Mega Powers Running Wild!

The legendary 'Macho man' Randy Savage teams up with 'The Immortal' Hulk Hogan to take on Ted Dibiase and Andre The Giant in the first ever WWF Summerslam!

Shawn Micahels vs. Mankind

The Heartbreak Kid defends the WWF Championship against Mankind in a thrilling main event at WWF In Your House: Mind Games.

The Birth of the nWo

From Hulk Hogan's shocking turn at WCW Bash at the Beach 1996 to the addition of Ted Dibiase, THe Giant Syxx and more, relive the very beginning of the New World Order.

Austin 3:16 Says I Just Kicked Your Ass

It's one of the most famous promos of all time; Stone Cold Steve Austin wins the 1996 King of The Ring and serves notice on all the WWF superstars. Check it out in our complete review

Wrestlemania 12 Review

The boyhood dream comes true as Shawn Michaels battles champion Bret 'The Hitman' Hart in a classic 1-hour iron man match. Plus, Diesel vs. Undertaker and more.

WCW Fall Brawl 1996 Review

Was Sting in cahoots with the New World Order? Would Lex Luger be able to get along with the Four Horsemen as they faced the nWo in War Games? Find out in this review

Wednesday, 25 August 2021

PPV REVIEW: WCW The Great American Bash 1990 - New Revolution

WCW Great American Bash 1990 - Event poster
July 7, 1990 
Baltimore Arena, Baltimore, Maryland

At the Great American Bash 1990, World Championship Wrestling finally got to pull the trigger on something which, by all accounts, should have happened months before:

Crowning Sting as the new World Heavyweight Champion.

The future Hall of Famer had been well-established as the company's most popular babyface for sometime, meaning a match with reigning champion Nature Boy Ric Flair was inevitable.

Alas, The Stinger had been injured on a Clash show just weeks before his originally scheduled date with destiny and had been forced to spend the intervening time hanging out with Robocop and cutting promos.

Tonight, Sting would finally get his big match and claim his rightful position as the company's top star, so let's head down to Baltimore, Maryland and see how it all played out.





Welcome to The Bash

We kicked off tonight with a revolution-themed video featuring The Four Horsemen on actual horses, rivals Sting & Flair as portraits and other depictions tying WCW in with America’s past.

From there, it was down to our announce team of Jim Ross and Bob Caudle to give us the run down of tonight’s featured attractions, including the WCW debut of Big Van Vader.

We’d see Vader later, but first it was time for our opening contest.

Nature Boy Buddy Landel vs. Flyin’ Brian

WCW Great American Bash 1990 - Buddy Landel
And so we kicked things off with this, an opening match pitting the veteran Buddy Landel against the up ‘n’ coming Flyin’ Brian Pillman.

Personally, I never quite saw the appeal of Landel. He seemed old school in a way that definitely wasn’t cool.

That said, this was a decent if pretty forgettable bout which saw Pillman claim victory thanks to a flying cross body off the top.
Your Winner: Flyin’ Brian

Out in the crowd, Gordon Sollie basically repeated the same kind of “here’s what’s coming up” hype we’d gotten from Ross and Caudle earlier.

As he did so, Iron Sheik made his way to the ring for the next match.

The Iron Sheik vs. Captain Mike Rotunda

WCW Great American Bash 1990 - Iron Sheik vs. Captain Mike
This seemed like a random thrown-together match with no rhyme or reason behind it.

Sure, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s sometimes nice to have two guys competing just for the sake of competing, but still, it felt like a weird combination for a match.

Of course, I’m saying all this simply because absolutely nothing interesting happened here.

Sheik beat up Captain Mike for the majority of the match, the future tax man then pulled a backslide out of nowhere and scored the win.

It wasn’t awful, but it certainly wasn’t good either.
Your Winner: Captain Mike

Out on the arena floor, Sollie interviewed Harley Race about his return to the NWA and his upcoming match with Wildfire Tommy Rich.

Race swore to get revenge on Rich for once beating him for the World Heavyweight Championship years ago.

He then turned his attention to the main event and made the pretty obvious “prediction” that if Ric Flair wasn’t on his game then he might lose to Sting.

Well, yeah.

Dirty Dutch Mantell vs. ‘The World’s Strongest Man’ Doug Furnas

WCW Great American Bash 1990 - Dutch Mantell faced Doug Furnas
Finally, after a whole bunch of meh, we got some pretty good action in the form of Doug Furnas vs. Dirty Dutch Mantell.

Furnas showed up to prove what he was capable of, dashing around the ring with speed, strength, and agility while Jim Ross gushed about how many world records in “strength” The World’s Strongest Man actually had.

To counter this, Mantell used cunning, craftiness, and some good old-fashioned cheating, ultimately managing to keep the explosive Furnas to the ground.

Unfortunately for the wily veteran, it wasn’t enough to keep his opponent down for long.

Furnas blasted Mantell with a big-time belly-to-belly to score the pin in the first enjoyable match of the show so far.
Your Winner: Doug Furnass

WCW Great American Bash 1990 - Jim Cornette
Out in the arena, Jim Cornette gave an excellent promo to Gordon Sollie.

The legendary manager quickly hyped up the two feature attractions on tonight’s show before turning his attention to The Midnight Express and their title defence against The Southern Boys.

As compelling as ever, Cornette put over his own team in fine fashion and vowed that while Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers may be good, they weren’t good enough to dethrone Sweet Stan Lane and Beautiful Bobby Eaton.

This was damn good stuff from James E.

Wildfire Tommy Rich vs. Harley Race

This was a passable contest in which both men did the best they could with what they had.

For Race, this was his first NWA PPV appearance since Starrcade '83 and his first PPV appearance in general since Royal Rumble 1989.

In fact, he still wore the purple singlet with the crown motif from his run as King of the WWF.

Jim Ross tried to cover for his by pondering whether the former champion was a fan of the Sacramento Kings.

The match itself was alright, but like most of the matches that went before it, it was hardly must-see viewing.

WCW Great American Bash 1990 - Paul Heyman and Mean Mark
In the end, Rich flew off the top with a crossbody but Race rolled over and got the one, the two, and the three.
Your Winner: Harley Race

Following the match-promo-match formula, we went back to Gordon Sollie who was standing by with Paul E. Dangerously and his charge, Mean Mark Callous.

Putting over Mark’s upcoming US title match against Lex Luger, Dangerously ranted and raved about how mean and tough Mean Mark really was, all while the man himself ripped up a Luger t-shirt.

That was fun.

NWA United States Tag Team Championship
NWA US Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express (Sweet Stan Lane and Beautiful Bobby Eaton w/ Jim Cornette) vs. The Wild-Eyed Southern Boys (Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong)

The first genuinely exciting match on the card up to this point, this was classic tag team action in the very best sense.

Despite The Midnights being the heels, both teams had their fair share of fans, making for an electric atmosphere from start to finish.

Of course, it helped that the action was damn fine too.

Apart from a weird spot where Stan Lane and Tracy Smothers stopped to have a “karate” fight that looked nothing like any kind of actual karate you e ever seen, it was all thrilling stuff.

After teasing that the plucky Southern Boys might just steal victory, Sweet Stan kicked Smothers in the back of the head and Eaton rolled him up for the fall.
Your Winners and still US Tag Team Champions: The Midnight Express

WCW Great American Bash 1990 - The Fabulous Freebirds
Out in the arena, Gordon Sollie interviewed The Fabulous Freebirds, who were not only covered in glitter and make-up but who had also decided that wearing t-shirts around their necks like bibs was a cool look for them.

The duo were there to talk about their match with The Steiner Brothers but Michael P.S Hayes wanted to brag about his ability to erm..drive things.

“There’s nothing with four wheels that we can’t drive and there’s nothing with four legs that we can’t ride,” he boasted.

Could you imagine being Michael Hayes’ pet dog? The poor thing must’ve been terrified every time Hayes came over to it with that ‘yeehaw, giddy up!’ glint in his eye.

Z-Man vs. Big Van Vader

WCW Great American Bash 1990 - Big Van Vader made his debut
Was there anything in the world cooler than Vader’s head-dress thing that he used to wear?

The big man was making his debut here did so in formidable fashion, destroying Z-Man in under five minutes.

It wasn’t much of a match, but it wasn’t supposed to be. It was supposed to be a showcase for how awesome Big Van Vader was, and to that end it was very effective.

I should also mention that, prior to the match, Vader played for the crowd as a babyface would. This surprised this writer who only ever knew of the big man as a heel.
Your Winner: Big Van Vader

In a break from the in-ring action, Gordon Sollie interviewed The Four Horsemen about their upcoming match against Junkyard Dog, Paul Orndorff, and the debuting El Gigante.

Barry Windham and Ole Anderson did all the talking for their team, promising that they had a plan to emerge victorious tonight.

The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael ‘P.S’ Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) vs. The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner)

WCW Great American Bash 1990 - Jimmy Jam Garvin puts Ric Steiner to sleep
I’ll be honest with you, I never quite understood what this version of The Fabulous Freebirds were supposed to be.

Were they supposed to be genuinely cool rock stars or deluded heels who had no idea how utterly goofy they looked?

Still, while I might not get it, I’m a little kinder to Michael Hayes and Jimmy ‘Jam’ Garvin than the Baltimore crowd were.

Early in the match, the fans targetted Garvin with a gay slur that I won't be repeating here, and later broke out with a chorus of “Michael is a b*tch! Michael is a b*tch!”

Anyway, the match itself was fine once it got going.

Sure, it wasn’t up to the standards of the earlier Midnights/Southern Boys encounter, but The Steiners rarely disappointed and they certainly didn’t here.

After a good effort, Garvin looked to have Scott Steiner pinned but the referee scolded the Freebird for not being the legal man.

In the confusion, Rick Steiner took Hayes to suplex city for the win.
Your Winners: The Steiner Brothers

WCW Great American Bash 1990 - Jim Ross and Bob Caudle called the event
Prior to the next match, Jim Ross and Bob Caudle informed us that the next WCW PPV would be Halloween Havoc 1990 in October. 

I don't know about you, dear reader, but I miss the days when there was a several-month stretch between pay per views.

The announcers also put over our remaining matches and questioned the condition of Sting. The popular star hadn't competed since busting his knee at WCW Clash of the Champions X, and tonight would be his big comeback match.

Would the Stinger be at 100% tonight?

Ross and Caudle insisted that he'd have to be if he was to stand any chance of dethroning The Nature Boy.

The Four Horsemen (NWA TV Champion Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, and Sid Vicious) vs. The Dudes With Attitudes ('Mr. Wonderful' Paul Orndorff, Junkyard Dog, and El Gigante)

And so, after Big Van Vader, this was to be our second debut on the show as El Gigante stepped into the ring to compete for the first time.

WCW Great American Bash 1990 - El Gigante made his in-ring debut
Not that he actually did anything.

In fact, the spectacle of Gigante, coupled with The Horsemen's excellent reactions to him proved to be far more entertaining than anything Jorge González could have possibly done.

The big man spent most of the match on the apron, with the heels occasionally coming near him and cowering in fear when he threatened to strike them or step over the ropes. It was these reactions, brilliant as they were, that overshadowed any of the actual action.

Of course, Jim Ross chose not to focus on this at first. Gigante didn't have a football career, so the sports-obsessed announcer had no choice but to clutch at straws and talk about the Argentina soccer football team competing in the 1990 World Cup.

That wasn't the only thing overshadowing Gigante's debut.

The other thing was Sid Vicious.

It occurs to me as I'm writing this that big Sid never really worked as a heel because people always ALWAYS loved him. Even when he was teaming with Dan Spivey in The Skyscrapers, he and he alone would get the biggest reaction of any match he was in.

The same applied here, with the crowd erupting into loud chants of "WE WANT SID!" and going banana every time the colossal star stepped foot between the ropes.

Also of note here was the fact that Junkyard Dog had decided not to sell a single thing in this match. Every time somebody struck him, he stood and stared at them. Every time somebody attempted a power move, he refused to budge. It was a weird sight, but at least the Horsemen did the best they could with it.

That's pretty much the best way to sum up this match too. The Horsemen (and Orndorff who, to be fair, worked hard), all worked hard to salvage this match from being a total stinker.

In the end, the over-the-top-rope DQ rule that WCW was enforcing at the time came into play and Sid, Arn Anderson, and Barry Windham were disqualified without the much-hyped El Gigante even getting a single legal tag.
Your Winners via Disqualification: The Dudes With Attitudes

Before his big title defence, US champion Lex Luger responded to his challenger’s earlier actions, insisting it would be a lot more difficult to tear him apart the way Mean Mark tore up that t-shirt.

Luger was decent here, but I won’t lie, The Total Package was always far more entertaining to this fan when he was a heel.

National Wrestling Alliance United States Championship
NWA US Champion Lex Luger vs. Mean Mark (w/ Paul E. Dangerously)


Mean Mark and Lex Luger were two huge dudes who could have clobbered their way through a good power match. Instead, they spent the first part of this US title contest holding each other in armbars, basically sucking the life out of things and quickly losing this fan’s interest.

Things got a little better once the match finally picked up steam, but by that point, I won’t lie, I was past the point of caring.

Towards the end, the challenger went for the heart punch but Luger booted him in the head, decked Paul E. then clobbered Mark with a clothesline for the fall because this was 1990 and a clothesline was still an acceptable way to win a match.
Your Winner and Still US Champion: Lex Luger

Backstage, an un-painted Sting put Ric Flair over as a great champion before admitting that while he was a little nervous, his knee was back at 100% and he was more than ready to take on The Nature Boy in tonight’s world title main event.

National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship
NWA Tag Team Champions Doom (Ron Simmons & Butch Reed w/ Teddy Long) vs. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson)

WCW Great American Bash 1990 - Teddy Long led Doom into battle against the Rock 'n' Roll Express
I may have mentioned this before, but it always strikes me as odd to at a team with such an ominous name as DOOM would have theme music that sounds like it was rejected as the theme from Wheel of Fortune or something.

Anyway, while I’m sure there are fans of this match, this writer isn’t really one of them.

The match was OK, but Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson’s trademark formula made it somewhat predictable and neither team seemed concerned with doing anything interesting enough to make it feel like it wasn’t just every tag team match you’ve ever seen.

After an unspectacular outing, Butch Reed got the win over Gibson.
Your Winners and Still Tag Team Champions: Doom

Prior to the main event, we saw a pre-recorded segment in which Ric Flair gave an interview to Gordon Sollie.

As on-form as ever, The Nature Boy reminded Sting that to be the man...you have to beat the man....

Wooooooo!

National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship No Disqualification Match
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nature Boy Ric Flair vs. Sting (w/ The Dudes With Attitudes)

WCW Great American Bash 1990 - Sting beat Ric Flair for the world heavyweight championship
Meeting in singles competition for the first time since Clash of the Champions 1, Ric Flair and Sting gave a compelling performance here.

To keep the Four Horsemen from interfering, Paul Orndorff, Junkyard Dog, and The Steiners surrounded the ring while Ole Anderson was forced to be handcuffed to El Gigante for the duration of the match.

And what a match it was. Though it may not technically have been the best you were ever going to get from these two, there was a real sense that you were watching something important.

That big match feel, coupled with both star’s solid performances really ensured one delivered the goods.

Towards the end, the challenger charged at the champion with a running knee to the corner. Flair moved and Sting’s previously injured knee collided with the top turnbuckle.

Looking to capitalize, Flair went for the figure four but got rolled up into an inside cradle.

One three count later and, ladies and gentlemen, we had ourselves a new champion.
Your Winner and NEW NWA World Heavyweight Champion: Sting

Post match, Sting celebrated with The Dudes With Attitudes before heading to the back, exhausted yet triumphant. 



And so, months later than  planned, Sting had finally claimed his place at the top of the WCW mountain in a tremendous match that had been well worth the wait.

Before that, The Great American Bash 1990 had been a mixed bag in terms of in-ring competition. The Midnights/Southern Boys and Doom/Steiners were good matches, Dutch Mantell vs. Doug Furnas was a surprising early highlight, and everything else was just, well, kind of there. 

Still, besides the main event, it wasn't really the matches themselves that make this such a significant event. The crowning of a new world champion, the debut of Big Van Vader (and, to a lesser-extent, El Gigante) and the final WCW PPV appearance of a certain Mark Calaway all earned this one it's place in the history books. 




Thursday, 19 August 2021

PPV REVIEW: WWE King of the Ring 2002

WWE King of the Ring 2002 - Event poster
June 23, 2002,
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio

Though it’s not an event that gets talked about much these days, WWE King of the Ring 2002 was a historically significant event, namely because it was the last time King of the Ring would feature as one of the company’s Big Five PPVs.

Indeed, although the concept would be revived for TV multiple times over the next two decades, this was ultimately the last King of the Ring PPV to ever take place.

To a lesser degree, it was also important for being the first PPV since Stone Cold Steve Austin had “taken his ball and gone home” - having exited the company a few weeks earlier following after being unhappy with a proposed TV match between himself and Brock Lesnar.

The company hadn’t exactly kept this quiet, either.

On the episode of Raw that Austin vs. Brock was supposed to take place on, Vince McMahon instead came out and publicly thanked Stone Cold for his service.

From there, Austin’s departure was played into an angle where McMahon thought he was coming back, only to find out that it was The Rock who was returning.

The Great One hit the ring and cut a semi-shoot promo in which he spoke of  how much wrestlers were passionate about what they do and urged any wrestler who didn’t want to be there to “get the F out.

And as for Brock? Well, it turned out he didn’t need a win over Austin to continue his meteoric rise.

He had smashed his way into the King of the Ring finals and was now well on the way to cementing his legacy as World Wrestling Entertainment presented King of the Ring 2002.






Who Will Win King of the Ring?

WWE King of the Ring 2002 - Jim Ross and Jerry 'The King' Lawler
Tonight’s show opened up with a look back at all of the people who had won the King of the Ring tournament since the PPV’s inception.

Well, I say all of them, it missed out the 1995 King of the Ring PPV and jumped right from ‘94 to ‘96, probably because the company was too embarrassed to admit that the Main Event Mabel experiment had been a disaster. 

It then skipped over Ken Shamrock and Billy Gunn too, probably for similar reasons. 

From there, the video asked the all-important question:

Who would win this year’s event.

Would it be The Next Big Thing Brock Lesnar?

The Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam?

The first ever undisputed champion Chris Jericho?

Or erm...Test?

There was, of course, only one way to find out, so went down to the arena with crowd shots aplenty and our usual greeting from announcers Jim Ross and Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler.

Ross and Lawler quickly put over the non-tournament matches and with that it was on with the show. 

King of the Ring Semi Final 1
Chris Jericho vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam 

WWE King of the Ring 2002 - Rob Van Dam vs. Chris Jericho
There are those occasions when two wrestlers are so talented that expectations for a match between them are set incredibly high, meaning no matter what they do, they can’t help but disappoint.

This was not one of those occasions.

The combined talents of Rob Van Dam and Chris Jericho resulted in an opening match that was crazy good.

Definitely a contender for one of the best King of the Ring tournament matches ever, this was every bit as good as you’d hope it would be.

The match built up and built up towards a crescendo of near falls before RVD finally got the better of Jericho and earned his place in the final.
Your Winner (advances to the final): Rob Van Dam

After, Lawler conducted an in-ring post-match interview with the victor who, in a typical laid back fashion, claimed that he didn’t care if he had to face Lesnar, Test, or even Godzilla in the final.

Why?

Well, because he was R...V...D of course. 

Just as this was wrapping up, a frustrated Jericho attacked and locked Van Dam in the Walls, essentially giving the ever-popular Intercontinental Champion a good excuse for losing to Lesnar late on. 00.21.10 - RVD

Speaking of The Next Big Thing...

WWE King of the Ring 2002 - Paul Heyman psyches up Brock Lesnar
Godzilla is Fake

Backstage, Lesnar and Paul Heyman had been watching this unfold on a television monitor.

Referencing RVD’s promo, Heyman buried Godzilla for being fake while reminding Lesnar that he was real.

It was a compelling pep talk from Heyman, even if Brock probably didn’t need it.

King of the Ring Semi Final Match 2
Test vs. Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman)

I originally started writing about this match by saying that I doubted anyone really thought Test stood a legitimate chance of beating Brock.

That’s not to say Test wasn’t a decent performer. I always enjoyed his character and while he wasn’t the best wrestler in the world, he was far from the worst.

Still, I assumed this was going to be Brock inevitably squashing the Canadian en route to the final.

Instead, Test delivered a star-making performance in which he almost...almost walked away with the victory and more than held his own against his rapidly rising opponent.

Though he was technically a heel, his somewhat underdog status and the fact that Brock was an uber-heel meant that Test had the crowd firmly behind him as he took the right to Lesnar and only lost because Heyman got involved.
Your Winner: Brock Lesnar (advances to the final) 

WWE King of the Ring 2002 - Marc Lloyd interviews Lance Storm and Christian
Out in the back, Jonathan Coachman made his way into the Raw Locker room to get some thoughts on the all-Raw final.

Bubba Ray Dudley told coach that having been in the ring with both RVD and Lesnar, he really didn’t fancy RVD’s chances.

Dudley also added that while he would have loved to be competing in the tournament tonight (he lost to Brock in the first round), he would simply find another way to make an impact.

Across the way, Marc Loyd looked to get a similar response from the Smackdown crew.

Instead, he bumped into Lance Storm and Christian.

The duo had recently started a whole “this company is prejudiced against Canadians” angle on Smackdown and told Loyd that the fact an all-Canadian final between Jericho and Test wasn’t happening was only further proof of WWE’s bias.

Storming off (no pun intended) Lance declared that he and Christian would have to stand up for what was right, and thus, a new tag team was born.

Standback, There’s a a Noble Coming Through 

Back in the arena, Smackdown’s Michael Cole and Tazz looked like they were standing in front of a green screen as they hyped up the upcoming Cruiserweight match between The Hurricane and Jamie Noble.

This was followed by a video package recapping the story between the two.

To sum up:

Shane Helms and Tough Enough 1 co-winner Nidia had dated at some point but then he dumped her to focus on superhero things, so Nidia had started dating former WCW Cruiserweight star Jamie Noble and recruited her new boyfriend to antagonize Hurricane.

Adding to all this was the fact that Nidia was portrayed as some kind of sexual deviant/nymphomaniac who got horny any time someone was aggressive.

WWE Cruiserweight Championship 
WWE Cruiserweight Champion The Hurricane vs. Jamie Noble (w/ Nidia)

WWE King of the Ring 2002 - Jamie Noble vs. The Hurricane
This was a tremendously fun Cruiserweight match.

Maybe not an all-time classic, sure, and maybe not even on a par of some the jaw-dropping spotfests these two were involved in as members of 3 Count and The Jung Dragons back in WCW, but a good, solid, flip-flop-and-fly match in its own right.

After plenty of back and forth action and some genuinely exciting moments, Noble powerbombed the living hell out of Hurricane and made the cover.

Nidia prevented her ex-lover from using the ropes to break the fall, and one three count later we had a new Cruiserweight champion.
Your Winner and New Cruiserweight Champion: Jamie Noble 

Post-match, Nidia snogged the new champion’s face off.

A Word With Latino Heat

WWE King of the Ring 2002 - Terri interviews Eddie Guerrero
Earlier, on Sunday Night Heat, The Rock had arrived at the arena.

We’d hear more from him later, but for now it was time for heat of a Latino kind.

Backstage, Terri reminded Eddie Guerrero of the time he and Krispin Wah had beaten up Ric Flair and asked if he was worried about unleashing ‘The Dirtiest Player in the Game.’

As if to show just how unconcerned he was, Latino Heat spent the first part of his promo giving shout outs to his family before finally declaring that he was going to put Ric Flair in a retirement home once and for all.

This was good stuff from Guerrero, who never failed to entertain.

Ric Flair vs. Eddie Guerrero 

WWE King of the Ring 2002 - Eddie Guerrero vs. Ric Flair
For those keeping score, this was the first time Flair and Guerrero had wrestled -at least on PPV- since WCW Hog Wild 1996.

Meanwhile, Naitch had already turned twice in the six months he’d been in the company.

He’d joined as a babyface co-owner for a storyline with Vince, turned heel for a feud with Austin, then turned face again to take Austin’s place in a storyline with Eddie Guerrero.

Anyway, regardless of all that, this started off as a fine match with the wily Guerrera trying his best to out-maneuver his skillful opponent before finally getting the better of him and beating him down.

From there, however, the match slowly but surely ran out of steam and struggled to maintain this fan’s attention.

After an otherwise decent outing, an interfering Chris Benoit put Flair in the Crippler Crossface on the outside.

While the referee was busy sending The Rabid Wolverine to the back, Bubba Ray Dudley put in the night’s most random cameo and planted Eddie with a Bubba Bomb.

Flair got back in the ring, made the cover, and this one was done.
Your Winner: Ric Flair

Meanwhile, over at The World (formerly WWF New York), William Regal and newcomer Chris Nowinski complained about the slow service.

When Nowinski laughed at the waitress for only going to community college, she played with his food behind his back to gross it up a bit before he ate.

Up next, women’s action.

WWE Women’s Championship 
WWE Women’s Champion Trish Stratus vs. Molly Holly 

This was a good women’s championship between two talented performers who showed up to work, so it was a shame that Ross and Lawler spent most of the match referencing the awful “Molly’s got a big butt” angle.

That aside, this was a good match that came to an end when the challenger reversed a roll-up, grabbed a handful of tights, and captured the title.
Your Winner and New Women’s Champion: Molly Holly

Out in the back, Kurt Angle spoke to Marc Loyd about his rivalry with Hulk Hogan.

Back at Judgement Day, Hogan had lost the title to Undertaker while Angle had lost his hair to Edge.

Hogan had then tried to retire, only for Vince McMahon to declare that he had The Hulkster under an iron-clad contract and would insist he keep wrestling.

Hogan had challenged Vince to a fight but got attacked by loyal McMahon suck-up Angle instead.

All the while, Angle had been wearing a wig and wrestling headgear to hide his newfound baldness.

This led to one of the most hilarious promos of all time in which Hogan actually poked fun at his own baldness and declared that he has “lost a hair match to Mother Nature, brother.

Honestly, it’s been days since I watched that episode of Smackdown and I still haven’t stopped laughing at that line.

Anyway, that match was next.

Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. Kurt Angle 

WWE King of the Ring 2002 - Kurt Angle vs. Hulk Hogan
This was another good match, with Hogan’s old-school style somehow blending in well with Angle’s Wrestling Machine approach.

After a good back and forth battle, Hogan ripped Angle’s wig off, prompting The Olympic Gold Medalist to storm off.

He later returned brandishing a chair but when he swung, Hogan moved, the chair hit the ropes and Angle wound up KO’ing himself.

It wasn’t over there though, our Olympic Hero reversed a pin attempt into an Ankle Lock, and despite a valiant effort to break the hold, Hulk Hogan had no choice but to submit in what was probably the first time in his career.
Your Winner: Kurt Angle 

Out in the back, the greatest backstage skit of all time took place.

Goldust had dressed up as The Rock and was busy hyping The Great One’s return to Booker T when Rock himself turned up and put an end to it.

What followed was a hilarious back and forth between all three men.

Here, see for yourself:


King of the Ring Final
Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Rob Van Dam 

WWE King of the Ring 2002 - Brock Lesnar won the King of the Ring
This was one of -if not the- shortest matches on the show up to this point, but it was still entertaining in its own right.

RVD took the fight right to Lesnar and almost looked to have him beat with a five-star frog splash, but alas it wasn’t to be.

Lesnar caught Van Dam coming off the ropes, hit him with an F5 and won the tournament.
Your Winner and 2002 King of the Ring: Brock Lesnar

There was no fanfare or ceremony for your new King of the Ring, Big Brock simply walked backstage with Paul Heyman reminding him that the winner of the tournament earned a title shot at  Summerslam.

A Clique Reunion

WWE King of the Ring 2002 - The Clique had a backstage reunion
Backstage, Triple H was walking, ready for his match with The Undertaker when he bumped into the New World Order.

Teasing tensions, The Game eventually hugged it out with Kevin Nash and the recently returned Shawn Michaels before embracing X-Pac.

With Big Show looking on ominously, Nash told Hunter that if he needed help, all he had to do was throw up the too sweet gesture.

Hunter walked off, leading to another green screen appearance from Tazz and Cole, followed by a video package highlighting our upcoming main event.

WWE Undisputed Championship 
WWE Undisputed Champion The Undertaker vs. Triple H

WWE King of the Ring 2002 - Undertaker defended the Undisputed title against Triple H
This was a match that was really a victim of circumstance. In any other situation and with anything else going on around it, Undertaker vs. Triple H could deliver, but tonight, it all went wrong. 

Perhaps the main problem was the inevitable appearance of The Rock casting a shadow over everything both combatants did. 

The Great One hadn't been scheduled to return for a few weeks but had been rushed back to the company to help fill the gaping void left by the absence of Stone Cold Steve Austin. 

In the aforementioned segment with Booker T and Goldust, he had claimed that his reason for being here was to watch the main event. That meant everybody knew there was going to be a run-in from The People's Champion at some point.

As such, the fans in attendance seemed to barely care about anything either competitor did. 

In fact, at various points, you could clearly see that fans in the first few rows were either visibly bored or simply trying to entertain themselves while waiting for The Rock, all to the detriment of the actual match taking place. 

Midway through a lacklustre performance, Earl Hebner got utterly mangled in the corner before both champ and challenger took each other out with clotheslines. The moment their bodies hit the mat, all eyes turned away from the ring and immediately started looking towards the entrance, as if to say "finally, something we actually care about." 

Sure enough, The Rock dashed to ringside and ran off Paul Heyman. Heyman had been doing a very annoying job on commentary, completely overshadowing anything going in the ring by incessantly focussing on Brock Lesnar. 

Yes, I get it, but Heyman's persistent chatter certainly didn't help a match that was already struggling, so it was a relief when Rock saw him off. 

Things picked up slightly from there.

Undertaker attacked The Rock, The Rock swung at 'Taker with a chair, missed, and took out The Game. Back in the ring -with Earl Hebner comatose- Rock finally laid out the champ with a Rock Bottom, but it wasn't enough to give HHH the win. 

With the match getting a second wind, I was almost ready to change my opinion on it entirely and say that it developed into a very good, dramatic match, but then the finish happened.

The challenger laid out his opponent with a Pedigree, but Hebner was so destroyed that he could make the pin. Hunter tried dragging the zebra over to the middle of the ring so that he could better count, but 'Taker struck his nemesis with a low-blow and this undisputed championship PPV main event ended with -of all things- a roll-up. 
Your Winner and Still Undisputed Champion: The Undertaker

Post match shenanigans ensued with The Rock returning to take out 'Taker, The Game getting revenge for that earlier chair shot by pummelling The People's Champion, and Big Evil taking out Triple H to stand tall as the show went off the air.







I've read a lot of criticism of this show, with many people saying that it underperformed and that the quality was bad.

I'll give you that the main event was severely disappointing. I won't lie, it took me three attempts to watch it. At first, I thought it was just because I wasn't in the mood, but now I realise it's because it sucked. 

That said, I stand by my verdict that the rest of the card was pretty good. RVD/Jericho was a fine opening contest, the cruiserweight battle and the Hogan/Angle matches were enjoyable, and Lesnar and his opponents played to their strengths as The Next Big Thing took another step closer to superstardom.

Not the greatest show of all time perhaps, but certainly better than some cynical fans would have you believe.

Thursday, 12 August 2021

EVENT REVIEW: WCW Clash of the Champions XI - Costal Crush

WCW Clash of the Champions XI - Costal Crush
June 13, 1990 Charleston, South Carolina

By the time WCW Clash of the Champions XI - Costal Crush came around, Sting was still out of action, recovering from the knee injury he'd suffered back at the tenth Clash event.

Still, as the company's top babyface, WCW eager to keep him around on screen, having him pop-up for promos in which he verbally sparred with The Four Horsemen.

Meanwhile, the man he would inevitably go on to dethrone for the World Heavyweight Championship, Nature Boy Ric Flair prepared to put his title on the line against Junkyard Dog.

While there was no doubting JYD's popularity, his inclusion in this match certainly felt like something of a stop-gap, a way to kill time until Sting could finally get his date with destiny.

Here's what went down when Costal Crush came to South Carolina.






They’re Back (and better than ever)

WCW Clash of the Champions XI - Tony Schiavone
Our show tonight began with a tour of Charleston, with a voice-over informing us that the last time WCW had scheduled a show here, Hurricane Hugo had prevented it.

Tonight, WCW was back, and sow too were the people of Charleston.

Heading live into the arena, a fresh-faced Tony Schiavone had questions for us:

Could Junkyard Dog dethrone Ric Flair to become the first black NWA champion?

Could The Steiners reclaim the world tag team titles from Doom? And would the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express be able to make history by capturing the US tag team champions?

We’d find out the answers to all of these questions tonight at Costal Crush, but first, we went to our announcers Jim Ross and Bob Caudle.

The duo hyped up tonight’s three big title matches along with other exciting moments such as an appearance by El Gigante and Lex Luger answering questions on the WCW hotline.

With that, it was down to ringside for our opening contest.

Wild-Eyed Southern Boys (Steve Armstrong & Tracy Smothers) vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael ‘P.S’ Hayes & Jimmy ‘Jam’ Garvin)

WCW Clash of the Champions XI - The Wild-Eyed Southern Boys
Prior to the bell, Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong gave a pre-recorded promo in which they stood in front of a rebel flag and talked about how southern they were.

We then saw a clip of Michael ‘P.S’ Hayes strutting his stuff in front of a live band as he sang ‘Bad Street USA.

The match finally got underway and proved to be a textbook opening contest - not so much a classic wrestling match, but the Freebirds heeling it up and the Wild-Eyed Southern Boys doing their plucky underdog routine to perfection.

It was a good combination that produced a fun match with lots of enjoyable back-and-forth action culminating in the Southern Boys picking up the upset victory thanks to Armstrong’s well-placed flying head butt to Jimmy Garvin’s kidneys. Your Winners: The Wild-Eyed Southern Boys

Before going to a commercial, we got a reminder that LEX LUGAR was going to be on the wrestling hotline.

Trust WCW to spell the name of one of their biggest stars wrong.

After the commercial, it was right on to our next match.

Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Sir Oliver Humperdink) vs. ‘Wildfire’ Tommy Rich

WCW Clash of the Champions XI - Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Sir Oliver Humperdink
This wasn’t much of a match at all.

Tommy Rich control in the early going and worked Bam Bam Bigelow’s arm for a bit then got him in the corner to drop ten punches on his noggin.

Bammer responded by choking Rich out until he got himself disqualified and that was that. Your Winner by DQ: Tommy Rich

Post-match, Bam Bam went nuts, beating Rich some more then storming about the ring yelling ‘ARGH! I’LL KILL EVERYBODY!’

To be fair, that was better than almost the entire match.

Another commercial break followed, after which we were told about the company’s next PPV, The Great American Bash.

Jim Ross informed us that none other than Big Van Vader would be debuting at that show, and this led us to a clip of the late, great Leon White making his entrance at a show in Japan wearing that absolute bad ass head gear that he used to wear.

Speaking of bad ass, we next went to Gary Michael Capetta.

Standing in the ring, GNC confirmed that Vader would be debuting at the Bash along with another man, the largest athlete in the world, El Gigante.

El Gigante Speaks (in Spanish)

The big man made his way to the ring as GMC read off some impressive stats about how big his feet were before informing us that Gigante would be teaming with Junkyard Dog and Paul Orndorff to take on The Four Horsemen at The Great American Bash.

Capetta then interviewed the newcomer in Spanish, informing us that the future Giant Gonzales was looking forward to making his debut and knew that WCW was the place to be.

Honestly, it says something when your hot, new star is outshined by your ring announcer.

The Samoan Swat Team (Fatu & The Savage) vs. Captain Mike & Z-Man

WCW Clash of the Champions XI - The Samoans faced Captain Mike & Z-Man
This was decent for what it was, but it was too short to be anything meaningful.

The Samoans dominated the match with some fast-but-hard offence, taking out Z-Man and leaving him prime for pinning.

Before they got the fall, however, Fatu and The Savage took to the ropes to pose.

With their backs turned, Zenk swapped places with Captain Mike who lay prone on the mat but then revealed he was playing possum and rolled up his opponent for the 1,2,3. Your Winners: Captain Mike & Z-Man

Yes, apparently, The Samoans were too stupid to realise that Rotunda and Zenk were not the same person even though they looked nothing alike.

Up next, we got a highlight package of Mean Mark, showing us that the big man was far more capable and athletic than his early portrayal of The Undertaker would have you believe.

Mean Mark (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Flyin’ Brian Pillman

This was another fun-but-short match pitting Mark’s brute strength and aggressiveness against Brian Pillman’s fast-paced, high-flying offence.

It was good stuff for the most part, but everything felt really rushed in order to make it to the commercial break on time.

After getting his butt handed to him for a while, Pillman made a valiant, crowd-popping comeback only to have Mean Mark lift him up and drop him, throat-first on the top rope.

That was enough to end the whole match. Your Winner: Mean Mark

After the commercial break, Sting gave a backstage interview to Tony Schiavone.

The future Hall of Famer didn’t really say anything particularly noteworthy other than reminding us that he hated Ric Flair, but he spoke with an intensity and charisma that made it obvious why he would be a headline act for the rest of his career.

National Wrestling Alliance United States Tag Team Championship
NWA US Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express (Sweet Stan Lane & Beautiful Bobby Eaton w/ Jim Cornette) vs. The Rock & Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson)

The one thing you have to love about the Midnight Express and the Rock & Roll Express was that they must have wrestled each other a million times over and yet no two of their matches ever felt exactly the same.

Prior to the bell, both teams gave us pre-record promos in front of a green screen.

The green screen enabled WCW’s production team to present each promo as if they were stood in front of an old, slowly-chugging locomotive.

It was the least ‘express’-looking train in the world.

The match got underway and was great fun until Sweet Stan Lane got his team disqualified for roughing up Retro Pro Wrestling favourite Nick Patrick.Your Winners via Disqualification: The Rock & Roll Express (The Midnight Express retain the titles)

After a quick commercial break, it was onto our next match.

‘The World’s Strongest Man’ Doug Furnas vs. Barry Windham

WCW Clash of the Champions XI - Barry Windham
Like most Clash bouts, this one didn’t last very long but it was at least entertaining.

Jim Ross spent most of the bout gushing over Doug Furnas’ athletic credentials and how well he did in high school football, but if he’d been paying attention to what was going on in the ring he would have called a fun, explosive big man match which ended when Barry Windham hit Furnas with a back suplex then used the ropes for leverage to score the three count. Your Winner: Barry Windham

The match was followed by multiple replays of Windham’s nefarious cheating ways.

Then, following another commercial break, a tuxedo-clad Sid Vicious gave us a green-screen promo in which he ranted about how much he was going to destroy Lex Luger.

Sid Vicious (w/ Ole Anderson) vs. Lex Luger

Not that Sid would actually get a chance to.

Luger, who was now a babyface again, stormed the ring and immediately clobbered Four Horsemen reps Sid and Ole Anderson.

He then clotheslined Sid and pinned him in about 30 seconds.

Seriously, what was the point of that? Your Winner: Lex Luger

Post-match, Jim Ross and Bob Caudle hyped the upcoming Great American Bash.

WCW World Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
WCW Tag Team Champions Doom (Ron Simmons & Butch Reed w/ Teddy Long) vs. The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner)

You know, I can’t believe I’ve never mentioned this before, but it’s funny how un-Doom-like Doom’s jazzy theme music was.

Anyway, this rematch from Capital Combat was a damn fine effort. It went twice as long as most Clash matches and saw Scott Steiner shine as an absolute superstar in the making.

Not that the rest of the competitors didn’t play their part.

All four delivered a decent match which may not seem like a classic today but was very entertaining in its own right.

The end came when Scott Steiner looked to have the match won with a top rope clothesline to Butch Reed, only for Ron Simmons to nail him with what Jim Ross later called -and I quote- “one of those world-famous international objects.

That allowed Doom to retain their titles for our second cheap win in as many matches. Your Winners and Still Tag Team Champions: Doom

Out in the crowd, Junkyard Dog gave a lively interview to Tony Schiavone in which he promised that tonight was definitely going to be his night.

This was followed by a green screen promo in which Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff promised Arn Anderson that it was payback time.

Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff vs. WCW Television Champion Arn Anderson

WCW Clash of the Champions XI - Paul Orndorff
Double A’s title wasn’t on the line here for this one, but Orndorff took it and strutted around the ring with it anyway.

Title or not, this was a solid effort.

Both men were talented performers and certainly didn’t disappoint on this occasion, giving us a decent old-school match with the crowds firmly on the side of Mr. Wonderful.

After a fun contest, Orndorff scored the three count with an inside cradle. Your Winner: Paul Orndorff

Before the main event, Tony Schiavone interviewed The Four Horsemen.

Ole Anderson ranted about how nobody would ever take the title away from Flair, while Flair himself cut his typical charismatic promo.

As well as hyping his match with JYD, Flair put over Arn Anderson almost beating Mr. Wonderful and Barry Windham “destroying” Doug Furnas, but curiously said nothing about Sid getting his ass handed to him in about 20 seconds by Lex Luger.

Finally, it was time for our feature attraction.

National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nature Boy Ric Flair (w/ Ole Anderson) vs. Junkyard Dog

WCW Clash of the Champions XI - Ric Flair graphic for the main event
This was a short but fun main event that was played more for its entertainment value than as a straight-up technical masterpiece.

I doubt anyone ever really took Junkyard Dog seriously as a credible contender and he was never going to go toe-to-toe and hold-for-hold with the Nature Boy, but the crowds loved him anyway as he battered Flair from pillar to post.

Getting frustrated at not being able to get the better of his opponent, the champion grabbed a chair and waffled JYD with it while Ole Anderson distracted the official.

Dog no-sold the move, and when the cowardly heels realised they were running out of options, Ole ran in for the DQ. Your Winner via Disqualification: Junkyard Dog (Ric Flair retains)

Post-match, The Four Horsemen ran in to attack JYD but this brought out Sting, Luger, and Paul Orndorff to even the score.

El Gigante came out too, but he mainly stood around on the apron looking completely lost.

Sting Issues a Challenge

WCW Clash of the Champions XI - Sting issues a challenge to Ric Flair
After a commercial break and an ad encouraging you to call or write in for information about “WCW Gift Items,” Jim Ross interviewed Rocky King who said something about people having no necks before making room for Sting.

Wearing a garish Lex Luger t-shirt, the company’s biggest babyface challenged Flair to put the title on the line at The Great American Bash 1990.

Flair didn’t say one way or the other whether he accepted the challenge, but he did return to the ring for a brawl with Sting.

The two continued to fight as the credits rolled, with Jim Ross urging us to call the WCW Hotline to hear how that fight turned out.

In other words, folks, we’re outta time!






On the whole, Clash of the Champions 11 was a good show.

The main event was entertaining in its own way. JYD may have been limited from an in-ring standpoint (at least compared to Flair), but he and the champion made the most out of what they had to work with and the results were a lot of fun.

Elsewhere, most matches were reasonably good if you remember that this was really only a glorified TV show and thus don’t go into it expecting Pay Per View quality.

Doom vs. Steiners was this writer’s favourite, but overall this was a decent, watchable show.




Retro Pro Wrestling

New reviews of classic WWF/WWE events recalling every moment from Wrestlemania 1 - 30. You'll also find reviews of WCW, ECW, TNA and the occasional indie event, along with a look at old school magazines, merchandise and more.