On Brand Segunda Caida: Bob Cook in WWF Pt. III

Bob Cook/Howard Nalley vs. Tekno Team 2000 WWF Wrestling Challenge 6/4/95

ER: I never saw Tekno Team 2000 during their brief run, but I really loved this match. Cook and Nalley (who did job work in WCW as Butch Long) are a cool team, as Nalley is basically a smaller Cook. And this wasn't worked as a squash, instead worked fairly even. TT2K clearly came off like the team that should win, but Cook and Nalley kept after them the whole match and the whole thing was very go go go. The first minute was just a bunch of cool exchanges between Troy (Erik Watts) and Cook, both men joined at the arm and chaining together a really nice sequence. Cook really buckles people with his stomach kick, arguably the best stomach kick of the era (and for something that was so commonly used as a set-up to bigger offense, you'd think more guys would have worked on theirs), grabs and arm to set up a drop toehold, and the two keep rolling through into new things. TT2K worked a lot of armdrags and Cook/Nalley are good guys to make armdrags look good, and I especially liked Cook whipping over for their tandem Japanese armdrag. The bit of Cook/Nalley on control was so great, with Cook waiting on Travis (Chad Fortune), who turns around right into Cook's perfect right hand, eats a couple more, Travis turns and slumps over the top rope to shield himself, leading to Nalley snapping his neck down over the top rope from the apron. Great sequence. Watts works a nice superkick out of a wristlock, and the tag team sunset flip is a fun if odd finisher for a big tag team. This might be the best overall match from the WWF Bob Cook that we've watched, this was just so much fun.

Bob Cook vs. Man Mountain Rock WWF Raw 6/12/95

ER: One minute of perfection. One minute of pure wrestling perfection. Man Mountain Rock is a star that never was, with such a weird specific charisma, but a charisma that fans were clearly responding to. He works this quick as hell, voluntarily running the ropes hard to build up speed to absolutely level Cook, then launches Cook with a backdrop. Cook's comeback is swift, powerful, and violent, as he gets the drop on Rock and throws 5 all time perfect worked punches in the corner. Cook throws one of those aesthetically sweet worked punches, a punch where you really appreciate the steps he takes to work it. The camera knows what gift Cook has and doesn't cut away, framing Cook punching Rock towards the camera, then finishing with a shot to the appendix. He runs to go on the attack, and Rock catches him and sticks him to the mat with the Whammy Bar. This was wrestling boiled down to its basics, and it should be seen.

Bob Cook vs. Bam Bam Bigelow WWF Raw 7/31/95

ER: This was far and away the most generous squash match of Cook's run, as Bigelow gives Cook half of the match and makes him feel like the underdog babyface. Just like the Cook/Droese match from a couple months before, this match *also* features a babyface chinlock spot and this is getting really weird for me, as this was not happening to any other squash match guy in 1995. 1995 WWF TV has a lot of squash matches, still the bulk of the TV output, and I've now seen two different babyface monsters put Bob Cook in a rear chinlock during their own feature match. I have not seen ANY other babyface from this era work a chinlock into their own squash match. It's so weird! You guys are the ones being featured, why let Bob Cook be the one fighting back from a hold? I mean, I love it, but it's weird! And Cook really goes toe to toe with Bigelow here, and if someone watching had no idea who either guy was, but they somehow knew what a jobber was (this is quickly becoming a unicorn hypothetical), Cook came off like Bigelow's equal. He probably threw more punches in this match than in any of his other WWF appearances, and Bigelow sold them like Cook was caving in his eye socket. Bigelow treated Cook like a threat and the match was so much more interesting for it. Cook even turns that bizarre chinlock into a chinbreaker (again, so many babyface hope spots for a guy supposedly getting squashed)! This match was 70/30 Cook! Cook outstruck Bigelow in many of the standing exchanges! Cook's offense was all great punches, that chinbreaker, and kicks to the stomach, and Bigelow sold like he was getting taken apart by Sycho Sid. Really Bigelow "only" gets some nice headbutts, a great vertical suplex, finishes things off with his diving headbutt. But the fun of the match is seeing the promise behind Cook as an actual regular roster member, and it was an absolute blast.

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My Favorite Wrestling! WCW Worldwide 2/13/99

By this point Worldwide the WorldWide format left a lot to be desired, as the first 45 minutes were recap, with a couple short matches at the end. You think it would have been more successful to have the matches scattered throughout the show, but lets be honest they did not care about the WorldWide format at this point. So most of it is Shiavone and Larry Z recapping events, with occasional exclusive promos and interviews.

Vincent cuts an awesome promo with Gene about how Hollywood left him in charge of the nWo because Stevie Ray was a little slow. Before starting this project I would not have predicted that '99 Vincent would be one of the guys I most look forward to.

1. Kenny Kaos vs. Bobby Eaton

When did this tag team superpower break up!? As you (likely don't) recall, after Rage got hurt Kaos asked Eaton to be his tag partner, because who has more tag team experience in WCW than Bobby Eaton (in kayfabe that storyline actually makes sense) but clearly it was a short-lived partnership (or this match was taped 16 months in advance of air date). And Tenay and Hudson are awesome as they sell total shock that these partners are now fighting ("I'm gonna get to the bottom of this in the locker room!"). Eaton looks really great here, not just his punches (which Kaos really sells like bombs), but in the way he covers up Kaos' botches with big snap bumps. Kaos goes for a press slam at one point but clearly can't get Eaton up, so Eaton wisely starts struggling to make it look like he escaped from the slam (as opposed to getting dropped, which is what happened). To his credit Tenay picks up on it and sells it as such. Match could have actually been really good as Eaton was on fire and Kaos was at least trying, but it goes barely 2 minutes, ending with Kaos' (always cool) springboard clothesline.

2. Konnan vs. Chad Fortune

Boy, when you get two matches on a show and one of them has Konnan vs. the less famous member of the WCW Pit Crew, you know you're deep in the shit. But you know? I kinda dug Konnan vs. Chad Fortune. There were flaws in execution, and there were general weaknesses that both guys have, but the match was laid out way better than I or anybody could have expected and in 4 minute matches the layout is really important. You have a limited time to work, but a bad layout can really make a 4 minute match drag. If you have one guy control for 3 minutes and the other guy make his comeback and win in the last minute, then not only does the match stink because the winner brushed off all the loser's offense because it was his turn, but more often than not we get some lying around and chinlocks because the eventual loser can't logically fill 3 straight minutes of time.

So in Konnan vs. Fortune we have a back-and-forth 4 minutes, but it wasn't worked your move-my move, it was actually worked super smart. Fortune ambushed Konnan to get an early advantage, Konnan made a comeback by craftily reversing a Fortune move, Fortune himself made a comeback by doing the same, and Konnan won when Fortune got too cocky. So in 4 minutes they were able to tell numerous stories, have multiple control shifts, have believable and logical transitions, and end with a satisfying, competitive match. That's more than you can say about 80+% of WCW syndicated matches.

They have a lot working against them: Konnan is a candidate for worst worker of the WCW syndicated era. I believe he could be better than he normally came off, but was usually too focused on getting his shit in instead of making things interesting for the viewer. His syndicated matches are usually short, selfishly worked, with his moves usually done in the exact same order with the only thing changing from match to match is how smoothly or awkwardly his opponent gets into position for those same moves. Fortune is a tall guy with a shaved head wearing horrible baggy pants (think Kevin Nash pants, but not leather/pleather) and an anal bead necklace.

Match starts great with Fortune doing an awesome running dropkick while Konnan is fiddling with his pants or something (how do those things stay up during his matches?). Konnan transitions back by reversing an irish whip, but eventually Fortune rakes the eyes to go back on offense, and hits an awesome Dibiase-style fist drop. He goes up top and Konnan gets up, but in a nice twist Konnan doesn't run over to catch him (avoiding that annoying thing where a guy only does top rope offense when he gets caught and thrown off), nor does Fortune still try to do the move he was originally going to do when it's obvious to everybody but the guy on the top rope that the move is going to miss. Instead Fortune just jumps down and runs at Konnan with a clothesline. It naturally misses, but I appreciate them mixing things up. From here Konnan hits a nice bulldog (none of that silly hand on the back of a guy's head garbage, but an actual headlock driving a guy's dome into the mat) and locks on the Tequila Sunrise.

Was the match epic? No. Were all the moves super smooth? No. Did Fortune ever look like he had an actual chance of winning? No. But did I enjoy it? Yes, way way more than I could have anticipated. One of the better miracle matches I've seen in awhile.

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