The Furious Flashbacks – The Best of Abdullah the Butcher in WCW

The Furious Flashbacks – The Best of Abdullah the Butcher in WCW

A relic from the old tape trading days…

Incidentally you can follow me on Twitter @arnoldfurious

When I got this DVD, thanks to Kevin Bufton for the tape supplies, I almost recoiled in horror. Why on earth would I want to see a Best of Abby tape…from 1990? I could understand maybe an older tape but Kev insisted I check it out pointing out the virtues of those around him at the time. Seeing as he’s a trustworthy fellow I’ve popped it into to review on a cold Spring evening.

We’re in WCW. The graphics are terrible! Some guy has thrown this together himself (“Chop’s Tapes”) and the graphics look older than the footage. We kick off with Jim Ross talking about the mysterious black box. Good lord. That’d be angle #1 I’d blocked from memory; how Abby debuted in WCW.

BACKSTAGE Norman the Lunatic and Captain Mike Rotunda debate Norman’s big box, which he can fit people in. Ok, I’m calling the cops. He’s wearing a rubbish ninja turtle costume, for crying out loud.

Ned Brady v Captain Mike Rotunda w/Ninja Norman

JR & Jim Cornette on commentary. Cornette calls Norman “a feeble minded goof” before running down the Ninja Turtles. Steady, Jim! Save some hate for the match. There is an enormous black box at ringside. This is how they debuted Abby in WCW. You couldn’t make it up. This is so long ago that TV matches consisted of talent crushing jobbers. Brady is said jobber. He takes a decent bump, which makes this watchable. Cornette compares Rotunda & Norman to The Cruiser & Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. Good call. Except Mike Shaw wasn’t good at anything and I don’t think he could count. I know he got saddled with 2 or 3 of the worst gimmicks ever invented but he still sucks. The match is so disinteresting all anyone is interested in is the box, including Rotunda. He can’t even be bothered to squash this guy before he opens the box. That’s just disrespectful to the Job Squad. Rotunda grabs an armbar. Where’s the damn fast-forward button? Rotunda finishes with an Airplane Spin. Yeah…that just happened! ½*.

PROMO TIME JR gets a word with Norman the Lunatic. He says the “Boogeyman” is in the box. Damn, he waited in there for like 15 years. No wonder he was too old for Tough Enough.

Cuban Assassin v Captain Mike Rotunda

Hey, a jobber who wasn’t a jobber elsewhere! Cuban Assassin is from WWC in Puerto Rico. WCW used him as enhancement. The match is pretty good. Rotunda does rather grind it into submission with a headlock but CA backdrops out of it. Rotunda spends the rest of the match doing armdrags and works a top wristlock. You don’t see many wristlocks nowadays. Norman pushes his big black box out here. Cue Sapphire jokes! CA with a high crossbody but Rotunda rolls through it for 2. I thought that’d be the finish in a job match. Nice reversal. They go through some more rest holds until Rotunda finishes with the Airplane Spin. *. Another jobber match but a better one.

POST MATCH Cactus Jack comes out here for a fantastic brawl with Rotunda but its all a set up with Kevin Sullivan sneaking out to open the box. But in the box is ABBY! So he debuts 22 minutes into his own tape. Crowd is going INSANE btw. Abby moves ok for a 50 year old. Abby starts eating Norman’s stuff and JR’s format sheet follows along with the mic cover.

Chris Powers v Kevin Sullivan Cactus Jack

Sullivan replaces himself with Cactus because, fuck it. Why not? Foley wasn’t too good with jobbers because he used to bump like crazy for everyone. Powers looks confused by it. It should be noted he’s a far, far worse wrestler than the two Rotunda jobbers. Sullivan gets some digs in. Well he was supposed to be in the match. He might as well earn that appearance money. I’m enjoying seeing young Foley in action when he could still move around. He’s not quite gotten some of his trademark moves down. The Russian legsweep doesn’t look quite right. Powers can’t take any of the spots on the floor. Not one of them. Cactus just wrestles the match around him. Cactus Elbow finishes. *1/4. All about Cactus and his spots. Powers was bad but the fact Foley STILL put on a good show marks him as something special.

POST MATCH Sullivan calls out Abby and I’ll be damned if Foley doesn’t bump like a madman for fucking Mike Shaw. If there’s one guy who can make Abby look like a million dollars, even aged 50, its Mick Foley.

Robbie Idol/Mike Sampson v Abdullah the Butcher/Norman the Lunatic w/Captain Mike Rotunda

Hey, an Abby match! It only took 38 minutes! Cactus & Kevin Sullivan come out for a look. Abby pretty much ignores the rules. His main offence is going after the eyes. Then Norman comes in and tries to bump stuff. Urgh. They do come up with a good team spot though; Norman javelin’s Sampson into an Abby headbutt. Sampson tries for a sunset flip and Norman just sits on him for the win. ¼*. At least they kept it short and came up with one entertaining spot.

POST MATCH Jim Cornette comes down to interview Mike Rotunda. He says he’s got a “good crew”. Yaargh, matey. Sadly he doesn’t keep up the nautical references. Abby robs Cornette’s Twinkies and Cornette high-tails it to the back. He sure sold that! JR finds it funny. Cornette says he’ll call Ted Turner.

Kevin Sullivan/Cactus Jack/The Punisher v Mike Rotunda/Abdullah the Butcher/Norman the Lunatic

The Punisher is Cuban Assassin under a mask. We kick off with a wild brawl but it settles down into a match, which is probably a mistake. Cactus & Rotunda is really good because Rotunda is solid enough to provide wrestling counters to Cactus’ potentially insane spots. Sullivan throws Rotunda over the top rope behind the ref’s back. Oh yeah, that was a DQ at the time. That’s another WCW thing I’d blocked from memory. Abby piles in to attack Sullivan and it breaks down again. Abby can’t stick to the rules of a wrestling match. Punisher tries to sunset flip Norman and the fat fuck sits on him for the win. How stupid do you have to be to set up your opponents finisher for him. Its like resting your chin on Randy Orton’s shoulder as an offensive move. *1/2.

We get some promo shots advertising house shows where Sullivan says he sat in the dark waiting for the Boogeyman with his spike. Now that was a good promo.

Galaxians v Abdullah the Butcher/Norman the Lunatic

Speaking of blocking things from my memory; the Galaxians have been gone for 20 years! I believe one of those is Danny Davis. Their gimmick, for those who can’t remember it, is basically those of Space Invaders pilots. Or rather from Galaxian, the video game from the late 70s. Topical as ever, WCW. JR mentions Robocop who will be at the next PPV. They even named it after him. At least that movie was only 4 years old. It didn’t make the gimmick any smarter but hey, its WCW and 1990. The Galaxians can’t get anything going. One tries jumping off the top but gets caught in a bearhug. The other, perhaps feeling less enthusiastic, just walks into his bearhug. Eventually double teaming works so Abby gets a tag because he can just use martial arts strikes. “That’s illegal but he don’t care” – Cornette. The one Galaxian stupidly attempts a sunset flip and Norman sits on him. “Oh no, don’t do that” says Cornette as the Galaxian goes for it. Haha, idiot. **. Surprisingly good. Having opponents that just bump all over the place seems to work.

BACKSTAGE Sir Oliver Humperdink cuts a promo for Bam Bam Bigelow. Both now dead. Very sad. Speaking of which Mike Shaw is also dead.

Bam Bam Bigelow w/Sir Oliver Humperdink v Abdullah the Butcher w/Mike Rotunda

Now THIS is more like it. They just hammer at each other from the opening bell. Bigelow surely knowing the only way to make this interesting is to turn it into a fight. Abby jabs Bigelow in the throat and shoulderblocks him over the top. Hump wants a foreign object but Rotunda runs over to stop him and Cactus Jack runs in for the DQ. Damn, I actually wanted to see that develop. This was 2 minutes at the most and left me wanting more.

POST MATCH Kevin Sullivan runs in too before Norman makes the save and Captain Mike’s Crew clear the ring.

Kevin Sullivan/Cactus Jack/Bam Bam Bigelow w/Oliver Humperdink v Captain Mike’s Crew

Norman can’t contain his rage and goes after Sullivan. He’s wearing sweats today and I bet he’s sweating. They make fast tags to keep the action fresh with Cactus holding it together with his bumping. He goes for the sunset flip on Norman, oh dear, but Sullivan pulls him out of the ring. Crowd is hot for this, especially when Rotunda up’s the pace. Airplane Spin for Cactus but Sullivan runs in and Bigelow jumps onto Rotunda off the top. Basically they’re selling Sullivan as the brains while Cactus just gets beaten up. Rotunda sure has his work boots on too. Its like he knows his team is a bit…sluggish so he’s manning up and taking the majority of the match. They run a lot of heat on Rotunda. Ref misses a tag, Rotunda gets hammered in the corner and the heels switch without tags. All good formula stuff, which is getting the crowd fired up. Hot tag to Norman and Cactus bumps all over the place for him. Powerslam draws Sullivan in and everyone joins in the fight. Then the fight spills out to the floor and everyone gets counted out. **3/4. Was going great until the non-existent finish.

Clip ahead to Foley & Sullivan VS the Southern Boys. I think I’ve seen this match before. Sullivan throws Smothers over the top rope for the DQ. As I recall it was a good match but sadly no Abby so the full match doesn’t get on here. Everyone and their uncle runs out here for a mass brawl. Faces clear the ring when Abby gets out there.

PROMO TIME – Sting. This is the mystery box angle. He comes out to open the “present” and its Abby, who must love being left in boxes all over the place. He breaks out and attacks Sting. Man, Sting is so fucking gullible. “Ooooooh, a present…for me?” IT’S A TRAP!

We clip ahead to Sting Vs Johnny B. Badd. Another gift box has been delivered. The big question…is Sting stupid enough to fall for the exact same trap twice? But Badd is actually stupid enough to think it’s a present for him. Oh man, the writing was dumb that year. Cactus Jack runs in to attack Sting.

PROMO TIME – Paul E. Dangerously gets to interview Cactus Jack afterwards. Cactus says he’s got Abby out here, again wrapped in a present, so he goes to give him a hug. But its Sting. Which goes to show everyone in this company is as stupid as one another. Sting backdrops him on the ramp and biels him off to the floor. Oh man, that was a great match they had down the line. It was Foley’s favourite until he went to WWF and got to wrestle Shawn Michaels at the peak of his powers. I assume his favourite match is against Triple H from 2000 when it was all said and done.

PROMO TIME – Heyman gets a chat with Sting and out comes yet another gift. The crowd look at Sting and almost collectively say “are you REALLY that stupid?” He opens it anyway and its a hooker. Despite it being paid for Sting still manages to sexually harass her. He says he wants to know who’s behind this despite there being a note saying “love from Cactus Jack”.

Clip ahead to Cactus mangling another jobber. Cactus wins with a double arm DDT and Abby shows up to nail that jobber with Singapore cane shots. Harsh. JR gets an interview and asks who’s paying Cactus & Abby to run Sting out of WCW.

Clip again to Abby attacking Bobby Eaton with a chair. Eaton does a great job of selling Abby’s stuff. He comes back and waffles Abby in the head in the same chair. Abby takes 4 chair shots and no sells all of them. Eaton somehow gets a monkey flip but Cactus runs in to stop him hitting the Tennessee Jam. The ref calls for the bell. This was a match? Rick Steiner runs in for the save but Abby nails him with the Singapore Cane. Sting would make the save except he’s not on the show so he’s not there.

Bill Kazmaier v Abdullah the Butcher

Well, this is brutal. Thankfully Cactus Jack runs in for the DQ before I hate it too much. DUD. Kazmaier showed incredible strength, he slammed Abby, but nothing else at all.

Chamber of Horrors: Sting/El Gigante/Steiner Brothers v Vader/Cactus Jack/Abdullah the Butcher/Scott Hall

I’ve seen this before, its from Halloween Havoc ’91. I don’t remember if I liked it or not. There’s an Electric Chair in the middle of the ring, which they lower in and Cactus very nearly gets crushed by. So close that Rick Steiner almost pulls him out and he was on the other team. The idea is to win, you put someone in the chair and pull the switch that’s up the side of the cage. They have a great camera on the ref’s head, which is unusually innovative but they must have had trouble with it because I don’t remember it getting used again. But its brilliant! Its like walking around inside the ring. Cactus bleeds all over the place and after the blading Scott whacks him in the cut with the Singapore cane. Damn, Foley used to steal every match he was in by out-bumping and out-selling everyone. As I type that he takes another massive bump over the top. Not the best spectacle this match. Basically because there’s too much going on and, because no one wants to distract from something else, there’s lots of nothing going on. If that makes sense. There’s a load of bladejobs. We zoom in on El Gigante who’s literally doing NOTHING. He’s holding onto Scott Steiner and they’re just standing there. Scott gets in trouble but he counters Abby into the electric chair and Cactus pulls the switch without looking because he really is a complete moron. From a storyline POV. The electrocution angle is pretty dumb but Abby sells it by just sitting around and bleeding. It sort of works. *3/4. Match wasn’t exactly inspiring. There were a lack of spots, action and the whole aim of the match was daft. They tried to compensate with bleeding and just throwing Cactus around but that will only get you so far.

POST MATCH Abby wakes up and, sort of, turns face by destroying the “ghouls”; a bunch of guys in white suits with talcum powder on their faces.

Ricky Steamboat/Todd Champion v Cactus Jack/Sgt Buddy Lee Parker

This is from Battlebowl @ Starrcade ‘91. Abby attacks Parker to stop him joining the match because he thinks no one else should team with Cactus. The officials won’t let Abby come out and he even smacks Parker around some more. Some of the shots are unprotected TO THE BACK OF THE HEAD. Daaaaamn, man! We don’t bother showing the match because Abby isn’t in it.

Sting/Abdullah the Butcher v Brian Pillman/Bobby Eaton

Abby attacks Sting, not quite understanding the concept, and Pillman has to save his opponent. He wails on Abby like Buddy Lee Parker was his BFF. This is a weird match because they’ve paired off and yet if anyone tried to switch the partners would fight each other. Luckily its Sting & Eaton when the smoke clears. Abby strolls in…to attack Sting. Is that a DQ? I’m not even sure what can be done. He even grabs Sting and jabs him with a pencil and PILLMAN has to make the save. Pillman SLAMS ABBY! Bobby tags Abby in and that’s not a tag so Sting just keeps working Eaton over. Abby tries to get back in so Pillman jumps him again. Abby tries to set Sting up for Cactus Jack but Cactus miscues like the bumbling fool he’s booked as. Sting crossbodies Eaton to advance. **1/2. Pretty good match. Its one of the rare times that Battlebowl threw something weird together and it worked.

POST MATCH Abby is sick of Cactus fucking up and attacks him.

Battlebowl ‘91

Not sure we’ll get the whole thing. Sting goes right after Abby. Oh, I’m sorry, that’s Dustin Rhodes! From a distance the spiky yellow hair looked the same. The rules of Battlebowl are stupid because you get thrown out…into ring two. Whoever wins ring one wrestles whoever wins ring two. Why not just have a battle royal? Or a Rumble style match based on the time of the qualifying matches. Quickest win comes in last? Its all a bit crowded. I could probably live without seeing this again. I believe this is the third or possibly even fourth time I’ve seen it. Damn Abby comp tape. Liger-Morton does, once again, rock my world though. They basically get some space in ring two and start putting on an exhibition that’s far better than anything else; then Liger crossbodies Morton over the top and they’re both gone. And the match sucks again. Sting and Rude eventually wake the crowd up with a brawl from ring 1 to ring 2. Vader-Luger for ring 1. Abby is still out there, somewhere, if anyone was interested and this is REALLY dragging now. Luger clotheslines Vader into ring 2 and Lex now has a pass until the other ring has cleared out. Abby gets thrown out and that’s the end of the clip. Man, what a waste of time that was. Match is like ** but the only good part retained on the tape is Liger Vs Morton, which is about 60 seconds long.

We clip to Cactus Jack fighting in a stable. I can’t tell who his opponent is but Abby shows up, dressed as a cowboy, and accidentally hits the blonde opponent with a shovel. Cactus gets the pin. Abby takes over and dunks Cactus in the water trough. Missy Hyatt gets used as a foreign object! Abby picks her up and throws her at Cactus into the trough. She’s soaked. The screaming noises really cap it off. I notice the Clash of the Champions logo and can quickly discover that Cactus pinned Van Hammer. Don’t remember why they were fighting in a stable but the match was ‘falls count anywhere’.

We clip back to before Starrcade with JR interviewing Cactus & Abby. Cactus talks about winning, pre-dating Charlie Sheen by 20 years. They try some motivational tactics by hitting each other with the Singapore cane.

Cactus Jack/Abdullah the Butcher v Scott Allen/Rick Rider

Cactus does his clothesline over the top on Allen before we even start. Haha, watch out there jobber! Well, its taken 2 ½ hours but Abby’s fat rolls are finally freaking me out. Just imagine how all that blubber would feel under your arms. Thankfully Cactus does most of the legwork here. Throughout the tape the picture quality has been solid but that goes out the window here…the finish lost in the snow. The replay comes through clearer with Abby using his elbow drop to win. ½*. I figure this closes the tap so you can actually see Abby pin someone.

With the VQ completely dropping off I assume we’re done here. After all Cactus moved on to Ron Simmons and Abby was done.

The 411: I think my instincts were pretty close to the mark. Some of the matches are surprisingly good but the booking around them is abysmal. You’ve got some Ole Anderson leading into some Dusty Rhodes (correct me if I’m wrong). None of its good. Wrestlers still managed to pull good matches out but they more down to individual effort than planning by the bookers. Abby wasn’t exactly in peak condition at this point in his career but you can see just how many people tried to make him relevant still. Foley in particular but you can see effort from the likes of Sting, Pillman, Bigelow etc. It shows that wrestling can be one big happy family sometimes. Even if the booking still sucks.

Final Score:  4.0   [ Poor ]