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My assumption would be that Penta, being 5 years older and having a much longer resume than Ricky Starks is one reason. The other reason is because I suspect Penta and Fenix were a package deal and that comes with some added leverage and motivation to push Penta right out of the gate. I'll also make another assumption - Penta and Rey wanted to go to the main roster for main roster money. Unlike Starks, who was kinda "WWE or Bust" at this point, I assume the Lucha Bros could've freelanced around the world and been in relatively high demand in Mexico, Japan, UK, Australia (?)...and then also probably still signed with TNA. If the WWE wanted them, with the exclusivity the WWE demands, they had to make it worth it. I don't think Starks had the same leverage in that sense either. Finally, I also think that because Starks has that reputation - at least online - of being "Cody's guy," I'm guessing there was some discussion about why going to NXT for a little bit would maybe get some of that supposed "heat" off him and allow him to prove he's not a prima donna or whatever the reputation from leaving AEW was. Yes, Cody might be his buddy and Punk might be his buddy, but its still pro-wrestling and there will always be backstage politics where, if the wind blows a certain way, you can find yourself benched. Going to NXT, working for (and getting along with) Shawn, showing that you don't see going to NXT as an insult or "step down," is a smart move.

If I had to judge this by crowd reaction alone, it would be one of the best matches ever as the Colosseum was ridiculously loud here. However, it was "just" a good bout (the crowd was a bonus point) and it looked like the teams took it a bit easy, after all it was a non-title match to advance their program. The best part was the heat segment on Rogers, which led to an incredible pop for the hot tag, but honestly both the heat and finishing stretch felt rushed, especially if compared to the Memphis-like stall they had at the beginning ***1/2

Fun 10/15 minutes title match, between a somewhat underdog champion and a veteran heel. This did wonders for Martel's credibility, because he still relatively a new champion and going toe to toe on the mat with Bock put him over big time. Martel was good at selling and at keeping the buzz in the match, nice backwork by Bock on the champion here. The corner flip finish was still quite fresh and original for its time, the controversy was needed to hype more rematches without beating Bock that easily ***

This felt like a huge deal and it was pretty great. The slow start set the tone for the rest of the bout, I liked the constant struggle on the mat and some subtle details, like Choshu covering his face during a hold, knowing that Inoki would try to punch him to set himself free. Amazing Choshu performance, in terms of being a mean heel and working very well on Inoki's leg, which the Ace sold with rare generosity. This was not an all time great match because they had a lazy resthold sequence towards the end (and why would Choshu target anything but Inoki's leg?), which was quite bizarre, but the end was very well done ***3/4

So, Tony Halme was basically a loser asshole. It's hard to have empathy for such a hateful fuck. The "exit only" tattoo story as told by Corny had me rolling though. I did not know he ended up such a big name in Finland (I knew he had been elected at the chamber, not that he actually was a TV star, which basically is why he had been elected). The most interesting part is that basically a airhead showman spewing hateful speech could get to a position of political power, which is very much 2025 compatible. (maybe a WWE Hall of Fame nomination next year ? I mean, they currently are employing Logan Paul and Pat McAfee) So yeah, all in all, a very decent episode on a not so interesting topic, especially wrestling wise. Vader next week.

As promised on the German thread. Charlie Verhulst 10.5 years younger. 24:days too late for the sixties but never mind. Actually I 've already done a bit of a review of this before: Wel I got it anyway! It was just a bog standard five rounds no score draw! The "purse"you mention was the Prime some stinkin' rich fan offered to pay each man for a good scientific bout this far. At the end of the fight MC Raymond Poignard (sp?) pauses to check with the ref before confirming it is indeed a draw. Before the clean match starts in this nice rustic looking venue with oak beams visible, the crowd exercise their heat muscles a bit when two Mechants show up in smart suits. Kurt Kaiser, bald Nazi heel in a country that the real Nazis overrun and still ruled 26 years later, plus Switzerland's answer to Sid Rudy, Rene Lataserre. He cruelly shoves Poignard out the way and struts around, shaking both men's hand (as Kaiser did.). Charlie is younger looking. dark cropped hair. Round 1 - armdrags by each man, kip ups by Mercier who gets CV in a headscissors. He turns into the upright position, takes hold of the legs beneath and frees his head then holds the resulting Gotch toehold aiming to get Mercier into the mount. He nearly gets it but Mercier turns it back and pulls on Charley's head to get himself loose. Back to armdrags. They end up on the ropes, ref calls for a break. Verhulst gets a legdive and leglock. Mercier tries a crossface but it breaks. Verhulst with a leg weakeners. Mercier tries again for the crossface and gets it but Verhulst gets the leg again. Mercier puts his other leg in and looks like going for a toupee but instead a rope break. Up and this time Mercier gets the leg into leglock and Charlie tries the crossface. Which becomes a headlock, surviving a Mercier throw. Mercier in in green trunk apparently so maybe this is in colour on Channel 2. Mercier turns round to get another armdrags which this time breaks it Mercier gets a side chancery. Verhulst underhooks his and gets him up for a slam but on the descent Mercier turns it into a reverse snapmares. He gets another side chancery and throw, holding the side chancery. The bell goes. A round is a "Reprise" in French by the way. Round 2- Lataserre is helping with colour commentary, apparently he is having trouble finding opponents as they are scared of him. Mercier gets an armlock, Verhulst gets and underhook, Mercier slams him and comes up with the armbar. Throws him in it twice. Verhulst cross buttocks him off. Reset. Mercier spins before going in for a legdive and leglock. Verhulst sits up so Metcier switches to front chancery then a double held armlock (almost the double wristlock). Verhulst gets a rear waistlock but Runs Out Of Mat in the corner. They get up and he gets a standing front chancery into a vertical suplex into chinlock. Mercier gets a wristlock and throws him in it, keeping hold. Verhulst turns round and has Mercier ready for a fireman's carry but Guy steps back to break. Verhulst gets a drop toehold trip into a Gotch toehold and tries to switch to full nelson but Mercier turns into the guard and bridges up then powers up in a top wristlock. Verhulst tries powering down but it's slow and goes into the corner. The bell goes, they shake hands. Mercier gives Verhulst's hair an affectionate tousle on his way to his corner. Round 3- Verhulst gets a front chancery. Mercier counters with taking a leg. He gets the better of the two but Verhulst twists out. Verhulst takes a leg of his own, develops it into a toehold. Mercier gets a spare arm, turns his man into a cross press for just a 1 count. He gets the better of a two way armlock battle taking Charlie down. Our spectator friend with more money than sense announces his 10K Francs Prime he wil pay the winner. They end up in a standing top wristlock battle, Mercier flips Verhulst who responds with a headscissors. Mercier tries bridging out but Verhulst pulls his feet out under him, easy when he's on his toes like that. Mercier goes into the upright and tries the spinning toupee escape so Verhulst collapsed it to the other side. Another fool and his money are soon parted as another spectator offers 10K francs to the pair. Mercier tries bridging and regains the upper position and again the toupee escape - and again Verhulst topples it sideways. Mercier tries using his knees to unplug the scissors but to no avail. Finally he bridges and rolls backwards unplugging his head and making a seated Gotch toehold. Verhulst pushes up and rolls out. He gets a side chancery takeover. and is poised on the mat for another. They stand and Mercier throws him but Verhulst keeps the hold. Verhulst throws and Mercier tries to grab an arm to counter but it all goes in the ropes. Break and Mercier gets a side chancery but then the bell goes. Round 4 - they lock up and Mercier gets a waistlock, slides it down into a bearhug then makes it a belly to belly suplex (slow and fluid, not snapping like your Magnum TA version.) Mercier tries a cross press, tuns parallel and gets a couple of one counts. Verhulst has a ground top wristlock and turns things over. Mercier tries to kip up then gets a headscissors. Verhulst tries various tricks. Eventually he uncrossed the feet and makes an over the neck leglock but it goes into the ropes. One or two of the public are calling for Manchettes. Instead they get a couple of high whips with bumps forced on Mercier. The last one, he kips up and snatches another headscissors. Now its Verhulst tries the toupee escape but gets it turned sideways onto the mat. Verhulst turns it upright and starts making the seated Gotch toehold from the last round. He moves into standing and Mercier adjusts the legs to a cross headscissor for a possible Toupee throw.- and gets it! Verhulst lands still in the cross scissor. But then the bell goes. During the break the commentator interviews Mercier who says Verhulst is hard work. Round 5 . They lock up and Mercier gets a waistlock, not quite tight enough to be a bearhug. It goes into the ropes but Mercier gets a throw out of it before the ref can intervene. The pace is quickening. Verhulst gets a leg takedown but Mercier kicks him off. It's a Mercier waistlock versus a Verhulst side headlock. They go to the mat and Mercier emerges on to with a standing chinlock. But Verhulst has his legs and brings him down. They break and reset.. Verhulst gets a side chancery and throws Mercier in it. They end in the corner, break and reset. Verhulst gets a cross buttock throw. They both have a two way armlock and Mercier gets a throw of it but it ends in the ropes. Verhulst gets an abdominal stretch and takes his man down with an arm pinned behind. This however impedes pinfall attempts and Verhulst gets up and makes it a standing armlock as Mercier applies counter pressure. He throws Verhulst and finally give the crowd three of the Manchettes they longed for. Verhulst fiesta one then Mercier fires back then Mercier goes for a legdive but Verhulst falls back on the ropes. Hardly any time left. Mercier goes from front chancery to double underhook suplex. He gets a 1 :count as the bell goes like a TV title match in America. Verhulst kips up and helps Mercier up and they shake hands and sling an arm over each others' shoulders. Match A Nul, says the ref, more sportsmanship and cheers. This was a lot like Bert Mychell versus Gilbert LeDuc. Not as flashy as the new young lightweight style people like Saulnier, Petit Prince and Mantopolous were peddling but scientific and logical. Not as ponderous as the old German style of Dieter Sr, Chall, Bock etc. A lot more creative than the Zrno bout a decade later in Austria. I liked it.

Speaking of NXT, so we had Stephanie Vaquer win both women's titles, then they said she was going to defend them both, then last week she did defend them both, then this week they decided she needed to vacate the North American title. I understand they needed to get the belt off of Giulia because she is hurt. I understand Stephanie was the best choice. But for fucks sake, this company has to overcomplicate everything. If they were going to vacate, why not do it immediately? Why not have her lose in a valiant effort last week when she'd already wrestled once? Because of course we have to build a multi-person ladder match instead of doing the sensible thing! Also, am I the only one confused by Zaria? She's not good in the ring, doesn't talk well, and her My Little Pony Beyond Thunderdome gimmick isn't all that intimidating. Maybe I'm just old.

Remember the discourse about Ricky Starks showing up in WWE and immediately becoming a huge-ass star because of his friendship with Cody ? Penta & Rey Fénix show up straight into the main roster, will probably be involved at Mania in a multi-men match for the IC title (well, Penta at the very least). Get to keep their names too. Meanwhile, Ricky gets a stupid last name and is feuding with Shawn Spears and Ethan Page (who both kept their name too) over a secondary title in NXT. (funny how the defense is always "gotta learn the WWE style", like it was an actual thing. But luchadors like Penta & Fénix don't apparently)

This was my write up of the 80 match. Otto Wanz vs. Don Leo Jonathan Graz, Austria 7/12/80 MD: The Great Don Leo Jonathan's final match. We previously had 12 clipped minutes of this in watchable format and the brunt of the footage in completely unwatchable format with the sound muted. I had watched the former a few years back when I was going over some Wanz and couldn't make too much sense of it, clipped. This is very much new and complete then and it's worth watching. It starts slow and clean with the two playing size vs size but quickly gets more heated. Wanz wins a couple of early exchanges and Jonathan starts to go for inside moves. The engine of these Wanz matches was that his opponent cheated and Wanz tried to stay on the up and up with the fans wanting him to fire back and go dirty more and more. When he finally did it, they erupted. Jonathan had a great variety of punches. Pokey ones in the corner, these flicking backhands, big meaty shots. And when Wanz fired back he was willing to bump around, even it being his last match, including getting knocked over the top a couple of times. They both had specific bits of athleticism too. Jonathan flipped over using the ropes to get of an armhold and hit a dropkick as well. Wanz had his flipping sentons towards the end but also did an up and over headscissors takedown. More than any move however, was the physicality and intensity of those corner beatdowns from Jonathan which ended a round and then Wanz starting the next round but rushing across the ring to pummel him to the crowd's delight. He had such a special relationship with them and they got so loud as started to fight fire with fire. What we get here with the full match is much more fleshed out and valuable than the 12 minutes we already had. It seemed like Jonathan still had a lot to offer but he bowed out on a high note against Wanz.

The most interesting thing about Cody as the mega face of WWE is that him leaving and starting AEW is absolutely integral to his character and can't be avoided and shouldn't be avoided, which is so completely opposite of any mega face they've ever done.

I think 2016 TNA was Lashley's peak and he showed his best charisma during his title runs and feuds with EC3, Eddie Edwards, etc. With the Owen Cup deciding the All In challenger and all the top names wanting in, I'm not seeing Darby as the guy winning to beat Moxley anymore. I'd think it'd be more Ospreay or Hangman.

Well. having gone and posted the bout, I might as well review it. Yes. It's nice technical 14 min, a Belgian Vs a Yugoslav iAs I mentioned, Orig Williams, doing English commentary of Zrno Vs Finlay, claimed Charlie as Mile's trainer although others on here dispute this. Verhulst works a very French style, I think I shall check out a French TV appearance from the sixties. Here he's an old guy with grey hair and a gut albeit in sprightly form. Pre-match the DJ is playing Queen's We Are The Champions. Two armdrags to Zrno, across buttock throw but Zrno kips up. Zrno gets Charley with a hard whip bumping him. Charley gets a cross buttock into side headlock CV Gets a French style flying bodyscissors takedown . Zrno snaps out. gets standing side chancery & headlock.& Throw Zrno bridges out of a test of strength.Chssdk gets pin attempts in as retaliated to bodyscissors. Zrno rolls and Zrno throws and bodychecks Verhulst, gets a leapfrog and cross buttock for 2. Zrno has a toehold when the bell goes. Round 2 and 3. More of the same. Zrno get toehold, they throw. each other but take it well... A lot of down mat and hold working. Zrno cando a pretty decent toupee and flying bodypress. Verhulst leapfrogs Zrno then gets a powerslam as counter to flying tackle attempt to get the one required pin. They are good sportsman and raise each others hand.

Sounds like the 1978 match does exist, albeit in a ropey format.

"Today, a wrestler doesn't earn enough to live" Came across an interesting story/interview with Roger Delaporte for one of the major French magazines in January 1977 where he laments the bad state of the business. Keep in mind, catch was still airing on TF1 at that point and I think later that same year it may have even been airing twice a week (on different networks), but despite this business was way down. Delaporte attributes it to a few factors: - Catch no longer airing live and instead typically on a delay of a few weeks, but the network wouldn't announce that it was pretaped. This allowed the network to plan their timing better and advertise in advance the exact time a show would end, which suggested to the public that all matches were fixed and therefore they lost interest. - Those taped shows would air mainly on Saturday night, which was a big night for catch live events, and having catch TV airing at the same time killed the live attendance. "We went from 5,000 spectators to 1,000 spectators. Even worse, one night I happened to be wrestling in a town and that same night a match I had wrestled in that town three months prior was airing on TV". - FFL (the amateur federation) no longer being in charge of catch led to "a multitude of bogus federations and a proliferation of promoters, resulting in total disorder." Multiple L'Ange Blancs, Bourreaus, Kamikazes... All sorts of guys now claiming to be World champion... - "In the past there were 300 wrestlers. Now there are barely 30 left. Simply put, catch shows are no longer profitable." - In the past there used to be tax exemptions for catch shows, this was no longer the case and now the promoters had to pay VAT. - Advertising in the press used to be free, now you had to pay for advertising in the newspapers. - Since July 1976 the state required wrestlers to be affiliated with Social Security and therefore money had to be deducted from the wrestlers' pay and the promoters' revenue to go to Social Security. And then the story makes it sound like Delaporte stopped promoting catch at Elysee-Montmartre in 1970 and he was to resume promoting now [1977]. It's not addressed in detail, but that is what the story suggests. There were definitely shows at Elysee in 1971-1976 so could it be that someone else was promoting there during that time (and Delaportre was simply leasing them the venue for the night)? I'm not sure, but this claim definitely peaked my interest. I'll try to find out more.

There's a Zrno Vs Verhulst match up on YouTube apparently dated 12th July 1980 but the footage looks nothing like the Otto Vs Don Leo match. It's a single shaky handheld job filmed cornerwise on to the ring on knacky low gen tape where the picture keeps breaking up, whereas Otto Vs Don Leo is a professional multicam job. Always assuming there was nothing of note wrestling wise in Graz on 7th December that year and they haven't just gone and put the date the American way round.

From 08/29/02 Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kazuyuki Fujita- Great under 10 minute match! Inoki Strong Style match were they have a little bit of match action, striking, more shoot style. This is one I'm surprised I haven't heard of but it precisely what you expect from these too. Fujita punches Takayama and he's bleeding profusely from his ear...ruptured cauliflower ear is my guess. That's a good indicator of what this match is about. Great no nonsense, stiff stuff.

I'm continuing to take a peek at early 2000's New Japan. Early on we're going to look at some NJ vs NOAH that I didn't cover back in my NOAH 2002 posts from last year (I think). Some might be in a NOAH ring but I'm counting them. But overall this is just a mix of matches from 2002 New Japan that I thought looked interesting and were online Yuji Nagata vs Jun Akiyama (01/04) - Oh, that was a great bout! No way you would guess this is their first time working together and at the Dome no less. I honestly don't get the criticism of the middle of the match being slow. They are using different neck locks to wear away at each other and in fact both guess use signature holds (Nagata Lock & King Crab). I think since I watch wrestling with the volume low or off that I wasn't effected by the Dome crowd lack of enthusiasm. That's typical Tokyo Dome and why it's my least favorite venue. There's criticism that this is wrestling by numbers, too your turn-my turn etc. I didn't feel that way anymore than most other 2000s big star match puro. I think it's a way to express parity if anything. I thought this was a battle between two big stars of the new decade on the biggest level. Again, they hadn't worked together (maybe there's a tag? I get mixed up) enough to have this clean and coherent of a match. This wasn't a feud blow off...it's an exhibition match about pride/superiority so the chippy shit Akiyama does to Misawa/Kobashi isn't going to be there. The mind games were there with the now tired trope of "move theft." This still works for me because I think I avoided that trend along with a lot of contemporary wrestling. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie (04/07) - There's a lot of good matches on this NOAH show. I vaguely remember this but didn't watch it last year or whenever I watched 2002 NOAH. I'm watching odds and ends now clearly Still, two teams off mooses locking antlers should be fun. And that's what this was... two pairs of bull mooses fighting over territory. This is your inter-promotional/bad blood match. An archetype match for Strong BJW...Tenryu influenced? Classic stuff...best Yoshie match? He seemed at his peak here in 2002. Matches like this became over played in the mid & late 2010's but, if you haven't seen those in awhile, you're going to really appreciate this. Yuji Nagata vs Bas Rutten (07/20) - This was very good stuff! Bas knows how to work by mixing his natural charisma with his athleticism. This reminded me of very good UWF/i work..maybe a little bit of RINGS at least early on. The fact that they worked quick like a real fight helped this tremendously. (08/29) Masayuki Naruse vs. Takehiro Murahama - This looks like a very interesting matchup. I just couldn't get into the the rhythm of this. If you're intrigued by this pairing, I want to let you know that it's out there...you may really dig it. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Kazuyuki Fujita- Great under 10 minute match! Inoki Strong Style match were the have a little bit of match action, striking, more shoot suplexes..I'm digging it during this project plus the matches are concise and competitive. This is one I'm surprised I haven't heard of but it precisely what you expect from these too. Fujita punches Takayama and he's bleeding profusely from his ear...ruptured cauliflower ear is my guess. That's a good indicator of what this match is about. Great no nonsense, stiff stuff. Kentaro Shiga vs Osamu Nishimura - This one is in NOAH whereas the other two are in NJPW. In an alternate universe, this would be the meeting between NOAH and NJPW's respective aces. This is wrestled like it was and it was also 1980. I am not complaining I love 2002 Shiga and this match is no exception. I'm just recently getting a chance to see more Nishimura with these early 2000's NJ projects. It's a longer match than many of these "around 10 minute" matches of this era but it's totally worth your time. (10/14) Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs Tadao Yasuda - It's not very long but absolutely worth the couple minutes to watch TK wrestling rings around Yasuda. Bas Rutten vs. Osamu Nishimura - Really cool novelty match! I think it's best when they're trading holds on the mat. Like most strikers, Bas isn't quite sure how to throw some working strikes. Others he's fantastic and they look vicious. If he kept wrestling, I think his move set could be pared down or he would have dialed something in. Ok that's an aside. He & Nishimura have a very good and sometimes great European style match. This was up my alley as its UWFi like. Kazunari Murakami vs Masayuki Naruse - Under 5 minutes but it's a lot of fun for brawling shoot style stuff. Kaz Fujita vs Yuji Nagata - I prefer this match to the June 2001 bout. Maybe it's got a bit more pro wrestling drama or moves but, this actually was pretty good stuff. Nagata really had his work cut out for him. Fujita is one dimensional but he playss no neck badass very well. This seemed to have more of a fire or spark to the action than the first match. Although this period of NJPW gets a bad rap, there's plenty of very good wrestling here. I am definitely going to keep popping in with assorted reviews from this era. Watch the big-boy tag match from 04/07 & Takayama vs Fujita, you'll be glad that you did! Thanks for reading!

It's funny Cena did his patented "fine speech" response to a promo as a heel and it's exactly the same thing he did as a face for so many years just without saying "fine speech" ahead of time.

I don't think anyone had "Gunther is going to do some of the best character work of his career on a WWE Title feud against Jey Uso" on their cards when he jumped to the main roster.

I've been having this issue for a while too.

He may have lost both of them but ya gotta hand it to Big Josh for getting back to back title shots. Pillman & Luger each claim to be on the same page. I'll withhold judgement. Speaking of Luger though, defending against Muta in the Tokyodome is tough enough but through Chono in the mix and Luger is some seriously hot water.

He released the full 80 DLJ match not long ago (we had just had it clipped) so this is just the rest of the card but I know Zrno vs Velhurst/Londos was already out there.

July 12 1980 sounds like Otto Wanz Vs Don Leo Johnathan, rematch from 1978 when DLJ originally brought the title to Germany/Austria, jobbing it to Otto to begin Wanz's second reign (he previously had it for a month in South Africa Aug to Sept 1977, winning from Jan Wilkins and losing to Don Leo.) I wonder if that bout was taped. Otto Vs Strongbow July '79 is the earliest we know of for the home video release programme. Bock/Inoki is currently the oldest full/full-ish match we've got.

Cena and Cody throwing verbal bombs leading to Cena getting laid out is what this angle should have been two weeks ago but we got there eventually. Jey having to watch Gunther murder his brother while not being able to do anything about it is gonna lead to the roof being blown off the stadium when he wins the title. Also I still don't get the booking for the women's world title match. They've had both Bianca and Rhea acting like assholes and in the process they fucked around and turned Iyo into a massive babyface. I don't think that was the plan, so what are we doing here?

WCW Power Hour - 3/29 Tony Schiavone & Paul E Dangerously A pretty simple episode tonight… we have some good squash matches from the Samoans, Savio Vega w/ Boricuas, the Godwins, and the Skyscrapers. We also see that Atomic Bomb video again. We get the top 10… WCW Champion - Lex Luger Great Muta - International Champion Nikita Koloff - US Champion Rick Martel - Television Champion Davey Boy Smith Flyin Brian Scott Hall One Man Gang Abdullah the Butcher Michael Rotundo Tatanka We get a couple more squash matches… The JYD does some decent work, Kona Crush, and the debut of this masked man… he’s big… he’s called the Widowmaker… he has got a black chap style outfit with a black mask… Our Main Event sees Power & Glory take on Big Josh and Tatanka… Power and Glory retain in a decent bout. World Championship Wrestling - 3/29 Jim Ross & Jesse Ventura bring us in for a big night of action… we’ll hear from some of the top stars of WCW but also see this unified team of Nikita Koloff and Great Muta in tag team action… plus television champion Rick Martel defends against Big Josh! Let’s take it to the ring. The Diamond Studd looks the part and destroys the competition… Jesse Ventura says he will have gold… sooner than later! The Nasty Boys show just how Nasty they can be. We get a Skyscraper Slaughter… Spivey and Nash seem to be clicking A good promo from Flyin Brian who says last week was just a fluke… he and Luger have got no problem with one another and he will be there whenever he needs him. The One Man Gang delivers tonight with his crony Kevin Sullivan out there causing all kinds of havoc. We get a continuation of the Tully Blanchard and JJ Dillon conflict… Tully is challenging JJ to a fight in the middle of the ring… JJ says he’s a one armed man in a fight right now… Tully says so is he… JJ says he is retired and will stay that way… Tully says he is going to keep on him and maybe even bring it to his family if JJ can’t seem to get his mind right. Once again… the talk of family brings a fire out of JJ who grabs Tully by the face before Tony Schiavone has to get involved and back things off… Wahoo McDaniels brings out his protege Tatanka who is looking to build back up some momentum. Rick Martel defends the TV title against Big Josh with the help of Power and Glory but the party doesn’t last long as Ron Garvin comes out to help his buddy and by golly you can cut the tension with a knife… Garvin is telling Martel to come back in the ring and this one could explode at any time! We get a new Atomic Bomb video… this time… the graphic ends with… ADAM BOMB is set to detonate! We’re back with another promo… this time WCW Champion Lex Luger comes out to let us know that he respects Flyin Brian… he knows he has a buddy in him when he wants and a partner if he needs it…hmm… he says that a match has been signed… WCW is going on tour to Japan in a couple of weeks to finish the month of April… and in the Tokyo Dome… he will defend the WCW title against the Great Muta… what a show that’s going to be… we’ll talk more about that show in the coming weeks! The Rockers look good in tag team action… the Road Warriors have an inset interview and put over the Rockers as the number one challengers for the WCW tag titles and can’t wait to see them in the ring again! In the Main Event… we see Nikita Koloff & the Great Muta team up against Johnny Ace and the Z-Man. It is a decent contest… Zenk and Ace have some good chemistry… but it is Nikita and Muta who have the power and keep control. It isn’t as much of a tag team… but they tag one another when they have the opponent down… there’s no continuity… they don’t need it though… Johnny Ace eats a Russian Sickle… that’s all she wrote. Muta and Nikita look to have some words… in Russian or Japanese… but just as Muta is walking out… someone in the crowd gets his attention… wait… that’s Masa Chono?!? What in the world is he doing here?