[1990-08-18-NWA-World Championship Wrestling] Midnight Express vs Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

As always, really good match between these two teams. Bobby Eaton is just fantastic in 1990. he takes some ridiculous bumps on the arena floor and I love the backbreaker combo he does. They really get the crowd hot too, working over Pillman's neck, with Cornette taking shots at his throat with the racket. The finish is weird with Sid running in to attack everyone. Sid was doing this weird feud thing with Bobby Eaton at this point that has sort of been forgotten about, with both staying heels. Really good before the finish. Ole's booking has been pretty bad.

[PeteF3]

Wow, I thought this was almost complete dogshit. "Almost" only because of a few awesome Pillman dropkicks (none delivered the same way) and Eaton's way-cool backbreakers. Lane and Zenk were complete millstones here. Lane was only interested in stalling (not in a very interesting way) and blowing spots, and Zenk was Zenk. Absolutely hated all the spots of the MX selling for Pee Wee Anderson, too. This picks up a bit and just as I'm about to forgive everything we get this nonsensical Sid run-in and I have no clue what the fuck any of this is supposed to be about. Single biggest disappointment of the set and maybe my least favorite MX match that I've seen.

[shoe]

The 1st five minutes or so this feels like we are going no where. Then Eaton kicks it into high gear and just takes some insane bumps. He's taking so many insane bumps that he starts teasing taking even more insane bumps and you are waiting for him to take one. The finish didn't bother me too much because I was expecting a tennis racket for the DQ anyways. Eaton with some help from Pillman saved this.

[soup23]

Not a bad match per say but probably the worst MX we have seen on the yearbook. The story of the match kind of meanders around too much and only Eaton seemed to be extremely motivated with doing his thing even with Pillman having an off night. The finish was also stupid as shit and got Sid face heat going against their top face.

[Kevin Ridge]

Pillman has been absent a few months. Thought he had a nice start to 1990. Pillman dropkicks Eaton who was up on the top rope. Pillman then hits a running dropkick off the apron to Eaton on the floor. Cornette nails Pillman in the throat with the tennis racket. Are they going back to this storyline? Sid? He attacks everyone. Don’t know what that’s all about.

[garretta]

I thought Pillman was great here with his dropkick variations, as well as Eaton with his backbreakers.

 

This was the match we should have gotten after Capital Combat, minus the Sid run-in. Not that it was a better match than the ones we saw between these teams in February, but at least the feud wouldn't have been left hanging like it was. Corny doesn't even acknowledge the past history between the two teams in his pre-match promo, though Pillman and Zenk do.

 

In an oddity, Ole's retconned the finish of the Capital Combat match to make it seem like Corny directly interfered and cost Pillman and Zenk the U.S. tag titles, which, as we know from earlier in the set, wasn't true at all. What does it say about Ole as a booker that Vince cares more about continuity than he does? Vince builds the entire Warrior/Rude rehash around Rude's tainted victory over Warrior at Mania V, which took place sixteen months ago, while Ole throws out what happened earlier this year completely. I'm beginning to wonder how he got his reputation as a good booker. I suspect that he may have given it to himself for the most part.

 

I had no problem with Corny backing down from Pee Wee. First of all, they were trying to put Pee Wee over as being tougher on rule enforcement after Hansen nearly killed him, and second of all, name me a referee in the NWA/WCW that Corny hasn't backed down from. That's a signature MX spot by now, and it doesn't really harm anyone.

 

I didn't hear Sid get a pop for brawling with Eaton. I would think that the MX would have been faces against Sid if Ole had chosen to continue with the angle, and I kind of wish he would have. As I said in an earlier thread, Arn or Barry would have made a great partner for Sid against either the MX or Pillman/Zenk. Arn would have been more likely, as Barry was due for a pay-per-view match with Sting at Halloween Havoc.

[drew wardlaw]

Good match as usual, and I thought specifically The Z Man looked pretty good. He showed good fire, which is hard for him. I'd say it's a step down from the best MX matches so far, but it's still good, and I actually liked the finish with Sid fighting everyone, regardless of alignment.

[dawho5]

Anyone think the finish had something to do with the clear lack of motivation being shown? I mean, they still did enough, but Pillman and Lane are capable of so much more. Eaton, as usual, stands out. Such a great year in 1990.