Superstar Sleeze

This. If anything it's one of the most overrated "moment" in wrestling history. It was a cute "WTF" moment for smart marks only, led to absolutely nothing in term of matches, angles or payoff, and didn't draw WCW any money. What it did though, was mesmerize Vince Russo who even mentionned it in one of his "Vic Venom" columns in the Raw Magazine sometime in 97. And from there comes his fascination for shoot-angles. So yeah, in some twisted way it was important as it "inspired" the worst booker ever to do a hundred shoot-angles in WCW which all accomplished nothing in the end just like the original one did. Bingo! That's exactly what I meant. It was inconsequential from a kayfabe point of view because they never followed up on it and there was no payoff. However it did inspire Russo and TNA. It was a hugely important moment in turning the industry into it was today. I am not going to say that if it never happened we would be in idyllic bliss because somebody else was going to do. Pillman was the guy to fire salvo, which has led to monster CM Punk worked shoot of 2011 that went over huge at first before it lost its sizzle post-Summerslam. Everything in moderation and the worked shoot should be treated as a powerful weapon only used every once in a while. Russo and TNA lessened its impact with their constant use. Pillman would go overboard, but up until that time, he was still working a very effective heel style and was a great wrestling character.

It was one of the first crippling blows against kayfabe. This predates MSG Curtain Call. The Curtain Call was at a house show. This was live on TV. Pillman was sarcastically stating he respected the booker and in turn the office. I am not going to say a worked shoot had never been done before, but this was the first of the Monday Night Wars where a wrestler openly complained about his push and broke down kayfabe in a Big Two promotion. I have always thought of it as a seminal moment in wrestling history.

WCW International World Champion Rick Rude, WCW US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff vs Sting, Brian Pillman & Dustin Rhodes - Superbrawl IV Thundercage I take everything back about what I say Austin was not a big bumping heel. He takes the first bump into the cage and then takes the bump of the match by straddling the cage. The thundercage is a rickety, bush league Hell In A Cell with steel bars as opposed to mesh. Austin was the badass of the match because he also hit the offensive move of the match when he hotshotted Pillman into the cage busting Pillman wide open. Then after almost shredding his knee he bumps all over the place for the babyfaces. Pillman gets his blowoff victory to a huge pop after Sting press slams him onto Austin. Well so much for my theory in the previous match about protecting Austin from having to job to Pillman. The crowd was hot for this match with "Paula" chants to start and they did not let up in heat. What a friggin' bitchin' match. No one is going to mistake this for a high end Wargames, but this is still a really high-end six-man tag with tons of effort for all. On the babyface side, everything was so well-executed. Sting is a such a great shine babyface, Pillman as the plucky face in peril and Dustin as the energetic hot tag. The one big misstep I thought was having Sting be the one to get the hot tag and bust Orndorff open. You see once Dustin gets tag in how much better he could have done that sequence. Plus, Dustin/Orndorff were dance partners in this match. Orndorff looked great in this match targeting Sting's arm, hitting an absolutely wicked belly to back suplex on Pillman and blading off some cage shots. Again, I think Rude in a tag team was a perfect place for him at this time. He knows how to get heat better than almost anybody else. He still had highspots like his top tope knee drop. I also dug the Dustin bulldog crotch on the top rope. I was happy that Pillman ended up being the final hot tag in the match as he just unloaded on Austin before he got the win. It was an action-packed match, where every character played their role to perfection and the execution was off the charts. If I didn't know anybody better, all the booking and in-ring work point to Austin and Pillman being pushed heavily, but both had pretty lackluster '94 after this. Well, Austin had the Steamboat feud, but still he did not have a hot angle. Those who are low on the match because it was played too much like a six-man. I would say that cage was used in the pivotal transition spots twice. Into the heat segment, it was Austin hotshot on Pillman and to the final hot tag, it was Austin taking wicked straddle bump from the apron. The cage was used effectively. I don't think it is as good as the high-end Wargames matches. I would still give this **** and say one of the better American six-man tags of all time. It is too bad WCW did not build on Pillman's win and the fact that Austin was finally breaking out.

WCW International World Champion Rick Rude, WCW US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff vs Sting, Brian Pillman & Dustin Rhodes - Superbrawl IV Thundercage I take everything back about what I say Austin was not a big bumping heel. He takes the first bump into the cage and then takes the bump of the match by straddling the cage. The thundercage is a rickety, bush league Hell In A Cell with steel bars as opposed to mesh. Austin was the badass of the match because he also hit the offensive move of the match when he hotshotted Pillman into the cage busting Pillman wide open. Then after almost shredding his knee he bumps all over the place for the babyfaces. Pillman gets his blowoff victory to a huge pop after Sting press slams him onto Austin. Well so much for my theory in the previous match about protecting Austin from having to job to Pillman. The crowd was hot for this match with "Paula" chants to start and they did not let up in heat. What a friggin' bitchin' match. No one is going to mistake this for a high end Wargames, but this is still a really high-end six-man tag with tons of effort for all. On the babyface side, everything was so well-executed. Sting is a such a great shine babyface, Pillman as the plucky face in peril and Dustin as the energetic hot tag. The one big misstep I thought was having Sting be the one to get the hot tag and bust Orndorff open. You see once Dustin gets tag in how much better he could have done that sequence. Plus, Dustin/Orndorff were dance partners in this match. Orndorff looked great in this match targeting Sting's arm, hitting an absolutely wicked belly to back suplex on Pillman and blading off some cage shots. Again, I think Rude in a tag team was a perfect place for him at this time. He knows how to get heat better than almost anybody else. He still had highspots like his top tope knee drop. I also dug the Dustin bulldog crotch on the top rope. I was happy that Pillman ended up being the final hot tag in the match as he just unloaded on Austin before he got the win. It was an action-packed match, where every character played their role to perfection and the execution was off the charts. If I didn't know anybody better, all the booking and in-ring work point to Austin and Pillman being pushed heavily, but both had pretty lackluster '94 after this. Well, Austin had the Steamboat feud, but still he did not have a hot angle. Those who are low on the match because it was played too much like a six-man. I would say that cage was used in the pivotal transition spots twice. Into the heat segment, it was Austin hotshot on Pillman and to the final hot tag, it was Austin taking wicked straddle bump from the apron. The cage was used effectively. I don't think it is as good as the high-end Wargames matches. I would still give this **** and say one of the better American six-man tags of all time. It is too bad WCW did not build on Pillman's win and the fact that Austin was finally breaking out.

WCW International World Champion Rick Rude & WCW US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs Brian Pillman & Dustin Rhodes If only all matches were this fun. It is not going to change your life, but still it is a very entertaining ten minutes. I didn't like how they were portraying it as a Pillman/Parker feud because it makes Austin seem second to Parker. However, I think they were also doing it so Pillman could look strong against Parker, but they protect Austin, who seemed on the fast track to number two heel status. Austin & Rude make such a great team. I loved all the showboating. Austin ratcheted up the heat on his chops. Plus, he came up with a great comedy heel spot: the sloppy skin the cat. How has nobody made that a part of their arsenal! O yeah, because all heels nowadays take themselves way too friggin seriously. Pillman and Rhodes were just excellent babyfaces bringing tons of energy to this match. I liked the heat segment even though it was a bearhug and chinlocks because they broke it up nicely either a Rude taunt or Dustin struggling. Unfortunately, there is no finish to the match. Pillman brings in Parker the hard way. It is rubber pants time for Parker. The heels bail and they just go off the air. I guess that's a countout? So WCW. These four meshed so well together. Depending how much pain Rude was in, he easily could have extended his career by just stooging in a heel tag team for a couple years because this was the best I have ever seen him post-1992. Pillman & Dustin are just perfect babyfaces. Energy, energy, energy. They brought it. Austin looked at his best save for the earlier Pillman bout. I loved the sloppy skin the cat. He was in peak form with his taunting and stooging. It is too bad it had no finish because it was so fun.

"And she was better than everyone thought." Fuckin hilarious.

False advertising is illegal. I make sure to deal the Sleeze whenever possible. I complied the Pillman matches into a new blog. His work in the early 90s clearly blows his Loose Canon work outta the water in the ring. However, in terms of heeling it up in the ring, I thought he was really fuckin' good. Meltzer said on the Austin Show he was obsessed with being a main event heel. You could see in his performances how hard he worked at being a heel. I loved his use of the slap in all his matches. It made for such a pop when the babyface got his receipt. The Badd match stands out as his last classic where he really facilitated the importation of the Japanese style to American wrestling audiences. With the right time and opponent, I think he had another masterpiece as the Loose Canon in him, but was never afforded the opportunity before the wreck. I was really impressed with the work even if there were not that many must-see matches. At the same time, it is hard to watch the act knowing behind the scenes he was literally descending into madness. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/20...an-pillman.html

The final piece... Brian Pillman vs Kevin Sullivan - Superbrawl VI Respect Strap Match "I respect you, bookerman" with those words Pillman immortalized the Loose Canon character and forever cemented his cult status in pro wrestling. I love his matches as a plucky babyface in the early 90s, but for better or worse Pillman is famous for the Loose Canon gimmick. Pillman sprinted to the ring and got in some pretty violent shots with the strap. Sullivan hit an absolute wicked right. At this point, Pillman grabbed the mic to utter his iconic words. Fellow Horsemen, Arn Anderson came out to give the fans their money's worth and to uphold Horsemen honor. It was actually a helluva street fight strap match. It could have been one of the all-time best strap matches if they got 10-15 minutes. It was gritty, violent with eye-gouges, low blows and violent strap shots. However, Ric Flair for the first time play Cap'n Buzzkill calling off the match. He unites Horsemen and the Dungeon of Doom in an Unholy Alliance to End Hulkamania. I love how Flair always calls Sullivan "Devil". Anderson always good for a badass line ends the segment with "In order to get Savage and Hogan, I would get into bed with the Devil himself". One of the biggest moments in pro wrestling history as kayfabe continued to be destroyed and Anderson/Sullivan put on helluva fight until it was stopped.  

I don't really agree. I agree that those matches are very good to great, but I don't agree that he's working a different style. He's working one style. He carries the match with Hogan but he does it by forcing Hogan into his match. He works Patera the same way he worked Patterson, Valentine, and Inoki. He can be pushed into a bomb throwing contest (see Great Arab Hussein match), but even then he's doing it a very particular way. Backlund works on top more than just about any guy I can think of. He's more dominant in his matches than Hansen or Vader (I truly believe that). He shows less vulnerability than basically any major babyface I've ever seen. I said this on an upcoming show, but I want to say it here too: Backlund has too much struggle in him. I don't like Inoki for the same reason. It may be 20+ years' worth of being programmed to expect a certain unwritten rule of selling: if a guy is kicking another guy's ass, I expect the other guy to sell it. Backlund doesn't sell it, ever, ever. He's always struggling. Always fighting. Always doing some shit to show he's ... not getting his ass kicked. This is why the the matches with Inoki fucking suck for me, because there's Inoki doing exactly the same thing. "But Jerry, in an actual fight, that's what happens" Well I don't watch pro wrestling for its verismilitude, I'd watch UFC if I wanted that wouldn't I! Backlund is the only guy I've ever seen who will carry another guy by kicking their ass. After years and years of watching guys like Flair, it's very hard for me to adjust to that. I see it as a basic limitiation of Backlund's style. Flair can go in there with ANYONE and he makes them good look by showing ass and bumping like a muthafucker. He can work the proverbial broomstick. We've seen Backlund work broomsticks. We've seen him in there with some really shitty guys and with some more mediocre ones (e.g. Duncum). In fact, Duncum is a good case in point. Here's a guy who is taller than Backlund and heavier than Backlund and billed as a "big man". Backlund just kicks the shit out of him from bell to bell. But Duncum is not Ken Patera or Pat Patterson, so surprise surprise, he's not selling Bob's shit that well and the match sucks. This is why for as many great Backlund matches as there are, there are at least as many that are totally shit. I'd argue that Backlund simply doesn't change up his style to fit the opponent. He works the same way regardless of who it is. You could put that fucker in there with Superman himself and he still won't show you an ounce of vulnerability. Bob is in the business of getting Bob over. That's why I don't like him. In the best matches of his, the MVP for me has almost always been the opponent so far. Backlund or Valentine? Valentine Backlund or Patterson? Patterson Backlund or Patera? Patera I don't think it's a coincidence. This isn't just blind prejudice on my part -- Backlund sucks as a promo, I don't like and possibly still don't even understand his basic character -- it's a view I've built up of seeing a lot of Backlund now in different situations, against different opponents. He never changes. Flair is a heel. Backlund is a face. Backlund is supposed to look strong and he is the champion. He kicks out at one. He is constantly struggling. He makes people work for every inch. I conceded that Backlund is not going to win any awards for selling, but you make it seem as if heat sections are non-existent. I remember plenty of times, Hogan and Valentine worked on top in their respective matches with Backlund. I can think you work a ton of different styles and still be true to yourself. We all agree that a Flair match with Steamboat is different from one with Luger or one from Garvin, but Flair was still a big bumping, underhanded heel. He adjusted for his opponents, but he was still Flair. This is why I think people think there is a Flair formula, just because the spots are the same don't make it the same match. When I listen to Motley Crue, I think it is great that they vary their songs form glam rock, heavy metal, punk and ballads, but they still sound like Motley Crue. They are true to themselves. In his matches with Inoki and Valentine, he works great holds based matches. With Slaughter, Muraco and Patera, he works great brawls. With Hogan, he works one of the best power tit for tat matches ever. Yes, he is still Backlund and true to himself. The matches are a different style, but he works one style. I don't see how heel Flair works a different style in his matches. When he chops Luger or Sting it gets no-sold. When he chops Steamboat or Garvin, he ends up in a chop war. Flair is not deviating from his gameplan, but the matches are different because the opponents are different. If he could bully Kerry Von Erich like he did with Ricky Morton, he would. Backlund is out to prove he is the best in every style. Hogan is a power wrestler. I am going to out-power you. Inoki is a mat wrestler. I am going to best him on the mat. Slaughter is a brawler. Well I can do that too. That's Backlund's MO. He believes he is the best all-around wrestler. He is going to beat you at your game to prove it, but by still being Bob Backlund the scrappiest wrestler ever. Scrappy Doo sounds about right to me.

WCW US Champion Dustin Rhodes vs "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker - Starrcade 1993 2 Out Of 3 Falls "Well we certainly cant call her The Natural" - Jesse The Body Well that was anticlimactic. They gave the Nasties vs Sting & Hawk almost 30 minutes, but only let these guys have 15-ish for 2 out of 3 falls? Some of this has to be on the wrestlers as both where wrestling like they were going to go long, but then just went home. It was a really lo-fi match even by Austin's standards. I have no problem with a fundamentals-based match, but nothing seemed to connect. Austin would break Dustin's rhythm by going to the outside. Finally, Dustin said fuck it. They let loose and Dustin chucked Austin four rows deep into the stands. The crowd and I thought this where we were going to get going. Outside of some wicked sweet Dustin rights there was really not much to pop the crowd. Austin's work was real basic used ref's break or a Parker distraction to gain an advantage. Still he did not have the extra gear yet. Rhodes could always rely on his crowd to pop the crowd. Austin did not have an equivalent to garner heat. Rhodes makes his comeback punctuated by a bionic elbow. However, he chucks Austin over the top rope into Parker triggering the DQ finish. Austin blades off a post shot. It was a perfectly adequate first fall, but they seemed to be setting themselves up for some sweet stuff in the subsequent falls. Rhodes starts the second fall on fire, but he Beyonces the house lights. WCW is forced to use spotlights to light up the action. Rhodes goes for a nice series of 10 count punches in the corner when Austin double legs him in the corner to win with his feet on the ropes. WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?! It really did feel like an incomplete match. I am still shocked that was the finish. The '91 Halloween Havoc match blows that out of the water. It was really disappointing because you know what they can do on the mat and brawling, but the you get such a by the numbers match with a dogshit finish just sucks. I would say Dustin had more tools in his arsenal at this point, but Austin had more charisma.

I actually disagree with that assessment, but I have seen more of his Stone Cold work than his Stunning Steve work (which is the whole point of this project). Don't get me wrong I think it is pretty close. In WWF, he put it altogether. He knew how to work smart not hard so to speak. In WCW, he was a good dance partner, but it was always Windham, Pillman, Steamboat, and Rhodes leading him through the dance steps. By late '93, he was putting it altogether and was poised for a big run. In the WWF by late '96, he was Bret's equal in the ring, which is such a vast improvement in my eyes because I hold Bret in pretty high regard. After the injury, he was still working the most compelling matches in '98-'99 WWF because he had such a strong understanding of self and wrestling. To me, he always understood Stone Cold better than Stunning. Stone Cold always had a purpose and knew exactly what he wanted to do. Occasionally, "Stunning" Steve would meander and lose his way in a match. I don't always think he knew who "Stunning" Steve was. It is as simple as Stone Cold is more closely who he is. -------------------------------------- WCW World Champion Vader & "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs Ric Flair & Arn Anderson - WCW Saturday Night 11/13/93 Just three days after the Clash, Flair continues his feud with Vader originally with his partner, Sid Vicious. However, Sid had a mental meltdown and attacked Arn Anderson with a pair of scissors in real life this getting his ass fired. They write out Sid by having Harley's henchmen, The Colossal Kongs attack him and Vader hit his big splash. Flair ain't going to let the bad guys one-up him as he gets best friend, Arn Anderson to step in and a melee ensues. When I originally watched this match, I thought the AA FIP was insufferably long and made some jokes about it. As I was watching it again, I was like what I was talking about this has been great so far. Then it kept going and going and going. It was the fuckin energizer bunny of face in peril segments. The Horsemen always prided themselves on going all night long, but I hope it was not like this. In their defense, the opening was just downright explosive. Ric Flair was on fire and moving at the speed of light. He was supplying enough energy in this match to power the city of Hotalnta, GA. His exchanges out on the floor with Vader were awesome taking a jaw-first bump on the railing, Vader taking his chest-first bump hell even using a chair on Vader. That's how you do a TV brawl. Flair balling up his fists and ready to lay one on his opponent is one of the best things ever. Austin seemed overshadowed by the other three all-time great workers in this match. It is not that much of a slight against him. When Flair is supplying that much energy, he is a magnet and it is hard to take your eyes off him. Vader is such a force in the ring and Anderson was given a 15 minute FIP. Austin just did not standout. The short Flair FIP was pretty good as Austin was able to catch him and the back of the neck and the heels unloaded. I think the problem with the match lies that they went right from the Flair FIP to AA FIP, where they could have went more AWA style and had The Enforcer kick some ass before taking an ass-kicking. The first half of the Anderson FIP was actually pretty damn good. It was actually pretty good back and forth with Vader, who took a front suplex onto the railing. After a while the energy was sapped from AA and the hope spots just ended. I thought after Austin did Anderson's knucklelock spot that Flair would get the tag, but instead it kept going. By the end, everyone was running out of gas and the match, which started off with a bang was going out with a whimper. Only to add to my irritation, they wait until there is only 2 minutes left in the show before tagging in Flair. The place explodes for Flair, who rushes to get the figure-4 on Austin. Parker rakes his eyes and we go off the air with Vader attempting to land the Vaderbomb. WCW never did change. Given its length, I will probably not watch this match again. If they just did the first ten minutes as an out of control brawl to build to Flair/Vader and maybe use Dustin instead of Anderson that would have been perfect for Starrcade. I realize these shows were taped pretty far in advance so maybe they had not booked Dustin/Austin yet in their minds. The first ten minutes of this are absolutely great. I wish more TV matches from nowadays had this chaotic feel and used the outside so expertly. Everything seems so sanitized now. As for individual performances, I thought Flair was off the charts good. Vader was his usual badass self. Anderson is a weird FIP and he is definitely better on the heel side of tags. Unlike Flair, he does not have a babyface persona of himself. He comes off as stoic and unexpressive, which hurt him in such a heated environment. Austin came off a little bland in the match. His problem in this match and the Pillman match was he would take this wicked chop and he hit a weak ass chop back. Austin just did not work a heated style yet. He was better at mat-based championship style matches at this point. I would be remiss to mention he took a couple sick reverse elbows from Arn. He was definitely willing to take punishment, which I admire. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs. 2 Cold Scorpio - WCW Power Hour 12/11/93 WCW TV was always good for pairings like this allowing you to see wrestlers against a variety of opponents. Even though Austin is getting pushed heavily he is pretty unselfish in the ring letting Scorpio take the lion's share of match, which is what you want out of a heel. Scorpio is a really good athletic, exciting midcard act. He hit one early highspot (reverse sunset flip) followed up with perfunctory armwork into a fast flurry of roll ups. Austin is able to break his momentum with some rough housing. Austin was definitely missing some spots in the ring, just some go to offensive moves to garner some heat. The jumping jack thing was not doing it for me. He needed more stuff like that, but better. Scorpio is able to connect with a strange cartwheel like splash from the top rope, but Parker distracts him from hitting the 450. Austin reverses a Scorpio rollup to win. Austin carries himself well in these matches and he is willing to give the babyfaces a lot, but he still missing spots in his arsenal to take him to the next level. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW US Champion Dustin Rhodes vs "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker - Starrcade 1993 2 Out Of 3 Falls "Well we certainly cant call her The Natural" - Jesse The Body Well that was anticlimactic. They gave the Nasties vs Sting & Hawk almost 30 minutes, but only let these guys have 15-ish for 2 out of 3 falls? Some of this has to be on the wrestlers as both where wrestling like they were going to go long, but then just went home. It was a really lo-fi match even by Austin's standards. I have no problem with a fundamentals-based match, but nothing seemed to connect. Austin would break Dustin's rhythm by going to the outside. Finally, Dustin said fuck it. They let loose and Dustin chucked Austin four rows deep into the stands. The crowd and I thought this where we were going to get going. Outside of some wicked sweet Dustin rights there was really not much to pop the crowd. Austin's work was real basic used ref's break or a Parker distraction to gain an advantage. Still he did not have the extra gear yet. Rhodes could always rely on his crowd to pop the crowd. Austin did not have an equivalent to garner heat. Rhodes makes his comeback punctuated by a bionic elbow. However, he chucks Austin over the top rope into Parker triggering the DQ finish. Austin blades off a post shot. It was a perfectly adequate first fall, but they seemed to be setting themselves up for some sweet stuff in the subsequent falls. Rhodes starts the second fall on fire, but he Beyonces the house lights. WCW is forced to use spotlights to light up the action. Rhodes goes for a nice series of 10 count punches in the corner when Austin double legs him in the corner to win with his feet on the ropes. WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?! It really did feel like an incomplete match. I am still shocked that was the finish. The '91 Halloween Havoc match blows that out of the water. It was really disappointing because you know what they can do on the mat and brawling, but the you get such a by the numbers match with a dogshit finish just sucks. I would say Dustin had more tools in his arsenal at this point, but Austin had more charisma.

Bob Backlund or Owen Hart? Bob Backlund or Brian Pillman? Bob Backlund or Steve Austin? Bob Backlund or Bret Hart? Bob Backlund or Jumbo Tsurta? Bob Backlund or Tito Santana? Bob Backlund or Tully Blanchard? Bob Backlund or Kurt Angle? Bob Backlund or Harley Race? Bob Backlund or Rick Rude? Bob Backlund or Scott Hall? Bob Backlund or William Regal? Bob Backlund or Triple H? Jumbo is definitively better than Backlund. Backlund, Austin, Bret are all in the same area. I need to rewatch a ton of Regal and watch more Blanchard. Backlund is better than Owen, Pillman, Tito, Harley, Rude, Hall and HHH. Having just watched Austin/Pillman, I feel like I am overrating Austin and underrating Pillman. Backlund is around #25 for me if I remember correctly from when I threw up my top 50 in response to Dylan and Musgrave's podcast. I have not even seen one of his '82 matches, which are supposed to be amazing. Backlund works so well against a variety of opponents in different type of matches that it is hard to deny his awesomeness. In May of 1980, he wrestled ****+ classics against Hogan, Dusty (NJPW) and Patera all of which are incredibly different. His May of 1980 maybe one of the best months in wrestling history. He is an absolute beast.

I think what I love about Austin is that he is not a prodigy. He works fuckin' hard and smart. He got a head because of effort. I love when a hard worker gets rewarded. Don't get me wrong, I think he always had it, but he did not always know how to convey "it" to an audience. What you see him in WCW is him putting together the whole package in terms of ring presence, timing and showmanship. He never had the biggest arsenal, but he always knew to make the most out of it. For now, I am going to focus on the tail end of his WCW career: his post-Blondes period and WCW US Championship reign. Flair seemed to have big plans for him in January of '94 before it kind of fizzled. He had a solid feud with Steamboat before being on job duty for "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. WCW US Champion Dustin Rhodes vs "Stunning" Steve Austin - WCW Halloween Havoc '93 At this point, Austin is still being billed as a member of the Hollywood Blondes (the breakup would happen on 10/30/93) and he did not have Col. Robert Parker. Dustin Rhodes was coming off a lackluster feud with a broken down Rude. I feel that Dustin seemed like the bigger the prospect, but Austin had closed the gap considerably since their '91 Havoc match. It is hard not to compare this match to their awesome '91 Havoc encounter and it does fall short of that match. However, this match had different intentions as they were looking to milk this over the course of a couple PPVs thus they could not go for broke. The biggest issue was a pretty dead New Orleans crowd, which just was not biting on their highspots. In the crowd's defense, this was not the world's most exciting match. Austin has a clear grasp of heel psychology, but has not figured out how to put it all together to have carry a great match yet. I liked his use of the slap early and milking it with a stroll around the ring. Unfortunately, when Dustin went to get his receipt he fell too early and it did not have the sound to make the crowd pop. That sequence encapsulates the match. There were great spots, but they were either missing transitions or just were timed well. The match finally kicks into gear when Austin misses a high knee into the turnbuckle and spills to outside. I like when they turn a conventional story on its head with the heel having the injury. Unlike a face valiantly overcoming his injury, Austin kicks Dustin's balls. It is just self-preservation, baby. Another cool spot is Austin tries to pick Dustin up, but Dustin overpowers him. You think Austin is going to eat turnbuckles, but instead he propels himself off the turnbuckle to land a kneedrop. Tony and I were quite impressed. Dustin starts mounting a comeback with his sweet punches, but Austin blocks the bulldog by crotching Dustin on the top turnbuckle. When watching Dustin felt like the better wrestler, but Austin was doing all the spots that really stuck with me. Dustin was better at fundamentals, but Austin was working some good high spots. Dustin is able to counter the Stun Gun with a Thesz Press. I am a sucker for symmetry. Austin thinks he wins with his feet on the ropes, but ref waives it off. Dustin wins with a roll-up due to the confusion. What a fucking lame finish. Austin lets us know this is not over by pasting Dustin with the US Title. This match had plenty of good highspots, but all the glue was dull. The beginning was especially boring and aimless. I felt they were trying to consciously save something for Starrcade instead of going balls to the wall like in '91. The commentators put over all that Austin had learned from Pillman and I think Austin did learn a lot about psychology from Pillman, but he was not putting together complete matches. Dustin felt ho-hum when I know he can be a lot more engaging. It was a disappointing match, but still overall featured solid work and some innovative spots. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs Brian Pillman - Clash of the Champions XXV I blame WCW for this not being one of the all-time classics in wrestling history. Due to the hotshot booking of the Blonds breakup, Pillman & Austin were forced to work two really great matches in one basically. The first half of the match is a heated grudge match style Donnybrook bridged into a counterwrestling style (playing off being former partners). Each section is worked at a sprint pace and it does not feel too disjointed. However, I think each segment could have stood as it is own 15-20 minute classic if WCW pushed this as a lengthy, blood feud. The Battle of the Blonds begins at a break-neck pace and they are just at each other's throat. Brian Pillman is in his element throughout the beginning working a violent, hate-filled fight. He lets his anger toward Parker cost him, but ultimately it is a high-risk splash onto the ramp that eats a foot that does him in. Austin is able to chuck him off the railing for that always sick bump. Pillman does not know how to quite, but eats a stun gun. I love that this match was setup by a seemingly random segment where Pillman took exception to Parker taking interest in them and Austin signing with Parker. These guys wrestled the first five minutes liked the other slept with their woman and took their house. Nowadays, we have the disconnect in the other direction all heat in the buildup and none in the ring. Pillman is so scrappy and losing none of his heel edge even eye-rakes Austin to keep him away from the bad knee. Austin applies a half-crab, but gets caught holding the ropes for leverage. Thus begins the counterwrestling. I am pretty sure they counter every single one of each other's spot to prove how well they know each other. For example, Austin get crotched on top rope, but Austin counters the superplex with a front suplex, but Pillman counters his move off the top with his dropkick spot. It was just fuckin' fantastic work and so well-executed. Austin countered Air Pillman with a powerslam. Pillman countered the Stun Gun by holding the rope to land on the apron. However, the one thing Pillman could not account for with his time with Austin was Parker, who hooked Pillman's leg and Austin drove Pillman's head to mat for the win, what an excellent finish. Unless, I find something in 1994, this is Pillman's last Godly performance as a babyface. He absolutely rules this match and I thought he came off as the star to watch. Austin was a good heel. He just was not bringing the hate like Pillman. Once, it got into counter-wrestling he was with Pillman every step of the way. The match is a little disjointed because it is basically two halves, but it is an excellent match that does not get enough praise. Break this into two matches with each getting 15-20 minutes, you have two classics on your hand and one of the best feuds of all time. It is just too bad.

I do NOT miss when you all would be talking and all of sudden some rapper would fucking yell "FUCK DISCO! COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO! FUCK CISCO! JACK AND JERRY BRISCO!" The volume change and anger always spooked me while driving.

HEY! They are not that long!

I didn't even know Austin stuck around this long in WCW. I thought he got fired after jobbing to Duggan a couple times in '94. "If you don't want your tights pulled, don't wear tights" - Classic Heenan Austin's ring presence, his swagger, and the intangibles are all there plain to see for anyone. I didn't like his offense that much in this match. He is never one to work snug, but I thought his strike looked awfully weak. Everything he did at least built to the Boston Crab. I thought the headlock stuff was a bit more tepid this go-around. I did like that Austin's headlock ended up with the press slam. I got a kick out of Parker fanning Austin when he took a powder. El-P is right as Sting just decides to end the heat segment with a clothesline out of the corner. The missing dueling splashes was cool if only to see Austin actually off the top rope with a splash. I don't think I have ever seen that. The tombstone piledriver reversal should have been the finish, but hey what are you gonna do. Sting wins with an Oklahoma Roll. There is a lot of political bullshit and injuries that are fucking with Austin's mind and body at this time. It is not a great performance, but again it is interesting to see him develop his unique charisma in the ring. This is a more complete match than '94, but they could have had better. It was a decent TV match in a pretty lackluster era for WCW.

I can't believe Austin went from this to jobbing to Duggan around the horn by the end of the year. I have not really seen "it" with Austin yet until this match. He definitely conveyed a greater sense of being self-assured in this match than the previous encounters I had seen. His style for 1994 was so different than pretty much everyone else beside heel Doink The Clown. He was not a big bumping heel. He would stooge, but he felt a lot more understated than yesteryear's heels. He mocked Sting, but also was credible on the mat. He drew his heel heat from frustration rather outright cowardice or cheating. Eventually, he would add a level of roughhousing and meaness to his character that finally took him from potential star to superstar. Having Parker for a manager was good for him because he needed some to display weakness and to draw more heat. He could look strong and Parker represented his faults. Plus the "KFC" chants were hilarious. This was the best mat wrestling from Sting I think I have ever seen. He has come along way from those shitty, loose armbars of 1988! Sting is really good at showing up heels. It is the best part of his babyface character. Whether it is his Sting holler, outwrestling or overpowering his opponent thats where Sting shines. Austin uses the superplex to transition into a nice spinning armbar, which Sting fights outta from his back. Sting sells the arm, while punching his way back into it. Pillman decided he can not stand looking at the Colonel's mug on TV any longer and chases him. He gets in the ring and Pillman hits Austin. This triggers a DQ and the ref stops Sting from putting on the deathlock. In his promo, Austin gets it. Austin huffing and puffing says he can go another 30 and was ready to be the first man to reverse the Scorpion before that nefarious Flyin Brian robbed him of the opportunity. It is a great match to chart Austin's progression, but you never get the full story in this one.

Brian Pillman vs Johnny B. Badd - Fall Brawl '95 Pillman's "Blonds Have More Fun" is an excellent slab of pop metal. Nice to see pop metal still had home somewhere in 1995. Before the match, the crowd is already firmly behind Johnny B. Badd. The winner of this match receives a mandatory US Title shot against then holder, Sting. In this snippet of Pillman's career, he was not often paired with someone he had to carry. unfortunately, I did not have access to his GAB '95 match as a comparison point. Both were ostensibly face vs. face matches against an carryable opponent where Pillman chose to play the heel in that match. You can tell how much Pillman hated being a face at this point in his career. The first 5 or minutes are filled with lackadaisical, slow-motion hold work. They do the obligatory dropkick each other at the same time. One of my pet peeves in wrestling is when a wrestler just drops a hold for no reason and that happens more than once in this portion. Business picks up with a Billy Robinson backbreaker into a Boston Crab by Pillman. He lets go to punch Badd with a closed fist and Pillman starts to jaw with the fans and the camera. I was pretty underwhelmed with the match until that point. Badd hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Shoving exchange is won by Badd, which gets a nice pop. Pillman backs him into a corner and hits a hard reverse elbow. Pillman goes full-on heel at this point taking the walk up the aisleway, the facetious handshake and biting Badd. They have a sick collision on a double Thesz Press attempt, where was this fire earlier. At this point, it just turns into a bombfest, which is so strange for 1995 WCW and I was totally caught off guard. I enjoyed it a lot. Badd had a lot more aerial moves in his arsenal than "Flyin'" Brian. I always felt that was a misnomer that got him pigeon holed in places he did not belong when he should be having violent brawls because watching the footage he was so well-suited for that. Badd hits a powerbomb and Pillman hits a tombstone piledriver. Are we in the Budokan? They trade finishers (Tutti Frutti & Air Pillman) as the time limit expires. Nick Patrick says there must be a winner so we go to sudden death! Heenan wonders when he is going to get a chance to shave, which I thought was hilarious. Pillman chops the fuck outta Badd on the outside. YES! That's the Pillman I want! Badd counters a Pillman missile dropkick with a dropkick a callback to Pillman's counter-dropkick spot. They trade sleepers. Misawa counters Kawada's powerbomb with a headscissors takeover. I am sorry, I meant Pillman counters Badd's powerbomb with a headscissors takeover. I find a out a Badd Day is a Top Rope Frankensteiner and Pillman takes a great bump for it. He follows up that bump with always sick-looking railing bump. I find out a Badd Mood is a crazy somersault plancha. Lets Go Badd! I might have to explore him further. Badd does a reverse slingshot splash and eats knees. Pillman looking to prove why he is "Flyin Brian" and keep up The Badd Man whiffs pretty bad on a suicide dive. In his defense, Badd should have closer and to add to the complexity the stairs where right up against the apron there so he had to clear that too. At 30 minutes into the match, they fuckin sprint against the ropes and collide mid-ring with Badd falling on top for the win. Pillman-san and Badd-san had quite the match that night that hitherto was rarely seen in America. Unfortunately, this style was copied and stripped down missing the transitions to hold together the big spots. Yes, the beginning of the match was lackluster, but once Pillman effectively turns heel it gets a lot better. I wish Pillman had a better transition to turning heel rather just kind of just snapping his fingers and saying I am going to heel it up. To that point, Pillman bumps like a heel, but does offense like a babyface, which I feel hurts how the middle of the match connects to the amazing finish. It is a very disjointed match, which I hate rating. The beginning was some of the lamest face vs. face wrestling you'll ever see. The middle was an interesting period where Pillman was heeling it up and Badd was playing the hero well in their mini-battles. Then finish they just go balls to the walls and Pillman stops cheating and heeling. There is no glue. Within the finish stretch, the transitions are great and they have plenty of callback psychology. I just can't fit the three portions of the match together. I hate rating matches like this. What I have found interesting about this match is a lot people just throw out **** and don't say why it falls shy of ***** (not this group, but those who review for other sites). The finish stretch, which is incredibly long for an American match, is friggin' good that I will agree with the consensus and give it ****. I am trying to do star ratings to keep everything straight for future lists and projects. ----------------------------------------- Loss, I agree with you to extent, but I think I may disagree with some modifiers. It was not that it was un-physical to me. It felt like they were in slow-motion for the longest time. That was actually some pretty poor wrestling at the beginning. They were getting up and out of holds at will. I agree Pillman goes heel in the middle, but he totally departs from that for his big Japanese finish stretch. It is a weird match. I am not surprised it has a big rep based on the incredible home stretch both in length and quality, but at same time I don't feel like it is a classic. To me it is a really interesting experiment.

Before the dream conversation fades away, I had a dream where Chavo Classic and I went looking for footage of his old matches in a supermarket. It has never crossed my mind to ever watch old Chavo matches, but now all of sudden I have quite the urge.

That is some heavy shit. The ex-wife suicide is just batshit. I could never imagine dealing with something like that. You wish that he could have accepted a non-ring role and lived his life, but it was just not how we wired. Just a tragedy. Brian Pillman & Arn Anderson vs. Sting & Ric Flair - Halloween Havoc '95 WE WANT FLAIR! WE WANT FLAIR! WE WANT FLAIR! I liked this crowd's style. Flair was mysteriously "attacked" and Sting is going it alone for the time being mirroring Flair's rolling solo efforts on Nitro. I really liked the babyface shines in both matches a lot. Anderson and Pillman were really effective in getting Sting over, bumping their asses off for him. I loved how the Horsemen altered their game plan upon each failed attempt to double team. When trying to pin Sting in their corner failed, they moved to being in the ring at the same time, then Pillman slapped Sting to goad him to the floor and still Sting saw it coming. This is new and improved Sting. He will NOT be emotionally compromised. From the slap, Pillman now offers a handshake. It is best hits of heel tag teaming! Sting press slams Pillman. In a great spot, Sting catapults AA into Pillman's crotch. Subsequently, Sting chucks Pillman onto the railing for his signature bump. Pillman manages to pull himself up to the apron, but only the top rope is holding him up. So Anderson cracks Sting's skull off of Flyin' Brian's and finally the heels gain the upper hand. That is how you work a face shine sequence. The heels went through their arsenal of tricks and each time Sting either outsmarted or outpowered them only to falter to the numbers game. I love how it was just conventionally two guys caught up to Sting it was actually AA using an out of his feet Pillman like a prop. It was a tremendous transition spot. Here's come The Man! The crowd goes bezerk and I just have a mile wide smile. I am total sucker for babyface Flair. He is just too much fun. The heat segment is effective, but not as fun as the shine. Flair gets involved, but never really grabs a hold of the Horsemen. He lets himself be goaded by Pillman into giving chase, but again does not wrangle him. How convenient? The spinebuster is the one heel highspot, but the entertainment is derived from the Flair as a cheerleader and the constant cutoffs. All the drama is what will happen when Sting gets that damn tag. He gets his knees up on a Pillman splash, but AA cuts off with a back suplex. They keep this up until finally Sting gets a double noggin knocker. TAG TO FLAIR! TAG TO FLAIR! TAG TO FLAIR! NOW WE GO TO SCHOOL! HE CLOCKS STING! That never gets old. Horsemen beatdown and a good chunk of the crowd is still cheering for Flair. This is a really good match and one of my all-time favorites. I wished they explained some of the timeline better, but hey I enjoyed all of it. At the end of day, it is as simple as blood is thicker than water. I love the insane loyalty and devotion they have to each other. It is Flair & The Enforcer against the world. That's how it always has been and always will be. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Pillman vs Alex Wright - Saturday Night 9/10/95 This is the rematch from their GAB '95 match. If anyone has that match, please hook a brutha up. I have sent out some feelers and so far have come up dry. You can see how much experience matters in a match like this. Pillman knows exactly what he can and what he wants to do. He is very sure of himself as he goes to the mat or does a dropkick here and there. He lets Wright shine, but Wright just isn't there. Wright has some cool ideas. He does some slick European chain wrestling, but occasionally lets go or misses a connection. I don't if he ever put it together, but I appreciated the attempt even if it was no Pat O'Connor vs Lorenzo Parente. Wright vs. Regal could have be interesting and I will have to check it out. Things eventually heat up as they trade chops and European uppercuts. Wright gets a nice headscissors in and a belly to belly. He definitely had a lot of potential. They do a bridge sequence into a backslide and Pillman gets the win. It was a nice little face vs face encounter. The next night Pillman was turning heel so I don't think he minded making Wright look like the about to go in a completely different direction. You could really see the difference between a seasoned veteran and a rookie in this match. As Pillman was simple, but very effective in his execution, while Wright's reach sometimes outstretched his grasp. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Pillman vs Johnny B. Badd - Fall Brawl '95 Pillman's "Blonds Have More Fun" is an excellent slab of pop metal. Nice to see pop metal still had home somewhere in 1995. Before the match, the crowd is already firmly behind Johnny B. Badd. The winner of this match receives a mandatory US Title shot against then holder, Sting. In this snippet of Pillman's career, he was not often paired with someone he had to carry. unfortunately, I did not have access to his GAB '95 match as a comparison point. Both were ostensibly face vs. face matches against an carryable opponent where Pillman chose to play the heel in that match. You can tell how much Pillman hated being a face at this point in his career. The first 5 or minutes are filled with lackadaisical, slow-motion hold work. They do the obligatory dropkick each other at the same time. One of my pet peeves in wrestling is when a wrestler just drops a hold for no reason and that happens more than once in this portion. Business picks up with a Billy Robinson backbreaker into a Boston Crab by Pillman. He lets go to punch Badd with a closed fist and Pillman starts to jaw with the fans and the camera. I was pretty underwhelmed with the match until that point. Badd hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Shoving exchange is won by Badd, which gets a nice pop. Pillman backs him into a corner and hits a hard reverse elbow. Pillman goes full-on heel at this point taking the walk up the aisleway, the facetious handshake and biting Badd. They have a sick collision on a double Thesz Press attempt, where was this fire earlier. At this point, it just turns into a bombfest, which is so strange for 1995 WCW and I was totally caught off guard. I enjoyed it a lot. Badd had a lot more aerial moves in his arsenal than "Flyin'" Brian. I always felt that was a misnomer that got him pigeon holed in places he did not belong when he should be having violent brawls because watching the footage he was so well-suited for that. Badd hits a powerbomb and Pillman hits a tombstone piledriver. Are we in the Budokan? They trade finishers (Tutti Frutti & Air Pillman) as the time limit expires. Nick Patrick says there must be a winner so we go to sudden death! Heenan wonders when he is going to get a chance to shave, which I thought was hilarious. Pillman chops the fuck outta Badd on the outside. YES! That's the Pillman I want! Badd counters a Pillman missile dropkick with a dropkick a callback to Pillman's counter-dropkick spot. They trade sleepers. Misawa counters Kawada's powerbomb with a headscissors takeover. I am sorry, I meant Pillman counters Badd's powerbomb with a headscissors takeover. I find a out a Badd Day is a Top Rope Frankensteiner and Pillman takes a great bump for it. He follows up that bump with always sick-looking railing bump. I find out a Badd Mood is a crazy somersault plancha. Lets Go Badd! I might have to explore him further. Badd does a reverse slingshot splash and eats knees. Pillman looking to prove why he is "Flyin Brian" and keep up The Badd Man whiffs pretty bad on a suicide dive. In his defense, Badd should have closer and to add to the complexity the stairs where right up against the apron there so he had to clear that too. At 30 minutes into the match, they fuckin sprint against the ropes and collide mid-ring with Badd falling on top for the win. Pillman-san and Badd-san had quite the match that night that hitherto was rarely seen in America. Unfortunately, this style was copied and stripped down missing the transitions to hold together the big spots. Yes, the beginning of the match was lackluster, but once Pillman effectively turns heel it gets a lot better. I wish Pillman had a better transition to turning heel rather just kind of just snapping his fingers and saying I am going to heel it up. To that point, Pillman bumps like a heel, but does offense like a babyface, which I feel hurts how the middle of the match connects to the amazing finish. It is a very disjointed match, which I hate rating. The beginning was some of the lamest face vs. face wrestling you'll ever see. The middle was an interesting period where Pillman was heeling it up and Badd was playing the hero well in their mini-battles. Then finish they just go balls to the walls and Pillman stops cheating and heeling. There is no glue. Within the finish stretch, the transitions are great and they have plenty of callback psychology. I just can't fit the three portions of the match together. What I have found interesting about this match is a lot people just throw out **** and don't say why it falls shy of *****. The finish stretch, which is incredibly long for an American match, is friggin' good that I will agree with the consensus and give it ****. I am trying to do star ratings to keep everything straight for future lists and projects.

I don't think there is a consensus great match from the WWF for Pillman. He was pretty fucked from the accident. That being said that's why you have to watch ALL the footage.

Brian Pillman vs Eddie Guerrero - Nitro 11/20/95 Ric Flair is originally scheduled to face Guerrero on Nitro, but he tells Pillman to "take care of my light work". Pillman mocks Guerrero's Mexican heritage by using his jacket like a matador would. They two have some excellent chopfests that are as intense as Pillman/Flair, but don't get quite the same reaction. I love Pillman's use of the slap and Eddie makes sure to get a receipt to punctuate a nice flurry of offense. Pillman uses his midair dropkick to gain control and then it is dirty tactics to maintain. The crowd is not hot for them even though Pillman spits on Eddie, but Eddie's double leg gets a bit of a reaction. Pillman is definitely in Loose Canon mode, but the audience is just not there, but they would get there. Pillman takes his railing bump missing a double axehandle to outside. Eddie follows up with a huge dive from the top turnbuckles and then a brainbuster. Pillman struggles a bit more, but eventually eats the frogsplash to give Eddie a huge win. Bischoff seemed intent on pushing Benoit, Guerrero and Malenko at this point as important midcard players. Pillman was very entertaining throughout the match. He was such a despicable human in that ring. There were some slow spots and I would put the Malenko match over this, but this was a great Pillman performance. Eddie was also on fire. He is the newcomer and he earned every bit of that crowd reaction by standing toe-to-toe with Pillman in the chop exchanges, big dives and dishing out the punishment. Good TV match. Brian Pillman & Arn Anderson vs Sting & Lex Luger - Nitro 11/27/95 This match was more of a back drop for the Lex Luger angle. Luger is a heel for turning on Hogan & aligning with Jimmy Hart, but he is friends with Sting. Will he turn on Sting? Can he be trusted? Sting has issues with the Horsemen since they duped him at Havoc. Luger was late to the match, but makes up for it with a blind knee while AA runs the ropes. This is in perfect symmetry with Pillman high kick/AA spinebuster combo. I love Luger, but trying to out-heel AA & Pillman is going to be tough. Sting hits facebusters on everyone. Press slams by both. Anderson gets sent into Pillman on the apron, which causes the Pillman bump to the railing. Luger kicks some ass heel style with moves like rubbing Anderson's face across the ropes. Stinger Splash and Scorpion Deathlock on The Enforcer. Pillman ascends the top turnbuckle to save, but Luger pushes him off right into Sting's knee. Was it intentional? The heels have a decent heat segment. Pillman goads Luger away from his corner so that he misses a tag. Luger finally has enough and comes in to clean house. Sting negotiates an O'Connor roll on Pillman to win. Flair is out to beat down his two opponents for Starrcade, but Hogan makes the save. Hogan goes to clock Luger, but Sting restrains him. Whose side is he on? Pillman was hardly in this match. He still jawed with the fans or camera when he got a chance. It felt like he was just in the match to eat the pin. Anderson was good to get over the angle and stooge for Sting & Luger. Sting & Luger was just such a great angle and this match really established where they were going forward with this angle. Early Nitro was really good at using 5-10 minute matches that also sufficed as angle development segments. I would like to see that style incorporated better in the modern product.

I need to listen to the Austin/Meltzer podcast yesterday, but I just cant find a set amount of time to listen to all of it. I know once I start, I wont be able to stop that one.

That post was getting long will wrap up the rest of Pillman's WCW '95-'96 run here. Brian Pillman vs. Ric Flair - Nitro 9/18/95 You know whenever these two get together it is going to be a fuckin' barnburner. They did not disappoint. Pillman interfered and helped Anderson beat Flair at Fall Brawl '95. Flair cut a promo early stating that Anderson should not have brought outsiders into the family feud and now he was going to beat Pillman all over Johnson City, Tennessee. I just love the little bits of babyface Flair you get everyone once and a while. His babyface strut that ends with his fists balled up always makes me mark out. I loved their chopfests throughout this match. The heat was just off the charts and the crowd was all about babyface Flair. He even hit a big double axehandle from the top to the floor on Pillman. Pillman was still honing in his new heel persona, but he feels so much better than the stuff I was watching him earlier in '95. Flair ducks the clothesline while running the apron and hits his own. Babyface Flair rules! Pillman catches him with a dropkick off the top, which is his best '95 spot until he developed his heel spots. Flair hits snake eyes on the railing and Pillman Flair Flops. This is a great TV match. They surprise me as Flair takes a press slam off the top. It looks like Flair is going for the kneecrusher, but hits a back suplex. Pillman submits to the figure-4 and ends this way too early. O God in Heaven, why could we not get a Pillman heat segment! This is nowhere near their '90 or '91 encounters, but still it is a very energetic and heated affair. Flair looks awesome in this and Pillman looks refreshed and on his way to something big. -------------------------------------------------------------- WCW US Champion Sting vs Brian Pillman - Saturday Night 9/30/95 This should be Johnny B. Badd's title shot, but he mysteriously disappeared and conveniently Brian Pillman received his US title shot (Badd and Pillman fought for a US title shot at Fall Brawl '95). Pillman is starting to come into his own as the Loose Canon. He knocks down the railing and jaws with the fans. Pillman is always down to clown in his matches, which I appreciate. Modern heels should not be so afraid to look foolish in the ring. Finally one of his heel tricks works as he does the old Hollywood Blonde's trick knee gimmick and he chop blocks Sting's knee. He works on Sting's knee for a bit with a single leg crab. Sting makes his big comeback with a press slam and then catches Pillman with a powerslam to win. After the match, the hot angle was Flair looking for a partner in his fight against AA & Flyin' Brian and Sting shut his ass down. No way, Jose! Abbreviated match, but Pillman was pretty enjoyable. Too bad, he was never given the time to have an all-time classic as the Loose Canon in WCW before the accident. He had all the heel tools to really deliver a big time match. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Pillman & Arn Anderson vs Ric Flair & Sting - Nitro 10/16/95 Ric Fuckin Flair, BABY! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The objective was to efface any doubt in Sting's and the fans' minds that Flair is on the up and up and sell the big Havoc '95 tag match. Well everybody still probably figured Flair was turning on Sting, but hey this was a fun, fun match. Flair was just amped throughout this match. I wish they could bottle Flair's energy because I could use some during the week, Pillman and Flair had some great chopfests. I loved that as soon as Pillman got the advantage he whipped Flair over to Anderson and Flair still would not stop fighting. The babyface Flair strut ending with his fists balled up is my favorite thing in the world right now. He kicks ass on the floor and even chucks Pillman from the apron to the railing chin-first. I missed the Pillman bump. Flair slaps on the figure-4 on AA and he moves out of the way of Pillman's splash. Im lovin it. AA gets an eye-rake on Flair while he applies on the figure-4 on Pillman. Pillman with his blind kick to Flair's head and the spinebuster swing the match in the favor of the Horsemen. NOW, Sting makes his entrance and the crowd is pumped. Flair hot tag to Sting and HUGE POP! Stinger splashes for everyone. Sting clothesline The Enforcer over the top rope and Sting chucks Pillman onto the top rope. Sting & Flair stand triumphant winning by countout. They cement their newfound friendship with a high-five. The Brain is gonna puke. This was 90% babyface offense, but it sure was fun. Pillman was taking huge bumps. AA was awesome making Sting & Flair look great. Flair and Sting were on point. Anderson and Pillman were really banking on Sting not showing up and now they have to replan. While Flair and Sting look like they are going to exact some revenge, but this Ric Flair after all...

Brian Pillman vs Eddie Guerrero - Clash of the Champions XXXII Tony: "Given the actions that just transpired, I think it is safe to say you want Eddie to win." Bobby: "Oh no! I still like Pillman's style. Just keep him away from me." Classic Heenan. This match is infamous for adding the cult status of Pillman's Loose Canon gimmick. During one of his strolls around the outside, he decided to try to take off Heenan's jacket. Heenan, with a very fragile neck, was unnerved and explicitly said on air "What the fuck are you doing?" He composed himself and continued to be a proponent of Pillman. What is interesting is that before Pillman did that to Heenan, he kinda shoved Tony in the head. That sort of freaked the Brain out as he stated "Your head whipped back and forth" in a nervous tone. That comment could have been subtle foreshadowing. Was Brain in on the deal? The match was short and more focused on getting Pillman over as a character. I liked Eddie not backing down from Pillman's four fingers in his face. Pillman was a really effective heel. He cheats, cowers, and is proud of his Four Horsemen status. I don't know if everybody has to go as far as Pillman would with the cheating, but I would like some modern heels to actual be heels in the ring. An eyerake never hurt anyone. Eddie had some cool offense to pop the crowd like a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker or the tornado DDT. Also, he got his receipt for a Pillman slap with a paintbrush of his own. I liked how Guerrero and Malenko did not back down from Pillman and each had their own spots. They did not have feel like generic faces, but wrestlers contributing to a match. After a double leg takedown with the feet on the ropes did not work, Pillman hit a nice cross body and grabbed the tights for the win. You could only wish that there was no accident and that Pillman could have gotten 20 minutes with these guys because he was such an excellent heel. He was combining the heel tactics from his mentors, Flair & AA, with maniacal tendencies that created a unique blend of heel hitherto unexplored.