Exposer

This was a fun match. Lawler tries to unmask Doug to reveal his bald head. Scott Bowden is walking around with an FSU helmet claiming "Uncle Bobby" signed it. He keeps giving it to Doug behind the refs back. Doug keeps pounding Lawler in the back with it. Lawler gets a hold of the helmet and tries to use it on Doug but Buddy Landell interferes and the three heels triple team Lawler until Brian Christopher makes the save. Lawler wins by DQ but I wish this could have gotten more time.

The highlights of this were really good. I wish we had this in full. The progression of the match is really great and makes sense. Christopher wins win Lawler stops Gilbert from using a towel covered in ether and Christopher uses it instead to win the match. Gilbert gets his head shaved while unconscious afterwards. Back in the studio, Gilbert cuts a good promo on what he's going to do to get revenge and is wearing the Dark Patriot mask to cover his bald head.

WHAT THE FUCK

Great match. Fujiwara is the master at standoffs and quick exchanges. He's also proven himself to be the master of New Japan sprints. Liger is great here as well but Fujiwara is the man here. I love Fujiwara's stiff shots to the body while he was trying to ground Liger. In the end, Liger beats himself as Fujiwara catches him off the ropes with a simple side step and Fujiwara arm bar for the submission.

Cactus cuts another great promo and Mikey is all terrifed and shit. Awesome stuff.

Douglas cuts another good promo and Cactus interrupts him to congratulate him. Good stuff.

Yes! The totally fucking crazed Matt Bourne! Both guys cut good promos here.

This was a great segment. Backlund says if anyone can get out of the Crossface Chicken Wing then he will retire from wrestling forever. A WWF magazine writer accepts the challenge of Backlund demonstrating the hold and trying to get out of it. Backlund instead locks it in real good and just slings the guy all over the place. All hell breaks loose. This was a lot of fun and Backlund is great in this role.

I have a lot to say about this match. WCW in 1994 is a very interesting year watching it progress in full. It had really clicked as a promotion by the Spring and was extremely dynamic. The different kinds of matches that took place during Spring Stampede is a great example of this. When Hogan came in a lot of things changed. The company slowly became more cartoonish and in addition to Hogan guys like "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan came in and really changed the product for the worst. The stuff with Hogan has really become unbearable to watch a lot of the time and ultimately closes the door on the southern style of wrestling that WCW had become such a staple of. The reason I've discussed all of this is because I believe the Rhodes-Stud Stable feud was the last true WCW southern feud. It had all the elements of what one would want out of a feud like that: Numerous twist and turns, old southern families joining together to take out another famed family, bloody brawls, wild brawls, fun tags, entertaining promos, and great payoffs. One of the things that really stood out to me in this feud was Dusty Rhodes embarking on a journey to the new WCW. A cartoon world of overproduction and silliness. There he goes to find the Nasty Boys to ask them for a favor. He wants them to join himself and his son Dustin in the War Games match to take on The Stud Stable. Dusty isn't sure if the Nasty's are tough enough or "nasty" enough to join him in the fight because they are living in the new cartoon world of WCW. Dusty knows this is like the last gunfight in the Wild West. The last time WCW fans will see a blood feud filled with hate and scorn. To me this is the last "WCW" match ever. After this match, the company wasn't the same anymore. I know I have digressed here but what I'm trying to get at is I believe this is not only the last true "WCW" match ever but is the greatest WCW match ever. I have it above Flair-Steamboat, War Games 92, Steamboat-Rude, Eddie-Rey, and all of the other classics. I was born and raised in the south. That makes this match stick with me. I'm done with this tangent now and will finally discuss the match. I remember reading Loss's rundown of each competitor in War Games 92 and I thought I'd do the same here giving my opinion on who the best guy was in the match overall. So, here we go: Dustin Rhodes - He starts out the match with Arn here and looks great. I always have thought those two had great chemistry and proof of that comes from their 92 matches. Dustin was really the focal point for most of this feud and is a huge part of this match because of that. I really enjoyed his offensive flurry on Arn in the early going and really lays it in on him with some brutal head smashing into the cage and at one point drives Arn's head between the two rings back and forth in a great spot. He does seem to get lost in all of the excitement for a time as the match progresses but in the end he gets his shots on Parker and is left to fend off the rest of the heels as Dusty and The Nasty's finish off Parker. Jerry Sags - I thought Sags was tremendous in this match. When he enters the ring the match becomes a violent and stiff brawl for the remainder of the bout. His running powerslam into the cage on Buck nearly took the structure down. He also lands an awesome piledriver on Buck in the match as well. His role as the guy who beats the living shit out of the heels is taken further when he ganzo bombs Terry Funk in between the two rings. The Nasty's are known for unprofessional-ism and dishing out punishment but they can take a beating for themselves. Sags takes an absolutely vicious slashing by Parker with a belt that is something that has to be seen to believe. I love Sags in this match and his role as the violent ass kicker is awesome. Brian Knobbs - Knobbs takes almost an identical role to Sags in this match but his isn't as prominent because he enters the match much later. I did love him tossing all of the heels in the cage. He gives Parker a nice splash towards the finish and is there for the ride as the match goes along. Dusty Rhodes - Dusty is perfect in his role in this match rooting on Dustin and commanding the team throughout the match. I love the pop that he gets when he enters the match. He's only in for about two minutes but man the place had erupted by that point. He beats on all the heels and locks in the figure four on Parker in the center of one of rings and eventually makes him submit. Arn Anderson - Arn is great in this match as well. I really like the five minute match he and Dustin put on to start. He took some wild bumps and a nice beating. He continued to shine as the match progressed really in his usual enforcer role. Bunkhouse Buck - Jimmy Golden does a great job in his role. He comes in and sticks it to Dustin right away. His bumping is also great in this match as well. He takes a hell of a beating from Jerry Sags. I loved when he started using his suspenders as a whip late in the match beating guys senselessly with it. He's really had a great year so far. Col. Robert Parker - Man was he great in this. I love him panicking before he comes in and only coming in the match after the heels get the advantage. He lays one punch on Dustin and sells his hand. He sold his fucking hand because he's a manager and doesn't wrestle. That is awesome. The man sure knows how to beat the hell out of people with a belt though. I loved him in the post-match as well all catatonic and shit. Terry Funk - Loss's favorite! And the best guy in this match too. I loved him going nuts on the outside before he got into the match. He's instantly tremendous when he enters the cage taking off his boot and wildly going after Dustin and completely going over the ropes and barely hitting Dustin with the boot. His interactions with Dusty are fucking great with him taunting Dusty while he's attacking his son and ramming him against the cage. The jig he does in Dusty's face before Dusty comes in the match is hilarious and tremendous too. Nothing beats the spot of the night with Terry getting ganzo bombed and doing a vanishing act between the two rings. That is a totally ludicrous bump for a 50 year old man to be taking. Oh yeah, he also gets savagely beaten with his own boot. Terry Funk is awesome. To add to my long tirade the last three or four minutes of this match are really incredible. The crowd is off the charts and the out of control level is at it's highest. Meng was great in his role on the outside trying to tear the cage apart too. This is one of my favorite matches ever and I'll always see it as the last true WCW match and feud.

This was stupid as hell. Hogan comes across as such a heel asshole. Flair is extremely likable and the fans boo Hogan. They set up the Career vs. Career match.

Vader-Traylor didn't look very good and the finish was lame. Vader-Sting was very good with Vader bumping like a maniac for the first part of the match then Sting playing FIP for the rest of it with Vader dominating. I liked the teases in the sudden death round but the finish was a terrible screwjob. Still, this was the usual competitive Sting-Vader match.

Tito Santana has three or four great years and a lot of quality stuff over a long period of time. Would you consider him all-time material? Don't get me wrong I love Tito and think he's better than Shawn but I wouldn't consider him all time material.

This was one of the most disgusting displays ever. Fucking crap.

Poor Mick. His WCW career ends because of Dave Sullivan. Horrible.

Hogan is such a prick. He says he has a plan to get Flair back in the ring.

Tremendous wild brawl. The match never officially starts and the brawl goes out into the parking lot. New Jack cuts a great promo on Ricky Morton and the Rock N Rolls back in the studio. Great stuff.

Lance makes this makes with his commentary. Dave Brown is pretty great too. The match itself is decent but could have been better. The heels win with the use of a chain thanks to some distraction from Fantasia.

Lance tries to compare this feud to Lawler-Dundee. I give him props for attempting to put this feud over. The recap is really well done and gives great insight into the feud. Brian Christopher cuts a brief promo afterwards before Scott Bowden cuts him off and is quickly accompanied by Doug Gilbert and Tommy Rich who try and cut some of Christopher's hair after a sneak attack. Lawler comes out and makes the save. This was a nice little build in the feud.

There is no apron attached to the ring. Totally bizarre looking. The match isn't much of anything and we get a re-start after New Jack hits Robert with a nightstick and Bullet Bob comes out and tells Mark Curtis about it. Curtis re-starts the match and the Rock N Rolls quickly retain their belts. They gloat about it afterwards in an interview with Armstrong.

Cactus and Mikey win the tag belts and give us a cool moment. Afterwards, Cactus cuts a great promo on how Mikey reminds him of himself. Mikey is terrified and yes, their interactions are great.

This match is far and away better than their ladder match previously. It's mixed in with some great spots from Sabu and solid chain wrestling in the early going. There were a few things I didn't much care for like Snow's weak arm bar and later random head scissors to call the next spot. Damien was amusing as Sabu's second and does do a nice job but I have an issue with getting completely into Sabu matches like this because his second becomes far too involved sometimes. The post-match smokes the match itself and then some. I mean the brawl features Terry Funk, Sabu, Al Snow, and Damien fighting in a school gym somewhere in middle America. Nothing tops that shit. There are reasons why I love Terry Funk. This is a perfect example of why. That brawl was fucking great and one of the best Indy brawls ever. The unforgettable scene of Terry cursing out bystanders, the camera man, Al Snow, and a beaten referee while hiding under a van is one of the reasons why I still watch wrestling. His triumphant walk out is tremendous as he stumbles down the sidewalk in a random neighborhood under the sunset asking for his "goddamn hat."

This match was good. Terry Funk is the star getting in arguments with fans and makes a tremendous facial expression at a fan who's in his face during the post-match. Dustin is worked over on his injured shoulder for most of the match but he makes a tag and the faces get a nice comeback. Steamboat is tossed to the floor over the top rope by Buck and the faces win. A fun and wild brawl occurred afterwards. This feud is awesome.

Dusty hypes up his acting career. I don't think it ever went anywhere.

Flair is strutting around Vegas with the World Heavyweight Championship belt. Amusing.

I love this match. It's one of my favorite competitive squashes ever. Vader gives Brad Armstrong a lot and the cut off spots are tremendous. Excellent match.