WWF and WCW 1991 TV and PPV Reviews (30 years ago, holy shittt!)

[Keith]

I will review as much WCW and WWF TV and PPV's as I can from 91. I can't promise all the TV shows because they might not all be on Youtube or the Network. Also I'm not sure how many different shows WCW had during this time, so might be long winded to do them all. But we'll see. Also as a rule I won't rate jobber matches unless there's they go a different length or stand out for some reason.

WWF Superstars of Wrestling, January 5th, 1991

This show was recorded at the Sundome in Tempa, FL back on December 11, 1990. Vince Mchahon, Roddy Pipper and Honky Tonk Man are the three man annonuce team. They hype up the Warrior-Slaughter WWF Title match at the Rumble. Honky calls Slaughter a 'Dutch Master'

Texas Tornando VS. Tom Stone
Basic jobbing match. Tornando is feuding with Ted Dibiase at this time and Vince/Piper/Honky debate if he really does have a price for the Million Dollar Man? A Tornando heel turn could have been interesting...

"Mean Gene's!" Royal Rumble update! Macho/Sherri promo puts pressure on Warrior. Macho claims that Warrior-Slaughter will be non-title at the PPV. I like this plot and how it keeps Macho involved in the main event picture. Gene interviews Warrior in response who for some reason is wearing earrings?...



Warlord (W/Slick) VS. Danny Steel (yeah their really not trying with these jobber names are they?..)
Having recently gone singles Warlord is feuding with the returning British Bulldog who was also better known as a tag team guy previously. It's a surprisely decent feud. Warlord runs through Steel with a gut wretch slam and full nelson for the quick submission.

A bunch of Rumble entrants hype up the match and their chances. The stand outs are Bret Hart who calls himself "the coolest of the cool" and Brother Love (W/his man the Undertaker). Love references the Jonestown Massacre which is kinda dark for early 90's WWF, but also perfectly considering Love's creepy religious gimmick.

J.T. Smith VS. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
The highlight of this one is Smith nicking Duggan's 2X4 and mocking him with it, now that's my kind of jobber

More Rumble promos from Tugboat, Dibiase and Dusty and Dustin Rhodes. Dibiase and the Rhodes' are hyping up their tag match at the PPV. Its something of a novelity to see a young Dustin Rhodes having a cup of coffee with the WWF before going on to bigger things in WCW and later as Goldust back in WWF/E.



On a special edition of The Brother Love show the guest is Hulk Hogan. Love warns Hogan to watch out for an "Earthquake" at the rumble and also to keep a eye out for Dino Bravo. Hogan responds by saying he will be the only Natural Disater at the Rumble.




Another Rumble report reruns the closing stages of last year's Rumble match, where it came down to Warrior VS. Hogan. The message being that it truly is everyman for himself. In a classic heel promo Dibiase and Virgil are at a stable. Dibiase wears a cowboy hat and mocks the Rhodes family. At the end of the segment he gets Virgil to clear up dirt off the cowboy hat. This is planting the seeds for the Virgil face turn at the rumble. Vince and co. even talk about how disrespected Virgil must feel, and why he should stand up to his boss. Its this level of depth and storytelling craft which is very rarely seen in WWE nowadays if ever.



Orient Express (W/Mr. Fiji) VS. The Morkie Brothers? WTF!?
The Express are set to open the rumble against the Rockers in what might be one of my favourite ever PPV openers. In this standard job match Kaito's reverse flying forearm is still to die for

We end with more rumble promos from a Bushwacker, Mr. Perfect. Dino Bravo, Rick Martel and Jim Neidhart.

 

[Chris]

I can't wait to see your thoughts on Great American Bash '91

 

[Keith]

WCW World Championship Wrestling (TBS) January 5th, 1991

From: Augusta, GA

Hosts: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

We open with highlights of the Z-Man's TV Title win over Arn Anderson from last week's show.



Sid Vicious VS. Pablo Crenshaw
This is the sort of squash I enjoyed. Sid may not have been the best wrestler, but his presence was awesome and watching him smash through jobbers was always fun. He hits Pablo with the cool spinning slam , for some reason he works on Pablo's knee on the outside? Before polishing him off with the powerbomb.



Paul E. Dangerously (with a scary ponytail) interviews Rip Rogers about his match with Flyin' Brian. Rip calls himself "The Marathon man".

Flyin' Brian VS. Rip Rogers - Falls don't count in first five minutes

A bit of a silly stip, but it made for quite an interesting match. Forgetting the rules Pillman goes for a series of pinfalls in the opening minutes of the match, for some reason ref Nick Paterick still counts even though it wouldn't count if he got to 3? The patten of the first 4-5 minutes is that Pillman goes at Rip attempting pins, whereas Rogers plays defense trying to play the long game. The highlight of the match is just past the five minute mark, Pillman skins the cat back inside, but is sent crashing to the canvas after the heel dodges a roll up attempt. Outside Pillman blocks a guard rail shot and hits a hot flying clothesline from the top of the platform Nowadays that move would seem tame, but in early 91 it was quite something. Rogers fires back, but ends up making himself dizzy when giving Pillman a areoplane spin. Pillman gains the edge with a beautiful karate kick, back inside the face goes for the win with a splash off the top, but Rogers gets the knees up at just the right time. Brian gathers himself again, and takes the three with a nice sunset flip off the top. Solid match. **1/2.



We get a ad for WCW's Sexist wrestler contest Fans can vote for the likes of Pillman, Sting, Luger and Terry Taylor!.


Z-Man-Arn recap from last week.

Beauitful Bobby VS. Reno Riggins
Bobby has recently gone single since his Midnight Express manager Jim Cornette and partner Stan Lane quit WCW in disgust (for real). Since then he's been feuding with Tom Zenk has a TV title shot coming up at The Clash of the Champions. Bobby gives Reno some nice offence, Riggins best moment being a nice leap frog and good looking drop kick. Eaton fires back with a hard clothesline, and later dusts Reno off with a sweet handspring bulldog counter, followed by his Alabama Jam top rope legdrop for the win. **




Paul E. interviews Terry Taylor calling him "Mr. Goody Two Shoes" Taylor's upset Z-Man got the TV title shot against Arn last week after he took the Enforcer to the limit three weeks in a row.

Renegades Warriors VS. Chuck Gnots and Ed Brock
The Renegades are the pits. If not for their Halloween Havoc 90 match with the Freebirds chances are it would as if they never appeared in WCW. Chris Youngblood scores the pin with a top rope leg drop in a dull match.



Minotaur (debut) VS. Mountain Man Bailey
As described by JR Minotaur is based on a character from Greek Mythology which was half-man half-bull. Looking like something which was squeezed out of a cemeical tube in the WCW Power plant, Minotaur with his Alice Cooper features, scary hair and silly costume is played by Purto Rica wrestling Stephen Disalio. The new comer wins a horrible match with a elbow drop, yes that's his finisher. *1/2




Lex Luger VS. Mike Samples
Ross and Caudle hype Lex's NFL rules match with the Big Cat with LT (Lawrence Taylor) appearing in the Total Package's corner. Luger wins this one with a football style block off the middle ropes.

Michael Wallstreet (W/Alexander O'York) VS. Gregg Sawyer
Before the match York predicts based on the computer's calculations that Wallstreet will beat Sawyer in under 5 minutes. A clock on the screen times him. I love this gimmick! Wallstreet wins with the stop market crash with 2.57 to spare. Post match Missy Hyatt interviews the heels. Wallstreet claims that Wallstreet itself are after his services. Missy and O'York accuse Paul E. of being sexist when he objects to Missy doing the interview.



Television Title: The Z-Man (c) VS. Dr. X
Taylor joins the annoucers again making clear that he wants a title shot. This is a sloppy first defence for Zenk, Dr. X stumbles around the ring like a drunk. The Champ retains with a drop kick off the top. *1/2



We see highlights of the Freebirds tricking Rick Steiner into giving them a U.S. Tag title shot. Sucking Rick into a one on one match with Hayes (where the Birds would get a title shot if he won), Hayes fakes a eye injury to get a DQ win (implying Rick was resposible). The finish made no sense since the ref had his back turned at the time. Still its good heelish fun. The Freebirds then run through jobbers Keith Hart (yes I'm guessing Bret's brother) and Jimmy McKinon, with stereo DDT's and a double pin.

Norman is hurt that Sid bullied him. The two will face each other next week.

In the WCW classics section Gordon Solie has highlights of the Sting VS. Flair 45 minute draw from the First Clash of Champions. Fitting since the two are once again feuding over the NWA title.

Terry Taylor VS. Arn Anderson
Two main with big claims for TV title shots face off in the feature match. Anderson is aggressive from the start, using his speed Taylor is able to get a couple of near falls including one from a sunset flip, after Arn had blocked a previous attempt following his funny dance/balancing act. Taylor seizes coutrol when ducking down, sliding through the ropes and wrapping Double A's arm round the ringpost. The face stays on top of the arm, and gets a two from a armbar slam and a backbreaker. A vintage Anderson spin buster catches the ex-Rooster off the ropes. Arn slows down the pace, but makes a couple of sloppy errors telegraphing high risk moves, with Taylor getting counting each time. The second time the ex-TV Champ is caught in a rocker launcher from the top. The heel steals the win a moment later, turning Taylor's running crossbody over into a pin and putting his feet on the ropes on the blind side of the ref. **1/2




JR interviews Lawrance Taylor about his involvement in the the Luger-Big Cat match. LT asks what sort of name is Paul E. for a man? Dangerously will be in the Cat's corner.

Tim Horner VS. George South
Corney loves Horner right?. Feels like jobber vs. jobber to me. Horner has a few nice armdrags but not much else. He wins with a roll up into a bridge pin.

The show ends with Paul E. and Missy hyping up their arm wrestling match at the Clash. The pair are told by Ross to get over their issues and act Professionally when broadcasting together. No such luck. Heyman makes a sexist remark and is slapped for his troubles.



More WCW tomorrow.

 

[Chris]

Pinfalls don't count in the first 5 minutes...wrestlers still go for pins quality

 

[Keith]

WCW Main Event 6th January, 1991



Hosts: Jim Ross and Missy Hyatt (yes Missy does announcing)

Michael Wallstreet (W/Alexandra York) VS. Dave Johnson
This time Ms. York's computer predicts Wallstreet will win by 1.49. Wallstreet gets the pin with the Stockmarket crash with 5 seconds to spare.

On the Danger Zone Paul. E shits on LT claiming his restaurant serves good food that's why Taylor is so fat and says LT stands for losing team.

"Nature Boy" Buddy Landell VS. "Wildfire" Tommy Rich
Can you believe the nerve of this company having Landell doing his cheap Flair ripoff with Flair still in the company Buddy poses and dances after basic moves like a arm drag. Landell steals the win when reversing a Rich crossbody into a pin and grabbing the tights in a dull match. **

Allen Iron Eagle & Tim Horner VS. Doug Vines and George South
Nothing to report in this one. Horner takes the fall with his school boy bridge. *1/2

Lex Luger VS. Mike Hart
The U.S. Champ is mobbed by the ladies at ringside. The torture rack does the job.



Main Event: The Fabulous Freebirds VS. The Juicer (The late Art Barr's Beetle Juice's style character) & Norman "the Trucker"
Thanks to the heels entertaining antics this was a watchable comedy match. The finish comes when Norman is injured on the floor following a double DDT. The Juicer makes a fight of it, but the numbers catch up with him and he goes down to a Double DDT. **

 

[Keith]

WWF Wrestling Challenge 6th January 1991



Hosts: Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby "the Brain" Heenan

Results:
The Hart Foundation run through Tom Bennett & Bob Bradley
Note: Both Harts are in the Rumble, Monsoon and Heenan highlight that it will be everyman for themselves even for tag teams like the Harts. Both Harts interviewed seprately agree. Neidhart acts heelish in the match.

The Undertaker destroys Randy Hunter with his top rope walk and Tombstone

Jake the Snake puts away Pete Sanchez with the DDT, the crowd are gagging for it.

The Nasty Boys in their WWF debut beat Duncan T. Jones and Scotty Williams with Sags' top rope elbow.
Note: The Nastys had just sighed from the NWA/WCW where they had a hard hitting U.S. Tag title feud with the Steiners. Their Halloween Havoc 90 match was the highlight.

Number One contender Sgt. Slaughter dusts off Raymond Hammer with a carmel clutch.

In a interview with the Warrior, Mean Gene claims that Saddam Hussien gave Slaughter some special army boots

Mr. Perfect pins a unnamed jobber with the Perfect plex.

Mean Gene, Mooney and Vince all hype up the rumble, plus a Boston Garden Houseshow.

 

[Chris]

It's wild to me that Taker did the rope walk so early, didn't seem like something Vince woulda let be a part of his moveset early on

 

[Keith]

It's wild to me that Taker did the rope walk so early, didn't seem like something Vince woulda let be a part of his moveset early on

Think he did it as Mean Mark in WCW too. Guess it was just part of his routine and Vince didn't mind because of the quality of the Taker gimmick.

 

[Keith]

WCW Worldwide Wrestling 12 January, 1991



Hosts: Tony Schiavone and "Dirty Dutch Mantell".

Dutch has been begging to do a interview for weeks, but is not best pleased when Tony offers him Brian Pillman

Lex Luger VS. Mike Hart
Tony does that babyface thing of pretending the jobber has been impressive the last few weeks. Hart gets a few shots in before Sexy Lexy fires back, hitting a nice looking superplex setting Hart up for the torture rack submission.

Dutch interviews Pillman who calls him out on his false sincereity. The face sets his sets on the World Title before being cut of by Dutch. The pair agree to a match later in the show.

Next we get a cool Wrestlewar 91 promo which for some reason has Michael Hayes decked out in Red, white and blue


Beauiful Bobby VS. Tommy Angel (with a nice early 90's mullet)
Eaton has this nice heel spot where he shakes the face's hand at the start of the match to trick him into thinking he can be trusted Bobby again gives the jobber a few blows in a tidy squash match. The former tag champ dusts Angel off with a sweet swinging neckbreaker and the Alabama Jam.


Anderson and Windham cut a promo in a parking lot filmed in grainy black and white. The Horsemen claim the 80's was all about the lies, but the 90's will be about truth. Arn talks about Armageddon and how they will dish out as much violence as possibly whilst sticking within the rules. The segement is a bit bafferling, but these guys are Pros.


Tim Horner VS. Rip Rogers
Rogers goes for the pretty boy look including pigtails! This is a decent match for what it is. The two start off by brawling before the bell. Horner blocks a piledriver attempt on the floor with a backdrop. Rogers blocks a sunset flip on the inside. Horner scores two with a surprise small package. Rogers catches Horner off the ropes into a slam, but is caught by the ref when he puts his feet on the rope on the pin. A Horner sunset flip off the middle rope gets a two. Horner once again gets the win with his rolling credle/bridge cover. His mini-push goes on. **



Dutch Mantell VS. Flyin' Brian Pillman
Pillman gets a jump start on the heel striaght from the bell. Two nice drop kicks, before Dutch rapes the eyes and tries to the turn the match into a slower brawl. Pillman hits a sunset flip but just gets one. Outside the babyface tastes the steel guard rail and takes shoulder to the ringpost. This could be nice fore shadowing as Pillman would have shoulder issues going into the War Games. A Mantell surplex gets two. Pillman returns the favour but then misses a drop kick. Again using rough house tactics Dutch gets some heat from the fans. He drops Brian accross the top rope, and rapes his face, but on the outside Pillman turns the tables, blocking a guard rail shot, and nailing Dutch with a couple. He's unable to finish Dutch off when missing a twisting crossbody off the ropes, but Mantell misses his own dive, which opens the door for a Pillman drop kick and a good looking clothesline off the top rope for the three count in a solid match. **1/2



In debut of his interview segment Sulivan Saloon, the new Sam Malore dusts off his bar and welcomes the Freebirds claiming the likes of Tina Turner, Springsteen and the Stones are just so passe. The Freebirds give Kevin a framed record and mock the Steiners hyping up their feud over the US Tag titles.

Rick Steiner VS. Topp Gallian
Jobber Gallian actually looks a lot like Jimmy Gavin. A dejected Steiner wins with a belly to belly off the ropes.

Lethal Larry (W/Theodore R. Long) VS. Ray Hammer
Another useless early 90's WCW debut. Larry looking so generic and lacking anything of much wins a dull job match with a horrible looking front piledriver. Larry was played by indie star Larry Cameron best known for his time in Stempede wrestling where he beat Davey Boy Smith for the Stempede North American Title. Sadly Cameron would die off a hart attack during a match aged just 41 a few years later.

 

[Keith]

WCW World Championship Wrestling 12 January, 1991

Ross goes solo this week.

Flyin' Brian VS. Mark Kyle
JR describes Kyle as a Professional power lifter Kyle heels it up claiming Pillman grabbed his tights on a take down. Brian shows some mat moves along with hard chops, he wins with a leaping kick and splash off the top rope.


Ricky Morton VS. "Wild" Bill Irwin
A solid, slow burn wrestling match with a very good face, and a solid heel. Irwin works the crowd nicely. Morton sells like a boss including for a Irwin clothesline. Wild Bill rips at Morton's face, looks into the camera "Smile Pretty Ricky". Morton telegraphs a head drop and is planted face first. A slow comeback by the Rock and rollet is met with a hard Irwin surplex for two. A lax cover after a elbow drop off the second rope leads to Irwin's downfall, as Morton dodges a elbow drop and hits a rolling credle for the pin. **1/2


The Renegade Warriors VS. The State Patrol
Predictably dull match. Young Blood's flying around the ring looks clumsy. The Indians do lots of yipping for cheap pops. A double tomahawk chop wins this battle of the generic tag teams. * 1/2

On the Danger Zone Paul E. interviews the Warrior who claim 91 will be their year. Anderson and Windham break up the interview, and give a beat down to the rookies. The faces waffle a bit more to end the segment. The teams will meet at the Clash.

The Z-Man VS. Tom Burke
Standard top rope drop kick Zenk win.

In the post-match Danger Zone, Bobby Eaton gets in the TV champ's face. Terry Taylor also comes out and says he wants the winner of their match at the Clash. Taylor challenges Eaton to a match in the main event with his TV title shot up for grabs. Eaton accepts.

We get a recap of Sid attacking a Santa dressed Norman from a few weeks back.

Sid Vicious VS. Norman
Sid bullies Norman for the first few minutes before missing a shoulder block in the corner. Norman slams Sid and hits a big leg drop, but misses with a splash. Norman takes the asprin his Mum gave him for his hardarchs. Sid cracks his head into the ringpost and gets the win. **

We get highlights from the big Meadowlands card from the past week. This includes Luger defeating the Big Cat in the football style match. Dangerously costs the Cat the match after tying the ref up so he couldn't see Luger being knocked to the floor. Plus Ric Flair wins his 7th NWA World Title defeating Sting. The finish comes with Sting accidently knocking the ref out when hitting a flying clothesline on Flair. There's no ref to count for the champ for a small package. Flair and Sting cracks heads in the center of the ring, the Horseman falls ontop of Sting and uses the ropes which a dazed ref doesn't see for the 1-2-3. Why this title change didn't take place on a PPV or at least on TV I don't know.


Konan VS. Joe Cazana
Konan first appeared for WCW in December at Starrcade for the International tag team tournament. 91 Konan is just as sloppy as 97 Konan. The Mexican wins with a fisherman.

Missy interviews Alexandra York and asks her if the computer can predict how long it will take Missy to beat Dangerously in the arm wrestling match at the Clash. York says the computer only predicts for athletes and Paul E's no athletes. Dangerously injects, mocking Missy's cheerleading past, and hints that she slept her way to her current job.

Rick Steiner VS. Jeff Sword
Dogface runs through the jobber with a belly to belly off the ropes.

Beautiful Bobby VS. Terry Taylor
A slow start with both feeling each other out. Taylor takes control with a hammerlock, a nice leap frog and two bodyslams for a two. Both counter each others hip-toss attempts before Taylor gets the best of it sending Eaton to the floor. Bobby claims this should be a DQ. The ref is happy that it was Eaton's momentum that took him outside. They brawl outside, Eaton tastes the ringpost. Back inside the former Midnight member turns the tables with a back surplex and a smooth swinging neckbreaker for a two and an half count. With 4 minutes of TV time remaining Eaton gets another two with a clothesline. Eaton then goes for a chinlock with feet on the ropes. Taylor counters with a chinbreaker. The former Rooster then catches Eaton up top, and hits a superplex. Taylor hits the five iron, but the time runs out before he can get the three. **1/2