DVDVR WWE Network Viewing Club - WCW Slamboree 1993

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

DVDVR WWE Network Club is the WWE Network VOD discussion segment of DVDVR, highlighting selected VOD content for members view and discuss each month. The goal? Finish the entire libraray before we hit 99 years of age.

 

I want to start off by choosing something that hasn't been seen by members. The following is a list of content viewed by members of this board via WWE Network according to the afforementioned "What Are You Watching?" thread:


RR 2000
No way out 2000
Capital Combat 90
WM2
Starcade 83
Spring Stampede 94
Living Dangerously 2000
GAB 90
Rumble 88
Barely Legal
Bash 90
Slamboree 97
Summerslam 2000
Survivor Series 2001
Mania 1
Bash 89
Hardcore Heaven 97
Judgement Day 2001
Heatwave 98
Rumble 92
Spring Stampede 99
Fall Brawl 1997
Wrestle War 89
GAB 96
Royal Rumble 2014
Starcarde 90
WM 5
Insurrextion 2003
Rumble 2005
Bash At The Beach 2000
Backlash 09
WM21
GAB 91
Royal Rumbler 2011
Bash at the beach 1996
Hallwoeen Havoc 90
Judgement Day 2004
Battlebowl 93
Extreme Rules 2012

 

 

I think it is only fair that the first shared viewing experience of The DVDVR WWE Network Club is something not in the other thread. With that said...going to choose something totally random!

 

The First PPV: Slamboree 1993: A Legends' Reunion

 

 

Promotion: World Championship Wrestling

Date: May 23, 1993

Attendance: 7,008

Venue: The Omni

City: Atlanta, Georgia

 

THE CARD:

Six Man Tag Team Legends Match
Blackjack Mulligan, Jim Brunzell & Wahoo McDaniel vs. Dick Murdoch, Don Muraco & Jimmy Snuka

Tag Team Legends Match
Baron von Raschke & Ivan Koloff vs. Brad Armstrong & Thunderbolt Patterson

Legends Match
Dory Funk Jr. (w/Gene Kiniski) vs. Nick Bockwinkel (w/Verne Gagne)

Tag Team Match
Dustin Rhodes & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Paul Orndorff & Rick Rude

Singles Match
Sting vs. The Prisoner

NWA/WCW Unified World Tag Team Title Steel Cage Match
The Hollywood Blondes (Flyin' Brian & Stunning Steve) © vs. Dos Hombres (Hombre #2 & Ricky Steamboat)

NWA World Heavyweight Title Match
Barry Windham © vs. Arn Anderson

WCW World Heavyweight Title Match
Big Van Vader (w/Harley Race) © vs. Davey Boy Smith

[Brian Fowler]

Used to have the edited vhs of this, haven't seen the full show though. I'm down.

[Brisco]

Great idea, I am in!

[The Man Known as Dan]

Honestly, I doubt we need a full month for this, right? Maybe a week for the average show and then we move on to another one?

 

I'm in, will give it a watch tonight or tomorrow.

[Casey]

It's going to be older WCW shows every time, isn't it? Damnit.

 

I'll watch it tomorrow sometime before RAW.

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

The reasoning behind the selected time frame is due to various reasons. I know some members are going through their own list right now and I don't want them to feel left out if they choose to be involved. It also gives me time to see who is watching what so the recommendation isn't something that people have viewed in the previous month.

 

As far as the selection is concerned, this will be completely random. WCW, WWF/WWE, and ECW VOD content is all up for grabs. It's all on the table.When WWE begins expanding the other sections of their sites (The Vault, Documentaries, etc.) we can begin going into that territory. The only shows that I am going to 'exclude' as of right now are recent WWE shows (i.e. anything from 2013-2014), WM 1, and OTE 99.

[Josh Mann]

I would suggest we should do something for this like we did for the DVDVR Movie Club. Make a list of everyone who wants to lead a discussion and in that order let that person pick a show they want to have everyone watch. That way, it's being driven by the whole board and not by one person. 

[Brisco]

As much wrestling as the members of the board consume every week I am sure we could squeeze one PPV into our weekly schedule.

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

Sounds good to me. I'll review how that system is setup and start a thread so we can have everyone who is participating get a chance to lead the selection to avoid bias (i.e. some people lean more heavily toward early 90's WCW while others will ONLY watch WWE 200-2002, etc.).

 

Edit: Time frame. Okay let's do a week. The watching period for this will end on 3/9/14 at noon EST. At that point-in-time- if suitable selection system isn't in place, I will randomly choose someone from this thead and they will be 'it'.

 

Happy Watching!

[KidKash202]

Honestly, I doubt we need a full month for this, right? Maybe a week for the average show and then we move on to another one?

 

I'm in, will give it a watch tonight or tomorrow.

 

I don't know, maybe a week to short considering that is a 3 hour chunk of wrestling someone has to watch on top of the real time wrestling that is taking place in the present. 2 weeks? But 1 week is too short

[supremebve]

I can't in good conscience recommend this as a show, but I would recommend the main event to anyone who wants to know why Vader is so well regarded, because he bumped around like a cruiserweight for Davey Boy Smith.  I'm going to spoiler tag this for length. 

 

Slamboree 93
The lights go out on Bischoff and Missy Hyatt, who is looking all bubbly, perky, and downright adorable.

Bobby Eaton and Chris Benoit v. 2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell start the show off. Bagwell does some dance moves he should be ashamed of, but based on his self staisfied smirk, I don't think he is embarrassed at all. Benoit and Scorpio start off with a pretty good choreographed sequence that eventually includes Bagwell and Eaton. That sequence almost went wrong when Eaton nearly tripped Scorpio in mid-air, but Scorpio recovers impressively. Bagwell spends 90% of this match getting his ass kicked by Eaton and Benoit, who really could have been a bad ass tag team. Scorpio gets the hot tag and quickly hits his 180 body splash, which someone should bring back, and a corkscrew moonsault leg drop that was beautiful until all of his weight lands directly on Benoit's head. Scorpio was doing shit in 93, that would be impressive today,

Van Hammer v. Sid Vicious in a god has forsaken us match. Sid thankfully powerbombs him in about 16 seconds and I don't have to think about these two any more.
A couple of old timers give shout outs to their homies in the hood.

Dick Murdoch/Don Muraco/Jimmy Superfly Snuka v. Wahoo/Blackjack Mulligan/Jim Brunzell are up next in a legends match. Snuka looks like he is still on the juice, Brunzell still throws a decent dropkick, Murdoch is still a really good heel, and Muraco is bumping around like a pinball.

Mad Dog Vachon and Assassin talk to Missy Hyatt. Assassin's mask is about 93% too small.

Ivan Koloff/Baron von Rashke v. Thunderbolt Patterson/Brad Armstrong. Thunderbolt Patterson is super over, despite doing nothing but the ol Fred Sandford Okie Doke. His offense consists of nothing but punches that couldn't possibly hurt, yet the entire crowd in the Omni is eating it up with a spoon.

Flair for the Gold, Flair's suit fits like a glove, his bowtie and cumberbun don't exist at any point in history other than 1993. Fifi the Maid comes out turns around and leaves. I don't think I would hire anyone named Fifi, I just can't call someone Fifi with a straight face. We are promised the reunion of the original 4 Horseman, and instead of Tully we get Paul Roma, and I don't think the crowd is happy.

Dory Funk Jr. v. Nick Bockwinkle in a super old school match, that is actually pretty decent considering the total combined age of the competitors is 796.

Rick Rude/Paul Orndorff v. Dustin Rhodes/Kensuke Sasaki in a match that made me wish it was a singles match between Rude and Rhodes.

The Legend Hall of Fame inductees are introduced, Missy Hyatt tries to do some sort of accent that I think was supposed to be English, then an old-timer tries to spit that game to her as they cut away.

Sting v. The Prisoner…Who booked this shit. Sting was incredibly over, The Prisoner's offense was nothing but illegal chokes, and it sucked.

The Crusher and Ox Baker are being interviewed and after about five or six of these segments, I don't think any of the legends own a suit that isn't at least 30 years out of fashion for 1993.

Cage match between The Hollywood Blondes v. Los Hombres who are apparently Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas under masks. I looked online to see why they did this, and apparently the person they claim is Shane Douglas is really Tom Zenk because Douglas doesn't even work there anymore. Austin is bumping around like a crazy person, and I can see that he is awesome, but apparently WCW couldn't. At one point one of the Hombres hangs Austin upside down from the top of the cage and take turns body splashing him, and it is a miracle that Austin didn't break his neck years before that Owen Hart piledriver. That broken neck was probably a blessing in disguise, because he was really reckless here. Larry Zybysko even comments on how he could be one of the greats if his body holds up. It is impossible to tell the Hombres apart until Steamboat takes his mask off and hits a crossbody from the top of shaky ass cage. The Blondes get the win after a Stun gun, after a pretty fun match.

Another legend interview with Dusty, Mr. Wrestling II, and Stu Hart. Dusty cuts a 10 second promo that makes the entire building pop, Mr. Wrestling Ii talks for 15 seconds about Dusty's promo, and Stu rambles on for about 2 minutes and the crowd is asleep. Dusty is the most articulate man with a lisp of all time.

Arn v. Barry Windham for the big gold belt. Arn is somehow a credible ass kicker and a complete stooge, that is a very hard combination to pull off. Arn spends the first minute or two bumping around before slamming Windham's head into the safety barrier and busting him WIDE open. Windham's face and hair are saturated in blood, and Arn is on him like a shark. Windham makes a comeback, but Arn cuts him off with that picture perfect spinebuster. Barry and Arn put on the best match of the card so far, but I'm pretty sure they could have done better with more time.

Davey Boy Smith v. Vader for the WCW Heavyweight Championship. Davey Boy is dressed like a British Rick James with extensions and a union jack cape. Vader is with Harley and I think I'd take the two of them against any two people in the world in a bar fight…unless Haku is involved. Davey Boy no-sells some of Vader's offense, so Vader backs him in the corner and punches him in the face 25 or so times, and there is no way to no-sell that. Vader sends him out to Harley who works him over until Vader misses a splash and flips over the safety rail almost breaking a poor old woman's hip, back, legs, feet, and whatever else a 400 lb. man can break. Davey then body Slams Vader on the floor, and in case you forgot, Vader is awesome. Back in Davey catches Vader in the air and powerslams him. Vader is bumping for Davey's offense like a man half his size and the crowd loves it. Davey goes for a crucifix, and Vader squashes him like a bug with a samoan drop, and now Vader is going to get his payback and retribution. Vader goes for a superplex, but Davey reverses it into a top rope gourdbuster, and follows it with a diving headbutt. Vader hurts his chest top rope splashing Davey's face, and throws him out to Harley so he can catch a breather. Back in Davey counters a camel clutch by squatting Vader's dead weight and electric chair dropping him. Davey catches another Vader cross body and powerslams him again, Harley breaks up the count and Vader hits Davey with a chair for the DQ. Bagwell comes in for the save and gets brutalized, Scorpio tries to help him and gets thrown into the rafters, and then Sting comes down and breaks it all up.

This show was a mess, it didn't really know if it wanted to be a legends show or a contemporary show and it didn't flow very well. The opener was a fun match, but was basically at the level of something you would see on Raw every week. The legends matches were good for what they were, but they were senior citizens wrestling. The cage match was fun, but mostly because Austin and Pillman were awesome. Arn and Windham was good, but ended as soon as they really started getting going. So, I'm going to say that Vader v. Davey Boy Smith was the best match. Vader was so fucking awesome as a monster, but he was also willing to bump like a pinball when necessary.

[MGFanJay]

I haven't seen this in ages - my edited Turner Home Video version got all fucked up and couldn't get past the Arn NWA Title match after a few viewings. Damned PVT section! The main event and cage matches are well worth watching, while the HOF stuff is just kinda there. The interviews with the legends overshadowed the brief HOF ceremony, as did Mike Graham's earring and mullet.

 

The WWE Network preview for it hypes up Arn-Windham and Vader-Davey as the main events. After watching Barry and Arn against Doom, I'm far more hyped about this match because I haven't seen it in ages. My old tape of it stopped working during their match, so I haven't seen that match in full or any of the main event in at least a decade. The baseball diamond-esque logo looks so awesome for this - and while they changed it later, they kept with the baseball theme for the '98 logo. VERNE GAGNE AND NICK BOCKWINKEL ARE SIDE BY SIDE. Shame about Verne's green suit though. No part of it looks good. A guy with a high-top fade and a Sports Authority shirt is behind Larry and Tony - holy '93. Maxx Payne is out for the opener. I wonder if this'll be the full show or the Turner Home Video version. Maxx Payne's guitar playing is pretty good - he does actually seem to be playing and the giant leather jacket looks awesome. This leads to a giant caravan of oily guys bringing out a throne-ish thing. Inside, IT'S MOOLAH. Well, I have no memory of this at all so I think this must've been cut from the home video as well. Odd seeing her in WCW given that she was such a WWF fixture. 

 

Eric and his dark black hair dye are with Missy and her dark red lipstick. Missy's still looking hot here. Eric and Missy get blacked out as they talk about Sting facing THE PRISONER later, instead of Scott Norton. Zero fucks were given by the crowd. A kid with a giant dirty blonde mullet and a Batman shirt seemed happy. Missy is stumbling horribly over trying to put over Vader. Missy bounced around and offered her services as a Hollywood Babe. Eric talking about the NWA vs. AWA match with Dory vs. Bockwinkel was fun - the only time he's ever seemed remotely genuine is talking about the AWA on that WWE DVD. He clearly has a lot of respect for Verne. Eaton and Benoit are out, so they're actually using the master for the full event here and not just the home video. Bagwell and Scorpio are out. I love them hyping up Bagwell as WCW Magazine's rookie of the year since they always did it and made it a point for him for a long time. 

 

Benoit's zebra print tights are not the prettiest things ever. Benoit and Scorpio are starting out. Benoit in '93 compared to Benoit in '95 looks so different - he gained a ton of weight and looks much older facially just two years later. These two have fantastic chemistry, and I should really watch their SuperBrawl III match since I've only seen it clipped via New Blood on the Block. Scorp with an iffy flip dive over Bobby to get to Benoit - seemed like Bobby was blocking him a bit there. Double dropkicks from the faces send the heels out. Bobby's gear can best be described as a bright yellow birthday party hat. It's yellow with blue and red...things all over it. Bagwell with a backdrop to Benoit OVER THE TOP. Not a DQ. Larry says it could be due to him possibly just trying to get away and the backdrop being accidental. I like Larry putting over the young guys asking the legends for advice - it makes the plucky faces seem like they want to get better. It's an admirable trait and faces should have one. They talked about Greg Gagne and Brunzell being backstage, as are Snuka and Blackjack Mulligan. Benoit's nasty snap lariat hits Bagwell perfectly. Flying legdrop off the second rope from Benoit gets 2. Odd to have that be a transitional move when his partner's finisher is a flying legdrop off the top. Tony puts Eaton over as a WCW legend for being in the Midnight Express and being in a team with Arn as well. Snapmare into a figure four headscissors by Benoit. Everything is just so crisp. Heels cheat by holding hands! How dare the ref oppose them exchanging protein strands. Larry's talking about this event becoming a collector's item. Well, a version of it with all the matches might've been. Bagwell gets the knees up for the diving headbutt. Scorp bonks Eaton on the buckle on the outside, then kicks him in the cut while he's up on the ropes - nice spot there. Twisted splash gets 1. Tumbleweed legdrop hits Benoit and the faces win. He just smushed his face with his ass on that one. 

 

Tony talked about Col. Robert Parker debuting, and Van Hammer turning him down. Larry said that Van Hammer was RUDE for grabbing Parker and Tony agreed. VAN HAMMER'S THEME MAKES THE CUT! It is pretty awesome. His generic singlet, however, is not. He went from looking like a star in '92 with the leather getup to looking like a scrub here. You've got a guy who's all body and hide the body. Like with Ryback, it makes very little sense. Parker's off fresh from the KFC box. Parker's bringing out Van Hammer's new ride - a stretcher! Sid's back acting like a face. Maybe Hammer got his singlet from Sid. Hammer threw some bad punches before Sid hit him with one of his super-high kicks. Powerbomb. Hammer's RIP. This was beneath the Kronus squash, but perfectly fine for what it needed to be. Sid should've come in and killed someone. Of course, this does just make the face look like an idiot, but if you're going to make a face look weak, it might as well be Hammer. 

 

Eric's with Red Bastein and Bugsy McGraw. Red's stache is amazing. Bugsy looks like a more dignified version of modern day Bill Watts. Bugsy's cutting a fine promo here putting himself, his look, and Sid over! He's also burying Eric for wearing too much makeup! Bugsy McGraw rules! The first legends match is up. It's a 6-man tag with Murdoch, Snuka, and Muraco as a team! They're up against Wahoo, Mulligan, and Jim Brunzell...it really should've been Greg Gagne as his partner in this. Snuka and Brunzell start this so it isn't glacial. Wow - Brunzell and Gagne were tag champs in '75 - about 18 years before this event. Shame that Killer Bees run turned him into a joke. Murdoch's busting out the elbows to the forehead on the apron. Mulligan hits a hiptoss! Murdoch's busy punched and/or elbowing the hell out of him. "If Wahoo wrote a book, you'd have to label it science fiction.". Apparently, you could say the same about Larry's book. Muraco was apparently an underwater photographer and they hyped up Lord James Blears getting him started. I love that they're giving the AWA so much love. The company's dead, so you might as well get whatever money you can out of making it seem like a big deal. Mulligan coming in with his big Frankenstein arms out pose to do a double choke is hilarious. Dropkick from Brunzell. That tie-dyed gear is simple terrible. The yellow and white gear would've been better. FLYING HEADSCISSORS from Murdoch! I remember that spot well. Still impressive. Snuka working heel in the corner seems weird. Thump-style powerslam from Muraco AND A LEGDROP! I'm shocked he left his feet. Muraco accidentally hits Snuka on the apron! Swinging neckbreaker by Murdoch to Brunzell gets 2. Murdoch slips going up for the Calf Branding, so he just goes up and does it again. Snuka distracted the ref and led to the flying bodypress from Brunzell only getting 2. Snuka's in and they're talking about him mainly being a face and also teaming with Stevens at one point. Snuka hits a running back elbow to Muraco accidentally. Now they're brawling and they do a double schoolboy spot. Now it's just a brawl. Wahoo's chopping the hell out of Snuka and it's a no contest. Wahoo's mid-ring chop sends Snuka kneeling down, THEN FLYING OVER THE TOP ROPE. Hilarious. 

 

Missy's with the Assassin and Mad Dog Vachon. Mad Dog's voice is so gravely and awesome. Love him telling her HE'S NOT DONE-A TALKING! Jody's mask is way too ill-fitting for his face. He's got a giant double chin and the mask barely fits one of them. And now he's challenging Dusty. Oh thank God that never happened. Ivan Koloff and Baron Von Raschke are out as a team to face Thunderbolt Patterson and Bullet Bob. Bullet Bob was supposed to be his partner. Larry told a story about Mad Dog pulling a guy's eye out and stomping on it while Thunderbolt said he'd kick BOTH OF THEIR ASSES! Bob's out with a knee injury, leading to Brad coming out in street clothes. Thunderbolt's throwing some fine punches here. Nice and wacky. Bolt's in a shirt, which is best for all. Ivan's moving pretty well in there. Baron's selling is hilarious. It's hard to believe he's only 50 here - he always looked 50 no matter what. Bolt took the shirt off and Larry put over Bolt's wacky antics as beneficial for him since it makes it hard to lock up with him. Baron has absolutely no chest definition whatsoever. Love his wacky selling of being angry over a headlock failing. Larry's talking about Ivan dethroning Bruno in the Garden. Tony refers to the WWF Title as "that belt". Tony then talked about Baron being the first World TV Champion of the NWA due to all of the NWA promoters putting their TV champs in a tourney. Giant wacky punches from Bolt leads to Larry comparing him to Shemp. Big double throat thrust to Baron gets the win for Bolt. This was fun. 

 

Tony hypes up THE ORIGINAL FOUR HORSEMEN reuniting tonight. The Flair For the Gold logo is pretty awesome. Flair's got a fairly gaudy bowtie and cummerbund combo. Fifi was quite the looker. Larry's saying HI JOHN for some reason. Flair's putting over Arn being NWA Champion tonight. Arn puts over his shot, HIS ONE SHOT and he'll make it good tonight. Flair said Blanchard wouldn't show up tonight, but the show's only getting better! Flair's putting over Ole nicely. They're blaming Barry for Tully not being there saying he got in his ear - that's about as perfect a way to bring that up and tie it into the night's event as you're gonna get. Flair's putting over THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE HORSEMEN, using his jet-flying bit for him. PRETTY PAUL ROMA...more like Polite Applause Paul Roma. Roma's mullet is something else. 

 

Tony and Larry are being joined by Johnny Valentine, who can barely be heard. It's time for Bockwinkel vs. Dory after a Beach Blast hype vid. I'll always remember that show because it was on my 10th birthday. I should really watch it. Dory's out with Gene Kiniski. DORY JR HAD A BEARD AT ONE POINT. Makes him look like an older version of Terry. They're hyping up Nick with limited AWA footage, and Nick's got Verne by his side. Now that just seems wrong. Visually, Nick looks about the same as he did in the clips aside from wearing the long black tights under the maroon gear. Uppercut forearms from Dory. Lots of basic holds here. Dory's got him  in a neck crank, resulting in Verne getting on the apron to cause a distraction. Gene just about comes in the ring for...whatever reason. Nick tries to fight out of the cravate but get hit with a snapmare instead. Nice long headscissors here from Bockwinkel. The crowd is not reacting to this at all. It's a slow-paced match, but everything in it is being made to seem important. Tony's talking about Johnny Valentine bringing a fish bowl full of silver dollars to TV and offering them up to anyone who could pin him - no one ever could. Back elbow by Dory lead to the uppercuts again. A boring chant's breaking out now. Nice forearms from Bockwinkel. Larry talked about asking Nick what time it was and being told how to make a watch. Gene pulled Bock out. Bock's going for a slow build to a Boston Crab, but Dory spins out of it. Back suplex gets 1 from Dory. Armbar from Dory and then a surfboard. They've got five minutes left in the time limit. Nick manages to reverse the surfboard and butterflies the arms. This is being paced nicely because it's the longest legends match by far and they don't have the crutch of it being a tag - they've got to carry the load and make sure they can go as long as possible and look good. Snapmare gets 2 for Bockwinkel. Sleeper with about three minutes left. Headlock by Bock leads to Dory teasing a knee breaker, but Bock avoids that by cranking on the headlock. Uppercut sends Bock to the ramp. Outside-in suplex from Dory after Gene grabbed Nick's leg.  Piledriver from Dory doesn't get a count due to a rope break. Butterfly suplex from Dory leads to a Bock backslide for 2. Single leg takedown leads to the spinning toehold, then a cradle from Bock for 2. Figure four from Bock and Gene runs in...no DQ there. Dory's in the ropes. Forearm exchanges. Cradle into the ropes. Dammit, Gene hurts yet another match without actually being a main guy in it. They went 15 minutes and didn't look bad, but a draw for the lone legends singles match sucked. For goodness sake, you've got an NWA Title match on here, have the NWA guy win it.

 

Eric's with Lou Thesz, who cuts a fine promo. He always seemed so dignified. Bob Giegel's there too. Rude and Orndorff are out to face Dustin and Sasake. Sadly, no "Simply Ravishing" theme here. Matching robes for Rude and Orndorff. Rude wearing the belt over the robe rules - but Paul just holding it in front of the robe looks a bit less ridiculous. Rude's still got the small U.S. belt. Dustin's replacement theme is terrible, and a kid doing the Rude hip swivel with his shirt over his head is disturbing. Sasaki and Orndorff have pretty good chemistry. Rude-Dustin time! Dustin's in his early 20s but looks at least 30 facially. Definitely the curse of looking like his dad. To be fair though, Rude looks much older than him. Both guys run into one another's knee in the corner. Paul SLAMMING DUSTIN'S FACE IN THE GUARDRAIL would be a DQ. My how times have changed. Dustin's got little bolos on the side of his tights - looks ridiculous. A Rude piledriver is countered and leads to Rude going for a tombstone, and then Dustin countered it into one for 2. Sasaki is larating the hell out of Rude. Sasaki presses Rude up and just chucks him down. Orndorff shoves him off the top, then Rude hits the Rude Awakening and holds him down desperately to win. The cover looks wonky, but I liked it - he appeared to be struggling to hold him down, which makes sense since so little was done to hurt him outside of the neckbreaker. Hall of fame is up.

 

Tony's putting Gordon over for helping him out with his career, and he'll be doing the inductions. Gordon's getting a solid crowd reaction and is asking for it to stop so he may resume - how quaint. His listing of legends who have passed on was classy and they even had a moment of silence for them. The first inductee is Lou Thesz - there's no better person for it. Gordon put over the HOF being in the CNN complex, which I would assume would have just had replica plaques up. Gordon talking about Thesz wrestling just two years before this is kind of crazy to think about. Verne's next up and he's about as perfect a second choice as you'll get. Gordon says he was AWA World Champion 14 times, while Verne says it was 9. Verne has thankfully changed into a nice suit and not one that appears ripped from an old car. Mr. Wrestling II is up and they're showing a photo with him and Jimmy Carter. He declined the inauguration in order to avoid having to be seen without his mask. Eddie Graham's going in and will be inducted by his son. Boy is this much sadder to watch given how everything turned out with him. Mike Graham has a puffy mullet and an earring. Yikes. 

 

Missy is with John Tolos and Lord James Blears. WCW IS THE ONLY WAY TO SPELL WRESTLING. John's angling for another payday. Blears' suit is blinding. Sting-Prisoner is up next. Oh GOD! Kevin Kelly had something in the AWA, and man did he ever lose it at some point. He went from looking 20-something to looking at least 45. Prisoner's getting a giant Bossman chant. Frankenstein choke by Nailz on the ropes. Choke in the corner. Single-armed choke in the corner... BOOT CHOKE IN THE CORNER! GROUNDED CHOKE ON THE ROPE. For. Fuck's. Sake. DO SOMETHING ELSE. AN IRISH WHIP AND A BACK ELBOW! And then a choke. Okay. This is ridiculous. He finally throws some punches to...some part of Sting's face. Could've cracked an egg with one of them. Backbreaker and a 2! Kicks and back hand shots from Sting. Eye rake from Nailz. Cable choke from Nailz. His offense should in theory look credible if it's going to be so...lean in variety. Nope. It looks like shit. He's trying to hang him with the cable...well that's just a bad idea. It's impossible to think that Sting's the de facto top face and is in this nothing match. This would be a waste of a match on Worldwide, let alone a PPV. Sting hits a terrible clothesline for 2. Backdrop from Sting opens him up for a Stinger splash and...Nailz won't go down for a scorpion deathlock so he just covers for 2. Throat thrust from Naiz. MORE CHOKING. Nailz starts choking the ref, then gets hit with a flying clothesline off the top and pinned. Thank the lord above, this is over. The crowd pops and it has to just be due to it being over. Cage is going up for the tag title match. 

 

It's DA CRUSHER and Ox Baker. Crusher calls Ox a bum, and well, his suit doesn't exactly refute that claim. I love Ox taking such visible offense to that claim. Crusher's rambling about his grandkids. Ox's giant eyebrows rule. I-AAA LOVE TA HURT PEOPLE! "Ya know Crusher, yer better lookin than me - JUST NOTICED THAT!" Ox Baker is amazing. Steamboat and "Shane Douglas" are out as the Dos Hombres in the most jobberiffic gear possible. YAY THE HOLLYWOOD BLONDS THEME IS INTACT! Brian's hair is far too dark for this moniker. Some agents right out of Saved by the Bell are watching the Blondes. Steamboat chops start things off. Armbar. Tony is having so much fun with Larry out there. It's so sad that the shitty product killed his love for wrestling, because he's great here. Larry talks about having the same laces in his boots since he debuted - they're parachute cords and don't wear down. MASSIVE toss into the cage to Austin. Goddamn the smack of that. ATOMIC DROP INTO THE CAGE. Now that's a spot that needs to come back. Crazy flip bump into the cage from Austin. Larry says he retired Bruno in Shea...yeah nah. Really iffy gut shot from Zenk to Pillman. Had to be Zenk since it didn't look good and Steamboat would make sure it was solid. PRESS SLAM FROM STEAMBOAT TO PILLMAN INTO THE CAGE! Big E should be doing that at some point. Nice left arm clothesline from Steamboat. Suplex into a tree of woe on the cage. STINGER SPLASH AGAINST THE CAGE! SWEET CHRIST DID THAT NOT GO WELL. The second splash was a crossbody and Steamboat landed right on Steve's head on the way down. Nice snap on the chops and back elbow from Austin. Elbow off the second rope from Austin gets 2. Nice bit with Austin holding onto the gear to pin whoever is in there with them in their corner. Pillman uses the towel to choke the guy out, then dab his head. Just perfect. Big splash off the second rope from Pillman is met with a big boot. Big rights by Zenk. Spinebuster from Austin leads to Larry saying he'll be in the hall of fame one day. Pillman splash gets knees to the gut. Steamboat comes in and hits the double chops. Moon spot by Austin leads to an electric chair drop. Pillman gets crotched on the ropes. Ouch. Double noggin knocker. "Double coconut time" from Tony led to "yeah, that's about the size of 'em after that..." which works for either of the last spots. Alternating team cage tosses. Steamboat goes up top and takes the mask off for a crossbody block. The cage was moving way too much for my liking there. False 3 count there. Double dropkicks from the faces get a 2. Stun Gun to Zenk gets the win. Easily the best match on the show so far. Love Larry on the replay saying the crossbody was a PERFECT IMITATION OF CAPTAIN PLANET. 

 

Eric's with Stu Hart, Mr. Wrestling II, and Dusty. Dusty's answering the Assassin's challenge. HIS BIG ASS IS STANDING OUT HERE, SO COME AND GET IT BAYBEE! Mr. Wrestling II paid very little attention to the promo, and just said that whoever Dusty's after, he'll get. Stu's talking about his sons being wrestlers and his daughters all being married to wrestlers...it's amazing he lived as long as he did. He's here to support his son in law Davey for the world title tonight. Davey really felt like he should've won the title during this run since it was his first true main event run and he had some momentum. Arn's out in the thinnest Horsemen jacket in history. Barry and his gut are out with the big gold. Barry's no longer a Horseman, he's The Lone Wolf - that is an awesome moniker. Side belly to belly from Arn - I never remember him busting that out before. Nice shot from Barry to Arn. Chop from Arn leads to an iffy-looking snap DDT for 2. Love Barry yanking Arn out to the ramp to attack him. Barry's already breathing heavy and it's not even five minutes in. Double axehandle off the second rope from Arn led to him eating a nice clothesline. A guy is yelling at Arn to smack his face. Toss over the top and once again, it's not a DQ. Now it's due to him being on the apron. Just nix the rule if you're not going to enforce it. Head to the railing isn't a DQ because it's under NWA rules. Barry's busted open so his head matches his gear. Small package from Arn gets 2. Arn was not good at that move - it looks way too loose here and it had the same issue at Slamboree '95 against Alex Wright. Sleeper from Arn. Tons of blood on Barry. This match is perfectly fine, but not as good as it could've been. Arn is just not "on" here. DROPKICK FROM BARRY to Arn on the top. Nice spot there. Barry's '93 run was really iffy. He was fantastic in the '80s and early '90s, and then amazing again in '99, but the periods between that were underwhelming. Barry's head is just coated in blood. Flying lariat off the top from Barry was smooth and Arn bumped like a champ for it. Arn kicks out at 2. Nice grounded uppercut from Arn. Arn couldn't get the gorbuster, but Barry got the floatover suplex. No one ever done that as smoothly as Barry did. SPINEBUSTER FROM ARN but he can't cover - Barry rolls to the floor. They're talking about a possible blood stoppage again - I do love them referencing history to get you to think things could end one way. Barry tries to leave with the belt but Arn tosses him back. Arn threw the ref down and then got bonked with the belt and beat. Well, the finish played into the bit with Barry before and Arn costing himself the title, but man did that not get the revamped Horsemen off to a good start. 

 

They're talking about Davey getting involved in Vader's public training session and now it's world title time. They never did call the NWA Title a world title. Davey's in his Union Jack BRITISH BULLDOG gear, so I guess this is before they got legal letters. Davey is jacked to the gills here. Vader's theme rules. VHOP - Vader's House of Pain - NOW SERVING PUNISHMENT wins for the best sign. Davey has tons and tons of fringe on every part of his gear. Between that and the corn rows though, it actually kind of works as a look for him. Davey no-sells a shortarm clothesline, which works visually because damn is he ever thick. Bodyshot and the bodyblock ALSO GET NO-SOLD. Wow. During the collar and elbow tie-up, Davey looks nearly as big as Vader here.  Vader's wider, but thickness is about even. Vader is resorting to just beating the fuck out of Davey's body, head, and neck. Nice choke from Vader. It's got some intensity, unlike everything from Nailz. Bodyblock on the guardrail misses and Vader flips over into the crowd. Walking slam from Davey to Vader. DELAYED VERTICAL SUPLEX TO VADER gets a huge pop. They are hyped up for Davey tonight. Bodycheck off the top is met with a powerslam! Clothesline over the top. They are rabid for Davey. Larry's talking about being super-huge making you less limber, quick, and making it harder to have stamina...yup that's definitely all hurting Davey. A whoop there it is chant breaks out. Davey goes for a crucifix, but Vader drops into a Samoan drop. Giant leaping elbow to the thigh area. Yet another one. Vader's making everything he does count. Big Vader bomb gets 2. Vader's grabbing the hair to hit some nice hooks. Vader's going up for a splash now. Nope, Davey gets up and then Vader hits the body block. Davey's nose is busted up, and now Vader's smacking him around. Vader's superplex gets countered into a super gordbuster and then takes himself out by headbutting Vader. Davey covers and only gets 2 because he didn't hook the legs. There's another little touch they need to talk more about. Sunset flip>ass splash miss spot gets 2 for Davey. Nice right cross from Vader takes Davey down in one shot. Giant splash from Vader hits oddly, leading to him just yelling SHIT! and holding his chest. Vader hits a stiff kick from a downed position to Davey. He tosses Davey out so Harley can do some damage. Big clubs from Vader take Davey down in the corner. Ass splash from Vader hits with ease. Camel clutch from Vader leads to an electric chair drop that has Harley frozen with shock. Davey's attacking with punches and clotheslines and FINALLY gets him down. Vader went for a crossbody in the corner and Davey caught him for the powerslam and got 2 thanks to Harley getting involved. Vader grabs Larry's chair and hits Davey for a DQ. Wow. A DQ for the main event world title match finish. Bagwell gets demolished by Vader. As does Scorp. Sting comes down to make a save and hits the clothesline off the top. Davey gets the win but not the belt. Logically, this should've set up Davey getting a shot with a DQ for Vader giving Davey the title. 

 

Eric's with Magnum TA. Magnum looks basically the same here facially as he did in his wrestling days. Verne's hyping up how WCW has THE REAL WRESTLING TALENT. Yet another guy angling for a regular paycheck here - can't blame him. Larry and Verne sending the show off was something else. It was strange to see the AWA get so much love on a WCW show, but good to see. It also made perfect sense with Greg being in the company along with Eric, but the show as a whole wasn't very good. The cage match and WCW Title matches were great, but the NWA Title match underperformed and the rest of the card was nothing special. The hall of fame inductions were too low key and didn't feel very important. It was an interesting time capsule show because they just got Flair back, but he couldn't work and they were trying to bridge the past with the present and future by having the Horsemen reunite and that just didn't work out. Had Roma been say an IC-level guy in the WWF, he could've come in and worked as Tully's replacement. But as a guy in a C-level WWF tag team...yeah he was just doomed to fail.

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

Some of the biggest names in the history of the sport got the WWE Raw 2012 jobber intro to start off the show. Nick Bockwinkel looks EXACTLY THE SAME as he did during his WWE HOF induction at WM 23 (?). The crowd was dead but Larry Z was pumped. The guy was trying his best to hype this huge event, but his partner couldn't care less.The dead pan expression, rolling eyes, and the 'baseball announcer' voice made me wonder if Tony had dinner plans that night that he had to cancel at the least minute due to Jesse Ventura "being in the hospital" (is that code for something else?). I know Bischoff and Hogan but didn't have flattering things to say about Ventura in WCW, so it makes me wonder. WCW's Man Mountain Rock for some reason is playing Moolah to the ring and during all of this...the crowd is silent. Slamboree 1993 was being held in a morgue and I was preparing myself an even worse crowd that Lockdown 2012 and The WWE Slammys hosted by Dennis Miller.

 

I remember being a big fan of The Patriort and Marcus Bagwell. The tag team was ace! It's been so long since I've seen Bagwell minus 30 pounds of juice and watching this reminds me why I became a fan. Clean cut babyface who looks like he could have been a Varsity wrestler extra on Saved By The Bell! Too Cold is of course amazing and I am disappoined that I was first introduced to him when he became Flash Funk as I've always hated Funk gimmicks. This was a good first match to get the crowd to wake up. Too Cold was definitely a head of his time. Good stuff. VAN HAMMER?! This guy was in WCW in 1993 looking like a jacked up Mr. Perfect? I remember he sucked in The Flock so seeing that he was employeed way before than and that he had some experience and should have been better...makes his run with The Flock even more sucky. Brock Samson...I mean Sid Vicious came out and showed why he is the man. Always loved the guy.

 

Jimmy Snuka working a 'Legends' match in 1991 is pretty sad to see.I didn't grow up watching any fo these guys so there was no little kid in me watching this match with excitment. Don and Jimmy looked the best out there and that's not saying much. After this sad display met with symanthy claps, we go to Mad Dog who is wearing a whacky tropical skull shirt and Miss Hyatt who is dressed (and looks like) as Anna Nicole Smith's character from the Naked Gun movie. Mad Dog of course is whacky with his promo and then his friend The Assasin has something to say. Was this a real wrestling gimmick back in the day because this guy looked like a bad Chris Farley skit waiting to happen. The Fat oozing out of the holes in the mask while he cut this montone promo just depressed me even further. At this point I need more Too Cold and Sid!

 

I had no prior knowlege of Thunderbolt prior to this show, I will definitely be checking out his work in the future.

 

and then this happened...

 

 

Cheesy daytime talk show set? canned audience applause? jazz music? Yes sir! I'll take two! It's amazing that I had to order The WWE Network in order to finally see a non-bitter version of Paul Roma. Anytime this guy has popped his head out of his tent in the last 10 years its been him ranting and being super salty on everyone. Tony's headache gets worse as Valentine comes down for commentary and the old guys go to a draw. A few guys went into the Hall Of Fame without much pagentry. The next match was paint-by-the-numbers and then THE CHRISTMAS JOHNSONS came out to NO REACTION from the crowd. Even the ring announcer was confused. A nice video package would have cleared all of this up.

 

I'm going to be honest: I don't like Anderson and I don't like Windham. Watching these two did nothing for me back-in-the-day, so watching them sqaure off against each other did even less. To put this in some type of perspective- my interest level in this match was even lower than it would be for a Miz/Kofi match in current WWE.

 

I've always enjoyed pre 1995 Bulldog and pre 1997 Vader so the main event was definitely a treat. It's amazing that Bulldog just a year prior was in Wembley Stadium competing in one of the greatest SummerSlam matches of all time and now finds himself in a smoky arena no where close to a sell out. The vertical suplex by Bulldog was amazing and both him and Vader came with their working boots on. I HATED Bulldog's second WCW run, but this looks like it was aces if the Vader match servers as a base. MOTYN by-far and well worth a view.

 

Conclusion:

 

This show isn't for everyone, but it has so many hidden gems and silliness that I feel its worth a view with an accompanied rifttrax. Still a very mixed bag of awkwardness. I also can't help but to think that a Pride Grand Prix style introduction would have worked pretty well as the opener for the legends. The Slamboree concept over-the-years waned and it just became another PPV - if WCW kept the concept strong (HOF inductions, legends convention, etc.) it would have easy been the current WWE WM/HOF weekend all rolled into one. I would recommend the mainevent, THE FLAIR FOR THE GOLD segment, opening tag, and cage match* for anyone looking to catch the highlights of this show. Despite those few highlights, I have to give this show an overall 'no'.

 

* Look up the history between the two teams to get some context as I was taken back by the Christmas themed outfits and thought an 18 year old  Vince Russo won a  WCW Jr. Writer Contest and in typical WCW fashion there weras no dummy-check so some of his ideas actually went on the show!

[Ace]

For those who haven't seen them recently, Fifi and Flair are actually together these days.

 

Benoit & Eaton had some decent chemistry together. Bagwell and Scorpio had the opposite of that. Did anybody ever put Bugsy on commentary?

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

Bugsy was another one who stood out in a good way. He was one of the few that night who wasn't taking themselves too seriously. I would have loved if he was out during commentary instead of Valentine.

[Raziel]

Its odd, because the Legends stuff didn't hold up as well as I remembered (honestly, I hadn't seen this since it aired).  There's also the problem of most of the Legends they had out I've been watching in their prime when Classics On-Demand had old JCP episodes on, so seeing them working at 25% speed is depressing (athough I think the Baron never fucking ages).  That also makes me really want the Network to start running old JCP episodes again.

 

 

The "current" roster stuff was ok-good.  I remember hating the results of the two title matches, but at the time of course I didn't know they were building to bigger things.  That and I didn't fully understand builds like that.  But Anderson/Winham didn't hold up as well as I would've liked with those two with that match in a vacuum.  Vader/Bulldog was awesome.  The tag matches were there.  Orndorf wouldn't rediscover his stride until the TV Title tourny later on and subsequent team with Roma when Roma turned on Anderson, Sasaki never clicked in the US, and I agree with whoever said above that Rhodes/Rude would've been better.

 

I still feel dirty watching Benoit matches, but Scorpio landing on Benoit's head made up for it.

 

Sid squashes are always awesome.  And I fucking love that his remix of the Steiner's NJPW theme survived the editors.

 

I wouldn't really recommend though, because really, the Vader/Bulldog match is the only one that holds up really well without the WCWSN's and next couple PPV's either way for context.

[twiztor]

i'd never seen this show but thought it was decent. minus the Legends stuff, which i didn't particularly care for.

 

the Sid Vicious return/squash was glorious.

Rude, Rhodes, and Sasaki were all good in their match. Orndorff was ok but brought it down overall.

Sting vs Nailz was just weird.

the tag title steel cage match was good, but everything after the hot tag to Steamboat made it great.

Anderson/Windham was a good match, but nothing special by itself.

Vader/Bulldog was a great match. the power moves and hard hits really were a treat.

 

overall, B-.

 

 

 

edit: i agree with KidKash, i think our viewing period should be 2 weeks. one isn't quite long enough but a month is way too long.

[mco543]

I own the home video release of this event and watched it a ton as a kid (along with Slamboree '94 and Spring Stampede '94) so I really enjoyed watching the stuff that they cut out of the VHS version. I have no idea why they cut Sid/Van Hammer from the VHS release it was only 18 seconds or something so that is weird, I loved the fuck out of Bock/Dory but I really enjoy legends matches (like Bock vs Robinson from UWFi).

 

Nailz showing up was and still remains weird as fuck, especially because I don't think he ever worked another match for WCW and he overwhelmed Sting from beginning to end with his illegal tactics. Some of the legends segments felt interminable however Ox Baker's interview was awesome. Aside from hitting guys with the Gucci purse I've never ever seen Missy Hyatt do anything redeeming to justify her having such a long career on televised professional wrestling, she's an awful interview, she's irritating, and her voice is like nails on a chalkboard.

 

Overall I have to say I still really enjoy this show, every bit as much as I did as a kid. Davey/Vader, Windham/Arn, the tag title match, and Dory/Bock were great fun, I also liked seeing the other legends matches. The Rhodes/Kensuke vs Rude/Orndorff match was perfectly fine but the finish has always seemed off to me, like Kensuke had no idea that actually was the finish. The finish to the Benoit/Eaton vs Scorp/Bagwell match was brutal with Scorpio landing right on Benoit's head and Bagwell has to be the worst dancing wrestler I've ever seen.

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

It is Sunday. In about 2 hours- it will be time for the next one. So far, I think we should go in order of posting to see who chooses next. That means Brian Fowler, you are up!

[DreamBroken]

This had some pretty good/fun stuff on it, always loved the early 90s. Good opener, Scorpio is always a blast to watch. Benoit/Eaton was a cool team and the finish looked great. Seeing SID ruled, great squash from one of my all time favorites. The legends matches in the middle dragged a bit and were just kind of there though some of them looked good like Bockwinkel. Good tag as a fan of all four in Rude/Orndorff vs Sasaki/Dustin. Always enjoyed Sasaki throughout the 90s. Rude/Orndorff made a pretty badass team, loved the entrance robes. Sting/Prisoner was not good. After 5 minutes of nothing, Sting hits the finish and is out of there. Then things really picked up with the last three matches. Tag title cage match was good stuff, I liked Arn/Windham and thought the blood added to it. Main event ruled. Loved Davey Boy in the early 90s, nice to see him in a PPV main event and Vader of course delivers. Lots of great power spots and both guys brought it. Overall an enjoyable watch and a fun kickoff to the viewing club, great concept/idea.

[PetrolCB]

Moolah's entrance is absolutely something that Vince would come up with.

The team of Benoit/Eaton makes me wish we had gotten Benoit and Scorpio added into a six-man tag rematch following When Worlds Collide.

After watching Vader and Race walk out to Vader's boss theme, it made me realize that Brock/Heyman are a modern day version of that duo. I also wish that we could hurry up and invent the time machine so that we get to witness Lesnar vs '93 Vader.

Is this the event that Bret mentions in his book where Stu supposedly tore something in his knee?

[MGFanJay]

I had modern Brock face Vader in No Mercy and FPR and it absolutely ruled. It's better in FPR in a way because you can do the sick mounted elbows, but Vader's corner and standing punches look better in NM and since they at least kept MMA moves in the NM movesets, MMA/wrestler Brock turns out shockingly well.

 

 

For those who haven't seen them recently, Fifi and Flair are actually together these days.

 

Benoit & Eaton had some decent chemistry together. Bagwell and Scorpio had the opposite of that. Did anybody ever put Bugsy on commentary?

 

The absolute best part of that show, beyond Wendy and Piper's wife "writing letters" with WWE speak all over them, was this.

 

Ric Flair in disguise going grocery shopping, which then peaks with him cutting a promo on ham.

[cwoy2j]

This thread has gone two pages and no one has mentioned Captain Redneck busting out a flying headscissors?

[Zimbra]

I started watching this but fell asleep right before Anderson/Windham.  I enjoyed the legends stuff much more than I thought I would.  Murdoch potatoing the fuck out of everyone in the six-man was a real highlight.  As was elderly Baron Von Raschke looking even more like a goddamn mutant.  The legends' interviews were kind of fun, especially fat Assassin and Ox Baker.  Seeing Benoit doing some basic heel stuff was a little strange, but I liked the team with Eaton.  Bagwell and Scorpio clearly spent more time planning out their high fives than they did the match.  Bockwinkel/Funk was kind of fun as a throwback piece, and Bock's hair was glorious.

 

What's the story with Steamboat & Douglas wrestling under masks?  Also, wikipedia says it was Zenk under the mask as his partner rather than Douglas, do I believe them or the announcers?  Based on the way he moved I could definitely buy it being the Z-Man.  

[Raziel]

Douglas had quit/got fired week or two before the PPV, so they did the Masked gimmick because Steamboat and Douglas beat the Blondes non-title with them on, and it happened to be a convienent cover for no Douglas.  

 

Weither of not Douglas quit or got fired depends on who you ask.