[1990-09-23-NWA-Main Event] Arn Anderson vs Scott Steiner (Running the Gauntlet)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This is the best wrestling match of the three, as Arn plays to Scott's strengths, giving him some stuff on the mat and bumping big for his power moves. Arn ends up pinning Steiner using the ropes, but Randy Anderson comes out and restarts the match. Flair pulls the referee out of the ring and Scott wins by DQ. They are doubleteaming Scott until Rick makes the save. So Scott can pin Flair, but can only beat Arn by DQ. That makes tons of sense.

[PeteF3]

The thing was backwards from the second match on. De-push or not, getting the "random draw" part over or not, shouldn't Flair be the climax of the Gauntlet and not in the middle? You could even keep the same booking if you felt you had to--a DQ victory over Arn would just make Scott look like a bigger underdog going into the final match.

 

Okay, okay, let's evaluate this as a match. Arn doesn't have the elite physical skills of Bobby Eaton to be matching Steiner big move for big move, so he tones it down with more matwork and shtick, building up to "safer" moves like a backbreaker on the floor that still get the point across. Plus a cute spot where Arn tries to "bring Steiner in the hard way" which Scott counters by simply letting go of the ropes. Arn counters a sunset flip by grabbing the ropes and gets a pinfall, but this is far more important than any title match apparently so Randy Anderson gets the match re-started. About three seconds later Flair yanks Nick Patrick out of the ring and it's a DQ. Flair and Arn attempt a beatdown but before even any heat can be drawn, Rick is out and the Horsemen are off.

 

Well, try as I might, the booking can't be separated from the work. Scott gets to pin Ric Flair and then idiotically eats a pinfall himself the next night, regardless of whether it was overturned. The restart was rendered even more pointless by having the match end right afterward anyway. I would also posit that this match as booked was not part of the Gauntlet--the ring announcer doesn't mention it before or after the match, unlike in the first 2 matches. It simply became a Gauntlet match after the fact, which might explain the DQ finish but not excuse it.

[soup23]

Good match. I do love the guantlet concept even though the booking was kind of wonky. Missy was annoying on commentary but I guess to an extent thats the point. Arn worked a really good match feeding into the power of Scott and Scott had better punches in this match than normal.

[Kevin Ridge]

Missy on commentary which is overwhelming quickly. Arn gets the pinfall with help of the ropes. Another referee comes down so they restart the match. Ugh, hate that. Flair pulls referee out of the ring for the disqualification.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Gotta disagree with Loss, here. This match is not as good as the Eaton one in my opinion. The shine segment is the best of three matches as Anderson plays to Steiner's strengths during that better than anyone else did in this gauntlet. However, he was not able to construct as interesting of a heat segment as Eaton was. Though in fairness part of the problem was Steiner no-selling Anderson's King of the Mountain work. The finish was stupid and the booking was atrocious. This may have been salvageable if you swapped the position and finishes of the Flair and AA matches.

 

Pete, I am interested in why you think Eaton has more "elite physical skills" than "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson. AA is stockier and always seemed to me presented as the more rough and tumble customer than the high flying member of the Midnight Express. I grant you that Bobby has the big right hand that comes all the way from Sweet Home Alabama, but I think that Anderson is considered the more physical of the two. Both are tough and both love to show ass and stooge. So I am nitpicking a little, but it was an interesting comment.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Gotta disagree with Loss, here. This match is not as good as the Eaton one in my opinion. The shine segment is the best of three matches as Anderson plays to Steiner's strengths during that better than anyone else did in this gauntlet. However, he was not able to construct as interesting of a heat segment as Eaton was. Though in fairness part of the problem was Steiner no-selling Anderson's King of the Mountain work. The finish was stupid and the booking was atrocious. This may have been salvageable if you swapped the position and finishes of the Flair and AA matches.

 

Pete, I am interested in why you think Eaton has more "elite physical skills" than "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson. AA is stockier and always seemed to me presented as the more rough and tumble customer than the high flying member of the Midnight Express. I grant you that Bobby has the big right hand that comes all the way from Sweet Home Alabama, but I think that Anderson is considered the more physical of the two. Both are tough and both love to show ass and stooge. So I am nitpicking a little, but it was an interesting comment.

[PeteF3]

I meant "physical skills" meaning athleticism, because why use one word when you can use two. I suspect Eaton would be far more capable, not to mention willing, to take all of Scott's big bombs which require quite a lot from the recipient. Spinebuster notwithstanding, Eaton had more "cool" offense meaning he could match Scott bomb for bomb. To get all JR on us, Eaton and Scott are both Chip Kelly spread, high-scoring offenses. Arn is in fantastic shape but is all about Jim Tressel ball control, controlling the tempo and capitalizing on mistakes. He's a good bumper and seller but not good enough to be taking all of Scott's suplexes and powerbombs, and he's good on offense but not as impressive as Scott.

 

None of this is to say that Scott is a superior worker to Arn. Just talking about "stuff" that each guy can do.

[garretta]

This was a hard match for me to get into. First, Missy Hyatt on color took me right out of the moment. She was useless when Crockett tried her on color in '87 after he bought Watts out, and she's just as bad here. She gives absolutely no impression at all that she cares one fig about the match or its outcome, or is even too sure what's going on. Worse yet, JR feels compelled to play straight man for her after ignoring Heyman during the Eaton match; if that was his own decision, it flat-out stinks. When I think of how she could be an integral part of the whole Lawler/Gilbert feud in Memphis simply by doing what she's so good at (being a pot-stirring hussy) and yet chose to be misused like this, I just shake my head.

 

As for the match, this was much like the Flair match: an intriguing matchup done in by outside interference. Pete may be right in saying that this match wasn't supposed to be part of the gauntlet, but it was presented as part of the gauntlet for a reason. What I can't figure out is what that reason is. Was this supposed to lead to a Steiners/Horsemen tag feud in case the Doom angle fizzled or produced a reaction that Ole didn't like? It sure seemed that way to me, as the next logical step is surely a match for the U.S. belts.

 

Were they thinking about putting those belts on the Horsemen to elevate them a bit and make the Doom feud mean more? Or were they going the other way and trying to send Rick and/or Scott after Arn's TV title? Nothing came of either scenario, so we end up with a whole bunch of nothing in particular, and not a particularly well-booked bunch either. (Assuming that this was simply supposed to be a random non-title bout that was added to the gauntlet after the fact, restarting the bout after Arn's pin seems a bit too much. There had to be another idea here that was scrapped.)

[drew wardlaw]

I wonder about the decision to have Scott Steiner win the gauntlet the first time they did it. I can see it as a way to kind of put a bit of shine on the concept itself, but it seems like it's something that could be saved for a pretty big moment. Like you've got to tune in to see if this weekend will finally be the time someone wins the gauntlet. One the other hand, it makes it feel a bit more unpredictable, like really anyone could win it. I'd be curious to look at all gauntlet runners and see how many people actually won it at the end.

[dawho5]

I suppose one thing you have to expect when you put marquee singles matches on the TV shows like this, finishes will be wonky. Especially given we are one year removed from the 80s. Good match on the level of the Eaton match. I like that you can look at Arn and Eaton in this series and really get a picture of how they worked.