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[1990-01-06-NWA-Power Hour] Arn Anderson vs Great Muta


Loss

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  • 3 weeks later...

Funny to hear Ross and Cornette bury Gary Hart for his poor strategy leading to Muta's losing streak at Starrcade '89. We also get some Jim Ross racism, openly asking if there are any nice looking Oriental guys. That said, Muta drops the TV title to Arn in a good match with an especially hot final few minutes. Arn was really over as a babyface with this crowd. Muta is on the way out, but shows sparks of what made his '89 run so memorable, especially in his kicks. Seeing Arn get this reaction, and seeing the chemistry between Arn and Sawyer in the post-match interview, just reiterates my view that the timing was horrible in turning the Horsemen at the Clash.

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Not an all-time classic but it's everything you'd want out of Arn vs. Muta at their peaks. Especially loved Muta busting out the not-yet-a-cattle-mutilation and Arn powering out of it.

 

The failure to land Tully Blanchard is really what cocked everything up for 1990 and onward. My dream scenario would have been rival Horsemen gangs, with Flair, Arn, and Sting on one side and Tully having his own side. That could have prevented the babyfaces from being too dominant of a force while adding a new dimension to what was growing into a tired premise.

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Ross refers to Muta as "Oriental Guy" and whether there are "any good looking Orientals". Wait, is this part of the Jim Ross drink a shot game? I feel out of place with this yearbook so far because the 90's sets were around each other but just forgetting all about the 80's and that Arn had just recently left WWF. The crowd seem happy have him back as their are solidly behind him. Muta with the Cattle Mutilation! Arn wins the TV title in a good match. No Horsemen got involved to back him up which was kind of surprising.

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Very fun tv match with Muta showing some mystique and working great kicks into his offense. Buzz Sawyer was also entertaining at ringside and offers a challenge to Arn and his newly won title. This was probably around the time I started watching Power Hour as a kid after Bonanza but I don't have any memories right off hand until 1991. It will be interesting as we go along to see if something pops up that I can vaguely remember.

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Really fun match with a hot finishing sequence. Have to say, it feels like Horsemen vs J-Tex is a bit long in the tooth at this point - Flair retired Funk two months prior, Gary Hart isn't around anymore, Muta put everybody over at the Ironman at Starrcade, and now he's dropping the TV belt. How did anybody think they would get anybody to care about a six man cage match the next month, I do not know, as the heels don't seem to have much credibility at this point.

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I actually think Arn is better in the early 90s than he was for most of the 80s. This incarnation of Arn, from now until his retirement pretty much is the best version of him in my view.

 

Great Muta is probably one of the most hot and cold workers ever, but he's on decent form here. Good but not great match. LOVE that spinebuster every time I see it though, and Arn's DDT.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Mutoh had a couple of ringboys, but fortunately their impact was small. They fought this one mainly straight up and it was a nice TV main event. The "Oriental Guy" had been working in the US for a while now and was as smooth as a native. An even paced match where they filled the time well and it had a good finish. I'd have definately liked it to go longer with more storyline as there was potential for better between these two.

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This was a blast.

And I thought I heard Ross say "Are there any good looking Orientals out here". Cause they went on to talk about how everyone out there was ugly, and used that as a bash at the WWF with the whole, "They're not here to pose!" I love Ross and Cornette as an announce team. Arn as a "No quit in me" babyface rules.

God, I love Buzz Sawyer.

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  • 2 months later...

This was really good. Better than I expected. There was lots of really good back-and-forth action. Arn Anderson challenged for Great Muta’s Television Championship. Dragon Master and Buzz Sawyer were in Muta’s corner. Cornette on commentary referred to Sawyer as being mentally ill. Anderson won the Television Championship. After the match, in an insane promo, Sawyer challenged Anderson. Buzz Sawyer truly was a Mad Dog.

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Decent enough tv main event but I didn't find it to be anything special. Ross calling Muta "the oriental man" was a bit bizarre to hear. Cornette mentioned on commentary how Sting wouldn't fit in with the Horsemen while Ross argued otherwise. Looks like Corny was right here.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Really interesting watching a face Arn here. I don't think he had GREAT babyface offense but Muta was on it seemed I thought Arn made him look great. Excellent false finish after Buzz hit the elbow with the ref distracted. I bought that as being it. Loved the knees up on the moonsault leading to a staggering Muta getting DDT and Arn winning the TV Title. Awesome finish.

 

The Dragon Master, slagged so unmercifully by Parv and Chad, does nothing to dispel the perception that he is horrid as the only thing he did was wave at Arn when Muta had him on the guardrail. Oh that and forget to break up the final pinfall for his partner.

 

Fun with the hot crowd and definitely cool to see.

 

Buzz Sawyer challenges Arn ONE WEEK FROM TODAY (and I peeked and it's on the set - yes!) with crazy high-pitched grunts. This backstory really makes the Clash match make more sense.

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  • 1 year later...

This was a World Championship Wrestling bout or Clash opener delivered on the C-show. How often can the WWF claim that at this time? Even the biggest matches on Superstars only got three or four minutes tops. Tremendously hard-hitting for its time and place, and Muta drops the TV title, as his run was almost done.

 

JR and Corny continue the burial of Gary Hart and proclaim Buzz Sawyer, of all people, as the new brains behind J-Tex, which shows you just how far they'd fallen. I'd like to know more about Corny losing $10,000 of Mama's hard earned money to the Dynamic Dudes. Next week's main event: Arn vs. Sawyer. Should be something else!

 

I forgot to mention Corny accurately forecasting Sting's troubles with the Horsemen. Just like in most relationships gone bad, the one getting screwed over is the last one to figure things out.

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  • 10 months later...

WCW was shown in the middle of the night on ITV in the UK, and our VCR was broken the week this aired so I had to stay up till god knows what time and sneak down stairs in the middle of the night to watch this with the sound down low and my face almost pressed up against the screen.

 

The match holds up for me, quarter of a century later.

 

Sad to see Muta on the way out as there was much more that could have been done with him. Which is sadly something that can be said about so many guys that WCW had over the years. Still he looks good here, although you can see why his knees are shot from how he lands on the moonsault.

 

Hot closing stretch with Arn looking like a world beater and being a crazy over babyface. Which as so many have pointed out shows how much mileage there was in keeping the Horsemen face.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I hadn't seen this match before. I'm interested in watching the gaps in Arn's early 90s singles matches throughout this and see where everything stacks up. Battle of the throat slashes here, Arn's is better. I get STOKED when the thumb goes across that neck. Looking forward to the Buzz Sawyer match, I really liked their interactions here.

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I've decided to start working my way through the NWA stuff and I'll just get this out of the way up front: as I've gotten older, Arn Anderson has more and more become my favorite wrestler. I can't imagine 6 year old me ever saying that, but I digress. I enjoyed this match. It's not the best I've seen by any means but I can say it was worth the 15 or so minutes I spent watching it and ultimately that's what counts.

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  • 2 months later...

Solid match with a nice babyface performance from Arn, but some odd decisions here. Muta wasn't at all interested in selling the arm that Arn was working on. Rising babyface Keiji Muto would've made a better dance partner here as he could've played the underdog role that the Great Muta just wasn't designed for. Given that, this should've been about 5-7 minutes shorter and at a quicker pace. Solid outing from Arn and the J-Tex crew along with a nice pop on the title change, but more what could've been than what was.

 

3 days into 2015 and I'm only a day behind on this wrestling 365 business. Raw & WK10 count in real time right?

 

**3/4

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  • 8 months later...
  • GSR changed the title to [1990-01-06-NWA-Power Hour] Arn Anderson vs Great Muta

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