I appreciate a lot of the early feedback I’m getting on this series. I find it particularly interesting that Prime provided more talking points than Nitro. I certainly don’t expect this to continue because I don’t anticipate us being able to come up with new questions about Jerry Lynn EVERY week; but I definitely love the participation.
We are LIVE from Charleston, South Carolina – and we are YELLING. ERIC BISCHOFF, BOBBY HEENAN, and MONGO MCMICHAEL (with Pepe) are all present. Pepe is wearing a bomber jacket because he’s anticipating the “flak to fly” during the big main event of the Megapowers vs. The Horsemen. By the way, this is essentially the Clash Of The Champions main event; so if the Horsemen can win this one, there pretty much isn’t a point to run out that one.
CHRIS BENOIT (with Brian Pillman) vs. ALEX WRIGHT
Wright is a little over a year into his WCW run at this stage, but still looks the part of a little boy so I don’t like his chances against Benoit. Benoit clotheslines him, rips his leather jacket off, and scrambles him with a German suplex. Wright tries to fire back, but Benoit bitch slaps him to the mat, and kicks dirt over the corpse. Overhead belly to back with a bridge gets 2. Wright is dumped, and Pillman chokes him out on the floor. Back in, Benoit continues his assault, beating and chopping Wright to a pulp. Wright tries a top rope moonsault, but misses. Thankfully his spinwheel kick hits, allowing him time for a springboard crossbody. Benoit’s quick to recover, so Wright catapults him to the exterior. Wright goes up, and hits a flying axehandle all the way from the buckle to the floor. Pillman distracts Wright, so Wright just heads in where he can keep his eye on everyone. Benoit comes in and gets scoop slammed for 2. Wright tries a Boston crab, but he is not from Massachusetts, so it does not work. He moves to an STF, but when Benoit won’t tap, he releases. Benoit immediately starts chopping him again, but Wright counters with a snap suplex for 2. Then he STUPIDLY hits a slingshot crossbody on Pillman on the floor, and when he tries to re-enter with a high risk move, Pillman trips him up. Benoit and Pillman block a series of suplex attempts before Benoit finally finishes with the dragon suplex at 6:41. **1/2
“LORD” STEVEN REGAL (with Jeeves) vs. EDDIE GUERRERO
Regal makes disgusted faces about being in the ring with Eddie Guerrero, which always warms my heart. Guerrero works a hammerlock to start, and upon escape, we get the confused face. Eddie wrings the arm a bit, but Regal kicks him away, and gives us a victory hop. To the mat, Regal punches Guerrero square in the mouth a couple of times. Eddie runs the ropes, but right into a knee from Regal. Guerrero snaps off a quick headscissors, and they trade pinfall attempts. Regal takes control with a thumb to the eye and gives the fans a thumbs up. A clothesline attempt is missed, and Eddie snaps off a quick bridge for 2. Regal comes right back with an overhead reverse suplex for 2. Regal jumps on Guerrero’s face, and when confronted by the referee he reacts with SHOCK that the referee would accuse him of such a thing. Guerrero tries a roll up, but Regal just sits on him for 2. That’s reversed for 2. Regal hits Eddie with a series of elbows, and stretches him. Back to their feet, Eddie hits a dropkick that staggers the Lord. Regal comes right back with an Irish whip to the corner, and an elbow to the face. Regal slaps Eddie, and when that only sets Eddie off, Regal beats him to the mat and celebrates. Out of nowhere, Eddie gets a backslide and scores the 3 at 8:07 despite some confusion as the bell never rang to signal a winner. ** Regal gives the camera a quick lecture about the state of America. Silly Regal, America’s not a state.
“MEAN” GENE OKERLUND takes a shot at some of the recent WWF additions, claiming they’re very close to collection Social Security. I am going to assume he’s referencing Billionaire Ted’s Wrasslin War Room – because the only other new arrivals around that point were Steve Austin, Mick Foley, and the Warrior off the top of my head. Either way, STING and LEX LUGER are granted interview time, and Sting wants to ask Luger a question in front of the world. They head back to Starrcade where Sting had a shot to win the World Title, but Luger held him back for a 10-count outside the ring. Gene: “Doesn’t seem like a friend I’d want to have!” Luger plays innocent, and asks him to prove his friendship with a tag-team match together at the Clash. Gene spells out to Sting that this is a HORRIBLE idea, so of course Sting accepts immediately.
DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE vs. STING
Page, grumbling the entire way to the ring, promises that once he’s finished with Sting he’s getting his TV Title back. During the pre-match handshake, Page grinds his cigar in Sting’s eyes, blinding him. If this is typical behavior from Page, I can only imagine how well President Clinton would have gotten along with his wife, Kimberly. After an early beatdown, Sting recovers and tosses Page to the outside. A slingshot splash to the outside gets a big pop from the crowd. Back in, they botch the leapfrog and Page goes head first into the crotch. With momentum, Page hits a side suplex followed by a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Page works a rear chinlock on the mat, and cheats like crazy using the ropes for leverage. Referee Nick Patrick taking time to check the shaking rope and ask questions is phenomenally old school. Sting fights back to his feet, but a handful of hair drives Sting right back to the mat and we go back to the chinlock. Sting escapes again, and is a sudden house of fire. Page sells an atomic drop like standing death, and a Stinger Splash opens him up for the Scorpion Deathlock. Page blocks with the ropes, and then hits Sting with a neckbreaker over the ropes. Another swinging neckbreaker gets 2. Sting gets in a small package for 2. Page tries a pinfall of his own for 2, and then argues with the referee that it was 3. That costs him, and the Scorpion Deathlock finishes at 6:20. That was a great deal of fun, and an early indicator that Page could play with the big boys if given the chance. ***
RIC FLAIR and ARN ANDERSON vs. THE MEGAPOWERS
World Champ enters first, but we’ll let it slide this time because this is thankfully non-title. You might ask, ‘well it’s a tag-team match, of course it’s non-title?’ – but you would be silly, because this is WCW. Thankfully we are about 4 years away from Madusa and Oklahoma battling over the Cruiserweight Title in a JR’s BBQ Match. Hogan and Savage have clearly compromised on team unity, as Savage is decked out in red and yellow with a fairly apparent bald spot, and Hogan allowed him. Savage and Flair start, and Flair wastes no time in taunting Hogan into the ring instead. Hogan gives Flair the old “kiss my ass” spot; and Flair reacts with wild irritation. Flair takes Hogan to the mat with chain wrestling, goes to poke the eyeball, but Hogan no-sells and wrings Flair’s wrist. Flair chops are no-sold, so Flair pokes him in the eye again which thankfully works this time. Hogan responds with the big boot – but doesn’t follow with the legdrop for the first time ever? Anderson charges, and Hogan starts throwing bodyslams like Santa Claus throws cookies at children who try to catch him in the act. Let that be a lesson kids. Anderson is the legal man, so Savage hits him with an axehandle off the top, and works over the shoulder. Flair and Hogan start brawling illegally, so the referee rightly sends Hogan back to his corner, and Flair takes over for Arn. Flair works over Savage, but goes to the top rope and is caught. Savage and Hogan put dual figure fours on the Horsemen, but when the referee stops the farce, Anderson nails Savage with the DDT, and Flair gets 2 before Hogan breaks it up. Anderson dumps Savage to the outside, and he crashes face first into the guard rail. Anderson gives him a couple of extra shots and rolls him back in to Flair. And this is a good time for a break in the action???
Upon return, Anderson is working an abdominal stretch while Flair is pulling for leverage. The referee misses the entire thing because he’s too busy staring at Savage’s crotch to ensure he doesn’t tap out. Horsemen switch during a full nelson, and Flair punches him in the face a dozen times while the referee has a discussion with Hogan about god knows what. Anderson kicks Savage in the face and boots him to the outside. Flair whips Savage into the guardrail where Randy plays dead. Now the Horsemen start double teaming Savage right in front of the referee, who still misses everything. Hogan tries to break it up, but the referee is quick to remind him it’s only 1 legal member at a time, while the Horsemen both beat on Savage. Savage realizing his only hope here is to fight back, gets chopped down by Flair and stomped by Anderson. Savage blocks the DDT, and staggers to corner to get a tag to Hogan. Flair throws a chop and does the Superman pose while Hogan of course never felt a thing. Clotheslines for you, clotheslines for me. Anderson and Hogan wind up left alone while Savage and Flair brawl on the floor. Anderson flattens Hogan with a spinebuster, and Hogan pops right back up, to hit the big boot and legdrop at 12:19. **1/2
CHRIS BENOIT and BRIAN PILLMAN hit the action, but THE GIANT, ZODIAK, KEVIN SULLIVAN, and JIMMY HART are right behind. The Horsemen fight with the Dungeon of Doom on the floor, while Giant gets in the ring. Big Chokeslam for Hogan! Bigger one for Savage! The fight continues on the floor – but before we get too interested in the giant schmozz, Bischoff orders us off the air.
Originally posted by cfgb“MEAN” GENE OKERLUND takes a shot at some of the recent WWF additions, claiming they’re very close to collection Social Security. I am going to assume he’s referencing Billionaire Ted’s Wrasslin War Room – because the only other new arrivals around that point were Steve Austin, Mick Foley, and the Warrior off the top of my head. Either way, STING and LEX LUGER are granted interview time, and Sting wants to ask Luger a question in front of the world. They head back to Starrcade where Sting had a shot to win the World Title, but Luger held him back for a 10-count outside the ring. Gene: “Doesn’t seem like a friend I’d want to have!” Luger plays innocent, and asks him to prove his friendship with a tag-team match together at the Clash. Gene spells out to Sting that this is a HORRIBLE idea, so of course Sting accepts immediately.
Wasn't this around the time WCW was showing ads of guys like Sting demolishing Vadar, Foley and Marc Mero (maybe even Dustin Reynolds)? This is also really close to our time with 'The Stalker' Barry Windham.
I remember this episode, and was pretty psyched when it aired. The WWE was running a ton of terrible gimmicks at this time, so seeing WCW up their game with some legends and new faces really seemed like a big deal. Having Heenan and Oakerlund back on Monday night just felt right.
I'm all for this idea. I look forward to where this might take us.
It's amazing Sting lived long enough to be so trusting.
Good to see wins by both Benoit and Guerrero on this show.
"Y'know, it has been a year since the last [Royal Rumble], I'm very sketchy on this, so bear with me here. If I Brogue Kick that small little head of yours over the top rope, and your body stays in the ring, tell me, fella, does that count as an elimination?" --Sheamus, to Randy Orton, SmackDown 1/4/13
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Thread rated: 5.00
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