Dark Pegasus Video Review: The Rise and Fall of WCW (Disc Two)

The Rise and Fall of WCW (Disc Two) by J.D. Dunn Twitter.com/jddunn411 Brightkite.com/jddunn411 Facebook.com/jddunn411 $1,000 Challenge: Ric Flair vs. Magnum T.A. (06/15/85). Flair is running his mouth late in the TV show, so Magnum offers him a $1,000 if he can beat him in 10 minutes. Magnum dominates early, drawing out Arn and Ole Anderson to reveal that Ric Flair is their cousin. Flair snaps Magnum’s throat on the top rope and hits a double ax-handle for two. Magnum reverses a whip, sending Flair to the buckle. Magnum goes hard and fast after the pinfalls, but he can’t put Flair away. Of course, Magnum doesn’t have to beat Flair in this situation. Flair gets his knees up to block a splash. Magnum misses a dropkick with about a minute left. Flair ducks a crossbody and goes up, but Magnum recovers and slams him off. FIGURE-FOUR BY MAGNUM! Magnum holds out and gets the time-limit draw at 10:00. After the match, the Anderson’s and Flair destroy Magnum in retaliation, but Dick Slater & Buzz Sawyer make the save. Tully Blanchard would join the group not long after, and the rest was history. This felt like the last ten minutes of one of their classic hour-long draws. Wall-to-wall action plus a great ending to the show. ***1/4 Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) vs. Sting, Lex Luger & Barry Windham (04/03/88). The NWA moved from studio shows to arena shows in the interim between the last match and this one. If you want to see a great example of the NWA style, this is a good match. The heels absolutely get killed throughout the match. Hell, even when they isolate Luger and control the match, they still get tossed around. Luger no-sells a Flair suplex and drops him with a clothesline. HOT TAG TO WINDHAM! Windham rolls up Blanchard but gets hit in the back of the head by Flair. IT’S BREAKIN’ LOOSE! In all the chaos, Blanchard gets an object from Dillon and nails Windham for the win at 12:17. Insane heat all the way through. NUCLEAR heat, folks. Everyone was on their game too, and it made for a fantastic tag match. ***1/2 NWA U.S. Title: Barry Windham (w/JJ Dillon) vs. Dusty Rhodes (07/10/88). Rhodes was the champion until he accidentally hit Jim Crockett with a baseball bat and was stripped of the title and suspended. Of course, any time Rhodes gets suspended, his alter ego – the Midnight Rider – shows up and wreaks havoc. His evil pupil Barry Windham won a tournament to crown a new champion, so we get this match. Rhodes tries to end it early with a crossbody off the top. Windham kicks out and rolls to the floor for two. Rhodes stays on top with jabs to Windham and an elbow for Dillon. To the floor, Windham tries a piledriver, but Dusty backdrops him over and clotheslines him on the concrete. Windham cheapshots him and fires away, but Dusty slams him on the floor again. Windham comes back yet again, slapping on THE CLAW! Dusty fights up to the top rope, but Windham yanks him back to the ring with THE CLAW! Dusty elbows his way out of it and goes for the figure-four, but that exposes his head, so Windham simply reapplies THE CLAW! Dusty climbs the ropes again and shoves Windham into Referee Tommy Young. Dusty drops the Bionic Elbow, but there’s no ref. Dillon starts to sneak in, but Dusty chases him off. Dusty’s friend Ronnie Garvin runs down AND PUNCHES RHODES OUT! Windham reapplies the hold as Young recovers and counts three at 15:56. Windham did a lot of bumping around, and there was good psychology revolving around the Claw. Dusty’s physical limitations dragged the match down quite a bit, and this would be his last really big match in the NWA before heading to Titanland. The Garvin turn was a total shocker. **3/4 NWA World Title: Ric Flair (w/Hiro Matsuda) vs. Ricky Steamboat (02/20/89). Eddie Gilbert picked a fight with the Horsemen earlier in the year and promised he had a partner that could help him win in a tag match. That partner was Ricky Steamboat, returning to the NWA after nearly five years away. Steamboat pinned Flair in the ensuing tag match and used that as a catalyst to challenge for the title here. Steamboat shoulderblocks Flair early and covers him, trying for a quick pin. Steamboat pulls Flair down into a headlock. Flair tries to counter to a backdrop suplex, but Steamboat backflips out of it and rolls Flair up for two. Flair bales out to think break Steamboat’s momentum. Flair forces Steamboat into the corner and cheapshots him in the gut. Steamboat fires back with chops and backdrops the Nature Boy to the canvass. Flair begs off and chops Steamboat as hard as he can. Steamboat chops him right back and sends him down. Flair threatens Steamboat and puts him in a hammerlock. Steamboat reverses to a headlock, but Flair shoots him off the ropes. Steamboat slides through Flair’s legs and dropkicks him. Flair charges, but right into a headlock. Flair tries to counter by pulling the tights for a nearfall, but Steamboat pushes back over to the headlock. Undaunted, Flair tries to push Steamboat into the turnbuckle, but Steamboat walks up the ropes and rolls back into the headlock. Finally, Flair backs Steamboat into the corner and chops him. Steamboat chops right back and gets two. Flair takes a breather once again. Once inside, Flair backs Steamboat into the corner and delivers a hard chop. Steamboat leapfrogs a Flair charge, though and delivers a stiff double chop to Flair’s chest. Flair tumbles to the outside. Flair gets back in, but both men are tentative. Flair backs Steamboat into the corner and whips him to the opposite side. Steamboat leapfrogs over Flair and hiptosses him. A flying headscissors and dropkick follow. Steamboat pulls Flair down into a side headlock for a nearfall. Steamboat maintains the headlock. Flair pulls Steamboat off him with by using the hair. Both men exchange shots and Flair hit’s a reverse elbow. Just as Flair is about to capitalize, though, Steamboat nails him with a chop. Another chop sends Flair over the top rope. The ref rules that it was accidental so the match continues. Steamboat gets a little impetuous, enabling Flair to grab his ankle and pull him to the outside. Flair rams Steamboat’s head into the railing and leaves him on the outside. Back inside, Flair drops a knee between Steamboat’s eyes and gets several nearfalls. Flair backs Steamboat into a corner again, and delivers a right fist to Steamboat’s jaw. Both men exchange chops. Steamboat wins that and sends Flair to the opposite corner with an Irish Whip. Flair flips over the turnbuckle and runs down the apron to the next corner. Flair surprises Steamboat with a crossbody block, but Steamboat rolls through for a close two count. Steamboat corners Flair and goes up for some punches. Flair counters to an atomic drop and locks in the figure-four. Steamboat pounds the mat in agony as Flair grasps the ropes for extra leverage. Finally, Referee Tommy Young catches Flair using the ropes and makes him break the hold. Flair and Steamboat trade chops again. Steamboat misses a chop and Flair delivers a crossbody block that sends both men to the outside. Steamboat fights back with chops on the outside, but Flair sends him into the ringpost. Flair suplexes Steamboat back in for two. A backdrop suplex gets two more. Flair argues with Young about the count. Flair gives Steamboat a pendulum backbreaker and gets several nearfalls with his feet on the ropes. The crowd gets on Flair about that, so he argues with them. Steamboat sneaks in and rolls up Flair for two. Flair whips him to the corner, but Steamboat hops to the turnbuckle. Steamboat goes for a flying crossbody…but misses! Flair headlocks him over and they go into their famous sequence, which ends when Steamboat bridges out into a Butterfly Suplex. Young counts one, two, thr…Flair’s foot is on the ropes. Flair tries a hiptoss, but Steamboat counters to a backslide for two. Steamboat backs Flair off with more chops and hits Flair with a clothesline. Steamboat delivers a flying crosschop and comes off the top with a chop between the eyes. Crowd is incredibly hot! Steamboat flies off the top for a flying crossbody block, but they knock Tommy Young out too. Steamboat tries to revive the ref, but Flair schoolboys him. Still, there is no ref. Steamboat comes off the top, but Flair ducks out of the way. Flair is about to finish Steamboat with the figure-four, but Steamboat counters to a small package as new referee Teddy Long comes in and counts the three at 23:18. Just fantastic start-to-finish action. One of the best of all time, and it’s only overshadowed by the other two legs in the trilogy. ***** The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express vs. The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette – 02/25/90). This would be the last great PPV match for these two teams. The thing is, they never really changed up their act in eight years, and it was still as over as ever. Kind of refreshing, considering how quickly wrestlers have to adapt to fans’ tastes today. The R&R confound the MX early. Cornette blames referee Nick Patrick and tries to pick a fight with him. He chickens out at the last minute, though, and falls back through the ropes. The Midnights chase the Rock ‘n’ Rolls around the ring and collide with one another, triggering a brawl between the MX. Cornette smoothes things over, though. Eaton challenges Morton to a test of strength. Morton climbs up him instead and springs off him into a fistdrop on Lane. Finally, after ten minutes of abuse, the Midnight’s isolate Ricky Morton (Hey, I’m as shocked as you are.). Cornette gets a shot in to piss of the fans – and I mean really piss off the fans. Ricky hits a sunset flip, but Cornette has the ref distracted. You stinker, Jim Cornette! Eaton launches Gibson facefirst into the turnbuckle and hits an Armbar DDT into a hammerlock. Morton teases getting out of trouble for several minutes before finally rolling into the hot tag. Gibson sunset flips Eaton and gets two. Cornette hits him with a racket shot behind the ref’s back, but it only gets two. The Midnights go for a flapjack, but Morton breaks it up by tackling Eaton. Gibson falls on top of Lane for the win at 23:30. Good, old-fashioned formula fun here. ***1/2 US Tag Titles: The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) vs. The Southern Boys (07/07/90). The Southern Boys are Tracy Smothers and Steve Armstrong in semi-Confederate gear. Sadly, they never really found traction in the NWA, probably because there were so many teams just like them (see also, Fantastics, The). Corny once called this match the best the Midnights ever had, which covers a lot of ground. The Midnights attack from behind, but the Southern Boys clean house. Smothers baffles Eaton with his “martial arts,” which basically consists of a thrust kick. Stan Lane tags in and shows him how it’s done with a back fist and a series of kicks. The Midnights chase Armstrong around the ring until Smothers comes off the top with a crossbody. The Southern Boys dogpile on the Midnights in a comedy spot, causing Cornette to throw himself on the floor and have a fit. Finally, after 10 minute of domination, Lane knocks Smothers off the apron into the railing. Smothers plays face-in-peril for a while as the Midnight’s actually get to show their offense instead of bumping ability. He eventually comes back with a sunset flip on both guys and makes the hot tag to Armstrong. The Southern Boys team up for a Doomsday Dropkick, but the ref is busy putting Lane out. The Midnights hit the Rocket Launcher, but it only gets two. The Southern Boys do the switcheroo trick, and Smothers gets two. Lane kicks Tracy in the head, though, allowing Eaton to small package him for the win at 18:16. This was the southern tag style worked to perfection. If you’re an aspiring wrestler or a fan of tag wrestling, get this match. ****1/2 WCW World Tag Titles: The Steiners vs. Lex Luger & Sting (05/19/91). All of these guys are babyfaces, but Lex and Sting needed a break from feuding with Flair for a while. The Steiners, by the way, were approaching their peak. I don’t think any team in history has had the number of quality matches that they had from, say, 1990-1994. In fact, if you look at the Wrestling Observer, they had three of the top five matches that year – and this one was lowest! Lex and Rick start out with a little wrestling just to show that they’re both babyfaces and they want a good, clean contest. Lex totally no-sells a shoulderblock, bouncing Rick to the mat. Luger gets a powerslam for two, but he misses a charge and gets German Suplexed. Steinerline for two! Luger gets pissed and roars out of the corner with a lariat that knocks Rick for a flip. That sets up a press slam. Sting tags in and clotheslines Rick to the floor. PLANCHA~! The crowd is popping for *everything* at this point. Back in, Sting picks up Rick in a bodyvice and plants him in the corner. Ross mentions Sting and Rick’s old partnership back in the UWF. Sting misses the Stinger splash, allowing a PUMPED UP Scott to tag in. BUTTERFLY BOMB~! Scott is REALLY pumped up now. That sets up the tilt-o-whirl sideslam. Sting hotshots him, but Scott shrugs it off and hits the belly-to-belly superplex. Scott misses a clothesline and tumbles out onto the announce table. Back in, Scott and Lex trade slams, and Scott counters the Torture Rack to a Russian Leg Sweep. Rick gets the blind tag and hits Luger with the bulldog off the top. Sting hits a missile dropkick, drawing the ire of Scott. Rick and Lex knock heads for a double KO. Sting and Scott tag in and slug it out. Sting gets a backdrop suplex and reverses a Tombstone to his own. Rick makes the save, so an overly enthusiastic Luger tackles him to the floor (and takes the ref with him). That allows Luger’s nemesis Nikita Koloff to run down. He goes for the chain-assisted Sickle on Luger, but Sting shoves Luger out of the way and takes the move himself. That allows an unknowing Scott to crawl into the pin at 11:06. Just a fantastic match with wall-to-wall action. The crowd was pumped, cheering each and every move from all four guys. Even the ending was great because it integrated an outside storyline – Luger and Sting were still regular singles wrestlers – into the match. The only (tiny) knock is that it needed to be longer! ****3/4 WCW World Title: Sting vs. Big Van Vader (w/Harley Race – 07/12/92). Here we go! This was Vader’s coming out party in WCW after a few years of splitting time between WCW and Japan. The story here is that Sting was riding high after defeating Lex Luger and Harley’s hired gun Cactus Jack, so he bit off more than he could chew by signing to meet the gargantuan Vader. Vader sells huge for Sting early, dragging the fans back into the show. He avalanches Sting to put an end to that, though, and puts Stinger in his own Scorpion Deathlock. It’s pretty Rock-ish, though, because Vader doesn’t want to lean back and snap Sting’s spine. Vader lets it go and clubs Sting in the face. Vader is like a black bear, and Sting is covered in marmalade. Sting comes back with a desperation Kappou Kick and shoulderblocks Vader to the apron. Vader goes up, but Sting catches him with a Samoan Drop. The ref gets knocked down, and Sting hits a German Suplex. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Sting hits the Stinger Splash but goes for another one and jumps too far, hitting his head on the ringpost. That knocks him goofy enough for Vader to get two. Vader hauls him up and just drops him on his head with a powerbomb to pick up the win and the title at 17:18. I like the booking of Sting not realizing what he was getting into and then getting overzealous in his execution and costing himself the title. That easily sets up a rematch where Sting is more prepared (several rematches actually). Not quite on the level of the King of Cable, but a good star-making performance from Vader. ***3/4 WCW International World Heavyweight Title: Rick Rude vs. Sting (04/17/94). Before the match, Harley Race challenges the winner on behalf of Vader, thus guaranteeing that it will be Sting. Sting avoids a suckerpunch from Harley and quickly dispatches him. Rude tries to attack and gets beaten from pillar-to-post. Sting destroys Rude before getting tossed over the top. It’s ruled accidental, but it turns the tide. Rude works the back, and things start to get boring. Sting powers out of a chinlock. Rude takes an awkward bump off a backdrop. The ref gets squashed during a Stinger Splash so he can’t see the Scorpion Deathlock. Here come Race and Vader, and Sting has to fight them both off. Rude clips Sting from behind and goes for the Rude Awakening, but Race accidentally nails him with the chair (badly). Sting wakes up the ref and gets the pin and the meaningless title at 13:07. Fairly ridiculous antics, as most Sting matches were during this time. He got much edgier once Hogan was around to play the big babyface. **1/2 WCW Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair (w/Sensuous Sherri) vs. Hulk Hogan (w/Jimmy Hart — 07.17.94). This is the big match that everyone wanted to see two years earlier, but Vince didn’t pull the trigger for various reasons. Flair went to WCW after Vince was done with him and became the #1 babyface. Then when Hogan decided he was done with the WWE, he showed up in WCW and turned everything upside down. Flair had to go through a quickie heel turn. Guys who were main eventers were demoted or jettisoned in favor of Hogan’s friends, and WCW’s fortunes took a turn for the better before being killed by the very same thing that Hogan brought to the table (kind of like steroids, if you think about it). Shaquille O’Neal is sitting at ringside as a semi-enforcer. Hogan dominates Flair for a long time before Sherri trips him up. Flair takes over with his usual. Hey, is that Brooke and Nick Hogan in the front row? Things get really slow with a chinlock. Someone has to prod Shaq to tell him to pay attention because he’s on camera. The Hulkster hulks up. FLAIR FLIP! Hogan chases him to the floor and gives Flair a backdrop suplex. Back in, Hogan misses the legdrop, allowing Flair to go after the figure-four. Hogan keeps reversing, though. He no-sells a suplex and hits the big boot, but Sherri pulls the ref out. There goes Jimmy Hart too. Sherri hits a splash off the top. Ooof! Nick Patrick runs down to take over. FIGURE-FOUR! Hogan makes the ropes, and Sherri strangles him with her stocking. Flair starts firing away, but Hogan no-sells everything (of course). Sherri misses a splash this time, and Flair gets slammed off the top. Sherri slips something in to Flair before getting carted off by Mr. T. Flair loads up the fist and knocks Hogan out with brass knuckles, but Hogan no-sells again and finishes with the big boot and the leg drop at 21:54. Hogan gets a pretty good pop for his win, but there is also a sizeable part of the crowd standing with arms folded saying, “This again?” Match was pretty good thanks to both guys delivering their usual efforts. Hulk wouldn’t really pay dividends for another year until Bischoff wrangled a Monday night spot. Then things really took off. ***1/2

The 411: Many snowflakes. More to come.
Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]