My Favorite Wrestling: WCW Main Event 7/7/96

If that date sounds familiar, it's because this is the pre-show to Bash at the Beach, where something *kind* of huge would go on to happen.

1. The Steiner Bros. vs. Harlem Heat

This match works just fine, until it inevitably turns into the continuing saga of Col. Robert Parker and Sherri, as practically every Heat tag from this era did. In rewatching a lot of this era it was surprising how terrible a lot of the Heat matches were. I remembered them as a decent team but man were they sloppy and man did their tags have horrible structure. But Booker was on during the first part of this, flying into Scott with a huge shoulderblock, working him over with a nice bearhug that Scott turned into an even nicer overhead belly to belly. Rick came in and hit a great powerslam on Booker, and things (shockingly!) slowed down quite a bit once Stevie Ray tagged in. Stevie hits a nice elbowdrop, and then locks on a neverending chinlock until the Parker interference. For his part Parker takes a big hip toss bump into the ring from the apron. On the previous show they were advertising Steiners vs. Rock n Roll Express which would have been awesome. Instead we get this. And this...was probably better than I expected.

2. Billy Kidman vs. Hardwork Bobby Walker

So let's start off by saying that this match gets 90 seconds. Let's go on to say that these guys clearly knew they were only getting 90 seconds, and proceeded to do as much as they possibly could in 90 seconds. Something seemed up right from the beginning as both guys are just working lightning fast. It looked like things were on double speed and I'm thinking "man how are these guys expecting to work a full match at this pace??" Oh, they weren't. But it was fun seeing a noted schlub like Walker going fullspeed, with both guys doing these super quick dropdowns and leapfrogs, Kidman taking a wild bump to the floor off a dropkick, and both working in kooky offense I've never seen either do before. Kidman hit a quadruple jump Asai moonsault (follow me here) starting on the apron, leaping to the middle rope, then the top rope, then the inside middle rope 90 degrees to his left, and then the moonsault. It's like a crazy Aerostar move, with about 70% of the grace of an Aerostar move. Walker jumps to the middle turnbuckle, leaps BACKWARDS from the middle buckle to the top, almost loses his balance and falls backwards to the floor (because it's fucking crazy to jump backwards from the middle to the top) and then hits a crossbody/headbutt block from the top to win. Weird little match with the circumstances dictating unique work.

3. Rock N Roll Express vs. Fire & Ice

Another 2 minute special that really could have been a good tag match if it had been given just a few more minutes. Norton rushes Ricky to start and hits some pretty stiff shots, a couple pretty big slams. Ice Train tags in and hits a rough avalanche. This Morton guy is pretty decent at playing Ricky Morton. Finish is clever but would have loved for it to come after more of a match, as Norton tags back in, picks Ricky up in a gutwrench and Ricky's legs hit Ice Train on the apron causing Norton to stumble. Gibson runs in and takes out Norton's knee allowing Ricky to hit the backslide. That's a pretty decent finish, but yeah didn't get a whole lot of match before it happened.

4. Eddie Guerrero vs. Steven Regal

Now this is the kind of thing you hope for when you pop in an old WCW disc. Is it too short? Yes. Does it have a lousy finish? You betcha. Is everything awesome before that? Well of course. Regal looks so damn good here, with he and Eddie doing all sorts of cool grapples and take downs. Eddie lands on his feet after a monkey flip, hits a cool armdrag off a Regal butterfly suplex attempt, Regal starts lacing in elbows and then Eddie takes a super fast bump to the floor off a Regal toss. Weirdness ensues when Regal fakes a knee injury, suckers Eddie in for a double leg for what you think is going to end it. But something weird happens as Nick Patrick just stops counting at 2, even though Eddie didn't kick out. It looks like Regal was supposed to have his feet on the ropes, but he never puts them there, so Patrick just has to stop the count for zero reason instead of stop the count after witnessing the cheating. The Eddie just rolls up Regal for the win. Folks you won't see a finish worse than that one. But god that first 90 seconds of the match was all the stuff you want in pro wrestling.

Okay, Cubs, that one was a whole lot more...interesting as an episode. Still waiting for an actual good match as so far we've gotten some big time potential that was cut short with bad finishes. We'll keep trying until I think your donation has been worth it for you. Again, thank you SO MUCH for your help.


***I'm still desperately trying to raise money for my friend and coworker whose home burned down. I'm matching every contribution and will continue writing above and beyond for those who donate. This means a lot to me, guys***

Read more!

MLJ: Misterioso/Volador 4: Ice Killer I, Karis La Momia I, La Parka vs Misterioso, Solar I, Volador I

1992-06-05 @ León, Guanajuato
Ice Killer I, Karis La Momia I, La Parka vs Misterioso, Solar I, Volador I

Obviously, at some point Misterioso and Volador found their way to AAA. This was really early for the company. It was founded in May, 1992. If I had more time, I'd delve into the WONs from the era and try to trace things a bit more. I don't, so I'm just going to look at the text of the match.

Karis is a mummy. Ice Killer is a hockey themed monster in black. La Parka actually had been wrestling for ten years already (at least according to Wiki) but was new to the gimmick. What stands out, almost immediately, was that he was just another monster in a trios of monsters. I'm going to liken it to Undertaker debuting as part of a trios with Papa Shango and the Berzerker or something. I see Parka as such a force of nature and such an icon, but he had to break out of this fairly interchangeable group of monsters to get there. Visually, he wasn't all that different from Ice Killer, actually. Karis is awesome. He had a mummy mask and under the mummy mask was ANOTHER mask. Also the monsters' valets were great (Parka's was in a funeral shroud). I love the theatrical aspects of early AAA. I don't have a ton else to say about Ice Killer. He was the head of the union, according to luchawiki, and apparently he has a young son now (talking age 3-8) who dabbles, and that might be amusing to check out on youtube.

The match itself was fun, solid tecnicos vs stooging monsters. There's a joy to that. The rudos played more for laughs than any outright fear or violence. They had the usual exchanges to start, Mumia vs Solar, Ice Killer vs Misterioso, and Volador vs Parka, all of which had a slight tecnico advantage. On the second time around, they started playing tecnico vs the world, including this a fun bit of rudo goofiness, where Parka ended up on Ice Killer's shoulders:

The tecnicos finished things up shortly thereafter, leading to rudo regrouping for the segunda. It was pretty straightforward. They hung out outside until the tecnicos came after them and then ambushed. Simple but effective. The beatdown continued into the tercera, with some simple tandem offense (and some more complicated, like a Hart Attack from the turnbuckle), and the usual glorious fake-handshake-ambush-from-behind heeling to keep the advantage. In the end, Volador managed to redirect a kick in a cute comeback spot and the tecnicos swarmed back for a spirited comeback.

Parka already showed signs of what he'd soon become, spirited, charismatic and agile, even while taking a beating:

The tecnicos really got to show off towards the end (though Parka snuck out a roll up win). Volador and Misterioso had a great act. That's my take away from all of these matches. By this point in their careers, they had worked with each other for so long that they could do things like set one another up for a moonsault or some other spot, and do things which felt way ahead of their time, but that also fit into the sort of narrative they were trying to tell. Nothing seemed outlandish even if a lot of it felt breathtaking. It's too bad we have such gaps in between their stuff online. This match didn't really have any sense of stakes but it was a lot of fun and, I think, a good look at what early AAA was presenting.

Read more!