Autistic Dragon

I know he's the same guy who becomes Raven but Scott Flamingo taking temporary head of the Dangerous Alliance is still weird to think about. Speaking of the Alliance, Paul E wastes no time ditching Zbyszko for his screw-up. So the Hammer is scouting the younger talent. The question is.....why?

One thing that stood out to me while reading this is that most of the luchadors AAA uses aren't under contract or as the article puts it, they work "verbal deals". I;m no businessman but that seems like it could complicate matters.

The Crockett Cup is shaping up great. Hart/Steamboat v Rude/Austin alone alone would be worth tuning into the Clash.

Originally airing 5/21/90 on HBO. *Unless stated otherwise matches were taped at the Beeghly Physical Education Center in Youngstown Ohio* Heenan & Monsson welcome the fans hyping both the events of SNME as well as the start of the King of the Rong tournament with Jake Roberts taking on Tugboat and in tonight's feature match, the much anticipated face-off between Tito Santana and The Berzerker. Match #1 "Big Cat" Curtis Hughes w/"The Doctor of Style" Slick defeats A;ex "The Pug" Pourtou with "Cat-atonic" Match #2 Big News Brown defeats The Comet Kid with the "Ghetto Blaster" WWF Event Center: Capt Lou & The Killer Bees put over Badd Company and say they're ready to endure any amount of Pain to become WWF Tag Team Champions. Dr Tom even Bravo's freakish strength won't be enough to keep him from praying the WWF Intercontinental Championship from his grasp. Match #3 (RAW) The Fabulous Rougeaou Brothers (Jaqcues & Raymond) w/"Le Commandant" Frenchy Martin defeats Ken Johnson & Randy Neverman with the "Quebec Crunch" on Johnson. Split screen promo sees the Rougeaou's say that on the Free for All before King of the Ring will see an open challenge for the "WWF Canadian Tag Team Championships" Match #4 King of the Ring first round match. Jake "The Snake" Roberts defeats Tugboat after avoiding the "Capsize" and hit the DDT as Tugboat tried to get up. Mean Gene is in the Event Center and formally announces that reigning King of the Ring Haku will challenge The Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Championship on June 16th at Wembley Arena in London England. He also hypes the announcement that Elton John will be there to sing "Go Save the Queen." Match #5 Billy Jack Haynes defeats "Bad Man" Brady Boone with the Full Nelson. Match #6 "Russian Giant" Nikolai Volkoff w/Boris Zhukov defeats Vic Steamboat with a lifting back breaker. Feature Match. King of the Ring first round match. Tito Santana defeats The Berzerker w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Berzerker tried for his usual countout victory but Santana pulled himself back onto the apron and even the top rope. Heenan frantically signals Berzerker to turn around and he does just in time to catch a crossbody from Santana which barely keeps the struggling brute down for 3.

Ole brings in the big guns in Kaz & Cairo but they can't match the Harris bros teamwork. Can't blame Ron for being confident having hired big Rip Morgan. Things are getting spicy between Champion & Gilbert. Simpson looks good but his arrival is spoiled by a jealous Jimmy Jack. Vampire Warrior gets serious credibility being paired with Kabuki. Titan and Callis meet next week in a battle of brain vs brawn. The Bullet survives again but Fuller jumps him after the bell. Thankfully Scott is there to fight for his father.

It returns! Classic Cactus Jack performance in the opener, goes down in defeat but looks tough as hell doing so. I'm not familiar with El Samurai but it sounds like he & Pillman had a barnburner. I presume when you say Page "hits [Hyatt] Grossly" you mean he hit ON her and not actually hit her? Either way the Express teach his boys some manners. Scorpio gets a nice rub beating the legend Valentine. Paul E talks big but costs his client. Love the ending to Hart/Fujinami, great call forward. With the Steiner's going down, who can take the tag straps off Race's monsters? Smart call not messing with the main event.

Steamboat certainly lived up to his promise to keep an eye on Paul E's affairs. He's gonna have to deal with the consequences now though. Hart was quite active in the midcard, loaning out OMG to Tully an d picking up Zeus from Sherri. Another crowning moment for the Rockers. Hall fulfills Ventura's prophecy and captures the TV title. Nikit'a grip on the US title is iron tight.

LA pt 1. Everything's gnarly for the Sons so far. Jett got bucked by the Italian Stallion. Iron & Steel are on a collision course with the MVC. Lee bulldozes the Glamour Boy in route to Windham. Sarge begins making his way through the Collective. Piper's love of messing with Rose proves his undoing. Pt 2. Awesome mauls Hamrick. Busick bully's Black. The Hexagon's poor luck continues. Who is the robed woman? WIndham wins a classic with Tenryu. Dibiase puts down the Patriot. Santa Barbera. Tough loop for the Dreamboats. Martel ensures the Hexagon's tough luck continues. Regal gives Hayes something to smile about. Severn & Blackman are turning things around. The Thrillseekers have some work to do to get on the Midnight's level. Condrey pulls it out with seconds to spare.

Airing Live May 17, 1990 on NBC. From the Centrum in Worcester Massachustts. *The Genius stands in front of a WWF logo* Genius: The unwashed masses, they do cheer as Silver King flies through the air...and even I can acknowledge he does so with great flair....but what he has in style, it is substance that he lacks.....and so dear friends, this lucha train shall be halted in its tracks...for while you may be the greatest flyer in the land....there;s no outsmarting The Genius Lanny Poffo, the world's smartest man! *Cut to Dusty & Dustin* Dusty: The Dream is alive and well and tonight, live on NBC The Rhodes' men are gonna shall all of Americana that the future of pro rasslin is as bright as a sunny summer day in Texas, ain't that right son? Dustin: It absolutely is dad. Texas Outlaws you've been allowed to run rough shot for too long and tonight the Rhodes' clan brings you to some ling overdue justice. *Cut to Brutus Beefcake* Brutus: Haku, tonight you walk into the Barbershop a King but you'll be thrown out the door a pauper while cut & strut my way to King of the Ring and the WWF Championship HAHAHA. *Cut to Slick & Badd Company* Slick. Capt Lou you may have the whole WWF fooled into thinking you got pair of Killa Bees but tonight they's gonna get swatted like flies by the Badd-est team in all da World Wrestling Federation. It's gonna be as easy as 1...2...3 with the B-A-double D Comp-o-ne baby! Ehheheheh. WWF Intercontinental Championship #1 contender's battle royal. Participants: Bad News Brown, Billy Jack Haynes, Bob Holly, Bob Orton Jr, Battle Kat, Curtis Hughes, Hillbilly Jim, Hiro Hase, The Iron Sheik, Jimmy Valiant, Koko B Ware, Mark Starr, Nailz. Ranger Ross, The Berzerker, The Tonga Kid, Tito Santana, Tom Prichard ,Tugboat & Vader Order of elimination. Battle Kat by Vader Mark Starr by Vader Bob Holly tried to buddy up to Vader and offered him a handshake and Vader actually accepted it. Holly looked over the moon but then started writhing like Vader was crushing his hand. Vader pulled Holly into a short arm clothesline before scooping him up and dumping him out. Vader by about 8 or 9 guys. Iron Sheik by Tugboat. Koko B Ware by Billy Jack Haynes Tugboat by Nailz & Hughes Ranger Ross by Nailz & Hughes Jimmy Valiant by Bad News Brown Tonga Kid by Nailz & Hughes Curtis Hughes by Bad News Brown Nailz got in Brown's face and a heated exchange broke out allowing Hillbilly Jim to eliminate them both. Hiro Hase by Bob Orton Jr Hillbilly Jim by Tom Prichard Tito Santanna eliminated The Berzerker as well as himself with a running crossbody that sent them both over the top rope. Billy Jack Haynes by Bob Orton Jr Bob Orton Jr by Tom Prichard Winner: Tom Prichard *Mean Gene is in the Texas Outlaws locker room and says he's with the pair who will take on the Rhodes' tonight. Terry Funk & Dick Murdoch step into frame. Funk says he always knew Dusty Rhodes was a "knobby knee'd yella bellied dog" but even he can't believe that his rival is "such a stinkin' coward he needs to bring his bleached blonde bastard" to fight his battles for him. Says tonight he and Captain Redneck are gonna do the whole of humanity a favor and remove the Rhodes' from the gene pool* The Genius defeats Silver King with his feet on the ropes. *We're told we have a special King of the Ring announcement which takes us to a video by ELTON JOHN. The British rock star says that on June 16th the UK will welcome the WWF to Wembley Arena and he will be there to kick off this massive event with his singing "God Save the Queen"* The Texas Outlaws (Terry Funk & Dick Murdoch) defeat Dusty & Dustin Rhodes when Dustin gets a little too carried away and eats a shot from Funk's branding iron. *Mean Gene is in the Heenan Family's locker room and Heenan is hyping Haku to high heavens saying that after he deals with that "hair obsessed ham n egg'er" he's gonna head to London and sacrifice Warrior to his own Gods to bring the WWF Championship back where it belongs, to the Family. Of note during this promo is that Rick Rude is present and while he doesn't say anything he seems somewhat preturbed by the praise Heenan heaps on Haku* King's Court Match. Haku(k) w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan defeats Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake. Beefcake caught Haku with "A little off the top" but as the ref was counting Heenan sent the Powers of Pain (who were in the Court at ringside) to break it up. This started a kerfuffle with all the wrestlers at ringside and in all the chaos, Haku regrouped and caught Beefcake in the "Tongan Death Grip". As Haku is standing triumphantly in the ring, Ultimate Warrior runs down to the ring and he & Haku have a tense staredown. Mean Gene gives the rundown of the bracket of the King of the Ring tournament. The first round will take place on television while the quarterfinal, semifinals & final will take place on the PPV. Tito Santana vs The Berzerker Jake Roberts vs Tugboat Billy Jack Haynes vs Nikolai Volkoff Bad News Brown vs Curtis Hushes Vader vs Jimmy Valiant Jim Duggan vs Back Bart Kevin Von Erich vs Kokina Andre the Giant vs Nailz Main Event. WWF Tag Team Championship #1 contenders 2/3 falls match. 1st fall. Badd Company win when Tanaka dropped down during a sunset flip attempt by Brunzell and grabbing Slick's hand for leverage. 2nd fall: Killer Bees win after Blair rolls through a crossbody attempt by Diamond. 3rd fall: Killer Bees wind with "The Stinger" on Tanaka. The Killer Bees are going to London!

Mecca. Hangman claims another poor soul. Dave's power proves a problem but Thornton give Smith the edge. Back to back tag matches bring equally inconclusive results. Burke gets the flash win but Golden is a poor loser. Olympians get the win with their lucky towel. Sawyer keeps putting Jack down but the crazy bastard won't stay down. Blaze just wasn't ready to face Jumbo & Bundy. Title Night. Kaluha takes it to a draw but Sammartino has the last word. The Mavericks retain thanks to a run in by Latin Desire. R.I.P Las Vegas Leg Lock. Debeers takes out Colon allowing Taylor to escape with the International title. Gotta admit Good Vibrations had me going for a bit there but the RnR World Tag Title Tour continues. Given the circumstances, a Flair turn was always in the works an he makes it a good one as he comes together with the Enforcers to lay out Hogan and the RnR while they're at it.

Ya know, sometimes when i'm reading Lawler I find myself questioning if he knows he's supposed to be a face. Still I like his idea for the six man tag in Chattanooga. Speaking of, a night of tag team action is a good gimmick for a smaller house show.

I always like these behind the scenes style posts. Good way to generate hype considering the gap between shows.

Originally airing 5/14/90 on HBO. *Unless stated otherwise matches were taped at the Hara Arena in Trotwood Ohio* Match #1 (Wrestling Challenge) Nailz w/"The Doctor of Style" Slick defeats "The Boy from New York City" Jimmy Valiant w/"The Guiding Light" Capt Lou Albano with "The good, the bad & the ugly". WWF Special Report: It's announced that the first round bracket for King of the RIng has been finalized and will be reviewed this Saturday on SNME. Match #2 (Wrestling Challenge) The Genius defeats Battle Kat with the Honor Roll. Split screen promo has Genius say he knows how poor the Mexican school system is and looks forward to giving Silver King the first real education of his life. Match #3 The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers) defeat The Comet Kid & Kenny Johnson with the "Rocket Launcher" on Johnson. The Event Center is full of short promos of participants in the #1 contender's battle royal at SNME. Match #4 Billy Jack Haynes defeats Mark Ming with the Full Nelson. Match #5 (RAW) "Russian Giant" Nikolai Volkoff w/Boris Zhukov defeats Jim Monti with a lifting back breaker. Mean Gene gives the final rundown of Saturday Noght Main Event airing THIS Saturday on NBC. WWF Intercontinental Championship #1 contender's battle royal. Participants: Bad News Brown, Billy Jack Haynes, Bob Holly, Bob Orton Jr, Battle Kat, Curtis Hughes, Hillbilly Jim, Hiro Hase, The Iron Sheik, Jimmy Valiant, Koko B Ware, Mark Starr Nailz. Ranger Ross, The Berzerker, The Tonga Kid, Tito Santana, Tom Prichard ,Tugboat & Vader Silver King vs The Genius "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes & "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes vs 2 Texas Outlaws. Kings Court Match. Haku(k) w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan vs Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake Main Event. WWF Tag Team Championship #1 contenders 2/3 falls match. The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair & Jim Brunzell) w/"The Guiding Light" Capt Lou Albano vs Badd Company (Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond) w/"The Doctor of Style" Slick Plus the first round bracket of the King of the Ring tournament and a special announcement of the PPV's opening act. Feature Match. Jake "The Snake" Roberts defeats Ranger Ross with the DDT.

Welcome to the game. Gordon Solie on commentary adds instant credibility. Armstrong + Fuller = money in East Tennessee. Funk makes a good first flunky. Bad Crew with their first showing in the game. Ole is a solid choice to lead a "back to basics" promotion. I agree with Spaldoni, Champion & Gilbert could be fun. Not familiar with Sato but he impresses in his debut. Vampire Warrior brings the creep factor. Al-Kassie unleashes a pair of monsters on SMW. Great ending as The Harris bros lay out the tag champs and Precious Paul bows up to Ole.

The youngest Von Erich gets Hammered. We're actually getting a HTM face turn. The Grapplers with that ol' twin magic. Hot stuff melts Iceman. The Southern Boys took that walk down Bad Street and came back with the Southern tag titles. It was a good strategy by Dutch but the ref was a little too sharp. Also Angel of Death does make a sensible bodyguard. The First Family tried to set up double J but Armstrong & Keirn are on the case. Kerry had to fight from underneath but he held onto the UWF title. Bring on the Macho Man. Long inadvertently Dooms his men's quest for gold. Slater is out of the running but there's still three men in the game. I think Lawler is having fun.

Oakland. The Sons are having a bodacious time. Martel showing the Quebecois solidarity. Camp Cornette breaks even for the night. The robed woman proves her worth by scaring off the Ministry. Piper & Hart strike a major blow against the Club. San Francisco. The Ministry's bad week continues as Rob Z falls to Bigelow and Eddies fails to regain the Submission title. The Monster continues his rampage. Tatum does not match his associates success. A pair of successful defenses make the Collective's dominance clear. Fresno. Jett burn Del Rey. Kawada is firing on all cylinders. Iron & Steel/Harlem Heat still can't settle anything. Sabu finally gives SinMin something to be happy about. R.I.P you mad bastard. Patriot fairs better than his partner earlier in the week. The Lover B oy ends Camp Cornette's loop on a high note. Seattle is stacked twice over.

The RnR's have to keep one eye on Good Vibrations and another on The Enforcers. The Warriors will make a tough welcome for the Can-Am. Neil seems to have selected the Hangman's next victim. Storm decides it's time to take drastic action in his feud with Disalvo. Debbers announces that The Commission have been discharged before setting his sights on Colon. Kahlua is fired up and ready for gold. The Mavericks have found themselves in an interesting three-way feud. Idol is convinced he's got things all locked up. Gagne & Bundy lay a serious beating on Canek. A recap of Hogan/Hansen gets us ready for the big cage match at Title Night.

Great fake-out by JJ using the arrival of a major star like Ricky Steamboat to cover for the arrival of El Gigante. Gary Hart looks to have his monsters make an impact on the Tag Title match at Capital Combat. Next week's tag match makes for a great opportunity for Tatanka to get back in the US title picture. Luger finds some quality backup against the Dangerous Alliance. I'm sure Ventura was excited hearing the Diamond Stud is getting a TV title shot.

Originally airing 5/7/90 on HBO. *Unless stated otherwise matches were taped at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland Maine* (RAW) Jake "The Snake" Roberts defeats Vic Steamboat with the DDT. Split screen promo has Roberts waxing poetic on how while everyone is attracted to gold's shine it's not actually useful for match besides looking pretty. The same he goes for the Golden Warrior from Texas who'll get his shine knocked off him if he isn't careful Koko B. Ware defeats Randy Neverman with the "Ghostbuster". (Wrestling Challenge) Terry Funk defeats Mario Mancini with the Spinning Toehold. Split screen promo has Funk tell Dusty to get his little pup under control or watch him get torn apart by the wolves. Sean Mooney with some promos. Brutus Beefcake says he'll end Haku's reign of terror and give the WWF a king with some style. The Genius uses a lot of big words that translate to him challenging Silver King to a match at SNME. The Samoan Headhunters (Alofa & Kokina) w/"The Devious" Mr Fuji defeats Alex "The Pug" Porteau & Mark Starr when Alofa plants Starr with a Samoan drop and tags in Kokina for the second rope sit-down splash. SNME Update: A #1 contender battle royal will be held with the winner challenging Dino Bravo for the IC title at King of the Ring. The Berzerker w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan defeats Jim Gorman by count-out after knocking him out cold then tossing him over the top rope. Split screen promo sees Tito Santana tell Berzerker that if he's looking for a "true warrior" to face him, Santana will gladly volunteer. (Wrestling Challenge) Bad News Brown defeats "Bad Man" Brady Boone with the 'Ghetto Blaster" Feature Match. Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka & "The 8th Wonder of the World" Andre the Giant defeat Black Diamond Enterprises ("Big Cat" Curtis Hughes & Nailz) w/"The Doctor of Style" Slick when Snuka pinned Hughes with the "Superfly splash" off Andre's shoulders.

Man Neidhart sure know how to hold a grudge. Two years and not only is he still chasing Lawyer, he's willing to beat up Double J just cause he can't get to Lawler. Speaking of the King, he came up with a good way to sidestep picking a challenger. Mantell has a new heavy who may have taken care of Gaylord, freeing Dirty Dutch up to take on the Tri State champ. Tommy Rich's return means it's about to get hot in Memphis.

Portland night 1. Martel shows the West Coast he hasn't lost a step. Rose tries to buddy up to the Sons of the Beach but they shut it down fast. The British Lion roars back. Kawada is on the warpath. Young does the TC proud. The Hexagon just can not figure out Busick & Douglas. Sadly the Citadel's success comes to a halt against the MVC. Night 2. Vito grounds Jett. Hashimoto gets the win but the attention goes to his new associate. The MT seem to have the Midnight's number. Back to back successful title defenses. Sarge survives the six man scramble and now has the Man of Means in his sights. Eugene. Coast 2 Coast continue to haunt the Dreamboats. Bigelow might just be unstoppable. Harlem Heat show they can hang with I&S. Whoever that robed woman is, she's got two capable clients. C2C get much deserved karma. Barr gives the Hexagon something to hang their hat on. PCW breaks out the cage for their return to Seattle!

The World title is held up and Muta & Luger will meet again at Capital COmbat to decide who is the undisputed champion. Anyone looking to take out Sting now has 10k more reasons. Sherri may be having some tension between her Skyscrapers. JJ has found his man to shut Tully up. Sullivan has made a serious difference for Rotundo.

Colon is ready to pluck a rooster. The Jive Tones find a winning tune. Muraco & Graham aren't backing down from Jumbo & Stevens. Don King is coming to WrestleRock. That;s the kinda thing that can happen only in America. The Soul Patrol stand for Brandi. Flair raises the stakes, it's his title shot vs the Figure Four/Las Vegas Leglock. Thornton & Link is not a pair I would have expected. The Swords of Light return from their West Coast vacation. Sammartino tunes up for Title Night. Golden & Sawyer win a crazy tag match. Hogan delivers a fiery response to close the show.

Originally airing on 4/30/90 on HBO. *Unless stated otherwise matches were taped at the Coliseum in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada* Match #1 (RAW) Tugboat defeats Joe Champ with the "Capsize" *We see highlights of the double header in Boston & Philadelphia* Match #2 "Big Cat" Curtis Hughes w/"The Doctor of Style" Slick defeats Mitch Ryder with "Cat-atonic" (Sit out Powerbomb) Match #3 The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (Jacques & Raymond) w/"Le Commandant" Frenchy Martin defeat Sonny Blaze & Mark Frear with the "Quebec Crunch" on Frear. Interestingly The Rougeau's carried to Canadian themed title belts to the ring and insisted the match was a defense of the "WWF Cnandian Tag Team Championship". WWF Event Center: Due to their highly acclaimed rivalry which has been lighting up the tag ranks, it's announced that the Killer Bees & Badd Company will face off at SNME in a 2/3 falls match where the winners will challenge for the WWF Tag Team Championship at King of the Ring. Match #4 (RAW) Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake defeats Mike Williams with a running high knee which commentary dubs "A little off the top". Speaking of which, Beefcake pulls out a pair of scissors and begins cutting Williams hair and throwing it out to the crowd. An odd ritual perhaps but the crowd responds well to it. Back in the studio, Heenan tells Monsoon that Beefcake may be content to take a little off the top but at SNME Haku will take his whole head! Match #5 (Wrestling Challenge) Non title. WWF Intercontinental Champion "World's Strongest Man" Dino Bravo w/"Le Commandant" Frenchy Martin defeats Mario Mancini with a running Powerslam. *We see footage of the bg pull-aprt between the Texas Outlaws/The Rhodes & Duggan. We also see comments from both camps. The Outlaws say it ain't over til they've "run all those mangy dogs outta the World Wrestlnig Federation". A fired up Dustin throws down the challenge for any two Outlaws to meet him and his father at SNME. Dusty gets his some to calm down but says if any Outlaws do show up in Worcester, they'll get a whippin' they'll never forget!* Match #6 Dr Tom Prichard defeats Jim Long with a running Bulldog. Feature Match (RAW) "The Mastodon" Vader w/"The Devious" Mr Fuji defeats Bushwhacker Luke w/Butch with the "Vader Bomb". Butch gets into the ring to check on his "brother" and Vader plants him with a Powerbomb.

Jarrett opens the show by announcing the big Mwmorial Day show with two title unification matches. Lawler gets a chance every champ wishes for, to pick his challenger. The Southern Boys are looking to put themselves in the title picture before Memorial day. Jimmy Hart is tired of being overlooked and puts everyone on notice. The Pitbulls can't match Landel's success leading to some restructuring by Akbar. Kerry with a straightforward plan for the new USWA. Gaylord is getting tired waiting for his money. Double J's situation goes from bad to worse as Neidhart arrives on the scene.