Dead or Alive (WCW WrestleWar 1991)

[Moon Bird]

Following up from my Wrestlemania 1 Dead or Alive thread here is the same thing for the first ever World Championship Wrestling PPV that was held after WCW had withdrew from the NWA...

Things kicked off with Ricky Morton, Tommy Rich & The Junkyard Dog* (R.I.P) vs Big Cat & The State Patrol

Next up Bobby Eaton (R.I.P) vs Brad Armstrong (R.I.P)

Tag team action followed with Itsuki Yamazaki & Mami Kitamura vs Miki Handa & Miss A

Following that was Dustin Rhodes vs Nature Boy Buddy Landel (R.I.P)

More tag team action with Steve Armstrong & Tracy Smothers (R.I.P) vs Jack Victory** & Rip Morgan

Next was Terry Taylor with Terri Runnels vs The Z Man (R.I.P)

Following that was Big Van Vader (R.I.P) vs Stan Hansen

Match 8 of the night was Lex Luger vs Dan Spivey

Next up is The Freebirds with Big Daddy Dink (R.I.P) & DDP vs Butch Reed (R.I.P) and Ron Simmons with Teddy Long

Main event time and it's The Four Horsemen vs Sting, Brian Pillman (R.I.P) and The Steiner Brothers.

And there we have it.... now lets break it down.... 40 wrestlers & valets/managers participated (10 more than Wrestlemania 1), and 10 are no longer with us... (far fewer than the 16 no longer with us from Wrestlemania)

Special mention goes to referee Randy Anderson (R.I.P) who of the on screen personnel is the only one also no longer with us.

So while WCW has a better inaugural PPV survival rate than WWE, keep in mind that WCW WrestleWar happened six years after the first Wrestlemania.

And there you have it. Another post of depressing facts from the history of wrestling ppvs.




*interesting to note that The Junkyard Dog also appeared on the first Wrestlemania card too...

**I legitimately had no idea Jack Victory ever wrestled for WCW until today...

 

[Alexa]

TIL that Lex Luger isn't dead, and this is interesting in a macabre way

 

[Chris]

Jack Victory was a mainstay at the time before disappearing until he came back around for ECW in the late 90s I believe. He's on most of the late 80s and early 90s undercards tho, think he even won a PWI rookie of the year

 

[Alexa]

Jack Victory was a mainstay at the time before disappearing until he came back around for ECW in the late 90s I believe. He's on most of the late 80s and early 90s undercards tho, think he even won a PWI rookie of the year

He won WON rookie of the year in 85

 

[Moon Bird]

TIL that Lex Luger isn't dead

He's.....well I'll let the visuals in the video speak for themselves....

 

[Alexa]

He's.....well I'll let the visuals in the video speak for themselves....

I honestly don't know why I thought he passed away, but man he looks so rough now, which is pretty common sadly.

 

[Chris]

I think Lex was like head of WWE's wellness program a few years ago and basically said he was the best for the job bc he knows what not to do lol

 

[Sky]

He won WON rookie of the year in 85

Over both Shawn Michaels and Keiji Mutoh

 

[Sky]

I was thinking of doing a "how many have passed since then" ever since I learned that 2 WWF PPVs have a 50% death rate (SummerSlam '90 and Wrestling Classic). Good to see it being done

 

[Alexa]

Over both Shawn Michaels and Keiji Mutoh

True

 

[Keith]

I don't think its too far fatched to say top to bottom this was one of the best US PPV's ever at this time. Had a bit of everything, plus a satasfying War Games up to that Sid cock up.