DVDVR WWE Network Viewing Club - Wrestlewar '90

[supremebve]

I grew up a WWF fan without cable, so I missed a lot of the classic WCW PPVs.  This one has a Midnight Express vs. Rock and Roll Express match and Flair vs. Luger so it has to be a worth a look.

[Ace]

Plus: The Wrestlewar rap and Ricky Morton hitting a spear!

[sydneybrown]

Lex Luger, The Steiners, The Nature Boy, and Sting...They'll all be doing that Wild Thing!

 

Yeah, they'll all be there, with something to prove...brimming with intentions to bust a move!

 

I couldn't even tell you what I had for lunch yesterday, and I know that bullshit rap from 24 years ago.

[MGFanJay]

I watched this during one of the megathreads on the Network. Bugsy McGraw looks no younger than 45 in the opener, and he's in his early '30s.Norman and Missy were...a thing...backstage. God, what a shit gimmick. It's weird seeing Mick so thin, and Terry Funk in a tuxedo with a giant earring in his left ear.

[cwoy2j]

I watched this during one of the megathreads on the Network. Bugsy McGraw looks no younger than 45 in the opener, and he's in his early '30s.Norman and Missy were...a thing...backstage. God, what a shit gimmick. It's weird seeing Mick so thin, and Terry Funk in a tuxedo with a giant earring in his left ear.

 

According to wikipedia Bugsy McGraw was born in 1945 so he was 45 at this ppv.

[Tromatagon]

Someone needs to tell them what doing the wild thing actually means

[Lacelle]

It was Buzz Sawyer not Bugsy McGraw.

[MGFanJay]

 

I watched this during one of the megathreads on the Network. Bugsy McGraw looks no younger than 45 in the opener, and he's in his early '30s.Norman and Missy were...a thing...backstage. God, what a shit gimmick. It's weird seeing Mick so thin, and Terry Funk in a tuxedo with a giant earring in his left ear.

 

According to wikipedia Bugsy McGraw was born in 1945 so he was 45 at this ppv.

 

I messed up - I meant Buzz Sawyer.

[cwoy2j]

Luger's "Sophie's Choice" moment at the end of this was great. Do you win the world title that you've wanted forever or do you save your friend? Also, him Hulking Up after Sting slapped him was an awesome moment.

[Irving]

IDGAF what anyone says, Luger was the shit from 88 - 90. That match did a good job of turning Luger from one of 89's biggest smug heels to one of 1990's biggest faces. 

[supremebve]

Wrestlewar '90

 

Wrestlewar rap to start and one day someone needs to do a history of hip-hop in wrestling.  I would do it, but you know I have too much to live for and that would probably lead to my suicide.  Honestly what is the best example of hip-hop in wrestling?  I think I'd go with Diddy's performance at Wrestlemania a couple of years ago when he rapped all of our least favorite parts of all his songs.  John Cena's rap career is probably a top 5 example of hip-hop in wrestling…that is just depressing.

 

Kevin Sullivan & Buzz Sawyer v. The Dynamic Dudes in a "I Miss Bald Dudes with Ponytails in Wrestling" match

 

Buzz Sawyer has about 1/4 of a mullet, he is completely bald on top, but has the MC Hammer parts on the side and a pony tail.  Sullivan has 3/4 of a mullet, he is receding in the back, but he makes up for it with a ponytail with a neon green ribbon in it.  The Dynamic Dudes have glorious bleach blond mullets, so if you are keeping track 4 dudes with 3 mullets.  Jim Ross is great on commentary, he has given each wrestler's background and is really putting over the tactics and why they are effective.  He is completely different than he was in WWE, but just as good.  Terry Funk makes a comment about why he is glad he has to retired…in 1990.  BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…Terry you kill me with your comedic stylings.  This wasn't bad, Buzz Sawyer was much better than I expected, and I'd like to see more of him.

 

Cactus Jack Manson v. Norman the Lunatic in a "Please Don't Ruin My Foley Fandom" match

 

Slim trim Foley is so strange to me.  Foley lands really awkwardly on an over the top rope bump, but it doesn't stop him from taking a huge back bump over the guard rail to the concrete floor.  He then hits a drop kick from the apron to the floor.  The fact that Foley can't walk very well is not surprising, the fact that he can walk at all is.  He made a career out of taking bumps that no one else would ever take, and it didn't matter if he was fighting Undertaker in The Hell in a Cell or fighting Norman the Lunatic on a curtain jerker.  This pretty much sucked, but Foley showed a lot of what would make him special in the future. 

 

The Midnight Express v. The Rock N Roll Express in a "I Missed Almost All of These" match

 

One of my biggest shames as a wrestling fan is my almost complete ignorance of this feud.  I mean just look at the mullets, how can I not love these guys.  Jim Cornette is wearing the same suit Michael P.S. Hayes wore at the Hall of Fame.  The Rock N Roll control early, and Cornette comically tries to help the Midnights and almost gets his ass kicked by Nick Patrick.  Cornette is such a stooge, he just knows how to get the crowd to hate his guts.  The Midnights take over and Ricky Morton is getting his ass kicked.  This is perfect old school tag team wrestling.  The faces are full of fire, and the heels are absolute technicians.  WWE needs to have a heel tag team like the Midnights who win with just pure execution with their quick tags and double teams.  Seriously, if they found two guys who could work that style, and put them with Heyman the tag division would take a huge step up.  All their best teams are faces, (The Wyatts excluded) especially with the Real American break up, an old school, technical heel team could really get the division over.

 

Chicago Street Fight: The Road Warriors v. The Skyscrapers in a "What Ever Happened to Mean Mark Callous" match

 

This was basically a set up for a Road Warriors v. Doom feud, which is great, but it didn't make the actual match good.  Mean Mark Callous is a great wrestling name, but I guess you can't argue with the career he had after he changed it.

 

US Tag title match: Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk v. The Freebirds in a "I Swear Michael Hayes is Insane" match

 

The look Michael Hayes gave the camera after he entered made me a little uncomfortable.  His strut makes me want to punch him in the face.  His wrestling makes me want to go to sleep.  Brian Pillman is the only guy in this match that I would ever want to wrestle a 20 minute match…this goes 23 minutes.  The biggest difference between WCW and WWF at this time was that WCW gave all of their matches time, and while it works with The Midnight Express and The Rock n Roll Express it doesn't work all that well with The Freebirds.  The Freebirds in a 10-15 minute match is perfectly fine, 20+ minutes is just too much.  Hayes does have a really cool cut off move where Zenk would throw him into the turnbuckle and charge in for a clothesline only to have Hayes punch him square in the face before he connects.  It is a pretty simple, but effective counter that someone should bring back.  One more thing about this match, who came up with The Z-Man?  That is about as creatively bankrupt of a wrestling name as I've ever heard. 

 

NWA World tag team titles: The Steiner Brothers v. The Andersons in a "Where the Fuck is Tully" match

 

The Steiner Brothers were one of my favorite tag teams as a kid, and Arn Anderson may very well be the best tag worker I've ever seen so hopefully this everything I hope for.  The Steiners control early leading to some of that good ol' Arn Anderson stanky legged selling.  His combo of goofy selling and vicious offense are always entertaining to me.  Scott hits Ole with a deadlift t-bone suplex after carrying him around for about 5 seconds.  He picked him up like a child showed him off to the crowd and just dumped him like the proverbial sack of shit.  It was a really impressive show of power.  The Andersons take over and are working over Scott's arm, until Arn goes for a slingshot splash.  Scott gets the tag and Rick comes in and just starts destroying people with Steinerlines.  The match ends at 16 minutes and it really seemed like it was just picking up.  Someone decided that a Freebird match needed more time than The Steiners and The Horeseman and I just don't get it.

 

Lex Luger and Ric Flair get some promo time.  I want you to guess which interview is better?  Woman (I bet her name was thought up by the same creative genius of Z-Man?) is with Flair and her hair is the opitime of 1990, she looks like she is going to senior prom.

 

NWA World title: Ric Flair v. Lex Luger

 

Luger is out first and the crowd absolutely loves him.  Flair gets a good reaction too, but Luger is clearly the fan favorite here.  1990 Ric Flair is basically everything you could ask for in a wrestler, he is just a master of every little thing.  With that said, Luger is probably at his peak here, and Flair makes his power moves look like a million bucks.  The basic story of this match is that Lex is a super human force of nature, but a rookie.  Flair on the other hand is a wily veteran who is also the dirtiest player in the game.  It is basically a contest to see if Lex can overcome all of Flair's dirty tricks to gain the World Championship.  Flair bumps around like a pinball for all of Luger's offense, but when he gets Luger hurt he is focused like a laser.  Any chance Flair can get he uses the ropes for leverage,  goes to the eyes, or distracts the ref so Woman can get a cheap shot in, because he knows that he can't match Lex strength to strength.  So Flair smartly tries to take out an arm first to stop all the power moves and then goes to the leg to set up the figure four.  Everything Flair does makes sense, but Lex is essentially superhuman and his strength eventually overwhelms Flair.  Woman interferes again and distracts Lex and the ref allowing Flair to ram Luger into the ref and Nick Patrick is out cold.  Lex hits about 78 power moves including a powerslam and a superplex before putting Flair into the torture rack, but the ref is still out.  The ref recovers just in time to see the Horseman come out to attack the injured Sting, and Lex comes out to make the save.  The ref counts Luger out and Flair is still World Champion.  This was awesome, Flair was so fucking good at this point, and Luger was no slouch.  Everything just clicked, and the only real fault I have with it was the count out finish.

[DreamBroken]

Lots of great tag team wrestling on this show. Pretty good opener, Great stuff from the Rock n Rolls/Midnights, fun Road Warriors beating, really liked the Freebirds vs Pillman & Zenk, surprised that one got the most time and Steiners/Andersons was good as well. Always love the Flair/Luger matches, one of my all time favorite pairings. The GAB 88 match is a long time favorite of mine and loved their Starrcade match too, this was another great match of their series. Wish Luger would've gotten the title at some point in the feud, always a big fan of his.

[Marty Sugar]

Any show that opens with Buzz Sawyer is okay in my book. Seeing Shane Douglas as a happy babyface, when the majority of his career he was a miserable prick...it's amusing. Opening tag was fun.

 

Cactus Jack is practically SKINNY in 1990.  And you can hardly tell that ROOS are sponsoring this show, by this point. Barely even mentioned by JR.

 

And then my internet crapped out last night. More to come...

[odessasteps]

They'e got pockets.