Andrew Lutzke
This article series is me, a couch, a remote, possibly an adult beverage and some random Wrasslin’ I decide to watch. I won’t bore you with play by play, instead I’ll offer random observations and memories – and an occasional dose of arm chair re-booking.
My latest project I plan to undertake is to review the Monday Night Wars (at least up to 1997 and maybe 1998) from there start – but before I dive into that plan, I want to look back at a PPV that represented WCW’s attempt to cash in on the cult popularity of ECW.
With Hulkamania withering on the vine in 1991, Hogan wisely agreed to take time off (the bad P.R. from the WWF’s steroid scandal playing a big role as well of course) and Vince tried to stay the course with Randy Savage elevated to top babyface and The Ultimate Warrior as top monster heel killer. McMahon tried to rebuild the WWF machine in 1992 by bringing in Kamala, Nailz, The Head Shrinkers, Yokozuna, Razor Ramon, Papa Shango and others while sending Ted DiBiase, The Road Warriors, The Mountie, Roddy Piper, Sid (not by choice), Jake Roberts and other established acts to the wrestling version of the glue factory. By year’s end Warrior had flaked out for the second time in as many years and Vince was starting to view Savage as too old to be his company ace (Savage was in his early 40’s in 92). Ric Flair was sent back to WCW for a similar reason around that same timeframe. Needing a new face for his company, McMahon chose to give tag team experts turned single stars Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels the ball – but before Bret could try and score a touchdown with his chance, the Hulkster came back to the WWF and stole Bret’s promotional thunder.
Bret suffered a World title loss to the massive Yokozuna and Hogan immediately defeated the faux sumo star in a matter of seconds to re-claim the WWF title. Hogan then basically disappeared from WWF TV and did little to breathe new fire into the Hulkamania brand. Vince retaliated by removing the belt from Hogan in June and shuffling Hogan off to Hollywood to make campy TV shows and crappy B-movies.
Mean while in 1992 WCW enjoyed a tremendous in ring product featuring a roster of fantastic workers like Bobby Eaton, Dick Slater, Ricky Steamboat, Brian Pillman, The Steiner Brothers, Terry Gordy, Terry Taylor, Steve Austin, Steve Williams, Greg Valentine, Brad Armstrong, Vader, Tracy Smothers, Cactus Jack, Matt Bourne, Barry Windham, Rick Rude, a pre-Raven Scotty Flamingo, The Barbarian and a rapidly improving Dustin Rhodes – not to mention special appearances from Jushin Liger, Tatsumi Fujinami, Dean Malenko, The Great Muta and Shinya Hashimoto. With that kind of line up, WCW should have been able to mix and match to create any number of fantastic matches, however their golden boy Sting wasn’t the draw they envisioned on top of the cards and Bill Watts’ experiment with Ron Simmons on top was also a flop so it seemed no amount of **** matches would capture the public’s attention.
Eric Bischoff took over in 1993 and tried to make The British Bulldog and Sid Vicious his new drawing cards but both flamed out and WCW had to turn to Ric Flair to save the day. Meanwhile WCW lost millions and the booking in 1993 was generally god-awful and a lot of the solid workers that made WCW so watchable in 1992 were released in favor of pushes for Paul Roma, Tugboat, Dave Sullivan, Marcus Bagwell, Charlie Norris, Ice Train, The future Godwinns, The Kongs and The Nasty Boyz. So in other words – complete shit. The good workers they did bring in (Chris Benoit and 2 Cold Scorpio) were regulated to mid-card status at best.
Starrcade 1993 seemed to spark WCW back into the groove of putting on quality matches and WCW was looking like Steve Austin, Brian Pillman and Mick Foley were in position to be elevated to the main event level – the Hollywood Blonds were feuding with each other and were able to try and steal the show while sharing ring time with the Stings and Rick Rudes of the world on PPVs. Meanwhile Foley was having wild matches with the Nasty Boyz with both Maxx Payne and Kevin Sullivan as his partners. He had turned a cult following into some real tangible popularity. Flair and Vader were putting on great bouts on top of the card and the Big Bossman was signed to add another solid upper mid-carder with good workrate into the mix. Steve Regal was carving a niche for himself as TV champ and having many entertaining TV bouts in that role. Johnny B. Badd started to show flashes of workrate, Dustin Rhodes was proving to be a very good hand in the ring and he was having entertaining matches with Bunkhouse Buck and Terry Funk. Tully Blanchard was even offered a contract and had that worked out, Tully could have potentially offered a litany of fresh and entertaining matches for the fans.
After the Flair/Vader program wrapped up, WCW found itself with a stale upper card as Sting was working with Vader and Rude on PPV AGAIN and Flair had already worked with Sting, Rude, and Pillman – that left Dustin who was a babyface and Flair wasn’t ready to turn heel quite yet for that program that felt to me like a natural (pardon the pun) given Flair’s history with Dusty. Also available was Foley, but he was not seen by Flair as an acceptable upper card player. Meanwhile Austin seemed to be penciled in to perhaps be the man a little further down the road, so Flair instead turned to Ricky Steamboat to try and re-capture the magic they shared in the 70’s and 1989. As the Steamboat program wrapped up, Flair and Bischoff decided to make an attempt to bring in Hulk Hogan for what was intended to be a brief run (IIRC). The rumors of Hogan’s imminent arrival led to WCW showing their carny roots and promoting Ric Flair vs. “A tall blond” mystery challenger at Slamboree ’94 – instead of Hogan the fans got a bloated Barry Windham making a special appearance. Hogan came in for real in late Spring.
Hogan arriving saw his buddies claim jobs and suddenly The Honky Tonk Man, Brutus Beefcake, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Earthquake, Kamala and others came in (Even Mr.T!) Meanwhile the rest of 1994 and into 1995 saw Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Ron Simmons, Johnny B, Badd and others jump to ECW and eventually the WWF and become the foundation for the 1997 rebuilding of the WWF empire. Fear not though WCW fans as WCW still had DAVE “EVAD” SULLIVAN there to work a main event angle and guys like Craig Pittman and a still-shitty DDP to take up mid-card spots until around the summer of 1995 when Bischoff suddenly signed a plethora of talented workers like Benoit, Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and others to save the sluggish work rate and provide new faces for his Hail Mary – WCW Nitro.
But I’ll cover that in depth when I start the Monday Night Wars project. On to the show!
This PPV actually embarrassed WCW pretty thoroughly, as they had captured a lot of momentum by signing so many recognizable WWF guys – add to that the WWF having an up and down 1994 thanks to their ringleader Vince McMahon spending months on end preparing for his federal trial. The stench of the ringboy scandal and other homosexual harassment issues also loomed overhead. The WWF roster was tiny and lacking in star power (that year’s Royal Rumble featuring names like The Blu Brothers, Duke “The Dumpster” Droese, Kwang, Mo, Well Dunn, Aldo Montoya and the beyond played out Bushwhackers) and WCW had Ted Turner’s money ready to scoop up anyone else who considering jumping ship from the wounded WWF. McMahon then made a genius move to ensure that the WWF could recapture the attention of America by secretly signing NFL legend Lawrence Taylor and running a “worked shoot” angle with Bam Bam Bigelow at the Rumble. In the following months leading to Wrestlemania, this angle and LT’s involvement netted the WWF tons of free mainstream attention on ESPN, CNN, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition and dozens of others programs. The eyes of the world once again were on the WWF, which might be a good thing considering this debacle of a PPV WCW presented only 2 weeks before Wrestlemania.
WCW Uncensored ‘95
The ad for this PPV plugs a “Martial Arts Rules” match with clips of Hulk Hogan hitting Brutus “The Butcher” Beefcake with a chair – I am amused.
Bobby Heenan, Tony Shillvone and Mike Tenay plug the debut of THE RENEGADE – “The Ultimate Surprise”. If you weren’t privy to WCW TV during the build up to this PPV, it included a lot of Hogan promos with a shadowy figure doing the Ultimate Warrior’s mannerisms. Warrior coming in probably didn’t seem all that unlikely given the glut of WWF cast-offs that WCW had signed in the previous year or so. I can’t hate on carnies being carnies.
KING OF THE ROAD MATCH: Dustin Rhodes vs. Barry “Blacktop Russian Repo Smasher Bully Man” Darsow:
This of course infamously took place on the back of a semi in a caged wagon with hay bales and straw all over the place. Winner has to honk a horn. I’d love to know how much WCW paid to close a road down for this. They even rented a helicopter. Dustin piledrives Darsow on a pile of straw – pretty sure I did that to my cousins back on the farm too. Heenan tries hard to sell this but it’s just guys hitting each other with farming plunder and doing moves on hay that don’t look painful due to the soft appearing surroundings. The guys take bumps whenever the truck turns. WCW edited this to avoid showing Dustin bleeding (because you wouldn’t want any blood on a hardcore themed PPV) and things go from light and dark as the sun goes down and camera angles change. Lots of far away shots also due to the blood, so we really miss the action. The semi stops totally to let a church bus pass. (LOL). Darsow hangs off the edge of the trailer and we are one press of the breaks away from a disaster. Darsow finally pulls the horn to earn the win. IIRC both men were fired for Dustin’s blading. I want to say Mike Graham or some other agent okay’d the blood and was fired as well. This was terrible but in such a way that it was awesome. 10 billion stars~!
Martial Arts Rules: The MONSTA’ MENG vs. Jim “Kung Fu” Duggan:
An unrecognizable Sonny Oono is the special ref. Duggan is wearing an outfit closer to his Mid-South apparel and thus looks like a badass biker and not a putz. Duggan is racist so he won’t bow as is the custom for a karate match apparently. Duggan finally bows and gets kicked in the face for his effort. There are apparently pinfalls in martial arts. Duggan takes his boot off and beats Meng with it, another little known staple of the martial arts. Meng works a Jitsu resthold and Heenan explains that Meng no sells everything due to meditation blocking out the pain. Duggan threatens to toss the ref out of the ring. Meng no sells the charging closeline and Col. Parker and the ref hold back Duggan’s arms so Meng can thrust kick him for the pin. This was plodding but inoffensive.
Wrestler vs. Boxer Rules: Arn Anderson (WCW TV champ) vs. Johnny B. Badd:
This should just be a “What stipulation can we use to find a way for Arn Anderson to actually have a bad match? Match”. Badd is wearing boxing gloves and the match can end via KO or pin. Arn covers up during Badd’s flurries like a boxer would – the psychology is a little odd here as Arn has bare fists and thus in theory should be able to KO Badd easier, but instead Badd’s padded fists are doing the damage. Heenan and Tony actually compare this to the Antonio Inoki vs. Muhammed Ali “match” from the mid-70’s. This basically ends up being a worked version of the “Brawl for All”.
Badd seems to be tossing some fairly real shots to Arn’s body. Arn is basically selling this whole contest so far. Arn DDT’s Badd in between rounds and tosses him out of the ring – then reminds the ref that there are no rules on this PPV. Arn uses a stool to batter Badd and Badd’s boxing coach attacks Arn. Arn attacks during the rest period again and Badd’s coach puts the spit bucket on Arn’s head and Johnny rocks him with a punch, then KO’s him with a gloveless taped fist. Business picked up in the second half of this.
Randy Savage’s promo proves he’s both roided out and coked out tonight.
Randy “Macho Man” Savage vs. John “Avalanche” Tenta:
Not only did WCW “borrow” Tenta’s WWF gimmick, but his music was pretty much a rip off of his Earthquake theme as well. Tenta talks smack so Randy bops him in the nose in a cute spot. Tenta bumps over the top rope to show he has his working boots on. Tenta with a DROPKICK!! Lucha Quake! Savage sells a ton as Quake gets his fat man offense in. Tenta’s such a talented big man it’s a shame that this is pretty much his end of relevance as a upper card worker – other than a brief run with Bubba and The Giant right before the N.W.O. overtook WCW. A “woman” attacks Savage and is revealed to be Ric Flair who is “retired” from wrestling and banned from the building per WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel .
Not sure why Flair had to wear a dress since tonight WCW had no say in the event rules according to the PPV ads. Actually maybe WCW should have booked Flair to “un-retire” for one night since they had no say and use Flair’s return as a lure for PPV buys. Savage is beatdown by Flair and Tenta until they run away at the sight of Hulk Hogan. Savage wins by DQ on a night where there are no rules. Oh WCW!
WCW impresses me by using material from the previous September to justify Bubba turning on Sting a full 6 months or so later. Mike Tenay is pretty new to WCW at this point and isn’t very smooth as the backstage interviewer – where the Hell is Mean Gene?!?!?
The Man Called Sting vs. Big Bubba:
The ring announcer dubs this a “super contest”. Sting wears Bubba’s hat and smashes it for good measure. They botch the ringpost crotch shot spot. This is Bubba’s last run on top as a heel as well – he’d get lost in the Dungeon of Doom and nWo shuffle soon after this. Somehow his 1998 return to the WWF gave Bubba some new juice and he had a decent run there for a bit. These guys can work but they don’t seem to be clicking here. Lots of knee work on Sting but Bubba doesn’t have a submission to finish with. Heenan tries to cover for the silent crowd. Sting goes from being in a leg lock to jumping off the top rope in a nanosecond because Sting is clearly an idiot. Sting’s knee gives out on a slam and Bubba gets the pin. The crowd that was already quiet is in stunned silence except for one mullet rocking fan who is ecstatic at Bubba’s win.
Texas Tornado Match: The Nasty Boyz vs. Harlem Heat:
Should I be embarrassed to be a mark for The Nasty Boyz WCW theme?
The rules are all four men are legal at once and lots and lots of plunder can be used. Since this is just a kick and punch match, I amuse myself by comprehending what had happened if Vince McMahon had not sabotaged JCP’s PPV attempts in the 80’s and thus kept the Crockett’s in business until they could hire Paul Heyman to book.
Sherri takes the “Pit stop” from the Nasty Boyz like a trooper! They brawl over to a gimmick concession stand that is clearly just a prop set up for this match. This is a homage to the “Tupelo concession stand brawl” that was an infamous match for the Memphis promotion back in the early 80’s.
Stevie Ray uses a stack of cotton candy as a weapon in a clearly well thought out move. The crack WCW production crew miss the pin and poor Sherri is tossed through a mustard covered patch of cement and lands right on her coccyx (ass bone). After 4,349 of these matches during the Monday Night Wars this match was just kind of there.
VADER and Flair cut a promo on Hogan – 23 World titles between the two of them and they both want to end Hogan. Flair is wearing eye shadow since he clearly went all out in his cross-dressing.
Not quite Yappapi Indian Strap Match: (Not even taking place in Vader’s White Castle of Fear) Hulk Hogan vs. VADER:
Flair just comes out with Vader despite being banned from the building. Doug Dillinger should be fired. Hulk is without Jimmy Hart because Vader kidnapped him last night. Hogan has a Mexican stand off with Flair and Vader until an Ultimate Warrior rip off music plays and RENEGADE charges out to chase Flair away. The fans pop briefly until they realize the ruse. Of course being a flop depressed Renegade so much that he killed himself, so an air of tragedy hangs over this angle. Flair sells for Renegade with all his will and might but the concept is doomed. Not even teaming with Joe Gomez could save Renegade’s career!
Hogan ruined this whole feud very early on when he no sold a Vader power bomb during a Clash of the Champions event – and that was before they had faced on TV or PPV even once! Even as a mark I felt it killed Vader’s aura.
(4:30 in)
Jimmy Hart runs out and has clearly been ravaged based on his clothes. Heenan has been selling the shit out of all these angles for the duration of this PPV – a commendable job considering what he has to work with. Vader is bumping all over the place for Hogan in an attempt to not have this mess completely stink. Heenan makes a slavery joke about whipping…Renegade NO SELLS VADER! Fuck that! Hogan no sells a suplex to set up the Hulking up segment. A masked man attacks Renegade with a chair. Hogan no sells a Flair chair shot and whips the crap out of Flair. Flair is then tied to the strap and Hogan drags Flair to all four corners in order to defeat Vader…well that’s one way to get around jobbing Vader again. Hogan is double teamed after the match and Hogan makes his own comeback before the Renegade can make the save. Then the masked man runs out again…suddenly Arn Anderson starts to hop down the aisle hog tied and the masked man is revealed to be Macho Man and the WCW production team misses Savage clearing the ring. Hogan, Savage and Renegade celebrate as we end the PPV.
Final Thoughts: This PPV certainly was a turd, but it was like one of those turds that massages your prostate on the way out and gives you that strange moment of pleasure. In other words, I enjoyed this mess in spite of itself and now I’m ready to dive into The Monday Night Wars!
