WCW Worldwide 8/22/98

Saturn vs. Mark LaRoux

ER: This must be an early Lash appearance as I don’t remember him being called Mark LaRoux. It’s usually a tough draw when you pull job duty against Saturn, and LaRoux earned his payday here. Saturn, the guy doing high arcing half nelson suplexes at noon on Sundays. Hard clothesline, that suplex, and the best death valley driver in wrestling, this was quick.

Bobby Blaze vs. Brian Adams

ER: This is a full Adams squash, Blaze gets nothing whatsoever, but Blaze makes all of Adams big slams and backbreakers look good. Adams has his big tilt-a-whirl backbreaker which looks good, drops a nice leg, hits a big press slam into a gut buster, all of it looks good. But Blaze is good enough that we could have had an interesting match. Really the best thing about this was Vincent as Adams’ second. That guy was a great hype man and knew how to carry himself with braggadocio, proud to be the bottom rung on the nWo ladder. When Adams went for the press slam Vincent came running around the ring holding both his arms up, like he was sitting on the sidelines when Steph did a no look pass leading to a Klay 3.

Jim Powers vs. Mark Guthrie

ER: Man Mark Guthrie? I had no idea how many randos WCW was using around this time. This must have been right before the next crop of Power Plant guys came through. Guthrie has a real bad dirtbag kid mullet, looking more homemade than styled, the kind of cut that was looking dated in 1995. Powers tries to bring energy to this, hits a nice shoulderblock, decent kneelift, good enough powerslam. This was another short one, kind of a dull couple weeks of WCW syndie TV here. We need a little help on this episode.

Roadblock vs. Mike Sanders

ER: Roadblock heard my plea and answered my prayer! I barely recognized Sanders here, he had a shaved head and wore a plain black singlet. I guess with Sanders and LaRoux showing up here, we ARE in the period were new Plant guys were getting called up. Roadblock works a fun squash, throws a big lariat and hits a big powerslam, misses a huge elbowdrop off the middle rope (really crashing the landing), and he does cool stuff like sticks his knee up in the corner when Sanders tries to ram him. The rope flip moonsault is nice and squishing, always a finisher I love. After the match some dad with a bad mustache is angrily booing Roadblock, but…was he cheering for Mike Sanders? That’s weird. Cheer Roadblock, he’s an awesome big fat guy!

Los Villanos vs. Doc Dean/Manny Fernandez

ER: So, you know by now, this is not THEE Manny Fernandez, but I do like this Manny Fernandez leaning into the camera on his entrance to say “I’m back, baby!” Another fan is doing the “We’re Not Worthy!” bow to the Villanos as they come out, and I now want to meet that man. It’s always going to be a fun watch when you spot a Villanos tag in the wild where you're practically guaranteed their victory. Doc and Manny didn't have ZERO chance, but I'VE never seen either of them pull a win, and we've at minimum seen Villanos beat Disorderly Conduct. So we get to watch a match where the Villanos are showing off their offense and getting to act like the bigger team, like the bullies, and it's a rare treat. Villanos threw a bunch of nice lariats and it's cool seeing them control a team that aren't other luchadors. It's not a total squash as Manny has a brief quick run where he shows off a tight 5 seconds of material, but you want this because it's the Villanos main eventing a taping and cutting off the ring on a couple white guys as the babyfaces. The Doomsday Device crossbody was a great finish, with Manny strongly missing an avalanche chest first, and I thought it was cool that they opted to do their finish on the larger of the two opponents. Nice flex that they earned.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE WCW B-SIDES

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My Favorite Wrestling: WCW Worldwide 12/5/98 & 12/12/98

1. Kendall Windham vs. Manny Fernandez

This, again, is not THEE Manny Fernandez, just some gassed up guy who I didn't realize worked for WCW this late in the game. He popped up a bunch in '95 and '96 and here he still is. Kendall (spelled "Kendell" in his entrance graphic) gives Manny a decent amount of offense and Kendall himself looks awesome in the match. I love Kendall's uppercut and he throws a cool variation where he drops down to a knee while throwing it. It's really cool to see him mixing them up, for example, by throwing an overhand right, short left uppercut, and then the drop down one. Kendall threw a rad snap swinging neckbreaer and Manny was pretty game for this. Not bad at all.

2. Silver King vs. Todd Griffith

I have never heard of Todd Griffith. I assume that Tenay and Hudson haven't either since they keep calling him "Todd Griffin" the whole match. He...was not very good. He had some rad cowboy boots and white pants with fringe, and he looked like a roadie for the Leningrad Cowboys. But he kinda sucked. Every time he picked Silver King up he looked like he was about to fall over. Every body slam, hot shot, etc. ended with him stumbling around off balance afterwards. At one point King stops giving him offense and just kicks him in the face, then hits a super stiff standing somersault leg drop/senton. Tenay naturally tells me to not be fooled by King's deceptive stockiness, while Hudson oozes all over Todd's bod ("as if it were carved out of granite!"). Silver King drops Griffith a couple times with super dangerous looking power bombs, looking dangerous mainly because Griffith appeared unaware of how to go up for a powerbomb.

1. Alex Porteau vs. Alex Wright

We get plenty of shots of crowd members doing their best Western European club kid impressions, and the best is some skinny goober in a wolfpack shirt who looks like Eddie Deezen, doing something approximating the Mashed Potato. This match was 3 minutes long and was actually a really rad workrate sprint. 3 minutes of cool go behinds and high dropkicks and Alex Wright sure seemed really really good during these types of matches. How many times did Wright match up with guys like Finlay, Regal or Taylor?

2. Johnny Swinger vs. Disco Inferno

Everybody's favorite punching bag. Even Hudson rips into Swinger on commentary. This match wasn't much. Disco his a great leaping fist drop which I don't remember from his offense, and then follows it up with a missed sunset flip so that Swinger has to stumble backwards three steps and fall into it. Disco wins with a sloppy piledriver that barely looked a step above Brian Adams' piledriver.

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My Favorite Wrestling! WCW Worldwide 8/4/96

WCW Worldwide 8/4/96

1. Craig Pittman vs. The Gambler

Pittman/Gambler was odd but really fun, as it was just a squash, but one that got 3 minutes more than Pittman squashes usually get. So we get a 5 minute match with Pittman getting to show off every single move he's ever known to fill time, with tons of hardway suplexes and forearm shots to the throat and random submissions. Gambler is always awesome and here he gets to mug a bunch and gets his one offensive move no sold (a real nice German suplex). Heenan: "The more I see of the Gambler, the more he improves. He used to hit the mat WAY harder."

2. Scott Norton vs. Manny Fernandez

Norton/Fernandez was hilarious because it was 2 minutes of Norton just clubbing (not thee) Manny Fernandez, and it was all building up to Manny's ONE bit of offense...which he promptly blew, and blew spectacularly. His ONE move, and he goes for some ridiculous asai crossbody type thing, and just falls off the ropes 2 feet short of Norton, who then just picks up Powers and crushes him with a shoulderbreaker to win. Brutal. Imagine just waiting around the whole day during everybody else's match, knowing that you are going to get ONE MOVE for your reward, and then just slipping and falling on your face. That shit would give me nightmares 16 years later. This match might need to be on the WCW set just for that spot, just to show kids that if they ever follow their dreams they'll likely fail in their one chance, just like Manny Fernandez.

3. Billy Kidman vs. Dean Malenko

This was a fun 6 minutes that I probably would have watched a million times back when it happened, and now at least seems like fun 90s junior work. Basically worked like a squash, with Dean getting about 5:30 of the 6 minutes, tossing Kidman around with powerbombs and brainbusters and a bunch of pointless leg locks scattered throughout the match. Kidman gets a couple sunset flip type reversals and hits a nice crossbody off the top (the way Dean took it made it seem like he had a piano dropped on top of him). Loved Dean finishing with the Finlay rolling fireman's carry senton.

4. Kurosawa vs. Konnan

was not good in any sort of way, and that shouldn't shock anybody at all. Konnan was so fucking awful it's almost hard to describe, just moving around in the ring and positioning himself in the most out of position ways possible. Konnan's signature offense is the most "here, you get into position right here and I'm going to go over here and do this thing right here" of anybody since Public Enemy. I wonder how many times Konnan/Public Enemy matched up? Any matches featuring Stevie Ray, Konnan and PE?

5. Jim Powers/Joe Gomez vs. Arn Anderson/Chris Benoit

Benoit and AA get 9 minutes with Gomez and Powers, and it is just not good at all. Gomez and Powers bring less than nothing to the table and Arn looks like he just has open disdain for Powers; not so much in a "We're gonna stiff the shit out of you." but more in a "I've been working matches with this asshole for EIGHT YEARS now. Fuck." Arn just looks at him like "Uggggggghhhhh Jim Powers." The eyeroll is palpable. Jim Powers has the superpower to have the largest-man-to-lightest-crossbody ratio that I've ever seen.

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My Favorite Wrestling: WCW Worldwide 12/10/95

Sting vs. Manny Fernandez

Talk about your let downs, but this was not THEE Manny Fernandez. The prospect of a 1995 Manny Fernandez opening match ass beating was instead rinsed down the drain by a pudgy guy who took Sting's offense, and that offense was just OK. I wish they had at least given this Manny Fernandez a nickname like "Boxcar Bertha" or something.

Bunkhouse Buck/Dick Slater vs. Scott & Steve Armstrong

Buck/Slater were so awesome as a pair of dirty prospectors. Just them doing their thing is so fun and the Armstrongs are good foils for them. This match probably could have had zero offense from either team, just Armstrongs getting the crowd pumped up while Buck/Slater jawed with the crowd, and then ended in a time limit draw, and I'd be like "This felt like a ***1/2 match."

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Buck Quartermaine

This doesn't get much time, but I don't think DDP was very good then anyway. It's kind of shocking how good he got in just a couple years. And two guys named Buck on the same show, one match apart? I assume the fans were confused, but would have been less so had he been named Milton Quartermaine.

Dungeon of Doom promo

Good lord the Dungeon of Doom. Zodiac was just running around screaming over everybody's promo, King Curtis was spilling out of his robe (just teasing you with a bunch of side boob), then Taskmaster gave his father the gift of laughter (the gift being Hugh Morrus), and I have no idea what is going on here. And they're in a cave.

Hugh Morrus vs. Joey Maggs

You know what? This wasn't actually very good. But...

Chris Benoit vs. Big Train Bart

FUUUUUUCK Yeah! Benoit vs. Big Train Bart (whom you know as Black Bart!) was fuuuuucking killer. Bart stiffs the shit out of Benoit and also bumps HUGE for him. He take a big clothesline to the floor, catches a great dive, and just really puts over Benoit's strikes. When he takes over the offense, he transitions with HEADBUTTS and they are some GREAT headbutts. THEN he starts working over Benoit's fingers! He grabs Benoit's fingers and pulls them down over the top rope (wedging the rope into the webbing) and I have NEVER seen someone do that. While he's doing this, he's headbutting Benoit in the shoulder. So awesome. This is the man who trained Necro Butcher! And he's wrestling Benoit in his late 40s!! Did YOU know that Black Bart worked WCW TV in the 90s, wearing overalls and headbutting the shit out of murderers!? I did not, but thank you TV for showing it to me! You just picture -- right now -- Chris Benoit and Necro Butcher having it out in the middle of a bunch of families who are watching wrestling at an amusement park because they wanted to beat the heat indoors and rest their dogs for an hour....How can that be anything but 9 stars? Probably the best WCW syndicated match I've seen yet.

Steven Regal/Robert Eaton vs. Harlem Heat

The main event is going nicely until the Robert Parker/Sherri storyline took center stage, then we have Eaton getting the visible pin for EVER, like a 16 count, until Stevie kicks him off and then Eaton just gets pinned. Started strong and then just sputtered to the end. Shame. The more I watch, the more I think Harlem Heat is a really bad team. I think people automatically think they're a good team just because they last a long time, but they often looked downright bad in the ring. Stevie Ray always looked bad, but I don't think people remember how Booker looked in the ring before that series with Benoit in '98, and those miracle matches with Saturn and Martel.

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