Earlier today, reader Ben W. and I were reminiscing about the time preliminary wrestler Kenny Kaos was suddenly given one half of the Tag Team Titles by Rick Steiner on an episode of Nitro. I liked thinking about it so much that I decided to watch that very show when it happened. So strap up and hold on tight, as we review the October 26, 1998 version of WCW Monday Nitro.
We start with dancing from the Nitro Girls and some fireworks. The usual gang of idiots are here, but before the show starts, Tony Schiavone has some bidness to take care of. See, the night before was WCW Halloween Havoc, and due to the fact that they went 20 minutes over schedule, some people did not get to see the conclusion of the show, which was the conclusion to that God-awful Hogan-Warrior match and the entire main event between Diamond Dallas Page and WCW Champion Goldberg. So, out of the kindness of their hearts, WCW has decided to air the entire main event unedited during the broadcast. According to Schiavone, the competition is claiming that this is a ratings ploy, but to prove those bastards wrong, the match will air at 9:00 eastern at the beginning of the second hour. Oddly enough, that's when the competition is supposed to start their show. Coincidence? Larry Zybszko says that technology is not perfect and if you think this is bad "wait until the KY2 bug hits in the year 2000". That sounds awful, thank goodness that didn't happen.
DANGER! HIGH VOLTAGE! Out comes Kaos to no reaction. He faces off against Stevie Ray of the nWo, who the announcers decry for having the gall to refer to himself as the "enforcer" of the nWo. Hey, that's Arn Anderson's name, come up with something else. Ray beats up Kaos both inside and outside the ring, and says something incoherent into the camera. Kaos comes back with a springboard clothesline, which brings out Buff Bagwell. Bagwell throws Stevie Ray his slapjack and distracts the referee long enough for Stevie to nail Kaos with it. Stevie than hits his finisher, also known as the slapjack (double underhook facebuster). How odd. Ray gets the three and the nWo puts the boots to Kaos. That brings out Rick Steiner with a T-shirt underneath his singlet to chase them off. Rick grabs a mic and says, hey Kaos, mind being my partner in defending the tag titles tonight? Kaos, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, accepts. Of all the people Steiner could have chosen, he chose a guy that already got beat down by the nWo and hasn't won a match in about two years unless its against Lodi or somebody like that. Now the fans are treated to two Kaos matches in one night. That will bring in the ratings.
Next is the late, great Kanyon taking on the still living but merely average Prince Iaukea. Kanyon asks the crowd, "Who's better than Kanyon?" which gets a lot of responses but not the one Kanyon was looking for, so he kicks Iaukea in the gut and starts the match in anger. Kanyon is on offense for most of the match, but Iaukea gets a couple of moves in, including a backdrop out of an attempted piledriver on the stairs by Kanyon and a springboard senton on a standing Kanyon. Of course, the announcers are too busy talking about how Rick Steiner won the Tag Team titles last night against three men by himself. Kanyon could have taken a leak in the middle of the ring and they'd still be talking about Rick Steiner or the great decision made to air the DDP-Goldberg match on this show. Kanyon counters a backslide into the Flatliner, and pins his opponent for the three count. He then proclaims himself the King of the World, a la Leo DiCaprio in Titanic. Decent enough match, although not enough time was given to make it worthwhile.
The Nitro Girls are dancing around the announce table, which causes Tony and Mike Tenay to react like they've never seen a woman before. Gene Okerlund is in the ring, and he introduces the Four Horseman, which causes Tony to yell in the mic in approval. There's no Mongo McMichael here for some reason, but Ric Flair assures us that he'll be here later. Well, let's hope not. Flair goes on about how Eric Bischoff will fail in his attempts to block him from wrestling, which brings out a rather pale looking Bischoff. Bischoff says that he's made a mistake, that he's underestimated the fans love of Ric Flair and that we will see Ric Flair wrestle tonight. Flair says Hell yeah, bring out anybody and he'll take them on. The announcers are optimistic but cautious of Bischoff's true intentions.
There's a video shown of this week's winning Nitro Party, with a bunch of dumb wannabe frat boys acting like Konnan and Bagwell while watching Nitro. Stills are shown of last night's Kevin Nash vs. Scott Hall match, where Nash just walked away after powerbombing Hall twice. We go to the entrance ramp, where Alex Wright comes out to face Barry Horowitz. The announcers spend most of the match talking about what nice guys they are for showing last night's PPV Main Event. Wright, to the surprise of absolutely no one, is in control most of the match, although Horowitz counters a top rope dive from Wright. Horowitz does his patented pat on the back, before messing up his own top rope move. Wright hits the Rude Awakening on Horowitz and gets the victory. He then celebrates by doing his stupid dance. Match was short and not that great.
Lee Marshall announces the location of next week's Nitro, which I don't care enough to remember, and then we get a recap of last night's Hogan-Warrior match, which I believe was named the worst match of the year. The announcers have decided that the match was too graphic to show on the air even though some people didn't see the ending. It also sucked on ice. Anyway, Horace Hogan helped his uncle win a week after his uncle brained him with a steel chair, leaving 11 stitches on Horace's head.
Sick Boy comes out to be squashed by Wrath, who actually gets quite a good reaction from the fans. Sick Boy gets almost no offense in, and Wrath gets to show off his skills, including a slingshot shoulderblock and a bunch of power moves. Wrath sets up Sick Boy for the Meltdown (pumphandle slam), which gets a HUGE reaction from the fans. Wrath gives the fans what they want and gets the victory to the delight of the crowd. Match was a squash, but man these people were really digging Wrath at this time. Too bad he had to rug pulled out from under him a few weeks later.
The announcers remind us that Ric Flair will wrestle and that now is finally the time to show the Page-Goldberg match. Michael Buffer does the ring announcing for this match, noting that Page is from the Jersey Shore by way of the school of Hard Knocks, just like The Situation. Page comes through the crowd, while Goldberg comes out accompanying by a 10 man security force for reasons that are unknown to me even to this day. Match starts, and each man can't get an advantage, although it's clear that Goldberg is the superior athlete. Goldberg does a backflip to counter a Page leg sweep, which impresses everybody. For the first few minutes, Goldberg seems to be targeting the arm of Page, presumably to prevent him from using the Diamond Cutter. Goldberg retains control until Page does a headscissors out of a power slam attempt. Didn't think Page could do that move. Goldberg side kicks Page in the chest, backing him into the corner. He then goes for the spear, but Page moves and Goldberg slams his shoulders into the ring post. Goldberg's hurt his arm, which allows Page to hit a flying clothesline and then counter a spinebuster into a tornado DDT. Page calls for the Diamond Cutter, but Goldberg has none of that and spears Page to the ground. But it's with his bum shoulder. The two slowly get up, and Goldberg goes for the Jackhammer, but hasn't the strength to do it. He finally gets Page up, but Page counters with the Diamond Cutter! The crowd explodes after that, but Page doesn't have enough energy to make the cover. Page finally gets the cover, but only gets a two count. Page then tries a suplex, but unfortunately for him Goldberg is able to counter and use the Jackhammer on Page. Goldberg gets the win in what was his best match to date at this point, and may be the best match of his career. Great match, I would recommend it to anyone if you want to see good wrestling.
Now back to the crap. Gene catches up with Kevin Nash in his dressing room, which has two couches and a bathroom for some reason. Gene asks Nash why he didn't pin Scott Hall, but wait a minute, Hall is in the room as well. What's going on? Nash just wants his friend back, and Hall admits that last night he "hit a wall" and realized some things. Just when you think the two will become friends again, The Giant sneaks in and beats Nash up. Hall joins in, and eventually they pick up Nash and throw him through a wall. I guess Nash was the one that hit the wall after all.
A video of the Nitro Girls is shown, before we go back live to see the Nitro Girls dance. That was unnecessary, but I don't mind. The nWo Hollywood contingent comes out, with new member Horace Hogan. Somebody forgets to turn up the mic, so Bischoff repeats this stupid line three times: "Life is good when you're with Hollywood". Hulk Hogan gets the mic, says that when you wear the black and white you do it for life and that in order to do so, you must prove your loyalty by stabbing yourself in the heart in the name of Hollywood. The hell? Which brings us to Horace, as he "passed the test" last night and is given the nWo T-shirt and a nWo weightbelt. Hulk calls Horace the "most important, most valuable member of nWo Hollywood". It must be opposite day for the nWo. Strange promo.
Zbyszko is replaced by Bobby Heenan, and Tony wastes no time in expressing his displeasure about it. Watching these old Nitros is somewhat interesting now just because of the thinly-veiled comments both Tony and Bobby have for each other, as you can really feel the hatred between the two. Try watching a Nitro from say, 97 onward, and you'll be able to pick up on that rather easily. Anyway, Perry Saturn comes out, with a new vest that looks, um, interesting. He is followed by Eddy Guerrero who was the leader of the lWo at this time. This should be a good match, but Eddy at this point was burnt out, so we shall see. Saturn uses an overhead belly-to-belly early on, but Guerrero gains the advantage after dropkicking Saturn's knee. Guerrero then continues the attack on the leg. Guerrero does his trademark slingshot somersault, this time on Saturn's knee. After a few more moves, Saturn is able to gain the advantage after turning a tornado DDT into a Northern Lights suplex. From there, Saturn starts throwing around Eddy with his T-Bone suplex and a Falcon Arrow, which of course the announcers don't know the name of. Saturn signals for the DVD, which brings out lWo members Damian 666 and Hector Garza. Saturn has little problem fighting them off, overhead belly-to-belly suplexing both of them quite nicely. This brings out the rest of the lWo, including a guy who nobody knows. The unknown man, who btw is Eddy's close personal friend Art Flores, uses a sweet brainbuster on Saturn, setting him up for a frog splash by Eddy. The lWo celebrates the beatdown of Saturn. Decent match, could of been better if given more time, but what can you do.
Gene-O is at the entrance ramp, he brings out Judy Bagwell. The crowd is on the edge of their seats with anticipation over what Buff's mom will say. Judy is tired of Buff's actions, and says that he has disgraced the Bagwell name. Brother Jeff is pissed at Buff, I am sure. Mrs. Bagwell goes on to say that she loves Marcus with all of her heart, but she's had enough of Buff. Me too, and he's only been on the show for a minute thus far.
The Giant and Stevie Ray come out representing the nWo against the newly-minted tag team Champions Rick Steiner and Kenny Kaos. Just because Kaos has to wrestle twice doesn't make it okay to subject us to two Stevie Ray matches in one night. Where's Bryan Adams when you need him? Predictably, the nWo beats up Kaos something fierce, or as fierce as the 550 pound Giant can at this point. To call him unmotivated is an understatement. Rick gets tagged in, hits a Steinerline for what looked like a three count but was only two, but the nWo take over again. Double team coming, but Kaos distracts the Giant, allowing Steiner to backdrop Stevie Ray. Steiner then hits a dangerous looking bulldog off the top on Stevie Ray and the champs retain. Good for them, although things would get worse once Steiner decided to make Judy Bagwell a tag team champion a few weeks later. Match was awful, however it was short at least.
Fireworks go off to signify the third hour of Nitro and to wake up the crowd after that last match. Eric Bischoff has replaced Tenay on commentary, which is a lateral move as far as I'm concerned. Bischoff says that he is a man of his word and we will see Flair wrestle, and he delivers, sort of. Instead of a live match, we get clips from Flair vs. Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach 1994, with all of the clips shown to make Flair look bad against the Hulkster. Well, technically, Bischoff didn't lie, but it's still crap. Mr. T and Shaquille O'Neal were there at ringside and Hogan wins with a legdrop and celebrates with the two. Bischoff says that this just shows that Flair will always be second best to the Hulkster. He asks the announcers how Flair looked, and Heenan says not too good, which causes Tony to scream at him. I bet Heenan just wanted to pop Schiavone on many days.
The Cruiserweight Title is on the line in this next match, as Juventud Guerrera takes on the champion, Billy Kidman, whose normally white shirt is now an ugly shade of gray. Wash your shirt, Kidman. This match was quite fun, as they start out fast and just pick up speed from there. A lot of two counts and great looking manuevers by these two wrestlers packed into six minutes. The end comes after Juvi learns you can't power bomb Kidman, as he counters with a Tiger Bomb, setting him up for a Shooting Star Press, which he landed perfectly for once. Kidman gets the win and the crowd shows its appreciation. Back to the announce table, where a Sting and Macho Man video are both plugged. Heenan tries to steal one of the videos, but Tony catches him in the act.
The nWo music plays for the 293rd time tonight, and this time Scott Steiner and son of Judy Bagwell come out. Steiner asks if the ladies love him for his mind or his body, and to that I say what mind? Bagwell is angry at his mother, and says that women belong at home cooking and cleaning. Buff than implores his dad to put Judy back in her place. So now Buff hates all women? Steiner than calls out J.J. Dillon to set up a match between him and his brother. Dillon comes out, says something about it being late in the show so you can't have your rematch. Steiner then says that he's an honest man but he has lied. Okay. Instead, Steiner has two questions for Dillon. One, why did the referee that started the match last night didn't finish the match, and two, well we never get that far as Dillon gets beaten up for failing to answer the first one correctly. Security tries to break it up, but Scott puts Dillon in the Steiner Recliner while Buff runs interference.
The Warrior's music plays, which the announcers act like they've never heard before even though the dude's been in the company for three months by now. Warrior gets a pretty good reaction from the crowd, and then proceed es to speak about how Hogan is a chicken or something. Warrior proceeds to drop an S-bomb during the interview. I don't think you can do that. He says Hogan has opened the door to Warrior's hell, and that he is the gatekeeper. Well good for you Warrior. Hogan comes out, followed quickly by Horace and Bischoff, and not so quickly by The Giant. Horace attacks first but gets clotheslined out of the ring for his trouble. The Giant comes in, but sufferes the same fate, but that allows Hogan to clubber on Warrior from behind. Warrior recovers, delivers a flying shoulder tackle to Hogan, and the Warrior stands tall in the ring. He wouldn't be in WCW much longer after this, however.
There's a commercial for WCW Bashin' Brawlers that is shown. Hey, I used to have some of those. They would scream out whenever you put pressure on a body part, for example, if you twist their arm, they would say "OW, you're hurting my left arm" They only made one for the big names, like Page, Savage, and Hogan. If only they made one for Van Hammer. The nWo music plays yet again, bringing out Scotts Hall and Steiner. Lex Luger and Konnan come out, and we have a tag match that quickly degenerates into an all-out brawl. Luger squares off with Hall while Steiner and Konnan fight. It's interesting that whenever one pair goes to the outside, the other pair go back to the inside of the ring. Well, maybe not interesting. Eventually, Luger hits Hall with the bionic forearm and signals for the Torture Rack, but Steiner comes to stop that with a low blow. Konnan brings a steel chair, and crushes Steiner on the head with it. Luger than jabs Hall with the chair. The two teams keep fighting until commercial, and the match is eventually declared a no-contest. Meh.
Michael Buffer is here to announce the main event, a match for the U.S. Title between DDP and the Champion Bret Hart. Buffer gets Hart's name right this time, something he has struggled with before. The two trade moves for a while, and it's a good back-and-forth affair between the two. Hart starts to take control after a Russian Leg Sweep and a DDT on DDP, which the announcers seemed to find funny. Hart gets a two after the DDT, and starts freaking out on Mickey Jay, which gives Page the opening to hit the Cactus Jack clothesline and a pancake. Page goes up top, but Hart catches him and superplexs his foe down to the mat. Only two, Page small packages Hart for two, but the Hitman regains control with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Flying elbow off the second rope by Hart, but Page gets out at two, which causes Hart to call Mickey Jay's mother a whore or something. Page takes Hart down with a Fujiwara armbar, but instead of holding on, he just lets go. That was awkward. Page gets Hart in the corner, bashes his head into the turnbuckle, but Hart manages to mule-kick both Page and the ref in the jewels. Hart digs out some knucks, revives the ref, but Page suddenly catches him with the Diamond Cutter. On this night, that would be enough, and we have a new U.S. Champion. This does not please Hart, as he gets a chair and starts attacking Page's leg with it. He puts DDP in the sharpshooter, which cause Page to scream in agony. Hart eventually tires of that, and goes back to bashing Page's leg with the chair before Goldberg comes out just as the show was ending. Good match, not great, but good.
Overall, this show was made a lot better due to the airing of Page-Goldberg, but even so it was still just an average show. At least there were two good matches in the final hour in Kidman-Juvi and Hart-Page, but all the nWo stuff was either boring or just plain dumb. I'll give this show an overall score of 4.89 out of 10. Tomorrow at The Canon Review, we pay tribute to Kenny Kaos, for no good reason whatsoever. But until then, if you have any better ideas for reviews, than send them to me either by leaving a comment or by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. Here's some videos from this episode of Nitro.
Showing posts with label DDP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DDP. Show all posts
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Wrestlemania One Match Wonders (Part 1)
First of all, I once again apologize for my lack of activity yesterday, as frankly I was too tired and had a hard time coming up with something to post about. However, I'm going to try and make it up to you over the next couple of days. How, I don't know, but I'll think of something, by God.
Anyway, tomorrow is the 26th Wrestlemania, the WWE's biggest card of the year, where legends are made and all of that crap. Normally, I usually don't watch Wrestlemania, and this year will be no exception, as I don't have 55 dollars to pay for it and besides, The Amazing Race is on. However, I did want to write about something relating to the big show (not that Big Show) and my first plan was to review each Wrestlemania main event 1-25. I changed my mind once I realized that I would have to see that horrid Sid Undertaker match from Wrestlemania 13 again, and frankly, I just did not want to subject myself to that again. So I came up with another idea, to watch and review a few Wrestlemania matches in which one of the participants made their only Wrestlemania appearance. So today, that's what I'll be doing. Let's get this party started.
Match 1: Christian vs. Diamond Dallas Page (c), European Title Match, Wrestlemania 18
This would be Page's first and only appearance at Wrestlemania, as he left the WWE a month after this match. Christian is announced as being from Tampa, FL, in spite of the fact that the match is taking place in his hometown of Toronto. Guess we know who the heel is. Page comes out to a decent response. This takes place during DDP's motivational speaker gimmick, which by this point was starting to get over a little bit. These guys did not have a lot of time, so most of the match is power moves and a quick foray to the outside for some brawling action. At one point, Christian was on the top rope, when Page climbed to the second rope and performed a diving overhead throw, with DDP flopping face first on the mat. Don't see that too often. Page used a discus clothesline, which Jim Ross called a "almost a discus like ...punch ... clothesline". Page hit a nice looking sitdown powerbomb on Christian that nearly got a three count. At the end, both men tried for their finishers, but Page won out in the end, hitting the Diamond Cutter for the three count. Afterwards, Page praised Christian for not throwing a temper tantrum in spite of losing in front of 67,000 people. Predictably, Christian threw a tantrum. Match was decent, even though it was only six minutes. I'll give it a 2.5 out of 5.
Match 2: The Orient Express (Sato & Tanaka) vs. The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty), Wrestlemania 6
This would be one of these teams' only Wrestlemania match, try to guess which one. This is the inferior version of the Orient Express, as the second team with Paul Diamond and Tanaka was much better. Then again, Sato is actually orient, so it makes more sense than putting a Canadian under a mask and present him as Japanese. This match is rather average, as the Rockers didn't seem terribly interested in the proceedings amd the Orient Express were just an average team at best. Tanaka hit a crazy looking move where he started with his back towards Michaels as he was coming off the ropes, than did a twisting jump and used his palms to knock Michaels down. Michaels and Tanaka were in for most of the match, with Jannetty getting the hot tag towards the end. The Rockers hit a terrible looking double dropkick (mainly Jannetty's fault) and also messed up their double superkick spot early in the match. The end came after Mr. Fuji distracted Jannetty. Jannetty gave chase, only to get salt in the eye from Sato. Jannetty then stumbles around and even trips over the guardrail. The match ends in a countout, with the win going to the Orient Express. Decent match, but these two teams had better matches than this, whether with Sato or Diamond. I'll give this a 2.1 out of 5.
Match 3: Adam Bomb vs. Earthquake, Wrestlemania 10
The match starts with Harvey Wippleman (Adam Bomb's manager) arguing with ring announcer Howard Finkel, who for reasons I won't get into, is wearing a toupee. Wippleman insults him, until Finkel finally has enough and shoves his antagonist to the ground. This brings out the Bomb, who threatens Finkel until Earthquake comes out to start the match. Earthquake hits a belly to belly suplex and a powerslam, before finishing off Adam Bomb with his finisher "the big one". Earthquake gets the win, and poor Adam Bomb's one Wrestlemania appearance lasted 30 seconds. Tough break.
I'm getting tired, so I think I will finish this tomorrow. So stay tuned for part 2 of The Canon Review's tribute to Wrestlemania's One Match Wonders. Thanks for reading, and if you have a match fitting this category that you would like to see me review, than leave a comment before Sunday afternoon at about 1 o'clock. Or if you have any ideas for future reviews, than let me know by leaving a comment or by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. Here's a video of one of the reviewed matches right here.
Anyway, tomorrow is the 26th Wrestlemania, the WWE's biggest card of the year, where legends are made and all of that crap. Normally, I usually don't watch Wrestlemania, and this year will be no exception, as I don't have 55 dollars to pay for it and besides, The Amazing Race is on. However, I did want to write about something relating to the big show (not that Big Show) and my first plan was to review each Wrestlemania main event 1-25. I changed my mind once I realized that I would have to see that horrid Sid Undertaker match from Wrestlemania 13 again, and frankly, I just did not want to subject myself to that again. So I came up with another idea, to watch and review a few Wrestlemania matches in which one of the participants made their only Wrestlemania appearance. So today, that's what I'll be doing. Let's get this party started.
Match 1: Christian vs. Diamond Dallas Page (c), European Title Match, Wrestlemania 18
This would be Page's first and only appearance at Wrestlemania, as he left the WWE a month after this match. Christian is announced as being from Tampa, FL, in spite of the fact that the match is taking place in his hometown of Toronto. Guess we know who the heel is. Page comes out to a decent response. This takes place during DDP's motivational speaker gimmick, which by this point was starting to get over a little bit. These guys did not have a lot of time, so most of the match is power moves and a quick foray to the outside for some brawling action. At one point, Christian was on the top rope, when Page climbed to the second rope and performed a diving overhead throw, with DDP flopping face first on the mat. Don't see that too often. Page used a discus clothesline, which Jim Ross called a "almost a discus like ...punch ... clothesline". Page hit a nice looking sitdown powerbomb on Christian that nearly got a three count. At the end, both men tried for their finishers, but Page won out in the end, hitting the Diamond Cutter for the three count. Afterwards, Page praised Christian for not throwing a temper tantrum in spite of losing in front of 67,000 people. Predictably, Christian threw a tantrum. Match was decent, even though it was only six minutes. I'll give it a 2.5 out of 5.
Match 2: The Orient Express (Sato & Tanaka) vs. The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty), Wrestlemania 6
This would be one of these teams' only Wrestlemania match, try to guess which one. This is the inferior version of the Orient Express, as the second team with Paul Diamond and Tanaka was much better. Then again, Sato is actually orient, so it makes more sense than putting a Canadian under a mask and present him as Japanese. This match is rather average, as the Rockers didn't seem terribly interested in the proceedings amd the Orient Express were just an average team at best. Tanaka hit a crazy looking move where he started with his back towards Michaels as he was coming off the ropes, than did a twisting jump and used his palms to knock Michaels down. Michaels and Tanaka were in for most of the match, with Jannetty getting the hot tag towards the end. The Rockers hit a terrible looking double dropkick (mainly Jannetty's fault) and also messed up their double superkick spot early in the match. The end came after Mr. Fuji distracted Jannetty. Jannetty gave chase, only to get salt in the eye from Sato. Jannetty then stumbles around and even trips over the guardrail. The match ends in a countout, with the win going to the Orient Express. Decent match, but these two teams had better matches than this, whether with Sato or Diamond. I'll give this a 2.1 out of 5.
Match 3: Adam Bomb vs. Earthquake, Wrestlemania 10
The match starts with Harvey Wippleman (Adam Bomb's manager) arguing with ring announcer Howard Finkel, who for reasons I won't get into, is wearing a toupee. Wippleman insults him, until Finkel finally has enough and shoves his antagonist to the ground. This brings out the Bomb, who threatens Finkel until Earthquake comes out to start the match. Earthquake hits a belly to belly suplex and a powerslam, before finishing off Adam Bomb with his finisher "the big one". Earthquake gets the win, and poor Adam Bomb's one Wrestlemania appearance lasted 30 seconds. Tough break.
I'm getting tired, so I think I will finish this tomorrow. So stay tuned for part 2 of The Canon Review's tribute to Wrestlemania's One Match Wonders. Thanks for reading, and if you have a match fitting this category that you would like to see me review, than leave a comment before Sunday afternoon at about 1 o'clock. Or if you have any ideas for future reviews, than let me know by leaving a comment or by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. Here's a video of one of the reviewed matches right here.
Friday, March 5, 2010
WCW Road Wild: August 8, 1998
WCW Road Wild 98 took me about five hours to watch, for various reasons. Some of which were beyond my control, others were because I felt like doing something else for a few minutes. But by golly, I did watch the whole show, and it was quite a show indeed. WCW Road Wild was held in Sturgis, South Dakota during the world famous Sturgis Bike Rally. Admission was free, and many fans could just ride in on their Harleys and sit on their bikes the whole show. The whole thing was an excuse for Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan to ride their motorcycles and attend the bike rally. Seriously, they held a wrestling card, charging nothing for tickets, just so they could be big shots at a motorcycle rally, yet people still wonder why WCW could fail. Maybe because of bonehead decisions like this. To their credit, it was a pay-per-view event, so it wasn't a total loss, I guess. Anyway, Road Wild 98 featured the one and only wrestling match of Jay Leno, who team with Diamond Dallas Page against Hogan and Bischoff in the main event. At least Leno is a much bigger name than future WCW Champion David Arquette, so that's something. On with the show.
Meng vs. Barbarian (w/ Jimmy Hart)
Our hosts for the evening are Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, and Bobby Heenan. Schiavone tries to look cool in a leather jacket, but fails. Tenay is wearing a denim jacket over a denim shirt. He couldn't have look more like a sex offender if he tried. Heenan is probably drunk. Our first match is between the Barbarian and Meng, in a battle to determine who is the best face of fear. Barbarian comes out with Jimmy Hart. This match had a lot of headbutts and chops. Barbarian did a swank belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope. Meng gets out at two, Meng hits a powerslam, but only gets a two. Jimmy Hart keeps climbing on the ring apron, and nobody ever reacts to it. Finish comes after Barbarian calls for a kick of fear, but Meng instead gets the Tongan Death Grip for the pin. Jimmy Hart and Hugh Morrus come in to beat on Meng. Hart dives off the top onto Meng with the worst body splash in the year of 1998, and Morrus grazes Meng with a moonsault. Jim Duggan (huh?) comes in for the save, and chases off everyone with his wood. Meng doesn't even thank Duggan for his assistance, the jerk. Best match of the night, and by that I mean it was the best match of the night so far.
Disco Inferno and Alex Wright (w/ Magnum Tokyo) vs. Public Enemy
Disco gets a few cheers, which is surprising because he's wrestling in front of a bunch of macho bikers. The crowd doesn't care for Wright, however. The announcers claim that Public Enemy will be fan favorites, because hey, who doesn't like a couple of fat white guys pretending to be black more than bikers. I am proven wrong, as TPE gets a nice reaction. The teams start out wrestling, and Disco and Alex dance a lot. At one point Wright hit a missile dropkick on Grunge for a two count, and the crowd couldn't care less. For some reason, Tokyo gets a trash can and Wright nails Rocco Rock in the back. Surely that's a disqualification, right? Nope, referee Mark Curtis changes it to an impromptu street fight. The result is what one would think a hardcore match involving Disco Inferno and Alex Wright would be, dumb. I think this match set a record for most times somebody got hit in the back with a trash can. At one point, Wright walks off because Magnum accidentally hit him, then Magnum leaves, leaving Disco alone. Public Enemy sets up three tables on top of each other outside the ring, and pulls Disco up a ladder so they can set on the stack. Rocco climbs up a lighting rig, and drops an elbow on Disco through the three tables. Grunge has the drag him back in for the count. He covers Disco, but Magnum tries to break up the cover with a top rope splash, Grunge moves, Tokyo splashes Disco, and then Grunge gets the three count. Why they added that in the match, I don't know. This match was 15 minutes long and felt like an hour.
Match 3: Raven vs. Saturn vs. Kanyon (Raven's Rules, Falls Count Anywhere in Sturgis)
This match is to determine the superior single named wrestler whose name in with an n. Actually, Saturn hates Raven, Kanyon hates Saturn but supposedly is in cahoots with Raven. Raven tells Kanyon to get Saturn, but changes his mind a minute later and posts Kanyon. The first couple of minutes mainly consist of Kanyon and Saturn wrestling while Raven sits in the corner. Well, the other two wrestlers eventually have enough of this, so Kanyon dropkicks Raven in his junk. The two then team up on Raven. I mark out for the Total Elimination (finisher of Saturn's ECW Tag Team, The Eliminators), but nobody else seems to care. Raven kicks out at two just to further frustrate me. I don't care if the match is over 10 years old, I'm still angry about it. Eventually they go to the outside. There's some piledrivers and suplexes on the stage, but it seems as if everyone's just going through the motions. Heenan wishes an 18-wheeler with no breaks would come down the ramp. I guess Heenan's not a fan of any of these guys. They get back to the inside, Saturn gets a sleeper hold on Raven, Kanyon puts Saturn in the sleeper as well, but Raven counters with a jawbreaker, sending everyone down. They also do a stack superplex spot as well, but nobody seems to give a crap. Heenan says he wishes he was in the match so he could "give up and end it". Kanyon and Raven fight on the outside, Kanyon suplexes Raven, climbs up another lighting rig for a splash, but Lodi moves Raven out of the way. Raven comes back in, only for Saturn to hit a Death Valley Driver on him. Lodi comes in to break the three count, but Saturn disposes of him. Horace Boulder comes in with a stop sign, but puts the sign down to club Saturn. Wait, Horace has the sign, and Lodi has some cocaine (it's just powder, but considering what happens next, it would make more sense if it were cocaine). Horace goes to hit Saturn with the sign while Lodi tries to throw cocaine in Saturn's eyes, Saturn ducks, Horace stops, than the cocaine hits him and kicks in, so he hits Lodi about 10 seconds after Saturn moved. Horace tries again to stop Saturn, but hits Raven instead. Saturn then dumps Horace on his neck with a german suplex, before hitting another DVD on Raven for the three count. On paper, this match looked like it could have been good, but in reality, it was average at best. I still didn't hate it as much as Bobby Heenan did.
Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psychosis (Winner gets a match for the Cruiserweight Title)
Nobody bothered to clean the cocaine out of the ring. These two have had a ton of great matches together. This wasn't really one of them. I don't know if it was the heat outside or the fact that Rey's just coming off of knee surgery or something else, but this match was about as slow-paced as Meng vs. Barbarian. Just not what you would hope for from two guys who you know can do so much better. There were a couple of cool moves towards the end, including an electric chair drop with a bridge from Psychosis, and a sweet springboard hilo from Rey. The end came with Misterio doing a springboard hurracanrana and dropping poor Psychosis right on his noggin for the three count. That looked like it hurt. Match was decent, but as I said before, these two have had much better matches than this.
Stevie Ray vs. Chavo Guerrero (WCW TV Title Match even though Booker T is TV Champion)
This match is for a title that neither man holds, as Stevie's brother Booker T is officially Television Champion, but Stevie has been defending it on his behalf, much to the bewilderment of the three idiots in the booth. Chavo comes out with a leather vest and leather hat. I would call this his Chavo Guerrero Hard Gay look. Stevie comes out with a leather hat as well. Chavo tries to shake hands, but Stevie Ray doesn't want to. The match is just three minutes of Chavo running around dodging Stevie Ray. That is, until Stevie finally catches him and hits him with the "Slapjack" which is kind of like a pedigree, only Stevie lifts his opponent off the ground before driving him into the mat. Stevie gets the three count, promises more pain for Chavo, but Eddie Guerrero comes out to stop him. Stevie walks away. Chavo doesn't trust Eddy, though. Lee Marshall talks to Chris Jericho, and Jericho says some mumbo jumbo about he's going to whoop Juvi later on tonight, even though Deano Machino Malenko is the special guest referee.
Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner was scheduled, but Scott was hurt. Scott was pushed out in a hospital bed with an IV hooked up by Buff Bagwell. J.J. Dillon comes out and says that the match will take place at Fall Brawl, which doesn't please the live crowd any because they won't be there. Dillon says if Scott doesn't wrestle at Fall Brawl, he will be barred from wrestling, which causes Steiner to rise out of his bed. Whoopee.
Bryan Adams (w/ Vincent) vs. Steve "Mongo" McMichael
I've been trying to think of a match I'd rather not see, with the roster WCW had at the time. The only match I could think of is McMichael vs. Van Hammer, but even that might be more entertaining than this atrocity. I'm convinced this match was the result of a bet amongst the WCW Booking Committee to see who could book the worst possible match. I can't believe WCW charged people to see Mongo wrestle Bryan Adams. This match was as bad as you would expect. My favorite part was when they managed to mess up an entire sequence of moves. Adams screwed up a missed clothesline by punching Mongo in the gut, Mongo tries to shoulder block him but ends up short, and the whole mess ends with Mongo giving Adams a shoot DDT. Another high point in the match is when Adams leg drops McMichael, walks around Mongo in a circle, and without any other better ideas, legdrops Mongo again. Schiavone tries to claim that Bryan Adams can wrestle, which I guess is technically true, but he sure as hell isn't any good at it. At the finish the ref is somehow kicked by Mongo while Adams is attempting a piledriver, Vincent gets on the apron with a chair. Adams holds Mongo, but Mongo ducks and Vincent gently taps Adams with the chair. Mongo hits the Mongo Spike on Adams (tombstone piledriver, in case anyone has forgotten) and gets the victory. This match sucked hard. It was so bad I nearly cried.
Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera (WCW Cruiserweight Title Match, Special Ref: Dean Malenko)
This was during the Jericho-Malenko feud where each man was getting huge reactions but neither man could get past the mid-card because WCW couldn't recognize a good thing if it punched them in the face. Anyway, Jericho manages to get some reaction out of the bikers saying that he drove his Honda motorcycle to Sturgis and that he doesn't want to wrestle in front of a bunch of weekend warriors. It's funny because it's true, but everyone revs up their bike, probably causing the poor bastards behind them to breathe in the exhaust fumes. Bunch of jerks. This match is better than the last match, which wasn't hard, as these two actually hit three moves without messing something up. Actually this was the best match of the night, even if Jericho was stalling big-time after about five minutes. Still, there were a lot of things to like about this match, including Jericho's gorilla press into a tombstone, and a brutal looking double powerbomb on Juvi that made Juventud bounce off the mat. Juvi comes back with a DDT, and then hits a Juvi Driver that nearly puts Jericho on his head, but luckily he adjusted at the last second. Jericho kicks out, and then counters a huracanrana with the Liontamer, but Juvi gets to the ropes. Jericho thinks he has the match won, and demands Malenko to raise his hand, but Deano won't do it. They wrestle into the corner, Juvi beats on Jericho, but Malenko pulls him away. Juvi inadvertently pokes him in the eyes, giving Jericho an opening to hit Guerrera with the Title Belt. Jericho gets Malenko's attention by slapping him, getting the ire of the referee. He eventually counts the pin, but Guerrera kicked out. They end up in another corner, Jericho perched on the top rope. Dean pulls off Juvi, and for some reason Jericho kicks Malenko off. This allows Juvi to charge at Malenko, who hurls Juvi into the air onto Jericho to hit a huracanrana off the top rope. Guerrera covers, and gets the three count. Afterwards Jericho argues with Malenko, but he gets decked for his efforts. That was a good match right there, not a classic, but a lot better than most of this dreck.
Nine-Man Battle Royal: The Giant, Curt Hennig, Scott Norton, Scott Hall, (nWo Hollywood) Kevin Nash, Sting, Konnan, Lex Luger, (nwo Wolfpac), Goldberg (WCW)
Pinfalls and Top-Rope Eliminations both count in this battle royal. For reasons beyond my understanding, the crew at WCW decided to most of their big draws in the same match. It would have been a lot better for everyone if they just had Goldberg wrestle the Giant, and maybe put a tag match with say, Hall and Hennig vs. Nash and Sting in place of Mongo-Adams. As it is it's just a match that does nothing for a lot of these guys and isn't very good to boot. The focus was on Goldberg, as the announcers made a big deal about how Goldberg's never been in a battle royal, so his undefeated streak might end tonight. Also, Hall and Nash were in the middle of a feud that eventually would go nowhere, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Goldberg eliminates Hall with a backdrop, and Nash decides to eliminate himself to go after Hall. Smooth move there, Kevin. Everybody punches everybody for a while, until Goldberg spears and eliminates Konnan. To the shock of the crowd, Hennig nearly eliminated Goldberg, but Bill fights out of it and dumps Hennig. Goldberg goes over and dumps both Sting and Norton over the top. So Sting, only one of their top three draws, at the least, gets treated as if he's just another faceless henchman. That's smart. Luger gets speared by Goldberg and the Giant eliminates him, leaving Goldberg and The Giant alone. The Giant chokeslams Goldberg, but Goldberg sits up like the Undertaker or something. He then spears the big man, and even puts The Giant in the Jackhammer, which nearly causes Schiavone to orgasm on air. Goldberg wins, eliminating six guys and looking unstoppable in the process, much to the delight of the bikers in the crowd. Match was what it was, neither all that good or all that bad.
Diamond Dallas Page and Jay Leno (w/ Kevin Eubanks) vs. Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff (w/ The Disciple and Miss Elizabeth)
As far as matches involving celebrities goes, this wasn't the worst. It was far from the best, but it wasn't the worst. At the very least, it was better than Mongo v. Adams and Public Enemy v. Wright and Disco. Kevin Eubanks came out in a sleeveless shirt, and had some guns on him, I tell you what. The match was mostly Hogan vs. Page, they'd hit a few spots and go on from there. The announcers kept pimping Bischoff's karate background, but he looked so goofy with his kicks that I have a hard time believing he ever took a class, much less is some sort of karate master. Leno got in a few times, kept pointing to his chin (he must have pointed to it 30 times during the match) and did an arm twist on Hogan and hit Bischoff with a couple of punches that looked like crap. At the end, Bischoff holds Leno as Hogan tries to wallop Leno, but Leno ducks (I swear, they used that same spot, or at least a variation of it, in every single match on the show. It gets kind of old seeing the same spot for the 8th or 9th time). Anyway, Page clotheslines Hogan over the top rope. Eubanks comes in, hits Bischoff with a Diamond Cutter that actually looked halfway decent. Leno covers Bischoff and gets the three count. After the match, Hogan and Bischoff attack the faces, but Goldberg comes in and delivers a double spear to Hogan and Bischoff to make the save. Goldberg, DDP, Leno, and Eubanks stand tall in the ring, and that's the end of the show.
Well, that was an adventure. To my surprise, Jay Leno did not wrestle in the worst match in the show. Leno would go back to his day job, leaving WCW with a 1-0 record. Unlike Mongo and Bryan Adams, Leno was also able to hit all of his moves cleanly, even if some of them looked a little rough. This was not that great of a wrestling show. The only match I would recommend seeing is Jericho vs. Juvi, which was good, but not great. Overall, I'd give the whole show about a 2.4 out of 10. Thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future posts, than let me know via e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. To end this post, here is a video of Jericho vs. Juvi, just in case you want to see it.
Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho-Cruiserweight title
Uploaded by Stinger1981. - More professional, college and classic sports videos.
Meng vs. Barbarian (w/ Jimmy Hart)
Our hosts for the evening are Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, and Bobby Heenan. Schiavone tries to look cool in a leather jacket, but fails. Tenay is wearing a denim jacket over a denim shirt. He couldn't have look more like a sex offender if he tried. Heenan is probably drunk. Our first match is between the Barbarian and Meng, in a battle to determine who is the best face of fear. Barbarian comes out with Jimmy Hart. This match had a lot of headbutts and chops. Barbarian did a swank belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope. Meng gets out at two, Meng hits a powerslam, but only gets a two. Jimmy Hart keeps climbing on the ring apron, and nobody ever reacts to it. Finish comes after Barbarian calls for a kick of fear, but Meng instead gets the Tongan Death Grip for the pin. Jimmy Hart and Hugh Morrus come in to beat on Meng. Hart dives off the top onto Meng with the worst body splash in the year of 1998, and Morrus grazes Meng with a moonsault. Jim Duggan (huh?) comes in for the save, and chases off everyone with his wood. Meng doesn't even thank Duggan for his assistance, the jerk. Best match of the night, and by that I mean it was the best match of the night so far.
Disco Inferno and Alex Wright (w/ Magnum Tokyo) vs. Public Enemy
Disco gets a few cheers, which is surprising because he's wrestling in front of a bunch of macho bikers. The crowd doesn't care for Wright, however. The announcers claim that Public Enemy will be fan favorites, because hey, who doesn't like a couple of fat white guys pretending to be black more than bikers. I am proven wrong, as TPE gets a nice reaction. The teams start out wrestling, and Disco and Alex dance a lot. At one point Wright hit a missile dropkick on Grunge for a two count, and the crowd couldn't care less. For some reason, Tokyo gets a trash can and Wright nails Rocco Rock in the back. Surely that's a disqualification, right? Nope, referee Mark Curtis changes it to an impromptu street fight. The result is what one would think a hardcore match involving Disco Inferno and Alex Wright would be, dumb. I think this match set a record for most times somebody got hit in the back with a trash can. At one point, Wright walks off because Magnum accidentally hit him, then Magnum leaves, leaving Disco alone. Public Enemy sets up three tables on top of each other outside the ring, and pulls Disco up a ladder so they can set on the stack. Rocco climbs up a lighting rig, and drops an elbow on Disco through the three tables. Grunge has the drag him back in for the count. He covers Disco, but Magnum tries to break up the cover with a top rope splash, Grunge moves, Tokyo splashes Disco, and then Grunge gets the three count. Why they added that in the match, I don't know. This match was 15 minutes long and felt like an hour.
Match 3: Raven vs. Saturn vs. Kanyon (Raven's Rules, Falls Count Anywhere in Sturgis)
This match is to determine the superior single named wrestler whose name in with an n. Actually, Saturn hates Raven, Kanyon hates Saturn but supposedly is in cahoots with Raven. Raven tells Kanyon to get Saturn, but changes his mind a minute later and posts Kanyon. The first couple of minutes mainly consist of Kanyon and Saturn wrestling while Raven sits in the corner. Well, the other two wrestlers eventually have enough of this, so Kanyon dropkicks Raven in his junk. The two then team up on Raven. I mark out for the Total Elimination (finisher of Saturn's ECW Tag Team, The Eliminators), but nobody else seems to care. Raven kicks out at two just to further frustrate me. I don't care if the match is over 10 years old, I'm still angry about it. Eventually they go to the outside. There's some piledrivers and suplexes on the stage, but it seems as if everyone's just going through the motions. Heenan wishes an 18-wheeler with no breaks would come down the ramp. I guess Heenan's not a fan of any of these guys. They get back to the inside, Saturn gets a sleeper hold on Raven, Kanyon puts Saturn in the sleeper as well, but Raven counters with a jawbreaker, sending everyone down. They also do a stack superplex spot as well, but nobody seems to give a crap. Heenan says he wishes he was in the match so he could "give up and end it". Kanyon and Raven fight on the outside, Kanyon suplexes Raven, climbs up another lighting rig for a splash, but Lodi moves Raven out of the way. Raven comes back in, only for Saturn to hit a Death Valley Driver on him. Lodi comes in to break the three count, but Saturn disposes of him. Horace Boulder comes in with a stop sign, but puts the sign down to club Saturn. Wait, Horace has the sign, and Lodi has some cocaine (it's just powder, but considering what happens next, it would make more sense if it were cocaine). Horace goes to hit Saturn with the sign while Lodi tries to throw cocaine in Saturn's eyes, Saturn ducks, Horace stops, than the cocaine hits him and kicks in, so he hits Lodi about 10 seconds after Saturn moved. Horace tries again to stop Saturn, but hits Raven instead. Saturn then dumps Horace on his neck with a german suplex, before hitting another DVD on Raven for the three count. On paper, this match looked like it could have been good, but in reality, it was average at best. I still didn't hate it as much as Bobby Heenan did.
Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psychosis (Winner gets a match for the Cruiserweight Title)
Nobody bothered to clean the cocaine out of the ring. These two have had a ton of great matches together. This wasn't really one of them. I don't know if it was the heat outside or the fact that Rey's just coming off of knee surgery or something else, but this match was about as slow-paced as Meng vs. Barbarian. Just not what you would hope for from two guys who you know can do so much better. There were a couple of cool moves towards the end, including an electric chair drop with a bridge from Psychosis, and a sweet springboard hilo from Rey. The end came with Misterio doing a springboard hurracanrana and dropping poor Psychosis right on his noggin for the three count. That looked like it hurt. Match was decent, but as I said before, these two have had much better matches than this.
Stevie Ray vs. Chavo Guerrero (WCW TV Title Match even though Booker T is TV Champion)
This match is for a title that neither man holds, as Stevie's brother Booker T is officially Television Champion, but Stevie has been defending it on his behalf, much to the bewilderment of the three idiots in the booth. Chavo comes out with a leather vest and leather hat. I would call this his Chavo Guerrero Hard Gay look. Stevie comes out with a leather hat as well. Chavo tries to shake hands, but Stevie Ray doesn't want to. The match is just three minutes of Chavo running around dodging Stevie Ray. That is, until Stevie finally catches him and hits him with the "Slapjack" which is kind of like a pedigree, only Stevie lifts his opponent off the ground before driving him into the mat. Stevie gets the three count, promises more pain for Chavo, but Eddie Guerrero comes out to stop him. Stevie walks away. Chavo doesn't trust Eddy, though. Lee Marshall talks to Chris Jericho, and Jericho says some mumbo jumbo about he's going to whoop Juvi later on tonight, even though Deano Machino Malenko is the special guest referee.
Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner was scheduled, but Scott was hurt. Scott was pushed out in a hospital bed with an IV hooked up by Buff Bagwell. J.J. Dillon comes out and says that the match will take place at Fall Brawl, which doesn't please the live crowd any because they won't be there. Dillon says if Scott doesn't wrestle at Fall Brawl, he will be barred from wrestling, which causes Steiner to rise out of his bed. Whoopee.
Bryan Adams (w/ Vincent) vs. Steve "Mongo" McMichael
I've been trying to think of a match I'd rather not see, with the roster WCW had at the time. The only match I could think of is McMichael vs. Van Hammer, but even that might be more entertaining than this atrocity. I'm convinced this match was the result of a bet amongst the WCW Booking Committee to see who could book the worst possible match. I can't believe WCW charged people to see Mongo wrestle Bryan Adams. This match was as bad as you would expect. My favorite part was when they managed to mess up an entire sequence of moves. Adams screwed up a missed clothesline by punching Mongo in the gut, Mongo tries to shoulder block him but ends up short, and the whole mess ends with Mongo giving Adams a shoot DDT. Another high point in the match is when Adams leg drops McMichael, walks around Mongo in a circle, and without any other better ideas, legdrops Mongo again. Schiavone tries to claim that Bryan Adams can wrestle, which I guess is technically true, but he sure as hell isn't any good at it. At the finish the ref is somehow kicked by Mongo while Adams is attempting a piledriver, Vincent gets on the apron with a chair. Adams holds Mongo, but Mongo ducks and Vincent gently taps Adams with the chair. Mongo hits the Mongo Spike on Adams (tombstone piledriver, in case anyone has forgotten) and gets the victory. This match sucked hard. It was so bad I nearly cried.
Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera (WCW Cruiserweight Title Match, Special Ref: Dean Malenko)
This was during the Jericho-Malenko feud where each man was getting huge reactions but neither man could get past the mid-card because WCW couldn't recognize a good thing if it punched them in the face. Anyway, Jericho manages to get some reaction out of the bikers saying that he drove his Honda motorcycle to Sturgis and that he doesn't want to wrestle in front of a bunch of weekend warriors. It's funny because it's true, but everyone revs up their bike, probably causing the poor bastards behind them to breathe in the exhaust fumes. Bunch of jerks. This match is better than the last match, which wasn't hard, as these two actually hit three moves without messing something up. Actually this was the best match of the night, even if Jericho was stalling big-time after about five minutes. Still, there were a lot of things to like about this match, including Jericho's gorilla press into a tombstone, and a brutal looking double powerbomb on Juvi that made Juventud bounce off the mat. Juvi comes back with a DDT, and then hits a Juvi Driver that nearly puts Jericho on his head, but luckily he adjusted at the last second. Jericho kicks out, and then counters a huracanrana with the Liontamer, but Juvi gets to the ropes. Jericho thinks he has the match won, and demands Malenko to raise his hand, but Deano won't do it. They wrestle into the corner, Juvi beats on Jericho, but Malenko pulls him away. Juvi inadvertently pokes him in the eyes, giving Jericho an opening to hit Guerrera with the Title Belt. Jericho gets Malenko's attention by slapping him, getting the ire of the referee. He eventually counts the pin, but Guerrera kicked out. They end up in another corner, Jericho perched on the top rope. Dean pulls off Juvi, and for some reason Jericho kicks Malenko off. This allows Juvi to charge at Malenko, who hurls Juvi into the air onto Jericho to hit a huracanrana off the top rope. Guerrera covers, and gets the three count. Afterwards Jericho argues with Malenko, but he gets decked for his efforts. That was a good match right there, not a classic, but a lot better than most of this dreck.
Nine-Man Battle Royal: The Giant, Curt Hennig, Scott Norton, Scott Hall, (nWo Hollywood) Kevin Nash, Sting, Konnan, Lex Luger, (nwo Wolfpac), Goldberg (WCW)
Pinfalls and Top-Rope Eliminations both count in this battle royal. For reasons beyond my understanding, the crew at WCW decided to most of their big draws in the same match. It would have been a lot better for everyone if they just had Goldberg wrestle the Giant, and maybe put a tag match with say, Hall and Hennig vs. Nash and Sting in place of Mongo-Adams. As it is it's just a match that does nothing for a lot of these guys and isn't very good to boot. The focus was on Goldberg, as the announcers made a big deal about how Goldberg's never been in a battle royal, so his undefeated streak might end tonight. Also, Hall and Nash were in the middle of a feud that eventually would go nowhere, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Goldberg eliminates Hall with a backdrop, and Nash decides to eliminate himself to go after Hall. Smooth move there, Kevin. Everybody punches everybody for a while, until Goldberg spears and eliminates Konnan. To the shock of the crowd, Hennig nearly eliminated Goldberg, but Bill fights out of it and dumps Hennig. Goldberg goes over and dumps both Sting and Norton over the top. So Sting, only one of their top three draws, at the least, gets treated as if he's just another faceless henchman. That's smart. Luger gets speared by Goldberg and the Giant eliminates him, leaving Goldberg and The Giant alone. The Giant chokeslams Goldberg, but Goldberg sits up like the Undertaker or something. He then spears the big man, and even puts The Giant in the Jackhammer, which nearly causes Schiavone to orgasm on air. Goldberg wins, eliminating six guys and looking unstoppable in the process, much to the delight of the bikers in the crowd. Match was what it was, neither all that good or all that bad.
Diamond Dallas Page and Jay Leno (w/ Kevin Eubanks) vs. Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff (w/ The Disciple and Miss Elizabeth)
As far as matches involving celebrities goes, this wasn't the worst. It was far from the best, but it wasn't the worst. At the very least, it was better than Mongo v. Adams and Public Enemy v. Wright and Disco. Kevin Eubanks came out in a sleeveless shirt, and had some guns on him, I tell you what. The match was mostly Hogan vs. Page, they'd hit a few spots and go on from there. The announcers kept pimping Bischoff's karate background, but he looked so goofy with his kicks that I have a hard time believing he ever took a class, much less is some sort of karate master. Leno got in a few times, kept pointing to his chin (he must have pointed to it 30 times during the match) and did an arm twist on Hogan and hit Bischoff with a couple of punches that looked like crap. At the end, Bischoff holds Leno as Hogan tries to wallop Leno, but Leno ducks (I swear, they used that same spot, or at least a variation of it, in every single match on the show. It gets kind of old seeing the same spot for the 8th or 9th time). Anyway, Page clotheslines Hogan over the top rope. Eubanks comes in, hits Bischoff with a Diamond Cutter that actually looked halfway decent. Leno covers Bischoff and gets the three count. After the match, Hogan and Bischoff attack the faces, but Goldberg comes in and delivers a double spear to Hogan and Bischoff to make the save. Goldberg, DDP, Leno, and Eubanks stand tall in the ring, and that's the end of the show.
Well, that was an adventure. To my surprise, Jay Leno did not wrestle in the worst match in the show. Leno would go back to his day job, leaving WCW with a 1-0 record. Unlike Mongo and Bryan Adams, Leno was also able to hit all of his moves cleanly, even if some of them looked a little rough. This was not that great of a wrestling show. The only match I would recommend seeing is Jericho vs. Juvi, which was good, but not great. Overall, I'd give the whole show about a 2.4 out of 10. Thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for future posts, than let me know via e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com. To end this post, here is a video of Jericho vs. Juvi, just in case you want to see it.
Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho-Cruiserweight title
Uploaded by Stinger1981. - More professional, college and classic sports videos.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Random WCW Matches on a Rainy Tuesday
It's Tuesday, it's raining and it is cold. So, here at The Canon Review, we have decided to celebrate this weather by watching random WCW matches. And away we go:
Match 1: Ric Flair vs. Lizmark Jr.
Well, why not start with a match that makes no sense whatsoever. Ric Flair is a multiple-time World Champion, one of the most famous wrestlers of all time. Lizmark Jr., meanwhile, is a Mexican wrestler brought in with all the other Mexican Wrestlers to have 8 and ten man tag matches so Mike Tenay can pretend to know what he is talking about. So, why not match the two together and see what happens. I'm convinced that whoever was in charge of this show just drew names out of a hat, and this is the result. The match is 90% Flair, but he does let Lizmark hit a back body drop and a couple of dropkicks, which is much more than many other WCW veterans would let him have. A lot of this match is Flair working on the legs of the luchadore, keeping him grounded. Flair uses a leg-grapevine and a half Boston Crab. At one point, Bobby Heenan compared Flair to a top attorney and publicly wondered why there are not more female attorneys, much to the bewilderment of Tony Schiavone. The match ends with Lizmark tapping out to the figure-four leglock, and Flair celebrates his victory. Decent enough match for a random 5 minute squash for Flair, but why they decided to put this match together is anybody's guess.
Match 2: Konnan vs. Tsubasa
Konnan had just joined the nWo, which, according to Mike Tenay, has really cheesed off all of the luchadores in WCW. I wonder what Lizmark Jr. thought. Meanwhile, Tsubasa is from Mexico by way of Japan, whatever that means. Tenay says he is now training in Mexico, so he must be one of the luchadores upset about Konnan's decision or something.The match takes about a minute, as Konnan starts by beating down Tsubasa, then gives him some sort of variation of a fisherman's buster. Konnan puts on his Tequilla Sunrise finisher, which looks rather crappy, and Tsubasa calls it a day. Konnan celebrates, while Tsubasa never wrestles for WCW again. Why WCW would fly in Tsubasa from Mexico for a 1 minute squash on WCW Nitro, I'll never know. Tsubasa went on to wrestle in Japan, mainly for Osaka Pro and other Japanese indy promotions. In case you were wondering, Tsubasa means "wing" in Japanese.
Match 3: Michael Wallstreet vs. Kenny Kendall
This matched sucked. Wallstreet apparently was about to join the nWo at the time, which would have put that organization over the top, for sure. Kendall is a jobber with an awful haircut. Bobby Heenan called it an "instant electric chair" hairstyle, because the only place you should go with that hairstyle is the electric chair. Harsh, but true. The match had a bunch of headlocks and tie ups. Kendall tried a sunset flip, but Wallstreet screwed that up when he just stumbled forward on his face instead of rolling back. Wallstreet controlled much of the action, but Kendall got a few shots in, including the old bash your opponents head ten times into the turnbuckle move. Match ended with the Stock Market Crash, which was basically a Samoan Drop. Wallstreet gets the three, and says into the camera, "not today". I wish I hadn't of watched this match today.
Match 4: Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page
This match took place in 1992, before DDP was a major superstar in wrestling. DDP is dressed like Kevin Nash, with leather pants and a black singlet, while Sting is your WCW Heavyweight Champion. Pretty basic match, some headlocks, punches, and what not. Jim Ross and Bill Watts are on commentary, and they mention the recent death of Buddy Rogers and Sting's upcoming match with Vader at the 1992 Great American Bash (Vader would win the WCW Title from Sting that night, BTW). Match ends with a Stinger Splash and Scorpion Deathlock, and that's all she wrote.
Bonus:
The lesson is, Mike Tenay is an idiot.
Match 1: Ric Flair vs. Lizmark Jr.
Well, why not start with a match that makes no sense whatsoever. Ric Flair is a multiple-time World Champion, one of the most famous wrestlers of all time. Lizmark Jr., meanwhile, is a Mexican wrestler brought in with all the other Mexican Wrestlers to have 8 and ten man tag matches so Mike Tenay can pretend to know what he is talking about. So, why not match the two together and see what happens. I'm convinced that whoever was in charge of this show just drew names out of a hat, and this is the result. The match is 90% Flair, but he does let Lizmark hit a back body drop and a couple of dropkicks, which is much more than many other WCW veterans would let him have. A lot of this match is Flair working on the legs of the luchadore, keeping him grounded. Flair uses a leg-grapevine and a half Boston Crab. At one point, Bobby Heenan compared Flair to a top attorney and publicly wondered why there are not more female attorneys, much to the bewilderment of Tony Schiavone. The match ends with Lizmark tapping out to the figure-four leglock, and Flair celebrates his victory. Decent enough match for a random 5 minute squash for Flair, but why they decided to put this match together is anybody's guess.
Match 2: Konnan vs. Tsubasa
Konnan had just joined the nWo, which, according to Mike Tenay, has really cheesed off all of the luchadores in WCW. I wonder what Lizmark Jr. thought. Meanwhile, Tsubasa is from Mexico by way of Japan, whatever that means. Tenay says he is now training in Mexico, so he must be one of the luchadores upset about Konnan's decision or something.The match takes about a minute, as Konnan starts by beating down Tsubasa, then gives him some sort of variation of a fisherman's buster. Konnan puts on his Tequilla Sunrise finisher, which looks rather crappy, and Tsubasa calls it a day. Konnan celebrates, while Tsubasa never wrestles for WCW again. Why WCW would fly in Tsubasa from Mexico for a 1 minute squash on WCW Nitro, I'll never know. Tsubasa went on to wrestle in Japan, mainly for Osaka Pro and other Japanese indy promotions. In case you were wondering, Tsubasa means "wing" in Japanese.
Match 3: Michael Wallstreet vs. Kenny Kendall
This matched sucked. Wallstreet apparently was about to join the nWo at the time, which would have put that organization over the top, for sure. Kendall is a jobber with an awful haircut. Bobby Heenan called it an "instant electric chair" hairstyle, because the only place you should go with that hairstyle is the electric chair. Harsh, but true. The match had a bunch of headlocks and tie ups. Kendall tried a sunset flip, but Wallstreet screwed that up when he just stumbled forward on his face instead of rolling back. Wallstreet controlled much of the action, but Kendall got a few shots in, including the old bash your opponents head ten times into the turnbuckle move. Match ended with the Stock Market Crash, which was basically a Samoan Drop. Wallstreet gets the three, and says into the camera, "not today". I wish I hadn't of watched this match today.
Match 4: Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page
This match took place in 1992, before DDP was a major superstar in wrestling. DDP is dressed like Kevin Nash, with leather pants and a black singlet, while Sting is your WCW Heavyweight Champion. Pretty basic match, some headlocks, punches, and what not. Jim Ross and Bill Watts are on commentary, and they mention the recent death of Buddy Rogers and Sting's upcoming match with Vader at the 1992 Great American Bash (Vader would win the WCW Title from Sting that night, BTW). Match ends with a Stinger Splash and Scorpion Deathlock, and that's all she wrote.
Bonus:
The lesson is, Mike Tenay is an idiot.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)