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20 hours ago, Shartnado said:

Bret Hart called WrestleMania X a fluke. Hindsight being 20/20, was it or wasn't it? How do you feel? For the record Owen did beat Bret again later on with a count out in a tournament, I believe!

i think you could call the SummerSlam cage match a fluke just as easily as the Mania match. After all, Owen would have won except he got his foot caught!

there was a Coliseum video (Wham Bam Bodyslam!) where Owen pins Bret to win the title! of course, the decision later gets reversed due to Anvil interference. i used to have that video file around, but i had cut out the part where Bret retains. ha.

but to answer your question, i think the Hart boys were very evenly matched. If they wrestled 100 times, Bret would win around 60 of them, so it was never a sure thing. but i wouldn't call it a fluke, per se.

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Thoughts on Spring Stampede 94

This was a fantastic PPV, possibly the best in WCW history. Like the WWF's best PPV, WrestleMania X-7, it was set up to be great with perfect matchmaking. All the wrestlers had to do was go out and do their thing.

THREE GREAT BRAWLS - Vader and The Boss had a fun superheavyweight battle. Dustin Rhodes and Buckhouse Buck beat the snot out of each other in the Bunkhouse Match, and Cactus/Maxx had another plunder battle with the Nasty Boys. That is a LOT of high-quality brawling on one show.

TWO CHALLENGES - Ricky Steamboat had such success with his "I want the winner of Flair-Vader" gambit that it happened twice more on this show. Johnny B. Badd said he wanted the Austin-Muta winner for the US title, and Harley Race laid out a similar challenge on Vader's behalf to face the Sting-Rude winner for the International World title.

After he sang the national anthem, Aaron Neville just sat down with Tony & the Brain and watched the show from the best seat in the house. 

The Boss really got a raw deal. Harley Race and Vader attacked him after the match, and after Boss did a great job of fighting back, Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel took away his nightstick, handcuffs and even his name!

FOUR TITLE MATCHES - All of these matches delivered. Pillman-Regal for the TV title, Austin-Muta, Sting-Rude and of course, Flair-Steamboat. I was just smiling throughout the main event because I just love pro wrestling so much. This match did not have to take a back seat to their trilogy in 1989. I love how Steamboat was trying to win the belt from the same guy in the same town as five years earlier (I was there). Because he always brought the best out of Flair, Steamboat is the MVP.

 

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I recently watched the 1994 WCW PPVs and Clash of the Champions and they really had a hot, hot streak in spring though they completely fell over the edge of a cliff towards the end of the year (Hogan's influence was a big part, but there were also non-Hogan related issues with mindboggling booking decision, who was put on PPV and how much time some people were given - hint: way too much). So enjoy the good times while they last. ?

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Thoughts on Slamboree 94

Terry Funk is the MVP for bringing his brand of hardcore wrestling to the entire show. First, he didn't come out with the parade of legends to open the show. Why? Because he later explained that he was THE legend. He wrestled Tully Blanchard in a legends match that he turned into a crazy brawl. He increased his relevance by calling Dusty Rhodes an "egg-sucking dog" and attacking his son, Dustin. On the mic and in the ring, Funk showed one of his best qualities: he just won't go away.

Speaking of Funk, I'm sure the cameraman got in trouble for focusing on a sign that read, "The Funker Rules Philly - ECW Style"

Barry Windham got another chance to beat Ric Flair in a World title match, but he lost again. 

WCW asked fans to pay extra money to answer the question "Should Cactus Jack be banned from wrestling?" immediately before and after he won the WCW tag team title.  And if Maxx Payne was in the building to DESTROY Jerry Sags with a guitar shot, why didn't he team with Cactus to win the title after their two previous brawls?

If it weren't for Funk, Sting would be the easy MVP winner, for nobly refusing to be handed the International World title at the beginning of the show and then beating Vader for it at the end of the show.

 

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20 hours ago, Gorman said:

Thoughts on Slamboree 94

Terry Funk is the MVP for bringing his brand of hardcore wrestling to the entire show. First, he didn't come out with the parade of legends to open the show. Why? Because he later explained that he was THE legend. He wrestled Tully Blanchard in a legends match that he turned into a crazy brawl. He increased his relevance by calling Dusty Rhodes an "egg-sucking dog" and attacking his son, Dustin. On the mic and in the ring, Funk showed one of his best qualities: he just won't go away.

Speaking of Funk, I'm sure the cameraman got in trouble for focusing on a sign that read, "The Funker Rules Philly - ECW Style"

Barry Windham got another chance to beat Ric Flair in a World title match, but he lost again. 

WCW asked fans to pay extra money to answer the question "Should Cactus Jack be banned from wrestling?" immediately before and after he won the WCW tag team title.  And if Maxx Payne was in the building to DESTROY Jerry Sags with a guitar shot, why didn't he team with Cactus to win the title after their two previous brawls?

If it weren't for Funk, Sting would be the easy MVP winner, for nobly refusing to be handed the International World title at the beginning of the show and then beating Vader for it at the end of the show.

 

This is also the PPV that was supposed to have Vader vs Rude for the International World title. I'm sad we never got to witness that! After this PPV, the magic of 1994 starts to slowly fade away.

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Thoughts on Bash at the Beach 94

Eric Bischoff is the MVP. Seizing the opportunity to sign Hulk Hogan was the first of his "all in" moves to make a real challenge to the WWF rather than being content to stay in business and be No. 2. From booking the Orlando Magic basketball arena, to enlisting everyone from Shaq to Mr. T to George Foreman, Bischoff did everything he could to make "Hulk Hogan is in WCW and he's the champion" as big as possible. Bischoff only booked six matches for this show and didn't use any green talent. Ten years after Hogan won the WWF title, Bischoff rebooted Hulkamania for the benefit of anyone who still cared about it.

The post-match celebration was a preview of what was to come (Brutus Beefcake and Hacksaw Jim Duggan).

Arn Anderson turning on Dustin Rhodes was so predictable, yet so perfect. The only person who didn't see it coming was Jesse Ventura, who said, "If Arn Anderson says he'll be your partner, he'll stay by your side."

Guardian Angel couldn't catch a break again. He stole a nightstick from Harley Race, didn't use it, but still got disqualified! And if he was really a member of the Guardian Angels, shouldn't some of the other Angels have been at ringside?

 

 

 

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31 minutes ago, Gorman said:

Thoughts on Bash at the Beach 94

Eric Bischoff is the MVP. Seizing the opportunity to sign Hulk Hogan was the first of his "all in" moves to make a real challenge to the WWF rather than being content to stay in business and be No. 2. From booking the Orlando Magic basketball arena, to enlisting everyone from Shaq to Mr. T to George Foreman, Bischoff did everything he could to make "Hulk Hogan is in WCW and he's the champion" as big as possible. Bischoff only booked six matches for this show and didn't use any green talent. Ten years after Hogan won the WWF title, Bischoff rebooted Hulkamania for the benefit of anyone who still cared about it.

The post-match celebration was a preview of what was to come (Brutus Beefcake and Hacksaw Jim Duggan).

The only person who couldn't predict Arn Anderson turning on Dustin Rhodes was Jesse Ventura, who said, "If Arn Anderson agrees to be your partner, he'll stand by you."

Guardian Angel couldn't catch a break again. He stole a nightstick from Harley Race, didn't use it, but still got disqualified! And if he was really a member of the Guardian Angels, shouldn't some of the other Angels have been at ringside?

 

 

 

 

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Thoughts on Fall Brawl 94

Johnny B. Badd wins the co-MVP award for opening every PPV in 1994 to this point and finally cashing in by defeating Lord Steven Regal for the TV title.

Dave Sullivan tried to stop Kevin Sullivan and Cactus Jack from hitting each other with chairs in their loser-leave-town match. It was strange to see Kevin Sullivan come to the ring with a card-carrying Hulkamaniac like his brother.

Demolition Smash/Repo Man was dressed as a trucker and was being a nuisance in the crowd. It was lot like Doink hanging out in the crowd before he debuted.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan squashing Steve Austin to win the US title was the perfect illustration of where this company was going. Cactus Jack had been run out of town in the  previous match. It was like WCW didn't only reboot Hulkamania, but also its own audience. The idea was, "we're going for fans who are into '80s WWF nostalgia, and if we alienate our old fanbase, that's life."

Removing Meng from WarGames and replacing him with Col. Rob Parker for no reason was stupid. Of course, Dusty Rhodes and the Nasty Boys ganged up on the poor Colonel until he quit. What did that prove?

Vader spent most of the year wrestling Sting and The Guardian Angel, and on this night he beat both of them. The triangle match started with Sting winning a coin toss and sitting out. Vader beat Guardian Angel (again!) and then beat Sting in sudden death when the masked man attacked Sting. So Vader can share the MVP award.

Now what was the motivation here? The masked man is ostensibly working for Ric Flair, who is calling himself the retired real world champion after his countout win over Hogan at the Clash in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  So he helps Vader become No. 1 contender? 

Then Hogan puts his career on the line to goad Flair out of retirement for the winner-take-all match at Halloween Havoc. It wouldn't have made sense for Hogan to show up in July and get bounced out of the sport in October. Too bad that wasn't the only career on the line that night. 

Oh, and let's see how long it takes for Vader to get his title shot.

 

 

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Just finished watching the one episode that ran for a few weeks on EuroSport. Some of the promotional stuff was edited out of that one and they squeezed in two more short matches that weren't on this version. Those were Jeff Jarrett vs Scott Taylor and Bob Holly vs George South (this wasn't the same match that I saw on an earlier episode on the previous batch). I wonder where those two matches came from? It is possible that the Holly match had JR on commentary, but I'm not sure.

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Thoughts on Halloween Havoc 94

Johnny B. Badd opened his sixth PPV in a row, defending the TV title against Honky Tonk Man. It was a Little Richard impersonator vs. an Elvis impersonator. Too bad the KISS Demon wasn't around yet to referee.

Marcus Alexander Bagwell had another brief tag team title reign like he had with 2 Cold Scorpio. This time, The Patriot was his partner, and they didn't keep the belts long before losing the belts to Pretty Wonderful. 

When Dave Sullivan came out to a brand-new theme song called "I Want to Be a Hulkamaniac," it made me think Hogan's career would probably not be ending that night.

Steve Austin got a chance to regain the US title from Hacksaw Jim Duggan, but Austin got disqualified for throwing Hacksaw over the top rope. I'm sorry, but this rule made WCW look weak. You could throw someone over the top rope in the WWF, and it would be no problem. The fact that everyone got thrown over the top rope in Battlebowl or World War 3 showed that getting thrown over the top rope wasn't the end of the world.

Vader beat Guardian Angel for the fourth time on PPV in 1994. Add the Bossman's loss to Rude when he first showed up, and he really didn't have a very successful run in WCW.

With Cactus Jack out of the company, the Nasty Boys took over as WCW's most popular brawlers. They won after Jerry Sags piledrove Terry Funk onto a pumpkin.

Reason No. 258 not to be in a long-distance relationship: You might get stuck in a lengthy, uncomfortable conversation with your girlfriend while the two top stars in wrestling battle in a steel cage with the World title and both of their careers on the line. Maybe 27 years later, you might get another chance to watch the match.

The guy who dresses up as Hogan was in Detroit to see his hero retire Ric Flair. He was in Orlando at Bash at the Beach to see Hulk win the title. Maybe this made up for him watching Undertaker and Yokozuna crush the Hulkster to win the WWF title. 

Brutus Beefcake came to the ring with Jimmy Hart and Hogan, but he disappeared back to the dressing room during the match. When Sherri climbed the cage to help Flair, Jimmy Hart and Sting tried to help, but Beefcake wasn't there. A masked man came out from under the ring, and he also went to the back. After Hogan won, the masked man came out and attacked Hogan, who unmasked him as Beefcake. As Hogan tried to process his best friend turning on him, he was attacked by Kevin Sullivan and Earthquake. Bobby Heenan crying after Flair's loss was the counterpoint to his celebration when Flair won Royal Rumble 92. 

 

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10/17/83 is the Muraco/Snuka cage match.

4/25/83 has never aired before and features Backlund vs Ivan Koloff.

1/22/83 is not great - the original masters were apparently damaged and they grabbed a VHS copy of the show so the main event and the Ray Stevens match (at least) are blurry and poor quality.

 

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So, did I understand this correctly? Abe "Knuckleball" Schwarz character for Steve Lombardi was made for the sole purpose of making fun of Baseball strike of '94 as well as rather constant pitcher/catcher jokes by Vince? I have yet to see a single match by him, except that he was in that IC-title battle royal which had Razor and Rick Martel as the final two. I think his name was MVP, originally.

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Thoughts on Starrcade 94

Bobby Heenan was the only person trying to sell The Butcher as having a ghost of a chance of beating Hulk Hogan for the WCW title.  Everyone else was ready to skip to the "friend or foe?" story between Hogan and the Macho Man. Hulk was so unconcerned that he ran out to help Sting just before his own title defense. It would have been better to get Hogan-Butcher out of the way at the Clash and then have Hogan defend at Starrcade against Avalanche or you know, the No. 1 contender, Vader.

Vader is the MVP for winning the US title from Hacksaw Jim Duggan to really become the No. 1 contender. Then he barged into Hogan's dressing room and challenged him to really, really become the No. 1 contender. So with the Savage issue settled ("friend"), the only question in WCW heading into 1995 was, will Vader win the title from Hogan?

Even though he lost to German teenager Alex Wright, Jean-Paul Levesque already looked like the finished product of a WWF wrestler with his size, aggression, and snob gimmick. It's just surprising that his WCW stay was so brief.

Johnny B. Badd was announced as defending the TV title against The Honky Tonk Man, but Arn Anderson came out instead. This was a last-minute decision, because Arn and Bunkhouse Buck had already wrestled in the dark match, defeating Brad & Scott Armstrong.

Mr. T showed up for his match against Kevin Sullivan dressed as a referee who had just woken from a long winter's nap.

Sister Sherri's management of Harlem Heat got off to a rocky start on PPV. She maced her own guy and splashed her own guy off the top rope. Still, they were obviously a winning combination that would eventually capture the tag team title.

Jimmy Hart vowed that he would never turn his back on Hulkamania (or Hulk-Mania, as Michael Buffer called it). Let's remember that. Also, Bobby Heenan predicted that Hogan would eventually stab Sting in the back. Let's remember that one, too.

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On 12/22/2021 at 3:27 AM, Shartnado said:

So, did I understand this correctly? Abe "Knuckleball" Schwarz character for Steve Lombardi was made for the sole purpose of making fun of Baseball strike of '94 as well as rather constant pitcher/catcher jokes by Vince? I have yet to see a single match by him, except that he was in that IC-title battle royal which had Razor and Rick Martel as the final two. I think his name was MVP, originally.

You’ll probably never see a one fall match on the Network for Abe. Unless more 90’s syndicated, and weekend USA shows show up on there. You’ll have to look it up online.

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10 minutes ago, LoneWolf&Subs said:

You’ll probably never see a one fall match on the Network for Abe. Unless more 90’s syndicated, and weekend USA shows show up on there. You’ll have to look it up online.

I appreciate it, but I think I'll live, even if I end up not seeing any of his matches. I mean it's pretty unlikely that his style is that much different from the typical Lombardi/ Brooklyn Brawler matches, right?

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On 12/24/2021 at 2:07 PM, Shartnado said:

I appreciate it, but I think I'll live, even if I end up not seeing any of his matches. I mean it's pretty unlikely that his style is that much different from the typical Lombardi/ Brooklyn Brawler matches, right?

He’s Brawler, if Brawler took a shower, and didn’t get into a fight with a weed whacker.

I decided to randomly watch one of these 1983 shows. Are these just old 24/7 cuts of these shows? I was expecting near unedited footage.

Edited by LoneWolf&Subs
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Thoughts on SuperBrawl V

Alex Wright kept his winning streak going with a win over Paul Roma. The fans cheered Roma because they were already sick of Wright being shoved down their throats.

The Butcher went from main-eventing Starrcade to being in Kevin Sullivan's corner on the undercard. Not only that, but Kevin bashed his brother Dave into Butcher's surgically repaired face to win the match before walking off without him.

Sister Sherri accidentally hit her own man again and apparently cost Harlem Heat the tag team titles in their defense against the Nasty Boys, but they retained the belts on a Dusty finish.

Anyone who didn't recognize Blacktop Bully as Demolition Smash or Repo Man (or even Krusher Kruschev) would think Dustin Rhodes had lost to a loudmouth from the crowd. Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel wisely kicked Meng out of ringside before the match because Meng had attacked Hacksaw Jim Duggan after his win over Bunkhouse Buck. 

Randy Savage looked great teaming with Sting against Avalanche and Big Bubba. He wasn't able to keep up his late-80s form throughout his WCW run, but on this night, he flew all over the ring and earned the MVP award. 

Ric Flair only stayed away from WCW for one PPV, as he got Vader disqualified in his title match against Hulk Hogan, with Macho Man coming to Hulk's rescue. Flair's involvement with Vader was a downgrade from Harley Race, and it would get a LOT worse one month later at Uncensored.

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Thoughts on Uncensored 95

Uncensored wasn't a bad idea: continue feuds with some crazy gimmick matches. So why was Uncensored one of the worst PPVs ever? Because WCW didn't commit to the concepts, the rules, or anything else, and the show came off as being fake. That's not supposed to happen in wrestling!

KING OF THE ROAD MATCH - For about 10 seconds, this seemed like an interesting idea for a match. But then poor Tony and the Brain had to sell how dangerous it was to get hit by a bale of hay or to lose your balance when the truck turns right. Blacktop Bully won by blowing the horn, which made some sense because he had the home-field advantage. The worst thing about this match was Dustin Rhodes getting fired because the bout was somehow too extreme. So in a seven-month span, WCW gift-wrapped Mankind and Goldust to eventually land in the WWF.

MARTIAL ARTS MATCH - The only different thing about this match was the bowing at the beginning of the match. Referee Sonny Ono grabbed Hacksaw Jim Duggan's arm, and Meng superkicked him for the win. That's not supposed to happen in karate!

BOXER vs. WRESTLER MACH - When Johnny B. Badd started the match with boxing gloves, I had flashbacks to UFC 1 fighter Art Jimmerson, whose one boxing glove did not help him on that night. Badd's trainer Roc Finnegan wisely cut off one of the boxing gloves and put a bucket on Arn Anderson's head, leading to a knockout win for Badd.

NO-DISQUALIFICATION MATCH - Avalanche looked great against -- I REPEAT, NO-DISQUALIFICATION MATCH -- Randy Savage, before Ric Flair (inexplicably dressed in drag) attacked the Macho Man before Hogan returned the favor and made the save. Flair's interference caused Avalanche's disqualification in a ... oh, you know.

Big Bubba Rogers is the MVP because he wrestled in the only non-gimmick match and pinned Sting in the middle of the ring. 

TEXAS TORNADO MATCH - The Nasty Boys beat Harlem Heat in an homage to a legendary concession-stand brawl that also took place in Tupelo, Mississippi (and actually included The Honky Tonk Man). The four men and Sherri brawled in a fake concession stand with no workers, no customers and no funnel cakes in the funnel-cake stand. Bobby Heenan had to ask what a funnel cake was! The Nasty Boys won as the camera panned away during the pinfall. The announcers didn't know the match had ended.

STRAP MATCH - This must be a very dangerous match because for the second time, the World title was not on the line in a strap match involving Vader. Not only did WCW try to trick the fans into thinking The Ultimate Warrior would be in Hogan's corner, but Hulk tied the strap to Ric Flair's wrist and dragged him to all four corners to win the match. When people talk about stupid matches that don't make any sense with the shorthand "Because WCW," you can trace it back to Savage and Hogan's matches on this show.

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19 hours ago, Gorman said:

BOXER vs. WRESTLER MACH - When Johnny B. Badd started the match with boxing gloves, I had flashbacks to UFC 1 fighter Art Jimmerson, whose one boxing glove did not help him on that night. Badd's trainer Roc Finnegan wisely cut off one of the boxing gloves and put a bucket on Arn Anderson's head, leading to a knockout win for Badd.

That match is worth it for the finish. The huge pop basically proves them right to book it the way they booked it.

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On 12/27/2021 at 4:19 AM, Gorman said:

Thoughts on SuperBrawl V

Alex Wright kept his winning streak going with a win over Paul Roma. The fans cheered Roma because they were already sick of Wright being shoved down their throats.

Paul Roma was to blame here. He took 95% of the match and did a lot of flashy stuff (while leaving Wright nothing). Roma was fired for that (he worked there for another month but eventually, they let him go).

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