[1991-08-17-WCW-Saturday Night] Lex Luger, Ron Simmons and Barry Windham

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Clip of Simmons calling out Luger. Luger finally comes out to confront him, but Mr. Hughes blindsides Simmons. Barry Windham makes the save and clears the ring. Jim Ross keeps saying Luger clearly "took advantage" of Simmons, which is some strange wording.

 

Later in the show, Windham is out to call Luger out yet again. Again, it's a trap. Luger works over Windham until Simmons makes the save with a chair. Windham and Simmons form a partnership since they have the same enemies. Again, heel Luger as champ could have gone somewhere, but this all just seems so half-assed in terms of the booking

 

This wraps up with Luger and Race cutting a promo for the Omni show. Good promo, but something is off in all of this. This is a company really hurting in the absence of Flair.

[PeteF3]

These angles aren't the most well-executed or heated ever, but at least Luger is getting something to focus on as World Champion. I'm not sold on Simmons as a World title contender just yet. With the Dangerous Alliance on the horizon I have to say I'm seeing some light at the end of the tunnel as far as the quality of the WCW product goes.

[Kevin Ridge]

Luger and company attacks Ron Simmons. I think they should have had Mr. Hughes holding up Simmons instead of Race. Harley is no longer a wrestler and Simmons should be strong enough to fight him off. Luger pulls the same act later on Windham only for Simmons to make the save. Simmons and Windham make an alliance.

[soup23]

I am still unsure whether watching this if the end game was to feed a challenger to Luger to look strong as champion or to build up Simmons. Who the hell knows with this crew currently. Windham playing a somewhat Larry Z in AWA role is interesting. I did like him bringing up the 88 turn. Race still can throw some potato shots even in 1991.

[garretta]

We finally get some heel work out of Luger, Race, and Hughes, as they Pearl Harbor both Simmons and Windham on the same show. They needed this about a month ago, but better late than never, I suppose. Hughes throws the first shot, as any good bodyguard should, and Harley gets his share of licks in as well. I know some people may have a problem with him getting so physically involved, but I'm not one of them. I hate the idea that managers who used to wrestle should forget how to be physical and act like cowards; as far as I'm concerned, Harley can attack as many of Luger's challengers as he wants to as long as he's willing to take what he dishes out in the end.

 

Does this mean he should be wrestling? No, he's too beat up for that, and they have Hughes to be Luger's partner in situations where one is needed. But I wouldn't mind seeing him stand up to guys like Simmons and Windham on occasion if the situation calls for it. Even though he's old, he's still Harley Race, and he shouldn't play the coward for anyone, period.

 

As for Simmons' challenge, I'd feel better if he was making it at a Clash or other televised event. I'm not opposed to WCW promoting the Omni shows on TBS, but they shouldn't act like these shows are major events where things may happen that can affect storylines in the future unless they're going to provide footage that everyone can see on TV. I know they used to do that in the past, but I wonder if they'll do it going forward. I don't see anything like that on our matchlists for upcoming discs. so I'm going to assume they didn't until I see differently. If people like me living in Pittsburgh aren't going to see Simmons' big challenge, why should we invest our energy in it?

 

It almost seems like they've got Barry in reserve as a challenger in case Simmons flops or proves he isn't ready. Personally, I'd have thought about using Pillman somewhere in the mix once the Yellow Dog stuff runs its course, but I can see why they'd want to use two guys closer to Luger's size. It'll be interesting to see which one is pushed harder in the end and what happens as a result.

[dawho5]

I was just happy that Luger was involved in something heelish. I mean, the guy did turn heel or so I'm supposed to believe. So him partaking in some actual heel shenanigans seems like a step in the right direction.