Leighty’s Retro Review: WCW Fall Brawl War Games ’94

-Written: 5.5.26
-Run Time: 2:46:45

-I finally decided to use these reviews to create an electronic book that you can now purchase through Amazon. I figured 1996 was the best year to start. Thanks in advance for any purchases or sharing or just getting the word out.

Leighty’s Retro PPV Reviews: 1996 WCW and WWF

-Plugs: Last WCW PPV I did before the break was Bash at The Beach 94.

-The internet is a wonderful place where you can find shows to fill in the gaps after losing a certain library that was on Peacock. We get back to the WCW side of 1994 as I get closer and closer to finishing this year off for good. I skipped ahead to Halloween Havoc when I thought I wouldn’t get all these shows done, so that is why things are a little out of order. Next up we will have either the November Clash or Survivor Series.

-Announce Team: Tony Schiavone and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
-Sept. 18, 1994
-Roanoke Civic Center, Roanoke, VA
-Attendance: 6500
-PPV Buys: 115,000

-Martin Delray sings The National Anthem!

WCW World Television Title: Lord Steven Regal (c) (w/ Sir William ) vs. Johnny B. Badd

-Regal is rocking a powdered wig and I appreciate the look. The Christmas jacket is pretty sweet too! This match is taking place in Ring Two or WarZone Two according to Tony. That’s kind of catchy name for a wrestling show. They crowd is pretty pumped to start which is a good sign. Lockup and Regal covers in the corner for a break. Regal being disgusted by the confetti still falling from The Badd Blaster is a great touch. Loud USA chant! I love small, but vocal crowds. Regal with a side headlock, but Badd shoves off and grabs hold of the arm. Regal gets to the ropes to force a break. Regal breaks Badd down and gets a side headlock. Badd shoves off and gets a dropkick and follows by going back to the arm. Regal backs Badd into the corner and monkey flips him. Badd hangs on and rolls to his feet and gets a hip-toss. He goes back to the arm and Regal goes to the ropes again. He gets a massage from Sir William in a brilliant heel tactic. Badd back to the arm and counters a sunset flip into a jackknife cover for two. Back to the arm and there’s the USA chant again. Badd with an AIRPLANE SPIN! I am a sucker for that move! Regal falls to the floor and stumbles around the ring selling the spin. Badd with a slingshot dive! He pulls Regal throat first on the top rope and then makes his first mistake as he dives at Regal, who drops low. Badd ends up catching himself throat first on the top rope. Sir William uses his umbrella to choke as Regal has the ref. Regal gets a takedown by the hair and then just fires off palm strikes to the face. Cool! Regal cranks on the neck while continuing with the palm strikes. A loud fan is at ringside again and is getting yelled at by Doug. Guys going to be a Hall of Famer one day I bet. I believe he had work once repossessing SMASHed cars. Badd makes a brief comeback, but Regal drops him with a European Uppercut. He sends Badd into the corner and more uppercuts. Badd likes to throw strikes with his boxing background and responds, so Regal takes it back to the mat. Full Nelson by Regal, but Badd uses his ass to break. He runs into an elbow though and that gets two for Regal. They trade strikes again and Badd wins the exchange. Atomic Drop and a right hand drops Regal. Backdrop by Badd and he hits a head scissors for a one count. Regal begs off and uses leverage and tights to send Badd to the floor. Badd back in with a sunset flip, but William uses the can to help Regal. The ref kicks the cane away and Badd gets the sunset flip for two. Regal accidentally decks William and Badd gets another roll-up for two. He misses an elbow and Regal hits a series of European Uppercuts. Badd counters a third into into a backslide and gets the pin to a big pop at 11:08.

Winner and New WCW World Television Champion: Johnny B. Badd via pin at 11:08
-I enjoyed this as the crowd was hot throughout and I dug the story of Regal getting out of his lane with the strikes and then it cost him. ***1/4

-Recap of last month’s Clash of the Champions angle where Hogan was attacked by a Masked Man and had to fight off Ric Flair on one leg. Flair gets the win, but by count-out, so no Title.

Loser Leaves WCW Match: Cactus Jack vs. Kevin Sullivan (w/ Dave Sullivan)

-The start brawling on the floor before the bell and Jack takes his first crazy bump over the railing and into the front row. This match is taking place in Ring One once they get there. Sullivan with a head-butt, but Jack sends him into the corner and hits a mule kick low blow (kind of). Back to the floor and Kevin gets sent into the post. Jack pulls the protective mat to expose the concrete. Jack up to the middle rope, but Dave holds him up and that lets Sullivan slam him down to the concrete. That would suck! Another slam on the concrete because if Jack is going out, he is going out killing himself for our enjoyment. Back in the ring Sullivan goes after the deformed ear and that lets Heenan making hearing jokes. Jack fights back with kicks and gives us a Bang Bang (Niner Gang) before hitting a back elbow. He drops an elbow for a two count. Back to the floor and Jack goes for a piledriver, but Sullivan backdrops out so Jack can SMACK the concrete for a third time. Jack throws a chair into the ring but it doesn’t get used. Jack eats a boot in the corner and they are back on the steps. Jack goes to use the chair, but Dave stops that. Jack gets sent into the steps as he continues to be a bump machine. Sullivan grabs a chair from the front row and Dave stops Kevin. That leads to Jack and Dave accidentally colliding and Kevin gets the pin at 6:11.

Winner: Kevin Sullivan via pin at 6:11
-Super disappointed by that ending! They just needed to beat each other until only one was standing. You would think Sullivan going over in a stronger manner would have made sense since Jack was gone. He ended up in SMW and ECW before Jim Ross convinced Vince to bring him to the WWF. This needed to be more of a chaotic brawl to blow this one off for good. Perhaps they wanted to save the violence for War Games. I should go back and read Mick’s book discussing this match. **1/4

-The Stud Stable is with Gene and Terry Funk is a crazy bastard who wants to enter War Games first. Arn and Meng being stone faced while Buck and Funk are crazy around them is impressive.

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat (c) vs. “Stunning” Steve Austin

-No match as Dragon is out in his street clothes and Nick Bockwinkel tells the fans that Dragon is too injured to defend his Title. Dragon was done and didn’t make a return until Mania XXV. The Title is forfeited to Austin and he is more than happy to accept.

-Austin is informed by Nick that he has to defend The US Title tonight. Austin rightly points out he signed to face Steamboat, but Bockwinkel brings up some legal crap. Hacksaw Jim Duggan makes his WCW debut as Austin’s new opponent.

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: “Stunning” Steve Austin vs. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan

-The crowd is happy to see Duggan! Ring One for this match! USA chant for the second time in three matches. The bell rings several times as Austin is trying to leave. He refuses to wrestle, but Nick pulls him back and Duggan hits the running shoulder tackle/back drop for the pin at 49 seconds (depending what bell you wanted to start the timer).

Winner and New WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan via pin at 40 seconds
-Austin was screwed there, but the crowd loved it. This would be Austin’s last WCW PPV appearance. Foley and Austin both with their final WCW PPVs in back to back matches. I am sure that won’t come back to haunt WCW. SQUASH

-Duggan gets interviewed by Gene. I mean, Duggan as US Champion is at least on brand and good for him getting a major title run. He then puts over Hulk Hogan because well, that’s likely why he was brought into WCW.

WCW World Tag Team Titles: Pretty Wonderful (c) vs. Stars and Stripes

-Man, Bagwell got passed around as a partner a ton in his career. The loud fan gets escorted out by security. I guess he was being a Bully and deserved being tossed on the Blacktop! Back to Ring Two for this one. It also dawned on me that not only did this show feature Austin and Foley, who ended up being in top spots in the WWF a few years later, The Patriot ended up being a challenger for Bret Hart’s WWF Title. Heenan: “This is the greatest PPV I have ever been involved with.” I love Heenan, but you don’t have sell it that much Brain. I mean, WRESTLEMANIA III. We get stalling to start and even Tony admits they are having to fill time waiting on Pretty Wonderful. We start with Bagwell and Roma and after 90 seconds we get contact. Roma beats Bagwell down in the corner, but misses a clothesline and another. Bagwell gets a cross-body for two and a hip-toss. Heenan rages against bodybuilders who wear medium shirts to make themselves look bigger. Wonder who that was a shot at? Luger? Patriot and Wonderful in and Patriot works the arm. He brings Bagwell in, who comes off the top with a shot to the extended arm. Bagwell holds a wrist lock as we slow down a bit. Wonderful throws forearms to break so Bagwell picks up the pace again and gets a cross-body for two. Patriot in and he also gets a cross-body for two. Heenan wonders if Patriot has a burned face under the mask. Nope, that’s gotta be Kane! Bagwell and Roma back in and Bagwell gets a shoulder tackle. Roma gets the attention of the ref and Wonderful pulls Bagwell down by the hair. Roma gets Patriot flustered and that lets Wonderful beat Bagwell down from the apron. Wonderful back in and drops the boogie-woogie elbow to a pop. A Young Rock was taking notes somewhere in Miami. Bagwell gets a desperation sunset flip for two, but can’t follow up. Roma back in and hits a dropkick and then poses. He is so much better as a cocky heel instead of a Horseman. He leaps to the middle rope and heads up to come off with a pretty sweet elbow drop for two. Patriot makes the save and again, that takes the ref, so Wonderful throws Bagwell over the top and to the floor. Heenan apparently has a personal cooler, so Wonderful rams Bagwell face first off it. The crowd is booing Pretty Wonderful like crazy here! Wonderful dumps the entire cooler on Bagwell as Heenan yells for him to “Cool Off.” Back in the ring Wonderful with a clothesline and sets for the piledriver. Bagwell backdrops out, but Roma gets the tag and drops an elbow to cut off any tag. Front facelock and Bagwell uses his power to back Roma up as he stretches for a tag. Wonderful takes the ref so the tag is missed and everything breaks down as all four men are in the ring. Patriot runs wild with slams and dropkicks to get the crowd going. Double clothesline and you can hear some boos as we have Pretty Wonderful fans in the crowd. Wonderful sticks Bagwell with a piledriver on the floor while Patriot hits Uncle Slam. The ref won’t count as Bagwell is still the legal man. Wonderful rolls Bagwell into the ring and he is toast so it’s an easy pin for Roma at 12:59.

Winners and Still WCW World Tag Team Champions: Pretty Wonderful via pin at 12:59
-Fun match where they kept things simple and used the time tested tag formula. Pretty Wonderful was having fun out there and Bagwell took a good beating. ***

-Gene is backstage with The Nasty Boys, Dustin and Dusty Rhodes. Dusty’s Nasty Dream shirt is pretty swank! Dream can obviously still cut a hell of a promo and this was all set up by the all time great, emotional promo where he asked Dustin to be his partner (The View Never Changes). Go back and watch it because it’s fantastic and hits harder when you become a father.

–Halloween Havoc commercial and as noted, I already did that show.

Vader vs. Sting vs. The Guardian Angel

-Not really a Triangle match as WCW wasn’t doing matches like that yet. Instead they have all three men toss a coin and the odd man out gets a bye while the other two wrestle. I assume if they all flipped the same, we would toss again. Sting is the odd man out and gets the bye. Winner of the whole thing is the #1 contender for the WCW World Title.

Vader vs. The Guardian Angel

-These two have a history of delivering hard hitting matches. Heenan accidental calls Angel, Boss Man, but then transitions into calling himself the boss man in a way to cover himself. Lockup and Angel with a side headlock. Vader shoves off and they collide and neither man budges. Vader wants a test of strength and gains the advantage with the knuckle lock. Angel starts to rally, but Vader lands a knee to the gut. Angel out of the corner with a clothesline and another. He tries a slam, but nothing doing. Vader lands a splash in the corner but misses a clothesline and Angel gets a release belly-to-back suplex. He drops an elbow and goes for the slam, but again, nothing. Angel with right hands and he heads up, but Vader moves out of the way. Vader hooks a reverse chinlock as they seem to be keeping this one in a lower gear. I wonder if because they know there will be a second match. Harley gets in a cheap shot from the floor. Vader misses a splash in the corner and Angel gets a roll-up for two. Vader tries a slam and Angel falls back for another two count. Vader charges and both men end up spilling over the top and to the floor. We have hit the 5 minute mark. Race gets hit by Vader by mistake. Back in the ring Angel hits an enziguiri, but Vader is still standing. Now Angel gets the slam and gets a two count. Angel goes through his Boss Man offense and delivers the sliding uppercut. BossMan Slam, but the ref gets bumped. Race hits Angel and that lets Vader hit a Vader Bomb for the pun pin at 7:06.

Winner: Vader via pin at 7:06
-As mentioned, this was in a lower gear because Vader has another match. Still hard hitting, but they have had much better. **1/4

-30 second rest period!

#1 Contender’s Match: Vader vs. Sting

-Well, it’s Vader/Sting so we know this is going to be good. They start slow and get to a lockup. Vader shoves Sting, but he has faced Vader enough to know he can’t show fear and jumps up back in his face. Again a shove and again, Sting is right back up. Vader backs Sting into the corner and throws forearms, but Sting beats him chest and screams. Standing dropkicking for Sting. He catches Vader with a glancing clothesline. Into the ropes and Sting ducks two clotheslines, but Vader just mauls him with a vertical splash. Slam by Vader and he heads up for a Vader Bomb. That connects and that should be the end, but Vader flexes and doesn’t go for the cover. He goes up again but Sting is up and starts kicking Vader in the ass. Vader drops down and fires off right hands to the head and another clothesline. To the corner again, but Sting avoids The Vader Bomb. Sunset flip, so Vader drops down, but Sting moves out of the way. A clothesline sends Vader to the floor, but he lands on his feet. Sting follows and they start trading blows. Harley goes for a suplex as the ref is getting Vader, but Sting reverses. Big pop from the crowd! The announce that give minutes have passed, but it’s really been six. Back in the ring Sting gets a vertical suplex and heads up top. Splash connects and a second one catches nothing but knees from Vader. Slam and Vader back up top, but goes all the way up. Moonsault misses! They head up and Sting gets a superplex that almost ended up being a DDT. Elbow from Sting as the crowd is popping for everything they are doing. Another elbow gets two. Race is all over Patrick for counting too fast. If there’s one thing I know, it’s you will never be able to say Patrick counted fast in a Sting match. Stinger Splash gets two! Another two count. 10 minutes gone and Sting gets a German Suplex for two. Nice! Heenan notes that you will need to nail or superglue Vader to the mat. I hope Darby doesn’t watch and get ideas. Vader pitches Sting to the floor and Harley gets in a shot before distracting the ref. Man, the timer is slow as they announced 10 minutes and in reality we are approaching 12 minutes. This is important because this match has a 15 minute time limit. Vader boxes Sting in the corner, but he eats the punches and feeds off the crowd. Sting flexes and starts firing back with right hands. Clothesline! Sting gets a cover, but Vader gets his foot on the bottom rope. Vader rolls to the floor and staggers around the ring. He heads to the other ring, so Sting flies off the top rope onto him. Sting up top and hits a flying clothesline. Up top again and he hits another splash for two. Right hand from Vader followed by a belly-to-back suplex. Two minutes announced but we have hit 15 minutes in real time. Vader covers for a two count and just stays on the cover, forcing Sting to keep kicking out. Heavy right hand to the side of the head. 60 seconds as Vader comes off the top and gets caught with a powerslam. Both men beat the 10 count and Sting hits a clothesline for two as Race pulled the ref off the count. Scorpion Deathlock, but Vader fights out and we reach the time limit at 16:44.

-5 Minute OT: No bell, so my timer is just rolling on from the opening bell. Suplex by Vader! Both men are selling being exhausted and in Vader’s case he is doing a great job (or he really is gassed). He puts Sting up top and delivers short right hands. He follows, but Sting punches away and bites until Vader crashes to the canvas. Sting just slinks down and gets a cover for two as he has nothing left to try something off the top. He goes in for a slam, but no dice and Vader hits a head-butt. Vader back up, but Sting meets him as we have two minutes left in OT. Backdrop suplex off the top rope! Vader throws his weight at Sting and gets another clothesline. Tony notes if no winner it will go to sudden death where the first man to get knocked down will lose. Suplex gets two as we have 60 seconds to go in OT. Splash gets two! POWERBOMB but time runs out before the three count at 22:30.

-Sudden Death: First man to get knocked off his feet loses. Sting crawls back to the original ring, so we get the funny visual of all the photographers gathering up their stuff and moving. Vader boxes Sting’s ears and the crowds is freaking out as the suspense is real with the knockdown stipulation. Sting collapses in the corner, but holds himself up. Vader has nearly punched himself out so Sting starts firing back. Angel is out to get rid of Harley Race and that causes the ref to miss Vader getting knocked off his feet. The Masked Man that attacked Hogan, decks Sting from behind and the ref comes back to see Vader standing so that’s the match at 25:14.

Winner: Vader via last man standing at 25:14
-Not a fan of the ending, but it’s Sting/Vader and it’s always awesome. The crowd was way into this and was digging the knockdown stipulation. It added some crazy drama. I also like that Sting is fully aware of who he is dealing with and isn’t afraid. He just sucks it up and goes right at Vader. These two are great together and there’s a reason people have used their formula to this day. ****

-Mean Gene throws to Hulk Hogan, who is live (not really) from a gym working on getting his knee in shape. Hogan says he has a master plan to get Ric back in the ring. Hogan and Flair talk to each other via phone. LOOK AT THE CORD ON FLAIR’S PHONE. CAVEMEN! Flair is with a bunch of women and tells Hogan is is retired as Champion and is partying. Flair has a fake looking Big Gold Belt with him. They do some trash talking back and forth and it’s kind of awkward. Hogan pitches the idea of a putting his career on the line if Flair agrees to another match. Flair agrees and says he will call Bockwinkel to get the match official. Hogan whispers to Gene that his knee is better.

-Bockwinkel is out and says the match is official because Flair agreed to it on live TV. Flair is reinstated and the match will be at Halloween Havoc. Hogan can’t wrestle anywhere if he loses and Nick is adding the match will be held inside a Steel Cage. That gives us the classic Gene line: “What are you smoking?” That’s fantastic!

War Games: Terry Funk, Arn Anderson, Bunkhouse Buck, Colonel Parker (w/ Meng) vs. Dusty Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes, and The Nasty Boys

-Arn starts for his team because well, it’s in his DNA and anything else would be unacceptable. Dustin for his team because Rhodes/Anderson to start War Games is like peanut butter being with jelly. Dustin tries to send Arn into the cage, but he blocks and begs off in the corner. Arn forces Dustin to follow him back to the ring closest to his team’s door. Smart! Dustin blocks being sent into the cage and Arn gets the back of his head rammed against it. Reverse Atomic Drop and a big boot knocks Arn over the top and between the two rings. Dustin traps Arn’s head between the two rings and lifts up for his feet to keep slamming him down. Cool! Backdrop sends Arn into the second ring and Dustin flies over the ropes with a clothesline. Lariat from Dustin followed by an elbow. Dustin sets too early and gets dropped with a DDT. Arn goes to ground and pound and then uses his wrist tape to choke. Effective! Slow timer again as we hit 5 minutes, but they announce one minute to go. Dustin fights back and gets a dropkick as we get close to the coin toss. Suspense is killing me! Dustin with a half crab and the coin is tossed. Team Parker wins, so Buck enters. He catches Dustin with a big boot to the face and starts stomping away. Dream yells for Dustin to be tough as he gets the shit kicked out of him. Well, I guess that’s all he can do right now. Double Team Boston Crab! Arn lets go because the period is up and Sags is in for Team Rhodes. He runs wild with right hands and forearms. Powerslam to Arn and Bunk gets run back first into the cage. Arn gets tossed into the cage. PILEDRIVER and a great one to Buck! Dustin is back in it as he pounds away with right hands to Arn in the corner. Sleeper to Arn! Clothesline from Sags to Buck. Dusty is doing all the little things as he tells Dustin to watch his back. Terry Funk is trying to throws chairs into a cage with a roof on it. He takes his boot off and is next into the match. He decks Dustin with the boots and then falls on his ass, but instead of being funny it just makes him look crazed. He sends Dustin head first into the cage and again. He grates Dustin’s face off the cage in front of Dusty in a fantastic touch. Too bad no blood at this point in WCW as I guarantee Dustin and Arn would be bleeding gushers at this point. Funk takes a piledriver between the rings and disappears. That was great! Funk rises from the abyss and here’s Knobbs in the match. Arn into the cage! Bunk into the cage! Funk into the cage! Hey Arn, how about you into the cage again? Cheese grater action for Arn! Bunk gets his face rubbed against the cage. Boot shot to Funk and Heenan references Al Bundy which makes me smile. Did you know he scored 4 Touchdowns in one game? Funk is punch drunk and takes a swing at Buck because Funk is awesome. How can you not be entertained by this man? Parker is next and is on the verge of heart failure. The crowd is going crazy as he is taking his time. Dustin is waiting so Parker waits until Buck saves. Now Parker is on and huts his hand throwing punches. Buck uses his belt to choke Sags. Spinebuster from Arn though it was barely caught by the camera. Parker is feeling himself as he whips Sags with a belt. Dustin gets his hands on a belt and fires away on Buck. Parker then gets whipped and the crowd goes wild. Loud Dusty chant as we are back in the mid 80s once he enters. ELBOWS FOR EVERYONE! Arn, Buck, and Funk are all lined up to bump like crazy. Parker is SCREWED! Meng is nearly tearing the cage wall off and starts climbing. Splash in the corner and they hold off the rest of Team Parker as Dusty gets a figure four on Parker. The Nasty Boys drop elbows on Parker to make sure he is really dead and yeah, he surrenders at 19:02. That’s how you do the match beyond!

Winners: Team Rhodes via surrender at 19:02
-That was wonderful and just missed the blood letting these matches used to produce. Parker was the weak link and once the sides were even, it finished in about a minute as he was isolated and targeted. Dusty was well past his time but the crowd loved him in there and he did exactly what was needed and it just worked. This was just a fun match to watch! ****

-We still have six minutes in the show so Tony, Heenan, and Gene recap what we’ve seen tonight.

-Thanks for reading!

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

This was one heck of a show. Nothing I would classify as bad (unless you weep for Austin) and we had two great matches to end the show. WCW had a strong run of PPV is 1994 and this was another one. Definitely worth watching and also you have the historic nature of it being the final WCW PPV of Austin and Foley. At the time that didn't seem like a big deal, but history has proven otherwise.