped of the WCW Championship, and say that WCW has attempted to make another offer to Flair with him declining it. Why would they divulge that?
Eric Bischoff is with Paul E. Dangerously and Arn Anderson, who are part of the main event. BISCHOFF! Paul cuts his promo on Missy Hyatt, and Arn follows with one on Rick Steiner. Wonder what Arn was thinking with his friend having left the company.
The Diamond Studd (w/Diamond Dallas Page) vs. Tom Zenk
Pre-Match Thoughts: In the build prior to this event, the Studd had attacked Zenk. That sounds more interesting than it actually was. It wasn’t very interesting at all, just like the prospect of this match. It would be a massive lie to pretend I’m interested in the match. I do hope DDP does his routine, though. He does, and this is hilarious. Dueling gimmicks going on here.
Match Review: Zenk flies into the ring from the ramp with a double clothesline, and this thing is started. He clotheslines Studd again, and DDP pulls the top rope down on him when he has a chance. Zenk chases DDP, but Studd levels him with a clothesline from behind that puts him in control. He throws Zenk over the rail, that was a great bump right there. After ramming Zenk into the rail again, back in they go. He rams Zenk into the buckles, chokes him with the ropes, but Zenk comes back with a cross body that gets 2. Studd comes back with chops, and puts Zenk in an abdominal stretch. The ease of applying that hold looked far too fake. They keep that move going for too long, and Studd gets caught holding the ropes. Zenk hip tosses Studd, but misses an elbow drop. Studd capitalizes with a CHOKESLAM, and signals for the end. This is quite Razor-like. Studd clotheslines Zenk, but puts his head down and has to block a sunset flip. He isn’t giving Zenk SHIT. After a missed clothesline, Zenk hits him with a superkick to send him to the outside. Zenk follows and rams Studd into the apron, then throws him hard into the rail. Zenk tosses Studd into the ring and lands a missile dropkick that gets 2, with Page breaking up the cover with a slap. Now Zenk grabs Page, pulls him into the ring, and kicks him in the face. However, Studd takes Zenk down with a back suplex and bridge, which gets the win at 6:57.
My Thoughts: This wasn’t a very good match, and mainly consisted of exchanges of punches and the DIAMOND STUDD dominating the action with them. I don’t know how he got good enough to have decent matches with other people. Probably because he lost muscle mass. Zenk was obviously on the bottom of the totem pole at this point, right about where he belonged. *1/4.
Oz (w/the Great Wizard) vs. Ron Simmons
Pre-Match Thoughts: Will this be the end of the great and powerful Oz? I couldn’t resist that comment. This sounds so awful, I don’t know how the match could be anything better than that. This entrance is so damn dumb, I don’t get this hat and fake beard. Simmons got to keep the Doom music!
Match Review: After an initial long stall, these two behemoths lock up and tumble into the corner. Oz goes to a headlock, and Simmons reverses to a wristlock and takes Oz down. The two then do some collision spots, until Oz boots Simmons in the face. Oz follows that with a shoulderblock, but Simmons takes him down with a drop toe-hold. Simmons and Oz are back to their feet, and Oz beats Simmons up. Oz misses a charge to the corner, and Simmons hits Oz with some clotheslines to send him over the top. What an impressive looking bump that was. Oz gets back in there, and he wants a test of strength. Seems too late in the match for that. Oz gets the better of the early part, Simmons fights back to his feet, and takes Oz down. Simmons then misses a dropkick, so Oz clotheslines him. Oz gives Simmons a side slam that gets 2, then tosses him to the outside. The Wizard kicks him, but Simmons is still able to try to come in with a sunset flip, only for Oz to block it. Oz puts Simmons in a bear hug, but lets go quickly and Simmons dropkicks him. Simmons follows that with some clips to the leg, knocks the Wizard off the apron, and hits Oz with a flying shoulderblock for the surprising victory at 7:56!
My Thoughts: This match was absolutely terrible, and that’s no exaggeration. Talk about a show starting poorly. The main problem was that Nash couldn’t bump at all. Besides bumping over the top, which he was good at, he just couldn’t fall down in the ring. This was a DUD. The finish they came up with also looked really stupid, and I don’t know why this match was almost 8 minutes long. It was thought that Oz would go away after this, instead he stuck around for the rest of the year.
IT’S TIME FOR THE WCW TOP TEN!
10. Johnny B. Badd
9. Ron Simmons
8. The Diamond Studd
7. El Gigante
6. Arn Anderson
5. Bobby Eaton
4. Steve Austin
3. Sting
2. Barry Windham
1. Lex Luger
Richard Morton (w/Alexandra York) vs. Robert Gibson
Pre-Match Thoughts: THE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL EXPRESS EXPLODES! Seriously, it’s something to get excited about here. I’m looking forward to this more than anything else on the show, it’s one of the only instances of them putting good workers against each other in a proper format. It’s a bit sad seeing Gibson enter by himself here. Mr. Hughes isn’t there for some reason.
Match Review: Gibson and Morton fight in the aisle, that’s a great way to start things. Gibson knocks Morton into the ring for the first time, and Morton ducks to the outside to stall. He winds up on the apron and Gibson brings him in the hard way, then Gibson blocks a hip toss and gives Morton a bodyslam. Morton goes back to the outside, and I guess it’s computer time. Morton slowly gets back in the ring, and wants to shake hands with his former partner. DON’T FALL FOR IT. Eventually Morton goes back to the outside, but gets back in and smashes Gibson’s face into the turnbuckle. He wrenches Gibson’s previously injured knee around the post, rams it into the apron, and I guess that’s how this match is going to go. Gibson comes back with some kicks, but Morton goes down low to stop him and keeps working on that right leg. Morton rips Gibson’s pants to try to expose Gibson’s knee brace, which takes some time. Morton goes to a spinning toe-hold, but Gibson cradles him up for 2. Morton is trying to take this knee brace off, but it’s taking far too long. Gibson tries a sunset flip, and it gets 2 again. Morton puts a figure-four on Gibson, and it takes a LONG time for Gibson to reverse it. Morton makes the ropes, the hold is broken, and Morton goes right back to work on Gibson’s leg. They finally start trading punches, only for Morton to take the leg out again. Morton locks the leg up again, but gets punched in the face and has the brace dropped on his face with a leg drop. Gibson gets up to his feet again, gets taken out again, and this shit continues. Gibson fires off a DDT out of nowhere, and follows that with a backdrop. Gibson then misses a dropkick, and Morton snaps the leg. After even more work on the leg, Morton follows that with an inverted atomic drop. Morton decides to head up top, but Gibson slams him down. Close call for Morton flipping over to make that bump. Gibson hits Morton with an enzuigiri, and Morton acts like he wants to leave. Gibson follows him to the ramp, and they each try a dropkick at the same time. Now York is on the apron for some reason, and Morton grabs the COMPUTER. He hits Gibson with it, covers, and picks up the victory at 17:23.
My Thoughts: I’m actually stunned by how this match went. The ending did the match absolutely no favors, it made no sense for Morton to win in that manner with all the punishment he had given out. I also feel that the crowd would have preferred to cheer Morton instead of Gibson. The work on the leg wasn’t the boring part, it was the lack of variation and the crowd’s lack of involvement. Did I mention that I hated the finish? Yeah, I really hated it. Morton’s work on the leg was good, and it did maintain my interest. *3/4.
The Fabulous Freebirds (WCW US Tag Team Champions) & Badstreet (w/Big Daddy Dink) vs. The Young Pistols & Dustin Rhodes in an ELIMINATION MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: The Freebirds and Badstreet were also the six-man champions, but they’re having a six-man match on PPV without those titles being on the line. Does this make any sense to you? They also brought back the US Tag Championships only for them to not be defended on PPV. The logic in the booking of WCW at this time was non-existent. The Pistols and Dustin had an interview before the match, and Dustin imitated his dad. His interviews in this voice are so bad. I don’t see DDP with the Freebirds anymore.
Match Review: Dustin and Hayes are going to start this, and Dustin imitates Hayes by doing a moonwalk. Oh boy. Hayes smacks him around in return, but Dustin gives him a bodyslam. After one on Garvin, Badstreet comes in and Dustin clears the ring with elbows to no reaction at all. Hayes taunts the crowd for a while, which gets them going. When he gets in there, Garvin knees Dustin from behind, and Badstreet makes a tag in, clotheslining the Young Pistols off the apron. Dustin takes the Freebirds out with a double face smash, and the Pistols land flying shoulderblocks to clear them out of the ring. Garvin makes a tag in, and he wants to face Tracy Smothers. Smothers makes that tag in, and with Hayes, Garvin does a posing routine. Haha. Smothers backdrops Garvin, dropkicks him, then misses a second dropkick. Smothers lands a flying back elbow, and tags in Armstrong, who flies off the top with a flying clothesline on Badstreet, who was slammed in by Smothers. It would be easier to follow this match if the teams maintained some structure. Smothers tags back in, as does Garvin, and Badstreet pulls the top rope down on Smothers as he runs the ropes. Dink clotheslines Smothers, and Badstreet slams Smothers on the floor. Hayes then knocks Smothers off the apron to send him into the rail, and Garvin knocks him down with a kick. Smothers gets back in the ring and Garvin slams him, tagging in Badstreet afterward. Badstreet clotheslines Smothers, then tags in Hayes for a SLEEPER. Smothers gets out and corners Hayes, but misses a clothesline and gets popped once again. Garvin gets back in there and covers for 2, then goes to a chinlock. Garvin then draws the other two into the ring, and switches places with Badstreet, who gives Smothers a neckbreaker for 2. Smothers tries a sunset flip that gets 2, but Hayes tags right back in and hits him with chops. Hayes goes for the DDT, but Smothers backdrops him and finally makes the tag out to Armstrong. Armstrong backdrops Hayes, dropkicks Garvin, and dropkicks Badstreet. After a noggin-knocker, all six men wind up in the ring. The Pistols team up on Badstreet and hit him with a double shoulderblock, then go for Badstreet’s mask! While Armstrong does that, Hayes hits him with a clothesline, and teams up with Badstreet for a double DDT that gets the fall at 13:43.
Hayes then backdrops Smothers over the top immediately after that, and gets caught doing it. So, he gets disqualified at 13:54. In some ways, Hayes was protected by that finish.
Now Smothers is in there with Badstreet, who slams him. Badstreet then heads up top, and hits Smothers with a double axehandle. Garvin tags in, but Smothers beats up both guys, only for Dink to distract the referee and stop the tag. Double DDT for Smothers, and that’s it for him at 15:20.
Dustin flies into the ring with a clothesline of Garvin, and eliminates him at 15:28!
We’re down to the last two guys, and Badstreet boots Dustin in the face. Now he heads up top, and there’s another double axehandle. Badstreet drops an elbow on him for 2, then slams Dustin. He heads up top again, and gets hit on the way down this time. Dustin hits Badstreet with the lariat, and Dink gets on the apron to distract the referee long enough for a 2 count. Dustin then BULLDOGS Badstreet and dropkicks Dink at the same time, which gets him the victory at 17:03!
My Thoughts: This wasn’t completely terrible, but it was far too long. There were also some major logic gaps. Why would Hayes immediately backdrop Smothers over the top when they had an advantage? Why would there be a lack of eliminations for so long? The Freebirds were getting face reactions for quite a long time. Why weren’t they turned face? Stuff like that bothers me. Dustin’s push was also completely absurd. Every single time he was part of the match, he got the better of the action. How realistic is that? He wasn’t that much bigger than these guys and he was demonstrably less experienced. *1/2, this show is a trash pile outside of one match, which wasn’t even good itself. This simply isn’t good wrestling, nor is it good booking.
Johnny B. Badd (w/Teddy Long) vs. Yellow Dog in a BOUNTY MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: This sounds potentially entertaining, but I really don’t feel like seeing this right now. For some insane reason, the Yellow Dog is walking out…a yellow dog. Bury Pillman even worse, what a fucking disgrace. The bounty is for the mask, so if he loses it, he’s out of WCW and Johnny B. Badd makes money. Laughing hard at Jim Ross talking shit about the fan who had a positive Johnny B. Badd sign. That’s amazing. Hey, it’s Vlad the Super Fan! Maybe he liked Johnny B. Badd. The announcers also were sure to mention that people thought Brian Pillman and the Yellow Dog were one and the same.
Match Review: Badd’s trunks are such that they’re nearly thong underwear. Oh dear. These two lock up, and the Dog slaps him. Badd comes back with kicks, a hip toss, and a bodyslam. The Dog comes back with his own hip toss, a nice dropkick, and a big chop. Badd leaves the ring and hugs his manager, which gets him ready to go back to work. The Dog takes him down with a sunset flip that gets 2, then Badd blocks a cradle. He gets distracted by his manager, so the Dog dropkicks him into Long. Now the Dog wants to focus on Long, and Badd hits the Dog with a clothesline. Back in the ring, and they trade chops for a bit, until the Dog misses a cross body. Now Badd heads up top, and comes down with a great looking sunset flip that gets 2. The Dog takes Badd down with an arm drag, and Badd reverses to a chinlock. He teases pulling the mask off, but is given a jawbreaker. Badd hits the Dog with a high knee in response, and misses a punch, leading to the Dog taking him down with a GERMAN SUPLEX. Badd fights back and misses a clothesline, so the Dog hits him with a spinning wheel kick. The Dog then backdrops Badd and heads up top, coming down with a cross body. Long rushes in to grab the mask, getting Badd disqualified at 6:00. Figures. The Dog clotheslines him, then Badd knocks him to the outside with a left hand. The mask was not claimed.
My Thoughts: I was sufficiently entertained by this match, although it too was not any good. Badd looked so green and so out of place. Nothing he did looked smooth, other than the nice sunset flip. His mannerisms were great, but if you can’t have a match that looks professional, I don’t know. *. Highest rating so far is **, take that for what it’s worth. It’s a matter of the show being booked in a way that did not allow for quality matches.
Eric Bischoff is in the back once more, and he’s going to conduct an interview with Missy Hyatt in her locker room. It’s an inverse of what happened at the last show! Some chick read a love letter from Jason Hervey to Missy, which seems like quite a mean thing to show on PPV. Bischoff is supposed to meet Missy in the shower, I suppose. She has black hair now! Bischoff says he wants to talk to her, she starts throwing stuff at him, and he has to leave.
Black Blood vs. Big Josh in a LUMBERJACK MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: The lumberjacks for this are Dick Murdoch, Black Bart, Junkyard Dog, Bobby Eaton, PN News, Dick Slater, Dustin Rhodes, and Richard Morton. I have no idea what I did to deserve this. How could this possibly be any good? Josh enters with lumberjills that are wearing…interesting outfits. He looks happy. Does this mean he’s not jobbing this time? Remember his jobbing face the last time. Blood has an executioner’s mask on and what looks like a very real axe.
Match Review: Blood attacks Josh, then throws him right to the outside. Now the heels beat Josh up, then throw him in. Josh gets thrown to the other side, and the lumberjacks there help him back in. There are too few lumberjacks. Blood and Josh chop each other, and Josh hip tosses Blood. After a dropkick, Blood tumbles to the outside and the heels don’t even put him in the ring. They chop each other again, and Josh trips Blood, then stomps on him. Josh clotheslines Blood back out to the floor, and both sides of lumberjacks throw him in. The lumberjack stuff is more exciting than the match. Blood drops Josh face-first on a turnbuckle, then press slams him onto the ropes. After a knee lift by Blood, he knocks Josh to the outside. Blood suplexes Josh back into the ring, and we have a brawl between the lumberjacks. Blood smashes Josh’s face into the mat a few times, then drops a leg on him. Josh boots Blood in the face after that, and follows with a back elbow. Josh then runs into a big boot on a charge to the corner, and the lumberjacks fight again! Blood takes Josh over with a GERMAN SUPLEX, and Blood has his AXE. He tries to take Big Josh out with it, but Dustin Rhodes hits him with Big Josh’s axehandle. Josh cradles Black Blood up, and picks up the 3 count at 5:39.
My Thoughts: This match sucked too, but at least they did some nice moves. Maybe one nice move with the German suplex. I don’t know anymore. I really cannot believe the shit I’m watching here. Of course, Dustin Rhodes helping Big Josh win is part of the push. I detest it. It really did kill the feel of these shows to see him get pushed so strongly. 1/2*. The lumberjack match is simply not a PPV gimmick, especially in this era where the rosters were small enough to get everyone on the show without having to be used as a lumberjack.
One Man Gang (w/Kevin Sullivan) vs. El Gigante
Pre-Match Thoughts: This sounds bad enough to be entertaining. I don’t think you could book a worse PPV than this. Even the other contenders for worst PPV of all-time had things that sounded good on paper. This had three matches that sound good on paper, and two of those are yet to come. At least bad PPV’s are easy to get through in their own way. I’ve felt no need to pause or anything. Gang and Sullivan have a truly demented thing going on. Bischoff gets the pleasure of interviewing them, and Sullivan does an insane sounding interview that he obviously enjoys doing. El Gigante has some…dwarfs accompanying him to the ring.
Match Review: Those dwarves start biting Gang’s butt, which gets a pop out of the crowd. Now it’s time for a shitty wrestling match. Gang tries to leave, but Gigante throws him back in from the ramp. After some collision spots, Gang falls out to the floor. Gigante follows and slowly chases Gang around the ring, then hip tosses Gang when they get back in there. Gigante misses a charge to the corner, and Gang hits him with a clothesline from the second rope. Gang then hits Gigante with a wrench, blocking it from the sight of the official. Eventually he hits Gigante in the knee with it, and Sullivan gets a shot in too. Gang then splashes Gigante, and gets a 2 count out of it. Gang heads up top for something, and Gigante gets up to slam him down in a very fake looking bit where Gigante just didn’t have the timing. He hits Gang with a back elbow, then gives him a suplex. Sullivan gets up top and Gigante crotches him, then gives the two foes a noggin-knocker. Gang now has some powder, but Gigante kicks it into his face and clotheslines him for 3 at 6:14.
My Thoughts: While this match really was awful, they tried. I can’t hate on their effort. It was just a matter of Gang being stuck with somebody who shouldn’t have been in the ring. It also goes to show that the booking wasn’t the problem with this show. There was also a lack of talent. If these two had been in separate matches, that’s still two bad matches. That’s my take, anyway. DUD.
Nikita Koloff vs. Sting in a RUSSIAN CHAIN MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: To get a victory in this match, the wrestler has to touch all four corners consecutively. About time we get to another match I’m interested in seeing. They play a video before this match that goes over their feud, and the events of SuperBrawl. Even showing that video is way better than this show deserves. They didn’t show the video of Sting beating Nikita at the last Clash, only Nikita’s victories, which all came outside of the ring. That’s an…interesting perspective. It’s really obvious that WCW has completely avoided showing one side of the arena during this broadcast.
Match Review: This beings with a tug-o-war, and eventually both guys forget about it and start talking trash. They exchange low blows, and go to the outside. Sting drops Nikita on the rail two times, and they go back inside for Sting to ram Nikita’s head into the buckle ten times. Sting chokes Nikita with the chain, and decides to start going for turnbuckles. After tapping two, Nikita grabs the ropes and stops Sting. Nikita clotheslines Sting with the chain, and kicks Sting back out to the floor, where he rams him into the rail. Nikita clotheslines Sting with the chain again, but Sting rams him into the rail now. He then posts Nikita, and back inside they go. Nikita gets in a few chain shots and drops an elbow with it, before going to a choke. Finally Nikita misses an elbow drop, and Sting has the chain in position to use it as a low blow. Some of the fans really liked that. Nikita comes back with some punches and starts touching turnbuckles, getting to three of them before Sting kicks him. Nikita and Sting start both touching corners at the same time with Nikita having Sting in a bear hug, then Nikita hits Sting with a low blow. Sting returns the favor! So many low blows. The corner count is still at two, and both simultaneously touch the third. Sting tries to dump Koloff to the outside in order to touch the fourth more easily, but Nikita blocks it. Nikita hits Sting with the SICKLE, but Sting gets up quickly. He hits Nikita with the STINGER SPLASH, but at the same time, that causes Nikita to hit the last turnbuckle before Sting does. Therefore, Nikita wins the match! 11:46 was the time.
Nikita attacks Sting after the bout, but Sting looks ready for it. He starts beating Nikita up, and gives him an atomic drop. Time for another chain-assisted low blow! After that, Sting left.
My Thoughts: Finally a decent match after more than two hours of waiting. These guys worked hard, and without blood, they put on an acceptable chain match. There was actually a demand from the state of Maryland that there be no blood on this show or it would be shut down. Maryland still has oversight over wrestling to this day I believe, and one of their restrictions at the time was pertaining to blood. They also had another that would come into play later in this show. With that being the case, low blows were what had to be used, and there sure were a lot of them. In a roundabout way, Sting was put over here. **1/2.
Barry Windham vs. Lex Luger (WCW US Champion) for the vacant WCW Championship in a STEEL CAGE MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: Not having blood in this match could turn out to be a major problem. The fans also didn’t accept the idea of Flair not being part of this show. Will they turn on this match? Both of these guys deserved to be the champion, but only one was going to get it. This cage looked broken, and their lowering of it looked dangerous. These guys did have a great match two years before this, I reviewed it and loved it. The chants of “we want Flair” started while the cage was being lowered. It took so long for it to be lowered that Schiavone and Ross and to go through everything in their memory in order to carry the broadcast. In the graphic, they spelled Barry Windham’s name wrong. How the fuck does that happen? HAHA at the new title belt they’re using. It’s the Western States Championship with plates on it. Why would they even show that?
Match Review: The chants are just getting louder and louder. Eventually Windham and Luger lock up, and Windham tries a shoulderblock that doesn’t knock Luger down. Windham goes for a suplex, but neither man can suplex the other. Luger takes Windham over with a hip toss, but Windham comes back with a nice dropkick. Luger reverses a bodyslam attempt into a cradle that gets 1, then takes Windham down with a bodyslam. Luger misses an elbow drop, and the pace of this is giving off the idea that it might be a 30 minute match. They trade punches for a bit, then Windham takes Luger down with a backdrop. He then takes Luger over with a headlock, but Luger reverses to a head-scissors only for Windham to smack him. Windham then goes for a suplex, but Luger reverses to his own. Windham goes for a bodyslam and tries a FIGURE-FOUR, but Luger kicks out of it. The pace of this match is really odd, and I can’t shake it. Luger then blocks a kick and gives Windham an atomic drop, so Windham has to try a headlock. When Luger gets out of it, he puts a sleeper on Windham. Luger lets go, and Windham goes to his own sleeper! Luger smashes Windham’s face into the buckle to break it, then gives him a DDT for 2. Luger now heads to the top rope, and Windham slams him down from there. Windham drops a knee for 2, then heads up top himself. Windham goes for a huge flying elbow, but Luger moves out of the way. Luger backdrops Windham, and clotheslines him a few times for a 2 count. Luger follows that with a back elbow for another 2 count, then powerslams Windham for 2 again. Now Luger has Windham in the TORTURE RACK, but Windham kicks off the cage and flips out to give Luger a back suplex. Luger then decides to place Windham on the top turnbuckle, and Windham pushes Luger down when he tries to follow up with a superplex. Windham hits Luger with a flying clothesline from the top, follows with a backdrop, and hits Luger with yet another clothesline. Windham slams Luger for 2, and heads up top yet again. This time he lands a dropkick, but Luger kicks out at 2! Now we have Harley Race and Mr. Hughes walking down the ramp for some reason. Windham looks at Hughes, and Harley talks to Luger, who knees Windham from behind. Luger follows that with a PILEDRIVER, and wins the WCW Championship at 12:24!
My Thoughts: The fans popped big for Luger’s win, so they didn’t understand that he was turning heel. Why would they understand, anyway? Luger was very over as a babyface and far more popular than Windham. It’s hard to turn someone heel in that sort of situation. These two did have a good match, although the cage was unnecessary as it wasn’t used a single time. In some ways, it got in the way. In others, it allowed Windham and Luger to more easily do spots from the top rope as they didn’t have to worry about their balance. I also thought the two guys worked really hard. It’s just that the booking of this match, like all the others, didn’t make any sense. *** for me, the only thing really worth seeing on this card. Luger definitely deserved to be champion, but the pop for his victory was not even remotely sustained. They wanted Flair.
Arn Anderson & Paul E. Dangerously vs. Rick Steiner (WCW Tag Team Champion) & Missy Hyatt in a STEEL CAGE MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is quite the walkout match for fans. I would have left early to beat traffic. This whole thing is stupid, but after having Paul antagonize Missy, they had to blow the feud off. Rick Steiner also had to be doing something here. Missy having black hair just doesn’t look right.
Match Review: Oh great, Dick Murdoch and Dick Slater are here. They’re kidnapping Missy Hyatt! That makes sense, given their feud with the Steiners. RICK STEINER GETS NO HELP. Some fan got involved and tried to stop it, but security wasn’t going to allow that. Steiner looks happy about that for some reason. He and Arn start the match, and Steiner blocks a cage shot attempt. Steiner then powerslams Arn, but Arn knees him from behind thanks to a distraction from his partner. Paul heads up top and hits Steiner from behind with his cell phone, and he gives a cowboy boot to Arn. Steiner hits Arn with a STEINERLINE to stop that, and focuses on poor Paul. Steiner slams Paul, and hits him with a big STEINERLINE for the win at 2:09.
That’s the end of the show!
My Thoughts: First, the reason Missy Hyatt was carried to the back must be explained. Due to commission oversight, man vs. woman matches were not allowed. They had to get out of it somehow, but how dumb is it that they didn’t know? Maybe they did. I really cannot understand why this match closed the show. It wasn’t even long enough to be a match. DUD for what has to be one of the weakest main events ever. There is no justifiable reason for this to be the main event. It should have gone on before the title match, I don’t know why it didn’t.
WCW with Dusty Rhodes in charge was a complete disaster and he was in way over his head. He was booking matches that had gimmicks that weren’t used. He booked gimmick matches for the sole purpose of having his son help wrestlers win those matches. He put his son over three people too. He booked a guy to win the championship and turn heel, who was cheered extremely loudly when he won. As pointed out in the Observer, WCW had a commitment to false advertising. In their poll, not a single person said this was as good show. The main event is a prime example of that. This show also completely deserves its reputation. I know I’ve never seen a worse PPV. There’s one good match, and one decent one. The rest was varying levels of trash. Terribly booked, terrible matches with poorly matched workers. I can’t believe anyone thought this would work. Maybe Dusty just didn’t know how to make the company a success anymore. He was given complete control and it got worse and worse. Next up for me, it’s WWF matches leading up to SummerSlam.
Wrestling Time: 1:40:56. 12 minutes of this was good, to put that into perspective.
Best: Lex Luger vs. Barry Windham. By default!
Worst: Scaffold match. Nothing comes close, but there was so much bad stuff here that on any other show it would have been hard to choose.
Card Rating: 1.5/10. There is one good match. There are far more bad ones. Maybe there are PPV’s with no good matches. I do wonder.
