My Favorite Wrestling: WCW Worldwide 3/27/99 & 4/3/99

3/27/99

Holy lord, I have no idea where this episode was sourced from, what local feed from whatever state in America this was originally taped from, but I love local TV. And whomever originally recorded this episode of Worldwide in whatever state they live in, have a local news anchor named......STORM FIELD!!! Storm Motherfucking Field starts off this episode of Worldwide by pimping the March of Dimes, and it's really awesome that things are working out so well for him after leaving Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. I mean holy shit, Storm Field.

1. Barry Horowitz vs. Johnny Swinger

Damn Horowitz was a monster here! He comes out wearing his rad gold suspenders, and from there it is just a beatdown on poor Swinger. Swinger finally draws the card of someone other than Finlay or Regal, finally gonna get a chance to not get beaten within an inch of his life...and that's when Horowitz works stiffer than I have ever seen him work before. Just punching and chopping and elbowing and throwing dropkicks like Swinger was a trainee in Gaea Girls. I've always enjoyed Barry, but I need more of THIS Barry.

2. La Parka vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Yeah buddy! Always fun getting to watch these two do their thing. Crazy to think that 13 years later Parka is probably the most relevant guy out of these sets. I mean, he's one of the only guys who is still active, but he's also a major star. Not sure who would have predicted that in 1999. Here we get some fun dives, some dancing, and some big bumps. Who can hate?

4/3/99

You know this is going to be a fucking awesome episode because it starts out with a crowd pan and there is a woman in her 20s holding up a sign that says "Take me Back Stage". I guarantee you that sign and the ensuing events that assuredly happened were not even in the top 10 biggest mistakes that woman has made in her life.

1. Kendall Windham vs. Bobby Duncam Jr.

YESSS! Syndicated dream match for me right here. This had to have been right around when they started the West Texas Rednecks. I thought they had already started when I was in college, but I clearly must be wrong as there is no mention of them here. I wish this could have gotten 12 minutes, but it only goes about 3-4. Still, they cram a bunch in with both guys throwing bombs and the action going all over the ring, ending in a count out. I wish this match up was on every episode.

2. Kidman vs. Evan Karagias

And then we end the evening on this. Kidman matches are really fun when he's against somebody with great offense, because Kidman can bump like a complete lunatic. I'll level with you, Evan Karagias does not have great offense. Or good offense. Or...offense. So, this stank. Karagias was super awkward and not great at taking offense, and if you weren't great at taking offense then you may die against Kidman. Karagias does manage to powerbomb Kidman. It turns out the trick is to use a gutwrench. Evan cracked the code! Then he tried a regular powerbomb, Kidman reversed, and it somehow ended with Karagias flying face first into Kidman's knees. Kidman goes up for the shooting star and we all take bets on where Kidman will end up. My guess was "Kidman's chest/chin landing on Kargias' knees". Other guesses included "Kidman's knees on Karagias' chest". The winning answer was "Kidman's chest on Karagias' groin."

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My Favorite Wrestling: WCW Pro 3/23/96

WCW Pro 3/23/96:

1. Joey Maggs vs. Lex Luger

So people bagging on Luger officially needs to stop. Dude was damn good as late as '97. He looked real good here and bumped around for fucking Joey Maggs, who doesn't actually jump as often as his name would have you believe. Luger worked this match 50/50 and it was weird for everybody.

2. Ice Train vs. The Gambler

Boy Ice Train was not very good. Here he blows a couple hip tosses and botches a shoulderblock. Gambler, however, was great, as The Gambler always is. His sateen little league coach jacket always looks primo, and he always gets his gimmick of being a gambler over pre-match, whether it be holding a deck of cards, or throwing dice like he did here. The problem here was that the cameras didn't do a good job of showing the dice before he starting rolling, so it looked like he was uncomfortably miming jacking off while looking straight into the camera. This went on for too many seconds before the big dice reveal (he rolled a 3). His character feels like something that would really work today, in one of those "ripped from the headlines" type deals. He could lose all his money in some sort of Bernie Madoff scam, or lose his home in a subprime lending scenario.

There's a man in the crowd with a tucked in Dolphins jersey who clearly has no idea how to boo while giving the double thumbs down. It's like he's doing a weird combo of "revving a motorcycle" miming, and "crying baby with fists balled into eyes". His buddies all walk that line of a) wrestling fan or b) developmentally disabled...or c) developmentally disabled wrestling fan (it's almost always C).

3. Kurasawa vs. Randy Savage

Best part about this was Savage has Hogan at ringside holding a chair, cheating for him the whole match. Savage needed Hogan's interference to beat Kurasawa. All the while they're building up Hogan and Savage about to face 6 dudes in a cage at Uncensored, but Hogan helps Savage beat Kurasawa.

4. Konnan vs. Kanyon

Boy Kanyon will bump fantastically to put over crummy Konnan offense. Kanyon takes no fewer than two moves onto his head here, including the finish DDT which Kanyon plants himself on gorgeously.

5. Meng vs. Hulk Hogan

I actually like this match-up and it is hilarious how much Hogan cheats like a motherfucker through this whole match. Not one move he does is legit or done after being provoked. Right out of the gate he's biting Meng on the forehead, arm, leg, backraking him, choking him on the mat, hitting him with a chair, all while the announcers are putting him over. But then Meng does all that shit back to him and Dusty says like only Dusty can "Well he kinda had that comin to him." I don't want to see Meng job to the legdrop and luckily Zeus and the Ultimate Solution run out and Rachel is like "That guy from the Ice Cube Coors Light commercial did wrestling?!" and Savage wisely pulls a chairshot instead of hitting Meng as hard as he could in the face, because Meng would have bit his nose off backstage.

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