WCW On Pay Per View in the 90's - Every event Reviewed

[Keith]

Great basic maths there Steph! Besides eight's way too long, gotta take that bad boy up to 11

 

[Keith]

Sure they give the least attractive female lead the terminal illness, that's justice...

 

[Keith]

Watch that Mitch Steph he's a sly one, he's ready to pouch...

 

[Keith]

Buffer's been bumped from Baywatch? He must be pissed...

 

[Keith]

We all know those matches would have turned out different if the REAL bookers had the damn pen!

 

[Keith]

There you have it folks Baywatch the only show that can make Melrose Place look like The Sopranos

Coming up next time... I will cover the special joint WCW/NJPW Collision in Korea headlined by Inoki VS. Flair. The whole show can be found on Youtube if anyone wants to check it out. It sure will be a comedown from all this Baywatch excitement..

 

[Keith]

WCW NJPW Collision in Korea

Date: April 28-29 1995 (aired in North America on PPV August 4th 1995)

Location: Pyongyang, North Korea

Attendance: 355,000 (roughly, over two days, but reports differ)

Tagline: Two legends. One Country.

Comments: A strange experiment and Eric Bischoff's attempts to cash in on WCW's close bond with New Japan Pro Wrestling. The PPV as presented in the States was a edited compilation of the best matches from the two day Pyongyang International Sports and Culture Festival for Peace. Part of the selling point of the event was that the it was bringing together North Korea and Japan for the first time. The American announcing team were the three man team of Bischoff (looking like a posh headmaster), Mike Tenay and Kazuo Ishikawa. Ishikawa who would later become heel manager Sonny Ono was meant to be the heel announcer on this show (he wasn't very good). For some WCW fans this might have been their introduction to Tenay. Tenay an expert in International wrestling provided great insight and showed naturally mic skills. He would slowly become a main fixture for WCW on TV and PPV over the next few years. Throughout the show Easy E promoted the politics of the Country and just how unique the event was. Muhammad Ali was also a guest for the event (Ali had appeared for WCW at Halloween Havoc 94). The event was generally very good, though some matches felt rushed.

Too Cold Scorpio VS. "Wild Pegasus" Chris Benoit
A re-match of sorts from their previous WCW PPV meeting at Superbrawl III. That night the pair produced a clinic. On this night they were given less time to work with but still delivered a sharp opener. One funny line from Ishikawa was the suggestion that Scorpio being American would be more schooled in the Martial Arts than the Canadian Benoit! Benoit took the win this time when countering a Scorpio tombstone attempt into his own tombstone (which looked good), followed by his diving headbutt off the top for the three. ***

Yuji Nagata VS. Tokimitsu Ishizawa
This is one match which suffered from being rushed. The two had a nice solid, logical technical build, with some nice back and fourth. Before it got into second gear Nagata took the win with a reverse chinlock for a submission. **1/2

Masahiro Chono & Hiro Saito VS. El Samurai & Tadao Yasuda
The strongest match of the card so far. The contrast in styles of the four guys make for a nice mix. Yasuda the dated 1980's brawler is the weak link but still plays his part quite well. El Samurai took one hell of the beating from the heels (and sells it beautifully), including a scoop into a spinbuster from Saito and stiff submission holds from Chono. He comes back later with a nice headbutt off the top for a near fall on Chono. Chono responds with a shoulder tackle off the top for the pin. ***

Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto VS. Manami Toyota & Mariko Yoshida
A great showcase for Japanese women's wrestling. At the time most of the best female talent came from Japan (you could argue some of the best wrestlers full-stop). Nakano who would have a small stint with the WWF and feud with Alundra Blayze, was an imposing, colourful and all round great talent. Toyota is considered by some as one of the greatest ever female wrestlers. Nakano and Hokuto come out in traditional Japanese wear and brightly coloured wigs. After a fast paced start, Yoshida took most of the early blows, including a Hokuto splash off the top for two, a piledriver and an impressive surfboard submission. The heels cut off the ring and tag in and out early on. Bull takes over with a sharpshooter and other versions. A running legdrop scores a two. In one of the highlights of the match Yoshida turns a smooth cart wheel into a cross body, followed by a pair of headspring elbows. A hot fisherman surplex gets her a two. Hokuto turns the table with a superplex off the top for another near fall. Fresh blood come in and Bull nails Toyota with a devastating powerbomb but Toyota escapes at the last split second. A second powerbomb attempt is countered by Manami into a sunset flip for two. Bull shows her power with a double surplex on the pair. But Hokuto misses both with a splash off the top (a nicely timed spot). Nakano takes a double drop kick to the floor and her and Hokuto take a suicide dive from Yoshida and a fantastic spring board crossbody from Toyota. The duos exchange near falls for the next few minutes before Nakano finally pins Yoshida with her legdrop off the top. A thrilling match with four wrestlers at the top of their games. Even more impressive is they did it in 8.34. ****

IWGP Championship Shinya Hashimoto (c) VS. Scott "Flash" Norton (who looked ripped)
Strange match. It's better than expected mostly thanks to the effects of Hashimoto. Credit to Norton who despite being sloppy at times and lacking charisma, looks the part and actually works the crowd quite nicely. The problem is that at 20 minutes the match is at least 10 minutes too long. A range of brawl, submission and power moves are intersperse with the odd high risk move. The time limit draw finish fell flat on TV. The match dragged at times but not as much as it could have. **1/2

Road Warrior Hawk VS. Tadao Yasuda
Tenay does a good job not to mention LOD's WWF run when talking about what Hawk had been doing since his last WCW run. This was a very short, but watchable filler match, with two cramming in as many power moves as possibly into 2 minutes. **

The Steiner Brothers VS. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki
Not the classic it once might have been but still a hard hitting fest of surplexes, power moves and stiff submission holds. Scott pressing Hase from the inside out onto a trainer set the tone. Hase also took some hard belly to belly surplexes from Rick. Sasaki hits a beautiful heel kick and drop kick off the ropes. Scott's tilt to whirl and pump handle slams also standout. As do Sasaki's release German surplex. The finish comes when Rick and Sasaki brawl on the outside, allowing Scott to hit the match winning spike surplex on Hase for the win. Hase's selling was really good. ****

Antonio Inoki VS. Ric Flair
So we arrive at the center piece Main Event. One of Japan's living legends against one of US Wrestlers finest. At 53 Inoki looked good and was able to draw great emotion from the crowd. Credit to Flair too, he was once again working the crowd to perfection and no doubt helped to carry Inoki. The pair work together nicely to build a credible and logical match, which peaked at just the right moment. Inoki targeted Flair's back, Flair targets his leg, and the two go back and fourth. Flair took control with a nice standing surplex. Inoki does a good job of selling the figure four which lasts around 3-4 minutes, before Inoki struggles to the ropes. A second FF attempt is countered into a small package for near fall. Flair then got a two from backslide counter. The two exchange stiff chops. The Nature Boy uses some classic dirty tactics to gain the upper hand. As both tire, Inoki mis-timed a dropkick but still gets two. A Flair back surplex gets two. Inoki scores with a nice head scissors and knee drop off the top for a near fall. He finally gets the win with a jump back and kick. Not the classic it once might have been, but a very effective and fitting close to the show(s). The two legends shake hands to close the show. ****

Match of the Night: Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto VS. Manami Toyota & Mariko Yoshida

Worst Match: Road Warrior Hawk VS. Tadao Yasuda

Rating: 8/10





Next Time... A special review of Clash of the Champions XXXI featuring one of Vader's last appearances for WCW).

 

[Chris]

One of the few 90s shows I haven't seen in full (mainly bc it's not on the Network), but I've watched the Benoit/Scorpio match, the Women's tag match, Steiner Bros match and the Flair/Inoki match. I mostly agree with your reviews of them, especially with the Women's tag being MOTN bc it ruled, but I remember being pretty let down by Flair/Inoki

 

[Keith]

One of the few 90s shows I haven't seen in full (mainly bc it's not on the Network), but I've watched the Benoit/Scorpio match, the Women's tag match, Steiner Bros match and the Flair/Inoki match. I mostly agree with your reviews of them, especially with the Women's tag being MOTN bc it ruled, but I remember being pretty let down by Flair/Inoki

I get that. It certainly wasn't a classic. I just think considering Inoki's age at the time it probably couldn't have gone much better. I think they told a nice story and the emotion was there.

 

[Keith]

Clash of the Champions XXXI



Date: August 6th, 1995

Location: Daytona Beach, Florida

Meng and Kurasawa (did WCW just name him after the film director?) (W/ Col. Robert Parker) VS. Sting and Road Warrior Hawk
Weak opener. Packed with clumsy power moves and lacked any heat except when Sting got involved. He wasn't in the ring enough. His top rope clothesline was the highlight. Kurasawa looked generic. A sloppy double team from the faces (like their version of LOD's Dooms Day) got the win. Post-match Kurasawa injured Hawk. *1/2



In a cringe worthy interview Col. Parker say's later he is going to have this way with Sherri in the six person tag

Diamond Dallas Page (W/The Diamond Doll) VS. Alex Wright
The Doll/Kimberly looks striking in a hot blue dress. DDP and his gal do the Mero/Sable thing (see sometimes WWF stole of WCW). Page's heel character is cheesy and fails to get heat. Wright looks the better of the two (funny since their different fortunes in the future). There's a couple of nice high risk moves from Wright and a German surplex. But the two are mis-matched and the match is mostly flat. Page gets the win when Wright misses a splash on the floor. **


Flair and Double A whip up a storm in a Awesome interview with "MEAN!!!! WHOOOOO! BY GOD GENE!"hyping up their handicap main event against Vader.

TV Title Match "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff VS. The Renegade (c) (W/Jimmy Hart)
The highlight of this match is actually the entertaining Macho Slim Jim ad and the Judge Dread Video game ad with believe it or not VKM doing the voice over! before the match (included on the WWE Network version). Like their match at BATB its a plain bore. With Hart in his corner Renegade looks more like a heel. His victory is booked to look like a fluke. At this the match was kept short. *






Vader cuts a passionate promo claiming he will make history in the Main Event by being the first man to beat two in a handicap match.

Bunkhouse Buck, "Dirty" Dick Slater & Col. Robert Parker VS. Harlem Heat & Sister Sherri
This was an enjoyable comedy match with a nicely laid out story. Sherri taking shots at the heels when convenient from the outside of the ring is really fired up to get a piece of the Col. Booker's breakdance kick up into the flying forearm was a sweet looking move. With Parker trapped in the ring, Sherri gets her moment and scores a crossbody for two She then misses a splash and appears to be out for the count, but turns the tables on Parker with a Kisslock The faces get the win and as a result the Heat get a future tag title shot. Post-match Parker gets more than he bargained for with Sherri. He sold it like a Pro too. We find out during the match that WCW are giving away a Harley-Davidson (no doubt one of Hulks) and a trip to Halloween Havoc. **1/2



Oh yes I forgot that Paul "The Giant" Wright was Andre's son So Hogan to justify his pay for the night enters the DOD in another naff segment He is quickly pasted by The Giant and the other DOD members. Vader of all people makes the save. This actually gets a big pop. A Vader face run on top sounds pretty good to me?...



Before the main event and during the commentators hype up the debut of Monday Nitro with Schiavone teasing the award winning sports caster who will be joining them on the night.

Main Event: Ric Flair and Arn Anderson VS. Vader
For the second match in a row WCW get the booking just about right. Flair fires up Arn from the outside. Vader starts strong, but the Enforcer turns things around with a red hot spinebuster Flair tags in and takes two Vader press slams. Followed by his corner flip and a hard Vader clothesline. Anderson chopblocks Vader's knees from under him to give Flair the upper hand. Anderson hits a beautiful DDT and tags Flair back in. Vader is trapped in a figure four which he manages to escape from. Double A saves Flair twice on Vader pins from splashes, the second one a good looking one from the top rope. Vader gets the win with a power bomb on Anderson. Post-match the heels have a major fall out over the finish of the match. ***





The show closes with Hogan, Sting and Macho Man declaring war on the DOD setting up the Main Event for Fall Brawl. Vader makes his intentions known too. Sadly it was not to be...

So this is the last time Vader will appear on WOPPVIT90's. He has certainly given me some of the highlights. Thanks Big Man and RIP.

Top 5 Vader WCW PPV matches

1. VS. Sting - King of Cable Final, Starrcade 1992
2. VS. Sting - White Castle of Fear Strap match, Superbrawl III
3. VS. Ric Flair, Title VS. Career match, Starrcade 1993
4. The Superpowers (Sting and Davey Boy Smith) VS. The Masters of the Powerbomb (Big Van Vader & Sid Vicious), Beach Blast 1993
5. VS. Hulk Hogan WCW Title match, Superbrawl V

Next Time... The Monday Night Wars officially get under way as I have a special review of the debut episode of WCW Monday Nitro.

 

[Chris]

I fuckin' hated that Clash show, especially the opening match. Actually think the DDP/Wright match was my MOTN for it but on a rewatch I'd probably agree with you that it was the main event, I had just completely lost interest by that point.

I do mostly agree with you on Vader's top WCW matches, I would have had the Cactus Texas Death Match on there tho but the King of Cable match at #1 is a great choice

 

[Keith]

I fuckin' hated that Clash show, especially the opening match. Actually think the DDP/Wright match was my MOTN for it but on a rewatch I'd probably agree with you that it was the main event, I had just completely lost interest by that point.

I do mostly agree with you on Vader's top WCW matches, I would have had the Cactus Texas Death Match on there tho but the King of Cable match at #1 is a great choice

I also quite enjoyed the Six Person match. But I can't believe how dumb that Sherri-Parker storyline got. There's a fucking wedding!!

 

[Chris]

I also quite enjoyed the Six Person match. But I can't believe how dumb that Sherri-Parker storyline got. There's a fucking wedding!!

Nah I hated that one too, if it wasn't for the sloppy af opener it probably would have been the worst match of the night but IDK bc there was also that fuckin' Renegade match

 

[Keith]

WCW Monday Nitro (debut episode)

Date: September 4, 1995

Location: The Mall of America, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Commentary Team: Eric Bischoff, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Steve "Mongo" McMichael



Comments: So the Monday Night Wars officially get underway. WCW CEO Eric Bischoff takes his assault on Vince McMahon and the WWF to the next level with the debut of WCW's own flagship show Monday Nitro which would go head to head with WWF's Monday Night Raw. For the next three years the Monday Night Wars between the two would lead to some of the most iconic and exciting wrestling highlights of 90's wrestling. The first Nitro was mixed bag. Coming live from the Mall of America in Minneapolis, the setting made for a bizarre live spectacle. At times during the matches shoppers at the Mall could been seen on the elevators in the background
Not always known for its top class production values WCW's production team certainly deserve credit for Nitro's opening credits with a catching theme to boot. Making up the announce team for the debut show were Bischoff himself (perhaps symbolic since it was VKM who headed Raw's broadcast team when the show debuted in 1993). Joining Easy E was classic heel announcer Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and making his WCW debut NFL legend Steve "Mongo" McMichael. McMichael had appeared for the WWF at Wrestlemania during the Lawrence Taylor-Bam Bam Bigelow Wrestlemania 11 main event. Despite having natural charisma McMichael was a fish out of water when it comes calling wrestling. His comments lacked any insight and his attempts at humour or banter with Heenan died a early death. To make matters worse in 1996 WCW tried to push Mongo as a wrestler. Another failed experiment. But more on that in future reviews. In ring on the night WCW certainly brought out some of their big guns and had one or two surprises up their sleeve. The debut Nitro drew a 2.5 Rating on TNT. Raw's rating on the night was not available. The following week Raw drew 2.5 to Nitro's 2.4. The War was on

Jushin "Thunder" Liger VS. "Flyin" Brian Pillman
A fitting way to open things. Liger and Pillman had produced classic matches in the Light Heavyweight Division in 1991 and 92. The new look Crusierweight would become a highlight of Nitro in the coming year. Though not up there with their Superbrawl II match this was an exciting, technically sound warm up for the crowd. As well as thrilling aerial moves such as moonsalts, headscissors and crossbody blocks on the floor, both exchange stiff blows and some solid mat wrestling including Liger's impressive Surf board which got a decent crowd reaction. Pillman scored the win with a rolling cradle counter. ***1/2



WCW U.S. Title match Ric Flair VS.Sting (c)
At the start of the match Lex Luger appears out of the blue. Luger had last been seen on WWF TV the previous week. His contract had run out and Bischoff was quick to snap him up ending Lex's dire two and an half years in Stamford. In the pre-internet days such a reveal was much easier to pull off without fans having any idea. Luger had last been seen in a WCW ring at in 1992 dropping the World Title to real life friend Sting. Bischoff sells it like Luger had arrived at a WCW show whilst still contracted to WWF The match itself is a very sharp effort with Sting and Flair again working brilliantly together (did they ever have a bad match?). Sting dominated Flair with a number of power moves including a series of press slams and splash from the top rope. A nice bridge counter into a backslide got two before Arn Anderson who had come out mid-way through the match entered the ring to cause a DQ/No Contest finish? The result was unclear as the bell seem to ring before Arn had even touched either. Heenan wrongly predicted that he and Flair had patched up their bad blood. Instead the former partners had a heated brawl. ***1/2




Post match Scott Norton decided to get in Mongo's face. This pull apart was broken up by Macho Man who was up for a match with Norton before security got in-between them. The match was later booked for next week's show. Norton had been splitting his time between the states and Japan.

The announcement was Micheal Wallstreet's (aka Mike "IRS" Rontada) WCW comeback was treated as a big deal

WCW Title Main Event Big Bubba Rogers VS. Hulk Hogan (c)
Not quite the big time main event you may expect from such a show. Hogan's match with his old WWF buddy was a predictable 1980's style power match. Sadly they couldn't reproduced their WWF magic from the late 80's. Instead this was a very tame effort lacking in any true heat. Hogan naturally retained with the Legdrop of Doom. Post-match various Dungeon of Doom members hit the ring targeting Hogan before Luger made the save. Hogan and Luger engaged in a baffling promo to end the show. Luger took a cheap shot at the WWF (or rather the writer's did) with his "I'm done playing with kids" comment. Both men took lumps out the opposition before finally cutting to the chase and agreeing to face each other next week for the WCW Title. **





Next Time WCW attempt yet again revive the War Games magic with Fall Brawl 95

 

[Chris]

I thought that was a really solid debut for Nitro other than Mongo's commentary