Superstar Sleeze

Lex Luger vs Yokozuna - WWF RAW 6/12/95 It is fitting that Luger’s last televised, competitive singles match in WWF is a loss against Yokozuna. Ironically, it is also their best match together. There are couple circumstantial elements that help them: it is shorter and the ad break cut out what looked like a Yoko nerve pinch. On top of that Luger looked more motivated in the loss here than he did in his other main event matches. He has more spring in his step and just looks more confident. Pretty standard but effective cat and mouse stuff. Yokozuna looks to squash Luger; Luger moves; Yokozuna crashes down. Luger worked in and out of the armbar well. Nice Yoko bump to the floor. I thought the transition to heat could have been more impactful. I thought the comeback was great. Yoko really milked the weeble wobble before Luger hit the flying clothesline to knock him down. Luger called for the Bionic Forearm but Fuji messes with Luger’s flag bearer. Luger gets coaxed into the outside to save Old Glory but get steamrolled by Yoko and LEGDROP~! means Luger loses by countout. I should have said in the beginning that they showed clips of the Bodyslam Challenge on the Intrepid from 2 years ago and Summerslam 93. Just seems so long ago that Luger could’ve been the guy. I still felt Luger was being promoted hard on commentary. The Allied Powers vs Yoko/Owen is most star-studded tag feud since Money Inc/Steiners. They were about #5 on the depth chart but Luger was still getting time. WCW was just a much, much better fit for him. Intrigued to watch IYH 2 tag title match. ***

Lex Luger vs Tatanka - WWF RAW 2/27/95 It is the blowoff the world has been waiting for! I think more than anything, Luger should have known the writing was on the wall when this match did not get booked for WrestleMania. The fact that this had basically started right after WrestleMania X with DiBiase sitting and watching his match with Martel. There were weeks of buildup prior to Summerslam. This should have been a slam dunk WrestleMania match. The fact he got thrown into a tag team with British Bulldog he shouldve known it was over. I will say even though Vince bills this as the blowoff match it is not. It is actually a match that happens on Sunday Night Slam (had never even heard of this show until my research into Luger's WWF career). They have a steel cage match and after that, Luger is officially in the Allied Powers tag team with Bulldog. To put a little more stank on this feud, Tatanka attacked Chief Jay Strongbow so Luger has Strongbow with him. I thought this was Luger's best individual performance in a WWF match. The Diesel match is still the best match he has been a part of, but this is one where he looked like The Total Package Lex Fucking Luger. Besides his bizarre 2006 comeback, I dont think I have ever watched and reviewed Tatanka match so it is possible this is just how he wrestles, BUT he basically apes Ric Flair. They pretty much do the poor man's version of Luger vs Flair, but at least it finally feels like there some light in Luger's eyes. They do whole chop, No Sell, FLEX, Attack! That is just money. Ten punch in the corner, Flair...I mean...Tatanka goes for the Atomic Drop but Luger splays and decks Tatanka. Flair begs off shit I did it again, I mean Tatanka and he pulls Luger's trunks to have Luger crash to the floor. Tatanka does not even have an ounce of Flair's charisma so this drags a bit in the heat segment especially with a bearhug, but this is at least a template that Luger thrives in. Luger did a great job throughout match using the No Sell to build heat for the comeback. Luger uses the sleeper as a nod to Strongbow, which gets Tatanka yapping at Strongbow who hits Tatanka with some chops to the delight of the crowd. Tatanka keeps trying to run to the hills (Jericho would like that reference) but Luger pulls him back in. Clotheslines galore, Powerslam. he is going to rack him. Vince is going all in on Rebel Rack, terrible re-branding. Tatanka successfully runs to the hills and Lugers wins by countout, which is of course why they need a steel cage match on Sunday Night Slam, which originally I was not going to watch, but I did find and since it is Luger's penultimate program I feel I owe it to him to finish this out proper. We saw glimmers of the Luger of old in this one. ***

Lex Luger vs Bam Bam Bigelow - WWF RAW 10/10/94 I wanted to capture a Lex Luger vs Million Dollar Corporation match because it was such a significant part of Luger’s WWF run. At this point, he was still #3 babyface in WWF and the whole sellout angle was heavily pushed on RAW. What really killed him was Diesel turning baby face and Shawn Michaels as well that really dropped him to the midcard. Luger has to take some personal responsibility as these performances have not exactly lit the world on fire. I was not expecting much out of this as Luger has been lighting it up in WWF and Bam Bam Bigelow is one of my least favorite wrestlers of the 90s. True to form this is decidely average. It is interesting that Bam Bam is being used as gatekeeper for Tatanka. I would have thought Bigelow was higher on the pecking order than Tatanka. Tatanka ends up costing Bigelow the match and Vince really drives home how much they are arguing so the seeds for the baby face turn are already there. Luger/Tatanka is the “hot” story coming out of Summerslam. In addition to Tatanka, Sexy Nikki V and DiBiase are at ringside and the human condominium King Kong Bundy which made me laugh saunters out. IRS is also MDC 4 LIFE but is not present. The match itself is as basic as basic gets. Bam Bam gets early advantage from the distraction. Luger uses clothesline and punches to take back over. Works in and out of an arm bar. Bigelow gets a weird power slam but misses the top rope headbutt. I think this is when Bundy comes down and Bam Bam takes back over. The weird duo of Adam Bomb and Mabel prove Luger has friends. Bam Bam goes for what I think is a Frankensteiner but Luger bumps backwards and Bigelow takes a flat back. The best part is they show a replay and Vince/Savage gush over this terrible spot. At one point Vince calls the Torture Rack the Rebel Rack which is a horrible name. Luger never attempts it. Luger comes back with clotheslines. Tatanka gets up on the apron and Bigelow runs into him. Schoolboy. Just a pretty lame match. It is the type of match that would never happen today and it gives 20th Century wrestling a bad name.

WWF Intercontinental Champion Diesel vs Lex Luger - WWF RAW 7/18/94 Is Kevin Nash good at wrestling? I remember reading a tweet from Eric of Segunda Caida many years ago basically stating Kevin Nash was good at wrestling. I was dumbfounded. I love Big Sexy, dont get me wrong, but I love him the same way I love Sid. He is just a cool big muthafucka. I never really considered him good at wrestling. I was really open-minded to this idea, but had no desire to watch US Wrestling from the 90s. This match opened my eyes. That cool, big muthafucka was pretty damn good in this match. Easily, Lex Luger's best match in the WWF, I will be surprised if there is any better. I thought Luger was good in this match, but Diesel was really good. There were some Kliq-isms, which if it was anyone else, you might just bat your eye and say "Oh that was an interesting wrinkle", but with the Kliq, I think you always have to in the back of your mind, how much is this serving them and their refusal to look weak or show ass. In a lot of ways, they innovated that for heels. Scott Hall was good to be a stooge, but Shawn/HHH/Nash always liked looking strong. Two instances, I felt it stand out, Luger went to go for the double noggin knocker while both were on the outside, but instead they each tripped Luger and yanked him outside for more punishment. The other is customary bump is for the babyface in a sleeper to lunge towards a turnbuckle, but duck so the heel eats it. Nash pumps the brakes and sends Luger into the buckles. Savage goes on commentary "Not only is he strong, he is smart". Just reinforced that Kliq mentality of showing up the babyface. That being said, it was 1994, I do watch a lot of pro wrestling so I did like the wrinkles because it made me pop a little. I wouldnt advocate for it, but it was interesting, I will give them that. Overall, this was a great power-based, workrate match. Again, as mentioned above, not much of a shine. Diesel even piefaced Luger out of the ring early. There was a lot of little shit like that the more I think of it. Luger did get a powerslam. He took a great Dustin-esque bump to the floor. There was one cutoff, I think out of the chinlock, where he SMOKED Luger with a Big Boot that legit popped me. I liked switching to sleeper that saved the heat segment to me. I thought Nash did a great job with the weeble wobble sell feeding Luger's clothesline. The clothesline and the Bionic Forearm are too similar of moves. I liked the Torture Rack off the ref bump a lot. Shawn hitting Superkick to the back of Luger was so weird. You just dont think of Lex Luger and Shawn Michaels ever interacting. It just not two dudes you would have thought ever existed in the same space. Luger kicks out. Razor comes out because he is beefing with both and Summerslam is around the corner. Razor chases Shawn into the ring and that triggers the Double DQ. It is not the "stickiest" of matches but for a 1994 WWF the work is really good and tight, lots of effort and they brought the energy. It definitely felt like the Kliq meets Crockett in a very good way. I dug this a lot. *** 3/4

Lex Luger vs Rick Martel - WWF RAW 3/28/94 I am interested to see how Luger is presented after the title loss. Vince harps on him being screwed out of the title but I think Mr. Perfect’s name only comes up once. Ted DiBiase is sitting ringside for this match. I am not sure if Perfect was ever going to happen. It looks like DiBiase trying to buy Luger was already in the works. How refreshing to let an angle play out over 5 months rather shoot the whole angle in one week then rehash the same shit for 3 months. DiBiase has a sneaky important 1994 with both Undertaker vs FakerTaker and Luger/Tatanka being 2/3 major angles going into Summerslam 1994. Luger and Martel are two of my 50 favorite wrestlers so I had to check this out even if there was no fanfare. It is still so weird watching Luger on RAW and watching Martel in 1994 period. It is perfectly average match nothing I would recommend seeking out but not bad. Martel does a good job cowering from Luger. Luger pulverizes him with clotheslines and they work really well in and out of a headlock. I feel like if they were in the NWA they could have a strong 20-25 minute match but instead transition to heat is basically non-existent. Martel just takes over and starts working boring chin locks and chokes. Luger works some decent hope spots. Back body drop. Powerslam! And a hitherto unseen TORTURE RACK WHICH POPPED ME! I think I know one of the key differences between Luger in NWA/WCW vs WWF there’s a severe lack of flexing. If he did that signature flex before the Powerslam and Martel sold like he soiled himself that would have been amazing. Perfectly fine match.

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Yokozuna vs Lex Luger - WWF WrestleMania X Another suckfest between these two. Yokozuna has acquitted himself in matches with Undertaker, Bret Hart and Randy Savage of being capable of having a good to great match. I know Lex Luger has a vast array of great matches throughout his NWA and WCW runs. Yet these two just bring out the worst in each other. Not one, not two, not three, BUT FOUR nerve pinches, are you fucking kidding me? Funnily enough, I actually thought the shine and comeback were excellent. Luger starts off red hot, Yoko trucks him, but misses the elbow drop/ Luger slugs him once and Yoko crashes to the floor. Loved the block on the stairs and sending Yoko into it twice. The top rope crossbody was a great nearfall. The missed bodyslam with Yoko crashing all his weight down on him was a great transition to heat, but MY GOD that heat segment was atrocious. Again once Luger took back over with the exposed turnbuckle, clotheslines, the BIG BODYSLAM and Bionic Forearm that was all great. That heat segment was terrible. As for the finish and the booking, this has to go down as some of the worst Vince booking of all time. Luger has Yoko out stone cold and it was established during Summerslam that if Luger could hit Bionic Forearm and Yokozuna stayed in the ring he would be champion. Luger takes out all the managers, but Mr. Perfect who is the Special Guest Ref intentionally ignores Luger's cover. Luger says what gives and shoves him. This triggers the DQ. I guess this has something to do with their WrestleMania IX match and they do have a pretty good argument in the back immediately following the match. The problem is there no follow-up. Mr. Perfect never wrestles in 1994 and doesnt wrestle again until he goes to WCW in 1997. The more I think about it, there was no way Luger or Bret would have looked good in this situation. Someone was going to look like a chump and a choke. It was whoever was going to have mid-match title match. Bret looks like a fucking hero on this night. He has the 5 star classic, one of the best WWF matches of all time to open the show against his brother and he defeats the dominant, super heavyweight champion to close the show. You dont get a much better night than that. You just cant have Luger win here because while the pop would be good against Yoko. The babyface vs babyface for Luger vs Bret would have been weird for the finale. If Bret wins, some of the Luger fans might get pissed. If you turn Luger heel in the main event then everything you invested in Yoko was for nothing. If Luger wins, you already saw him beat Yoko, who cares about Bret. It was lose-lose all the way around. They should have just had Corny/Fuji stack the deck against Bret by making him face Owen first and then Yoko to close. Found some other heel to wrestle Luger. This booking was pure character assassination of Lex Luger. I dont think anyone could have recovered from the Summerslam 1993 and WrestleMania X. Ignoring the booking, this is still a terrible match.

Randy Savage vs Crush - WWF WrestleMania X I would have bet money that was universally considered Crush's best singles match, but to my shock and chagrin this was rated pretty poorly on Cagematch, <5.0 and his best singles match is against Shawn Michaels in 1993, I will have track that down. I am not a big Crush/Brian Adams fan at all, but I thought this was his best individual performance and his best singles match easily. Just based on interpolation, you know the Macho Man still had it as he was kicking major league ass in the ring until 1997. I already said this in a different review, he didnt click with what WWF wanted to do. It was mutually beneficial for them to part ways. WWF could focus on the New Generation and Savage could rip it up in WCW with all the 80s stars. It was a win-win. He was great in this. I could have sworn I seen this before, but definitely not as the rules are unheard of and never duplicated. It is billed as Falls Count Anywhere, but it is a Texas Death Match, with the twist that you have 60 seconds to get back into the ring otherwise you lose. Savage meets Crush at the ramp. Crush rocks his shit. Atomic Drop. Tilt a whirl backbreaker. Snake eyes on the railing. 1-2-3! I was like what the fuck and then they explained the rules. Those three moves where the best three moves in succession Crush has ever done. Crush goes for the Salt in the ring, but Macho kicks it into his eyes. Great elbow to the top of the head. Macho Man steamrolls him with his usual offense. BIG ELBOW! Vince is like cover him and I was thinking well that would not logistically work. Macho Man being not only Macho, but also intelligence and pushes Crush to the outside to pin him. Crush of course gets back up as we knotted 1-1. They do some arena brawling, Savage throws Crush through some doors and ties him up to a pulley he tries to string him up, but the knot does work so Crush kinda just slumps to the floor to lose. I thought this was a ton of fun! Great highspots! Brisk, everything escalated, good use of stip. Pretty great match. This was Macho Man's last televised match for the WWF I believe and a good swan song. This was the highest Crush made it up the card. He looked poised to be a good heel for Bret, Luger or Undertaker, even Diesel or Shawn in 1995. He weirdly just kinda fizzled in 1994, he tagged with Yoko and then just disappeared. I was reading that maybe he was going to be pushed in 1995 but thats when he got arrested. This is only time I have ever seen a glimmer of potential, but perhaps Savage's meticulous pre-match planning helped him a lot. Definitely watch this match if you havent. *** 3/4

WWF Champion Yokozuna vs Randy Savage - WWF RAW 2/28/94 Surprised this didn’t make the 1994 yearbook, a World Title Defense on RAW, Yoko’s last defense, Savage’s last WWF Title Shot, and it is a pretty killer match to boot. Bret vs Yoko from MSG 93 is still the best Yoko match I have seen, but this is a definite second place match. I think Cagematch has this as the #1 Yoko singles match and I don’t blame them. We are a couple weeks out from WrestleMania X and winner defends against Both Luger and Bret at Mania. Savage jumpstarts the match before the bell attacking before Yoko disrobes. Savage EATS a hard elbow but moves on the elbow drop. Go Macho Go! Quick near fall but the ref was distracted by Fuji. Savage takes his eye off the prize and gets a karate thrust to the throat. Great Savage battling from underneath peppering in shots and making Yoko resort to cheating. Yoko misses the big splash. High Knee sends Yoko crashing to the floor. Top Rope Double Axehandle to the floor. Cornette’s out, Savage can not get the humongous Yoko back in the ring. Corny distracts. Yoko gets another Karate Thrust. Savage mounts an aerial comeback with a top rope double axe handle in the ring and a top rope crossbody. This shit is cooking! Yoko comes back now with a big splash in the corner. Savage slumps down in such a way that it has Vince thinking Banzai Drop but Yoko pulls him to the middle. He goes for the Legdrop but misses! Both men are out! Fuji gives Yoko the salt bucket but Savage gets control of it and bashes the Champion in the head! Pin em! They take a standing 8 count! 1-2-NO! TOP ROPE FLYING ELBOW DROP CONNECTS! THE MACHO MAN IS GOING TO WRESTLEMANIA! REWRITE THE HISTORY BOOKS FOLKS! 1-2-CRUSH INTERFERES AND TRIGGERS THE DQ! Interestingly, the crowd chants for Luger to make the save and when Bret does there is not much of a pop. When Luger makes the ultimate save there is also not much of a pop. Just a wicked fun TV title defense played into both wrestlers strengths. Savage is so scrappy and Yoko was a beast. The home stretch was one of the best I have seen on these early RAWs. *** 3/4

Randy Savage vs Rick Martel - WWF Superstars 2/12/94 Two of my all time favorites! Once I saw this on Cagematch, I knew I had to watch. Is their only meeting? It seems weird to think about but glad we got it. Vince is really pushing Little Richard at WrestleMania X. They are building Savage vs Crush and Martel is still a Model. See I wish the Savage/Doink match closer to this. They packed a lot into this sub-10 minute match plus uncharacteristic for Savage he took 50% of the match for shine. Martel slapped him on a rope break and it was off to the races. Savage decked him with a couple good clotheslines, he worked a tight headlock. Martel used another rope break plus ref break up to clock Savage with a punch and send him over the top rope to the floor in a classic Savage bump. Savage took some hard bumps to try buckles before a High Knee to the back. Double Axehandle from the top to the floor and then a Top Rope Ebow drop to finish. Savage made the right call to go to WCW he was being criminally underutilized in WWF but also he no longe fit in WWF. It was mutually beneficial to both parties that he departed. Good match a fun way to spend ten minutes. ***

Randy Savage vs Doink The Clown - WWF RAW 8/2/93 I knew I should temper my expectations with a baby face Randy Savage match but Doink has such a killer 1993 I thought maybe just maybe this would be great but no it is just fine. The Randy Savage baby face formula is take a ton of heat and come back with 2-3 big moves for the win. We didn’t even get the Elbow Drop. It does start promising with Savage revved up bringing a chair in the ring but in the chaos Doink takes over. He works a great Boston Crab using the ropes and working the leg. He works some more holds. He misses the Whoopie Cushion and Savage rolls to the floor and goes under the ring and the Macho Midget appears. Savage gets a body slam outside the ring and an inside cradle to win. Predictably the Macho Midget bites Doink’s ass and he sells it well. There are two things that could’ve easily made this match better. If Dink or another Doink (Doink promised three Doinks the week prior on RAW) interfered then the Macho Midget makes sense to even the odds. Without that, I don’t understand the point of the Macho Midget. The heel needs to cheat first to necessitate the baby face throwing it back in his face. I think a more climatic finish would be the other thing that would help. It was a solid match but not as great as it could’ve been.

Bret Hart vs Bam Bam Bigelow - WWF RAW 7/26/1993 What a disappointment this match was. It was hovering between average and sucking but when Lawler came out bombed about as hard as any stand up comedian has ever bombed, this was an atrocity. It didnt help that this was half the episode of RAW. Stu & Helen Hart were in attendance at the Manhattan Center. Lawler comes out as Bret is about to put on the Sharpshooter. It shouldve been three jokes top. The first time he said he couldnt understand Stu it was funny and the couple produced more tragedies than Shakespeare is a legitimately good line, BUT they needed to go home after that. Lawler's stand up routine dragged and Bam Bam's beatdown dragged. It was brutal. You could hear a pin drop in the arena. Bret made his comeback to crickets. He hit a DDT and got counted out, but he was too late Lawler had already fled. As for the body of the match, I was shocked at how heatless and plodding the match was. I remember really liking the KOTR finals match and I read my review after watching the match and writing this review and it sounded great. This match was anything but. A large part of that is Bam Bam Bigelow just isnt really all that good. I am just underwhelmed over and over by him. He has the great Lawler match when he was green. He has unexpectedly great match with RVD and the super fun squash with Spike. I have not seen the Spain 1993 match against Bret in forever and I know that is liked even more than KOTR finals so I should check that out. His offense is the definition of plodding clubbering. People like Hogan and Taker get accused of being slow, and it is such bullshit, Bigelow is brutally dry, BUT he can do a cartwheel. Gimme a break. Massive eye roll. Bret does his best. This pales in comparison to the Taker/Samu match I just watched and the Bret/Fatu match from earlier in the year. Bret gets beat down early, makes a mini-comeback. He does a senton sort of move which hurts his knee. Bigelow does a couple slams and headbutts. I like that it is missed moves by Bam Bam like a missed headbutt or a missed dropkick that gives Bret his opportunity to go on offense. Bret does not really respect the size difference or the knee selling with a belly to back suplex and back body drop. The sleeper was a nice touch by Bret. It was the usual moveset otherwise. Oh the Bulldog came out really good. Stick with KOTR '94. This match is not good to begin with and it craters once Lawler comes out. One thing I will say is Luna with Bam Bam made Bam Bam feel like a main event act. Not the best Bret match.

Undertaker vs Samu - WWF RAW 7/5/93 I was so impressed with Taker against Yoko; I wanted to watch some of his work from 1993 but unfortunately in 1993 he was squandered by being married to Giant Gonzalez. Taker deserved a lot better than that. This was his highest ranked match on Cagematch for 1993 no real story between these two in particular, but it is a good match. The angle is Mr. Hughes in alliance with Harvey Whippleman (the manager of Giant Gonzalez) stole the Urn and beat up Paul Bearer. Now I don’t know if Taker/Hughes was the original plan for Summerslam and Gonzalez replaced Hughes or if Hughes was a henchman. The story of the match is how would Undertaker fare without the Urn and Bearer. Turns out, Taker is actually a cruiser weight and the Urn just put a lid on his athletic abilities. He does a drop-down, blows a leapfrog. He does a drop toehold to the amazement of the Macho Man but Vince no-sells it. Then he does a drop kick and even Vince has to agree this is a different Undertaker. Samu takes advantage of a missed clothesline and some Afa distraction but Taker comes roaring back with a choke and whips Samu pillar to post. A bit disappointed with the random side slam that sets up The Samu diving headbutts. On the third, Undertaker sits up. Chokeslam. Tombstone. Fatu seems like the better Headshrinker but Samu is ok. I enjoyed the elegance of the match. An unexpected shine. Samu gets his near fall. Zombie Sit-up, Two Big Bombs that’s all she wrote. Effective. ***

The Undertaker vs Yokozuna - WWF Survivor Series 1994 Casket Match After Survivor Series 1993 & Rumble ‘94, I was hyped for this match but it is good not great. In both earlier cases, they are explosive, big man high spot kick ass matches, but here there is not of that break-neck energy. It is still good just not as great. Chuck Norris is here so there’s no repeat of Rumble. I wish Taker came back as an Avenging Angel and one by one knocked off each person that helped Yoko until get got to Yoko himself. Yoko does some really great heel selling; really hamming up the chickenshit. Yoko big splash and we get a hot Taker no sell to start and he sends Yoko reeling to the outside with his customary bump. Taker slams him into the steps but it was not the cool spot from Survivor Series 1993 or Rumble 94. Yoko catches Taker with the Samoan Drop which was sick BUT I thought it was way too early to do a near fall for Yoko. I thought Undertaker sold way too much in this match. I wanted to see him whip some fat Yoko ass. Now the Urnage (was Rocky taking notes of his cousin) followed by a laborious Sit Up into the Leg Drop was the best combination of the match. To me that was peak Yoko for the match and that warranted a near fall. They both fight in the casket but Fuji interferes. Taker decks Corny. Should’ve went to the finish but Yoko gets back on too but he doesn’t go to the belly 2 belly or the Banzai just bland shit. Frustrating. Flying clothesline by Taker. The triggers the Million Dollar Corporation. Bam Bam & Bundy distract Norris who is a black hole of charisma so that IRS can put out Taker with a sleeper. Fucking IRS can put down Taker by himself that’s fucking ridiculous. Taker makes his comeback. Jarrett comes out to take the bump for Norris which makes more sense than Bam Bam or Bundy. Taker gets his big clothesline and DDT to win. I know these guys had a better match in them, disappointing. I would have loved to see the Banzai, Sit Up Missed Banzai like in Survivor Series 1993 the roof would’ve come off this place. The Diesel push didn’t just send Bret into the midcard purgatory…it sent Taker there as well. ***1/4

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Yokozuna vs Undertaker - WWF Royal Rumble 1994 I was already to come in here and be Hot Take Marty, nobody knows what you’re talking about this matches kicks major league ass but to my pleasant surprise everyone agrees. Pretty much everyone praises the actual match, it is just your mileage may vary on the angle, which is fair. I personally liked the gang beat down. I thought it put over Taker huge and the key is the Urn. It is not the numbers game; it was Yoko taking possession of the Urn, braining him with it and popping it open that drained the Undertaker of his powers. There’s an internal logic to that I dig. Now the speech at the end and resurrection were a bridge too far for me. It was classic Vince gotta make sure the crowd goes home with hope. Let this be that Thanos moment where there is no hope. Enough about that onto this killer match: One of the first times they run a video package before the match catching you up. I enjoyed the vignettes, the Double Wide Casket was amusing. Undertaker was so over. He murdered Luger at Survivor Series and I would be surprised if Bret was more over. Taker is their Ace Face. From what I saw at Survivor Series ‘93 my interest was immediately piqued. These boys got some freaky chemistry and I am here for it. Taker bursts of acceleration make the gimmick for me. He is lumbering and then all of sudden he EXPLODES~! He gets the Undertaker gimmick in a way all other spooky wrestlers have never gotten. He knocks Yoko off his feet with some wicked clotheslines. Classic early Yoko bump, back somersaulting to the floor. They repeat the Survivor Series 93 spot that made me a fan of theirs for life where Taker no sells the slam into the steps and slams Yoko instead. Takers wails on him with a chair but takes it a bit easier on the head, smart. Yoko salt to eyes and CRACKS him in the head with a chair so much for taking it easy. Taker is selling pretty well but will not go easily into the night. Belly 2 Belly. ZOMBIE SIT UP! The choke slam sucks but what you gonna due it’s Yoko. The DDT however does NOT! That was ELECTRIC! Taker is about to win when Fuji’s other charge, Crush interferes then it is Great Kabuki and Tenryu of all people which pops me huge. I cover the ending above. Call me crazy but I loved this from bell to bell which gets me out of saying I loved the speech and resurrection. They left a shit ton for the rematch. No Legdrop, No Banzai, No Tombstone. I am so psyched for Survivor Series 1994! ****

All-Americans (Lex Luger, Undertaker, Steiner Brothers) vs Foreign Fanatics (Yokozuna, Ludvig Borga, Crush, Jacques Rougeau) - WWF Survivor series 1993 A match that always intrigued me as a kid because of the teams. Luger & Steiners have that NWA/WCW feel but then you throw in the curveball of the Undertaker. Undertaker is replacing Tatanka who was put of action by Ludvig Borga who snapped Tatanka’s undefeated streak. Besides a house show run with Luger, Borga really only had this match and the Tatanka match to show for his WWF tenure. I saw some Tony Halme vs Shinya Hashimotom from New Japan, my memory was it was alright. I am interested to see what Borga brings to the table. It is clear that going into the Rumble they want to do the switch. Flip Yoko/Luger into Yoko/Taker and Luger/Borga which is smart to separate them and then bring them back together for Mania. The logical pairing would be Steiners vs Quebecers as they are feuding over the Tag Team Titles BUT Luger took out Pierre with his Bionic Forearm leading to the Hawaiian turncoat Crush joining the foreigners in a fit of “if you can’t beat em, join em” mentality. I think this makes sense as they wanted to keep Savage and Crush a part. This was a way to interject Crush into the main event have Savage interfere and keep the heat on this feud. First Elimination: Jacques is the bumper of his team so not surprisingly he takes a Scotty Steiner belly to belly to start. Rick and Yoko square off. It is THREE Steinerlines to take the Big Man off his feet. Big pop. Best part of the first 15 minutes. Borga shows his boxing/MMA skills with some good punches. He is a bit clunky but he feels like someone Inoki would use. His outfit with the Finnish colors and capris is pretty bad. I like the hair cut. They should have just billed him from Germany. Finland just doesn’t inspire much passion. Rick Steiner goes up top but is caught and slammed. It was kinda botched but Borga got him over. It was sudden and anti-climatic but that’s kinda how these Survivor Series go. Second Elimination: Like the first it starts with Scotty throwing Jacques around. Crush enters. On cue, out comes the Macho Man. Crush press slams Scotty to the floor in what must have been a sick bump. Scotty sells the leg. Crush gets distracted by Savage. Scotty drop kicks him out. Crush/Savage brawl to a count out. Good use of Crush/Savage. Third Elimination: Still no Luger or Taker. Jacques picks up where Crush left off. Scotty gets the hot tag. The crowd popped for Luger. Body slam and a second rope elbow which I have never seen Luger use gets the job done for Luger. Lame finish. Fourth Elimination: Scotty vs Borga as Borga calls Luger a chicken. The silence is deafening. Luger and Yoko have been the only ones to get reactions so far and they have only been mild. Borga would have been a huge curveball stylistically if he said around. He was so much more strike oriented than anyone else. He could have ushered in a new style. Borga eats a super Plex but nosireebob. Yoko comes in misses the elbow but nails the Leg Drop to eliminate Scotty that’s the best elimination so far. We are down to the big four. Lackluster match so far. Fifth & Sixth Elimination: Did Luger forget how to wrestle? It was painful as Luger fan watch how utterly heat-less this was. He was flopping as the Ace Babyface before our eyes. It was magnified by the hot tag to the Undertaker. Holy shit Boston woke the fuck up for Taker. They were living and dying by his every move. He jacked up the energy level hundredfold. The Belly 2 Belly -> sit-up was great. The Banzai, 2nd Banzai Sit-up causing Yoko to miss was awesome. The slam into the steps SNAP BACK LOOK SLAM YOKO INTO THE STEPS WAS INSANE! Taker is a man who understands and kills the No Selling Game. Taker easily was the best wrestler in this match. I have hope now for the Taker/Yoko ‘94 series. Seventh Elimination: I felt so bad for Luger/Borga nobody gave a fuck about this. Borga hit some slams and suplexes. Luger hit a Powerslam and then the Bionic Forearm to win. Before the Bionic Forearm, Borga ducked low and instead of leapfrogging Luger ran by and kicked his leg over him. I think that’s a microcosm of Luger’s WWF run lame & pathetic. Who cares about these two? I wouldn’t be surprised if the decision to switch to Bret happened on this night or within a week of this. This night which was all about Luger showed he didn’t have it. His segments didn’t have heat and Taker blew the roof off the Boston Garden. Luger really doesn’t have anyone but himself to blame. He laid an egg. Besides Taker/Yoko don’t bother.

Lex Luger vs Pierre - WWF RAW 11/15/93 A couple of interesting notes: this is the highest rated match of Luger’s derided WWF tenure according to Cagematch. It is non-obvious what the answer to the question is and if this ends up being the case then it was truly a pathetic run. Also interesting is this would be the peak of Luger’s push which would roughly date from July 4, 1993 to WrestleMania X. It seems this was his longest, most high profile RAW singles match of that stretch. He is likes but he is NOT over. He is nowhere near Hogan or Savage. The fans seem to be more into the USA vs World storyline but you could probably stick any American wrestler in Luger’s spot and expect the same reaction. As a Luger fan, that’s a bummer. The match is good but that’s more thanks to Pierre than Luger. Pierre really brought the energy. He took some hard bumps and did some big high spots. I love Luger but he just not wrestling like he did in that 88-91 stretch. Way too many punches which is not his style. He jumpstarts the match with punches. He whips Pierre from pillar to post with Pierre taking great buckle bumps BUT the shine just doesn’t have any oomph. Raven as Johnny Polo is just so weird. Pierre has a couple false starts into heat but when Luger is In the ropes he charges and knocks Luger out of the ring. He slams Luger into hard metal objects. Polo teases hitting Luger with the mallet but never does. We get some cool highspots from Pierre like Vaderbomb, Piledriver, a crazy top rope leg drop and a missed Cannonball. Luger puts the brakes on as Pierre takes a hard Bret Bump into the buckles. Couple clotheslines, powerslam, decks Johnny Polo and Bionic Forearm finishes it for our American Hero. I get some clarity around Survivor Series. So apparently Tatanka was originally slated to be on the All-Americans but was injured by Foreign Fanatics which is why Undertaker is on the team aaaahhhhh that makes so much more sense. Luger blasting Pierre with his Bionic Forearm is why Crush joins the Foreigners. I will say based on the highlight package to open RAW that Crush heel turn had some juice! So a good idea to get him in a main event slot. Pierre’s offense & bumping pushes this above average but Luger is just not clicking in the WWF. ***

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Yokozuna vs Lex Luger - WWF Summerslam 1993 Well a hidden gem this was not. Why on earth is this 18minutes? have never a WWF Lex Luger match in my life. Luger is one of my Top 100 favorites and a wrestler I think is around #75 greatest wrestler of all time but I have never seen a WWF match. I don’t like Luger with the short hair. He looks like an American Gladiator which is en vogue bur I love long hair Sexy Lexy. I watched this match yesterday but didn’t have enough time to review. The beginning is pretty good. That second heat segment is excoriating. If you cut out that, it is a good match. You cut out that and tack on a good finish, the sky’s limit. Early on, they want to establish that Luger is not just a dumb jock He-Man. He’s got brains. As I was watching him outsmart Yoko I was like where’s Jim Ross when you need him, to extol Luger’s 3.78 GPA at the U. A couple minutes later Vince brings up his A+ GPA. This might be my favorite weird wrestling talking point. They do some cat & mouse early. Yoko is missing moves. Luger is taking advantage with hit & run offense. Luger is also wise to Fuji’s shenanigans. What does Luger in is when he goes brawn instead of brains. He tries to body slam Yoko too early. Yoko takes advantage here. It spills to the outside. Yoko misses a chair shot. Luger comes back. It is a series of double axe handles. He winds it up and it is a flying forearm off the top for 2! Big pop for all that. Time for an aside. I guess Luger had an injury or an accident and they put a metal plate in his forearm. So they made the Flying Burrito his finish and had him drop the Torture Rack which is kinda classic WWF. Luger did of course rack the Giant and Roadblock but I feel like Yoko should have been tougher. Giant’s weight was more evenly distributed and Roadblock is smaller than Yoko. I think Yoko’s weight was more in his ass and it would have been more challenging. Thoughts? So next aside, back to the flying forearm so due to the metal plate Cornette’s negotiated the contract to the match that Luger had to wear a pad on the forearm. Well you know that’s going to be the finish now. Honestly, I felt like the flying forearm off the top was the mid-match climax. If they just did, some Yoko cheating, a Yoko near fall, miss the Banzai, Bodyslam, unprotected Flying Forearm gone home, I would argue this was a good match. They had so much energy after that moment. I liked the transition with the salt Bucket. If they did just one big Yoko nearfall and missed Banzai. What happened was a proper Yoko heat segment. It ground this match to a fucking halt. This was fucking brutally boring. The crowd was left to die on the vine and just don’t get why they didn’t needed it. It should have been done earlier in the match because it felt like the match went in reverse. Anyways after bore de force, Yoko does miss the Banzai. They don’t go right into the body slam. He needs to miss his charging back splash in the corner which is a great set up, I will admit. Bodyslam!!! Crowd is rocking. Heenan is absolutely grating screaming hiplock. I get that’s the point. He pulls off the pad and BOOM sends Yokozuna flying to the outside. He nails Fuji. He has Corny by the tie and it is Countout Victory for our American Hero. I think 90s internet wrestling fans influenced us to believe this was rejected like as if this finish happened in 21st Century. If this happened post-2010, this finish would’ve gotten booed out of the building. The 90s internet wrestling fans are the people would’ve led the charge in the post-2010s world. However 1993 is NOT post-2010, crowd is actually happy no matter what you read. They did pop. Now I do happen to agree with 90s internet wrestling fans that this put the choker label on Luger again (he had the same problem in 1988 & 1990) and they ended up getting cold feet and his WWF career was dead in the water. He clearly was able to resurrect his career in WCW. WWF booked themselves into a corner. They could’ve just had Yoko be a transition heel champion like everyone since Superstar BUT I think they wanted a big baby face victory at WrestleMania X in MSG over the most dominant heel champion since Superstar Graham. In a lot of ways I thought Cody was going to get Luger’d but they proved me wrong. I am interested to see how the Boston Garden reacts to Luger at Survivor Series. This matches does no favors to either man. It is more of a layout and time issue. I still Luger is an excellent wrestler and am still understanding Yoko. This is not a good match.

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Yokozuna vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan - WWF Summerslam Spectacular 8/22/93 The swan song for Hacksaw in the WWF. Hacksaw has a new baby girl and Yokozuna is going to make sure he has plenty of time to spend with her. Duggan is another wrestler that I am well-versed in his Mid-South career but after that have seen very little. This is on a Summerslam Spectacular Card which is a USA Network special to hype Summerslam a week out with Jim Ross and Gorilla on the call. Again this is excellent booking as Duggan is the perfect sacrificial lamb for Yoko heading into the All-American showdown against the Lex Express. This is a million times better than the Crush match because Duggan is a million times more charismatic. The crowd is molten for Hacksaw! I will say for how trite this angle should be in 1993 it was over! Patriotism was alive & kickin’ in 1993! They had a title match in June at a Superstars going where Yoko BANZAI~! Duggan to hell. It was Yoko’s first defense and it seems like that’s where the body slam angle started. Duggan is a dick to start interrupting the Salt Ceremony. Duggan goes to hit Yoko with 2x4 but the ref stops him and Karate Chop by Yoko as he takes over. Duggan is so much more interesting fighting from underneath than Crush. We get the liberal Fuji interference, headbutts and bear hugs. Duggan is the ultimate Dadcore wrestler. Big looping cartoony punches and biting Yoko’s nose to get out of the bear hug. It is just his mannerisms he just feels so much like a Dad. Yoko drops the leg to end one Duggan rally. Yoko misses a big splash in the corner to start the big Duggan comeback. Three well-times clotheslines takes the big man off his feet! Milked to perfection so much better than Crush! 3-point stance but Fuji trips him. BANZAI~! That’s all she wrote for Hacksaw in the WWF. Good Cornette promo afterwards on the behalf of Yoko against Luger. Good Craic. Really enjoyable larger than life cartoon wrestling. A lost art. ***1/4

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Yokozuna vs Crush - WWF RAW 7/5/93 One thing that really surprised me about Sid when I was watching his stuff is I don’t think I had watched a Sid match from before 1996 in my life. I think starting to watch wrestling in 1997 and focusing on the classics in my reviews I am missing a lot of stuff. Yokozuna is someone outside of two Bret matches I have never really seen either. So I am interesting in getting acquainted with him. The booking from WWF is really strong after the disaster that was WrestleMania IX get the belt off Hogan and immediately run an angle with Yoko. The Bodyslam challenge is something I think I have seen but I should go back and watch it. Now immediately a week after that we have a title match against a credible upper mid card baby face challenger. This is first time since Superstar Graham in 1977 that WWF is pushing a heel champion. In the smattering of Crush, I have seen I am not a huge fan and he is definitely the lesser wrestler here. That being said I didn’t think Yokozuna was all that great either. It is impressive how fast he can run and that he can take some big bumps but the match was pretty damn boring until the finish. I thought he over-bumped early on the Crush shine falling out of the ring for what amounted to a love tap. Crush misses a charge. We get some throat thrusts and some nerve pinches. Crush fires up and knocks him down with a lariat. Again I would have had Yoko absorb two and bump on the third. One crazy thing about the crowd was that they sang the Star Spangled Banner a capella unprompted and busted out into USA chant. This shit was over in 1993 Manhattan, brutha. Back to the match, so Crush gets a flying clothesline goes up for a second but Fuji hits him with the Japanese flag. Yoko slams him on the floor, belly to belly and BANZAI~! For the win! Post-match angle is better, Yoko hits three additional Banzai with eventually Savage seeing enough and saving Crush which I believe sets up the Crush heel turn and Mania match with Savage. Pretty boring match just really need to watch the finish.

Ric Flair vs Tito Santana - WWF RAW 1/18/93 Flair/Tito are a pretty natural pairing and it is a shame we never got a Tito run in Crockett in the late 80s especially post-Strike Force when Tito really was not given much. Flair/Tito have a longer more heralded match in 1991 which I remember liking. Flair is definitely a wrestler who does better with more time because he uses a lot of wrinkles and nuances to establish plot points so compressed Flair is usually not as good. I thought was a good match but they clearly have a classic in them. It is just the WWF environment is not conducive to that happening. In a lot of ways you can imagine this match happening in your head. Anti-Flair fans may say well Tito didn’t wrestle as pissed as normal and didn’t let the fists fly. Tito did eventually let them fly after two eyepokes but it is true this is a more reserved Tito performance that could come from Flair needing to get his characteristic, headlock-shoulder tackle and back drops in. The classic heel Flair shine is always a crowd pleaser. The Manhattan Crowd was very pro-Flair even Savage acknowledges every Flair fan in the world must be here. I thought after the commercial break it picked up. The eye pokes and Flair’s offense looks great. Tito firing up is always a pleasure. Good finish he hits the Flying Burrito and goes for a second but goes sailing over the top rope to the floor. Perfect attacks Flair in a great brawl. Sometimes they go through the motions in the brawling but this was a fierce one. Awesome Flair promo to set up the Loser Leaves Town match next week against Mr. perfect which is an awesome match! I wish WCW picked up Tito in ‘93 he still had gas in the tank. A good match nothing that will change your life but a solid way to spend ten minutes. ***

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart vs Fatu - WWF RAW 3/1/93 Fun trivia fact here: the first WWF Championship match on RAW. I would have expected Bret Hart to hold that honor given that timeframe, but would have never guessed the challenger. Bret defends against Yoko at WrestleMania and he takes on his shoot cousin here. They were not related kayfabe as Fatu does have "Samoa" on his tights and Yokozuna was billed from Japan. I do like this booking as a tune-up match as Fatu is a smaller version of Yokozuna so it gives you a nice preview of the WrestleMania IX main event without giving away the whole farm. Unfortunately, "Elvis" is on commentary for the match and no it is NOT the Honky Tonk Man, I believe this is Rob Bartlett. It was incredibly unfunny and distracting. It was really bad. I have not seen Bret in a long time and it was nice to see him again. I came away with the same thoughts I always have about Bret. I really enjoy the snap of his matches. It is not even the snap of his execution of the moves, there is a snap to how he moves in the ring and how the match even flows. It is very comforting. It feels realistic. Today matches feel like they have motion smoothing on. From the opening bell to the final bell, it is this seamless perpetual motion blur that never ends. The beats of a Bret match are just good for your soul. The feather in Bret's cap is that he can have a match unto himself. I think of people like Flair, Arn, Vader, and Misawa as wrestlers who have this plug 'n play formula. By the way this is a positive, no matter what other fans tell you. It gives you a comfort zone and then the slightest deviation is an immediate Ooooooo as opposed to other wrestlers that much noisier and then therefore the signal to noise ratio is shit. My complaints about Bret are the same. His matches are too segmented and mechanical. They are just too damn neat. Clear transitions are nice but make either side consolidate that advantages. He does not pepper in enough hope spots working underneath. He is still an easy Top 50 wrestler of all time. I am not sure I have ever reviewed a Rikishi/Fatu match. Obviously becoming a wrestling fan in 1997, I have seen my fair share of Rikisihi, he even came to my local skating rink when I was in high school. He was better than what I expected but I thought he was going to suck. He definitely does not suck. I dont think he is any great shakes, but he was fine. Enjoyed the shine, Bret tries a crossbody (nothing like hurling your body like a missile at the larger opponent) but Fatu catches him. Rikishi misses an elbow and the heir to Jack Brisco works his armdrags. Good cat & mouse early from Bret. Luring Fatu into traps who would miss and then take advantage of the discombobulation. In a heelish move, Bret feigns a knee injury early and rolls up Fatu. Fatu has enough of this and smokes Bret with a thrust kick. Some nerve pinches follow. Bret crossbody (a hope spot, be fair to Bret, MartMan), gets two but he gets sent outside where Samu is waiting to punish him while Afa distracts the ref. Back from commercial, we ditch the nerve pinches for piledrivers and sidewalk slams. Thats more like it! Bret meets Fatu at the top rope for a superplex. Five moves of Doom incoming. Again, I like them. He does them really well and there is usually a shake-up in the middle of the combination. First Sharpshooter attempt does not go well as Samu decks him from behind and pins him!?!?! Even Elvis wakes up from his shitty jokes to note that aint fair. They switch back after Bret kicks out. Bret knocks Fatu into Samu. Russiam Legsweep. Samu's head gets caught in the ropes!?!?!? Dropkick to Afa! Sharpshooter! Great visual with Samu in the background with his head caught in the ropes. It was an enjoyable TV match. I have spent so much time either as a kid/teenager watching the Bret classics and then reviewing those classics as an adult, it is nice to just watch a random TV match by him and acknowledge yes Bret is a great wrestler. ***1/2

WCW International World Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude vs The Boss - WCW Starrcade 1993 i read my review for Dustin/Austin before this and I forgot that I found that match to be incomplete just like this match. I reiterate my point from that review, they gave 30 minutes to Sting/Hawk vs Nasties but 10 minutes to this?!? I did watch Nasties for Missy’s entrance and I will say that pink dress might have justified 30 minutes of match time. YOWZA! If you are the Boss, you must felt good about the job switch a title shot against the second biggest heel in the company and then a program with the biggest heel in the company and then the Hulkster comes in baby and ruins everything. Super weird match, I thought I was watching a hidden gem and then the match just ended. I think Rude got three offensive strikes in the whole match. Boss puts on a killer offensive performance but then misses his classic straddle and it is a sunset flip and it is just over. No heat segment. No comeback. Just over. I assume it is due to Rude’s health issues but he had some some long matches earlier in the year. The Boss’ offense was fun and Rude is a master of heel selling. The way he cowers in the corner is great. The Boss has some absolutely killer night Hands and we get a close up and that shit still looked tights. Nice array of slams and a unique spot where he suplex Rude into the ropes on the outside into a tree of woe. 5-10 more minutes with proper heat, comeback and finish and you’re talking the best match of Bossman’s career.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Barry Windham vs Arn Anderson - WCW Slamboree 1993 Ahhhh Paul Roma as a Horsemen, that’s this show. The Horsemen were being presented as baby faces for the first time given it was Flair’s homecoming from up North. So it made sense why you couldn’t have Windham join as he was the heel Lone Wolf and would be Flair’s first feud. Tully snubbing them makes them look all the worse. I am surprised this match doesn’t get a bit more play. Two well-respected wrestlers in the semi-main position with good action and blood. Arn is a pretty effective baby face. Windham showed in his 93 title reign what a Windham championship would have been. It is nothing innovative but he understands the fundamentals and executes them well. Are gets those near falls early; he wants to win quickly and is too overzealous putting pressure on himself. Windham catches with a Sweetwater right. Anderson retaliates with a DDT. Windham creates the transition in the ropes on the ramp. This is a classic heel NWA champ tactic. The transitions do NOT happen in the middle of the ring that’s domain of the baby faces. It happens in the ropes and the corner because that’s where shady shit happens. Windham slugs him with a great right. He gets a DDT on his own. Anderson shows he is no member of the Clergy himself thank you Larry Z for that line as he plays dirty on the outside busting Windham open on the railing, he goes to work on the cut. Windham gets Okada drop kick to a top rope opponent 30 years before it was cool. Windham was an insane athlete. Suplex on the floor. Windham blocks the gourdbuster into a beautiful float over suplex. Andersen gets a last ditch Spinebuster. Windham powders and looks tuck tail and run. And brings him back in. Not the best finish, Arn shoves the ref when gets overzealous in the corner and BW blasts him with the Big Gold Belt to win. Odd finish aside (I get you have to protect AA but there’s many ways to skin a cat) I thought this was a good meat & potatoes match. *** 1/4

Sting vs Vader - WCW Slamboree 1994 WCW International World Championship Days Of Our Membrane spells DOOM for our opponents! Seeded #13 we upended the #4 today to advance to the Quarterfinals in the Work Cornhole tournament, 21-16! Played lights out today! I'll be honest it was hard coming down from the victory. I was originally going to watch a longer match on my walk, BUT too much post-match revelry, I decided to keep it under 15 minutes. What a 14 minute banger this was! Something I have definitely seen in the past, but just never reviewed until today. I think if this was the only Sting/Vader match (which would be sad), it would be more highly rated. It is not as good as the Big 3 so it is overlooked, but many other wrestlers would kill for a match this good. A couple notes on the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship aka the Big Gold Belt. It is something that alwaysfascinated me as a child. Rick Rude was the Champion and really the face of this Championship. He wrestled his last match of his career beating Sting in Japan to regain the Big Gold Belt after losing it to Stinger in April. I have never watched the Flair/Rude matches or the Rude title defenses against Hawk, Bossman or Sting, but it is the International Title was still second banana to the WCW World Title even though International Title physically was the Flair Belt of the 80s and the one looked more prestigious. This was the only PPV main event the Championship got before it was unified at the next Clash between Flair/Sting. Apparently the build for this match was Rick Rude defending the Championship, but I got confused by commentary. Was it a rematch against Sting or a fresh match against Vader, which would have been heel vs heel? Either way Rude pulled out and retired for good, this match is to determine the new champion. We are in Philly and it is 1994 so we get a "Sting Must Die" chant. It is good 30 years later, the hardcores came around to him and gave him a nice sendoff in Greensboro. Cautious start which I appreciate. Vader gets his licks in and looks like he is going to runaway with it early. Sting EXPLODES! This is what Vader brings out of Sting. He just strings these awesome strike combinations against Vader that he does not do against anyone else. He overwhelms Vader who goes ass over tea kettle onto the floor. Big vertical suplex punctuates the shine for Sting. They collide and as you would expect Vader eventually gets the better of that. I love the Vader Chest Bump! It is so sick. A couple Vaderbombs follow as Vader consolidates his advantage. Vader works some holds just smothering Stinger. Sting gets a burst of energy but is quickly extinguished by the sheer mass of the Mastodon. Amazing finish run! Sting comes flying off with a clothesline that wipes out the ref on a Vader duck. VADER THROWS THE STINGER DOWN WITH A CHOKESLAM! No ref though. Harley brains Vader with a chair. Now here comes Sting! DDT! 1-2-NO! Big Time Clotheslines send Vader over the top rope twice. Vader CATCHES The Stinger Splash! Powerslam! Sick! Perfect Vadersault misses! Crashes & Burns! Sting goes for the pin, but Harley top rope headbutts Vader! Sting hits his out of control top rope Splash for win! Excellent match, a ton of fun! Really overlooked because the other three Sting/Vader are so damn good! But this is killer too! **** 1/4

Ric Flair vs Sid Vicious - WCW Saturday Night 10/30/94 Taped well before the Scissors Incident but aired after. Winner faces Vader at the November Clash. They play up the dissension between Sid & Parker due Halloween Havoc miscommunication. I really enjoyed this match; it is comparable to the Bret/Sid matches I’ve seen but nowhere close to Survivor Series 1996. It is standard Flair vs the Big Man except Flair is baby face which is a cool wrinkle. Flair reminds me immediately why I love him because he establishes the basic story through a variety of ways. He gets shoved off on collar elbow tie ups so he switches to a side headlock but get thrown off. Running off the ropes into shoulder tackles doesn’t work. Missing a wild swing and getting some heavy handed chops does. That shit is why Flair is the GOAT. He really takes the time to establish the story. Sid comes back and shows blow for blow is not a winning strategy for Flair. Flair Flip not looking good for our hero. Flair is able to get Sid on the outside and really open up. Great shine here. Double axe handle from the top to the floor. Ramming Sid into the railing. Sid splays over the railing and Flair gets some punts in. Great right by Flair. We are cookin' now! Sorry about that! Duty called at work where was I? I forget the exact transition into heat but we get some Parker interference, a great steel chair shot and a vertical suplex back into the ring for a nearfall. Sid matches really benefit from commercials as we come back it is a bearhug which I am sure without a commercial may have felt a lot longer. We get some nice slams by Sid to cut off Flair in between bearhugs. Flair gets some momentum but as he comes off the top he is caught in the bearhug. Nice! Sid misses an elbow drop and now we go to school. Flair drags Sid over to the post wraps his knee around it. Flair gets his belly-to-back suplex which is usually the prelude to the figure-4, but in this case he gets a nearfall with Sid pressing him off and into the ropes. Flair does eventually get the Figure-4. The Colonel gets over-anxious and attacks Flair, BUT Sid had reversed the pressure! Flair wins by DQ and gets the title shot against Vader at the Clash. Sid is none too pleased with the Colonel as we are going off the air he chokeslams Parker to cement the babyface turn, which should have been his ticket to ride into Starrcade to win the World Tile and be a babyface champion in 1994. That is a very interesting what if with Hogan coming in. Obviously, Flair/Vader and the Flair/Steamboat matches were awesome and I am really glad it played out the way it did. The best Sid singles match I have seen during this watch project. *** 1/2