From: hekunze@watmsg.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 01/31 Message-ID: <1991Jan31.185805.12666@watmath.waterloo.edu> Date: 31 Jan 91 18:58:05 GMT Sender: daemon@watmath.waterloo.edu (0000-Admin(0000)) Organization: University of Waterloo Lines: 153 - The line-up for the "Clash of Champions: Dixie Dynamite" show changed a bit from what I had posted last week. Most noticeable by his absence was Michael Wall Street, although Alexandra York was present. It seems that Mike is having some contractual problems with the company, and that he may have already quit. On to what I remember about the matches, in no real order: - Lex Luger & Sting vs. Doom for the WCW World Heavyweight Tag Titles The match started out with some balanced exchanges & tests of strength, etc., but seemed to get into its heat building segment very quickly, with Luger getting worked over. Luger made the hot tag to Sting who came in to clean house on both Dooms, while Luger was tossed outside. While Sting is doing okay against the champs, Danny Spivey appears at ringside (in wrestling attire!?) and demolishes Luger. Meanwhile, Sting goes for a flying clothesline into one Doomer while he's leaning against the ropes; the Doomer ducks and the ref rules that Sting was thrown over the top. - Tom Zenk was awarded the title of WCW's sexiest wrestler by Missy Hyatt. - Tom Zenk vs. Bobby Eaton for the TV title. Can the sexiest wrestler in WCW lose? You guessed it. Good action and, at about the halfway point, Dusty Rhodes & Jim Ross started hinting that the referee was a rookie. Wouldn't you know that Tom Zenk gets Bobby in a backslide ("A Dusty Rhodes Back Slide" - Dusty) and gets a quick three, although Bobby clearly kicked out at two. The ending is reviewed by the commentators, who agree that Bobby was ripped off. It looks like they'll forget that Arn won the TV belt back in early January now that Dusty's in. - Terry Taylor vs. Ricky Morton These guys had agreed to have a scientific match, so we knew that this match would have to mark Taylor's heel turn. The match went well - really nice work, with Taylor coming up short more frequently. Partway in, Taylor started to show his frustration facially. We come back from a commercial, and the commentators tell us that Taylor has been much more aggressive during the break. Sure enough, Terry was working as a heel from that point on. In a pop-up interview window, Alexandra York announced that Terry Taylor had become the newest member of the York Foundation. In the ring, Ricky Morton goes for a drop kick on Taylor, while Taylor is leaning against the ropes. Taylor drops to the mat and Ricky's feet hit dead air, then the ropes, and his head hits the canvas. Taylor gets the quick three count. - Ranger Ross vs. El Cubano A lot of "Rah Rah America" type sentiment thrown around by the commentators and Ross in his cameo interview. Ross got the pin with a sunset flip over the top rope back into the ring. - Freebirds vs. Tommy Rich & Alan Iron Eagle Tommy started out against the Birds, but eventually started getting worked on. He made the luke-warm tag to Iron Eagle, who came in and actually kept control for a bit. This was the longest ring time, I've seen Iron Eagle get. He actually suplexed one of the Birds, before he got caught. Eagle did manage to make the tag to Rich, but the ref didn't see it, and while the ref was forcing Rich out, the Birds double-DDTed Eagle and got the pin. - Sid Vicious vs. Joey Maggs Squash. Vicious won with the power-bomb. Maggs was stretchered out, but Vicious knocked him off. In the post-match interview, we were reminded that "Sid Vicious rules the world." Now, if only he'd learn to work. - Brian Pillman vs. Buddy Lee Parker Basically a Pillman squash match. There was one spot where Pillman had thrown Parker out onto the ramp - the ramp was at the same height as the ring, running off a corner of the ring. Pillman climbed to the top rope and hit Parker with a clotheline or a cross body block (it was a little messy) while Parker was on the ramp. "Well, I ain't never, I ain't never, I ain't never. That's all I gots to say about that." - Dusty. Pillman took the match by pinfall. - Arn Anderson & Barry Windham vs. The Renegade Warriors Arn had some great facial expressions throughout the match. The match started out slow for the Horsemen, but eventually they took control on one of the Warriors. Barry nailed one Warrior with a superplex while the ref was pushing the other Warrior out of the ring and Arn made the cover for the pinfall. - Missy Hyatt vs. Paul E. Dangerously in an Arm Wrestling match. Paul E. came out and did some funny antics, posing and such. They had an arm wrestling table in the ring and were fairly well prepared for this match. Missy came out wearing spandex cycling shorts and a jacket. When she got in the ring, Paul E. was already in position at the table, yelling "Come on you dumb broad!" Missy asked him to wait a second while she took her jacket off. The jacket came off, Missy had a moderately-low cut swimsuit on, displaying her ample bosom rather well, and, while Paul E. stared at her chest, she grabbed his arm and pushed it down. Missy Hyatt was declared winner, while Paul E. screamed foul. "It's like something out of Twin Peaks." - Jim Ross. - Ric Flair vs. Scott Steiner for the WCW World title. Rick Steiner was in Scott's corner. All in all the match was a disappoint. There were some terribly screwed up spots, most noticeably a spot where Ric hits Scott with a cross-body block while Scott's in the ropes. They were both supposed to spill over the ropes onto the floor, but Scott didn't flip himself at the right time, and ended up standing there for a split second while Ric tumbled to the floor. Then, for no apparent reason, Scott did a backwards flip over the ropes, as if he'd been hit again. There were no tilt-a-whirl slams, no Frankensteiners, etc. There were two flops (one on the floor!) and two flips by Flair. Scott did catch Ric with a double-underhook into a power-bomb. The match ended with Scott belly-to-belly suplexing Ric and getting a two count when the bell rings. Overall, this CoC was certainly better than the last one, and despite Dusty's horrendous commentary and a few fumbled spots, I think that things are going in a reasonable direction. I would hope that they don't match up Scott and Ric again in the next few months, and then work a feud late in the year, reminding us that Ric hasn't pinned Scott. If Scott were to work with Flair for a two-month program, say, he would iron out whatever kinks are still left in his working. After witnessing Dusty's commentary, I can't help remebering a description of his character I once read. He comes across as a white man pretending to be a black man pretending to be a white man pretending to be a black man. That about sums it up. - "American Angels," the movie starring Magnificent Mimi and other GLOW stars has been released direct to home video. Check your local video store. - Apparently, Tito Santana has agreed to stay on in the WWF in a slightly demoted role. - The WWF has a "Main Event" on tomorrow night at 8pm EST on NBC. Matches on the show (taped yesterday) will be Sgt. Slaughter vs. Jim Duggan, Hogan & TugBoat vs. Earthquake & Bravo, and LOD vs. Orient Express. We might expect Hogan to do a run-in save for Duggan to help build WrestleMania. Jack Tunney will officially announce the main event at WM. - Dustin Rhodes won't be in WCW until the end of February. - Lots of talk that Kerry von Erich will be out of the WWF very shortly. He hasn't been involved in a program for a bit, and there no program being set up that uses him, so this seems likely. - Lou Thesz has officially retired at 74, after having just worked in Japan late in December. - I don't know if this is an indicator of a general trend, but TSN, our Canadian national sports network, which airs one hour of WWF wrestling per week, is thinking about dropping the WWF product. There is a lot of pressure, both internal and external, to drop the show, mainly because of the Sgt. Slaughter character. Although the current contract will be in effect for a fair while, the newtwork still has some choices about how to handle things for the time being. Apparently, the WWF contract only says that you'll receive x number of shows and that they must be shown unedited. That means the network could opt to just not show the program. Herb... As always, comments, criticisms, and questions are encouraged and appreciated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Herb Kunze : "Whether you like it or you don't like it, Applied Math Department : learn to live with it, 'cause University of Waterloo : it's the best thing going today! hekunze@watmsg.waterloo.edu : Woooooooh!" hekunze@violet.waterloo.edu : - Ric 'Nature Boy' Flair ==============================================================================