kevinmcfl

WCW adds Mike Shaw and Fidel Sierra

HEMISFAIR ARENA SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS DECEMEBER 26,1988 ******** A note to the readers: In all my years in this hobby this was truly the hardest event for me to write. The reason is simple. I have no idea what direction I am heading in for 1989. I was torn on who I was going to put over in 5 of my matches and this might have led to some poorly booked matches. Hopefully, with a little planning time I can take some time and get WCW in order! 6-MAN TAG TEAM MATCH Hacksaw Reed, Tony Atlas & Ron Simmons defeats Snowman, Kareem Muhammed & Brother Hughes when Hacksaw Butch Reed followed up his military press slam on Snowman with a nasty football tackle. The match saw everyone get a little shine with Brother Hughes being the most successful member of the losing team. The end saw Atlas battling Muhammed and Simmons brawling with Hughes which left Snowman and Reed going head-to-head. This is where this angle began way back in April in Ernie Ladd’s Mid-South Wrestling Revolution. Snowman did everything he could do to make sure Reed never got a title shot because he thought Reed was bowing down to authority. It was only fitting that these two would be the two battling at the end in this rather clean, all-out brawling finish. After the match, the fan favorites celebrated with a little fun-natured flex off! WCW WORLD TELEVISION TITLE MATCH Eddie Gilbert © with Missy Hyatt vs Ricky Morton Possibly the match of the night. From Eddie’s arrogance to Morton’s energy to Missy’s dress, nobody took their eyes off the ring even for a second during the entire match. This was easily the fastest-paced match of the night and the bumping and selling by each man made each move seem like it could be the last. With less than a minute left, the end seemed to come when Ricky connected with a top rope missile drop kick, but Missy was able to drape Gilbert’s leg over the bottom rope. This led to a very unsatisfying time-limit draw. Morton was fuming at Missy Hyatt and went out after her but Eddie had recovered enough and when Morton turned the corner he was nailed by Hot Stuff. Gilbert and Missy took the tv title and headed to the back. U.S. TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH The Latin Connection (Guerrero & Santana) with Dr. Diobolico vs The Freebirds (Hayes & Garvin) The Latin Connection had succeeded in WCW by completely ignoring the rule book. From hair cream to low blows, Mando and Ricky have blazed a path of cheating. The problem here is that whatever dirty trick they tried, Michael had done it years ago. With the Freebirds one step ahead of the Latin Connection, Mando and Ricky’s title reign depended on Dr. Diobolico. The problem here was that Michael had snuck up behind him at one point and rubbed his own hair cream in his eyes resulting in Diobolico being taken to the back by the medics. This ledto a wild finish with all four men in the ring where Jimmy and Michael hit a double running bulldog and Michael pinned Mando to win the titles. GRUDGE MATCH “Hot Rod” Roddy Piper vs “The Magnificent One” Don Muraco This match seemed to come out of nowhere. Piper has been Muraco’s only real supporter since he arrived in WCW. The Magnificent One’s arrogance has rubbed everyone the wrong way but Piper told everyone that he could back up what he said. For Piper, that all changed when Muraco went too far and shoved both Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone last week. When Piper tried to step in and control Muraco, he got a shot from the Hawaiian Hammer. Piper was fuming and asked for this match at Wrestlecade. Muraco was the first to the ring and he seemed to relish in the chorus of boos. He loves the attention and just smirks at the crows and waves his arms in the air asking for more negative attention. The boos instantly turned to cheers as the bagpipes begin to blare. Piper, in his traditional white tee shirt and plaid skirt was squeezing the bags and playing the pipes. When Piper entered the ring both he and Muraco went face to face in a huge stare down! Ref Pee Wee Anderson simply calls for the bell! WHAM… Low Blow by Piper and Muraco drops to his knees! WHAM … Piper, without even trying to hide it, pulls a pair of brass knuckles from his trunks and nails Muraco in the head. Muraco is out! Pee Wee Anderson instantly calls for the bell and the DQ of Piper. Piper, who could care less of the win, simply tosses the brass knuckles in the air and walks out leaving a “rocked” Muraco laying in the center of the ring. WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH Ted Dibiase & Dr. Death Steve Williams © vs The Samoan Swat Team with Gary Hart Not much to say here. We all know this is going to be survival of the fittest. The Samoans will hit a lot of big chops, savat kicks and nerve holds while adding in a few face pulls, punches and even one or two Samoan Drops. Dr. Death, while very technically savvy in his ground game is going to focus on big power moves with different types of suplexes and body slams. Dibiase, the one with the ability to slow this match down will add in a few arm bars and headlocks while working on the huge legs of Samu and Fatu as he tries to soften them up for the Figure 4. Let’s not forget Gary Hart who will use every trick in the book to give his men the advantage. As for the ending, we see Ted Dibiase play the face in peril and take a pretty good beating before making the hot tag to Dr. Death. Dr. Death goes absolutely wild on the Samoans and clears house including a fan-favorite, big right hand to Gary Hart who tumbled out of the ring. Dibiase and scoops up Fatu and with an amazing feet of strength, hits the Oklahoma Stampede on the big Samoan for the win. The problem was that Dr. Death seemed to be severely hobbling after the match. It looked like Dibiase whispered something in his ear after the match but Dr. Death just shrugged his shoulders. UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH “Dangerous” Dan Spivey © with Woman vs “The Total Package” Lex Luger Spivey might be the champion and have 4 inches and 30 pounds on Luger but you can tell he wanted no piece of Lex. It was almost comical at times watching this huge monster playing the frightened heel. Luger took advantage of this and controlled much of the match but Spivey is just too big and strong to be kept down the entire time. Both men hit some huge moves and had many close calls. In the end, we see Spivey pounding on Lex. Lex, slowly begins to rise from the ground while Spivey continues to punch away. Lex just shakes off the last blow and then shakes his head “no” at Spivey. The crowd goes wild! Luger now starts clobbering Spivey and down goes the champ. Luger with the Irish Whip! WHAM…. Powerslam on Spivey. Instead of going for the pin, Lex gives the “Rack” sign to the crowd! Can Lex rack the 310 pound Spivey? Lex scoops up Spivey but he can’t hold him and Spivey crashes to the floor. Lex regroups and again calls for the Rack! Again, Lex scoops up Spivey. This time he locks it in and he is bending Spivey in half. Finally, Spivey taps! Luger is running from corner to corner! Flexing to the crowd as the ref hands him the United States Title! BULLROPE MATCH “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes vs Terry Funk First the rules. Each man is tied together by a bull rope. To win, you must drag your opponent to all four corners of the ring. Pins and submissions do not count. No DQ. Next, the entrance. Funk comes to the ring wearing his orange “Dusty sucks eggs” T Shirt, a black cowboy hat, jeans and he is carrying his trusted branding iron. Dusty comes out wearing a simple white T-shirt, a white cowboy hat which he takes off to reveal an American flag headband, jeans and some big old cowboy boots. The opening segment, WAR! Dusty and Terry just beat the other to Hell with neither willing to go down. It wasn’t long before we get color. Both men take multiple turns fighting from the top as neither will give an inch. Before the wild stuff even starts, we have an instant classic! Next, from out of nowhere comes Jimmy Jack Funk. Terry’s cousin who started all of this nonsense back in August when he attacked Ron Simmons. Dusty came to the aid of Simmons and then went nuts of Jimmy Jack just because he was a Funk. This brought Terry to WCW and here we are. Now, since this is a NO DQ Match, Jimmy Jack went straight to the ring and started to go to work on Dusty. Terry seemed to want no part of this as he wanted to beat Dusty all by himself. He told Jimmy Jack to get the Hell out of the ring which he did. Problem was, the damage might have already been done. Funk is now all over Dusty. Even from the arena floor, Jimmy Jack couldn’t help himself and still got in a few more blows on the American Dream! The Last Straw? Jimmy Jack must have hit Dusty one too many times as “Captain Redneck,” to the delight of the fans, rushed out and clobbered Jimmy Jack. Murdoch now began cheering for Dusty and the crowd feeds off of his energy. Together, Murdoch and the crowd implore Dusty to rise to his feet. He was shaking off each and every blow from Terry Funk like an elephant would shake off a bit from a gnat. Finally Dusty is all over Funk and the moment is completely in Dream’s favor. The End! Dusty, the bull rope, and the multiple bionic elbows have Funk basically out of his feet! He starts to drag Terry around the ring! Corner #1… Dusty slaps it as the fans go wild! Corner #2… Dusty slaps it and the crows is getting louder. Murdoch is up imploring Dusty to go! Corner #3… Dusty slaps it and the crowd is going bonkers. Murdoch is on the apron and screaming at Dusty “one more corner.” Dusty is dragging Terry to the last corner! WHAM…Big, Stiff Right Hand by Dick Murdoch… on Dusty Rhodes… the crowd is silent!! After a long minute, Funk is up before Dusty. WHAM… Piledriver by Funk! Funk now drags Dusty to Corner #1, Corner #2, Corner #3 and… Corner #4! Murdoch simply walks away from the ring. The crowd is too stunned to even notice him and he escapes with minimal debris being thrown his way. Funk looks down at a fallen Dusty gives him what some will say was a nod of approval while others will say it was an arrogant smirk. Disclaimer: Not sure I like the ending here. This will be Dusty’s last match in WCW with Terry Funk remaining. I did not want to weaken Funk at all but out of loyalty I did not want to have Funk with a clean win over Dusty. In a match that should have ended with no outside interference, I couldn’t help myself. Dusty has been the man in NWA/WCW history and thought he should leave on top. Also without Hansen, I thought Murdoch needed a change. What better way then to create the new, more evil Texas Outlaws with Terry Funk. Thoughts… Ideas on how I could have done this better would be appreciated. WCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH Ric Flair © with Woman vs Sting Another instant classic where Flair did everything he could to make sure this was a Match of the Year candidate. Sting controlled a lot of the action and included a few early Stinger Splashes but no pin. We also had Flair give his patented “Now We Go To School” rant as he locked in the Figure 4 but this also didn’t lead to the end. Soon after the match started, the arena floor became a little crowded. First Arn Anderson and Dan Spivey join Woman in Flair’s corner and then Tully Blanchard and Lex come out to make sure the Horsemen don’t try any shenanigans against Sting. With Sting on top, Flair shoved Sting into ref Pee Wee Anderson who went face first into the ring post. This is where the chaos started. Sting whips Flair into the corner one more time and connects with another Stinger Splash. Flair takes 3 steps towards the center of the ring and falls flat on his face like only Flair can do. Sting grabs both legs and is going for the Scorpion Death Leg. Sting twists both legs and steps over Flair and sits down deep into Flair’s back. Sting has the Scorpion Death Lock locked in! Here comes Arn and Spivey but they are cut off by Tully and Lex. Lex is all over Spivey while Tully and Arn just seem to stare each other down. Flair is struggling but there is no ref. Somehow, he is able to drag himself all the way over to the corner but again, with no ref, Sting just drags him right back to the center of the ring. For the second time tonight, Lex has Spivey in the Rack and then slams him to the arena floor and then heads to the ring! Lex sees that Sting has Flair in serious trouble and is cheering him on! Tully heads over to get ref Pee Wee Anderson up again as he senses the end is near. Pee Wee is up and coming over to see if Flair is going to submit! Arn nods to Lex in a way that makes it seem like Arn knows it is over! WHAM… Huge kick by Tully Blanchard to the head of Sting!! Pee Wee Anderson immediately calls for the DQ! Before Lex can process what has happened, Tully and Arn are all over him! Eventually, we get a 3-2 beat down of Sting and Luger by Flair, Tully and Arn Anderson. When Sting and Luger are finished off, Tully extends his hand to Ric Flair. Flair hesitates… shoved the hand away… then gives Tully a huge hug! The Horsemen leave together and make one last stop. That is over the fallen Dan Spivey where they each give him a good kick good bye as he is obviously out f the stable.

If that gets signed Hulk and McMahon are tied at the hip. Very interesting situation.

Very interesting. The Dirt Sheets hint at Hogan leaving the WWF but then he is on TV. So many great feuds heading into 1989! Great work

EPISODE #19 DECEMBER 16, 1988 Fall Out from Clash of Champions: Season’s Beatings - “The Boogie Woogie” Jimmy Valiant, who lost his match to “The Hustler” Rip Rogers at Clash of Champions and did not show up for the Battle Royal has apparently left WCW. Speculation is that he was too distraught about not getting a date with Terri Powers that he had to move on. - Stan Hansen has also left WCW. Right or wrong, Hansen said that he and Murdoch just didn’t seem to be on the same page of late. Hansen says that he has all the respect in the world for Murdoch but he said that his first priority was winning titles and he wanted to pursue that goal in a different promotion. - It turns out that the man who aided the Nation (Snowman & Muhammed) in their Pearl Harbor job on Hacksaw Butch Reed and Ron Simmons was Curtis Hughes. For those old Memphis fans, Hughes spent some time there as the bodyguard for Dutch Mantell but never really got a shot in wrestling. This fueled his anger and helped him decide to join the Nation, an anti-establishment group, who is “fighting the system.” Lucky for Reed and Simmons that Tony Atlas was in attendance and ready to help. The story was that Atlas was in town talking to Jim Herd about a job as he had recently been released by the AWA. Atlas, who spent most of 1988 as a heel was asked why he had decided to help Simmons and Reed. Atlas said that he and Hacksaw Butch Reed have had a similar career in wrestling and he felt a connection to him. Atlas says, just like Reed, he was frustrated at the lack of title shots he was getting and turned on both the promoters and the fans before seeing the light. Atlas hoped that he can make up for lost time and show the fans again why they were in love with Mr. USA back in the day. He is also excited to see Hacksaw Reed and the young upstart, Ron Simmons do the same. Summary of this Week’s Show…. - The show started with a replay of Piper’s Pit from Clash of Champions where Terry Funk was bad mouthing Dusty Rhodes and when Dusty came out of nowhere and destroyed the Piper’s Pit set as a wild brawl from Dusty and Funk raged all over the arena floor. The interesting thing here was when Jim Ross stated to Piper that he was surprised that Piper didn’t join in on the attack of the American Dream, Piper responded that he has nothing but neutral sense he arrived in WCW and he had nothing in common with a rancher from West Texas in Terry Funk or a rather bloated American icon in Dusty Rhodes. - Brother Hughes, the newest member of the Nation, had his first real match in WCW where he destroyed Allen Thomas with a powerslam. Hughes was joined at ringside by Snowman and Kareem Muhammed. After the match, the trio seemed rather upset at Tony Atlas who had jumped in to help Ron Simmons and Butch Reed at Clash of Champions. Snowman had pointed out that Atlas had seemed to turn a corner recently in the AWA as he seemed to understand that he was being kept down by the authority. Muhammed pointed out that Atlas was just another Uncle Tom like Simmons and Reed. Snowman pointed out that with the addition of Brother Hughes, the Nation was at its strongest point ever. Huges, in a dark suit, sunglasses and bowtie, remained silent but just nodded in agreement. The three challenges Simmons, Reed and Atlas to a 6-Man tag team match at Wrestlecade. This match was quickly accepted by the fan favorites. - The U.S. Champion, Dan Spivey seems to be walking on thin ice with the other Horsemen as Flair and Arn both questioned him on his attempt to help Lex Luger win the Battle Royal at Clash of Champions. This would have gotten Spivey out of his U.S. Title match with Luger at Wrestlecade. Spivey tried to deny that he was in fact trying to help Luger but when the Horsemen showed the video of him trying to convince Sting to turn on Luger, he had no choice but to admit it. Spivey then tried to pump up Flair by saying how great he was and that he knew that Luger would be easy pickens for him. Flair didn’t buy this and then seemed to get even more angry when Spivey threw his own words back at him and reminded him that “to be the best, you had to beat the best! -The Dusty Rhodes-Terry Funk heat couldn’t get any hotter as they head into Wrestlecade and their Bull Rope Match. When this week’s Terry Funk promo started with “What does an Egg-Suckin Dawg know about bull roping” the brawl was on! Dusty, for the second straight time, forgot that he was the babyface in all of this and attacked Funk in perfect heel, Pearl Harbor fashion. Wrestlers poured out from the back but nothing was going to stop this one. Eventually Jim Herd came out and grabbed the mic and threatened to cancel their Bull Rope Match and suspend both if the nonsense didn’t stop right now! Funk and Rhodes realized that to continue their feud at Wrestlecade, they needed to behave now so they gave a few more shoves and a few more insults and then went their separate ways. -Sting, after a nice win over Big Money Marcus came to the podium where he thanked Lex Luger for allowing him this title shot against Ric Flair at Wrestlecade. Luger and Sting were the last two left at the Battle Royal at Clash of Champions when Luger decided to quit the match and allow Sting to win the battle royal and get the title shot. Both Sting and Luger gave fiery promos on how Wrestlecade would mark the end of the Horsemen. Tully Blanchard came out and also congratulated Sting on his title shot and went on to say that while Sting will be the new champion after Wrestlecade, it will be him, Tully Blanchard who will finish off Ric Flair in WCW. Don Muraco also continued his winning streak but again he made happy with Schiavone and Ross. As hew went over to the podium, Schiavone, Ross and Piper all seemed focused on what just went down between Terry Fink and Dusty Rhodes. Muraco started screaming at Schiavone and Ross about how he is the undefeated one here in WCW and that they need to focus on the Magnificent One. Jim Ross looked at him like he was crazy and went on to ask Muraco if he had just witnessed what happened between two legends in the sport. This sent Muraco off and he shoved Jim Ross and got right in the face of Tony Schiavone. Roddy Piper tried to calm things down and came in and put a hand on Muraco’s shoulder…”Hey Don, calm down. Just calm down.” Muraco pushed Piper’s hand off his shoulder and then shoved Schiavone hard enough to make the announcer stumble. This time Piper comes in a bit strong and grabs Muraco by the left arm. WHAM… Muraco clobbers Piper with a big right hand and Piper goes down. With Piper and Schiavone on the ground, Muraco gets right in the face of Jim Ross and demands that he call him the “Magnificent One” which Ross quickly does. As Murraco starts to walk off, Piper gets up. Roddy Piper: Ok now…. Hold on just a minute… just a minute Murraco. Ever sense you got here, you’ve been demanding things. You demand to have interviews. You demand to be on TV each and every week. You demand to be called the Magnificent One. But now, now, you’ve gone too far. You put your hands on me. The one who has been stickin up for you ever since you got here. Well, “old Hot Rod” has had enough. What’s say you and I stop dancing around the truth. We don’t like each other. In fact, we hate each other….. So how about you and I get it on at Wrestlecade? Muraco doesn’t even hesitate. He points to his head like a lightbulb just when off. He smugly shakes his head in agreement and then simple walks off! -Prior to this week, we were all set with the WCW World Television Title match for Wrestlecade with the champion, “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert set to take on Ricky Morton. Not much changed here. Hot Stuff and Missy Hyatt gave a poolside promo about how they did not even need to train to beat Ricky Morton while Morton had a quick TV match and then a promo with Piper. The interesting thing was that during Morton’s promo, Roddy Piper asked Morton to take a look at a video for a second. The video was of his Rock n Roll Express partner Robert Gibson who still had both eyes bandaged from the injury caused by the Latin Connection and the hair removal cream. Gibson offered words of encouragement and let everyone know that while is been rough, he is doing better and hopes to return at full strength at some point. Morton was obviously choked up and looked like he was crying. He basically said that his winning of the TV title will be in honor of Robert. -The WCW World Tag Team Title Match is all set. While Bounty Gate has passed with no money collected, Gary Hart would like nothing better than to have his Samoan Swat Team dethrone Ted Dibiase and Dr. Death. The champs were not the least bit phased by anyone Hart has set after him trying to collect Sheik Adnan Al Kassie’s bounty. The difference here is that they have no faced anyone like the Samoan Swat Team. Both teams destroyed their opponents on this week’s show and seemed really confident with their chances of coming out on top. Title change or not, this is going to be a war! -The shocker of the night came when the Laton Connection were with Roddy Pipper at the interview area and they were being more heelish then ever. Mando Guerrero was gloating at how easy it was at Clash of Champions to beat the Lightening Express. When Piper tried to put them back in their place by saying it must have easy when they basically fought the match 3-2 as Dr. Dumbolico seemed to be helping out, Ricky Santana smugly put his title in Piper’s face and said that it’s been a long time since Piper’s skirt has been held up by anything gold! Piper just smirked before mentioning that he had a message from Jim Herd about who they were going to face at Wrestlecade with their U.S. Tag Team Titles on the line. At first Mando was angry claiming that they just defended their titles but Ricky calmed him down by reminding them that they have easily beaten every team that has been put in front of them. Piper, interrupted by clearing his throat and told the Latin Connection that they would actually be facing a team that they had never faced. When Mando asked who Piper smiled and said…. The …. Fabulous…. Freebirds! Mando and Santana went crazy as Piper laughed as hard as he could. And that sets the stage for Wrestlecade! WCW WORLD TELEVISION TITLE MATCH Eddie Gilbert © with Missy Hyatt vs Ricky Morton 6-MAN TAG TEAM MATCH Hacksaw Reed, Tony Atlas & Ron Simmons vs Snowman, Kareem Muhammed & Brother Hughes U.S. TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH The Latin Connection (Guerrero & Santana) with Dr. Diobolico vs The Freebirds (Hayes & Garvin) GRUDGE MATCH “Hot Rod” Roddy Piper vs “The Magnificent One” Don Muraco WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH Ted Dibiase & Dr. Death Steve Williams © vs The Samoan Swat Team with Gary Hart UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH “Dangerous” Dan Spivey © with Woman vs “The Total Package” Lex Luger BULLROPE MATCH “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes vs Terry Funk WCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH Ric Flair © with Woman vs Sting

Just loved the intro of the Soultaker and the Juice Crew!

Great job hyping up SuperClash. If I were still a kid, I think Kerry vs Bam Bam would be the highlight of the show but the way you are hyping up Larry Z and Orndorff that may be the highlight now. Also, really interested in Vader's debut! He could be the future of the AWA. Can't wait!!

WCW places either the Samoan Swat Team or Ted Dibiase and Dr. Death on the block

I am enjoying the development of all the different angles. The tag division is wild right now but again to me, DJ and Miss Kentucky steal the show each week. I am liking Don Bass here. This is a perfect territory for someone his age and style.

DECEMBER 7 BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANAZambui RIVERSIDE CENTROPLEX OPENINNG BOUT Lord Humongous with Oliver Humperdink defeats Kendall Windham in under two minutes with the powerbomb IF JIMMY VALIANT DEFEATS RIP ROGERS, HE GETS A DATE WITH TERRI POWERS Rip Rogers defeats Jimmy Valiant with a low blow by Terri as Valiant had the sleeper locked in on Rogers. Somehow, she managed to kick Valiant below the belt without the ref seeing, just after he scolded her for being up on the apron. Valiant seemed extremely depressed as he left the ring while Terri Powers looked relieved that she would not have to go out with the Boogie Woogie Man. GRUDGE MATCH: Hacksaw Butch Reed & Ron Simmons vs Snowman & Kareem Muhammed ended in a No Contest as a large black man rushed from the back in his Army fatigues and attacked Reed and Simmons on their way to the ring. We will have to wait until the next TV show to find out who this attacker was. Right behind Akeem where Muhammed and Snowman. This three on two attack seemed to be big trouble for Reed and Simmons until a shocking return to WCW by none other than Tony Atlas occurred. The crowd cheered as Atlas, Reed and Simmons flexed their muscles and tossed the surprised Nation from pillar to post. SPECIAL SEGMENT: PIPER’S PIT With special guest, Terry Funk Roddy Piper: Well everyone, Welcome to Piper’s Pit and I must say that we have a very special guest for our first Piper’s Pit here in WCW… none other than Terry Funk himself. The greatest dog gone Cowboy I’ve ever seen. I mean between you, your brother Dory Jr and your Dad, Dory Sr., you guys have ruled Texas Wrestling for decades. No matter what people like Stan Hansen, Dick Murdoch and most of all, The American Dream, Dusty Rhodes say… the Funks are the real Cowboys in this sport. It’s a pleasure to have you, Mr. Funk. Please sit-down Terry. Terry Funk: I’ll just stand of that’s okay with you Piper as I’m here to talk about Dawgs. And I know with all you’ve gone through in this sport that you know a lot about Dawgs! Piper: And why don’t you tell us about the different types of dogs there are. Funk: My Daddy told me that a good dawg is worth his wait in gold. I mean a good dog can bring you a feast when you go out hunting. A good dog can protect your ranch from all kinds a varmints that can attack your livestock at anytime of day or night. A good dog can be just about the best company a man can have when he’s out there branding cattle. Piper: I don’t mean to interrupt Mr. Funk but what does a cow sound like when you put that hot fire on them. Funk: Agggggghhhhhhhhhh (As Piper is laughing) Funk: But let me get back to Dawgs! I told you about the good ones. Now let me tell you about the bad ones. Bad Dawgs are the fat, good for nothing Dawgs that just want you to hand them things. They want a nice bed made for them but do nothing to earn it. They want you to pet them all night but did nothing for you all day. They want you to feed them and give them treats as they just sit there and get fatter and fatter. Piper: Bad dogs seem like the type of animal you don’t want to brand as you don’t want anybody to know they are part of your ranch! Funk: Oh on the contrary Mr. Piper. On the contrary. We have a bad dog right here in WCW and I am going to brand him? Piper: I’m not sure I understand. Funk: Oh, I think you do. We have got someone here he just gets fatter and fatter. He wants everyone to give him something for nothing. He wants title shots. He wants everyone to bow down at his feet. He wants and he wants…. That’s right Dusty Rhodes is an EGG SUCKIN DAWG! Piper: And did you say you were going to brand him? Funk: At Wrestlecade, I Terry Funk will brand Dusty Rhodes! Oh and Piper, Do you know what an Egg Suckin Dawg sounds like when you brand him? Piper: I have no idea. Funk: HeeHaw, HeeHaw, HeeHaw…. That’s because Dusty Rhodes, besides being an Egg Suckin Dawg, he is also a Jackass! WHAM…. The walls of Piper’s Pit come crashing down. Dusty Rhodes is here and the brawl is on! Funk and Rhodes are all over each other as Piper just sits back and watches. At one point, he asked the cameraman for some popcorn as he can’t look away. Before we are forced to go to break to get control of the situation, both Rhodes and Funk are showing some color. U.S. TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Latin Connection © (Guerrero & Santana) with Dr. Diobolico defeated The Lightening Express as Guerrero rolled up Horner and got the pin with a grab of the tights and two feet across the middle rope. This occurred as Dr. Diobolico had hold of Armstrong’s legs and wouldn’t let him make the save. SEMI-MAIN EVENT #1 Contender’s Match for the WCW World Tag Team Title. Winner faces Ted Dibiase and Steve Williams at Wrestlecade on December 26th! The Samoan Swat Team with Gary Hart defeated The Texas Outlaws (Murdoch & Hansen) in an all-out brawl that saw each team have many near falls. Both teams were a bit bloody and the cameraman seemed to like seeing the Samoans lick their own blood with a Savage smile on their faces. This left Schiavone and Ross a bit disgusted by this cannibalistic behavior. The end saw Hansen get a Savat Kick to the temple by Samu. Murdoch tried to make the save but he also took a kick from Fatu for his troubles. MAIN EVENT: $50,000 BATTLE ROYAL: WINNER GETS A WORLD TITLE SHOT AT WRESTLECADE The entrants: Butch Reed, Ron Simmons, Lord Humungous, Rip Rogers, Snowman, Kareem Muhammed, Sting, Brad Armstrong, Mando Guerrero, Ricky Santana, Dr. Diobolico, Dick Murdoch, Stan Hansen, Samu, Fatu, Dan Spivey, Tully Blanchard, Terry Funk and Lex Luger -Jimmy Valiant was a No Show when his name was called out. The Order of Wrestlers Eliminated: 1. Rip Rogers by Tully Blanchard with a simple shove from behind while Rogers was flexing to the crowd. 2. Dr. Diabolico by Lex Luger as The Latin Connection tried to make a name for themselves and attacked Sting. Sting and Luger with a quick high five for each other and then went back to work. 3. Ricky Santana, Brad Armstrong and Mando Guerrero by Lord Humongous as Santana and Guerrero were in the middle of double-teaming Armstrong. Humongous simply barreled into all three and they went flying. 4. Ron Simmons by Dan Spivey as Simmons was in the middle of fighting with Kareem Muhammed and Spivey thought he would be opportunistic. 5. Snowman by Hacksaw Butch Reed who just overpowered his enemy and press slammed him to the arena floor. 6. Kareem Muhammed by Butch Reed who quickly turned his attention to his other former teammate. This time he got Muhammed with a running lariat and out went Muhammed. 7. Dick Murdoch in another sneak attack by Dan Spivey as Murdoch was on his way to help his tag partner, Stan Hansen, who was dealing with both members of the Samoan Swat Team. 8. Stan Hansen by Fatu and Samu. Without the help of Murdoch, there was nothing Hansen could do. 9. Lord Humongous by everyone in a united effort as they thought it was now or never. 10. Samu and Fatu by Sting and Luger who just looked at each other and said “why not” as everyone was bunched up against the ropes after the disposal of Humongous. 11. Butch Reed by Terry Funk as Funk had pulled a pair of brass knucks from his trunks and nailed the unsuspecting Reed. Funk then simply rolled Reed over the ropes and out onto the floor. There are now just 5 left: Terry Funk, Lex Luger, Tully Blanchard, Dan Spivey and Sting 12. Terry Funk by Dusty Rhodes…. That’s right Funk was eliminated by someone who was not even in the Battle Royal as the career long feud that had been ignited again tonight during Piper’s Pit, spilled over to the Battle Royal. A bandaged Rhodes simply ran into the ring and clobbered a tired Funk with elbow after elbow and then simply dragged him over the rope and out onto the floor where the brawl continued all they way behind the curtain. 13. Tully Blanchard by another Spivey sneak attack. Even the wrestlers are all-in on the Dusty-Funk feud and Blanchard got caught watching the two legends go at it! It’s down to Spivey, Luger and Sting. Spivey is trying to convince Luger to team up and go after Sting. Spivey has ulterior motive here as he is trying to do anything is his power not to put his United States title on the line against Luger at Wrestlecade and if Luger wins this Battle Royal he would face Ric Flair for the World Title! 14. Dan Spivey by Sting and Luger as Luger would have nothing to do with Spivey’s plan. 15. What happens next? We have two best friends in Luger and Sting with a common enemy in the Horseman? We one turn on the other here? Of course NOT! Luger asks for a microphone. Lex Luger: “Sting, my brother, I already have Spivey at Wrestlecade! You get Flair and together we finish the Horsemen!” The two embrace and Luger simply rolls himself out onto the floor and gives the match and the money to Sting! Schiavone and Ross are now hyping up Wrestlecade as the event that may mark the last time we ever see the Horsemen!

With the recent additions to the roster, I need to free up some roster space. WCW drops Denise Storm, Tommy Jammer, JW Storm, and King Cobra, Moondog Moretti and Mike Graham

WCW adds Sean Royal, Chris Champion, Angel of Death, Steve Lombardi and Jim Powers and Precious

Nice event to hype up SuperClash. I love a great brawl on TV with people running in to add to the chaos. The No Contest between Iceman/Black Bart and others was something that would be talked about for a long time. Really looking forward to the big one on Dec.30

-I love this format! - Can't wait to see the Horsemen back with a Nature Boy -Day One looks to have an awesome card. Looking forward to the Gold Rush! -Wahoo might be nearing the end but his name will always sell in the NWA! Enjoy the break and Christmas Season.

Really enjoying all these introductions. Perfect for your territory!

I enjoyed all the little teases to the developing angles this week. -It seems Danny Davis might be having some trouble doing his job correctly. -PRG and his many "uncles" -The Nightmares leaving out the Renestos. All good stuff! Also, as I said before, the fairgrounds is a perfect place to make this one-town promotion Really Big!

EPISODE #17 NOVEMBER 25, 1988 Update on Season’s Beatings and Wrestlecade After last week’s show, the card for Clash of Champions II: Season’s Beatings on December 7th was all set. Lord Humongous vs Kendall Windham Jimmy Valiant vs Rip Rogers with Terri Powers. (If Valiant wins, he gets a date with Terri) GRUDGE MATCH: Hacksaw Butch Reed & Ron Simmons vs Snowman & Kareem Muhammed SPECIAL SEGMENT: PIPER’S PIT with special guest, Terry Funk U.S. TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH Latin Connection vs Lightening Express SEMI-MAIN EVENT #1 CONTENDERS MATCH FOR THE WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES: Samoan Swat Team vs The Texas Outlaws (Dick Murdoch/ Stan Hansen) MAIN EVENT: $50,000 BATTLE ROYAL: WINNER GETS A WORLD TITLE SHOT AT WRESTLECADE While everyone was excited about the Battle Royal, one entrant might have stood out above the rest. During the Horseman’s promo about how they were going to make sure Lex Luger and Sting never would win the Battle Royal, a newcomer to WCW walked out and it was like Ric Flair and Arn Anderson had seen a ghost. Tully Blanchard made his arrival in WCW. Blanchard ran down all the list of wrongs that were done to him by Flair in the NWA and that he couldn’t wait to win that Battle Royal and take back the World Title he never lost. Flair took a while to gain his composure but when he did, he rattled off one of his best promos ever and he made sure that Tully knew that he was the best there is, the best there was and the best there will ever be. Wrestlecade also took a big step forward with two huge matches signed. It seems like the WCW World Television Champion, Eddie Gilbert, took offense to Ricky Morton clobbering him on TV last week. This was caused by Hot Stuff who thought he had every right to interrupt Morton’s interview where he was updating the public on the condition of his tag team partner Robert Gibson. This week the roles were reversed. As Gilbert was belittling Morton and making sure all the fans knew that Robert Gibson was the only reason the Rock n Roll Express had any success as a tag team, Morton came out and interrupted Gilbert. Ricky was quick to point out that while Robert was a huge part of the Rock n Roll Express, both he and Robert where both pretty darn good but it was Eddie Gilbert who always seemed to need some help. Morton went on to state that it was obvious to everyone watching how important Missy Hyatt’s cheating in Gilbert’s success and that she was the biggest reason Hot Stuff even had the TV title to begin with. Missy seemed to take this as a compliment but Eddie was now fuming and maybe without thinking, challenged Ricky to a Television Title match at Wrestlecade! Ricky quickly accepted and Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross quickly added to the hype of this bout. The show also began with another promo by Terry Funk from his home in Texas where he challenged that Egg Suckin Dog, Dusty Rhodes to a Bull Rope Match at Wrestlecade and the show ended with “The American Dream” gladly accepting the challenge. Matches now signed for Wrestlecade are: WCW World Television Title Match Eddie Gilbert © with Missy Hyatt vs Ricky Morton U.S. Title Match “Dangerous” Dan Spivey © with Woman vs Lex Luger WCW World Title Match Ric Flair © vs Woman vs Winner of the Battle Royal at Clash of Champions BULL ROPE MATCH Terry Funk vs “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes Summary of this Week’s Show…. We get a lot of jobber matches vs the stars for Clash of Champions and then a bunch of post-match promos hyping up the big event. Dr. Diobolico did try to attack Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner during their match. The Latin Connection (Mando Guerrero & Ricky Santana) joined Schiavone and Ross during the Lightening Express match vs Steve Stone and Rocky Jones. They seemed upset at the quality of their opponents and thought that WCW was making it easy for them going into their U.S. Title match at Clash of Champions. To try and give the Express some work, they sent in the muscular Dr. Diobolico for a sneak attack on the Express but they seemed ready for him. It was lucky they were as Guerrero and Santana were right behind him. This would have turned into a nasty 3-2 attack if Dr. Diobolico had any success. Instead, Dr. Diobolico was left licking his wounds and the Lightening Express daring the Latin Connection to enter the ring. A dare they turned down! We also saw an out and out brawl in the main event as it was Dick Murdoch taking on Samu. This lasted about 2 minutes before Stan Hansen and Fatu hit the ring. These 4 monsters brawled all over the outside of the ring as Schiavone and Ross wondered if anybody was going to be able to control these 4 at Clash of Champions. The Dirty White Boys continue their winning streak this week. In their post-match interview they hoped that the Lightening Express would win the U.S. Titles at Clash of Champions so they could get to birds with one stone as they are set on taking out Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner and win the titles at the same time. Don Muraco also continued his winning streak and again he made sure that Schiavone and Ross addressed him as the “The Magnificent One.” Both announcers made sure to listen as they did not want a repeat of last week when Muraco almost attacked them. On to Clash of Champions!

I really enjoyed the TV show this week and think the highlight for me took place at the interview area. Morrow putting Larry Z. in his place was great and then he came back out to allow Sarge to pick his partner. This stipulations just draws the fans in and we now have Must-See-TV. Also really enjoyed the interview with Adias. To me, Adias is a mid-card guy who you have built up perfectly. His arrogance in his promo today reminds me of what you have done with Greg Gagne. Gagne and Adias, in my opinion, lacked charisma but you have given them that and more. Great job. Also, the Greg Gagne, money in the envelop segment, was great. Can't wait for the rematch! Great job with the card at Bloomington. I find it hard to write events so close to a big show and you really have that coming in SuperClash. You found a great way to make that event important while not giving too much away and also not just hyping up all the big matches coming up next week.

To me, Survivor Series is a pay-per-view used to simply set up future pay-per views and you did this perfectly. Muta comes out as a dominant force! The two best tag teams in the WWF are left standing tall. Warrior and Andre get the win. But the big one.... Hogan vs Savage is coming again.

Your biggest show of the year really paid off. It was an awesome read! Thanks for all the hard work setting up such a great card. I liked the creativity of some of your stipulations and finishes as they made each match have such an important feel. For me, Al Perez vs Sawyer with the stipulation of who can use the finisher made this match and feud seem bigger then a normal mid-card event. Love Fuller with the hammer and ringing the bell in the 6 man title match. Really glad Wahoo came out on top. I think he was the true star in this feud and now you can keep using him. Also liked the Road Warriors going over Ole and Race. The Road Warriors might be the greatest tag team of the era while Ole and Race might be past their prime. Good choice Finally, someone put DeBeers in his place. You did an awesome job building such a hated heel! Garvin over Tully! Looking forward to this new reign.

WOW... Starrcade looks awesome. Can't wait for DeBeers vs JYD

Great poster. I wish I could do things like that. Perfect way to set up Survivor Series. Really Creative!!

WCW adds Rip Rogers, Jimmy Valiant, The Snowman, Ray Candy, Kendall Windham, Sam Houston, and Curtis Hughes to the trade block.

WCW releases Bull Nakano back to Japan as she was one of my foreign exemptions. I also release Wendy Richter.

Thanks for the info. Very interesting stuff.