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And for the first year ever WWF had some really solid work with longer Bret Hart matches, Michaels emerging, Bulldog being okay, Flair being around, Savage still working decently, Jake, etc.
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This is why I love 1991. It's the perfect mix of classic WCW, and the total WrestleCrap they always seemed to produce when they were trying to compete with the WWF and win over kids.
Great American Bash is so fucking bad, it crosses over into the threshold of being good. Same for Havoc & Starrcade. I love me some BattleBowl.
I almost picked 1992 for the sole reason of ripping to shreds the TERRIBLE Rick Rude vs Masa Chono match at Halloween Havoc. Probably the worst match with people who don't suck that i've ever seen.Comment
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1992 had a GOAT stipulation in the WWF @ Summerslam. Michaels v. Rick The Model where neither guy could hit the other one in the face.
Fucking awesome.Comment
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1992 was easily soooooo great and arguably the best WWF year until the roster became incredible less than a decade later.
You had EVERYTHING. Top names, great workers, fun storylines, guys emerging up the card and memorable happenings....even with them avoiding Hogan/Flair on TV
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Ah, nostalgia. I remember being a fan of The Natural Dustin Rhodes and Ice Train as a kid. I had pretty bad taste, apparently. 91 WCW was probably my first memories of watching wrestling as a kid. I don't even want to re-watch it, because I know it'll never be as awesome as I remember it. 92/93 WWF is the same way, but I've re-watched a lot of it. I remember being super excited when the Steiners came to WWF in 92 (?), and had great matches with Bret/Owen, The Heavenly Bodies, and a largely forgotten but great cage match against Money Inc. One of the better cage matches I've seen, because of how well it incorporated the tag team element. The Heavenly Bodies were the shit, too, in retrospect.Comment
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World Championship Wrestling - January 12, 1991
I panic a little when I see Jim Ross standing by himself following the cold open, but i'm put at ease when he informs me that my new favorite announcer, Bob Caudle, is simply taking a week off and will return next week.
Also, the show is only 90 minutes this week, due to a Hawks/Knicks game that starts at 7:35. Four future NBA head coaches and three Hall of Famers played in that game: http://www.basketball-reference.com/...101120NYK.html
Our feature bout tonight is Sid Vicious vs Norman. Meh. Ross also tells us that they will be showing footage from the house show at the Meadowlands last night. House show footage? Hmm. Why on earth would they do that?
Flyin' Brian vs Mark Kyle
After many years of doing WCW jobs, Mark Kyle would get a mild push in Smoky Mountain Wrestling a few years after this as 'Killer' Kyle. Flyin' Brian was not rocking his tiger stripe trunks this week (or last week), but that doesn't stop Jim Ross from endlessly reminding us that he is a former Cincinnati Bengal. Ross tells us that Brian will be cheering on his former teammates when they face the Raiders in the playoffs tomorrow (they lost http://www.pro-football-reference.co...9101130rai.htm).
The story here is the lumbering Kyle can't keep up with the speedy Brian. Kyle complains to the ref that Brian is grabbing the tights for leverage, but Nick Patrick is having none of it. Brian hits a crossbody from the top rope, and picks up the win. This man is being pushed.
Ricky Morton vs "Wild" Bill Irwin
We are told Robert Gibson is rehabbing a knee injury, caused by those dastardly Freebirds, so Morton is on his own. He's got some tough competition today in Wild Bill Irwin, a scrappy veteran of many territories and former AWA World Tag Team champ. Irwin would later go on to work in the WWF as THE GOON, during that mid 90's era when Vince was determined to tick the box of every remaining profession that hadn't been covered by a gimmick up to that point, including hockey player, garbage man (Duke "The Dumpster" Droese), plumber (TL Hopper), baseball player (Abe "Knuckleball" Schwartz), and whatever Freddy Joe Floyd and Alex "The Pug" Pourteau were supposed to be.
Wild Bill dominates the action, and appears to be on the verge of an upset. Some very 90's looking women with huge hair and shoulder pads are shown shrieking 'Riiiiiickeeeey!' in the front row. After a long heat spot (with enough chin locks to make Randy Orton blush), Morton hot tags himself, and makes a bit of a comeback, but he is cut off (leading to another chin lock). Irwin is great here, interacting with the crowd and showing tremendous charisma. Irwin has Morton beat, but decides to bypass a pin attempt in favor of dishing out more punishment. He climbs the top rope, taunts Morton, and if you've seen one wrestling match in your life you can probably figure out what happens next. Morton rolls out of the way, and quickly cradles Irwin to steal the win. Ross says Irwin will be kicking himself when he watches the tape back, and that Morton is headed to 'the pay window'. Good match. I liked how Morton sold forever, even in a singles match.
Renegade Warriors vs The State Patrol
I got very excited when I saw Lt James Earl Wright & Sgt Buddy Lee Parker, because The State Patrol rules. But I was very disappointed when the Renegade Warriors came out to face them. I really, really dislike the Youngbloods. At one point, State Patrol does a lucha style tag without an actual tag, which promoted Ross to remind us to stay tuned for the TBS debut of "Spanish star" Konnan. Later in the match, the Youngbloods do the same thing, and make a tag without actually tagging. Apparently the ref is ok with lucha rules for this match, so the hell with it, so am I. I hate the Youngbloods, so I fast forward. They won.
Paul E makes his first appearance, to interview the winners. He reminds them that they are facing the Horseman (Arn & Windham) at Clash of the Champions, and says "Let's face it, most people think you guys are in way over your heads". Tell em, Paul. Chris, or maybe it's Mark (I can't tell these guys apart, they look more identical than the Briscoes), or maybe it's Jay (well, it can't be Jay, he's dead), whichever Youngblood it was, he starts to scream about something something Horseman, something something we give our all every time, something something we have no charisma, before Arn Anderson & Barry Windham interrupt. Paul E pops for this as he is genuinely excited to see the Horseman show up. Oddly, Arn is wearing his gear, but Barry is looking like a dad at a Little League game with jeans, Member's Only jacket, and Nike Air Max. A brawl ensues, Paul E bails, the heels are run off, and the Youngbloods start screaming again. I will enjoy the upcoming loss at Clash immensely.
Z-Man vs Tom Burke
You know, Z-Man talked all that shit about being a fighting World TV champion, but in back to back weeks he has faced Dr. X and Tom Burke. Not exactly Thesz & Gotch, here. Every time Z-Man (or anybody else) lands a kick of any kind, Ross calls it a karate kick. Ross goes on to say that Antonio Inoki is the master of the karate kick. OK. Z-Man wins a sloppy match with his top rope drop (karate) kick. Zenk is way sloppier in the ring than I remember.
Paul E is interviewing Z-Man, who is stumbling through a bad promo, when Terry Taylor interrupts. Paul E pops again. He really seems like he is enjoying himself. Taylor is whining to Z-Man again about his lack of title shots. This brings out Bobby Eaton, who is facing Zenk at Clash. Eaton mumbles something. He's bad at talking. Taylor cons Eaton into putting up his title shot in a match against him later tonight. Eaton, for some reason, accepts this no win situation. Zenk agrees to face whoever wins, because he's a fighting champion and will face anybody, any time. I'll say (Dr. X, Tom Burke). Paul E goes into convulsions over the idea of Taylor vs Eaton. I feel ya, Paul.
Sid Vicious vs Norman
Flashback to three weeks ago, when Sid attacked Norman at ringside, who was dressed as Santa, and smashed his head into the ring post. Norman wants revenge.
Norman is doing his "trucker" gimmick at this point. In the pantheon of awful Mike Shaw gimmicks, this ranks somewhere in between Friar Furgeson and Bastion Booger. Sid is killing him. Norman rolls out of the ring and appears to be popping pills. Insert joke here. Ross tells us that Norman's mama gave him aspirin to fight off the headaches caused by the post shot shown earlier. What? Sid throws Norman head first into the post AGAIN. He rolls the big man into the ring, and wins with a legdrop. I think these head shots are leading up to a gimmick change.
It's time for the Meadowlands house show highlights Ross promised. They show footage of the "football challenge" between Big Cat (w/Paul E) & Luger (w/Lawrence Taylor). Both men are in full football pads, and to win you must knock your opponent over the top rope. Luger wins. They spend a good 5 minutes or so on this.
Now this is strange. The next highlight is Ric Flair beating Sting to win his seventh World Title. WHAT?! That's right, we have a new WORLD CHAMPION, and this is the first mention of this gigantic news in the entire show. Not only that, they show a brief clip of the finish, and immediately cut to commercial. No Flair promo, no Sting promo, nothing. AND THEN THEY NEVER TALK ABOUT IT AGAIN FOR THE REST OF THE SHOW. They spend a good five minutes on the Big Cat/Luger football thingy, including Ross breaking it down in detail with slow mo replays like Ron Jaworski breaking down Jaguars/Titans tape on Edge NFL Matchup, but the World Title change warrants a cursory mention in passing. I don't get it.
Konnan vs Joe Cazana
This was amazing, because it was a very young, very masked Konnan. He looked like a jacked up La Sombra, and moved like La Sombra too. I couldn't believe my eyes. He was doing things I can't even describe that would be state of the art some 22 years later. I saw plenty of Konnan from around 1993, 1994, sans mask, and he was basically the same immobile muscle head that everybody is familiar with. This begs the question, what happened to this man in 1992? That Cien Caras feud must have killed the poor guy. If Konnan had looked half this good as Max Moon, that gimmick would have been a smash hit. And after all that flying, he won the match with a perfectly (no pun intended) executed fisherman's buster. Watch this match right now.
Missy Hyatt is interviewing Alexandra York. Paul E interrupts and calls Hyatt a whore. She storms off saying "I thought this was just business, and you make it personal!" It's a shoot!
Rick Steiner vs Jeff Sword
Sword is a jobber straight out of central casting. Pasty, out of shape, bad hair cut, late 30's, generic gear, completely devoid of athleticism. I skipped this. We can safely assume Steiner won.
Terry Taylor vs Beautiful Bobby - winner gets World TV Title shot at Clash of the Champions
Notice it's Flyin' Brian, Z-Man, Beautiful Bobby, etc. WCW was clearly dipping the toes into the gimmick pool, but afraid to jump in. Bobby is announced as hailing from "The Darkside". lol. WCW is trying very hard to give some color to this very talented, yet pasty looking chubber. Some guys are just workhorses. And that's ok. Eaton looked 50 when he was 20. And even when he finally cut his awful mullet, you kinda wished he would grow it back, because with the short hair he looked like a 50 year old lesbian.
This one was unscheduled, so it's "tv time remaining". Ugh. I smell a draw. A minute in, the ring announcer does the old "Three minutes of TV time remaining, three minutes!" Yep, now I KNOW it's a draw. And it was. And it was awful. It was basically Eaton stalling out the time. Why did he accept the match in the first place? This was RAW levels of lack of logic. What a letdown.
Best Match - Konnan vs Joe Cazana. I still can't believe this guy was that Konnan.
Worst Match - Taylor vs Eaton. One long rest hold, no logic, ends in a draw. I would have had Taylor lose to give him more fuel for his crybaby gimmick.Comment
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So if i'm playing stupid and pretending i'm a brand new viewer, here are the champions:
World Television - Z-Man, who defeated Arn Anderson the week before I started watching.
World Heavyweight - Ric Flair, who defeated Sting in the Meadowlands, in a match that was apparently far less important than the Lex Luger/Big Cat football challenge on the same show.
World Tag Team - Doom? This was mentioned in passing during a Michael Hayes promo. It left such little impression on me that I didn't bother recapping it and i'm not even sure it's accurate.
Yes, i've only watched two shows so far, but the TV title is pushed much harder than the World title, with a pretty cool three way feud between Z-Man, Terry Taylor, and Beautiful Bobby. Sting was never mentioned until they showed him lose the title. Same for Flair.
I dig the lazer focus on the TV title, but they've done little in the way of pushing anything else.
Clash of the Champions is two weeks away. We have:
Renegade Warriors vs Arn & Barry
Z-Man vs Beautiful Bobby - World TV Title
Missy Hyatt vs Paul E in an ARM WRESTLING CHALLENGE
That's all I know!
On to Week 3...Comment
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World Championship Wrestling - January 19, 1991
TWO BIG HOURS today...but unfortunately uploader DixieGold01 has only provided hour number one.
Jim Ross is by himself again, which means he's a dirty liar, because he promised us that Bob Caudle would be back this week. That's bad news, but screw Caudle, because Ross also informs us that we have The Horsemen (Flair, Arn, Barry, Sid) vs Sting, Flyin' Brian, & The Steiners tonight. Also, Z-Man defends the World TV Title for the third straight week. Sounds impressive, but his first two title defenses were against Dr. X & Tom Burke. All the while, his top contenders, Terry Taylor, Arn Anderson, and Bobby Eaton, are busy beating each other up each week. Maybe that Z-Man is smarter than we think.
Z-Man vs Master Blaster Blade - World TV Title
Once again, our "fighting champion" is taking on less than top competition. First, a masked man that was never seen before or since. Then, a straight jobber. Now, one half of The Master Blasters, Blade. The Master Blasters were one of the many Road Warriors knock off teams of the era. I wonder how many singles victories Blade ran off to jump Anderson, Taylor, and Eaton in line for a title shot. I'm betting zero. What a sham.
Rhubarb Jones is our ring announcer. Yes.
Ross is talking about how Z-Man has top challengers lined up to face Z-Man for this title, including Anderson, Taylor, & Eaton. Don't forget Tom Burke.
Ross says there will be a TV taping at Center Stage tomorrow night. Hmm. That means they are taping matches that will air after Clash of the Champions airs live. We'll talk about this later.
Ross says Bob Caudle will be back next week. He said that last week. Is this a running joke? Is Bob Caudle dead?
Master Blaster Blade sucks. Lame power moves, and a looooong reverse chin lock. Z-Man hits his top rope dropkick, out of nowhere, for the win. BY GAWD THAT'S BOBBY EATON'S MUSIC! Well, there was no music, but Eaton hit the ring and attacked Z-Man, hitting a swinging neck breaker and the Alabama Jam. Then he talked a bunch of shit and left while Ross plugged the Clash. Good angle. I hope Eaton wins.
Michael Wallstreet vs Mike Hart
Wallstreet hails from "the financial district of New York City". The southern rubes hate that. He is of course accompanied by his "administrative assistant" Alexandra York, who says that according to the data on her computer print out, Mike Hart will lose in less than 6 minutes. Six minutes? Jeez. Again, not much of a limb for York here. Maybe she thought it was Owen Hart.
Wallstreet will be competing at the Clash, but Ross gives no opponent. Imagine if they pulled that on RAW? Everybody would go insane and rip them to shreds. Wallstreet focuses on the left arm, and Ross speculates that perhaps the computer suggested this method of attack. I'm thinking working the left arm is what they taught Wallstreet in wrestling school. Unless he learned in Mexico. In which case Triple H would say he can't work.
Wallstreet wins in "much less than 6 minutes", using The Ryback's finisher, which he calls the Stock Market Crash.
Next up is Paul E's workout video as he prepares for Missy Hyatt at Clash. This is awesome. He's sitting in a gym, with his gigantic cell phone, ranting about how women shouldn't be equal and how they slut their way to the top. He says at Clash he will slam Hyatt's hand down and set women back to where they belong, and win one for the American Male. Scotty Riggs?
Terry Taylor vs Dave Johnson
Dave Johnson is like the perfect jobber. White. Fat. Mullet. Black singlet. Taylor's story is that he is still upset about not receiving a TV title shot. Ross wonders if maybe Taylor's management is to blame. Subtle foreshadowing by Ross here, that crafty devil. Ross notes that the rookie official is doing a fine job with the rope breaks. I agree. Taylor is a real technician, I can watch him all day. Taylor wins with the five arm.
Taylor will face Ricky Morton at the Clash. That should be good. Paul E is needling Taylor about how is is constantly overlooked. Taylor is complaining about facing Morton, a "tag team specialist" who won't help him earn a TV title shot. Morton comes out and asks Taylor why he doesn't respect him. Paul E instigates. Taylor & Morton awkwardly state that they respect each other. Another good segment that gives this mid card match a story.
Doom vs Brian Morley & Ray Diamond
Doom are indeed the World Tag Team Champions, and they are led to the ring by Theodore R. Long. Teddy Long has had a nice long career in the wrestling business, and hardly ever takes a bump. Decades of easy money. Good for him. Your ref is Pee Wee Anderson.
Simmons & Reed are bad ass m'fers, and are going to kill these pasty white guys. Teddy Long was the 1990 PWI Manager of the Year according to Ross. Maybe Taylor should hire him. Butch Reed is beating the shit out of Pasty White Guy #1. Very stiff. Simmons wants to pin him, but Long instructs him to beat him up some more. Pasty White Guy #2 tags in. Simmons is murdering him. Reed back in and killing this guy. Wins with the top rope shoulder block. Doom looked great here. I'd love to see a team like this today. Two big guys who can move and kick ass. Kinda like if Dark City Fight Club was jacked up on steroids.
The Freebirds are with Paul E at ringside. Surely they are gonna call out Doom. Nope. They call out Tim Horner & Brad Armstrong. Oh.
Renegade Warriors vs Magnum Force
LOL @ Magnum Force, Rick & Scott. They have big puffy mullets, wear leather jackets, sunglasses, & leather gloves, and sport KARATE BELTS. All four of these men are woefully out of shape and look like shit. This is like Vince's worst nightmare, putting four men like this on TV all at once. The indians win, and are set to face Arn & Barry at Clash.
Sting promo. Flair promo. Flair still has his Black Scorpion hair cut from the end of 1990.
Four Horseman vs Sting, Flyin' Brian, Steiner Brothers
Apparently I get to see this. This is the main event of hour one. Freebirds vs Lightning Express headlines hour two. Unfortunately there is only 4 minutes left, so i'm not seeing the end.
This was taped in an arena, not in Center Stage. Place is packed and going nuts. Match cuts off as Flair & Sting lock up. Stay tuned for hour two! Well, that does me no good.
It'll be Flair defending against Scott Steiner at Clash.
Best Match - Renegade Warriors vs Magnum Force
Worst Match - Z-Man vs Master Blaster Blade and his looooong chin lock.Comment
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Real quick on the title change...that match took place in front no one...the house show was dead because of a blizzard. Also, there may be so little on it, because IIRC, WCW and the NWA were splitting at the time, and there may have been some litigation.
Either way, that Flair run is considered the FIRST WCW Heavyweight Championship run and it wasn't heralded at all, sadly.Comment
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I'm refusing to look at spoilers while I do this, but I think this next set of tv tapings that takes place before the Clash is where the Freebirds lose the tag team titles...before they actually win them at Clash from Doom. So technically they end up with a -11 day title reign or something. This was a really big deal at the time, because the Apter mags didn't know how to handle this. Most title histories list the air date of the second title change as the "official" date, giving the Freebirds a three week run instead of listing them as losing the titles before they actually won them.
Wrestlers defending titles on house shows until title changes aired on TV was not uncommon during the era (the Apter mags got around this by saying that title changes were not official until they aired on TV, so ex-champs would fulfill 'contractual obligations' until that time), but this was probably the only time titles were lost before they were even won.Comment
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This is some of the best stuff I've read on here in awhile. Haven't followed wrestling since WCW went under. Good to read/see some old quality stuff.Comment
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