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WWF WrestleMania VIII Review (Double Main Event, Brother…)

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April 5, 1992
Live from Indianapolis, IN
Announced attendance: 62.167 (capacity: 60.129)
PPV buyrate: 390.000 (-10.000 compared to WrestleMania VII’s 400.000)

Hey everyone and welcome to my review of WWF WrestleMania VIII, featuring ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage challenging Ric Flair for the WWF Championship and Hulk Hogan battling Sid Justice in a double main event, brother…

Yeah, exactly… Elsewhere, real-life cousins Roddy Piper and Bret Hart tussle over the Intercontinental Championship in Hart’s title rematch, recently turned babyface The Undertaker faces Jake Roberts, and much more.

Here is the list of WWF champions heading into this WrestleMania:

WWF Champion: Ric Flair [77th day of his reign] – previous champion: Hulk Hogan, before it was vacated
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Roddy Piper [77th day of his reign] – previous champion: The Mountie
WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster) [58th day of their reign] – previous champions: Legion of Doom

Enjoy the review!

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The hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan

Reba McEntire sings America the Beautiful this year

Shawn Michaels(w/ Sensational Sherri) vs. ‘El Matador’ Tito Santana

Bobby Heenan whistling to the rythm of Shawn Michaels’ theme song during his entrance made my day! Shoving action to start is won by Tito and the high crossbody gets two. HBK escapes a tight headlock but stops to taunt during a criss cross sequence and gets dumped with a clothesline over the top. There’s a really loud and extremely annoying Marty Jannetty fan at ringside constantly yelling at Shawn. I never thought I’d say this, but those 2002 SmackDown edited crowd noises would fit perfectly here, geez. Santana brings HBK back inside with a headlock, and avoids HBK’s quickness before going back to the headlock. Shawn keeps trying to escape, and Tito keeps putting him back in it. Smart wrestling thus far, but not exactly one of the most exciting matches. Michaels blocks the flying jalapeno and sends Tito flying to the floor, and Sherri surprisingly doesn’t cheapshot him. Back in, a Shawn backbreaker gets two. And now it’s Shawn working a headlock. Tito fights out of that but ends up walking into the superkick. HBK goes to follow up with his DEADLY BACKDROP SUPLEX OF SEXY DOOM, but Tito rakes the eyes and instead it’s the flying jalapeno sending HBK all the way to the floor. Back in, Tito hits an atomic drop followed by El Paso Del Muerte (or the Extra Hot Pace Picante, according to Heenan!!) but the move sends Shawn outside again. Tito tries to vertical suplex HBK from the apron back inside, but HBK awkwardly lands on top to steal the win at 10:38. I’m pretty sure this was supposed to be the same finish from Warrior/Rude at WM 5 with Sherri playing Bobby Heenan and tripping up Tito, but she must’ve missed her cue. The finish looked awkward.

Rating: Solid match but you can tell Michaels was still trying to find his footing as a singles wrestler. The wrestling was decent, but there is not much more into it than that. It was a smart match with Tito constantly outsmarting and outwrestling Shawn due to his experience, but it wasn’t particularly exciting or memorable. The execution of the finish was interesting too, for the lack of a better word. Still, this was a decent opener and a good win to kick off Michaels’ singles push. **1/2

The Legion of Doom return

IMG credit: WWE & forum.wrestlingfigs.com

This is LOD’s return after losing the tag straps and some time away. They introduce Paul Ellering to the WWF, who says they’ll kick ass and take back the titles. The LOD were pretty much done by then, and soon they’d have Rocco added to the act. Yeah. They’d be gone after SummerSlam.

Meanwhile, Jake Roberts recaps the chairshot on Undertaker and the DDT on Paul Bearer. He was just having fun, man. Trust him.

The Undertaker(w/ Paul Bearer) vs. Jake Roberts

IMG credit: WWE & tapemachinesarerolling.wordpress.com

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After waiting years for a main event run that never happened (due to Warrior leaving the previous summer) and a request at a Pat Patterson-like backstage role being rejected, Roberts cornered Vince right before this match and forced him to let him go right after this night, or otherwise he wouldn’t step through the curtain. UT no sells a few shots and corners Jake to start. He no sells a clothesline over the top as well, pulling Jake outside for a trip into the post. Back in, Jake tries to escape for his life, but UT keeps him cornered and chokes away. Taker drops an elbow and hits the flying clothesline to set up the Tombstone, which Jake reverses into the DDT… BUT UNDERTAKER SITS UP. Taker sits up after the short clothesline, but Roberts ignores him and gives him a second DDT regardless. Jake stops to go after the urn outside, though, which earns him a Tombstone on the floor. Undertaker gets the pin back inside at 6:36 to end Jake’s first WWF run.

Rating: It told a good story and it’s definitely a big win to really launch Undertaker’s first babyface run. The match itself was it was, mostly choking and standing around like most Undertaker matches from these years, but it accomplished what it had to. *1/2

Roddy Piper goes down memory lane and remembers his memories with his younger cousin Bret Hart and his parents, but Bret’s more interested in taking back the IC title. Great little segment here with Mean Gene.

WWF Intercontinental Championship – Roddy Piper(c) vs. Bret Hart

This is a pretty interesting dynamic since it was super rare to see a babyface take on another during this time. Lockup to start is won by Piper with an armdrag, then Bret wins a second one with an armdrag of his own. A wrestling sequence ends with Piper being sent to the floor, who gets all pissed and comes back in to spit in Bret’s face. Test of strength turns into a battle over a wristlock, which Bret wins rather easily. Piper keeps trying to chop him using the other arm, but Bret keeps him in the hold and takes Piper down all the way to the mat. Nice! Piper finally escapes by going after the eyes and hair, but Bret responds with a dropkick and… hurts his shoulder? Piper stops to look after him and SYKE Bret nearly steals it with a small package! Piper bitchslaps Bret in return as this is turning more and more into a fight with every passing second, and a Bret crossbody dumps both men to the floor. Piper gets back inside first and holds the ropes for Bret to get in too and… Piper actually lets him in. The ref stops to point at Hart’s untied boots, though, and now Piper cheapshots him and busts him open. Piper rams Bret’s head into the buckle and starts playing heel-in-peril by going to work on the cut. A bulldog out of the corner gets two.

Piper bites the cut (yikes) and a kneelift gets two. Bret gets in a quick sunset flip for a great nearfall, but Piper goes back after the cut to stay in control. A series of short punches get two. Bret is just done. They get into a slugfest that ends with Bret sending Piper to the outside, then Piper comes back in for a double clothesline and a double KO spot. Piper gets up first and goes up to the top rope while Bret is still down, but once again SYKE and Bret slams Piper off the top by the hair. The story told here and these exchanges of mindgames are great to see. Atomic drop sets up a snap suplex for two. Russian legsweep gets two more. Bret hits a nasty backdrop suplex and he’s thinking Sharpshooter, but Piper does a good job of blocking it and Bret switches to an elbowdrop instead. Bret goes up but the middle rope elbow only finds Piper’s boot, and they get into another slugfest which ends with the ref getting taken down. Piper stops to go outside and grab the bell, and you can literally hear the crowd boo him and begging him to keep it clean. Wow! Meanwhile, Heenan on commentary asks him to remember that famous old saying ‘what the hell use the bell’ – haha! Piper teases it but ends up tossing it aside, and locks in the sleeper instead. However, Bret uses the turnbuckle for leverage to turn it into a pinfall for the win to get the title back at 13:51. Piper picks his bloody cousin up to his feet and presents him the belt in a show of respect afterward. It would turn out to be more than two years until the next time Piper participated in another wrestling match.

Rating: Forget about it, this bout fn’ ruled! I love how it slowly transitioned into a violent fight between two family members that used to be close, and all of their little games of one-upsmanship. It really made the Intercontinental Championship feel prestigious, and made this match one for the ages. The wrestling was great but the storytelling here is what carries this to the all-time great territory. Absolutely cracking match, definitely one of Bret’s best up until that time (up there with Perfect at SummerSlam 91) and my favorite of Piper’s whole career. ****1/2

And then…

Lex Luger’s WWF debut

IMG credit: WWE & tapemachinesarerolling.tumblr.com

Bobby Heenan interviews the debuting former WCW World Heavyweight Champion, who’s in his home promoting his upcoming run in the WBF. All the other bodybuilders of the WBF better watch out because he’s a total package. Yeah, that whole thing turned out to be one epic clusterfuck. I can’t think of any better way to make your WWF debut than by drinking a glass of milk in a cameo via satellite at a WrestleMania…

The Big Bossman, Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Duggan & Virgil vs. The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags), The Mountie & Repo Man(w/ Jimmy Hart)

IMG credit: WWE & wrestlemaniarankings.wordpress.com

Special ring announcer and Family Feud host Ray Combs mocks the heels during the introductions. He ultimately gets chased out of the ring and it’s a big melee to start, and the babyfaces clean house with a quadruple clothesline. All the heels bail and things finally settle down to Duggan/Sags back inside the ring. Duggan takes over with a series of clotheslines and an atomic drop. It’s off to Slaughter for a clothesline into a gutbuster, and the tag to Bossman for a big boot. Bossman eats buckle on a blind charge in the corner, though, and Repo Man slugs away with a few jumps to the back, until Bossman goes low to cut that off. Virgil comes in with a dropkick, wearing a protective nose mask due to an attack by Sid on television shortly before the show. Virgil goes up and a high crossbody gets two, but the Mountie comes in from behind with a clothesline to the back to put the heels in control. The Mountie goes up but ends up getting caught in the waiting arms of Big Bossman instead and that’s enough to cause a pier six. The Nasty Boys steal Virgil’s mask to set up a cheapshot during the confusion, but Sags knocks out Knobbs instead and Virgil steals the pin at 6:33.

Rating: filler [fil-er] noun 1. a person or thing that fills; 2. a thing or substance used to fill a gap, cavity, or the like… you get the point. One half of the previous year’s WrestleMania main event was involved in this, by the way. 1/2*

Ric Flair & Mr. Perfect promise Sean Mooney that they will show the world their special picture of Elizabeth after retaining the belt later tonight. Meanwhile, Randy Savage is not in the mood to accept interviews from anyone.

WWF Championship – Ric Flair(c)(w/ Mr. Perfect) vs. Randy Savage

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Macho is wasting no time tonight and chases Flair up the ramp to start. Perfect gets involved and drags Savage all the way back to ringside by the hair, where we can finally get things underway inside the ring. The pissed off Savage strikes first with a clothesline followed by the high knee to the back, and Savage slugs away in the corner. Flair tries to escape that with an atomic drop out of the corner, but it gets blocked by Savage who hits a clothesline. Back elbow smash gets two. Macho’s emotions get the better of him, however, as Flair backdrops a charging Savage all the way to the floor. There, Flair whams Savage back first onto the apron, giving him an edge. Back in, Flair further punishes the back with a vertical suplex for two. A backdrop suplex gets two. A couple of whips into the turnbuckle and chops give Flair two more. Flair adds the kneedrop and Savage rolls to the outside, but Flair follows him and runs him back first onto the apron yet again. A vertical suplex from the apron to the middle of the ring gives Flair another nearfall. Ric pounds away in the corner and unloads the chops, but Savage finally shows some life and scores with a swinging neckbreaker for a big reaction. Now it’s Savage unloading in the corner, but Flair rakes the eyes and goes up. Shockingly, he gets slammed off and starts begging!

Savage fires away with a big backdrop out of the corner into a series of clotheslines, as Flair begs off some more. Savage SPITS on him and whips him into the corner for the Flair flip, and Flair dives right into a clothesline in mid air for an epic nearfall. The crowd literally boos Ric out of the building for having the audacity to kickout of a clothesline!! Heenan is going nuts on commentary and Mr. Perfect’s visually nervous, while Savage dumps Flair and meets him there with the flying double axehandle, which sends Flair face first into the railing and busts him open. It got both wrestlers suspended and Flair was nearly fired after the show due to the no-blood policy at the time. Bret and Piper passed on as getting color the hardway earlier, even faking a confrontation when they got through the curtain, though they did secretly plan the bladejob ahead of time too! Savage smartly goes to work on the cut immediately, introducing him into the post and the steps outside, then slugging away back inside. The flying double axehandle gets another close nearfall. Powerslam sets up the Macho Elbow and it connects, but Perfect pulls Savage out of the cover and Savage is right after him for the chase. Savage finally catches Perfect inside the ring, but the referee gets involved and Perfect hands Flair brass knuckles. Flair whacks Savage with it, quietly passes it back to Perfect, and covers for the one, two… FALSE FINISH!

Perfect grabs a chair and hits Savage in the leg while Flair has the ref distracted, drawing Elizabeth down to ringside. Flair takes Savage to school by logically going to work on the injured leg. Legbreaker sets up the Figure Four with some extra leverage from Perfect, while some officials try to get Liz out of there. Savage eventually turns it over but Flair immediately releases the hold, though, and tries to go to work on the leg but instead walks into a small package for two. Flair takes Savage into the corner next to Liz, chopping away while telling Liz “it’s for you baby wooo”! Flair hits a second legbreaker as he looks to be setting up for yet another Figure Four, but Savage blocks and rolls him up with a handful of tights for the pin and the title (and a huge fuckin’ pop!) at 18:04. Flair confronts Liz afterwards and plants a kiss on her, triggering a huge brawl as both Liz and a furious Savage go after Flair and Perfect, but the heels get the final cheapshots in and get the hell out of town. Savage finally gets announced as the new champion by Finkel and the music starts playing while some pyro goes off, and Savage celebrates with Liz while still selling the leg.

Rating: Fantastic WWF title match at WrestleMania. The two were obviously involved in a very heated feud over Elizabeth coming into this show, and it made sense for Savage to go right after Flair from the start. From there, the work throughout the match was spectacular, with Savage’s emotions ultimately getting the better of him, putting Flair in the driver’s seat while Flair went to work over the back and, later, the leg. They got a number of nearfalls in thanks to the crowd being into it big time, which helped. The finish perhaps wasn’t the best, but the match ruled. Props to Savage’s selling throughout this bout, which was top notch. Fantastic match. ****1/2

Sean Mooney gets an interview with an irate Flair, Perfect and Heenan. They show a replay of Savage holding the tights and call Savage’s win a fluke, and Flair promises to get the belt and Elizabeth back.

Meanwhile, Mean Gene looks for answers from Savage and Liz. Macho is glad that Flair challenged him for a rematch, because that kiss managed to somehow make Savage even more pissed coming out of the match than he was heading into it, and he wants some more of Ric.

We recap Sid Justice snapping in the WrestleMania press conference over Jack Tunney’s announcement of Hulk Hogan as the number one contender, turning heel on Hogan in the tag match against Flair/Taker at SNME and destroying some jobbers on TV.

Rick Martel gets an interview with Sean Mooney right before his match. Indians have no class and there might actually be no match to begin with, because Tatanka is probably still trying to find out where he is. Yeah, okay then..

Tatanka vs. Rick Martel

This is literally just a number of weeks into Tatanka’s WWF run. Tatanka goes to work on Martel in the corner and armdrags him out of the corner, while Martel bails. Heenan is so pissed over Flair’s loss that he nearly jumps Monsoon over on commentary! Martel hits the post shoulder first on a missed blind charge in the corner, and Tatanka goes to work on said shoulder. Tatanka blocks a Martel armdrag, but Martel slams Tatanka down by the hair instead and dumps him. Martel takes control with a backbreaker and he goes up, but Tatanka uses the ropes to crotch him and unloads with some nasty chops. Martel cuts off the comeback and hits a slam followed by a clothesline, but Tatanka gets a quick crossbody for the win at 4:33.

Rating: Just an undercard match designed to let the fans cooldown after the big Savage/Flair WWF title bout, but it was quite decent while it lasted. *1/4

Money Inc and Jimmy Hart are pretty confident they’ll leave with the tag straps.

The Natural Disasters are sick of waiting to get their hands on Jimmy and Money Inc, and the titles are theirs tonight.

WWF World Tag Team Championship – Money Inc (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster)(c)(w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon)

Earthquake overpowers DiBiase to start, and it’s an early double noggin knocker to the champs already, who bail. Quake turns an IRS wristlock over into his own and he goes to work on the arm, before bringing in Typhoon for an armdrag. The big man grabs IRS by the tie and rams his head into the buckle a number of times for fun, but then eats buckle himself on a missed avalanche in the corner. DiBiase comes in but ends up getting caught in the babyface corner, only for Typhoon to miss a blind charge and knock himself over the top rope and onto the floor, where he’s met by IRS with a tax-free ride into the steps. A double clothesline from Money Inc (with an absolutely terrible bump by Typhoon) gives IRS two back inside. IRS cuts the ring in half for a while with a front facelock and the ref eventually misses Quake’s hot tag, allowing DiBiase to keep the heels in control until they collide on a double clothesline. IRS comes in and Quake gets the hot (actually more like warm) tag this time around, cleaning house. Typhoon splash knocks out IRS while Quake dumps DiBiase. Quake sets up for the INFESTED BUTTDROP OF DOOM, but Jimmy & Ted pull IRS out of the ring and… they take a walk at 8:38. Really?

Rating: Even though it was far from being a good match, it was far from being the worst, but then the finish completely buried it. Slow tag title match with a lame non-finish. *

Mean Gene is in the back with “one of the all-time greats”, Brutus Beefcake. Haha, sure. Spending your entire career kissing some Terry Bollea ass does ultimately pay off, I guess. Anyway, regardless of this being Hogan’s last match or not, he’ll always be the number one Hulkamaniac in the world because Hulkamania will live forever and Hogan is such a good friend and he’s been there for him through the good and the bad and yada yada yada WHAT-E-EVER. Awful and cringe as always.

Skinner vs. Owen Hart

Outside of his loss as the ‘Blue Blazer’ to Mr. Perfect at WrestleMania V, this is Owen’s WrestleMania debut. At least as himself. You get it! Skinner spits some tobacco in Owen’s eyes before the bell, taking over with a shoulderbreaker to start. Skinner pounds away and an inverted DDT gets two. Skinner dumps Owen, or so he thinks as Owen pulls a Ricky Steamboat and skins the cat back inside, before catching Skinner with an O’Connor roll for the quick win at 1:36. Owen dropkicks Skinner out after the bell.

Rating: A one minute match with three wrestling moves. Needless to say, Owen Hart would have much better matches in his WWF career down the road. N/R (no rating)

Sid Justice claims “a barn burner it won’t be”, quite possibly the understatement of the 90s.

We then take a minute to recap Vince McMahon interviewing Hulk Hogan about this being his last match, who just won’t have an answer until he comes out of the ring. Vince still thanks Hogan on behalf of everyone for the inspiration, for the memories and for Hulkamania. Talk about hard selljobs.

Back to Mean Gene and Sid in the dressing room, who doesn’t care about the memories of Hulkamania. All that matters is that he’ll be the one taking out Hulk Hogan because he rules the world.

(Alleged) Main Event – Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice(w/ Harvey Wippleman)

Harvey does the introduction for Sid while Heenan & Gorilla call him ‘psycho Sid’. Just take out the initial P and there’s a strong marketing opportunity right there, pal. Hogan comes in second and beats up Sid for nearly a minute with his shirt on while his song still plays the whole time, and then still has time to rip the shirt and finish his entrance. Because of course he does. Bell sounds and Sid takes over with a knee to the gut, and he pounds away. Crowd’s really loud for this one. Hogan turns things around on a criss cross and he dumps Sid, who takes a powder while the crowd gets even louder. Sid wants the test of strength back inside, and Hogan takes a second to ask the fans before eventually accepting. Advantage Sid who takes Hogan down on his knees, as Hogan seems to stay there forever. Hogan/Warrior this is not. The people are still yelling like crazy, though, so who am I to say? Sid releases the hold before Hogan can turn it around and overpower him, but Hogan meets him with a corner clothesline. Harvey gets involved, however, and Sid hits the one-hand chokeslam. Sid stops to speak to the camera, saying do unto the man as he would do unto you, but do it first. This would be great and intimidating and all that good stuff if he followed up on it with anything. Instead he goes back to kicks, punches and walking around, so it isn’t.

Sid dumps Hogan to the floor for some, you guessed it, kicking and punching and walking around. But it’s on the floor this time, so it counts as versatility, you see. Sid takes Hogan back inside, where he locks in the DEADLY NERVE HOLD OF EXCRUCIATING PAIN. Or a nice massage, I’ll leave it for you to decide, dear readers. We stay there for at least a minute before Hogan finally starts fighting out of it, only for Sid to take him back down with a sideslam and call for the Powerbomb. He hits it but it only gets two and it’s Hulk Up time. The big boot doesn’t take Sid down, but the big powerslam does. Hulk/Andre this is not. Hogan follows it up with the Legdrop, but Papa Shango misses his cue and Sid’s forced to kickout at 2, and Harvey improvises by running in to cause the lame DQ at 12:28. Fucking hell… Papa Shango finally does appear about a decade and a half plus two or three gimmick changes late for the beatdown, but then this happens.

The Ultimate Warrior returns

7 WWE WrestleMania Endings That Were Botched – Page 6 — IMG credit: WWE & WhatCulture

Warrior, making his first WWF appearance since SummerSlam, runs down and helps Hogan clear the ring. Less than two minutes after Warrior’s return, he’s celebrating to Hulk Hogan’s music and doing Hogan’s poses, because of course he is. Basically Ultimate Warrior’s career in a nutshell. Allegedly.

Rating: Well well. Oh well. This was definitely something, huh? What a big mess the whole main event was, with the entire “Hogan leaving” narrative not helping, especially so soon after the WWF had already done it (and better, might I add) less than two years earlier in Hogan’s feud with Earthquake in 1990. As far as the match itself, it followed the usual Hogan formula, but slower, with lots of walking around between the hundreds of kicks and punches. Add the botched ending and, in spite of the crowd’s reaction, there’s just no possible way for me to defend this. It’s easily the worst WrestleMania main event up until then, and one of the worst of all time still to this day. It would turn out to be Hogan’s final WWF appearance of 1992, as he shifted his attention to other endeavours more and more. Knowing what awaits us at the following year’s WrestleMania, maybe THIS should’ve been the end of his first WWF run, right… Needless to say, this was some godawful stuff. DUD

END OF THE SHOW

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Final thoughts: If you count only the first two hours or so, then this WrestleMania is an absolute all-timer. We had the start of Shawn Michaels’ singles push with a big victory over established veteran Tito Santana, Jake Roberts passing the creepy torch on his final night to young Undertaker, and two classic singles title matches in the form of Piper/Bret and Flair/Savage, both with amazing stories. Then it all went south faster than Lex Luger in 1995, with either filler or slow and plain bad matches with questionable finishes, and a horrible main event. Ultimate Warrior’s big return in the end somewhat saves it, but it was still one giant clusterfuck. Regardless, the good outweighs the awful final 30-40 minutes of this show, with the WWF and IC title matches obviously being the highlights. Highest of recommendations up to Flair/Savage, then turn it off and find something better to do. 7/10

FEEDBACK

Now it’s your time to speak. What are your thoughts on this WrestleMania? And on this review? Let me know using the following feedback form.

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POINT SYSTEM

Click here to know more about my point system

Wrestler	Star rating	Result	Main eventing	Extras	Total
Randy Savage Bret Hart	4.5	1	–	+2 for winning a title	7.5
Shawn Michaels	2.5	1	–	–	3.5
The Undertaker	1.5	1	–	–	2.5
Tatanka	1.25	1	–	–	2.25
Virgil	0.5	1	–	+0.5 for winning the fall	2
Ric Flair Roddy Piper	4.5	-1	–	-2 for losing a title	1.5
Hulk Hogan	0	0.5	1	–	1.5
Tito Santana	2.5	-1	–	–	1.5
Money Inc	1	-0.5	–	+1 for retaining a title	1.5
Natural Disasters	1	+0.5	–	–	1.5
Big Bossman Sgt. Slaughter Jim Duggan	0.5	1	–	–	1.5
Owen Hart	–	1	–	–	1
Sid Justice	0	-0.5	1	–	0.5
Jake Roberts	1.5	-1	–	–	0.5
Rick Martel	1.25	-1	–	–	0.25
The Mountie Repo Man Jerry Sags	0.5	-1	–	–	-0.5
Brian Knobbs	0.5	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	-1
Skinner	–	-1	–	–	-1

And that’s it, we’ve reached the end of yet another year on the ‘WWF calendar’. I’d like to thank you for your time and support as always, I really appreciate it. Make sure you don’t miss the next reviews here on SmarKdown, including an extra on WWF’s UK Rampage, featuring a rare WWF title match between Randy Savage and Shawn Michaels. After that, WCW’s WrestleWar featuring WarGames. See you all, have a great week!

WCW SuperBrawl II 1992 Review (Crazy Ninjas And Stuff!)

February 29, 1992
Live from Milwaukee, WI
Announced attendance: 5.000 (capacity: ca 12.700)
PPV buyrate: 160.000 (+10.000 compared to SuperBrawl 1991’s 150.000)

Hello everyone and welcome to my review of the second annual WCW SuperBrawl, featuring the ultimate showdown between former friends Sting and Lex Luger for the WCW Championship. Rick Rude defends the United States Championship against Ricky Steamboat. The Steiners challenge the Dangerous Alliance’s Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton for the World Tag Team Titles. Cactus Jack faces Ron Simmons, and much more.

These were the champions in WCW heading into this show:

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Lex Luger [230th day of his reign] – previous champion: Ric Flair, before it was vacated
WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Rick Rude [102nd day of his reign] – previous champion: Sting
WCW World Television Champion: Steve Austin [271st day of his reign] – previous champion: Bobby Eaton
WCW Light Heavyweight Champion: Jushin Thunder Liger [66th day of his reign] – previous champion: Flyin’ Brian Pillman
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton) [44th day of their reign] – previous champions: Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes
WCW United States Tag Team Champions: Greg Valentine & Taylor Made Man [12th day of thei reign] – previous champions: Ron Simmons & Big Josh

Enjoy the review!

The hosts are Jim Ross & Jesse Ventura

We kick off the show with a long introduction with the announcers, Tony Schiavone, Eric Bischoff and Missy Hyatt running down the card

WCW Light Heavyweight Championship – Jushin Thunder Liger(c) vs. Flyin’ Brian Pillman

This is the rematch from a house show on Christmas night in which Liger took the title from Brian. Pillman mentioned on television that his strategy to get the title back would be to keep Liger grounded as much as possible. Pillman works a wristlock to start, but Liger flips out of it and locks it in himself. Brian fights out with a shoulderblock and they trade leapfrogs before dropkicking each other. And we reach a stalemate. Brian goes back to his strategy by going to work on Liger’s arm on the mat, until Liger makes the ropes. Liger pounds away and shoots Pillman off, who comes back with a headscissors out of the corner followed by a dropkick that dumps Liger, and Pillman baseball slides him right into the railing. Back in, Liger takes Pillman down with a single leg and goes to work on it with a toehold, but Pillman uses his right leg to wham Liger and force the break! Pillman chops away but Liger moonsaults him for two, and Liger fakes the dive while Pillman bails to earn a massive standing ovation from the crowd. Back in, Pillman works a modified version of the abdominal stretch on the mat which he eventually switches into a headscissors, but Liger turns it into a surfboard and Brian immediately makes the ropes.

Liger drop toeholds him right back into the surfboard, but again Pillman makes it to the ropes. Liger hits a corner dropkick but Brian responds with a crucifix for a close two. What looked like a powerslam attempt by Brian is reversed with a Liger sunset flip for two. The cameras totally missed Brian hitting a nasty (at least it sounded like it) backdrop suplex (thanks JR and Jesse!) on Liger. Brian hurts his leg on a missed charge in the corner and Liger goes after it with a legbreaker. Liger locks in a figure four in the middle of the ring, and they just get into a big slugfest while in the move. Brian eventually gets to the ropes, but Liger adds more punishment immediately with a half Boston crab that Brian breaks with an enziguiri. His leg is too hurt but he still has enough in him to hit a headscissors, but he gets sent flying over the top on a blind charge (which SHOCKINGLY isn’t called a DQ here either, take a drink) and Liger goes up and meets him there with an awesome diving somersault senton. A fight over a suplex on the apron goes nowhere as Brian rams Liger’s head into the post instead, and he follows it up with Air Pillman. Brian proceeds to suplex Brian off the ring to the floor (not a DQ again, take another drink) followed by a high crossbody to the floor.

Pillman ends up eating some railing, but he catches a flying Liger with a dropkick in mid air back inside. Pillman goes up for a missile dropkick, but Liger meets him with a dropkick as well for the double KO spot. They both go for a spinning wheel kick and go nowhere again, before Pillman hits a powerslam for two. Liger fights back with a german into a bridge pin for two. Liger takes him up for a superplex but gets shoved off the top and Brian hits a high crossbody for a great nearfall. Powerbomb from Liger gets two. Another one is block by Brian with a hurricanrana, which Liger tries to turn over into his own pin but Pillman lands on top for two. Brian hits a DDT but Liger is on the ropes. A criss cross ends in a double headbutt for another double KO spot. Brian gets up first and goes up, but Liger crotches him and brings him down with a superplex for a great nearfall. Liger goes up but misses a flying splash, and Brian rolls him over into a bridge pinning position for the win and the title at 17:00.

Rating: I don’t know who had the idea to just throw these guys out there for seventeen minutes to open this PPV, but whatever that person was earning was not enough. I think Pillman could’ve sold that leg a little bit more to put over the sense of struggle in the final few minutes to really put this on a perfect level, but it was still one heck of a great match. Great technical work in the bout’s first half, great display of aerial moves in the second and a very exciting close matchup that left the fans in awe. I liked the detail of the announcers putting over Brian’s mat-based strategy, which ultimately was how he got the pin and the title. Awesome match to kick off WCW’s first PPV of 1992! ****1/4

Missy Hyatt interviews Taylor Made Man in the back. He was going to teach Bagwell how to be a winner as his protege, but now he’s going to teach him how to be a loser. I think I found out just who gave Bagwell his tips on how to have a successful WWF career!

Taylor Made Man vs. Marcus Alexander Bagwell

Some winner of a fan competition gets to play ring announcer for this match. Great for him. Bagwell starts off well with a hiptoss which pisses off Taylor. Taylor cheapshots him in the corner but Bagwell responds right back in the same manner. They take the fight to the floor where Bagwell scores with a couple of atomic drops before sending Taylor back inside with a clothesline, and a high crossbody gets two. A headlock goes about as far as expected and Taylor bails under some ‘rooster’ chants. Yikes Milwaukee leave that alone. Taylor rams Bagwell into the railing and hits a jawbreaker back inside before stopping to humiliate the rookie. Sitout powerbomb gets two and Jesse is wondering just about when Bagwell will start asking for his mama. I don’t even know where to start with this one! Suplex connects and Taylor goes up for a flying splash for two. Taylor’s thinking piledriver but Bagwell backdrops him out, and Taylor Perfect necksnaps him for two. Surprise O’Connor roll gives Bagwell the fluke win at 7:38 but eats the Taylor Made Forearm and a DDT afterwards.

Rating: It certainly wasn’t the most interesting match in the world and no one in the crowd gave a crap (apart from chanting ‘rooster’ at Taylor), but it was technically competent and it certainly served as a nice cooldown match after the opener. *1/2

Cactus Jack vs. Ron Simmons

Now this one could rule. A slugfest is won by Jack to start, but he misses the Cactus Clothesline and hangs himself on the ropes. Ron rams Cactus into the railing a few times, and back in a slam followed by a legdrop gets two. A blind charge finds no water in the pool, though, and Cactus clotheslines him out of the corner while we get a shot of Junkyard Dog in the crowd. Wait, he’s still around?? The double arm DDT followed by a legdrop gets two. Cactus dumps Simmons for the Cactus elbowdrop on the floor, and Simmons knocks himself out on a missed dropkick back in. A headlock takes Cactus about as far as a headlock usually takes anyone, and this time Ron’s dropkick connects. He misses a blind charge and dumps himself, but catches a charging Cactus with the spinebuster on the ramp. Cactus manages to hit a bulldog back in and he goes up, but Simmons powerslams him in mid air for the win at 6:34. Foley and Abdullah the Butcher attack Simmons after the match, but JYD comes in through the crowd and makes the save.

Rating: If you’re searching for finesse and technique, this is certainly not the match you’re looking for. This was a fight from start to finish and it was pretty good at that, with some nasty shots back and forth. I could do without that post-match angle or anything involving Junkyard Dog past the mid 80s, but at least the match was good. ***1/4

‘Z-Man’ Tom Zenk & Van Hammer vs. Richard Morton & Vinnie Vegas

IMG credit: WWE & classicwrestlingreview.com

Jesse Ventura is on fire throwing shots at McMahon and the WWF (and WBF) on commentary during the entrances. He starts by asking why every Vinnie he’s met wear the worst suits he’s ever seen, and then when talking about Tom Zenk’s past as a bodybuilder he adds this: “a former Minnesota winner in bodybuilding and then switched over to wrestling because as we all know there ain’t no money in bodybuilding… in fact the big guy Vinnie probably knows there’s no money in bodybuilding”!!

Van Hammer starts by showing off his strength with a gorilla press slam on Morton. Vegas tries his luck next but walks into an armdrag. They get into a lockup that lasts forever until Vegas rakes the eyes to break. Then we get a really weird spot as Vegas goes for a leapfrog over Van Hammer, but Hammer completely forgets to duck and runs straight into Nash with a headbutt to the balls, earning a big groan from the crowd. Major yawner. Hammer rams Vegas’ arm into the buckle and then they get into a slugfest. Vegas powers Hammer all the way into the corner, but Hammer pops up with a clothesline out of the corner. Zenk comes in with a missile dropkick for two, with Morton pulling Morton off the pin by the hair. It’s off to Morton and Zenk to hopefully introduce some good wrestling to this match.

They exchange some reversals and Zenk clotheslines Morton over the top to the floor (take a drink) before diving right at him and hiptossing him on the floor. Vegas gets the tag back in and he wants Van Hammer, and Zenk obliges. Lucky us. Vegas takes over with a backdrop suplex followed by a clothesline for two. Bulldog gets two with Zenk breaking up the pin. Gutwrench suplex(!) gets two. The big boot followed by an elbowdrop gets two more. Nash, having expired his moveset for about the next decade or so, tags Morton back in. A cheapshot on Zenk pisses him off and allows the heels to double-team Van Hammer for a while, and Vegas hits a flying shoulderblock for two. Is that REALLY Kevin Nash in there!? Vegas hits a suplex but then they collide for a double KO spot, allowing the hot tag to Zenk. He backdrops Morton, dropkicks Vegas off the apron and powerslams Morton for two. A sunset flip out of the corner gives Zenk the win at 12:01.

Rating: It seemed we were in for a tough one at first, with Van Hammer and Vinnie Vegas screwing up a basic leapfrog sequence, but it was actually a decent match from that point on. Massive props to Ricky Morton and Tom Zenk, who did a tremendous job of hiding Nash and Van Hammer’s greenness and put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Nash got to shine with a nice sequence of moves near the end too. It had almost everything to suck, but it turned out to be a perfectly fine tag match. **

Bischoff and Schiavone take a look back at Larry Zbyszko and Arn Anderson breaking Barry Windham’s hand at Halloween Havoc.

Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs. The Dangerous Alliance (Larry Zbyszko & Steve Austin)(w/ Madusa)

Windham goes right after Larry and it’s a big schmoz to start. Dustin pounds away on Austin with the bionic elbows but gets shoved off on a monkey flip attempt, and Austin goes up only to eat a clothesline for two. Windham comes in with a great dropkick, but then sends Austin into his corner so he can get his hands on Zbyszko. They brawl all the way to the ramp where Larry tries a piledriver, but Barry backdrops out of it and gives him the lariat right there. He hits a second lariat back inside, but doesn’t want the pin yet so he can slug away some more. Dustin comes in for a double backdrop and goes after Zbyszko’s arm viciously. Windham comes back in with a gutwrench suplex for two, and a piledriver attempt is cut off via an Austin clothesline. Larry tosses Barry over the top rope to get some heat (wouldn’t have been a DQ anyway, so take a drink too!) before crotching Barry on the railing. Back in, Austin hits a suplex for two. Windham goes for the lariat but Austin ducks and the momentum sends Barry flying all the way back to the floor, where he again gets sent into the buckle.

Back in, Zbyszko hits a neckbreaker for two as Dustin pulls Larry off the pin by the hair. Backdrop suplex from Austin gets two. Barry slams Austin to escape a chinlock, but Zbyszko comes in immediately to put him in a sleeper. Windham escapes that too with a jawbreaker and they collide for the double KO spot. Dustin comes in off the hot tag with a dropkick to Austin and a followup elbowdrop gets two. Windham goes after Zbyszko on the outside, but Zbyszko comes in with a neckbreaker for two on Dustin. DDT gets two more. Dustin blocks an attempted backdrop with a boot but gets slapped by Madusa and the chase is on, and Austin clotheslines him on the ramp before applying a chinlock back inside. Dustin manages a crossbody for two, but Austin pops right back up with a clothesline to remain in control. Zbyszko comes back in but Dustin blocks his suplex and delivers his own. The Alliance cut the ring in half to stay on top, with Zbyszko tagging Austin in while keeping Dustin trapped in a drop toehold to prevent him from getting to Windham. Austin works a rope assisted chinlock but Dustin escapes with his own version of the stungun and makes the hot tag to Barry. He slugs away on Zbyszko and hits the lariat but Austin breaks up the pin. Dustin is all over him, however, and Barry sets him up for the superplex but Larry shoves him away. Dustin comes in from behind and shoves Zbyszko off the top too, though, and Windham hits a flying lariat for the win to get some revenge at 18:23.

Rating: A great tag match that felt like a fight for the most part, though at some points in the second half it did feel like they were doing stuff just to fill in their 18 minutes. The story of Windham wanting his revenge from the broken hand is easy to understand and get into, and the crowd were very much excited for it. Maybe it could’ve been a classic had it been just a few minutes shorter, but it was still really damn good. ***3/4

In the back, Missy Hyatt wants an interview with Ricky Steamboat but he’s meditating in the dressing room and a ninja kicks Missy out. Madusa tries to seduce her way in, but when the ninja doesn’t fall for it she slaps him in the face and runs away from him.

WCW World Tag Team Championship – The Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton)(c)(w/ Paul E. Dangerously) vs. The Steiners (Rick & Scott)

SuperBrawl II - Classic Wrestling Review — IMG credit: WWE & classicwrestlingreview.com

Gary Michael Cappetta gets a word from the office that Paul E Dangerously is banned from ringside for both this and the upcoming US Title match, so Madusa takes his place in the corner of the Alliance for this bout. Scott overpowers Eaton to start with an early spinebuster and takes over on the mat. Bobby scores with a swinging neckbreaker and he goes up, but Scott catches him in a belly to belly and Eaton bails. Arn gets tagged in and taunts Rick into joining the match, only to get intimidated when Rick does come in. Arn tries a leapfrog on a criss cross but gets powerslammed instead, and bails to get some advice from Madusa. “Dump a belt like it’s trash on television next time you jump ship and boom there’s a healthy retirement”. Had he paid more attention, maybe there would be no need for an AEW run these days! Scott literally bridges out of an Arn wristlock and double armdrags his way out when Eaton tries to help Arn, followed by a Rick double Steinerline over the top rope to the floor. No DQ is called, you know what to do! Eaton cheapshots Scott and takes him to the ramp, where he ends up eating a tilt-a-whirl slam.

Bobby goes up but gets caught on Rick’s shoulders for a Doomsday Steinerline and meanwhile everyone gets in and IT’S BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA BY GAWD. Eaton low blows Rick in mid air behind the ref’s back for two. Rick works his way out of a hammerlock, only to eat an Arn back elbow for two. The heels make the mistake of trying a suplex, which earns him suplexes in stereo from the Steiners. Rick follows it up with a Steinerline to Arn before tagging in Scott for a backdrop. Suplex gets two. However, Arn rams Scott’s head right into his own partner’s to turn things over. Bobby comes in with a slam and a flying kneedrop gets two. Back to Arn for an amazing DDT that gets two. AA smartly works a boston crab near his corner, allowing Bobby to come in off the tag with a legdrop. He works a camel clutch and Scott powers his way over into his corner, but Bobby releases the hold and cheapshots Rick to prevent the hot tag. Scott gets thrown into the ramp for a Rocket Launcher. Scott gets introduces into the railing, but blocks a double-team move back inside and makes the hot tag to Rick. Steinerlines abound and he’s thinking superplex on Bobby, but Arn comes in and puts him on his shoulders. Bobby tries a high crossbody but eats a powerslam in mid air instead for a great nearfall. A flying bulldog connects on Arn, but Bobby breaks up the pin and Madusa sneaks in some powder. AA blinds Rick and backs off, leaving him to suplex the referee Nick Patrick by mistake. A second ref comes in and counts Scott finishing Bobby off with the Frankensteiner at 20:06, but it’s obviously a Dusty finish as Patrick awards the win and the belts to the Alliance on a DQ.

Rating: Technically a very sound and logical match, but I’m afraid the crowd wasn’t always invested in it for some reason. I wasn’t always feeling it either to be honest, but it had nothing to do with the quality of the match or the talents involved. I feel it took way too long for them to switch gears and have the exciting matchup one would expect, and then they just suddenly end it on a Dusty finish. But, as mentioned already, there’s nothing to point fingers at in terms of quality or logic. Good stuff overall. ***1/4

A determined Ricky Steamboat leaves his dressing room and is on his way to the ring with the ninja by his side

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship – Rick Rude(c) vs. Ricky Steamboat(w/ Ninja)

The heat for Rude in the intro is crazy. Steamboat goes to work on Rude’s arm to start, even ramming it into the post. Rude shows some life and fights back but Steamboat armbars him and hits a hammerlock slam. Crossbody gets two and back to the arm he goes. Ricky fires away with the chops until Rude crossbodies him to the floor, where he sends him into the railing as well. Rude brings him back inside the hard way with a vertical suplex from the apron, and a clothesline with the bad arm hurts him as well. Nice! Steamboat fights back, but Rude clotheslines him back down (sacrificing himself again) and taunts the crowd with a hip swivel. With one good arm!! What a role model! Rude follows it up with a piledriver into an arrogant cover for two. Backdrop suplex gets two. Steamboat fights out of a chinlock with a legbreaker and takes him down for a figure four, but Rude breaks it on the ropes. He turns things back around with a flying double axehandle into a clothesline (now with the good arm) for two. They get into a slugfest until Rude works in a sleeper. Steamboat reverses it into his own, which Rude escapes with a jawbreaker. Rude goes up but he gets crotched and a superplex gets two. It’s finally comeback city with a number of clotheslines and some HIP SWIVEL TAUNTING. Steamboat goes up and hits the flying karate chop. He goes up again for another one, but the ninja turns on him with a telephone shot to give Rude the pin to retain the US title at 20:02.

Rating: They had the crowd in the palm of their hands throughout this entire match. The psychology was incredible and very logical, with Steamboat working over Rude’s arm from the start to prevent him from hitting the Rude Awakening. Rude’s selling was equally awesome, even doing his usual taunts just on one arm or hurting his own arm when doing clotheslines. Loved that! The finish worked well in my opinion, as that was obviously Heyman and pretty much justifies the need for a rematch. ****

In the back, Missy Hyatt walks in Rick Rude’s dressing room for an interview and catches Paul in the ninja outfit.

Main Event – WCW World Heavyweight Championship – Lex Luger(c)(w/ Harley Race) vs. Sting

Luger had been away from the ring for about a month at this point, working on the deal with the WWF/WBF and thus looking 5x bigger than his last appearance. They talk a little trash to begin but that eventually goes south and results in a heated shoving matchup. Luger slugs away until he misses the clothesline and takes the Stinger Splash already, but Luger no-sells(???) and explodes out of the corner with a clothesline. Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to have the top babyface’s move be no-sold by the guy leaving for the rival promotion after this night is beyond me. He follows it up with a powerslam and goes for the torture rack already, but Sting turns it into a German suplex. Sting then tries his own rack that comes off looking really bad, and Sting proceeds to catch him with a jumping DDT off a criss cross. Luger bails and begs for mercy back inside, taking a backdrop suplex for his troubles. Sting switches right into the Scorpion Deathlock, but Luger makes it to the ropes. He rakes the eyes and pounds away for a bit while visually sucking wind. Gorilla press slam sets up a piledriver for two. Sting finally makes the comeback but misses a blind charge and goes flying to the outside. Harley Race jumps in for a piledriver right there, but Sting backdrops out of that and jumps back in with a high crossbody to Luger for the win and his second WCW title at 13:02.

Rating: It’s quite clear for all to see that Lex Luger’s heart wasn’t in it and he already had his mind on his upcoming WWF/WBF run, but it was still a fine match regardless. They didn’t really miss anything up on a major note and Sting was very much feeling it, as were the fans in attendance. **

Sting celebrates with some pyro to close the PPV!

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: High recommendation, this is a very enjoyable event from start to finish. There was some great wrestling in here, with a total of three ***+ and two ****+ matches across the entire card, along with some great stories and angle advancement as well. Another great show here, it’s starting to feel like some kind of pattern from 1992! 8/10

FEEDBACK

What are your own personal thoughts on this event? Or of the review itself too? Let us know by using the following feedback form!

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Thank you for your response. ✨

POINT SYSTEM

You can read more about my point system here

Wrestler	Star ratings	Result	Main eventing	Extras	Total
Brian Pilman	4.25	1	–	+2 for winning a title	7.25
Sting	2	1	1	+2 for winning a title	6
Rick Rude	4	1	–	+1 for retaining a title	6
Barry Windham	3.75	1	–	+0.5 for winning the fall	5.25
Arn Anderson Bobby Eaton	3.25	0.5	–	+1 for retaining a title	4.75
Dustin Rhodes	3.75	1	–	–	4.75
Tom Zenk	2	1	–	+0.5 for winning the fall	3.5
Ricky Steamboat	4	-1	–	–	3
Van Hammer	2	1	–	–	3
Rick Steiner Scott Steiner	3.25	-0.5	–	–	2.75
Steve Austin	3.75	-1	–	–	2.75
Buff Bagwell	1.5	1	–	–	2.5
Cactus Jack	3.25	-1	–	–	2.25
Larry Zbyszko	3.75	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	2.25
Jushin Liger	4.25	-1	–	-2 for losing the title	1.25
Vinnie Vegas	2	-1	–	–	1
Taylor Made Man	1.5	-1	–	–	0.5
Richard Morton	2	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	0.5
Lex Luger	2	-1	1	-2 for losing a title	0

Thank you so much for your time! Make sure you don’t miss my upcoming review of WrestleMania VIII. Until then everyone, and take care!

WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event #30 Review – 02.08.1992 (Bad Friends, Even Worse Enemies)

February 8, 1992
Taped from Lubbock, TX
Announced attendance: N/A
TV rating (FOX): 8.2 (+0.5 compared to the prior SNME’s 7.7)

Hey everyone. Welcome to my review of the 30th edition of WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event, featuring the grudge match in the heated feud between Jake Roberts and Randy Savage. In the fallout from the Royal Rumble match, Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice put their differences aside to team up against the new WWF Champion Ric Flair and The Undertaker. New Intercontinental Champion ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper defends in a rematch against The Mountie and much more.

Here is the list of champions in the WWF heading into this show:

WWF Champion: Ric Flair [20th day of his reign] – previous champion: Hulk Hogan, before it was vacated
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Roddy Piper [20th day of his reign] – previous champion: The Mountie
WWF World Tag Team Champions: Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase & Irwin R. Schyster)* [1st day of their reign] – previous champions: The Road Warriors

*At the date of the tapings for this show (Jan. 27th), the title change hadn’t taken place yet and the Road Warriors were still the champions

Enjoy the review!

The hosts are Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan

WWF Intercontinental Championship – Roddy Piper(c) vs. The Mountie(w/ Jimmy Hart)

This is Mountie’s rematch and the winner gets the former champion Bret Hart in his rematch at WrestleMania. Jimmy Hart steals the belt before the bell and allows the Mountie to jump Piper from behind to start, but Piper comes back with a double clothesline that gets two on Mountie. To the floor for a double noggin knocker, but Jimmy holds Piper’s foot and Mountie pounds away on him. Mountie places Piper in the tree of woe and adds some more shots, while Bret Hart cuts a short picture-in-picture promo hyping the title match at WrestleMania. Piper gets slammed but raises his knees to block a splash, and he makes the comeback. Mountie shoves him off into the ref for a ref bump, though, and Mountie hits a piledriver. The Mountie dumps some water on Piper and proceeds to shock him with the stick, but Piper no-sells and shocks him in return for the win to keep the title at 3:30. Piper takes off his shirt and reveals he had a shock proof vest underneath.

Rating: A short yet the typical very fun and energetic Roddy Piper match, with the crowd going crazy for everything Piper did, and a nice clever ending to boot. *1/2

We recap the Hogan/Sid story and take a look back at the ending to the Royal Rumble, complete with edited crowd reaction to cover the big pop that Hogan’s elimination actually got! Then Jack Tunney booked Hulk Hogan as Ric Flair’s challenger for WrestleMania in the press conference, and Sid didn’t accept it because he was the last man standing in the Rumble. Sid has since cooled off and apologized to Hogan.

Sean Mooney interviews Hulk Hogan & Sid Justice backstage. Sean completely ignores Sid while Hogan talks about his WWF Title match with Flair at WrestleMania (yeah, about that…) and Sid just walks out of the room. As for tonight, Hogan has a surprise, his friend to the end, Brutus Beefcake. Oh joy, says I…

Ric Flair & The Undertaker(w/ Mr. Perfect & Paul Bearer) vs. Hulk Hogan & Sid Justice(w/ Brutus Beefcake)

Hogan wants to start the match with Flair, but Sid convinces him to stay in the corner. Flair rakes the eyes but Sid backdrops him out of the corner and hiptosses him, and Flair bails. Hogan asks for the tag and Sid obliges, with Hogan cleaning house and actually showing some teamwork with Sid. UT comes in but he can’t slam Sid, but Sid can it’s back to Hogan for a slam of his own. And one for Flair too as this crowd’s pretty LOUD. Taker turns things around with a cheapshot on Sid, and a double clothesline by the heels gives Flair two, with Hogan breaking up the pin. This distracts the ref even more and allows the heels to punish Sid even further with a double atomic drop that gives UT two. Hogan comes in for a double big boot to Flair and a double clothesline that dumps UT, and we take a break with Hogan posing and a not impressed Sid standing behind him.

Commercial break

We come back with Sid getting caught in the heel corner and double-teamed, but Sid eventually fights back with a double noggin knocker and makes the hot tag to Hogan. He runs wild on everyone, including Paul Bearer, but Mr. Perfect distracts him and Flair attacks the leg from behind. Flair’s got the figure four while Sid’s adjusting his knee pads with his back turned to the match, and UT comes back in with his flying clothesline. Flair goes up but Hogan slams him off and he goes for the hot tag, but Sid doesn’t seem too interested in it. Flair’s chops are no-sold by Hogan and he takes out both heels with a double clothesline before looking for the hot tag again, but this time Sid flat out walks away. The beating on Hogan continues and Flair shoves the referee away to cause the DQ at 11:42, and Brutus himself helps Hogan clean house afterwards.

Rating: This was an okay tag match that existed exclusively to set up Sid’s heel turn. This was more of an angle than a match, but the action leading up to it was pretty fine. **

Sean Mooney is waiting for Sid Justice in the dressing room hoping for an explanation. Sid says he has no friends and admits he’s still pissed that Tunney picked Hogan as the number one contender. Hogan could never beat Flair on his best day and he couldn’t beat Sid on Sid’s worst because he rules the world. It was an amazing creepy promo that got Sid over as a disturbed monster.

Commercial break

Mean Gene interviews Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake. Hogan recaps the angle we just saw two minutes ago and recaps the love story between him and his bff to the end. Beefcake shares some stories of him and Hogan in the hospital bed (hmmmm, yeah…) and Hogan promises to beat Flair for the WWF Title at WrestleMania and he’ll dedicate his win to his FRIEND TO THE END. Good lord, this was eye-rolling levels of bad. And cringe.

Sgt. Slaughter & Jim Duggan vs. The Beverly Brothers (Beau & Blake)(w/ The Genius)

This was supposed to be the Road Warriors facing the Beverlys, but they dropped the titles after a disagreement and very briefly left the company, and were thus replaced on this show. Duggan runs wild to start until he gets hit with the Genius’ scroll, and the Beverlys take over. Slaughter makes the hot tag and he works an abdominal stretch on Blake, which is broken up by Beau. Slaughter hits a backbreaker but Beau again breaks up the pin, and now Duggan joins the party as IT’S BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA. Slaughter uses the scroll on Blake, setting up Duggan’s three point stance clothesline to give Slaughter the pin at 2:39.

Rating: Just filler. 1/4*

We see a recap of the Roberts/Savage feud. Savage was bitten by the snake in November and got reinstated for a match at This Tuesday in Texas, which was won by Svaage but Roberts attacked both him and Miss Elizabeth afterwards.

Jake Roberts hopes to see Miss Elizabeth out there again tonight because some things are worth doing twice.

Randy Savage wants all the women watching to imagine being forced to watch their husband laid out unconscious. Does that make you a little bit upset? Does that make you a little bit over the edge? A little bit insane? And for all the men out there, imagine watching your wife begging to another man and then getting slapped by another man. Does that make you upset? Over the edge? Insane? But not him, because he knows what he’ll do to Roberts. You know what, maybe he is insane. And Jake Roberts is about to find out just how much. This ruled!

Randy Savage vs. Jake Roberts

Savage goes right after Roberts on the outside before the bell while Jake tries to run away. Savage is just all over him. He grabs a chair that the ref takes away from him, so Savage chokes away on the ropes instead. Roberts already has a broken nose. Savage hits the high knee to the back and goes after the nose in the corner, but Roberts rakes the eyes and dumps him. Savage comes back in quickly, but Roberts dumps him right back out and introduces his head into the post a couple of times. We take a break.

Commercial break

We come back with Roberts in control back inside. Savage catches him with a back elbow and he goes up, but Jake punches him in mid air and hits the DDT. He doesn’t want the pin, though, and instead sits in the corner waiting to see if Savage gets back up. He does, and Roberts immediately takes him down with the short clothesline. He tries a second DDT, but Savage backdrops him to the outside and meets him with the flying double axe that sends Roberts into the railing. Back in, the Macho Elbow ends Roberts at 5:25. Savage wants another Macho Elbow after the bell, but the officials get in front of him. Savage is like ‘eh fuck it’ and does it anyway, with everyone moving out of the way! Savage tries to beat him up with the bell but the officials get in his way and allow Roberts to run away, so Savage takes his frustrations out on some of them instead. Miss Elizabeth runs in to celebrate with Macho Man, and we go off the air with Roberts waiting for them with a chair in hand in the gorilla position.

Rating: This was very good. Rushed, but very very good. Starting with both guys’ awesome pre-match promos, to Savage wasting no time in going after Roberts and even breaking his nose, not even caring a little bit about the rules (as he shouldn’t), to then Roberts getting the upper hand and trying to humiliate Savage, which ultimately caused his own defeat. I really enjoyed this for the short time it lasted. ***1/4

END OF THE SHOW

The conclusion of this cliffhanger aired shortly afterwards on television, but since I don’t review those yet (just wait until RAW’s debut!), I’ll tell it here for those wondering. Roberts indeed tried to attack Savage and Liz when they came back through the curtain, but he was stopped by none other than… The Undertaker himself! This marked Undertaker’s very first face turn and started a feud between the two that culminated at WrestleMania, in Roberts’ final match in his first WWF run.

Final thoughts: It’s a really short show, barely breaking the 45 minute mark on the WWE Network/Peacock, so it’s relatively enjoyable for the short time it lasts. The final minutes with the conclusion of the Savage/Roberts feud are very good, and a Roddy Piper match is always fun and an easy watch. The whole Hogan/Sid angle was decent enough (excluding Hogan and Beefcake’s promo, that was freaking terrible), but knowing where that is going at WrestleMania leaves a very sour taste in my mouth. Yeah, a pretty good show that, for better or worse, advanced some stories and even saw the conclusion of another. 6/10

FEEDBACK

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POINT SYSTEM

You can find out more about my point system here

Wrestler	Star ratings	Result	Main eventing	Extras	Total
Randy Savage	3.25	1	1	–	5.25
Roddy Piper	1.5	1	–	+1 for retaining a title	3.5
Jake Roberts	3.25	-1	1	–	3.25
Hulk Hogan Sid Justice	2	0.5	–	–	2.5
Sgt. Slaughter	0.25	1	–	+0.5 for winning the fall	1.75
Ric Flair Undertaker	2	-0.5	–	–	1.5
Jim Duggan	0.25	1	–	–	1.25
The Mountie	1.5	-1	–	–	0.5
Beau Beverly	0.25	-1	–	–	-0.75
Blake Beverly	0.25	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	-1.25

Thank you so much for your visit and your time. Make sure you don’t miss the upcoming reviews of WCW SuperBrawl II and WWF WrestleMania VIII. Stay safe and I hope to see you soon!

WCW Clash Of The Champions 18 Review (1992 Couldn’t Have Come Sooner!)

January 21st, 1992
Live from Topeka, KS
Announced attendance: 5.500 (capacity: ca. 10.000)
TV rating: 3.7 (-0.6 compared to Clash 17’s 4.3)

Hey there everyone and welcome to my first WCW review for 1992. We kick off the year over in Atlanta with the 18th edition of Clash of the Champions, featuring Sting & Ricky Steamboat taking on Rick Rude & Steve Austin in the main event, a hard-hitting tag team match between the Steiners and Big Van Vader & Mr. Hughes, Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer in a falls count anywhere, and even the historic debut of the one and the only… Vinnie Vegas!

Here is the list of champions in WCW heading into this show:

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Lex Luger [191st day of his reign] – previous champion: Ric Flair, before it was vacated
WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Rick Rude [63rd day of his reign] – previous champion: Sting
WCW World Television Champion: ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin [232nd day of his reign] – previous champion: Bobby Eaton
WCW Light Heavyweight Champion: Jushin Thunder Liger [27th day of his reign] – previous champion: Flyin’ Brian Pillman
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton) [5th day of their reign] – previous champions: Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes
WCW United States Tag Team Champions: Ron Simmons & Big Josh [7th day of their reign] – previous champions: The Young Pistols

Enjoy the review!

The hosts are Jim Ross & Tony Schiavone

The Steiners (Rick & Scott) vs. Big Van Vader & Mr. Hughes(w/ Harley Race)

Scott takes Hughes to wrestling school to start, pulling off single leg and fireman’s carry takedowns. Hughes fights back with a slam, but gets too cocky and eats an overhead suplex. Hughes bails before Scott eventually gets caught in the heel corner, and both Steiners get dumped. They both get back in and climb the top rope for a double Steinerline, though, and the heels bail. Vader takes over with a backdrop suplex on Rick, followed by a regular suplex. Military press slam by Vader sets up an avalanche in the corner, but a second one is blocked with a Steinerline. Rick manages to hit an overhead suplex on Vader followed by a clothesline over the top rope, which… SHOCK ALERT… is not a DQ. Take a drink! Rick chases Vader to the outside, but gets caught and rammed into the post. Back in, Vader hits a clothesline and he goes up, but Rick meets him there and brings him down with a belly to belly! Scott comes in with a clothesline that gets two. A german suplex doesn’t seem to work, but Rick adds a few punches to Vader and Scott actually does it. These guys are not humans. Scott goes up but gets caught with a powerslam in mid air. Scott tries to make the comeback with a sunset flip, but Vader counters it with the buttdrop splash of doom. Hughes gets tagged in and misses a blind charge, setting up the hot tag to Rick. However, Vader comes in and dumps Rick for a double-team clothesline on Scott, but he moves out of the way and it hits Hughes instead. Scott sacrifices himself to get rid of Vader, allowing Rick to go up with the flying bulldog to give the Steiners the win at 9:02.

Rating: This was a nice surprise. The Steiners throwing Vader around was quite fun, as those three seemed to have great chemistry and worked very well together. Hughes wasn’t in there for long, but he certainly didn’t look bad or bring anything down. Very good opener for Clash. ***1/4

Flyin’ Brian & Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Taylor Made Man & Tracy Smothers

Terry Taylor’s dumb gimmick #13A after the ‘computerized man of the 1990s’. At least it’s better than being a walking rooster, I guess. Taylor bitchslaps Pillman in the corner to start and chops away. Pillman chops back and headscissors him out of the corner, followed by an atomic drop that sends Taylor into the babyface side for some shots from both. Brian charges into a backbreaker for two, though. Pillman fights back with another headscissors into a crossbody for two, and Bagwell comes in to run wild on both heels, even launching Brian in for some double Air Pillman. Dropkicks in stereo clean house followed by dives, and this crowd is loving it! Tracy comes in and takes over with a dropkick on Bagwell. Clothesline gets two. Perfect necksnap by Taylor gets two. Bagwell gets his knees up to block a splash, though, and it’s hot tag Pillman. He cleans house like a French maid and a spinning wheel kick on Tracy gets two, with the pin broken up by Taylor. All hell’s broken loose and it gets the referee distracted, allowing Taylor to suplex Brian from the apron all the way to the floor. Oof. Tracy gets two back in. Gutwrench suplex by Taylor gets two. Pillman eats some railing but he comes back in with Air Pillman on a distracted Tracy, and it’s hot tag Bagwell. Taylor grabs Tracy to prevent a sunset flip, but Brian knocks him onto Tracy with a dropkick, completing the sunset flip to give them the win at 7:49.

Rating: Another great surprise here as I can’t help but say that 1992 couldn’t have come any closer! This was very good for the short seven minutes it lasted, with some great fire shown by the babyfaces in their comebacks and lots of exciting spots. ***1/4

We take a look at Jushin Thunder Liger coming out with the WCW Light Heavyweight title over in Japan, and learn he’ll be defending at SuperBrawl in February against a challenger TBD. Here’s some action from the division…

Richard Morton vs. Johnny B. Badd

Morton pulls some hair in the early going and hides in the corner, but gets rolled up for two. Morton hits an atomic drop and makes Johnny eat some post on the outside. Back in, a suplex gets two. Johnny fights back with a slam for two of his own, before rolling through a crossbody to steal the pin on Morton at 3:20.

Rating: So this is it? This is the match you use to showcase the light heavyweight division after that Liger video package and the title match announced for the PPV? This had time to go nowhere, and nowhere it went. 1/2*

Eric Bischoff interviews both Brian Pillman & Johnny B. Badd on the stage. While Pillman’s all serious and issuing the challenge to Liger for WrestleWar, Johnny’s making fun of Bischoff. As soon as he tries to do the same to Pillman, Pillman punches him and leaves him laying (as he should’ve). Brian was awesome throughout this whole night.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. PN News

This is PN News’ last appearance on the series before his departure that April, so it’s my honor to write down PN News’ very last pre-match rap performance right here on the blog. Embrace the greatness, here we go..

It’s the first Clash in 92
And have I got a surprise for you
Come on Page, let’s see whatcha got
I know you fight fair…. NOT
YO BABY YO BABY YO

50 Cent, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Tupac, Biggie, etc eat your hearts out homies!

DDP jumps News to start, but that takes him about as far as a feud with The Undertaker would. News misses an elbowdrop and a blind charge, though, and DDP hits a clothesline for two. DDP has the AUDACITY to mock the yo baby yo baby yo as he turns things around with a necksnap on the ropes. News catches him with a belly to belly, however, and he goes up for the RAFTERS SHAKING RAP MASTER SPLASH for the win (with the music even playing before the three count) at 3:25.

Rating: It was what it was, a typical short Clash squash. Nothing wrong with it. 1/4*

We move from a departure to the most epic return in pro wrestling history. You missed it, I missed it, the fans missed it, it’s the return of….

THE WCW TOP TEN RANKING!

Let’s see if they’re as stupid as they used to be!

WCW World Heavyweight Championship top ten contenders list: 10) Larry Zbyszko (only 10?); 9) El Gigante (wait he’s actually still around!?); 8) Big Van Vader (only 8???); 7) Dustin Rhodes (way too soon at the time); 6) Cactus Jack (good to see him here); 5) Rick Steiner (no issues here either); 4) Ricky Steamboat (he was missed); 3) TV Champion Steve Austin (eh, Eric told me this guy would never get over in this business, what a waste of an entry); 2) Sting (how is he #2 when he’s the next in line for the PPV!??); 1) US Champion Rick Rude (I love Rude but again, this makes no sense!) – the champion is Lex Luger

It had some questionable entries (looking at you, El Gigante) and the usual weird logic of the actual next contender in line not being named the top contender in the company, but overall I’ve seen much worse ones.

Meanwhile, Tony Schiavone introduces WCW’s brand new executive vice president Kip Allen Frey, replacing Jim Herd.

See, even Ramsay knows it!

Frey introduces WCW’s new announcer, JESSE THE BODY VENTURA. Hell yeah! Sting comes out to sign the contract and make the title match at SuperBrawl official, and we hear some words from the champion Lex Luger via satellite.

Falls Count Anywhere Match – Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer

Hammer sprays something from his guitar on Cactus’ eyes before the bell, meeting him with a high crossbody from the apron to the ring to start for two already. Hammer stays on top of Cactus with a corner clothesline followed by a legdrop to the back of the head for two. Hammer goes up but Cactus catches him with a clothesline in mid air for two, and the Cactus Clothesline takes both guys to the floor where Cactus gets two. Hammer gets introduced to the railing as Cactus exposes the concrete, and Cactus proceeds to grab Hammer by the hair and faceplant him right on the concrete. He goes up top for a flying sunset flip (good lord Mick…) for two. Cactus takes Hammer up to the ramp now to work a sleeper, but Hammer escapes with a jawbreaker and powerslams him on the ramp for two. Cactus tries to throw Hammer off the ramp, but Hammer reverses and it’s obviously Cactus being sent all the way to concrete again. Hammer meets him there with a flying clothesline for two. They take the fight backstage and earn some boos from the fans, and we take a break.

Commercial break

We’re back with them fighting in the parking lot while Missy Hyatt screams for the referee to do something and end this match. Cactus uses some object to attack Hammer, who manages to escape and grabs a rope to choke Cactus. They go to a hog pen area, where there’s Abdullah the Butcher disguised as a cowboy to attack Cactus. A shot with a shovel accidentally hits Van Hammer and gives Cactus the pin at 10:08. Cactus and Abdullah fight after the match, and Missy Hyatt gets thrown into the water.

Rating: As always, Cactus was determined to do everything and anything to get over, including killing himself, in the process making this match a lot better than it had any right to be. The bumps on the concrete are hard to watch, but at least they got Mick over as a big star at the end of the day. Pretty good brawl and another good match on this show. ***

The New Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) vs. Big Josh & Brad Armstrong

The Freebirds now have different attire and have switched their entrance song, which we don’t get to hear because they must’ve been running out of time or something. Brad scores with a hiptoss on Hayes to start, but Hayes kicks him off and Garvin comes in with a clothesline. Garvin goes up and a high crossbody gets two. Big Josh slams Garvin down and steps on him, and does the same to Hayes. The latter shows some life with a sunset flip for two, but Josh pounds away on Garvin in the corner. Brad comes in with dropkicks to both Freebirds, but he gets dumped and Big Josh stops the celebration with a double clothesline to both. Back in, a Brad suplex on Hayes is stopped by Garvin while the ref’s distracted with Josh, and the double DDT gives Hayes the pin at 3:03. ‘Badstreet USA’ plays the Freebirds out after the match, so I assume WWE Network doesn’t have the rights to their new ‘I am a Freebird and what’s your excuse’ song.

Rating: Short match but it was all action while it lasted. It was pretty okay for a three minute tag match in the undercard. *

We see a recap of the Steiners’ accomplishments and all the great teams they defeated, including the Road Warriors and the Nasty Boys (take that Vince), Scott being injured and Rick being seconds away from beating Lex Luger for the WCW World Title. Now they’re both healthy and back together after the World Tag title.

Eric Bischoff interviews the Steiners

Rick doesn’t remember losing the World Tag titles because it never happened, and they’re coming after Arn & Eaton. Scott says patience might be a virtue, but they’re not patient and when they step in the ring they leave the ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ persona behind. They’re coming after the titles with bad intentions.

And now it’s time for what everyone came to see. What the wrestling world needed. What the whole world needed. It’s the epic debut of the artist formerly known as Oz!!

Vinnie Vegas vs. Thomas Rich

The announcers put snake eyes over before the match like it’s the world’s most impressive move. Nash is wrestling with a suit in a look and gimmick that have everything to take him to the next level in wrestling. Vegas lures Rich into believing a fan is talking trash to him, which Rich falls for like a complete idiot (this guy is a former World Champion for fucks sake…) and Vegas takes over. Choking follows and the SNAKE EYES OF PAINFUL DOOM puts Rich away at 0:56.

Rating: Okay then. It was short but it was dumb as hell and made Rich look like a dumbass way more than it made Nash look good. Just a squash, and not a good one at that. DUD

Eric Bischoff interviews Paul E. Dangerously

Paul claims each and every prediction he’s made since his return at Halloween Havoc came true, and another one will tonight. He promises that at least one of the Dangerous Alliance’s five opponents in the next two matches (Sting, Steamboat, Simmons, Windham and Dustin) will be injured and forced out of WCW forever. Win, lose or draw, they’ll make sure one of them will never wrestle here again. This promo was great and made you want to watch the rest of the show to see what would happen to whom.

The Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton & Larry Zbyszko)(w/ Paul E. Dangerously) vs. Ron Simmons, Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes

Windham has a cast in his right arm, which was slammed by a car door back at Halloween Havoc by Anderson and Zbyszko. He asks to start the match with Eaton, who takes over with a neckbreaker. Eaton takes him up for a superplex, but Barry no-sells it and explodes with a couple of lariats. It’s superplex time already but Arn breaks up the pin, and all the heels get caught with figure fours by the babyfaces. Zbyszko works a wristlock on Simmons but he’s tougher than a two dollar steak. AA comes in to work one on the other arm as well, only for Simmons to backflip and double armdrag them out into a double flying shoulderblock. Eaton tries to jump Ron off the top rope but gets caught in a bearhug, but Arn comes from behind with a cheapshot. Ron gorilla press slams Arn away, though, and a clothesline on Zbyszko gets two. It’s off to Dustin and Eaton, who rakes the eyes to take over, but Dustin whips Eaton over the top rope to the ramp (no DQ, take a drink) and meets him there with a dive. Windham goes for the lariat on Zbyszko, but Arn pulls Larry out of the way. Zbyszko’s thinking piledriver but Windham backdrops his way out, and he dropkicks Eaton off the top rope to the floor.

He faceplants Arn and gets Dustin in off a blind tag, who misses a blind charge and goes flying all the way to the ramp. Paul adds a shot with the telephone behind the ref’s back, and back in AA’s spinebuster gets a great nearfall. A corner slingshot splash only finds Dustin’s knees, but Arn immediately fights back with a great DDT for another nearfall. Eaton goes up with a flying elbowdrop for two, with a little bitchslap added before the cover. Eaton crotches himself on a missed blind charge in the corner, and Arn goes up but only eats Dustin’s boot. Windham makes the hot tag and comes in with a flying lariat on Eaton followed by a regular one, and a backdrop gets two. An Arn cheapshot makes Dustin go after him, while Simmons takes Larry out with a shoulderblock. Meanwhile with the ref distracted, Windham punches Eaton with the cast in mid air to get the win at 9:28.

Rating: What a fun six man tag this was. The Dangerous Alliance were doing some amazing work as heels at this time in WCW, and Windham was especially feeling it in this one. He did a great selljob of the story of him finally being medically able to come back to the ring and get his hands on the Alliance, and the fans popped big for it all. Another great action packed match on this Clash. ***3/4

Meanwhile, Tony Schiavone interviews the winners in the dressing room. Barry Windham doesn’t care what WCW or the doctors say, he’s back and he’ll cause a lot of pain to some people, starting with Larry Zbyszko for what he did to his hand. Windham turns the tables and has a prediction of his own: Paul E. Dangerously or anyone involved with him will be crippled and out of wrestling forever. Great promo.

Jesse Ventura joins JR to call the main event in Schiavone’s place.

Main Event – The Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude & Steve Austin)(w/ Paul E. Dangerously) vs. Sting & Ricky Steamboat

Just stop for a second and take a look at the talent involved in this main event. Steamboat starts with a shoulderblock on Austin and takes over with the KARATE BLOWS OF DEATH. An Austin hiptoss is blocked into a backslide that gets two, as do a couple more cradles, and Steamboat cleans house with kicks to both heels as they bail. They try to corner Steamboat back inside, but he’s too experienced and won’t fall for it. Nice. That ruins the Alliance’s strategy, so Rude walks over and bitchslaps Sting. He asks for the tag and Steamboat obliges, but Rude hides in his corner. Rude gets over but gets atomic dropped and clotheslined. Sting works a rear chinlock and stops to mock Rude’s hip swivel, and it’s back to Steamboat to work on the back some more. The heels (particularly Paul) get all worked up with this, so the babyfaces illegally switch back to Sting again and Paul’s losing his mind. Rude gets his knees up to block a buttdrop to the back, and Austin is back in to ram Sting’s face into the buckle, only for Sting to reverse and make him eat it instead. Austin back elbow gets two, and Rude cheapshots Steamboat to prevent the hot tag.

Austin hits a backdrop suplex and he too stops to cheapshot Steamboat, only this time giving Sting enough time to recuperate and make the hot tag to Steamboat. He runs wild on both with the chops and some double noggin knocker action gets two on Austin. Victory roll follows but the ref’s busy with Sting, allowing Rude to cheapshot Dragon and turn things around. An amazing back elbow even impresses Ventura, and now the Alliance cut the ring in half. Steamboat shows some life but an O’Connor roll is blocked by Austin, but Ricky gets a cradle anyway for two and IT’S BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA. Austin throws Sting off the ramp and gives Steamboat a backbreaker back inside. He goes for another one, but this time Sting climbs the top rope and high crossbodies Austin, with Sting and Steamboat falling on top of Austin for the win at 11:21. Rude jumps Steamboat afterward with two Rude Awakenings while Sting misses a stinger splash on Austin and takes himself out. Paul gives Rude a belt for some good ol’ whippin’ on Steamboat, and even security take a beating. Sting sacrifices himself by covering Steamboat, so he gets a beating too, and the Alliance get booed out of the building on the way out.

Rating: Smartly worked tag match, with the veteran Steamboat not falling in the Alliance’s traps and making them provoke the younger Sting to let his emotions get the better of him and get the upper hand. It wasn’t anything out of this world, but it was another good match on a show full of them. ***1/4

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: This show completely exceeded my expectations and then some. I don’t know what was up with the wrestling waters in 1992, but so far I’m struggling to find a bad show from that year! Even the matches that looked eh on paper (looking at you, Van Hammer) were suprisingly good, and the four matches that weren’t were squashes that barely lasted ten minutes combined. All the stuff involving the Dangerous Alliance in the main event scene was good, and with them the future sure looked promising for WCW, at least in terms of the quality of their product. 7/10

FEEDBACK

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POINT SYSTEM

Click here to find out eveyrthing about my point system

Wrestler	Star ratings	Result	Main eventing	Extras	Total
Ricky Steamboat	3.25	1	1	+0.5 for winning the fall	5.75
Sting	3.25	1	1	–	5.25
Barry Windham	3.75	1	–	+0.5 for winning the fall	5.25
Ron Simmons Dustin Rhodes	3.75	1	–	–	4.75
Rick Steiner Marcus A. Bagwell	3.25	1	–	+0.5 for winning the fall	4.75
Scott Steiner Brian Pillman	3.25	1	–	–	4.25
Cactus Jack	3	1	–	–	4
Rick Rude	3.25	-1	1	–	3.25
Steve Austin	3.25	-1	1	-0.5 for losing the fall	2.75
Arn Anderson Larry Zbyszko	3.75	-1	–	–	2.75
Michael Hayes	1	1	–	+1 for winning the fall	2.5
Bobby Eaton	3.75	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	2.25
Big Van Vader Taylor Made Man	3.25	-1	–	–	2.25
Jimmy Garvin	1	1	–	–	2
Van Hammer	3	-1	–	–	2
Mr. Hughes Tracy Smothers	3.25	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	1.75
Johnny B. Badd	0.5	1	–	–	1.5
PN News	0.25	1	–	–	1.25
Vinnie Vegas	0	1	–	–	1
Big Josh	1	-1	–	–	0
Brad Armstrong	1	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	-0.5
Richard Morton	0.5	-1	–	–	-0.5
DDP	0.25	-1	–	–	-0.75
Thomas Rich	0	-1	–	–	-1

And that’s all for the first Clash of 92. Make sure you don’t miss the upcoming review, from over on the WWF side of things on the last stop before WrestleMania with an edition of SNME. Then it will be WCW’s SuperBrawl coming up, followed by WWF’s WrestleMania VIII. See you all, take care!

WWF Royal Rumble 1992 Review (A Tear In My Eye)

January 19th, 1992
Live from Albany, NY
Announced attendance: 17.000 (capacity: ca. 17.500)
PPV buyrate: 260.000 (-160.000 compared to Royal Rumble 1991’s 440.000)

Hello everyone and welcome to my first review of 1992. We’re kicking off the year over on the WWF side, with one of the most iconic and exciting pay-per-views of their calendar, the Royal Rumble. This year, the participants are fighting over the vacant WWF Championship in the annual Royal Rumble match. Also on the card, Roddy Piper challenges The Mountie for his newly-won Intercontinental Championship, LOD put the World Tag Team Titles on the line against the Natural Disasters, and more.

Here is the list of champions in the WWF heading into this show:

WWF Champion: vacant – previous champion: Hulk Hogan
WWF Intercontinental Champion: The Mountie [2nd day of his reign] – previous champion: Bret Hart
WWF World Tag Team Champions: Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) [146th day of their reign] – previous champions: The Nasty Boys

Enjoy the review!

The hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan

An excited Vince McMahon runs through the entire list of Rumble participants before welcoming us to the show

The New Foundation (Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart) vs. The Orient Express (Kato & Tanaka)(w/ Mr. Fuji)

Owen Hart shows some athleticism to start while working on Kato’s arm, even adding some joint manipulation action. Kato powers Owen down into a pinfall, but Owen bridges out of that and adds a springboard armdrag into a hurricanrana for two. And back to the arm goes Owen. Anvil comes in with a big hiptoss out of the corner, before blocking an armdrag with a shove. It’s off to Tanaka for a powerslam that obviously goes nowhere, as Neidhart shoves him on his ass as well. Tanaka criss crosses but runs into a couple of shoulderblocks. A Neidhart spinebuster + Owen flying elbowdrop gives Owen two. A backbreaker gets two. Tanaka shows some life, but Owen flies around and keeps his team in control, while the announcers recap Bret Hart defending his IC Title against The Mountie against his doctor’s orders (with 104 degrees fever) and losing. Owen leapfrogs over Kato and catches him with a spinning wheel kick for two. Meanwhile, the announcers mention Roddy Piper has a chance to make history and become the first person to ever win the WWF and IC titles on the same night, apparently completely erasing Hogan and Warrior from history.

Owen criss crosses but Tanaka cheapshots him from the apron, distracting the referee and allowing Mr. Fuji to hit Owen with the cane to the throat to finally put the Orient Express in control. Kato hits a superkick for two. Back elbow gets two. Tanaka irish whips Owen into the turnbuckle (Bret Hart bump included) for two. Kato works a headlock that goes about as far as a headlock usually goes, with Owen escaping and getting two off a crucifix pin. However, Tanaka immediately cuts Owen’s comeback with a superkick, while we get a rare Midnight Express mention from Gorilla on commentary. Tanaka adds a dangerously low legdrop and works a hold, with Owen again trying to fight back but getting caught with a flying forearm for two. Owen bulldogs Tanaka out of the corner and makes the false hot tag to Neidhart, as Kato had the referee distracted. The heels ram Owen right into the cane, but it only gets two. Tanaka hits a flying headbutt on Owen’s arm, but Owen hits a belly to belly suplex for two. He still can’t make the hot tag as Kato cheapshots Anvil in the corner, while the Express hit a double clothesline. Owen fights back with a double dropkick, though, and this time the hot tag is for real! Anvil comes in a double slingshot shoulderblock and he runs wild. Owen launches himself with a crazy dive that nearly sends Kato all the way to Okinawa, and back in the Rocket Launcher finishes Tanaka at 17:18.

Rating: Great undercard tag team match to kickoff the WWF’s year, with the Orient Express competing in an exciting opener at the Rumble for the second year in a row. Owen Hart got to showcase his skills and he came out looking good, with some great spots in here. The announcers spent most of the time speaking about the Rumble and the recent events in the IC title scene, which is understandable given it was at a house show two days earlier, but this match deserved more attention. Very good opener. ***1/2

Lord Alfred Hayes recaps The Mountie defeating a sick Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Championship two days previously, as well as his post-match attacks on Bret and Roddy Piper, his challenger tonight.

The Mountie questions Piper’s challenge with less than a two day notice, but he still promises to take his skirt, his manhood, his pride and his integrity.

Roddy Piper says it’s alright because he’s got no integrity. He’s here to win two titles, and it’s time to collect the first.

WWF Intercontinental Championship – The Mountie(c)(w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Roddy Piper

Piper gets a crazy pop in his entrance and loud ROWDY chants before the bell. The Mountie intimidates Piper with the shock stick, so Piper throws the kilt in his face and we’re underway. Mountie bails but Piper jumps him on the outside, and Mountie chokes away back inside. Criss cross and Mountie drops down, but Piper pumps the brakes and hits a fistdrop. Piper introduces Mountie to the turnbuckle a couple of times and bulldogs him out of the corner for two. Jimmy Hart gets involved and we get a slugfest until Piper misses a telegraphed dropkick. Mountie rams Piper’s head into the buckle and hits a flying back elbow for two. The Mountie dumps Piper to the floor, who comes back with a springboard sunset flip for two. An atomic drop knocks Mountie over the top rope but he skins the cat back in, only to knock Jimmy Hart off the apron on a blind charge. Piper’s sleeper gives him his first ever WWF title at 5:22 while the fans go absolutely bananas. Piper steals the shock stick from Jimmy afterward and executes the Mountie.

Rating: This was extremely entertaining and one of the best title wins in WWF/E history, with Roddy Piper finally winning his first title in the company shortly before his departure after that year’s WrestleMania. They had the people in the palm of their hands the whole time and had a very fun match, with a great feel good ending to boot. **1/2

Lord Alfred Hayes interviews Hulk Hogan in his locker room. He’s glad Hayes came now and not later, where it will be no friends and every man for himself. He’s ready to get the WWF Title back.

The Bushwhackers yell some stuff while Jamison eats his tie in the background. Just normal everyday stuff, you see.

The Bushwhackers (Butch & Luke)(w/ Jamison) vs. The Beverly Brothers (Beau & Blake)(w/ The Genius)

Yep, apparently this is a thing that just needs to exist on this PPV. Jamison continues to eat his tie like a moron at ringside while the Bushwhackers take forever to pose at the fans, with the heels not jumping them. Now Jamison grabs a slice of bread from his jacket and starts eating and throwing pieces at the crowd. What am I watching? The Beverly’s finally jump Luke but he bites them in the ass, and the Bushwhackers clean the ring and get to pose some more. Now we get to see Jamison blow his nose with his sock, while one of the Beverly’s gets down on one knee to ask Butch for a handshake. He stops to ask the fans for about twenty seconds, until the guy FINALLY jumps him from behind. Good lord please end this already. Luke hits a bulldog and the Bushwhackers knock the heels into each other, before cleaning house yet again and posing… yet again. One of the Beverly’s goes under the ring to jump the Bushwhackers from behind, but he’s too scared to do it and bails again. Repeat 3x. More biting in the ass follows and the Beverly’s bail again. The Beverly Brothers finally take control with a flying double axehandle for two. They double-team them for what seems like forever. The Genius slaps Jamison in the face outside, as this match just won’t stop. Blake hits a neckbreaker for two until Luke explodes with a clothesline out of the corner, and we finally get the hot tag to Butch. He runs wild with clotheslines and the battering ram on both Beverly’s. However, Beau breaks up the pin and goes up for a flying double axehandle to give Blake the pin and FINALLY end this abortion of a “comedy” match at a whoopin 14:56. The Genius eats a couple of comedy wussy kicks from Jamison after the match.

Rating: Horrible in about every shape and form imaginable. Over twenty minutes of air time for this? Are you kidding me? Total garbage. DUD

The Legion of Doom aren’t ready to lose the tag titles just yet.

WWF World Tag Team Championship – Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal)(c) vs. Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon)(w/ Jimmy Hart)

Hawk and Typhoon get into a shoulderblockfest to start, but they’re both huge and it goes nowhere. Hawk goes up and gets the job done with a flying clothesline for two, with Earthquake breaking up the pin. Hawk shoves Quake in return, prompting the big man to ask for the tag. Quake gets in his face and Hawk dropkicks him, but it does absolutely nothing. Now Quake attempts a dropkick but misses, as it’s off to Animal for a slugfest with Earthquake. Animal actually goes for a powerslam but Quake lands on top and gets two. Typhoon comes back in with an avalanche in the corner, but he eats boot on a second one and Animal nearly takes his head off with a great clothesline. Hawk tries his flying shoulderblock on Typhoon, but he catches him in mid-air and turns it into a backbreaker. Quake comes back in with a big fat elbowdrop to the back for two. Typhoon sits on Hawk’s back on the ropes before working a bearhug. Earthquake pounds away on the back some more before just squashing him in the corner. Quake briefly works a bearhug too but he misses a blind charge, and Hawk comes flying off the top with an elbow. Animal adds a flying shoulderblock and a double clothesline on both Natural Disasters, as now hell starts breaking loose on the outside. Typhoon is the only one who makes it back inside in time, giving them the win but not the titles at 9:24. The Natural Disasters pose with the belts anyway, until the Road Warriors come in and clean house with a chair to stand tall.

Rating: Not a bad big guy tag match, with some nice work over Hawk’s back, which you don’t get to see every day. The non-finish didn’t help, but it was otherwise a pretty okay tag title match. *1/2

The Natural Disasters & Jimmy Hart storm into their locker room and promise to defeat LOD yet again, this time taking their titles too.

And now, it’s time for the AWESOME retro Rumble promos (please bring those back!)

Roddy Piper is excited to be the new Intercontinental Champion, but that’s not enough because he has a dream!

We see a recap of Shawn Michaels sending Marty Jannetty through the barber shop window to split The Rockers the previous week on television.

Shawn Michaels says he actually did Jannetty a favour by saving him from 29 beatings in the Rumble match. Here’s the very beginning of ‘HBK’!

Ric Flair reveals he drew #3, but it makes no difference because he’ll walk out with the WWF Championship.

Randy Savage has two things he wants to accomplish tonight: get his hands on Jake Roberts and win the WWF Championship for a second time, DIG IT!

Sid Justice says you’re looking at the man who’s superior to all, and the next WWF Champion.

Repo Man is excited because he has the opportunity to take the biggest prize there is.

The British Bulldog will outlast everyone much like he did at the Royal Albert Hall in London a couple months earlier, and this time he’ll take the gold.

Jake Roberts says you can’t always get you want, but he always get what he needs. He’ll be waiting for Savage, and he’ll have just enough left to walk out with the title. Trust him!

Ric Flair & Mr. Perfect say Flair is the man because he’s said for four months that he’s the real world champ. For everyone else, to be the man you’ve got to beat the man.

The Undertaker & Paul Bearer have already prepared 29 caskets for tonight, and standing above them will be Undertaker as a 2x WWF Champion.

Hulk Hogan and his little hulkamaniacs will prove they can dethrone 29 men to win back the WWF Championship.

1992 Royal Rumble Match – Vacant WWF Championship

Before the match, WWF President Jack Tunney comes out with the belt and wishes everyone good luck, but not without managing to forget his lines.

The British Bulldog draws #1 and Ted DiBiase draws #2 to start the Rumble. Bulldog misses a charge in the corner to start and eats some chops and a clothesline. Suplex and a gutwrench suplex keep Bulldog down. DiBiase hits him with another regular one and he tries to dump Davey Boy, but Bulldog hangs on and clotheslines DiBiase out for the first elimination. Ric Flair is #3 and Bobby Heenan is losing his mind over on commentary. Bulldog shoves him down and gorilla press slams Flair, with some overhead presses just because he can. A clothesline takes Flair down and he rakes the eyes, but eats another clothesline and Jerry Sags from the Nasty Boys is #4. He joins Flair for some double-teaming on Davey Boy, but Bulldog dropkicks Sags out and Heenan is about to have a heart attack. “It’s back to Davey and Flair. This isn’t fair to Flair. THIS ISN’T FAIR TO FLAIR”! Heenan is the best! Haku comes out at #5 and he goes after both guys, so Flair decides to take a walk outside for a second. Haku hits a piledriver on Bulldog, but Flair is right back in to rake Haku’s eyes. Flair kneedrop rocks Haku, but he fights back with some headbutts in the corner. He goes after Bulldog too, but Bulldog gets rid of him right before Shawn Michaels is in at #6. Flair eats a backdrop and a superkick, but Bulldog press slams him and clotheslines him. Another clothesline nearly dumps HBK out, but he hangs on and meets Bulldog in the middle with a superkick. Flair tries to eliminate HBK but he rakes the eyes to stay in it, only for Bulldog to crotch him. ‘El Matador’ Tito Santana is #7 and he goes right after Flair too, trying to eliminate him while Flair hangs on to the post and Heenan is yelling at Perfect to do something! Bulldog can’t eliminate Michaels so he turns his attention back to Flair, who gets down and low blows him. Heenan: “I’d do that to my grandma if I had to”!! Tito hits Flair with the flying jalapeno as Flair continues to take a beating. The Barbarian is #8 and Heenan’s not happy with this. “He doesn’t like anybody, when I managed him he barely liked me”! Flair & Barbarian try to dump Bulldog but he’s way too strong and stays in. The Texas Tornado is #9 and he immediately gets into a slugfest with Ric Flair as we get a nice callback to their clashes over the NWA Title in the 80s. Bulldog slingshots Michaels into the post as the ring is getting quite populated. Repo Man closes out 1/3 of the field at #10 and he takes his time getting inside the ring.

Santana hits a flying jalapeno on Barbarian. Flair destroys Von Erich with some nasty chops. Greg Valentine is #11 and he immediately gets into a chopfest with Flair, and a Valentine elbow sets up the Flair flop. Gorilla pokes the bear by reminding Heenan that no one from numbers 1-5 has ever been there until the end, as Heenan flat out tells him to shut up! The returning Nikolai Volkoff is #12, with the fans apparently forgetting he turned face and actually started loving America in his final months with the company back in late 1990 and booing him in his entrance. Meanwhile, the battle on commentary continues: Heenan – “Davey Boy back on Flair again, this isn’t right”, Gorilla – “I think it’s fair”, Heenan – “NOT TO FLAIR”! Valentine locks Flair in the figure four to make Heenan go even crazier, while Repo Man eliminates Nikolai to end his cameo. #13 is The Big Bossman and he comes in running wild on everyone, as Greg Valentine gets dumped by Repo Man. Bossman gets rid of Repo Man and Flair backdrops Bulldog out. Von Erich gets the same treatment and Michaels & Santana eliminate each other. Hercules is #14 while Barbarian wants to team up with Flair, only for Flair to instantly turn on him with a chop and get beat up as a result. Barbarian goes to dump Flair but Hercules comes in from behind and eliminates Barbarian, only for Bossman to get rid of Hercules too. That leaves Flair and Bossman alone in the ring, as Bossman gets to run wild on Flair. However, Flair moves out of the way of a blind charge and Bossman is gone too, as an exhausted Flair takes a Flair flop. Roddy Piper is #15 and he’s alone with Flair!! He unloads on Flair while the people go absolutely bananas. Flair bails but Piper meets him outside with a clothesline before taking him back inside. Flair tries an atomic drop but Piper simply pokes him in the eyes and follows it up with an airplane spin into the sleeper, and Heenan is already stumbling over his words on commentary! Jake Roberts is #16 and he breaks up the sleeper before going to work on Piper. A short clothesline takes Flair down and he signals for the DDT, which is now saved by Piper. Heenan: “I never thought I’d say this but thank you Roddy, it’s a kilt and not a skirt”. Then Piper breaks up Flair’s figure four on Roberts and Heenan’s all like “you no good creep, you skirt-wearing freak”! Jim Duggan is #17 and he too takes it to Flair, before Flair and Piper get into a chopfest. #18 is Irwin R. Schyster, who takes his time walking to the ring. Duggan rams Flair and Roberts’ heads together and Jimmy Snuka comes in at #19 with a headbutt to Flair. The Undertaker is #20 and he immediately dumps Snuka. Flair goes after him and gets choked, which even Heenan describes as questionable strategy.

Flair chops away at UT and Randy Savage is #21. Roberts immediately bails and hides under the ring skirt, joining back once UT is attacking him. The short clothesline misses and Roberts slugs away. Flying double axehandle and the high knee to the back gets rid of Roberts. Savage eliminates himself to go after Roberts and continue fighting, but he’s still in it as he wasn’t thrown out by someone else, a rule that certainly didn’t stand for long. Piper slugs away on UT and actually tries to eliminate him while Flair takes it to Savage in the corner. Flair blatantly low blows Taker and The Berzerker is #22. Flair tries to suplex Savage out but he can’t do it, and it’s Savage who actually suplexes him back inside. UT and Piper choke each other while they simultaneously choke Flair in a funny spot, and Virgil comes in looking like he’s ready to drip some meatsauce at #23. UT chokes Flair some more but he can’t put him out, and #24 is Colonel Mustafa. Here comes Rick Martel at #25 to try and put out Flair and keep him from breaking Martel’s iron-man record set the previous year. Savage dumps Sheiky Baby while Martel is still all over Flair. Hulk Hogan is #26 with some double noggin knocker action for Flair and UT. Pretty much all the heels jump Hogan in the corner, but he explodes out of there and clotheslines Undertaker out. He sends Berzerker flying too and finally gets to rip the shirt. Virgil and Duggan eliminate each other and Skinner gets the lucky #27. Somehow I don’t see him taking it here! Hogan nearly slams Flair off and Heenan is almost crying on commentary, but IRS jumps Hogan. Sgt. Slaughter is #28 and Skinner is gone via Rick Martel, while Flair has officially broken the record for time in a single Rumble match. Sid Justice gets #29 and he too tries to eliminate Flair unsucessfully. We close out the field with The Warlord at #30, as now Flair and Hogan take their fight to the floor, where Hogan hits a suplex. Sid whips Slaughter all the way out and he’s gone, and meanwhile Hogan and Flair get back inside. Piper dumps IRS by the tie, and Warlord is gone too via Hogan & Sid. Sid eliminated both Piper and Martel at the same time, leaving us down to…

Final four – Hogan, Sid, Flair & Savage

Sid tries to dump Savage and gets some help from Flair with a high knee, as there goes Savage and we’re down to three. Hogan is taking it to Flair and has him down, but Sid comes in from behind and actually dumps Hogan, which gets A POP! The sore loser Hogan grabs Sid by the arm, despite his elimination being 100% legal and fair according to the rules, allowing Flair to come in from behind and put Sid out for the Rumble win and the vacant WWF title at 62:02.

Bobby Heenan leaves commentary and joins Flair & Perfect on the celebration, while Hogan and Sid confront each other inside the ring. Things are pretty heated and Hogan’s ear pose actually gets booed. Sid gets a HUGE pop, with chants and all, and he points at a “Hulk Who?” sign in the crowd. It’s bizarroworld, Maggle! Hogan’s face is priceless and, according to a Sid shoot interview, he actually went backstage and furiously yelled at Vince for this reaction.

Rating: Well, here’s the brilliant Rumble match that everyone talks about. Flair’s performance is absolutely legendary, with him coming in at #3 and having to be there for over an hour, taking a beating from all his current and former foes, with even some pre-WWF feuds being revisited in a great touch. Bobby Heenan’s behaviour on commentary made the whole thing that much better too. This was a pretty strong Rumble, with a lot of feuds being developed, created, teased or revisited, such as Flair/everyone, Savage/Roberts, Hogan/Sid, and much more. Davey Boy Smith also put on a great showing in the first half of the match, with a lot of spots that made him stand out and even three eliminations. There were a few dead spots in there with a very populated ring, which I feel is inevitable in any Rumble match. It’s very tough for a Rumble match to be perfect, but this one is indeed perhaps the closest to it. Props to everyone for the excelent booking, timing, execution and commentary. ****1/2

Backstage, the new WWF Champion Ric Flair, with Heenan already by his side and a tear in his eye, declares this the greatest moment of his life!

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: Quite the strong Rumble event here, all things considered. It kicked off very well with a good undercard tag offering from the New Foundation and the Orient Express, which was followed up by the very special moment that was Roddy Piper’s very first title win in the WWF. The Bushwhackers/Beverly Brothers match managed to single-handedly suck the whole fun out of the entire show in what was a truly horrible and painfully long match. The tag title match, while solid, didn’t set the world on fire either but then came the Royal Rumble match! It gave the show some much-needed new life that was lost after Piper’s IC Title win, and it was fun to watch up until the very end. I’d say this was a good show overall, just for the love of god please skip that Bushwhackers/Beverlys match. 7/10

FEEDBACK

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POINT SYSTEM

Considering this is a PPV with a very unique match, there will obviously be some changes to the point system. As far as all the regular preliminary matches go, I will use the regular point system, which you can see here. As far as the Rumble match itself goes, every elimination made will be worth 0.5 points. Getting eliminated will cost the wrestler 0.5 points as well. Also, for every full minute alive in the match, the wrestler earns 0.1 points. As for winning the whole thing, it will earn the victorious wrestler three points.

For those who participated in the preliminary matches:

Wrestler	Star ratings	Result	Main eventing	Extras	Total
Owen Hart	3.5	1	–	+0.5 for winning the fall	5
Jim Neidhart	3.5	1	–	–	4.5
Kato	3.5	-1	–	–	2.5
Tanaka	3.5	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	2
Earthquake Typhoon	1.5	0.5	–	–	2
Hawk Animal	1.5	-0.5	–	+1 for retaining a title	2
Blake Beverly	0	1	–	+0.5 for winning the fall	1.5
Beau Beverly	0	1	–	–	1
The Mountie	2.5	-1	–	-2 for losing a title	-0.5
Bushwhacker Luke	0	-1	–	–	-1
Bushwhacker Butch	0	-1	–	-0.5 for losing a fall	-1.5

And now for those in the Royal Rumble match:

Wrestler	Star ratings	Result	Main eventing	Eliminations	Time	Total
Ric Flair	4.5	3 (+2 for winning a title)	1	5 (2.5 points)	60 (6 points)	19
Roddy Piper	4.5	-0.5	1	1 (0.5 points)	34 (3.4 points)	8.9
The British Bulldog	4.5	-0.5	1	3 (1.5 points)	23 (2.3 points)	8.8
Sid Justice	4.5	-0.5	1	6 (3 points)	5 (0.5 points)	8.5
Hulk Hogan	4.5	-0.5	1	4 (2 points)	11 (1.1 points)	8.1
Randy Savage	4.5	-0.5	1	2 (1 point)	22 (2.2 points)	7.7
IRS	4.5	-0.5	1	–	27 (2.7 points)	7.7
Jim Duggan	4.5	-0.5	1	1 (0.5 points)	20 (2 points)	7.5
Shawn Michaels	4.5	-0.5	1	1 (0.5 points)	15 (1.5 points)	7
The Undertaker Tito Santana	4.5	-0.5	1	1 (0.5 points)	13 (1.3 points)	6.8
Rick Martel	4.5	-0.5	1	1 (0.5 points)	12 (1.2 points)	6.7
Repo Man	4.5	-0.5	1	2 (1 point)	6 (0.6 points)	6.6
Big Bossman	4.5	-0.5	1	2 (1 point)	3 (0.3 points)	6.3
Virgil	4.5	-0.5	1	1 (0.5 points)	7 (0.7 points)	6.2
The Barbarian	4.5	-0.5	1	–	12 (1.2 points)	6.2
Jake Roberts	4.5	-0.5	1	–	10 (1 point)	6
The Berzerker	4.5	-0.5	1	–	9 (0.9 points)	5.9
The Texas Tornado	4.5	-0.5	1	–	9 (0.9 points)	5.9
Hercules	4.5	-0.5	1	1 (0.5 points)	0	5.5
Sgt. Slaughter Greg Valentine	4.5	-0.5	1	–	4 (0.4 points)	5.4
Jimmy Snuka Col. Mustafa Skinner	4.5	-0.5	1	–	2 (0.2 points)	5.2
Ted DiBiase Jerry Sags The Warlord Haku Nikolai Volkoff	4.5	-0.5	1	–	1 (0.1 points)	5.1

That’s all for today. Thank you so much for your time reading, and make sure you don’t miss the next reviews as we get closer to WrestleMania VIII.

1991 Year End Awards (Best Matches And Wrestlers)

Hello everyone and welcome to my final article on 1991. In this special piece, we will take a look back at some of the best matches in both the WWF and WCW. Then we will mention the top five matches for each company, followed by a top five list for both companies overall. After that, we will see who were the wrestlers in both companies (followed by overall, much like with the matches) that got more points. This will be according to the point system I use on every show, which you can see here. We’ll finish by looking at the PPV buyrates and TV ratings.

Before starting, one last announcement regarding the point system: the wrestlers involved in the 5th best match of their particulary company get 1 point, those in the 4th best get 2 points, those in the 3rd best get 3 points, those in the 2nd best get 4 points, and those in the best match of the year will get 5 points. As for the overall list (both companies put together), the points will double – meaning the participants in the 5th best match will get 2 points, and so on.

TOP 5 WWF MATCHES

Note: The Royal Rumble match is not eligible for this list. I will always give the edge to regular wrestling matches, since it’s pretty hard (not impossible, but pretty hard) to see a Rumble match that isn’t fun. Thus, I don’t include it in order to open the door for other matches.

5) Ted DiBiase vs. Bret Hart (Saturday Night’s Main Event April 27th)

We kick off our list with what can be described as a hidden gem of some sorts. On the WWF’s only edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event from 1991, airing a little over a month after WrestleMania VII, the company booked Bret Hart against the veteran ‘Million Dollar Man’, in what was Bret’s first big chance to impress during his singles push. Having famously met in other instances, most notably during the Survivor Series match in 1990 that saw Undertaker make his debut, the two finally got to show what they could do in a singles match. They worked a fantastic nine minute match, with DiBiase (and Sensational Sherri) adding tons of heat to the bout and helping Bret score a number of hot false finishes near the end. This was Bret passing his first test as a singles wrestler, with the crowd showing they cared about him as a singles act. The match lacked a finish and it would’ve been a lot better with more time and a proper story, but this was really good for what it was. (Rating: ***1/2)

4) The Hart Foundation vs. The Nasty Boys – WWF World Tag Team Championship (WrestleMania VII)

From Bret’s first big test as a singles wrestler to his last hooray as a member of the legendary Hart Foundation tag team alongside Jim ‘The Anvil’ Neidhart. On a night where they dropped the WWF’s World Tag Team straps to The Nasty Boys at WrestleMania, they decided to put on a pretty good performance on their way out. The challengers injured Bret’s back early on and went to work on it throughout the rest of the bout, while Bret fought from underneath and sold like a champ. The Nasty Boys stole the belts with the classic Jimmy Hart megaphone finish on Anvil, putting an end to one of the greatest tag teams in wrestling history in the process. (Rating: ***1/2)

3) The Rockers vs. The Orient Express (Royal Rumble)

IMG credit: WWE & ringthedamnbell.wordpress.com

If one ever talks about a fast-paced, exciting, innovative tag team match that was very much ahead of its time, a picture of the WWF’s Royal Rumble 1991 opener should pop up. The Rockers and The Orient Express were given nearly twenty minutes to kick off the event, and delivered a spectacular match full of impressive spots, reversals and nearfalls in front of a really hot crowd that loved absolutely everything they did. The finish was a great example of that, with Kato slingshotting Marty Jannetty right into… an inside cradle on Tanaka to steal the win. If you’ve never seen this one, it definitely deserves a look. (Rating: ****)

2) Mr. Perfect vs. Bret Hart – WWF Intercontinental Championship (SummerSlam)

IMG credit: WWE & hammyreviews.wordpress.com

When fans or even younger wrestlers from this generation admit they have a soft spot for the Intercontinental Championship, it’s because of matches like this one and because of title holders like the two involved in it. Bret was in the midst of his first big singles break, as already mentioned in previous entries, while Mr. Perfect had spent most of the previous year (apart from a relatively brief Kerry Von Erich reign) being one of the greatest IC Champions of all time and putting on brilliant performances after another. Unfortunately, he broke his back shortly before this match and was on his way out for an extended period of time, but he still had enough gas left in the tank to put ‘The Hitman’ over in what was a true all-timer of a match at SummerSlam. Bret Hart didn’t allow Perfect to get the upper hand by pulling hair or any other kind of cheating like he normally did, always responding in the same manner before finishing Perfect with a creative Sharpshooter to capture his first singles title in Madison Square Garden. (Rating: ****1/2)

1) The Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage – Retirement Match (WrestleMania VII)

Finally, here is the very best match of the company (and overall) throughout the whole year, at least in one man’s opinion. I understand and respect if you appreciate the technical masterpiece between Perfect and Bret, for example, over a more story-driven match such as this one, but this match is just way too special. The match is full of great moments and told a brilliant story from bell to bell, from Sensational Sherri constantly interfering in order to try and prevent her meal ticket from having to retire, to the famous dramatic spot that saw Warrior kickout of five Macho Elbows, to Sherri beating up Savage once he’d lost and meant nothing to her anymore, to the chilling post-match angle between Savage and Miss Elizabeth which saw the former go from the most hated heel in wrestling to the most beloved star in five minutes. It’s absolutely amazing, and the winner of the SmarkDown awards for best match of 1991. (Rating: *****)

TOP 5 WCW MATCHES

5) The Steiners vs. Masahiro Chono & Hiroshi Hase – IWGP World Tag Team Championship (Clash of the Champions #15 June 12th)

We’re kicking off the list over on the WCW side with a bang, which is exactly the best word to describe this absolute tussle! The Steiners defended the IWGP Tag Team straps against Masahiro Chono & Hiroshi Hase and the four guys decided to just beat the living shit out of each other and see who could hit harder for fun. At one point, Chono kicked Rick Steiner so hard that he literally broke Rick’s head gear in half! The Steiners obviously responded with their signature violent suplexes and Steinerlines, before Scott finished Hase with the Frankensteiner. A hidden gem that is truly worthy of eight minutes of your time. (Rating: ***3/4)

4) The Steiners vs. Sting & Lex Luger – WCW World Tag Team Championship (SuperBrawl)

Babyface versus babyface matches tend to be a massive pain in the ass more often than not, both for the audience as well as those working them. It’s easy to understand why, as the crowd will feel divided and uncertain on who to support, thus creating a very weird scenario for everyone involved. This is a rare example in which that wasn’t the case. Four of the most popular babyfaces in WCW at the time went at it over the Steiners’ World Tag Team Title, and started off slow as a sign of mutual respect. That was until Sting questioned a blind tag by the Steiners that he missed (which actually happened), at which point the friendship was thrown out the window and added a lot of drama to the match, with the four wrestlers exchanging some great sequences and reversals to their big moves before Nikita Koloff got involved in the finish. Another great match from The Steiners in 1991. (Rating: ****)

3) Arn Anderson vs. Bobby Eaton – WCW World Television Championship (SuperBrawl)

One of the “lost arts” that lapsed fans always bring up that is missing in modern wrestling is solid in-ring psychology. Many people actually don’t undertand what that really means, and this match is a perfect explanation actually. ‘The Enforcer’ saw an opportunity to take advantage when he rammed Bobby Eaton’s leg into the post early on, and smartly spent the rest of the bout targeting said injured body part. Bobby tried numerous times to make his valiant comeback, but his leg gave out every single time and allowed Arn to stay in control. Even when Eaton blocked a flying splash with his knees, it hurt him more than it did Arn in a brilliant touch. It wasn’t until he reversed another one by using a punch that he was able to make his big comeback, capturing Arn’s TV Title with the Alabama Jam after a terrific encounter. (Rating: ****1/4)

2) WarGames (WrestleWar)

This can’t be shocking, right? Nine out of ten WarGames are going to be freaking awesome, and 1991’s wasn’t the rare exception. The match was designed to get the big monster Sid Vicious over, with all the big spots involving him, including the finish. However, it was the exciting Brian Pillman that stole the show, showing incredible babyface fire by fighting all Horsemen members despite coming in with an injury. The finish of El Gigante throwing the towel after Sid botched the powerbomb that caused Pillman to land on his neck wasn’t exactly the best, but pretty much everything else in this match absolutely rocked. (Rating: ****1/2)

1) The Enforcers vs. Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes – WCW World Tag Team Championship (Clash of the Champions #17 November 19th)

When Ric Flair left for the WWF earlier in the summer, a massive void was left in the main-event scene of the Atlanta-based organization. The company was in desperate need of established big names, and that’s when Ricky Steamboat jumped ship after a really weird WWF run where he was simply called “The Dragon” and all of his status as a wrestling legend in the past was erased. Nah, really. The former NWA World Heavyweight Champion made his return at the 17th edition of Clash of the Champions, replacing the injured Barry Windham as the partner of the young Dustin Rhodes to challenge the Enforcers (Anderson & Zbyszko) for the World Tag Team straps. You could feel the relief in the crowd once Steamboat was announced, and the energy in the arena was off the charts. The moment was incredible, but the kickass match that they delivered was equally great, before Steamboat & Rhodes’ title win nearly took the roof off the arena in Savannah, Georgia. You should ABSOLUTELY give it a look, and it stands as the winner of the SmarkDown awards for the best WCW match of 1991! (Rating: ****1/2)

TOP 5 MATCHES OVERALL

5) Arn Anderson vs. Bobby Eaton – WCW World Television Championship (WCW SuperBrawl)

Esta imagem tem um texto alternativo em branco, o nome da imagem é image-34.jpeg — IMG credit: WWE & culturecrossfire.com

4) WarGames (WCW WrestleWar)

Esta imagem tem um texto alternativo em branco, o nome da imagem é image.jpeg — IMG credit: WWE & upprox.com

3) The Enforcers vs. Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes – WCW World Tag Team Championship (WCW Clash of the Champions #17 November 19th)

2) Mr. Perfect vs. Bret Hart – WWF Intercontinental Championship (WWF SummerSlam)

1) The Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage – Retirement Match (WWF WrestleMania VII)

TOP 10 WWF WRESTLERS OF THE YEAR

Note: this is based on my point system used throughout each and every show of the year

10) Ted DiBiase (18.5 points)

Every WWE Championship And The Match That Defined It – Page 3 — IMG credit: WWE & WhatCulture

Position in 1990: 5th (-5)

The reliable ‘Million Dollar Man’ had a memorable 1991, which he spent mostly feuding with his former bodyguard, Virgil. The two kicked off their program at the Royal Rumble after a win over the departing Dusty & Dustin Rhodes, and would go on to wrestle each other in singles matches at both WrestleMania and SummerSlam. The veteran was mostly used to get over younger wrestlers in 1991, such as Virgil and Bret Hart, as we saw in the match that made it to the list of top WWF matches. Another highlight of Ted’s year was the addition of Sensational Sherri after WrestleMania, which added a lot to the act.

DiBiase’s best WWF match in 1991: Vs. Bret Hart (SNME April 27th)

9) Shawn Michaels (18.75 points)

Position in 1990: not on the list (new entry)

Rocker Shawn Michaels makes his first appearance on our list after a fantastic breakout year alongside his partner Marty Jannetty. They kicked off the year with an absolute banger against The Orient Express at the Royal Rumble, followed by a very good match with Haku & The Barbarian at WrestleMania VII. They were less featured in the second half of the year, until the split was first teased during their Survivor Series elimination match in November. Michaels spent most of the year working tag team matches, but he also had a number of great individual showings against established stars such as Mr. Perfect and even Ric Flair, in which he proved he had everything to be a future big time player himself. The future ‘Heartbreak Kid’ sits atop his fellow rocker Jannetty with a 1 point difference, which really are just a couple of pins that Shawn earned in tag matches.

Michaels’ best WWF match in 1991: W/ Marty vs. Orient Express (Royal Rumble)

8) Hawk & Animal (tied at 19.6 points)

Position in 1990: not on the list (new entry)

Here we have a rare situation of two wrestlers tied in the same position, with said wrestlers being the legendary tag team of the Road Warriors, the reigning WWF World Tag Team Champions at the end of 1991. The dominant duo spent their year kicking ass and taking people’s heads off with the dreaded Doomsday Device, with the highlights being a very quick win over Power & Glory at WrestleMania, a dominant win over the Orient Express at The Main Event and, most importantly, defeating The Nasty Boys in a street fight at SummerSlam to capture the WWF Tag Team belts.

LOD’s best WWF match in 1991: Vs. The Orient Express (The Main Event V)

7) Nasty Boy Brian Knobbs (20 points)

Position in 1990: not on the list (new entry)

This might come as a surprise to most people. However, the truth is the Nasty Boys had a pretty strong 1991, including a run with the WWF Tag Team Championship. They achieved that after defeating the Hart Foundation in a very good match (that was already discussed) at WrestleMania, retained over established WWF teams such as the Bushwhackers before entering a feud with Legion of Doom, whom they would drop the belts to in a street fight at SummerSlam. Knobbs stands out above Sags because he participated in the Royal Rumble match in January, and actually made it to the final four, while Sags competed in a dark match before the show that night.

Knobbs’ best WWF match in 1991: W/ Sags vs. Hart Foundation (WrestleMania VII)

6) The British Bulldog (22.35 points)

Position in 1990: not on the list (new entry)

After his run alongside Dynamite Kid as the British Bulldogs in the 1980s, Davey Boy Smith made his return to the WWF in the beginning of 1991, now as a singles powerhouse wrestler. The British Bulldog was given the difficult task of feuding with The Warlord throughout the entire year, working with him at every single WWF PPV of 1991(!), and Davey Boy made it work in spite of Warlord’s limitations. Their meeting at WrestleMania exceeded all expectations and then some, and while their other matches didn’t quite reach that level, they were still all perfectly watchable thanks to Davey Boy. The fact that Bulldog nearly made it to the top five while working with Warlord throughout the whole year shows how good he was, and that he is truly deserving of the spot.

Bulldog’s best WWF match in 1991: Vs. The Warlord (WrestleMania VII)

5) Randy Savage (23.25 points)

IMG credit: WWE & jivesoulbros.wordpress.com

Position in 1990: not on the list (new entry)

‘How in the hell can a man that was retired and out of action for most of the year make it to the top 5 of the WWF?’ That is a very legitimate question, but you just have to expect things like this from the amazing Randy Savage. He was in the match that won the awards for #1 match of the year of both the WWF and overall, which earned him a lot of extra points (as mentioned earlier), and gave him such a boost. Savage started off the year as the arrogant ‘macho king’, alongside his sensational queen Sherri, until his loss to The Ultimate Warrior in the retirement match at WrestleMania humbled him and turned him back into the ‘macho man’. Savage did commentary alongside Vince McMahon and Roddy Piper on television while he was away, until the evil Jake Roberts started a program with him and the fans asked for his reinstatement. That finally happened in November, and the two would have a fantastic feud that saw Roberts’ cobra infamously bite Savage in the arm on TV, before the two wrestled at This Tuesday in Texas in December. He might’ve been away from the ropes for most of the year, but he showed he’s one of the best ever in the few times he did step inside them in 1991.

Savage’s best WWF match in 1991: Vs. The Ultimate Warrior (WrestleMania VII)

4) The Ultimate Warrior (24.5 points)

Position in 1990: 1st (-3)

The Ultimate Warrior had a pretty crazy 1991, a year that perfectly encapsulates his career. He entered the year as the reigning WWF Champion, put his career on the line against Randy Savage at WrestleMania and won, and then just as he was entering a promising feud with The Undertaker and Jake Roberts… he was gone. Just like that, puff. Much like Savage in the previous entry, being in the top match of both the WWF and overall lists gave him a huge boost in points, as Warrior only worked up until SummerSlam. The highlight of his year is obviously the Savage feud and match, with him famously walking towards the ring instead of running, saving his energy for what was the most important match of his life.

Warrior’s best WWF match in 1991: Vs. Randy Savage (WrestleMania VII)

3) Mr. Perfect (28.85 points)

Position in 1990: 7th (+4)

Much like The Ultimate Warrior, Curt Hennig only worked up until SummerSlam, but due to completely different circumstances – a severe back injury. Up until that, Mr. Perfect was on fire as the WWF Intercontinental Champion, with incredible performances against the likes of Big Bossman at WrestleMania, winning a battle royal (in which he was obviously the MVP) at the only Saturday Night’s Main Event of that year, in televised matches against the likes of Shawn Michaels and, most notably, in his final match in over a year against Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart at SummerSlam. Curt stands to this very day as arguably the greatest IC Champion, and that’s mostly due to his work in this particular year. He was off for the final four months and he still picks up the bronze, so imagine what could’ve been had the injury never happened! This guy was always a joy to watch, and this spot is much, much deserved.

Perfect’s best match in 1991: Vs. Bret Hart (SummerSlam)

2) Hulk Hogan (32.1 points)

Ask 411 Wrestling: What is Hulk Hogan's Longest Singles Match? | 411MANIA — IMG credit: WWE & 411mania.com

Position in 1990: 2nd (same spot)

Hulk Hogan’s 1991 wasn’t exactly the most interesting compared to some others wrestlers already mentioned, but his constant presence in main-events, his win/loss record and his multiple title wins allows him to be here. As well as the Royal Rumble victory, which was his second in a row. He kicked off the year still (sort of) feuding with Earthquake, before he stood up as the American hero against the WWF Champion, Sgt. Slaughter, heading into WrestleMania. Their feud continued all the way until SummerSlam, after which Hogan started a program with the young Undertaker. A possible future big match with the ‘real world champion’ Ric Flair was constantly teased throughout the fall as well, but we know where that is going…

Hogan’s best match in 1991: Vs. Ric Flair (MSG November 30th)

1) Bret Hart (37.5 points)

Position in 1990: 3rd (+2)

No one can tell for sure if this would’ve been the case had Mr. Perfect stayed healthy and active the whole year, but Bret Hart secures the award for WWF’s top wrestler of 1991 regardless, according to my point system throughout the whole year. Bret kicked off the year as one half of the World Tag Team Champions as a member of the Hart Foundation, and closed it as the reigning Intercontinental Champion. His highlights along the way include the match with the Nasty Boys at WrestleMania, the hidden gem at SNME against Ted DiBiase, and above all else the IC Title classic with Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam. 1991 was a big test for ‘The Hitman’ and his true breakout year as a singles worker, and the results are reflected with his presence in our awards: #1 WWF wrestler, and in 3 out of the top 5 best WWF matches (#5, #4 and #2), with the Mr. Perfect match also securing the #2 spot in the overall list. Unquestionably Bret proved he could hang with the big boys in the top spots, and we’ll get to see more of him in years to come. Let’s see if he can keep this spot in 1992!

Bret’s best match in 1991: Vs. Mr. Perfect (SummerSlam)

TOP 10 WCW WRESTLERS

10) Bobby Eaton (28.75 points)

Position in 1990: 5th (-5)

Much like the ‘Million Dollar Man’ over on the WWF list, we have a fellow veteran kicking off the top 10 WCW wrestlers list. And much like DiBiase, Eaton drops five places after securing the 5th place in the 1990 list. The late great ‘Beautiful’ Bobby is mostly known as a legend of tag team wrestling, most notably as a member of the awesome Midnight Express. However, Eaton spent the whole year of 1991 as a singles wrestler, briefly holding the Television Championship as a transitional champion from Arn Anderson to a young bluechipper by the name of ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin. He finished the year back on the heel side of the locker room, alongside the likes of the aforementioned Steve Austin and Rick Rude as a member of Paul E. Dangerously’s Dangerous Alliance.

Eaton’s best WCW match in 1991: Vs. Arn Anderson (SuperBrawl)

9) Flyin’ Brian Pillman (32.5 points)

Position in 1990: not on the list (new entry)

Here’s a man who is a very strong contender for breakout star of the year, at least over on the WCW side. The highly charismatic and exciting Brian Pillman started the year by being the MVP of the WarGames match, in a field that featured talents such as Ric Flair, Sting or Arn Anderson! He continued to impress throughout the spring and summer, with many good-to-great match against Barry Windham or the Freebirds’ Badstreet, before becoming the company’s inaugural Light Heavyweight Champion at Halloween Havoc. The future sure looked bright for the young Flyin’ Brian.

Pillman’s best WCW match in 1991: WarGames (WrestleWar)

8) Ric Flair (33 points)

Position in 1990: 1st (-7)

1991 was certainly a different year for the two biggest professional wrestling companies in North America, and a major part of that had to do with Ric Flair, one of (if not the) most iconic World Heavyweight Champions in WCW/NWA history, switching sides for the WWF. That explains his big drop on the list, going from WCW’s top dog in 1990 (and #2 overall) to the 8th position in 1991. That being said, it’s still impressive that Flair is even on the list, considering he only wrestled until early in the summer. Flair defeated Sting at a house show in January to win the belt, in the process also becoming the first ever official WCW Champion ever. Flair worked the WarGames in February before starting a feud with Tatsumi Fujinami, defeating him in a title-for-title affair at SuperBrawl. Other notable moments for Flair included rare title defenses on episodes of Clash against Scott Steiner and Bobby Eaton. That was all until, as you know, Flair left for the WWF over a disagreement with WCW management (they wanted to cut his hair and call him Spartacus, for fuck’s sake…) and debuted in McMahonland as the ‘real world champion’.

Flair’s best WCW match in 1991: WarGames (WrestleWar)

7) Rick Steiner (33.5 points)

Position in 1990: 3rd (-4)

The Steiners are one of my favorite tag teams of all time, and were by far the best in 1991. I mean, just look at the list of top matches, they appear in three of the top five WCW matches! All of those matches came during their reign as World Tag Team Champions in the first half of the year, with all of them being absolute kickass tussles. Their reign only ended when Scott suffered a serious injury in July, forcing the explosive duo to vacate their straps. Rick’s highlights of the year were the matches alongside his brother against Sting & Lex Luger at SuperBrawl, or against Masahiro Chono & Hiroshi Hase for the IWGP titles at Clash, a match that saw Rick literally get his head gear kicked in half!

Rick’s best WCW match in 1991: WarGames (WrestleWar)

6) Larry Zbyszko (34.75 points)

Position in 1990: not on the list (new entry)

Up until the summer, Zbyszko’s only appearance on the series had been as apart of the WarGames match in February, where he replaced his future tag team championship partner Arn Anderson due to injury. However, after Ric Flair’s departure and Barry Windham’s babyface turn, the enforcer was, hmm, enforced by Zbyszko! The two entered a tournament for the World Tag Team Titles that were vacated by the Steiners, and captured the gold by beating the unlikely duo of Rick Steiner and Bill Kazmaier in the final. They did their best to avoid a title match against the young Dustin Rhodes and former Horseman Barry Windham, going as far as breaking Barry’s arm to do so. The returning Ricky Steamboat would side with Rhodes to win the straps in WCW’s best match of the year in November, as the Enforcers dropped the gold in style.

Zbyszko’s best WCW match in 1991: W/ Arn vs. Steamboat & Dustin (Clash #17)

5) Dustin Rhodes (36.5 points)

Position in 1990: not on the list (new entry)

It’s really weird to think about this and it seems like ages ago already, but Dustin Rhodes actually started the year in the World Wrestling Federation. After he and his father lost to Ted DiBiase & Virgil in their last date at the Royal Rumble, they immediately went back to Atlanta. Dustin’s first few months in WCW didn’t exactly set the world on fire, with him scoring questionable singles wins on PPV over established veterans such as Terry Taylor and Buddy Landel, whilst not putting on the most solid performances in the world. The second half of the year was a completely different story, though, with Dustin being moved onto the tag team scene, scoring a reign as one third of the Six-Man World Tag Team Champions (that title didn’t last long) and, most notably, as the World Tag Champ alongside the iconic Ricky Steamboat. He was involved in the top WCW match of 1991, and put on a great singles match at Halloween Havoc too, in 15-minute broadway with Steve Austin over the TV Title.

Dustin’s best WCW match in 1991: W/ Steamboat vs. Enforcers (Clash #17)

4) Scott Steiner (38.75 points)

Scott Steiner vs Stunning Steve Austin For The WCW TV Title in 1991: SquaredCircle — IMG credit: WWE & reddit.com

Position in 1990: 4th (same spot)

I’ve already mentioned everything there is to be said about the Steiners earlier in Rick’s entry, so I’ll focus a little bit more on Scott individually and mention why Scott is ahead of his brother on the list. Scott Steiner continued to be perhaps the most exciting wrestler to watch in both companies throughout the year, with the intense and physical style of his matches leaving the WCW fans in awe, especially when he delivered his amazing Frankensteiner! Scott is ahead of Rick because he had a World Title Match with Ric Flair at the first Clash of the Champions of the year, while Rick didn’t wrestle at all on that show and, also, qualified for the battlebowl in the main-event of StarrCade, while Rick did not.

Scott’s best WCW match in 1991: WarGames (WrestleWar)

3) Arn Anderson (39.75 points)

Position in 1990: not on the list (new entry)

In third place comes the man who I like to call pro wrestling’s ‘silent assassin’. He might not always be the most impressive, and he’s rarely in the big news coming off a show, but you can always count on consistent solid performances from him. And just like that, quietly, ‘The Enforcer’ secures a spot as WCW’s third best wrestler of the year. He spent most of the first half of the year as the Television Champion, putting on solid matches with challengers like Tom Zenk before dropping the strap to Bobby Eaton in a terrific match at SuperBrawl. He followed that up with the work in the tag division alongside Larry Zbyszko, which gave us that absolute classic against Dustin Rhodes and the returning Ricky Steamboat. Had Arn not been injured in February and worked the WarGames, he actually would’ve secured the top spot in both WCW and overall. See what I mean with the silent assassin line!

Arn’s best WCW match in 1991: W/ Zbyszko vs. Steamboat & Dustin (Clash #17)

2) Sting (40 points)

Position in 1990: 9th (+7)

Sting climbs seven spots compared to 1990, due to his serious injury suffered early that year before his World Title reign. Sting dropped the gold back to Ric Flair at a house show in January, immediately moving on to other things. That included competing at WarGames, challenging for the Steiners’ World Tag straps alongside Lex Luger in a brilliant match, briefly feuding with the returning Nikita Koloff, and a brief US Title run that saw him feud with the Dangerous Alliance, dropping the gold to Rick Rude in November before winning battlebowl at StarrCade. It was a different year for the Stinger, and it was definitely much better than that weird feud with The Black Scorpion the prior year.

Sting’s best WCW match in 1991: WarGames (WrestleWar)

1) Lex Luger (42.25 points)

I often mention in my reviews how people often don’t give Lex Luger credit, probably because they are only more familiar with his work later in his career. Luger in his first WCW run, however, was a fantastic worker and here’s the proof: the winner of the SmarkDown awards for wrestler of the year. And that’s not just in WCW, but also including the WWF as well, scoring more points than names such as Mr. Perfect, Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Sting and literally everyone else. Luger started the year as a popular babyface and the reigning United States Champion, with a PPV match against Danny Spivey that exceeded everyone’s expectations and then some. After putting on his best match that year in the aforemention Tag Title match alongside Sting at SuperBrawl, Luger climbed onto the main event scene as the heel World Champion, with the legendary Harley Race by his side. Luger delivered the goods in his title match against Ron Simmons at Halloween Havoc, before putting Sting over in the battlebowl’s dramatic finale at StarrCade. It was a very strong year for the ‘Total Package’, who finishes the year as the reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion and as the winner of the SmarkDown award for wrestler of the year.

Luger’s best WCW match in 1991: W/ Sting vs. Steiners (SuperBrawl)

TOP 10 WRESTLERS OVERALL

10) Flyin’ Brian Pillman – 32.5 points (WCW)

9) Rick Steiner – 33.5 points (WCW)

8) Larry Zbyszko – 34.75 points (WCW)

7) Bret Hart – 37.5 points (WWF)

6) Ric Flair – 37.5 points (WCW/WWF)

IMG credit: WWE & totalwrestlinghistory.wordpress.com

5) Dustin Rhodes – 37.5 points (WWF/WCW)

4) Scott Steiner – 38.75 points (WCW)

3) Arn Anderson – 39.75 points (WCW)

2) Sting – 40 points (WCW)

1) Lex Luger – 42.25 points (WCW)

PPV BUYRATES & TV RATINGS

WWF

Pay Per Views

Royal Rumble (Jan. 19th) – 440.000 PPV buys (main attractions: Royal Rumble Match; The Ultimate Warrior(c) vs. Sgt. Slaughter for the WWF Championship)

WrestleMania VII (March 24th) – 400.000 PPV buys (main attractions: Sgt. Slaughter(c) vs. Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship; The Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage in a retirement match)

SummerSlam (Aug. 26th) – 405.000 PPV buys (main attractions: “match made in heaven”; “match made in hell”; Mr. Perfect(c) vs. Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Championship)

Survivor Series (Nov. 27th) – 300.000 PPV buys (main attractions: Hulk Hogan(c) vs. The Undertaker for the WWF Championship; Flair’s team vs. Piper’s team)

This Tuesday in Texas (Dec. 3rd) – 140.000 PPV buys (main attractions: The Undertaker(c) vs. Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship; Randy Savage’s return to wrestling vs. Jake Roberts)

TV specials

The Main Event V (Feb. 1st) – 6.7 TV rating (main attractions: Jack Tunney announces the number one contender for the WWF Title at WrestleMania; Sgt. Slaughter(c) vs. Jim Duggan for the WWF Championship)

Saturday Night’s Main Event (April 27th) – 7.7 TV rating (main attractions: battle royal; The Ultimate Warrior vs. Sgt. Slaughter in a rematch from Royal Rumble; Ted DiBiase vs. Bret Hart)

WCW

Pay Per Views

WrestleWar (Feb. 24th) – 160.000 PPV buys (main attractions: WarGames; Lex Luger(c) vs. Danny Spivey for the US Championship; Big Van Vader returns to WCW vs. Stan Hansen)

SuperBrawl (May 19th) – 150.000 PPV buys (main attractions: Ric Flair vs. Tatsumi Fujinami in a title for title match; The Steiners(c) vs. Sting & Lex Luger for the World Tag Team Championship)

The Great American Bash (July 14th) – 145.000 PPV buys (main attractions: Lex Luger vs. Barry Windham in a steel cage match for the vacant WCW Championship; Sting vs. Nikita Koloff in a russian chain match; scaffold match)

Halloween Havoc (Oct. 27th) – 120.000 PPV buys (main attractions: Lex Luger(c) vs. Ron Simmons 2/3 falls for the WCW Championship; chamber of horrors match; ‘WCW Phantom’ mystery)

StarrCade (Dec. 29th) – 155.000 PPV buys (main attractions: battlebowl battle royal; lethal lottery tag matches)

TV specials

Clash of the Champions XIV (Jan. 30th) – 3.9 TV rating (main attractions: Ric Flair(c) vs. Scott Steiner for the WCW Championship; Doom(c) vs. Sting & Lex Luger for the World Tag Team Championship)

Clash of the Champions XV (June 12th) – 3.9 TV rating (main attractions: Ric Flair(c) vs. Bobby Eaton 2/3 falls for the WCW Championship; Sting vs. Nikita Koloff)

Clash of the Champions XVI (Sept. 5th) – 3.7 TV rating (main attractions: Lex Luger & Ron Simmons’ contract signing for Halloween Havoc; Sting(c) vs. Johnny B. Badd for the US Championship; The Enforcers vs. Rick Steiner & Bill Kazmaier for the vacant World Tag Team Championship)

Clash of the Champions XVII (Nov. 19th) – 4.3 TV rating (main attractions: Lex Luger(c) vs. Rick Steiner for the WCW Championship; Sting(c) vs. Rick Rude for the US Championship)

COMMENT SECTION

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And that’s it, we’re now officially turning the page from 1991 into 1992 here on SmarkDown. Make sure you keep tuning in and don’t miss any review, starting with the WWF’s Royal Rumble. Thanks for reading and for your constant support. See you soon!

WCW StarrCade 1991 Review (Who Won The Lottery?)

December 29, 1991
Live from Norfolk, VA
Announced attendance: 9.000 (capacity: ca 13.800)
PPV buyrate: 155.000 (-10.000 compared to StarrCade 1990’s 165.000)

Hello everyone and welcome to my review of the final show of 1991, in the form of WCW’s biggest annual event, StarrCade. This year features exclusively (yep, nothing else on the card) a unique concept known as the battlebowl: lethal lottery, where all the wrestlers’ names will be drawn randomly to form strange tag team matches, most likely featuring unlikely partners and/or opponents. The winners of the ten tag matches move on to the main event, a two-ring “battlebowl” battle royal (more details later).

Despite being irrelevant for this particular PPV, here is still the list of champions in WCW heading into this show:

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Lex Luger [168th day of his reign] – previous champion: Ric Flair, before it was vacated
WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Rick Rude [40th day of his reign] – previous champion: Sting
WCW World Television Champion: ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin [209th day of his reign] – previous champion: ‘Beautiful’ Bobby Eaton
WCW Light Heavyweight Champion: Jushin Thunder Liger [4th day of his reign] – previous champion: Flyin’ Brian Pillman
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes [40th day of their reign] – previous champion: The Enforcers
WCW United States Tag Team Champions: The Young Pistols (Steve Armstrong & Tracy Smothers) [54th day of their reign] – previous champions: The Patriots

Enjoy the review!

The hosts are Jim Ross & Tony Schiavone

We start the show with the announcers explaining the rules for the night. They throw the ball to Eric Bischoff, Magnum TA & Missy Hyatt who are on the stage to do all the drawings for the matches. Time for our first one already, which looks like this…

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match #1 – Michael Hayes & Tracy Smothers vs. Jimmy Garvin & Marcus Alexander Bagwell

Freebirds draw against each other in the opener to really put over the concept early on. We have a wild Bagwell making his debut on the series here, the man who would go on to enjoy a successful career in WCW towards the end of the 1990s as Buff Bagwell. Smothers and Bagwell start with the latter hitting an armdrag, but the fans want the Freebirds. Bagwell obliges with the tag to Garvin, who also takes down Smothers with an armdrag followed by a dropkick. Tracy stops to trash talk the fans on the apron, so Garvin big boots him into the railing. Smothers asks for a handshake back in, but Garvin blocks the expected cheapshot and puts him back outside with an atomic drop. Bagwell comes back in, but Smothers catches him with a knee to the head and makes the tag to Hayes, who comes in with an elbow followed by the usual taunting. Smothers comes back in, but Bagwell makes his comeback. A powerslam rocks Smothers and he tags in Garvin, but Smothers runs away and makes the tag to Hayes to force the Freebirds’ showdown. They lockup but stop to have some fun. Hayes gets a roll-up for two and we get a stalemate, as both Freebirds strut and tag in their partners at the same time. Crowd doesn’t give a crap about what’s going on inside the ring, instead chanting for the Freebirds. Tracy takes over but misses an elbowdrop, and Garvin makes the comeback. High crossbody by Bagwell gets two. Bagwell cheapshots Hayes in the corner, though, causing Hayes to enter the ring and return the favor. Hayes hits Garvin out of instinct in the middle of the confusion, and both stop to argue in the corner. Meanwhile, Bagwell blocks a high risk move by getting his knees up, and a fisherman suplex sends him and Garvin to the main event at 12:45. The Freebirds seal the argument with a handshake afterward, with the loser buying the beer that night and life moving on for them.

Rating: The interactions between the Freebirds were fun to watch to a degree, but the crowd (or me for that matter) didn’t care about anything else that happened during this match. Ultimately it served as a match to get the wildness of the “lethal lottery” concept over by using the Freebirds against each other, but that same goal could’ve been accomplished in four or five minutes instead of twelve, as it’s not like any of the people involved in this match were top contenders to win battlebowl anyway. 1/2*

We take it back to the lettal lothery drawing, which gives us…

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match #2 – The Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude & ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin)(w/ Paul E Dangerously) vs. Van Hammer & Big Josh

Starrcade '91 - Classic Wrestling Review — IMG credit: WWE & classicwrestlingreview.com

Now we have a stable that actually gets paired up together, in the form of actual contenders as well. Van Hammer slams Austin to start, who stops to talk some strategy with Rude. Whatever that conversation was didn’t seem to go to well though, as Hammer blocked an Austin suplex into his own for two. Hammer works a, hmm, hammerlock while dropping some knees on Austin’s arm. The future Stone Cold manages to escape, however, and brings Rude in for a great clothesline followed by some hip swivel action. Austin comes back in with a short clothesline and a gutwrench suplex, and Rude uses a headlock but can’t avoid the tag out. Big Josh slams him down and stomps the abs, but Rude pops right back up and no-sells it because you can’t hurt the ravishing abs. Josh sets for a clothesline instead which gets two. Austin eats one as well. Double noggin knocker and they bail, as the crowd goes wild for the babyfaces. If you ever question if either Rude or Austin were great workers or not, always remember that they made Big Josh and Van Hammer’s comeback get a standing ovation!

Back in, Austin takes down Josh with a shoulderblock but gets dropped on the top rope and eats a clothesline for two. Hammer comes in and wrestles Austin down with a wristlock, and Josh too goes after the arm some more. Josh goes for an O’Connor roll but Rude cheapshots him out of the corner to break, and Rude comes in with a flying axehandle for two. The Dangerous Alliance take turns pounding Josh down, until Austin eventually dumps him outside so Rude can ram him into the railing. Josh catches Austin with a slam back inside, but misses an elbowdrop and some choking follows on the ropes. Even Heyman gets involved and holds Josh for a move, but he moves out of the way and Austin ends up taking out Heyman instead. Hot tag Hammer with a powerslam and a backdrop suplex, followed by the Warrior shoulderblock. Rude breaks up the pin, however, and he makes the blind tag off an Austin criss cross. Hammer doesn’t see it and backdrops Austin, allowing Rude to simply come in with the Rude Awakening to send the Alliance ahead at 12:56.

Rating: Another match that went a lot longer than it needed to, with the action starting quite well in the beginning until the heat spot on Big Josh just went on forever. The match was still pretty alright outside of that, nothing special but perfectly watchable. *3/4

The drawing sets up another qualifying match in the form of…

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match #3 – Dustin Rhodes & Richard Morton vs. Larry Zbyszko & El Gigante(w/ Madusa)

Schiavone says if he had to choose any partner for himself it would be Gigante, which says a lot about him. Morton wastes no time in running away from Gigante but walks into a slam anyway, and Gigante no-sells Dustin’s dropkicks. Dustin settles for a drop toehold instead, which again does absolutely nothing and Gigante slams him as well. Zbyszko giving him instructions all the time from the corner is pretty funny. Zbyszbo gets tagged in with a swinging neckbreaker for two, as we can finally have some actual wrestling in this match. Dustin cradles him for two, but Zbyszko nails him with a spinning kick and asks for Gigante to get his knee up on the rope. Gigante is totally useless and instead complains with Madusa, while Zbyszko blocks Dustin’s bulldog. Zbyszko tags in Gigante and tells him to follow up, but instead Gigante walks into the corner and confronts Larry. He slaps Gigante for being quite the moron and gets slammed out of the apron into the ring in return. Gigante whips his own parter into stereo dropkicks from Morton & Dustin, with the latter getting the pin at 05:54. He just cost himself (and Larry) a main-event and a possible future World Title shot but he stops to shake the winner’s hands. He might be a geek, but at least he’s a loveable one. Morton refuses the handshake because he has better things to do, like focus on the main event.

Rating: Usual El Gigante match, with everyone around him having to do the work for him while he stands there doing whatever. Like costing himself a main event. This was pretty bleh but at least it was short. 1/2*

We move on to…

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match #4 – Diamond Dallas Page & Mike Graham vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Bill Kazmaier

Liger and Graham have a nice little sequence to start, before it’s off to Kazmaier for some power moves on DDP. Bill gets whipped outside but skins the cat back inside and clotheslines DDP for two. More slams on DDP but he goes up and misses a flying splash, as DDP pounds away until Bill tags in Liger. He takes DDP down with a spinning wheel kick, and DDP brings in Graham. Liger meets him with an enziguiri and a springboard splash for two. Bill gets tagged back inside and Graham goes for a single leg takedown, but that goes nowhere and Graham releases it. Kazmaier works the arm but Graham reaches for the tag to DDP, who eats a clothesline. DDP goes for a slam but Bill lands on top for two, and DDP has had enough already and brings Graham back inside. Liger gets tagged in too, and a drop toehold puts Graham down. Liger follows it up with a surfboard, but Graham trips him down and rolls over into the Boston crab for his own submission. Just leave these two in the ring the whole time, please. They exchange a number of nearfalls off a pinfall reversal sequence, and we get a stalemate.

Backslide by Graham gets two, but Liger turns things around and he goes to work on the leg. He makes the tag to Kazmaier, so Graham makes the tag to DDP too. That sound you hear is the match quality being flushed down the toilet. Thankfully it’s right back to Liger and Graham, as Liger explodes with an awesome Connor McGregor-like rolling thunder kick. He fires away with multiple kicks to Graham, and Bill gets in with a slam for two. Bill works a bearhug but it’s right back to Liger, but Graham misses a blind charge in the corner and hits the buckle with his knee, before Liger meets him outside with a flip dive. Back in, a backbreaker sets up the moonsault but DDP breaks up the count, and Bill comes in too as IT’S BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA. Graham gets tossed outside and Bill slams Liger onto DDP for the win at 13:08.

Rating: When it was down to Liger/Graham, the match was always very good. They put on some tremendous stuff in there together, but the other two just weren’t even close to their level and dragged the overall thing way down. DDP turned out to be much better by the end of the decade. But still this was so far the best match thanks to Liger and Graham. **1/2

Promotional video for WCW SuperBrawl II in February 1992

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match #5 – Lex Luger & Arn Anderson(w/ Harley Race) vs. ‘Z-Man’ Tom Zenk & Terrance Taylor

IMG credit: WWE & myjourneythroughwrestling.wordpress.com

Arn bails from Zenk to start, only for Taylor to surpise him with a punch on the outside. All hell breaks loose back inside, and Luger & Arn bail some more. Taylor works on Luger’s arm back inside until Luger catches him with a gorilla press slam. A snapmare takes Luger back down, however, and Mr. Perfect’s necksnap gets two. Swinging neckbreaker gets two. He tries a sunset flip but Luger’s too strong, and Arn comes in off the blind tag with a hard knee to the spine. Arn’s neckbreaker is blocked with a backslide for two and Taylor pops right back up with a clothesline for two more. A corner slingshot splash by Taylor gets two, and Zenk comes in with a high crossbody for two. However, Harley Race trips him up on a criss cross and Arn plants him with a nice DDT for two. Luger comes in with a vertical suplex for two, but Zenk then faceplants Anderson. He tries to reach Taylor for the hot tag, but the WCW World Champion prevents that and hits a powerslam for two. Arn eats knee on a blind charge and Zenk goes up, but Arn knocks him down only to miss a high risk move as well. Hot tag Taylor and he runs wild, including an atomic drop that sends Luger into Arn followed by a roll-up on Luger for two. High crossbody gets two. Backslide gets two. Luger cuts him off with a rake to the eyes, but Taylor comes back with a gutwrench powerbomb as Arn saves the pin. All hell’s broken loose and the ref misses Taylor’s inside cradle on Luger as a result, allowing Arn to cheapshot Taylor to set up Luger’s Attitude Adjustment (Luger’s piledriver, not what you’re probably thinking!) to send them to battlebowl at 10:25.

Rating: Another good match, with this even surpassing the previous one in my opinion. Luger had been taking less and less bumps and wrestling safer matches in the recent months, as it was becoming more apparent that he was onto a new step in his career soon – WBF (sigh). With that in mind, it was Arn Anderson who got to do most of the work for their team, and when that’s the case you’re guaranteed to see (at the very least) a pretty good match. That’s what happened here, with Zenk playing Ricky Morton well enough. The fans weren’t all into Taylor’s hot tags, but that’s understandable since he was a heel too, and those are the kind of things to expect from a concept like this. ***

We take a look at the list of battlebowl participants thus far – Marcus Alexander Bagwell, Jimmy Jam Garvin, Rick Rude, ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin, Dustin Rhodes, Richard Morton, Bill Kazmaier, Jushin Thunder Liger, Arn Anderson and the WCW Champion Lex Luger.

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match #6 – Ricky Steamboat & Todd Champion vs. Cactus Jack & Buddy Lee Parker

Poor Buddy Lee gets absolutely destroyed by Adbullah the Butcher backstage after he’s denied the chance to be Cactus’ partner. The referee refuses to accept Abdullah’s request to be apart of the match, so Foley is forced to go at it by himself. Parker still comes out, but Adbullah kills him some more on the ramp. We start with Steamboat/Foley, which sounds like a pretty interesting matchup to me. Cactus bites away and adds some choking on the ropes, and a clothesline gets two. Steamboat shows some life with the chops and he skins the cat back inside, where he blocks a Cactus Clothesline with a backdrop that dumps Cactus. Steamboat meets him outside with a dive and Cactus tries to leave, but Dragon makes him eat some railing instead and sends him back inside. Steamboat slides underneath Foley’s legs to block a clothesline and knocks him down with his own clothesline before bringing in Champion. He comes in with a slam followed by a legdrop, while Parker tries to crawl his way down the ramp. Cactus bites his way out of a bearhug and he dumps Champion, setting up for the Cactus flying elbowdrop to the floor. Cactus works a chinlock back inside while Parker’s already on the apron, and a powerslam by Champion gets two. An elbowdrop misses but Foley misses a flying move too, and a double noggin knocker sends Foley into Parker for the tag. Steamboat gets the tag as well, and a powerslam followed by the high crossbody ends Parker at 07:48.

Rating: Another random tag match, but at least this one had some story into it. Plus watching Steamboat and Foley go at it was pretty fun, and while it was just for a few minutes as apart of a random tag match, it made me want to see more. **1/4

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match #7 – Sting & Abdullah the Butcher vs. Flyin’ Brian Pillman & Bobby Eaton

Abdullah obviously comes out and attacks Sting with the stick before the bell even rings, and here’s Brian Pillman early to save him. Bobby takes over on the injured Sting, who makes the comeback with a backdrop over the top (take a drink) followed by a dive. Dropkick and Sting slugs away on the floor before bringing him back inside. Sting goes to work on the arm with a wristlock, but Abby gets in to break up the hold with a stick shot to his own partner, giving Eaton two. Bobby works a chinlock and then gets some more help from Abby, who grabs JR’s pencil from the announce table to attack Sting, until Pillman once again comes in to save Sting with a dropkick to Butcher. Pillman slams Abby inside the ring (totally missed by the cameras as they were shooting Sting posting Bobby) followed by a splash, as then… the participants try to switch corners/partners. An abdominal stretch by Eaton is turned into a piledriver from Sting, who completely botches it. Abdullah once again comes after Sting and there’s Pillman to save once more, allowing Sting to backdrop Eaton. Now Cactus Jack joins us back with the stick but it misses and hits Abdullah instead, allowing Sting to finish Bobby with a high crossbody and sends both him and Abby to battlebowl at 05:55.

Rating: What a confusing match this was. The guys hitting each other throughout the match made it quite distracting, and the finish came pretty much out of nowhere. Not to mention that the previous match had already ended with a high crossbody. Plus that piledriver by Sting looked like shit. Not good. 3/4*

Cactus and Abdullah get into a fight after the match as this gets even crazier

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match #8 – Rick Steiner & The Nightstalker vs. Big Van Vader & Mr. Hughes

If this wasn’t strange enough as it is already, Vader comes out to this match unmasked. I believe this is Nightstalker’s first appearance back on the series since the infamously HORRIBLE match he had with Sid Vicious at a Clash of the Champions about a year earlier. Vader uses his power to take over on Rick to start until Steiner explodes with a Steinerline out of the corner. Belly to belly(!) followed by a clothesline over the top rope, which is enough for the DQ to send Vader & Hughes ahead at 01:29.

Who am I kidding, of course the rule is ignored again, take a drink!

They take the fight to the floor, where Vader rams Steiner’s back into the post. Vader tries to suplex him from the ring to the floor, which Steiner turns into a (half assed) suplex of his own to put Vader back inside. Massive yawner, thank god there are just two tag matches left after this one. Hughes comes in to eat a backdrop from Steiner for two. Hughes chokes away on the ropes but misses a blind charge and gets German suplexed out of the corner for two. Double noggin knocker sends Steiner into the tag to Nightstalker (another spot being repeated tonight). Steiner gives Hughes a flying bulldog but he’s not legal so the ref won’t count, as Vader simply splashes Nightstalker for the pin at 05:05. Good job, Nighstalker. What a geek.

Rating: This sucked so bad. Steiner’s suplexes on Vader didn’t all look very good due to Vader’s size, and Nightstalker is just the worst. A couple of good spots from Steiner and Vader save this from a big fat DUD, though that’s not exactly a compliment. 1/4*

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match #9 – Scott Steiner & Firebreaker Chip vs. Johnny B. Badd & Arachnaman

Mr. Arachnawhatever is Brad Armstrong, so I think I’ll just go by the name to make things a bit more easier for me and you! Johnny and Chip start, with the latter getting a couple of japanese armdrags. Johnny responds with a back elbow and an elbowdrop for two. Badd fires away with the punches but Chip hits a springboard crossbody for two. Armstrong gets tagged in but so does Steiner, finally waking up the crowd. He catches him with a powerslam followed by a huge dropkick. A clothesline sends Armstrong over the rope to the outside, which is obviously isn’t a DQ. You know what that means. Badd knocks Steiner down with a cheapshot, but Steiner quickly turns that around and easily overpowers Badd while throwing him around for fun. And Scott tags out to Chip, thus killing the room in the process. It’s back to Steiner with a Steinerline and the butterfly powerbomb, and he tags out again. Chip and Brad exchange a couple of nearfalls, but boy the people couldn’t care less. And neither do I. And then as I type this we hit the chinlock, which is exactly what this match needed. Scott finally gets the blind tag off a criss cross sequence to catch a charging Brad with a Steinerline. Thilt-a-whirl slam and an overhead suplex finish Brad at 11:16.

Rating: Scott Steiner looked like a million bucks as all his stuff looked impressive, but man this didn’t need eleven minutes AT ALL. *

And finally here’s the last qualifying tag team match…

Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match #10 – Ron Simmons & Thomas Rich vs. PN News & Steve Armstrong

Simmons is wrestling his first match back since Halloween Havoc, where he broke his wrist during his WCW World Title match with Luger. Steve slugs away on Ron to start with an arrogant dance to boot, which earns him a running shoulderblock in the process. It’s off to PN News and Rich as the main event just won’t come. The fans apparently agree with me as they start a “we want Ron” chant. Rich obliges (what a loveable heel) setting up a babyface showdown between Simmons and PN News. PN hits an avalanche in the corner but misses a second one, as Ron explodes with a bulldog out of the corner for two. An explosive shoulderblock takes News down for two more. He goes for a second one but News meets him with a clothesline and hits a crossbody(!) for two. And just to make sure we don’t keep up the interest levels, it’s off to Rich and Armstrong for a while. Just let Simmons run over them and get his inevitable spot in the battle royal so we can move on. The strange bedfellows tag concept is quite fun, but ten matches of that kind in a row is a little bit too much, to put it mildly. Steve misses a blind charge on Rich in the corner but the crowd still wants Ron. But instead PN News comes in for a slam because THIS MATCH MUST CONTINUE. It’s back to Armstrong so he can choke away on the ropes, and even PN News stops him from doing so, probably wanting this match to end as well. Steve hits a swinging neckbreaker for two and… works a hold. Yep. Indeed he does. A fucking sleeperhold. Rich FINALLY gets the fuck out and makes the hot tag to Simmons, who slams PN News and finishes Armstrong with the spinebuster at 12:01.

Rating: Quite similar as the previous match – the only star of the match (Simmons in this case) came off looking like a million bucks, but in doing so we had to suffer through another endless match. Technically watchable but fuck I couldn’t wait for this to end after watching NINE similar matches. *

This marks the end of the lethal lottery qualifying phase (THANK THE LORD), as Eric Bischoff thanks the drawing hosts Magnum TA and Missy Hyatt.

Main Event – Battlebowl Battle Royal

First of all, here are the rules: it will be a two-ring battle royal, with all the wrestlers starting in ring #1. A wrestler is eliminated from ring #1 by being sent over the rope onto ring #2, where then “another match” will begin. When eliminated from ring #2 by being sent over the top rope and onto the floor, the wrestler is officially eliminated from the whole match for good. In the end, the final guys standing in both rings will meet each other. Basically you can technically lose once and just win the whole thing, just as long as you make sure you don’t get dumped twice. Eh, alright. Once again, here are the participants (listed in order of entrance): Big Van Vader, Marcus Alexander Bagwell, Jimmy Garvin, World Tag Team Champion Dustin Rhodes, Bill Kazmaier, Light Heavyweight Champion Jushin Thunder Liger, TV Champion ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin, Richard Morton, Todd Champion, Thomas Rich, Ron Simmons, World Tag Team Champion Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat, Mr. Hughes, Scott Steiner, World Champion Lex Luger, US Champion ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude, Arn Anderson and Sting.

Arn and Steamboat fight on the ramp for a while, as it’s your usual battle royal action that’s hardly possible to follow to start. Kazmaier gets thrown over the top to the floor, but not to ring #2 so he’s still in there. Kicky punchy action follows, until Vader stops to slam Steamboat on the ramp, but he misses an elbowdrop out there. They head back in, but Vader gets bored pretty quickly and gorilla presses him all the way back to the ramp just for fun. Dustin goes up but gets crotched, as Thomas Rich is the first one sent over onto the second ring, meaning he can actually rest for a little while. Soon he gets some company in the form of Bagwell, who gets thrown over by Richard Morton. Hughes slams Firebreaker Chip onto the second ring, and Jushin Liger soon gets thrown too. Richard Morton follows him there (by going between the ropes), which somehow counts too. Normally I would call him out on not following their own rules, but this show has been way too long for me to care at this point. Liger catches Morton going for a high crossbody and turns it into a powerslam, followed by a senton and a springboard moonsault. It’s funny how the cameras just keep on filming these two having a great mini-match while completely ignoring everything else. Morton blocks a spinning wheel kick but eats it on a second try (didn’t look very good), as they then eliminate each other and are the first ones out of battlebowl.

Simmons moves out of the way of Mr. Hughes’ charge, who literally flies all the way onto ring #2. Meanwhile, Thomas Rich gets eliminated from battlebowl off camera. Jimmy Jam and Todd Champion get sent to ring #2, and so do Steve Austin and Scott Steiner shortly thereafter. There goes Jimmy Garvin flying out of battlebowl at the hands of Firebreaker Chip, while Kazmaier, Abdullah, Simmons and Dustin all get sent to ring #2 in quick succession. This allows Sting and Rick Rude to unload on each other as the crowd goes absolutely bananas, and they take the fight all the way to the second ring, leaving only Vader and the champ Luger in ring #1. Vader splashes Luger while we get the announcement of Firebreaker Chip’s elimination (off camera), and Luger clotheslines Vader over to make him the winner of ring #1, meaning now he just has to wait for the fight in ring #2 to end.

We get three straight eliminations in the form of Abdullah, Kazmaier and Todd Champion. Sting and Rude are still going at it as Rude goes for an elimination but can’t dump him out. Arn Anderson makes the stupid mistake of going up during a battle royal, and gets (rightfully) dropkicked out by Dustin Rhodes. Never go to the top rope during a battle royal. Dustin himself gets dumped by Austin, while Ron Simmons and Mr. Hughes clothesline each other out. Austin eliminates Bagwell while Sting & Steamboat double clothesline Big Van Vader out. Scott Steiner too gets eliminated off camera, as we’re down to Sting, Steamboat, Rude and Austin in ring #2 while Luger keeps on waiting. Rude irish whips Sting right into a Stinger Splash on Austin, and Steamboat gives the Dangerous Alliance members some double noggin knocker action. Rude attempts a clothesline on Steamboat near the ropes, but he moves out and Rude ends up clotheslining his partner Austin out instead. Rude dumps Steamboat but he skins the cat and hurricanranas Rude out, who then pulls Steamboat out with him to make Sting the winner of ring #2 and leave it down to Luger/Sting in the end. However, Rude takes his frustration out on Sting with the Rude Awakening before leaving.

Luger takes out Sting with a clothesline and he stops to mock Sting’s signature taunt. Luger dumps Sting between the ropes and holds the referee to allow Harley Race to add some cheapshots, but Sting counters and slams Race on the ramp. However, Luger comes in from behind and knocks Sting onto the railing. Sting makes Luger taste the railing in return as well, before taking him back inside the ring. Sting puts Luger on the top rope but Harley Race interferes again, earning him a suplex. Stinger Splash misses though, and Luger dumps Sting but he holds on to the top rope. Luger thinks he’s won and turns his back, opening the door for Sting’s comeback. Sting clotheslines him over but Luger hangs on, but Sting knocks him over for good to win the first battlebowl at 25:10.

Rating: This match was pretty much impossible to follow for the most part, with the fact that it took ten minutes for the first elimination to occur not helping at all. But once the rings started clearing and there was actually space for the guys to wrestle, it got much better. The exciting mini-match between Jushin Liger and Richard Morton was the first highlight, as was the final sequence in ring #2 and the Luger/Sting, which the crowd were really into. Much like pretty much everything else on this card, the match had its moments but it was just way too freaking long. Twenty five minutes to set up the definitive showdown between Sting and Luger for SuperBrawl II, now with the WCW Championship on the line. **1/2

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: I don’t particularly dislike this concept, I actually think it’s pretty interesting and it could work. Just for the love of god make it a bit shorter. The qualifying strange bedfellows tag matches took up the entire show, meaning we got the same story (give or take) for 10 straight matches, across 40 participants. And all to set up a battle royal that was there to set up the World Title match at the next PPV. Especially when you consider that this is their biggest show of the whole year. Needless to say, the show felt really long with the same similar thing happening for ten matches in a row. If I had to recommend anything, just watch the final sequence of battlebowl. Bad show to close the year. 2/10

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POINT SYSTEM

Click here to know more about my point system. As for the special battlebowl match, the winner (Sting) will get three points, but everyone else will just lose one point (as usual) for coming up short

Wrestler	Star ratings	Result	Main-eventing	Extras	Total
Sting	0.75 + 2.5	1	1	+0.5 for winning the fall +3 for winning battlebowl	8.75
Lex Luger	3 + 2.5	1	1	+0.5 for winning the fall -1 for losing battlebowl	7
Arn Anderson	3 + 2.5	1	1	-1 for losing battlebowl	6.5
Jushin Liger	2.5 + 2.5	1	1	+0.5 for winning the fall -1 for losing battlebowl	6.5
Bill Kazmaier	2.5 + 2.5	1	1	-1 for losing battlebowl	6
Rick Rude Ricky Steamboat	1.75 + 2.5	1	1	+0.5 for winning the fall -1 for losing battlebowl	5.75
Steve Austin Todd Champion	1.75 + 2.5	1	1	-1 for losing battlebowl	5.25
Scott Steiner Ron Simmons	1 + 2.5	1	1	+0.5 for winning the fall -1 for losing battlebowl	5
Dustin Rhodes Marcus Bagwell	0.5 + 2.5	1	1	+0.5 for winning the fall -1 for losing battlebowl	4.5
Thomas Rich Firebreaker Chip	1 + 2.5	1	1	-1 for losing battlebowl	4.5
Big Van Vader	0.25 + 2.5	1	1	+0.5 for winning the fall -1 for losing battlebowl	4.25
Abdullah the Butcher	0.75 + 2.5	1	1	-1 for losing battlebowl	4.25
Jimmy Garvin Richard Morton	0.5 + 2.5	1	1	-1 for losing battlebowl	4
Mr. Hughes	0.25	1	1	-1 for losing battlebowl	3.75
Tom Zenk	3	-1	–	–	2
Terrance Taylor	3	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	1.5
Mike Graham	2.5	-1	–	–	1.5
DDP	2.5	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	1
Cactus Jack Big Josh	1.75	-1	–	–	0.75
Van Hammer Buddy Lee Parker	1.75	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	0.25
Johnny B. Badd PN News	1	-1	–	–	0
Brian Pillman	0.75	-1	–	–	-0.25
Steve Armstrong Arachnaman	1	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	-0.5
El Gigante Michael Hayes	0.5	-1	–	–	-0.5
Rick Steiner	0.25	-1	–	–	-0.75
Bobby Eaton	0.75	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	-0.75
Larry Zbyszko Tracy Smothers	0.5	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	-1
The Nightstalker	0.25	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	-1.25

And that’s all for today’s review, thank you so much for joining me as always. As we close the final page of the 1991 book, make sure you don’t miss the upcoming year end article, where I’ll be looking back at the top matches from both companies (and overall), as well as the top wrestlers based on my point system. Until then, see you soon!

WWF This Tuesday In Texas 1991 Review (The Gravest Rematch)

December 3, 1991
Live from San Antonio, TX
Announced attendance: 8.000 (capacity: ca 11.700)
PPV buyrate: 140.000 (-160.000 compared to Survivor Series’ 300.000)

Welcome everyone to my review of the one-off experimental WWF pay-per-view known as ‘This Tuesday in Texas’, featuring Hulk Hogan’s WWF title rematch from Survivor Series against the new champion The Undertaker, Jake Roberts taking on Randy Savage in his return to the ring and more.

Here is the list of champions heading into this PPV:

WWF Champion: The Undertaker [6th day of his reign] – previous champion: Hulk Hogan
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Bret Hart [99th day of his reign] – previous champion: Mr. Perfect
WWF World Tag Team Champions: The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) [99th day of their reign] – previous champions: The Nasty Boys

Enjoy the review!

The hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan

We open with a recap of the angle that closed Survivor Series – the newly-crowned WWF Champion The Undertaker saying that Hulkamania died at Survivor Series, and the burial would take place at this show.

WWF Intercontinental Championship – Bret Hart(c) vs. Skinner

IMG credit: WWE & wrestlingshouldbefun.com

Skinner gets a jobber entrance, which should give you a pretty good idea of how, hm, skinny his chances were at walking out with the title. Why not throw The Mountie in this spot, who was actually in a heated midcard feud with Bret at the time? Bret surprises Skinner with an early armdrag to start. He gets another one and switches right into an armbar. Skinner escapes and tries to play the wrestling game with Bret, which goes about as well as you’d expect. Bret lets him complete a leapfrog before catching him with a couple of atomic drops and a clothesline, as Skinner bails. Skinner comes back in but Bret goes right back to work where he left off, grabbing him by the arm while unloading on it at the same time. Skinner tries to block another armbar with an armdrag, but Bret holds on to Skinner’s arm and rolls through into the armbar, with a number of vicious knees to boot but Skinner eventually makes the ropes. They wrestle over a wristlock until Bret pops him with a back elbow right to the face, and a headbutt with EXTRA MUSTARD takes Skinner down. Great sound on that bump. Abdominal stomp follows, but Skinner rakes the eyes and rams Bret shoulder first into the post.

Skinner adds a few shots on the floor before working a rope-assisted abdominal stretch back inside. Skinner hits a shoulderbreaker in a nice bit of psychology. He misses a blind charge in the corner, but Bret misses a flying elbowdrop too. Skinner distracts the ref and hits him with the ALLIGATOR CLAW OF ANIMALISTIC DEATH before choking away on the ropes. Skinner whips him into the corner (Bret Hart bump included) follows, as then for some reason Skinner goes after the leg, which even Gorilla and Heenan seem confused by. Neckbreaker gets two. Skinner goes up but the Vertical Jump That Always Misses only finds Bret’s boot, and it’s comeback time. Back elbow sets up the pink moves of doom, starting with the russian legsweep for two. Suplex gets two. Backbreaker into the middle rope elbow gets two more. Skinner manages an O’Connor roll for two, but Bret literally sends him flying to the outside on the kickout! Bret follows him but Skinner gets the upper hand out there. He goes up once more but Bret slams him off and the Sharpshooter finishes him at 13:46.

Rating: Fine little opener with a very hot crowd, though one that had potential to be much more. The match didn’t need to go thirteen minutes at all, and it really exposed Skinner as a mediocre worker. The first few minutes were actually very good until Skinner got in control, with Bret selling the shoulder after the whip into the post and the shoulderbreaker, only for Skinner to randomly start going after the legs and other body parts, by which point the whole thing got quite confusing. Even the commentators mocked him, which was pretty funny. Had it been shorter it would’ve been much better, but Bret tried his best and it was still a pretty decent IC title match. **1/2

Backstage, Jake Roberts cuts a fantastic heel promo, saying that the fear in Elizabeth’s eyes while her defenseless husband got bitten by the snake gave him goosebumps! Randy Savage promises to destroy him before finishing him off with the Macho Elbow.

Randy Savage(w/ Miss Elizabeth) vs. Jake Roberts

10 Greatest Matches From December WWE PPVs | Cultaholic Wrestling — IMG credit: WWE & cultaholic.com

Now here’s the match I was looking forward to the most. Savage jumps Roberts before the bell and we’re underway. Savage destroys him with his entrance gear still on, and Roberts has had enough already. He tries to walk away but Savage brings him back inside the ring, where Roberts takes over with a cheapshot. To the floor where Roberts sends Savage’s arm (the one attacked by the snake) into the post, and he rams it into it a few more times. Savage tries to fight back with just one good arm back inside, but Roberts turns things around rather easily with an atomic drop. Roberts drops some knees on the arm and takes off the tape, as Savage keeps trying to show some life but can’t go anywhere. Roberts misses a clothesline but Savage eats boot on a blind charge, and Jake hits the short clothesline. Time for the DDT, but Savage spears him into the buckle to escape. He goes up with the Macho Elbow and… that’s all(?) at 6:25. The crowd goes absolutely bananas for Savage’s win, but he’s not done and he wants to add more punishment with a chair. The refs take it away from him, which allows Roberts to give him the DDT. He hits a second one before pulling the snake from under the ring, which was supposed to be banned. Elizabeth comes out to save Savage as you can literally feel the panic in the arena, and Roberts plants Savage with another DDT right in front of Liz. He slaps Elizabeth in the face and gets MASSIVE heat for that while more referees and Jack Tunney come out to prevent yet another attack with the snake.

Rating: I’m not sure if I know how to rate this. As a match it went really short and Savage’s finisher for the win came very early on and out of literally nowhere, but the action continued in the post-match angle. The story of Roberts working over Savage’s injured arm was very good, though, and this whole thing had some insane heat. The whole thing was a lot of fun to watch though, regardless of the match’s length. ***1/4

Jake Roberts says DDT’ing Savage felt really good, but the best feeling he ever had was when he grabbed his wife by her hair and slapped her in the face – “it felt so good that I should’ve paid for that”! He begs Savage to bring Elizabeth back to ringside in the future. Jake Roberts’ promos were absolutely sick.

The British Bulldog vs. The Warlord(w/ Harvey Wippleman)

This match again? Believe it or not, these two wrestled each other on each and every single WWF PPV in 1991. Check out this list: 1) Royal Rumble (opponents as part of the Rumble match); 2) WrestleMania (singles match); 3) SummerSlam (opponents as part of a six-man tag match); 4) Survivor Series (opponents as part of a traditional elimination match); 5) this. Holy moly! Warlord bullies him around for a while to start, until Bulldog takes him down by the leg and drops a low headbutt. A clothesline dumps Warlord and Bulldog dives at him, but Warlord catches him in mid-air and sends him right into the post. Warlord tries to ram Bulldog’s head into the buckle but ends up eating it himself, and Bulldog hits a missile dropkick. Warlord gets caught in the ropes off a clothesline and Davey Boy goes for a blind charge, but Harvey turns him loose and Bulldog takes himself out on the ropes. Backdrop by Warlord as he works a bearhug. Davey Boy fights out of that with a headbutt but ends up walking into a powerslam. This crowd is really into everything.

Warlord blocks a piledriver but Bulldog sunset flips him for two, only for Warlord to hit a clothesline and lock in the full nelson. That hold alone literally goes on for three minutes and one second (yes, I did count it) before Warlord… just releases the hold. Are you fucking kidding me? Three minutes for him to just let go of it? Bulldog starts making the comeback with a flying clothesline and the vertical suplex for two. He goes for the running powerslam, but Warlord grabs the ropes and lands on top for two. Warlord goes for a clothesline, only for Davey Boy to crucifix pin him for the win at 12:45.

Rating: Davey Boy was really good and always managed to carry Warlord to solid heavyweight matches. This was no exception, but it’s not as impressive when you start seeing it on each and every single PPV. Bulldog just beat Warlord clean again, much like at WrestleMania. You’ve got the point across already. Can he actually move ahead once and for all now? **

Ted DiBiase & Repo Man(w/ Sensational Sherri) vs. ‘El Matador’ Tito Santana & Virgil

Santana starts with Repo Man. A battle over a wristlock is won by Tito, and he hits an armdrag into an armbar. They fight over a hiptoss next, and Repo Man gets sent flying to the floor. He tries to sneak in and attack Tito from behind, but he blocks it and clotheslines Repo Man as he goes to tag in DiBiase. The fans go absolutely nuts for a potential Virgil tag, and Santana obliges. Even a tag to Virgil gets a big pop! DiBiase slugs away on his former bodyguard, but a sunset flip nearly surprises him. A couple of atomic drops send DiBiase flying to the floor, but Virgil eats elbow on a blind charge and it’s back to Repo Man. Powerslam by Repo Man as DiBiase adds some choking with the tag rope in the corner. Gutwrench suplex by Ted gets two. Virgil shows some life with a neckbreaker and he makes the hot tag to Tito, who runs wild on Repo Man with a number of dropkicks. He hits the flying jalapeno but stops to beat up an interfering DiBiase, who trips Tito when he goes for another flying jalapeno. DiBiase sends him into the steps a few times, putting the heels back in control. Tito and Repo both go for a clothesline at the same time and it’s a double KO spot, and there’s the hot tag to Virgil. He runs wild with clotheslines for both heels, and a russian legsweep on Ted gets two before Repo breaks up the pin. Meanwhile, DiBiase holds Virgil so Sherri can hit him with her SHOE OF DOOM, but it ends up hitting Ted instead. Virgil stops to go after Sherri, though, allowing Repo Man to come from behind with a knee to the back and DiBiase steals the win at 11:28.

Rating: Perfectly acceptable tag team match here. Once again, the crowd was hot for everything these guys did, which definitely made the match more fun to watch. **1/2

Hulk Hogan says he promises to bury Undertaker (hah!) and win back the WWF Title.

Main Event – WWF Championship – The Undertaker(c)(w/ Paul Bearer) vs. Hulk Hogan

Seeing Undertaker come out with the title so early in his WWF tenure is quite interesting to say the least. It wasn’t until 1997 that he had a proper run with it. Jack Tunney is sitting at ringside to avoid shenanigans. UT jumps Hogan before the bell but Hogan turns things around and slugs away in the corner. Atomic drop but UT sits right back up, and a clothesline is no-sold. Hogan, ever the hero, rakes the eyes but can’t get him up for a slam. He gets it on a second try but UT gets right back up with the zombie situp yet again. Hogan dumps UT with a clothesline over the top, but UT lands on his feet. They botch something on the apron and UT goes back down to the floor, taking Hogan with him and bringing the fight outside. UT chokes Hogan down right in front of Tunney, and Hogan crawls back inside for… more choking. Not again please. They go to the corner where UT stays in control with, wait for it, more choking. Hogan powers out of that but eats knee on a blind charge as UT hits Old School. And back to the choking. Hogan slugs away on the outside but gets sent into the post. Back in, UT works the CLAW OF DEATH and gets a number of two counts. I love how this is almost the same match as Survivor Series. Hogan fights back but something goes wrong and UT literally trips while running the ropes to hit his flying clothesline. Yikes.

He hits it on a second try, however, and gets two. Hogan tells Undertaker ‘go home, brother’ after the kickout, as this match just can’t get any funnier. What a mess! Hogan blocks a second Old School and here comes Ric Flair. Hogan dumps UT to the floor with the nicest clothesline I’ve ever seen, before stopping to hit Flair with a chair to the back. Back in, a couple of blows to Undertaker are no-sold before Flair climbs up on the apron with the chair in hand. However, Hogan irish whips UT into the chair before taking out Flair with a clothesline off the apron. Big boot but UT is up with the zombie zitup, and Paul Bearer hits UT by mistake with the urn. Hogan removes some ashes out of the urn before using them to blind UT and roll him up to steal the title back at 13:09. Hogan’s fourth title reign would be cut short on the next week episode of Superstars, with Tunney vacating it due to all the shenanigans that took place here and putting it on the line in the Royal Rumble match. The rest is history, and we’ll get there very soon!

Rating: This match was a big mess in more ways than one. First of all, it existed purely to set up the next year’s Royal Rumble title match for the vacant title. Second of all, it was pretty much a repetition of their Survivor Series match from less than a week earlier up until the finish. This was another match spent mostly in Undertaker’s endless chokes, with a couple of bad botches to boot. The crowd was very much alive for all of it but this was not very good. *

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: Talk about a show that existed just for the sake of existing. The PPV buyrate was a huge disappointment and WWF wouldn’t do a PPV on a Tuesday again until the days of Taboo Tuesday (2004, already under the WWE name) which also didn’t do good numbers. As far as the show goes, it’s definitely not bad and it kind of is an easy watch at just 1h30, but I’m not sure I would recommend it either. Nothing was really bad outside of the main event, but on the other hand nothing goes too far beyond the average level. Apart from Savage and Roberts’ angle, of course, which stole the show by far. 5/10

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POINT SYSTEM

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Wrestler	Star ratings	Result	Main-eventing	Extras	Total
Hulk Hogan	1	1	1	+2 for winning a title	5
Bret Hart	2.5	1	–	+1 for retaining a title	4.5
Randy Savage	3.25	1	–	–	4.25
Ted DiBiase	2.5	1	–	+0.5 for winning the fall	4
Repo Man	2.5	1	–	–	3.5
British Bulldog	2	1	–	–	3
Jake Roberts	3.25	-1	–	–	2.25
Tito Santana Skinner	2.5	-1	–	–	1.5
Virgil	2.5	-1	–	-0.5 for losing the fall	1
The Warlord	2	-1	–	–	1
The Undertaker	1	-1	1	-2 for losing a title	-1

Thank you so much for your time. We’ve already finished the year for the WWF side of things, so now make sure you don’t miss my upcoming review of WCW StarrCade as we close the book on the year of 1991. Until next time!

WWF Survivor Series 1991 Review (What A Difference A Year Makes)

November 27, 1991
Live from Detroit, MI
Announced attendance: 17.500 (capacity: ca. 20.000)
PPV buyrate: 300.000 (-100.000 compared to Survivor Series 1990’s 400.000)

Hello everyone. Welcome to my review of WWF Survivor Series 1991, featuring Hulk Hogan defending the WWF Championship against The Undertaker in his “gravest challenge”. Also a number of extra traditional elimination matches, including a Ric Flair-led team squaring off against Roddy Piper’s quartet, the beginning of a famous tag team’s split, and much more.

Considering this is a “special” PPV with its own particular match type, some changes to the point system will be made. Considering one wrestler can very well be eliminated in seconds and still technically emerge victorious, only the survivors will get 1 point, while every member of the winning team (those eliminated included) will get 0.5. Each elimination will be worth 0.5 points, as usual.

Here is the list of champions in the WWF heading into this PPV:

WWF Champion: Hulk Hogan [248th day of his reign] – previous champion: Sgt. Slaughter
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Bret Hart [93rd day of his reign] – previous champion: Mr. Perfect
WWF World Tag Team Champions: The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) [93rd day of his reign] – previous champions: The Nasty Boys

Enjoy the review!

WWF Survivor Series 1991 | Results | WWE PPV Event History | Pay Per View — IMG credit: WWE & thesmackdownhotel.com

The hosts are Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan

Special challenge: every elimination via clothesline = 1 drink

We recap the infamous angle of the cobra biting Randy Savage in the arm, which aired on TV a couple of weeks earlier. It wrote Savage off this event, which would’ve been Savage’s first match back after being reinstated. WWF President Jack Tunney removes both Savage and Jake Roberts from their elimination match, leaving both their teams at an even 3-on-3 situation. Tunney proceeds to ban the snake from ringside in the future, and books Savage’s return match for This Tuesday in Texas instead, against Roberts.

Survivor Series Elimination Match – Ric Flair, Ted DiBiase, The Mountie & The Warlord vs. Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, The British Bulldog & Virgil

No managers/valets allowed at ringside during the elimination matches this year. Flair comes out wearing a version of the WWF Tag Team belts, as the NWA had already paid the deposit to legally get back possession of the Big Gold Belt, but Flair needed a belt to carry on with the ‘real world champ’ gimmick. You can just visualize Vince coming up with the idea to have Flair carry the tag belt, can’t you? “Goddamnit wear this one, no one will notice pal”! Piper and DiBiase start under a very loud ‘Rowdy’ chant, with Flair jumping Piper before the bell to give the edge to Ted, but Piper strikes with a clothesline and crotches him. Sensational Sherri jumps back in to save DiBiase, but Rowdy plants a kiss on her and she’s sent packing by the outside refs. Piper slugs away on DiBiase and works a wristlock near the corner, before tagging in Bulldog for some knees to the arm. Virgil comes in and adds some more punishment, as does Bret before it’s back to Piper with an elbowdrop to the arm. Bulldog with a stomp to the arm. Virgil comes flying with a double axehandle to the arm off the top, and Bret goes to work on it some more with a hold on the mat. Great teamwork by the babyface team.

DiBiase rams Bret into the buckle to break, and Bret’s knees eat some more buckle on a failed blind charge. DiBiase tries a figure four but Bret shoots him off into the buckle and monkey flips him (while on the mat!!) into a pinning position for two, as they then get into a great pinfall reversal sequence. DiBiase/Bret has to be the best singles combination in Survivor Series matches, they end up having great interactions in these – ie: 1990 too. A hiptoss knocks Bret down and here comes Flair, only to miss an elbow and eat a headbutt. Atomic drop sets up the tag to Bulldog, who immediately follows it up with a slingshot into the turnbuckle for a Flair flop. And here comes Piper!!! The crowd goes absolutely wild for this showdown as the two get into a chop/slapfest, and Piper just runs wild with nonstop slaps and sends Flair to the floor for another Flair flop. Piper gives him no mercy and follows him for some more shots on the outside, until Flair crawls back inside and tags in Warlord. Bulldog wants some of him and Piper obliges. The usual series of shoulderblocks fail to knock Warlord down like always, but a dropkick gets the job done. Bulldog eats boot on a blind charge, though, and Mountie comes in with a flying back elbow but runs away and tags in DiBiase as soon as Bret gets tagged in. Bret goes to work on DiBiase with the backbreaker + middle rope elbow combo getting two. However, they collide on a criss cross for a brief double KO spot. Davey Boy picks up Mountie for some insane overhead press reps before slamming him down. Geez the strength! Flair beats him up and begs off, but Bulldog takes both him and DiBiase down with a double clothesline. IT’S BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA! Bulldog hits the running powerslam on Mountie in the middle of the confusion, but Flair (the legal man) knocks out Davey with a flying elbow to the back of the head for the first elimination at 10:55.

The British Bulldog eliminated (0.5 points to Ric Flair)

Piper immediately jumps Flair after the elimination, but the whole heel team jumps him and they get back in control. Flair hits a kneedrop, but stops to spit in Virgil’s face and gives Piper enough time to block a second one. Flair lands on his knee, so Piper locks in the figure four on him. DiBiase comes in to break up the hold, and he goes to work on Piper’s leg. He sets up for his own version of the figure four, but Piper cradles him for two. The Mountie works a Boston crab but Piper’s too close to his corner and he makes the tag to Virgil. He comes in running wild with a clothesline and a back elbow, and a backdrop on Flair. DiBiase asks for the tag, but Virgil rams his head into the turnbuckle repeatedly. However, DiBiase catches him with a powerslam and Warlord dumps Virgil. Flair sends Virgil into the steps on the outside, but Bret helps Virgil break the count back in. Warlord goes for the full nelson hold, but everyone gets in the ring and Bret breaks up the hold from behind. The illegal Piper makes the pin and the ref counts anyway at 17:00.

The Warlord eliminated (0.5 points to Roddy Piper)

DiBiase stops to complain and Piper nearly pins him too with a roll-up. Back elbow by DiBiase, but Piper responds with a suplex and makes the tag to Virgil. He puts DiBiase in the million dollar dream, and Ted sends him into the buckle to break. Flair comes in for some chops and a backdrop suplex. The Mountie hits a dropkick and he stops to celebrate. Jacques Rougeau never failed to entertain. And it’s back to DiBiase with a gutwrench suplex. Flair & DiBiase come in for a double clothesline on Virgil, and Flair gets two with his feet on the ropes. Virgil finally scores with a neckbreaker on DiBiase and makes the hot tag to Piper. He completely no-sells Flair’s chops and just pokes him in the eye while looking down at him in a hilarious bit, and then he does another one just because he can. Flair goes up but he gets slammed off, and suddenly everyone goes in the ring for a pier-six brawl. Piper irish whips Flair into the corner and he’s sent flying off the Flair flip. Meanwhile, everyone continues to fight inside the ring while ignoring the referee, until he calls for the bell and disqualifies everyone except Flair (who was outside the ring), making him the sole survivor at 22:48. The babyfaces immediately jump Flair and the rest of his team and they clean house.

Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Virgil, Ted DiBiase & The Mountie eliminated

Winning team: Flair’s team (0.5 points to each eliminated member)

Sole survivor: Ric Flair (1 point to him)

Rating: Very fun match with some huge names involved and some great interactions. The crowd was particularly alive for Flair/Piper, which had been a hot program on television heading into this event, and Bret/DiBiase had yet another good wrestling sequence in the ring, though not at the level of the prior year. It went a bit long and it dragged at times, and also the choice of the finish was quite interesting to say the least, but overall the match was pretty good and the best choice for the opener. ***

Mean Gene interviews Randy Savage at the top of the ramp. As horrifying as the snake bite was, he says the worst thing he felt on that night was hearing Miss Elizabeth cry. He says the real snake has always been Jake all along, and promotes This Tuesday in Texas some more. Savage: “this Tuesday in Texas, the madness is gonna be all over you like melting butter, ooooh yeaaaah”! Miss Elizabeth joins us too and thanks everyone for supporting Randy Savage’s return to the ring. Does she think Savage is gonna beat Jake? Ooooh yeaaah.

Survivor Series Elimination Match – Sgt. Slaughter, ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan, ‘El Matador’ Tito Santana & ‘The Texas Tornado’ Kerry Von Erich vs. Col. Mustafa, Skinner, The Berzerker & Hercules

IMG credit: WWE & freewrestling.blogfree.net

So basically the heel side consists of a former World champion turned manager who can’t even get his name back let alone wrestle anymore, a lame Stan Hansen wannabe cartoon character, an even lamer Bruiser Brody wannabe cartoon character, and the jobber version of Hercules Hernandez. Was the Brooklyn Brawler sick that day too? Who the fuck put this team together!? Skinner bitchslaps Tito to start, and Tito replies with the flying jalapeno already, which sends Skinner flying all the way to the floor. Skinner gets back in and Santana goes for it yet again, but this time Skinner moves out of the way and Tito knocks himself out. Berzerker comes in with a flying stomp but misses and lands on his ass like a complete geek. Off to Tornado and Berzerker misses a dropkick, but Kerry ends up getting caught in the heel corner. A Hercules shoulderblock is no-sold by Duggan, but Berzerker pushes him by the hair and the heels jump him in their corner. Sheiky baby works a chinlock on Duggan, and one can only imagine the conversation going on between those two during that hold. Sheik: “baby let’s smoka da nose candy in da car again?”, Duggan: “nooooooooooo”, Sheik: “maybe not good idea baby those jabronis caught us last time, let’s do it in hotel”, Duggan: “yayoooooooo”. Slaughter gets tagged in and hits a CLOTHESLINE FOR THE PIN at 7:57. There’s your first drink!

Col. Mustafa eliminated (0.5 points to Sgt. Slaughter)

Berzerker immediately jumps Slaughter afterward and hits a big boot for two. Hercules rams Sarge into the post for two. Berzerker gets back in but gets crotched, and nearly does the splits selling a kick to the leg. Gorilla: “he just did one of those rockette moves”. What am I watching? Duggan dumps Berzerker over the top rope twice, but since this isn’t WCW you just saved two drinks. Kerry comes in with a sloppy Tornado Punch that Berzerker completely no-sells, and then Kerry completely botches a simple leapfrog on Hercules. Jesus christ…. Thankfully Santana makes the tag and tries to single-handedly save this ugly disaster, finishing Herc with an inverted flying jalapeno at 12:05.

Hercules eliminated (0.5 points to El Matador)

Skinner comes in with an atomic drop on Tito, but Slaughter makes a blind tag behind his back and rolls him up at 13:31. Somehow he got a shot at Bret Hart’s IC title at the next PPV less than a week later, and not The Mountie who a) was actually in a feud over the title with Bret; and b) didn’t lose on this show. Logic.

Skinner eliminated (0.5 points to Sgt. Slaughter)

Berzerker is left alone but not for long, as Duggan’s 3 point stance clothesline ends things at 14:19. ANOTHER PIN WITH A CLOTHESLINE! Down that one too, go ahead!

The Berzerker eliminated (0.5 points to Jim Duggan)

Survivors: Duggan, Slaughter, Santana & Tornado (1 point to each)

Rating: This sucked, absolutely sucked. It was nothing but filler to begin with, but what a mess it was. 1/4*

Jake Roberts‘ turn to get interviewed by Mean Gene. The snake bite on Savage was nothing but an accident, trust him. Gene: “you’re a sick person”, Jake: “thank you very much”. He says the ban is completely meaningless, as the animal inside the bag had always been nothing but a toy – he was always the real snake.

More promotional work for This Tuesday in Texas

WWF Championship – Hulk Hogan(c) vs. The Undertaker(w/ Paul Bearer)

Undertaker misses a blind charge to start, but he no-sells the impact and immediately stares him down. Side headlock by Hogan but he runs into a shoulderblock and Hogan regroups. Back in, UT corners Hogan and adds the creepy choking. That lasts for a while and even Paul Bearer gets his shots in behind the ref’s back. Powerslam by UT but he misses an elbowdrop and Hogan slugs away. Clothesline is no-sold so Hogan goes for a powerslam instead, but he can’t lift him up. An elbow is no-sold as well and a clothesline dumps UT over the top rope, but he lands on his feet and no-sells that too. He pulls Hogan to the floor for a throw into the steps followed by more choking with a cable. More choking follows and Hogan goes down via a DEADLY CLAWHOLD OF DOOM. Hogan finally shows some life and makes the comeback, but a shoulderblock knocks UT to the ropes and he suddenly explodes with the flying clothesline. That looked pretty good. That sets up the Tombstone Piledriver, but Hogan obviously no-sells that and he pops right back up. He makes the comeback with the usual and manages to powerslam UT down, but here’s Ric Flair to join us at ringside. Hogan stops to beat him up, and back in the big boot takes UT down once again. However, Paul Bearer distracts the referee and Flair sets up a chair for a Tombstone onto it to give Undertaker his first title at 12:45. Undertaker’s win gets a big pop, which is probably the reason why Hogan faked the infamous neck injury backstage to try and kill his push. Too bad his neck wasn’t even close to hitting the mat on the Tombstone, but nice try Hulkster. To his credit, he sells the finish well after the match.

Rating: This match did a good job at advancing the stories it told and the crowd was alive for most of it, but I’m afraid that’s where the praise ends. The match itself was quite poor as about 80% of it was spent in chokes, but it got Undertaker over huge and it carries historical significance. *1/4

We must be in PPV remission time because we get a series of promos now. Here we go:

Roddy Piper says his night just got even worse and now he wants Flair more than ever.

Ric Flair & Mr. Perfect mock Hogan and claim there’s only one real World Champion.

Natural Disasters & IRS will shock everyone in the main-event in more ways than one. IRS calls Jack Tunney ‘Paul Tunney’, and him visually trying to hold his laughter when he realizes his mistake while Typhoon speaks is quite funny!

Big Bossman & LOD say they would win no matter the odds, regardless of Savage and/or Roberts being in the match or not.

WWF President Jack Tunney says he can’t change the referee’s decision in the WWF Championship match. What he can do, though, is book a rematch for the title at This Tuesday in Texas. And this time, he will be at ringside to avoid shenanigans.

Survivor Series Elimination Match – The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) & The Bushwhackers (Luke & Butch) vs. The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) & The Beverly Brothers (Beau & Blake)

The Bushwhackers run wild to start with their usual comedy stuff, which surprisingly gets little reaction, quite possibly because they’re following Hogan’s match. They take care of the Beverly Brothers with the battering ram, and the Rockers clean the rest of the house with stereo dropkicks to the Nasty Boys as the heels bail. Michaels hits a neckbreaker on one of the Beverly’s, but he walks into a backbreaker and it’s off to Knobbs. Michaels meets him in the middle with a high knee to the face and tags in Luke. Knobbs misses a blind charge in the corner, but Luke stops to taunt the other heels and lets Knobbs hit a flying clothesline and eliminate him like a total buffoon at 5:21.

Bushwhacker Luke eliminated (0.5 points to Brian Knobbs)

Sags comes in with a vertical suplex to Michaels, who responds with a high crossbody for two. Tag to Jannetty who goes to work on Sags’ arm with a few armdrags and holds, but Beau comes in with the Mr. Perfect necksnap. Backdrop but Jannetty lands on his feet and he hits a superkick for two. Beau cuts him off with a hard whip into the corner, though, and a gutwrench suplex gets two. A double collision knocks both guys down, and they both tag out. Butch runs wild on both Beverly Brothers with a couple of clotheslines, but he gets caught in their corner and a double facebuster of sorts leaves The Rockers alone at 10:13.

Bushwhacker Butch eliminated (0.5 points to Beau Beverly)

Jannetty comes in with a monkey flip right into a hurricanrana for two. An enziguiri knocks Blake all the way into his corner, and Blake runs into an armdrag. Michaels goes to work on the arm too, but Beau fights out with a headbutt and he chokes away. He dumps Michaels to the floor and hits a back elbow back inside followed by an elbowdrop to the back. Backbreaker is blocked and turned into a backslide for the pin at 14:30.

Beau Beverly eliminated (0.5 points to Shawn Michaels)

Blake hits a powerslam for two. Michaels tries to surprise Knobbs with a sunset flip, but Knobbs kicks out and immediately tags in Sags. He dumps Michaels but HBK hangs on, and comes up from behind with a dropkick that sends Sags flying to the outside. Michaels meets him there with a flying clothesline, and a superkick for Knobbs. The heels turn things around, though, and Blake hits a legdrop as Gorilla wonders why Michaels doesn’t tag out. The hot tag brings in Jannetty with a flying back elbow to Knobbs, and a snapmare gets two. Sunset flip gets two on Blake, but Knobbs gets tagged back in and he takes back control with a slam. He eats knees on a misses splash, though, and Michaels cleans house off the tag. All five are in the ring as it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN DETROIT, and Sags’ feet (off a Jannetty powerslam) send Michaels into a roll-up from Knobbs at 19:41.

Shawn Michaels eliminated (0.5 points to Brian Knobbs)

A pissed off Michaels shoves Jannetty before leaving. This is obviously the start of the Rockers’ split, which would be confirmed in the famous Barber Shop window segment a couple months later. Blake hits a powerslam but he doesn’t want the pin yet, asking the Nasty Boys if they want some more. Jannetty tries to use his quickness to fight off Knobbs, sending him into the post and taking out both Nasty Boys with a high crossbody to the outside. An inside cradle has Sags pinned but Blake distracts the referee, allowing Knobbs to roll his partner on top for the win at 23:06.

Marty Jannetty eliminated (0.5 points to Jerry Sags)

Winning team: Nasty Boys & Beverly Brothers (0.5 points to Beau Beverly)

Survivors: Nasty Boys & Blake Beverly (1 point to each)

Rating: The work by the Rockers and their story was good to see, but the match might as well have been a 4-on-2 handicap match to begin with. The first ten minutes were literally just there as filler until the Bushwhackers were both eliminated, and they weren’t any good. It picked up in the second half and it set up what eventually marked the beginning of Shawn Michaels’ singles run and push. **1/2

(Alleged) Main Event – Survivor Series Elimination Match – The Big Bossman & The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) vs. Irwin R. Schyster & The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon)

Good little sequence between Bossman and IRS to start until it’s off to Earthquake and Animal. Quake takes over with an easy backbreaker but he misses a splash and Animal explodes with a flying shoulderblock for two. Hawk goes to work on IRS but Tyohoon catches him to prevent a slam, only for Hawk to dropkick them both down. The babyfaces take turns beating up Typhoon and he brings Quake back in. Hawk fights back with a backdrop suplex on IRS followed by an elbowdrop. Bossman misses a big boot on IRS, but doesn’t miss a punch on the rebound. The ref gets distracted with the action going on outside, though, and IRS uses the briefcase to get rid of Bossman at 6:23. Well so much for that push.

Big Bossman eliminated (0.5 points to IRS)

The heels cut the ring in half and go to work on Animal. Typhoon works a bearhug, but eats boot on a blind charge and a clothesline out of the corner. Hot tag Hawk and he unloads with the flying shoulderblock. However, IRS gets involved behind the ref’s back and he grabs the briefcase, but Hawk moves out of the way and Typhoon’s gone instead at 9:55.

Typhoon eliminated (0.5 points to Hawk)

Earthquake’s pissed at IRS for hitting his partner and he walks away as well for the count-out at 10:05.

Earthquake eliminated

Poor IRS is now left alone against the LOD and he takes a powerslam from Hawk. Hawks eats post on a blind charge, though, and IRS sends him into the steps on the outside. Back in, back elbow smash and IRS works a chinlock. Hawks eventually fights out and hits a suplex, and it’s hot tag Animal. He runs wild with the flying shoulderblock, the powerslam and the double clothesline (alongside Hawk), but IRS bails and he walks away from the match. However, Big Bossman comes back and corners IRS, allowing Animal to suplex him back inside. Hawk follows it up with a flying shoulderblock off the top and Animal pins him at 15:21. I assume IRS didn’t feel like taking the Doomsday Device, and I certainly don’t blame him!

IRS eliminated (0.5 points to Animal)

Winning team: LOD & Bossman (0.5 points to Bossman)

Survivors: Hawk & Animal (1 point to each)

Rating: Decent little elimination match with some big names involved, though it was certainly not PPV main event caliber. **

Meanwhile, Sean Mooney says Hulk Hogan refused an interview and told him he’d rather do the talking at This Tuesday in Texas

New WWF Champion The Undertaker & Paul Bearer claim they killed Hulkamania tonight, and will host the burial next Tuesday in Texas

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: The highlight of this show is obviously Undertaker getting a huge win over Hulk Hogan to win his first WWF Championship, and there was also the Rockers’ angle, but otherwise this is a very skippable show that left a lot to be desired. The opener was the best match in my opinion but had a very disappointing finish. It doesn’t surprise me that Vince changed the Survivor Series concept for the following year’s edition, as the elimination matches in 1991 didn’t feel special at all compared to the 80s shows. This felt more like a glorified advert for the following week’s This Tuesday in Texas PPV, but it developed a few stories and characters, to its credit. 4/10

FEEDBACK

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POINT SYSTEM

Check out my point system here. However, as mentioned at the start of the piece, there will be a few different rules due to this being a unique show.

Wrestler	Star rating	Result	Main-eventing	Extras	Total
Ric Flair	3	1	–	+0.5 for an elimination	4.5
Hawk Animal	2	1	1	+0.5 for an elimination	4.5
Brian Knobbs	2.5	1	–	+1 for two eliminations	4.5
The Undertaker	1.25	1	–	+2 for winning a title	4.25
Jerry Sags	2.5	1	–	+0.5 for an elimination	4
Blake Beverly	2.5	1	–	–	3.5
Roddy Piper	3		–	+0.5 for an elimination -0.5 for being eliminated	3
Big Bossman	2	0.5	1	-0.5 for being eliminated	3
IRS	2		1	+0.5 for being eliminated -0.5 for being eliminated	3
Beau Beverly	2.5	0.5	–	+0.5 for an elimination -0.5 for being eliminated	3
Ted DiBiase The Mountie The Warlord	3	0.5	–	-0.5 for being eliminated	3
Earthquake Typhoon	2		1	-0.5 for being eliminated	2.5
Shawn Michaels	2.5		–	+0.5 for an elimination -0.5 for being eliminated	2.5
Bret Hart British Bulldog Virgil	3		–	-0.5 for being eliminated	2.5
Sgt. Slaughter	0.25	1	–	+1 for two eliminations	2.25
Marty Jannetty Bushwhacker Butch Bushwhacker Luke	2.5		–	-0.5 for being eliminated	2
Jim Duggan Tito Santana	0.25	1	–	+0.5 for an elimination	1.75
Texas Tornado	0.25	1	–	–	1.25
Col. Mustafa Hercules Berzerker Skinner	0.25		–	-0.5 for being eliminated	-0.25
Hulk Hogan	1.25	-1	–	-2 for losing a title	-1.75

Thanks a lot for your visit! Make sure you don’t miss the upcoming reviews of WWF This Tuesday in Texas and WCW StarrCade here on the blog, as we finish the year of 1991. Make sure you don’t miss the year-end article either, looking back at the best matches & wrestlers of the year from both companies. See you soon!

WCW Clash of the Champions #17 1991 Review

November 19, 1991
Live from Savannah, GA
Announced attendance: 6.922 (capacity: ca 7.832)
TV rating: 4.3

Hello everyone, and welcome to my review of the 17th WCW Clash of the Champions, with five featured title matches scheduled for the card – including Sting putting the US Title on the line against WCW newcomer Ravishing Rick Rude and Rick Steiner challenging Lex Luger for the WCW World Heavyweight Title in the main-event. Also, a returning fiery dragon shocks the world by joining young Dustin Rhodes to challenge the Enforcers for the World Tag Team belts.

Here is the list of champions in WCW heading into this show:

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Lex Luger [128th day of his reign] – previous champion: Ric Flair, before it was vacated
WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Sting [86th day of his reign] – previous champion: Lex Luger, before it was vacated
WCW World Television Champion: ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin [169th day of his reign] – previous champion: Beautiful Bobby Eaton
WCW Light Heavyweight Champion: Flyin’ Brian Pillman [23rd day of his reign] – inaugural champion
WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Enforcers (Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko) [75th day of their reign] – previous champions: The Steiners, before it was vacated
WCW United States Tag Team Champions: The Young Pistols (Steve Armstrong & Tracy Smothers)* [14th day of their reign] – previous champions: The Patriots
WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Champions: The York Foundation (Richard Morton, Terrance Taylor & Thomas Rich) [42nd day of their reign] – previous champions: Dustin Rhodes, Tom Zenk & Big Josh

*Technically The Patriots (Todd Champion & Firebreaker Chip) were still champions at the time of this show, as their title loss wouldn’t air on television until Dec. 15th 1991

Enjoy the review!

The hosts are Jim Ross & Tony Schiavone

Lumberjack Match – Thomas Rich(w/ Alexandra York) vs. Big Josh

Rich jumps Big Josh before the bell and we’re underway. Josh no-sells some shots and Rich tries to run away, but the lumberjacks prevent him and Josh takes over. Big Josh runs wild with some chops, an atomic drop and a belly-to-belly suplex, followed by his silly stomps across the stomach. However, Rich dumps Big Josh over onto the heel side of the lumberjacks so they can put the boots to him for a while, allowing Rich to get back in control. Rich chokes away with some tape in the corner, as does Steve Armstrong with the ref’s back turned. Rich follows it up with a suplex, but Josh shows some life and chops away. He misses a blind charge, though, and Rich goes up only to get slammed off. Suplex gets two. Criss cross sequence sees Rich get tripped by his own York Foundation partner, Terrance Taylor, and Big Josh ends it with the assdrop splash at 6:03.

Rating: It was smart to break up the York Foundation, a group that was doomed from the start anyway once Mike Rotunda left in the early stages of the run to become ‘IRS’ in the WWF. Match wasn’t bad up until the finish, but it certainly wasn’t interesting or memorable either. It was ok. *

‘Beautiful’ Bobby Eaton vs. Firebreaker Chip

Lockup to start into a side headlock from Chip. Bobby rolls him over for the count a couple of times, but he can’t escape the hold. Chip awkwardly botches a flying crossbody or whatever he was going for off the top, but then connects the second time around and gets two. Back to the side headlock goes Chip, but Bobby rams him into the buckle to break. Chip eats more buckle on a blind charge, but he no-sells it and goes up for a flying clothesline regardless, but the rope break saves Bobby. Damn, Eaton is just getting nothing in tonight. Did he piss anyone off in the back or something? Bobby works a hammerlock, which Chip reverses into his own. Eaton catches a charging Chip with a clothesline out of the corner, and a high backbreaker gets two. Crossbody by Bobby, but Chip rolls through and almost steals it. Backslide gets two. O’Connor roll gets two more and Chip is sent into the buckle on the kickout, right into a backdrop suplex from Bobby for the win at 4:52.

Rating: Outside of the small botch from Firebreaker Chip early on, this was a perfectly acceptable solid little match. *3/4

Meanwhile, WCW Champion Lex Luger attacks Sting’s injured leg and is revealed as the man who’s been trying to end Sting’s career during the past number of months. As long as there’s no more Chamber of Horrors, I’m fine with anything!

‘Z-Man’ Tom Zenk vs. The Diamond Studd

The match is already underway when we come back from a break, but we immediately go to a split screen with Sting being taken out of the arena in an ambulance. Back to the match we go and… Zenk beats Studd with a crucifix pin at 1:24. Okay then. Studd jumps Zenk after the bell.

Rating: I mean, what can I say here? Nice crucifix pin, I guess! N/R (no rating)

WCW World Television Championship – ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin(c)(w/ Lady Blossom) vs. PN News

Austin attacks before the bell but gets caught in an elevated chokehold by PN News, who runs wild with an avalanche followed by a clothesline out of the corner. Powerslam and an elbowdrop, and Austin bails only to eat some railing. Austin goes for a powerslam of his own, but he can’t lift him up and News lands on top for two. PN News follows it up with a “dropkick” (nice try, big dude) and a suplex for two. Austin manages to dump PN News and pounds away on the outside, but eats a backdrop right back into the ring. PN News hits the belly to belly suplex for the pin, but Lady Blossom puts Austin’s foot on the ropes. News chases her on the floor, which gives Austin enough time to dive onto him. Back in, News’ avalanche only finds the turbuckle and Austin uses the ropes to steal the win and retain at 4:21.

Rating: Very basic power match, with PN News overpowering Austin for literally 99% of the match before Austin pulled off a heel win. Austin sold well and tried to carry this thing on his back, but there was only so much he could do. *1/2

Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer

Van Hammer turns his back like an idiot and gets rightfully jumped by Cactus to start, but hits him with a backdrop suplex and dumps him with a dropkick. Hammer rams Cactus into the railing, because of course Foley will kill himself to get even Van Hammer over, and back in a big boot, powerslam and a legdrop get two. Cactus turns things around with a bulldog, and the Cactus clothesline dumps both guys over the top rope. Obviously a convenient no-DQ in this case, so you already know what that means. TAKE A DRINK! Cactus follows it up with a flying elbowdrop on the floor. Meanwhile, Jim Ross on commentary: “if championships could be won on the outside, Cactus Jack would be the undefeated champion of the World”. Kenny Omega might have a thing or two to say about that these days. A slugfest ensues and it’s won by Van Hammer, who gets a clothesline to the back followed by a flying knee off the top to the back of the head for two. Cactus bails and uses Van Hammer’s guitar behind the ref’s back to give Van Hammer his first loss in WCW at 4:03. Van Hammer gets his revenge afterwards, with Foley taking a couple of crazy bumps on the ramp because he’s Mick Foley.

Rating: This was actually way better than I expected, the match was quite decent thanks to Mick Foley’s willingness to do anything to get over. Major props. **1/2

WCW World Tag Team Championship – The Enforcers (Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko)(c) vs. Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes

Dustin’s partner Barry Windham got a broken hand by the Enforcers at the start of Halloween Havoc. Instead, Windham comes out and reveals Dustin Rhodes’ new partner…

The returning Ricky Steamboat, fresh off a weird brief WWF run where he was known simply as ‘The Dragon’ because reasons.

WCW World Tag Team Championship – The Enforcers (Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko)(c) vs. Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes(w/ Barry Windham)

The crowd go absolutely bananas for Steamboat. Dragon chose to leave the WWF after he was asked to get jobbed out in 2 minutes on television to the likes of The Undertaker and even fucking Skinner heading into Survivor Series. Can’t say I blame him. Steamboat runs wild with the KARATE CHOPS OF DEATH and this crowd just can’t get enough of Ricky!! Flying back elbow for Zbyszko, atomic drop and a dropkick for Anderson as the Enforcers bail. Great energy in this match! Ricky works a headlock on Zbyszko, who tries to escape but ends up walking into a shoulderblock. Back to the headlock goes Ricky, and the tag to young Dustin. Rhodes works the arm, not letting go of Zbyszko’s arm as he gets slammed. That was pretty good on Dustin’s part. Back to Steamboat for a flying karate chop to the arm, as then Steamboat rams it into the post repeatedly. Tag to Dustin who goes after Zbyszko’s arm some more. Great comeuppance story, as the heels originally hurt Barry Windham’s arm to write him out of this match. Arn comes in and takes over thanks to a cheapshot, and Dustin’s blind charge finds his knee. AA goes up and Dustin tries to slam him off, but AA rakes the eyes and hits a flying double axehandle.

Dustin blocks a blind charge in the corner and makes the comeback with his dad’s bionic elbows on both Enforcers, who take a powder. This is pretty freaking amazing! Tag to Zbyszko who begs for Steamboat to tag in, and the babyfaces oblige. Lockup and Steamboat hits a low superkick, but Zbyszko bitchslaps him and runs away. Blind tag to Arn during the chase right before Steamboat catches Zbyszko by the hair, but AA comes in with a cheapshot from behind and the champs take over. Dustin comes in to argue with the referee, which opens the door for some more Enforcers cheating. Suplex by Zbyszko gets two. Ricky shows some life with the chops, but he’s caught in the heel corner and Arn comes in off the tag with a hard irish whip into the buckle. Steamboat struggles to hit a sunset flip, but Arn makes the tag right before going down and Zbyszko keeps the heels in control. Great example of old-school ‘cut the ring in half’ tag team wrestling. Zbyszko works an abdominal stretch assisted by AA, and again Dustin coming in to argue allows the heels to cheat some more. Backdrop suplex by Anderson gets two. Steamboat faceplants AA and he goes for the hot tag to Dustin, but AA is close to his corner and Zbyszko prevents Ricky from reaching his partner.

Steamboat tries to fight back himself and goes for a powerslam, blocked by Larry who falls on top and gets two. AA adds a shot to Dustin just to piss him off some more, before working a bearhug on Steamboat. He blocks that and tries to turn it into a bodyscissors, but Arn rolls him through into a Boston crab. Brilliant! And obviously Zbyszko pushes Arn’s body for some extra leverage just to be a dick and provoke Dustin even more. Zbyszko goes to the Boston crab as well, and Steamboat manages to crawl and finally reach Dustin for the hot tag… but AA distracts the ref, who misses it and forces Dustin back to his corner. Steamboat blocks a blind charge and hits an atomic drop, but AA ricochets off the turnbuckle and their noggins are knocked for a double KO spot. Arn gets up first and he goes up, but Dragon gets his feet up and Anderson eats some boot. Steamboat crawls again and this time it’s HOT TAG DUSTIN! Bionic elbow to Larry, a shot to Arn, running clothesline to Zbyszko, powerslam to Arn. HE’S A HOUSE OF FIRE BY GAWD! Dustin hits the bulldog on Arn but Steamboat makes the blind tag, surprising Anderson with the flying high crossbody for the win and the titles at 14:48.

Rating: YES! YES! MORE OF THIS, PLEASE! Ricky Steamboat’s surprise reveal alone nearly took the roof off the house already, but these four proceeded to deliver a classic tag team title match. Brilliant structure to this match, with the babyfaces taking it to the heels early on, even going after their arms much like they did to injure Windham in a fantastic touch, then the classic heel tag team psychology that never fails to work, milking the hell out of the babyfaces’ hot tag before they can finally get there. One of the best matches of the year, loved it! ****1/2

We take a look at some Japanese clips from Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger, who’s coming to WCW around Christmas time.

Meanwhile, Jim Ross interviews Paul E. Dangerously, who claims he had nothing to do with Lex Luger’s attack on Sting earlier. However, should Sting not appear in time for the US title match against Rick Rude later on, then Rude would capture the belt via forfeit. Having known this, Sting checks himself out of the hospital and makes his way back to the building.

WCW Light Heavyweight Championship – Flyin’ Brian(c) vs. Johnny B Badd(w/ Theodore Long)

Johnny slugs away to start but turns his back to Pillman, who fights back with some chops WITH EXTRA MUSTARD and a backdrop. Dropkick sends Badd all the way to the ramp, and Brian meets him there with Air Pillman. He goes for a powerbomb next, but Johnny blocks and sends him throat-first into the railing. Back in, Pillman hits a springboard high crossbody for two. Powerslam sets up a flying splash, but Badd gets his knees up to block it. Back elbow by Johnny gets two. Powerslam by Johnny as now it’s his time to go up, but Brian meets a flying Badd with a fucking awesome standing dropkick for two. Another vicious chop by Pillman as he hits a running clothesline and a spinning wheel kick for two more. Another clothesline is blocked by Johnny, who criss crosses and hits his own. He goes up yet again, this time hitting a flying sunset flip, but Teddy Long has the referee distracted. Johnny’s KO left is blocked by Pillman, who then rams Badd into Long before rolling him up for the win to retain at 4:19. Teddy eats a left KO punch from Johnny after the match to end their partnership.

Rating: Short and to the point, yet filled with exciting fast wrestling while it lasted, fitting of the title and the division. **3/4

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship – Sting(c) vs. Rick Rude(w/ Paul E Dangerously)

Paul wants the forfeit before the match, but Sting arrives in the ambulance and limps his way to the ramp, where he meets Rude with a gorilla press slam. Loud pop for Sting here. Despite being visually hurt, Sting still limps his way back to the ring to avoid the forfeit. Rude goes up for a flying double axehandle, but Sting catches him with a shot to the midsection and then a backdrop. Sting dumps Rude with a clothesline over the top rope, so you better TAKE A DRINK! However, Heyman distracts the referee outside the ring, which allows Rude to ram Sting’s injured knee into the post. Back in, Rude goes up with a flying clothesline to the back, and Rude’s hip swivel gets massive heat! Rude’s thinking Rude Awakening, which Sting blocks but he misses a clothesline, and Rude pokes him in the eye to stay in control. Sting shows some life and slugs away, though Rude inadvertently lands with all his dead weight on Sting’s injured leg. The ref stops to check on Rude, as Heyman knocks out Sting with the telephone on the other side of the ring for a great nearfall. Sting DDTs Rude but stops to go after Paul on the apron, as Rude clips the knee and steals the belt with a handful of tights at 4:50.

Rating: Awesome match for the short time they were given. Very good story that everyone could understand, with the valiant injured babyface leaving it all out there before ultimately coming up short. Good selling by Sting as well, and a great heel performance by Rick Rude. ***

Paul E. Dangerously reveals it was all a plan between the Dangerous Alliance and the World Champion Lex Luger. And there goes Sting back to the main event scene. Rick Rude once again showcases his greatness with his perfect delivery of the following line: “Sting, nice guys finish last (blows a kiss)”.

Meanwhile, Ron Simmons addresses his injury during the WCW title match with Lex Luger at Halloween Havoc, but still promises to his home state to be the first ever black World Champion one day!

Main Event – WCW World Heavyweight Championship – Lex Luger(c)(w/ Harley Race & Mr. Hughes) vs. Rick Steiner(w/ Scott Steiner)

Luger is noticeably bigger than in the past couple of years, getting ready for his upcoming bodybuilding career in the WBF. Sigh… Steiner keeps getting the better of Luger early on, who eats up as much time as he possibly can. A shoulderblock sends Luger into the corner and a powerslam gets two. The Steinerline dumps Luger, who takes his time getting back inside the ring. Luger rams Steiner’s head into the buckle, but Steiner fights back with a backdrop out of the corner and he slugs away. Luger rakes the eyes and goes for a clothesline, but Steiner blocks and explodes with a German suplex for two. They get into a slugfest that nearly knocks out the referee too, allowing Luger to crotch Steiner behind the ref’s back before following it up with a clothesline to the back, and a regular one. Luger pounds away and uses the ropes to rake the eyes, but Steiner blocks Luger’s suplex and hits his own. Luger comes back with a powerslam, however, and adds an elbowdrop for two. Luger dumps Steiner to the floor like a sack of potatoes, where Harley Race adds some cheapshots of his own. Luger slugs away but Steiner fights back and makes the comeback with a powerslam for two. Flying bulldog does it, but Luger gets his foot on the ropes to save the title. So Steiner is like ‘okay then’ and proceeds to belly to belly Luger off the top rope. Mr. Hughes comes down but Scott takes care of him with a Frankensteiner, while Rick hits another belly to belly on Luger, but Harley Race has the referee distracted. IT’S BREAKING LOOSE IN GEORGIA! Steiner stops to vertical suplex Race off the apron, but Luger uses the distraction to hit Steiner with the belt to the face for the win at 11:30.

Rating: Solid main-event here, but a bit too slow for way too long if you ask me. It got better near the end, though, and the finish sequence was pretty hot. **3/4

END OF THE SHOW

Final thoughts: Definitely a good one overall, I would say. Sure, the inevitable typical Clash squash matches were there, and PN News dominated Steve Austin for an entire match, but nothing was REALLY bad and there were a few memorable things here. The Sting/Rude US Title match was pretty good, but Ricky Steamboat’s return and the eventual match of the year contender for the tag titles were the clear highlights from this show. Usually this show is nothing special, but apparently this proves to be the exception. 6/10

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POINT SYSTEM

Find out more about my point system here

Wrestler	Star rating	Result	Main-eventing	Extras	Total
Ricky Steamboat	4.5	1	–	+2 for winning a title +0.5 for winning the fall	8
Dustin Rhodes	4.5	1	–	+2 for winning a title	7.5
Rick Rude	3	1	–	+2 for winning a title	6
Lex Luger	2.75	1	1	+1 for retaining a title	5.75
Brian Pillman	2.75	1	–	+1 for retaining a title	4.75
Steve Austin	1.5	1	–	+1 for retaining a title	3.5
Cactus Jack	2.5	1	–	–	3.5
Bobby Eaton	1.75	1	–	–	2.75
Rick Steiner	2.75	-1	1	–	2.75
Big Josh	1	1	–	–	2
Johnny B. Badd	2.75	-1	–	–	1.75
Van Hammer	2.5	-1	–	–	1.5
Larry Zbyszko	4.5	-1	–	-2 for losing a title	1.5
Arn Anderson	4.5	-1	–	-2 for losing a title -0.5 for losing the fall	1
Tom Zenk	–	1	–	–	1
Firebreaker Chip	1.75	-1	–	–	0.75
PN News	1.5	-1	–	–	0.5
Sting	3	-1	–	-2 for losing a title	0
Terrance Taylor	1	-1	–	–	0
Diamond Studd	–	-1	–	–	-1

Thank you so much for your time. Make sure you don’t miss the upcoming reviews of WWF’s Survivor Series and WCW’s StarrCade PPVs, as we then move on to 1992. Stay safe!