SLL Reviews Things That Victator Uploaded

Victator is one of my favorite internet wrestling dudes. His love for the pro wrestling is positively Rasmussen/Naylor-esque, and I can always get down with that. He's also a guy who has an eye for wrestling obscurities or stuff that fell through the cracks for whatever reason. This is the guy who will point you to Dan Severn vs. Tarzan Goto from the IWA Japan King of the Death Matches Tournament. In the middle of one of the most watched cards amongst puro nerds ever is this match that no one ever talks about being great, featuring two wrestlers no one ever talks about being great, and it takes a guy like Vic to hip you to this match so you can see just how awesome it was. That's a good guy to have around. Anyway, he had this blog, "Legion of the Damned", where he'd post a lot of random matches that tickled his fancy for whatever reason, but he eventually fell out of it. Well, he's decided to start it up again, and I'm more than happy to help spread the good word. If you're any kind of obsessive wrestling fan at all - and if you're not, what the fuck are you doing on this blog? - you owe it to yourself to check out Legion of the Damned.

Ric Flair & Barry Windham vs. Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich
WCW - 1991

This is exactly the sort of thing that Victator is good for. It's the main event of a random Power Hour from '91 (and by the way, that is the best name for a wrestling TV show ever, FWIW), and even if you saw it at the time, odds are you forgot it even existed by now. But when an awesome match like this slips through the cracks, Lewis Black Victator catches it for a segment blog that we like to call Back in Black Legion of the Damned.

This is worked like your really old-school lengthy tag matches, where there's an extended heel-in-peril section at first, getting the crowd sufficiently fired up before the heels lower the boom. Morton punches the shit out of both Flair and Windham, which pretty much makes this match good by default. Rich isn't afraid to lay into the baddies, either, which is kind of a pleasant surprise, as you don't usually think of 1990 Tommy Rich being anything special. Flair and Windham eventually give it right back to the faces, and Ricky Morton ends up playing himself. This goes double after Rich gets mauled on the outside, and Big Josh takes him backstage to safety, leaving Morton with no house afire available. Crowd chants "We Want Sting!" and sure enough, when things are looking their bleakest for Morton, the crowd roars for the arrival of.....El Gigante. The referee is understandably hesitant to let Gigante just take Rich's place in the match - as are we all - but soon enough, Morton escapes the heels' clutches makes the rolling tag, and Gigante is.....actually kinda good? I mean, he doesn't get to do a whole lot before Sid runs in for the schmozz finish, but for a guy forever burned into my memory as a nearly immobile naked dude, he looked decidedly spry (and decidedly clothed) for the less-than-a-minute he was in action. Charging at the heels, throwing a pretty nice clubbing forearm at Windham....fuck, are we sure he was always bad? I know this isn't a lot of evidence to base anything on, but for a guy we often think of as being the worst wrestler ever, he looked totally OK. So anyway, Sid comes out, schmozz finish, then Big Josh comes out with his axehandle to run off the heels, and you actually want to see the logical six-man tag follow-up.

One Man Gang vs. Greg/Brett? Sawyer
WCW - 1991

Victator is also a man who can appreciate a good squash, and this is a pretty good one. I can't tell what the jobber's first name is. I want to believe it's Brett Wayne Sawyer, but I can't prove it. Anyway, he does his thing pretty well. He's got the openning comedy bit where he tries repeatedly to clobber Gang from behind, but Gang doesn't even notice he's there. Then when he actually goes to work, Sawyer gets bumped around plenty for his troubles. Gang didn't seem to bring the asskicking you'd hope for, but Sawyer held up his end of the bargain pretty well.

Stan Hansen vs. Larry Santo
WCW - 1991

This, on the other hand, is exactly the kind of asskicking you would expect from Hansen. Santo puts up a noble effort, getting a few nice looking shots in, but Stan mauls him and beats him without ever having to spit out his chewing tobacco. Maybe a minute long, tops, but that was one hell of a squash.