Demolition Vol.2: Walking Disaster 1989-1990

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The national hero archetype in a national wrestling promotion is the hardest role to pull off in wrestling.  It requires unparalleled levels of charisma to successfully win over audiences across the nation. There is no hometown bias that a regional star can rely upon like in territories. Underdog babyfaces can rely on sympathy and empathy generated by selling. The national hero has a very tough balancing act. He is supposed to be Superman smiting down all challengers, but he has to make those challenges credible. Underdog babyfaces make their obstacles credible through selling, a natural size disadvantage or heel chicanery. The national hero has to validate their challenge through promos and explaining why this is a worthy challenge and how they will overcome it. However, a hero is only good as their heel. 

Unfortunately, for Demolition they were stuck with some pretty atrocious heel tag teams in the form of Powers of Pain (Barbie is good, but consensus is that this team sucked the meat missile) and Twin Towers (some people actually like this team, but I fuckin' hate Akeem and I don't think I can get past that). So it is easy to chock the first half of their run to shitty opponents. However, when it comes to time to feud with one of the all-time best heel tag teams: The BrainBusters and I still their matches suck then it is time to take some personal responsibility.

I liked them better with Fuji

 

I will note my opinions on the Demolition/Busters series is not without controversy. I have run into a handful of people that love these matches and hold them as some of the best matches of the era and proof of Eadie's genius. Don't get me wrong, I am willing said Eadie was one of the best ring generals in the tag scene in my first volume of Demolition matches, but I thought his layouts for his babyface matches were selfish. He worked his babyfaces matches just like the heel matches in terms of how he was constantly struggling, which is fine, but it was the extent to which he goes in this context. Heels are always weaker than babyfaces (except monster heels) it is why they treat and why good triumphs over evil. So heel Demolition would eventually succumb to babyface double teams and it led to interesting dynamics. Face Demolition never relented and turned their matches into extended squashes. It felt like Arn & Tully had been replaced by Jose Estrada & SD Jones. The heel team gets some token offense or cheating in, but it is not a credible. Only, the Busters actually win the titles! I feel as if Demolition were insecure about their position in the company. They could not afford to lose heat with the audience by looking vulnerable. At the end of the day, Demolition was a successful box office tag team, but from an aesthetic work perspective as babyfaces they leave a lot to be desired.

There is one giant exception to this (pun fully intended). Demolition was willing to sell for Andre The Giant. Even though, Andre was basically a cripple these were Demolition's best matches as a babyface because for once you believe Demolition had to struggle to beat the Colossal Connection not the other way around. Kudos to Ax for his great layouts to accentuate Andre's and Haku's strengths.

Finally, Demolition rode off into the sunset as heels and pretty quickly I started taking a liking to them again. Ax was slowing down and his swan song at Wrestlemania VI winning the tag titles for a third time. They brought in a young buck, Crush. Crush is nowhere near the mind of Ax, but I will say given the output I think Smash & Crush could have been a successful tag team act for 2 more years instead of splitting them Their Summerslam '90 match with the Hart Foundation is an extended squash, which is funny given what they did when they were on top. However, the Road Warriors matches and the Rockers match illustrated a Demolition that would have been a huge boon on the heel side as an addition to the Nasties. Smash, having been under tutelage of Ax, had a decent grasp on heel psychology and Crush had a couple neat moves. I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed those matches. Moreso, because of Road Warriors had a reputation of being main event act in the AWA and NWA, Demolition was actually given a main event run in the Fall of 1990 with Ultimate Warrior joining the Road Warriors in Six-Man Tag affairs. Unlike the NWA, I think this hurt Warrior's standing more than it helped established the Road Warriors as a main event act. Regardless, the matches are wicked fun popcorn matches to watch even if they did not do good business. It was only at their death that Demolition was finally given a main event run in the company even though they had been tag team aces since Wrestlemania IV. I feel it was too late for them to capitalize to see if Demolition could really draw as a main event act.

All in all, Demolition is a team that looked on more for their kayfabe accomplishments and their run on top, but I think if you look at their work from 1987-1988, you will find it enjoyable and discover a very good tag team. In 1989, they just mowed down the heels ala Hulk Hogan (a successful business model) and they came full circle in 1990 with Smash & Crush as heels putting on good performances with The Road Warriors and the Rockers. Bill Eadie has a great mind for the business and understood that by making a babyface work that both teams would only get more over and garner more heat.


Choice cuts from Demolition's 1989-1990 run:
Rockers vs Demolition - MSG 11/90
The Ultimate Warrior & Legion of Doom vs Demolition - SNME 10/90

Personal Favorites:
WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Colossal Connection w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan - Primetime 12/13/89
Demolition w/ Mr. Fuji vs Legion of Doom - 11/20/90

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WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Powers of Pain w/Mr. Fuji - 11/88 Boston

One of the first matches of this feud proper as Fuji turned his back on Demolition and joined the Warlord & Barbarian. Demolition clears the ring and they tease getting Fuji, but POP makes the save. Demos doing double-team forearm sledges and crowd seems to be behind Demolition. Smash tries to chinlock Barbarian and Barbarian gives him an uppercut as to say I am not going to be your heel in peril, bitch. Warlord is useless. Ax gets hit with the cane when he gets too close to Fuji. Boring heat segment as not surprisingly these two teams cant put together there. Barbarian could have salvaged it, but he settled for the Vulcan nerve pinch. It breaks loose in Tulsa as Smash comes in and Barbarian does a cartwheel out of the ring to a big pop and best bump of the match. Smash is better than Brunzell at being a hot tag I will give him that. Fuji just sort of wanders in the ring. He looks lost to be honest. Ref just throws the match out and Ax chases them off with the cane.
An inauspicious start to Demolition's babyface run, but we could chock that up to Warlord sucking.
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WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Powers of Pain w/ Mr. Fuji - 12/88 MSG NO DQ

Holy shit! Barbarian speaks! Decent promo by him.
This match outright sucks. If it is NO DQ give me a brawl, I know it is late 80s WWF. I dont need blood, just some wild out of control brawl. Instead it is boring, shitty match. At least it was short. Ax was movin and shakin tonight. I have not seen him move so well since watching Demolition and actually took a pretty bump off Fuji's cane. Barbarian did his best with a nice flying shoulderblock, a shoulderbreaker and missing a top rope diving headbutt. He is the best worker of the 4. Ax and Barbarian could have had a decent singles match. Smash has no idea how to be a babyface. He just slaps on restholds. Ax understands he needs to keep things moving. Warlord is a candidate for worst wrestler ever. Finish is a countout victory for the Powers of Pain as Ax/Barbarian brawl on the outside.

Only one more match....O you didn't know watching shitty wrestling for completest sake is what all the cool kids are doing. 

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WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Powers of Pain & Mr. Fuji - Wrestlemania V

The best match of the series as Barbarian brought some nice moves during the heat segment and it climaxed appropriately with Fuji getting his comeuppance. I dont mind the double clubbering from Demolition it is the chinlocks on the POP that are boring. Warlord is so awkward taking the Demos offense. Barbarian uppercuts and works his usual moves: flying shoulderblock as Fuji gets his licks in. Fuji gets cocky and misses a top rope leg drop. Smash in with some bodyslams and they drop Warlord throat first across the top rope. POP breaks it up. Fuji with salt in Warlord's eyes. Leaving Fuji alone to take Demolition Decapitation. The first time I have actually seen Demolition hit that move. The match has better executed heat segment and Fuji eating Decapitation was a fitting climax.

It is only up from here.

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WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Twin Towers 4/88 Boston

Well it is better, but that is not saying much. It is a pretty decent match, but again nothing I'd go out of my way to see. Ax does give a pretty inspired face in peril performance, but Akeem with his stupid fuckin mannerisms keep taking me out of the match. I don't remember the mannerisms being so prominent in the Megapowers vs Twin Towers match, but here they are so aggravating. Akeem is like the love child of Crusher Blackwell and Dusty Rhodes. Sorry for ruining your lunch and sex drive. Was Akeem intended to be a potshot at Dusty. I have to imagine it was. 

Demolition wrestle like their babyface opponents used to wrestle against them only Demolition-y. Demos use a lot of frequent tag and spend a lot of time clubbing the Towers down in double team like fashion. It is smart offense, but nothing terribly entertaining. It is establishing that the Towers and Demolition are of equal strength thus double teaming is necessary for either team to get the advantage. Likewise, the Twin Towers garner the advantage by sandwhiching Ax. Thats a whole lotta man between those three dudes. I wonder if Smash felt left out? Ax is doing his best but the Towers aren't really doing much, just usual choking and double teaming. They sandwhich Ax in the corner again. They get cocky and try one more time and miss. Ax tags Smash and Smash is getting better and really lets Bossman and Akeem have it. They do a double hotshot on Akeem, but the ref had been bumped by a collision and there is no one to count. Bossman uses his night stick to hit both members of Demolition. The ref feigns counting to three, but is actually calling the match off as a no contest. Smash chases off the Twin Towers with a wooden chair.

I would be remiss to mention that Tony Schiavone is such a better play by play guy than anybody in WWF. He may just be the best in history of our sport. Nah, Im kidding, Lance Russell is and no once comes close. The match was alright. I wanted more of a clash of titans feel instead I got the normal tag formula feel.
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WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Twin Towers - Boston 6/3/89

I cant believe I am going to say this, but bring back Warlord and all his awkwardness. Anything beats Akeem grabbing his crotch or doing dance moves to sell Demolition's holds. I don't think there is anyway Akeem could have a good match given his gimmick. I dont mind comedy in a wrestling match, but this is abjectly bad comedy that also does not have a place in this type of match. Even with this gripe, this match is better than the last match because the other three wrestlers put on a better match, but this still is not something I consider a very good match.

Demolition begin in similar fashion use double team clubbering to wear down their opponents. Bossman looks stupids taking as he is putting up no resistance and just taking it. Dont even get me started on Akeem. Bossman does do a cool sell. He is on his knees get punched in the head and does a back bend so the back of his head touches the mat and then comes back up like a drum major. Tony notes "Demolition gets a lot of mileage out of their forearms and fist". Tell me about it.

The transition was not memorable it just felt like the heels sort of took over, which is very odd for an Eadie match. Akeem does a couple butt splashes in the corner, a sort of proto-stinkface. Smash is the face in peril and not nearly as good as Ax. Bossman hits a wicked spinebuster. The Twin Towers are not pressing the advantage. Bossman goes for his rope straddle and misses. This is only false hot tag and Akeem delivers a leg drop, Smash hits a clothesline and here comes Ax. Walking Disaster! Ax is definitely rejuvenated since babyface turn if only he had a better partner. When Bossman collides with Akeem, he gets hit in the face with his nightstick and Ax pins him.
It was an alright match, but once again nothing that was impressive. In fact, Akeem was so irritating that overwhelms the match. Well, onto the Brainbusters, if there is anybody that can save me it is Arn & Tully! 
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Demolition rubbing elbows with the big wigs



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Babyface Demolition has been pretty wretched. They just gobble up their opponents and it turns most of their matches in extended squashes. It was ok when they were heels because they made the babyfaces work for it, but the babyfaces would eventually get one over on the Demos by using double teams. Also, the whole overwhleming power was a great obstacle for babyfaces to overcome. Now they are babyfaces, we just get the heel in peril stuff, but done even worse with the Demolition just dominating their opponents. Of course when it is time for the heat segment, it is not like Ax or Smash exactly scream "sympathetic" and neither is very good eliciting that reaction. Did Eadie or Darsow ever work babyface at any other point in their career? I know the gimmick was just to go out there have them mow down the heels, but I have not really enjoyed it. I hate to sound so negative about this because I love the positive culture that this board fostered towards all wrestling, but I got to call a spade because when I am not enjoying Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, something has got to be up. Demolition treated the BrainBusters like two jabronis that were lucky to unseat them. I am not screaming from the mountaintop for heels to look good. Heels are supposed to be inferior to babyfaces (unless they are monsters) thats why the cheat and play dirty, but the Busters were just the Demos rag dolls. I look up and see all the praise for the Busters matches and I am just not seeing it. I totally welcome a conversation on this.
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WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs The BrainBusters w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan - SNME 5/89

This story of this match is that Busters are totally outgunned by the awesome might of Demolition unless they cheat. Arn & Tully do a good job putting over that they do not want to be double teamed by Demolition, but in their caution they often pay the hard way. The first moment of cheating sees Tully bury a need in Smash's back, but he pops back up from vertical suplex. Ruh roh, Busters! They do some regroup with The Brain, but to no avail as Ax still catches Tully off the top and plants him in the corner (a favorite spot of the series). After some more clubbering, Double A is able to get a chop block during a Smash double choke. Tully hotshots Smash and Arn follows up with a spinebuster but gets flinged off with authority (another favorite spot of the series). Smash and Arn punch each other at the same time. To prevent the hot tag, Tully pulls Ax off the apron and AA clocks Ax. Melee ensues leading to Demolition getting DQ'd because Ax loses his temper and throws a ref.
This is a pretty effective angle. The Busters come across as effective nuisances and they establish Demolition as almighty, indomitable badasses. You can understand that Busters getting a rematch because they did technically won the match and Demolition wants to get their hands on the Busters.
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WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs The BrainBusters w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan - 2 Out of 3 Falls SNME 7/89

This is the match made the Busters look like absolute chumps as they were barely on offense in their own title victory. This felt like an extended squash with a swerve finish with the jobbers winning. The first fall is Demolition destroying the Busters at every turn. Any time, the Busters even think they have one over on Demolition they get stymied immediately by Demolition. McMahon does a job putting over the reason that the Busters cant sustain any offense with Demolition because they are trading blows with Demolition. Tully dropkicks Arn onto Smash, hey wait isn't that a babyface spot. :)  But they can not capitalize on that because Ax grabs Tully's hair yanking him down allowing Smash to hotshot Arn to pick up the first fall. So clearly, Busters need to regroup and devise a new strategy because Demolition is too much for them.
Second fall is pretty piss poor. Demolition capitalize on their advantage, but Double A thumb him in the throat. The Busters actually work over Ax's throat for a bit with Heenan getting a slap in. But God forbid, Demolition look weak, before you know it, Ax gets the hot tag. Smash mows down the Busters. Demolition is out of control and won't stop double teaming. They climax with Demolition Decapitation, but the ref calls the bell for excessive double teaming. Andre is out. That's fucking rich. Demolition lost the fall because they are too damn awesome. I have felt that Demolition has been a pretty selfish team, but that is some serious ego-stroking.

Well since Demolition did not actually take any punishment in that fall, they are again pressing their advantage tossing Tully over the top rope. Tully whips Ax into Arn's head and everyone is woozy. They reinforce this with Arn doing his head collision spot with Ax in the corner. They both tag out. Tully bitches out to Smash. All Hail the Mighty Demolition! Gimme a break. Tully takes his wicked bump over the top turnbuckle. Ax hits Tully from behind allowing Smash to hit Arn. The Brain detains the ref and Andre slides in a chair and Tully wallops Smash to pick up the victory. No heat segment and no sustained offense from the Busters the whole match.

The only heat segment lasted about a minute in the second fall. This was an extended squash that was awful. If you want to claim there was any internal logic, the only logic to claim is that Demolition are the omnipotent, almighty tag team and they can only lose to their own awesomeness or from a chair. That was one of the worst matches, I have ever seen.
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King Duggan & Demolition vs Andre The Giant & Twin Towers - Summerslam '89

Duggan is sporting Old Glory face paint, which is pretty cool. This is just a popcorn match set up by Andre aiding in the Demolition title loss and Demolition having been programmed with Towers in the post-WM V timeframe. Akeem is not that annoying. Demolition clubber and work over the Towers arm. Ax gets trapped in the wrong corner allowing Andre to come in and use his weight to debilitate Ax. Akeem ruins for it for his team by running into the corner, dumbass. Smash slams both Towers, which gets a huge pop. Andre chops Smash sending him reeling. Melee ensues. Duggan hits Akeem with his 2X4 in the chaos giving the Smash the victory. This was a lot of inoffensive fluff, but it was strange that they protected the heels like that.
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WWF Tag Champs BrainBusters vs Demolition - MSG 9/89

It is disappointing that Busters only worked Demolition, the Rockers and Bushwhackers in meaningful programs. I would have liked to see them with some more varied opponents. This is definitely the best match out of the bunch. On the Demolition sliding scale, it is one of their best matches. This one has a wild start with the Demolition out for blood as they do not take off their hoods before clearing the ring. Just to make it clear, I think this was a very proper response to them losing their titles to underhanded tactics. I just wish they would show some more vulnerability later on the match. I like the spot a lot where Tully is layed out on the top ropes and gets clubbered. We get some chinlocking with some switching without tagging. Demolition living on the edge! smile.gif I will say this is the most energetic clubbering I have ever seen out of Demolition if it was always like this, I would like them a lot more. Smash sets too early and Arn gives him an elbow for good measure. Tully follows up with and elbow and Arn with a spinebuster. Sustained offense by the BrainBusters, Whaaaaaaaaaat? Smash hits an atomic drop on Arn sending him into Smash's boot. Ax back in and he is chinlock-happy.

Tully elbows Ax in the back while he is chinlocking setting the table for the heat segment. They do some standard double team cheating. Ax catches Tully coming off the apron and sends him into the post. Ax and Arn collide heads in the middle of the ring. Tully grabs Smash off the apron preventing the hot tag. Arn goes to the middle rope, but they kinda blow the spot and Arn just wipes himself as Ax is not really in position to punch him the gut. Smash runs amok hitting everything with a pulse save for the referee, he is the cooler head of Demolition. smile.gif Demolition execute a double hot shot, but the Busters pull out the ref like in the Rockers match.

This is a much better structured match because Demolition was willing to display some vulnerability. I am not asking for the Demos to be the Rock n Rolls, but they got to meet me halfway. They were just swallowing the Busters alive. This is perfectly fine because Demolition look like the superior team, but the Busters looked like they did some damage to the Demos. Demolition should be presented as the superior team that wrongfully got the belts stolen, but the extent they were going in dominating the Busters makes for unentertaining wrestling.
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WWF Tag Champs BrainBusters vs Demolition - Superstars 11/89

The Busters have learned and try to double team early, but are overwhelmed. Tully gets laid out on the top turnbuckle and clubbered. Arn takes a reverse atomic drop into Ax' boot. Tully clips the knee on a Smash suplex attempt and giving the Busters a chance to choke and double team. Ax breaks up Arn's spinebuster, weird that move is protected now. Smash reverses a Tully suplex. Ax demolishes the competition and they finish with Demolition Decapitation.
This was a perfect match to end this series. Everything was building to have Demolition run through the Busters. The whole series is that Demolition is in a whole another league than the Busters. They just mow through them and pick the title back up. I am a sucker for babyfaces crushing the heels in 5 minutes to take the titles after a chase. It is a fun ending.
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WWF Tag Champs Demolition vs Colossal Connection w/ Bobby "The Brain" Heenan - Primetime 12/13/89

Ax gets his ass kicked the whole match!!! ELEVENTY BILLION STARS~! I am just kidding. It is short, sweet and effective, but it is not going to change anyone's world. Andre in 1989 is WWF's version of a wrecking ball. Hey, that headbutt maybe not be coming that fast, but it has a lot of mass behind it. In the opening fracas, Andre headbutts Ax, which fucks his shit up the rest of the match. Pretty much Haku takes it from there beating Ax down and throwing him into Andre's head and there is plenty of double-teaming. They have a couple decent hope spots: Haku missing a three point stance and Ax hitting Haku with an atomic drop, but tagged Andre while up in the air. The finish is a crescent kick followed by Andre elbow drop. When Andre hits the mat, you best believe a 3 count is happening. I will say the fact that Demolition never let anyone kick their ass like this actually made the commentary point, "I have never seen Demolition manhandled like this" valid. It definitely builds suspense towards the Wrestlemania rematch, which would Andre's and Ax's swan song. Of course, a nice moment for Andre as he gets to win a title on his way out. 
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WWF World Tag Team Champions Colossal Connection vs Demolition - MSG 12/28/89

For my money, this is the best babyface Demolition match I have seen. I still would not rate it that highly, but it was decent. If this match was wrestled with 1984 Andre this could have been a great match up. Ax only seems to sell for Andre when wrestling face. Now there have been claims that Andre was a very effective worker at this stage, but how much was it actually his opponents making him look effective. Andre's headbutts and general offense looks like shit, but it is Ax & Smash that make it worthwhile. Andre understood his limitations and had a enough tricks to work around them, but he seriously needed to be carried. One of those tricks was his facial expressions and his charisma. At the beginning of this match, he has the most smug look on his face. "Be me guest, Haku, start the match it makes no difference we are going to smoke them either way", all in one facial expression. Smash starts the match for Demolition and after Ax's pitiful kayfabe performance it is probably for the best. Haku misses an elbow drop early and it's clubbering time, Tony! Haku hits a couple kicks to free himself to tag Andre. Andre misses the ass splash and the best part of the match begins. Demolition is relentless in their efforts to keep Andre at bay in their corner with clobbering. Andre just keeps swatting at them. There is such a great sense of struggle in this portion and how important it is for Demolition to contain Andre. That segment sums up the significance of Andre in the late 80s. Andre eventually beats back Demolition and tags in Haku. Ax gets an atomic drop on Haku, but cant capitalize due to his beating from Andre. Andre is back in with some choking and Haku misses his three-point stance splash in the corner. He eats an reverse elbow and here comes the Smasher. Smash is a pretty lukewarm hot tag. After basic hot tag offense, Ax drags Haku to the outside allowing Andre to headbutt Smash from behind and toss him out for the countout victory. Never turn your back on a giant, shaking my head. Demolition takes exception and they double clothesline Andre and then hit Demolition Decapitation on Haku, a portent of things to come? This match was Demolition's bread and butter: well-laid out, solid match that emphasizes everyone's strengths, but is nothing all that memorable.
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WWF Tag Champions Colossal Connection w/Bobby Heenan vs Demolition - WrestleMania VI

Pat Riley made a couple bucks off Vince with all this Three-Peat talk. Andre and Ax were effectively done with the WWF after this match and it is memorable for that more than being a good match. They had a very bare bones match to get the titles back on Demolition and turn Andre face for his final send-off. They do the melee start like at the TV title change, but this time Andre's heabutt is inconsequential. There is a super short babyface shine, before Ax takes heat due to a spike to a throat. Haku gets a two off a backbreaker. Andre chokes Ax out with the tag rope. Haku hits a shoulderbreaker for a 2. Ax gets his boot up in the corner. Smash goes through his usual hot tag offense. They double clothesline Andre. Andre is able to grab a headbutt from behind, but this time Haku crescent kicks Andre. Andre falls and does his trademark tied up in the ropes spot. Demolition hit a double hotshot and a Demolition Decapitation to a massive pop. Heenan gives Andre the bidness so Andre kicks his ass and then Haku's ass. Fools, if you think you are going to hijack Andre's ride back in that little ring. It is a pretty simple match, but it popped the crowd, got the belts back on Demolition and accomplished Andre's farewell so mission accomplished.
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CRUSH~!

WWF World Tag Champions Demolition vs Rockers - SNME 7/90

Since this is 1990, this is not going to be anywhere near the 1988 match and it was a backdrop to transition the three-way feud from Rockers/Hart Foundation to Rockers/Demolition to Demolition/Hart Foundation for Summerslam. Crush is really not good when he is asked to sell for the Rockers. It is pretty heel in peril to begin with for the first five minutes or so with none of the Demolition trademark work. Marty even gains controls without double teaming. They go through the usually team moves to clear the ring. There is a really poor rana by Shawn where he just hooks underneath the shoulders and Jannetty dropkicks over him. They work over Crush's arm and we get some Warlord-inspired selling here. Marty slides underneath Smash, but Ax smokes this smarty-pants. Crush is actually halfway decent on offense making him better than Warlord and Akeem in my book. Jannetty sells pretty well and takes the Bret Bump, before hitting a reverse bulldog to tag in Shawn. Double dropkick. Double fistdrop, but Crush saves. Shawn goes for that Bret roll-up off the ropes, but Ax crushes him with a lariat for the win. Hart Foundation & LOD are out to complain, but decision stands.

This is a pretty by the numbers match and illustrates the continued drop in quality of Demolition performances since 1988 and they are starting to lose heat also. The Rockers looked pretty good, but nothing outstanding. The finish does not even build the Hart Foundation/Demolition match all that well.
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WWF Tag Champs Demolition (Smash & Crush) vs Hart Foundation - Summerslam 1990 2 Out of 3 Falls

This ain't Eadie's Demolition as they are treated like any other heel tag team. There is none of that sense of struggle that Demolition usually imposes on its opponents. Instead of the Hart Foundation are having their way with the "Mighty" Demolition even Bret is able to manhandle both members of Demolition at once. It begins with some basic arm work on Smash, which Bret always make look good even when it is perfunctory. Crush catches Bret on a cross body attempt and Bret takes a blind boot to the head when running the ropes and I felt the heat segment coming, but instead he tags out to Anvil. Bret back in and a melee ensues with Bret coming out the better. Anvil gets wiped out on the outside, but Bret is in command with a Russian Legsweep, backbreaker, second rop elbow, but Crush breaks it up. They hit Demolition Decapitation to win the first fall. This first fall even though Demolition picked up victory made them feel like generic also-rans. Hart Foundation was definitely piloting the match and looking good.

Second fall does its job, but it is a bare minimum effort. Weak, weak heat segment on Bret. Bret clotheslines and struggles to tag in Anvil. Anvil running powerslam gets two and then Bret slingshots Anvil into Smash in the corner. Hart Attack, but Crush leaps on the ref to prevent the pinfall only to get DQ. Stupid finish to a lame fall. Ax hurries out in the intermission to hide under the ring.
Third fall was a little better as up until this point it had been a Hart Foundation squash. Crush wipes out Bret before the fall and Bret sells on the outside, but this does not last for long as Bret immediately is back on offense. Anvil shoulderblocks Smash and slams Bret on top for two. Smash and Ax switch. Finally the match picks up as Ax pulverizes Bret with his double ace handles. He gets a two off the Bret Bump and Crush executes a nice tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Crush detains Anvil while they repeatedly double team Bret on the outside and they finally get some heat on this match. Road Warriors come out to a massive pop to break up Demolition Decapitation. Anvil does his slingshot shoulderblock on Crush while Bret tabletops him for the three and their second World Tag Team Championship.

This was a really lackluster affair that felt like more of a squash match for the Hart Foundation than a dramatic title bout. If they wrestled the match like the third fall and really made use of the three man advantage this could have been something a bit more. Instead, it seemed clear that Bret was set to be a big star and Demolition was on job duty for the LOD so the match really reflected their momentum on the pecking order at this time. Summerslam '88 is definitely the match to watch between the two biggest WWF Tag Teams of this era.
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The Ultimate Warrior & Legion of Doom vs Demolition - MSG 9/90

This match was way, way better than it had any right to be. Easily, the best Demolition match since the Rockers '88 match. The only problem was that went too long that Animal FIP killed the momentum of the match. The opening shine sequence was pretty good with Hawk hitting a wicked dropkick and shoulder tackle. As LOD's big debut, it was a good way to put over their offense. Oddly, Warrior plays the FIP in a really well-done segment. Warrior missed a splash and in almost Shield-esque swarm Warrior and just suffocate him with body shots and triple teaming. It definitely felt like some good old-school Demolition. The only reason I found it weird because Warrior was the Champ at the time is all. Animal breaks up Demolition Decapitation and Warrior does a disco roll over to Animal to tag him in. I thought Ax was actually going to take Doomsday Device for a second, but it was broken up. We get a boring Animal FIP where chinlocks abound, which disappoints me because if they just went home after the Warrior FIP I could would say this was a remarkably good match. Warrior gets the hot tag as expected and mows down everyone. The crowd gives him a pretty good pop, but is hardly molten or bananas as Gorilla says. Warrior splash gives the Warriors a victory. 

I thought I was going to recommend this match only for Warrior's entrance, but it was surprisingly good and the Warrior FIP comes off great, but the Animal FIP sours the match a bit.
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The Ultimate Warrior & Legion of Doom vs Demolition - SNME 10/90

It is like Vince heard my prayers from 2013 and put on the following match, which was bitchin'

Take all the good parts from the last match and subtract the Animal FIP you have this match and it is awesome. Yes this match is a pretty much verbatim performance from above the MSG, but I was digging that performance so much, but this time they go home after the Warrior FIP and it is a great match. This match is like the opposite of the Hart Foundation vs Rockers, where the SNME match is hurt by seeing the "full-length" MSG match. The difference is the home stretch where Hawk looks friggin great. He does not have to sell and he just bowls people over. He tags in Warrior for a Warrior Splash. I definitely recommend this one over the the MSG show.
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I hope there is no nipple showing. ;)

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Demolition w/ Mr. Fuji vs Legion of Doom - 11/20/90

Demolition with Mr. Fuji just feels right. This match harkens back to the glory days of Demolition with spirited cut-offs and well-worked segments. The home stretch is a bit messed up due to poor positioning by some people, but overall it is a pretty good match. It is weird though as there is zero heat for this match except for the hot tag to Animal. You would not know this DEMOLITION VS THE ROAD WARRIORS from the way the crowd is reacting and it is a good power match. Animal and Crush do a little tit for tat symmetry that establishes the two teams as equals. Hawk runs through a bit of his offense. I am a big fan of his shoulder tackle. There are elements of the old Demolition ethic where Crush interrupts a suplex attempt by Hawk. Demolition made LOD work for it. Fuji hooks Hawk leg and Smash blasts Hawk to the outside from behind. Fuji gets in a cane shot onto Hawk's back and they zero in on his back throughout the heat segment. They hit Demolition Decapitation to zero heat in a weird moment, but Animal saves. Hawk gets a clothesline and Animal gets the hot tag. In a pretty impressive feat of agility, Animal actually flips out of a double belly to back suplex and clotheslines Demolition members. They tease Doomsday Device, but Fuji hits Hawk again. Demolition take it to Animal with a Crush knee drop from the top and Smash hitting a suplex to zero heat. Before, Smash gets himself in position to take a top rope clothesline from Hawk to give LOD the victory. Afterwards they deck Fuji for good measure.

The home stretch did not feel urgent enough, but I thought all the stuff leading up to it was really well-worked. The finish was messed up by Smash facing the wrong way on his piledriver attempt. I was pretty much dreading this series and this was the most fun I have had watching Demolition since they were heels in 1988. I will say I remember liking LOD's match against the Hart Foundation. None of this stuff has been earth-shattering, but LOD definitely feels revitalized in the ring and trying their hardest even though the crowds have been lukewarm.

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The Warriors (Ultimate Warrior, Texas Tornado, Legion of Doom) vs The Perfect Team (Mr. Perfect & Demolition) - Survivor Series 1990

This is nothing all that great and I would not watch this again, but it is largely inoffensive save for the Perfect heat segment on Warrior drags. I really liked Animal tackle out of Smash it really felt out of nowhere. Smash plays pinball early before Animal gets in trouble and Hennig looks good with his strikes. Animal hits his powerslam and Perfect pinballs well perfectly for the Warriors. As expected, Ax takes the pinfall from Warrior, it was sad seeing how degraded he can he became as he was totally out of position for Warrior and just looked bad. I actually like the Hawk/Demolition stuff as Hawk was the best offensive worker for all 8 guys and it was nice to see them do his thing. The lamest brawl ever gets LOD/Demolition DDQ leaving Perfect against Von Erich and Warrior. Von Erich had zero offense besides the punch. He actually was moving pretty decent, but I still don't get why they put the IC strap on him. Warrior runs Perfect and Brain's head together. Warrior seemed to really whip the Brain over the barricade, I actually felt bad for him. Perfect beat Von Erich on teh Perfectplex after Kerry's head hit the exposed turnbuckle. Warrior comes in and hits his head on the exposed turnbuckle, but kicks out of the Perfectplex that really should have been the impetus as opposed to the boring 5 minute heat segment that ensued. Perfect has some offense, but they have built to the Warrior's head into exposed turnbuckle into the Perfectplex rather than start with it.

After watching these matches, I have to say it feels like the WWF World Champion is slumming it. In the NWA, the Road Warriors were the equals of the Horsemen. In the WWF, it feels like Warrior is losing heat by being a part of this feud. Not to mention, he is in the curtain-jerking match. At this point, it feels like Martel/Roberts has a way hotter feud than anything Hogan or Warrior is doing. 1990 was not a very good year for WWF, but after Summerslam until Wrestlemania VII must have been brutal. Don't worry about this match, watch the SNME match.

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Rockers vs Demolition - MSG 11/90

Holy shit, this match totally snuck up on me and I thought it was really good. It was not an elite Rockers match, but this was still really good. This is by far the best Smash & Crush match and I am favorite Crush match of all time. This is a good speed vs. power match without huge bumps, but still good work. The opening Jannetty/Crush bit is the best thing I have ever seen out of Crush. It is light-hearted, but still establishes the dynamic of the match really well. People should watch it because there is too much good stuff for me to write down every single thing they do. It is punctuated by Shawn with a dropkick to tabletop Crush. I really dig the tabletop spot. Crush throws Shawn around, but Shawn bites out of the bearhug. Rockers showing a bit of a vicious side. Smash comes in and I love the Smash/Shawn bit too. Smash thinks he outsmarted Michaels by ducking, but Shawn hits Smash with a fist and then Smash does some weeble-wobble selling before crashing down. Rockers do their quick tag arm work and Smash sells discombobulated about as well as you can. In a spot I fuckin love, Marty runs the ropes, but halts before getting hit by Crush so he gets hit from behind by Smash. The heat segment is decent with the highlights being Crush hitting a double axehandle onto Jannety's back and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. We hit the bearhug. Smash hipchecks the turnbuckle. Smash tries desperately to stop the hot tag, but you can't deny Marty Jannetty. Shawn busts out the flying shoulder tackle, which I don't like for his size. Shawn really wants to hit a sunset flip, but Smash is holding onto Crush and Marty leapfrogs over Smash and breaks that up, sunset flip only gets two. The Rockers hit the worst double superkick ever. They do one a little better and Shawn hits a rocket launcher fist drop, but Crush pulls the ref out for the DQ. They are still protecting Demolition!?!?!?!?!?1??!

This match is a ton of fun and even though it lacks the big spots of Powers Of Pain match, this one definitely required more finesse from Demolition. In that match, Rockers adapted to Powers of Pain to deliver a great match. In this match, Demolition can contribute to the match. The Marty/Crush and Shawn/Smash segments require better work from both parties. I loved those. The heat segments and home stretch were good, but not at the level of the shine segments.This is another great speed versus power match from the Rockers that continues to bolster their case as an all-time great tag team as it is still different than first Demos & POP match. It was wrestled as a cross of the Rougeaus and Demolition match, which was really interesting layout. So finally, Demolition has reached their 1988 peak again and it's a great match to end their run (well I am not watching their '91 stuff). Demolition work way better as heels to me.
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Stunna: "Stunning" Steve Austin (WCW 10/93-02/94)

One popular cliché in various platforms of entertainment is "someone is just born with 'it'". The point is you can not develop or teach "it", charisma, swagger, je ne sais quoi or Animal Magnetism. Either you run show at the club or you don't. As someone imbued with Animal Magnetism, you think I would be an adherent of this tenet of entertainment. However, I do disagree with it to an extent. There is a certain gait, cadence and presence people possess that are intrinsically undeniable and positively irresistible. That is innate, but they do not always channel it in such a way that "it" radiates at a million megawatts. Steve Austin is one of the best examples of someone who always had charisma and star power, but it was not until 1996 he put it altogether to become one of the biggest mainstream stars in the history of pro wrestling.

I observed this bubbling under phenomenon in watching his post-Hollywood Blonds work in WCW, specifically between Halloween Havoc '93 and Superbrawl IV. In this time period, Austin entered a short grudge feud with his ex-partner, "Flyin" Brian Pillman and defeated Dustin Rhodes for the United States Heavyweight Championship at Starrcade 1993. Based on the booking, a keen wrestling observer would project that Austin was slated to be the number 2 heel in the company and positioned for a run against babyface World Champion Ric Flair within the year. Then Hulk Hogan showed up and everything changed. In watching this period, it is pretty much the only opportunity to see how Austin would have worked as a main event level heel. What I took away from it was that Austin had all the tools, but was still working to put them altogether.

Ignore all my ramblings, it was clearly that awful haircut that was holding him back



Inconsistency plagued his work during this run. There were some nights where he looked like he was the next major heel draw for WCW. He was bumping around, working energetically and stooging. Everything was oriented in getting the babyface over and working underhanded. He was taking charge and leading the match. Then other nights he struck me as a serviceable midcard heel. Someone who knew their fundamentals well, but did not have any panache and bring that extra something. In a main event player, you want to answer the question, "Could somebody else have this match?" with a no. There is something unique this wrestler is bringing to the table. In his matches with Pillman and in the Thundercage, we were seeing Main Event Austin. Someone who was taking charge, wrestling urgently and bringing elements unique to himself. Austin, at his best, knew how to stooge and mat wrestle in a sense that in '94 had seemingly already been forgotten. In the Pillman Clash match, his participation was essential because the match only worked because of how much was made out of the Hollywood Blonds team. The violence and counterwrestling were stories that only made sense because who these wrestlers were as unique individuals. In contrast, was his disappointing 1993 series with Dustin Rhodes. Dustin and Steve delivered an absolute classic at the '91 Halloween Havoc, where both wrestlers brought some great mat wrestling then had a violent finish to their  match. In 1991, they were two of a handful that could have pulled off that match. In '93, they never seemed to hit that high. In fact, their Starrcade match comes off as woefully anticlimactic and actually incomplete. Those matches exhibit to me that Austin still did not have his act down pat in a way that he could go in every night and kick ass.

As WCW was set on Austin pushing for a brief period, Austin proved that he reach those highs, but had not fully put it together. In one way, he needed some more spots that would guarantee heat from the crowd. Sometimes, the match would languish because Austin just did not have that go-to spot that would elicit a visceral crowd reaction.  Lastly, I don't think Austin totally knew who "Stunning" Steve was. Austin knew exactly who Stone Cold was and how he would react in every situation. He was a tough SOB and you knew it. Ultimately, number of moves and spots will not define the all-time greats. It is whether you understand yourself and project that to the audience. "Stunning" Steve was on a trajectory to be a very good wrestler, but Stone Cold is one of the all-time greats.

Choice Cuts from Halloween Havoc '93-Superbrawl IV for "Stunning" Steve Austin:
"Stunning" Steve Austin vs."Flyin" Brian Pillman - Clash of the Champions XXV
Steve Austin, Rick Rude, & Mr. Wonderful vs Brian Pillman, Sting & Dustin Rhodes - Superbrawl IV Thundercage

Personal Favorites:
Steve Austin vs Sting - Saturday Night 01/01/94
Steve Austin & Rick Rude vs Brian Pillman & Dustin Rhodes - Worldwide 01/15/94
Steve Austin, Rick Rude & Ron Simmons vs Ric Flair, Sting & The Boss - Saturday Night 01/22/94

Sunburned Foghorn & Sunburned Stunning Steve



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WCW US Champion Dustin Rhodes vs "Stunning" Steve Austin - WCW Halloween Havoc '93

At this point, Austin is still being billed as a member of the Hollywood Blondes (the breakup would happen on 10/30/93) and he did not have Col. Robert Parker. Dustin Rhodes was coming off a lackluster feud with a broken down Rude. I feel that Dustin seemed like the bigger the prospect, but Austin had closed the gap considerably since their '91 Havoc match.

It is hard not to compare this match to their awesome '91 Havoc encounter and it does fall short of that match. However, this match had different intentions as they were looking to milk this over the course of a couple PPVs thus they could not go for broke. The biggest issue was a pretty dead New Orleans crowd, which just was not biting on their highspots. In the crowd's defense, this was not the world's most exciting match. Austin has a clear grasp of heel psychology, but has not figured out how to put it all together to have carry a great match yet. I liked his use of the slap early and milking it with a stroll around the ring. Unfortunately, when Dustin went to get his receipt he fell too early and it did not have the sound to make the crowd pop. That sequence encapsulates the match. There were great spots, but they were either missing transitions or just were timed well. The match finally kicks into gear when Austin misses a high knee into the turnbuckle and spills to outside. I like when they turn a conventional story on its head with the heel having the injury. Unlike a face valiantly overcoming his injury, Austin kicks Dustin's balls. It is just self-preservation, baby. Another cool spot is Austin tries to pick Dustin up, but Dustin overpowers him. You think Austin is going to eat turnbuckles, but instead he propels himself off the turnbuckle to land a kneedrop. Tony and I were quite impressed. Dustin starts mounting a comeback with his sweet punches, but Austin blocks the bulldog by crotching Dustin on the top turnbuckle. When watching Dustin felt like the better wrestler, but Austin was doing all the spots that really stuck with me. Dustin was better at fundamentals, but Austin was working some good high spots. Dustin is able to counter the Stun Gun with a Thesz Press. I am a sucker for symmetry. Austin thinks he wins with his feet on the ropes, but ref waives it off. Dustin wins with a roll-up due to the confusion. What a fucking lame finish. Austin lets us know this is not over by pasting Dustin with the US Title.

This match had plenty of good highspots, but all the glue was dull. The beginning was especially boring and aimless. I felt they were trying to consciously save something for Starrcade instead of going balls to the wall like in '91. The commentators put over all that Austin had learned from Pillman and I think Austin did learn a lot about psychology from Pillman, but he was not putting together complete matches. Dustin felt ho-hum when I know he can be a lot more engaging. It was a disappointing match, but still overall featured solid work and some innovative spots.
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"Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs Brian Pillman -

Clash of the Champions XXV

I blame WCW for this not being one of the all-time classics in wrestling history. Due to the hotshot booking of the Blonds breakup, Pillman & Austin were forced to work two really great matches in one basically. The first half of the match is a heated grudge match style Donnybrook bridged into a counterwrestling style (playing off being former partners). Each section is worked at a sprint pace and it does not feel too disjointed. However, I think each segment could have stood as it is own 15-20 minute classic if WCW pushed this as a lengthy, blood feud.

The Battle of the Blonds begins at a break-neck pace and they are just at each other's throat. Brian Pillman is in his element throughout the beginning working a violent, hate-filled fight. He lets his anger toward Parker cost him, but ultimately it is a high-risk splash onto the ramp that eats a foot that does him in. Austin is able to chuck him off the railing for that always sick bump. Pillman does not know how to quite, but eats a stun gun. I love that this match was setup by a seemingly random segment where Pillman took exception to Parker taking interest in them and Austin signing with Parker. These guys wrestled the first five minutes liked the other slept with their woman and took their house. Nowadays, we have the disconnect in the other direction all heat in the buildup and none in the ring. Pillman is so scrappy and losing none of his heel edge even eye-rakes Austin to keep him away from the bad knee. Austin applies a half-crab, but gets caught holding the ropes for leverage. Thus begins the counterwrestling. I am pretty sure they counter every single one of each other's spot to prove how well they know each other. For example, Austin get crotched on top rope, but Austin counters the superplex with a front suplex, but Pillman counters his move off the top with his dropkick spot. It was just fuckin' fantastic work and so well-executed. Austin countered Air Pillman with a powerslam. Pillman countered the Stun Gun by holding the rope to land on the apron. However, the one thing Pillman could not account for with his time with Austin was Parker, who hooked Pillman's leg and Austin drove Pillman's head to mat for the win, what an excellent finish.

Unless, I find something in 1994, this is Pillman's last Godly performance as a babyface. He absolutely rules this match and I thought he came off as the star to watch. Austin was a good heel. He just was not bringing the hate like Pillman. Once, it got into counter-wrestling he was with Pillman every step of the way. The match is a little disjointed because it is basically two halves, but it is an excellent match that does not get enough praise. Break this into two matches with each getting 15-20 minutes, you have two classics on your hand and one of the best feuds of all time. It is just too bad.
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WCW World Champion Vader & "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs

Ric Flair & Arn Anderson - WCW Saturday Night 11/13/93

Just three days after the Clash, Flair continues his feud with Vader originally with his partner, Sid Vicious. However, Sid had a mental meltdown and attacked Arn Anderson with a pair of scissors in real life this getting his ass fired. They write out Sid by having Harley's henchmen, The Colossal Kongs attack him and Vader hit his big splash. Flair ain't going to let the bad guys one-up him as he gets best friend, Arn Anderson to step in and a melee ensues. You are probably think to yourself how can a watch with these four badasses suck. Read and find out, sadly.

When I originally watched this match, I thought the AA FIP was insufferably long and made some jokes about it. As I was watching it again, I was like what I was talking about this has been great so far. Then it kept going and going and going. It was the fuckin energizer bunny of face in peril segments. The Horsemen always prided themselves on going all night long, but I hope it was not like this. In their defense, the opening was just downright explosive. Ric Flair was on fire and moving at the speed of light. He was supplying enough energy in this match to power the city of Hotalnta, GA. His exchanges out on the floor with Vader were awesome taking a jaw-first bump on the railing, Vader taking his chest-first bump hell even using a chair on Vader. That's how you do a TV brawl. Flair balling up his fists and ready to lay one on his opponent is one of the best things ever. Austin seemed overshadowed by the other three all-time great workers in this match. It is not that much of a slight against him. When Flair is supplying that much energy, he is a magnet and it is hard to take your eyes off him. Vader is such a force in the ring and Anderson was given a 15 minute FIP. Austin just did not standout. The short Flair FIP was pretty good as Austin was able to catch him and the back of the neck and the heels unloaded. I think the problem with the match lies that they went right from the Flair FIP to AA FIP, where they could have went more AWA style and had The Enforcer kick some ass before taking an ass-kicking. The first half of the Anderson FIP was actually pretty damn good. It was actually pretty good back and forth with Vader, who took a front suplex onto the railing. After a while the energy was sapped from AA and the hope spots just ended. I thought after Austin did Anderson's knucklelock spot that Flair would get the tag, but instead it kept going. By the end, everyone was running out of gas and the match, which started off with a bang was going out with a whimper. Only to add to my irritation, they wait until there is only 2 minutes left in the show before tagging in Flair. The place explodes for Flair, who rushes to get the figure-4 on Austin. Parker rakes his eyes and we go off the air with Vader attempting to land the Vaderbomb. WCW never did change. smile.gif

Given its length, I will probably not watch this match again. If they just did the first ten minutes as an out of control brawl to build to Flair/Vader and maybe use Dustin instead of Anderson that would have been perfect for Starrcade. I realize these shows were taped pretty far in advance so maybe they had not booked Dustin/Austin yet in their minds. The first ten minutes of this are absolutely great. I wish more TV matches from nowadays had this chaotic feel and used the outside so expertly. Everything seems so sanitized now. As for individual performances, I thought Flair was off the charts good. Vader was his usual badass self. Anderson is a weird FIP and he is definitely better on the heel side of tags. Unlike Flair, he does not have a babyface persona of himself. He comes off as stoic and unexpressive, which hurt him in such a heated environment. Austin came off a little bland in the match. His problem in this match and the Pillman match was he would take this wicked chop and he hit a weak ass chop back. Austin just did not work a heated style yet. He was better at mat-based championship style matches at this point. I would be remiss to mention he took a couple sick reverse elbows from Arn. He was definitely willing to take punishment, which I admire.
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"Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs. 2 Cold Scorpio -

WCW Power Hour 12/11/93

WCW TV was always good for pairings like this allowing you to see wrestlers against a variety of opponents. Even though Austin is getting pushed heavily he is pretty unselfish in the ring letting Scorpio take the lion's share of match, which is what you want out of a heel. Scorpio is a really good athletic, exciting midcard act. He hit one early highspot (reverse sunset flip) followed up with perfunctory armwork into a fast flurry of roll ups. Austin is able to break his momentum with some rough housing. Austin was definitely missing some spots in the ring, just some go to offensive moves to garner some heat. The jumping jack thing was not doing it for me. He needed more stuff like that, but better. Scorpio is able to connect with a strange cartwheel like splash from the top rope, but Parker distracts him from hitting the 450. Austin reverses a Scorpio rollup to win.
Austin carries himself well in these matches and he is willing to give the babyfaces a lot, but he still missing spots in his arsenal to take him to the next level.
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WCW US Champion Dustin Rhodes vs "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker - Starrcade 1993 2 Out Of 3 Falls

"Well we certainly cant call her The Natural" - Jesse The Body

Well that was anticlimactic. They gave the Nasties vs Sting & Hawk almost 30 minutes, but only let these guys have 15-ish for 2 out of 3 falls? Some of this has to be on the wrestlers as both where wrestling like they were going to go long, but then just went home. It was a really lo-fi match even by Austin's standards. I have no problem with a fundamentals-based match, but nothing seemed to connect. Austin would break Dustin's rhythm by going to the outside. Finally, Dustin said fuck it. They let loose and Dustin chucked Austin four rows deep into the stands. The crowd and I thought this where we were going to get going. Outside of some wicked sweet Dustin rights there was really not much to pop the crowd. Austin's work was real basic used ref's break or a Parker distraction to gain an advantage. Still he did not have the extra gear yet. Rhodes could always rely on his crowd to pop the crowd. Austin did not have an equivalent to garner heat. Rhodes makes his comeback punctuated by a bionic elbow. However, he chucks Austin over the top rope into Parker triggering the DQ finish. Austin blades off a post shot. It was a perfectly adequate first fall, but they seemed to be setting themselves up for some sweet stuff in the subsequent falls. Rhodes starts the second fall on fire, but he Beyonces the house lights. WCW is forced to use spotlights to light up the action. Rhodes goes for a nice series of 10 count punches in the corner when Austin double legs him in the corner to win with his feet on the ropes. WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!

It really did feel like an incomplete match. I am still shocked that was the finish. The '91 Halloween Havoc match blows that out of the water. It was really disappointing because you know what they can do on the mat and brawling, but the you get such a by the numbers match with a dogshit finish just sucks. I would say Dustin had more tools in his arsenal at this point, but Austin had more charisma. 
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She cooks??? *Swoon*

 

"Stunning" Steve Austin vs Sting - WCW Saturday Night 1/1/94

I can't believe Austin went from this to jobbing to Duggan around the horn by the end of the year. I have not really seen "it" with Austin yet until this match. He definitely conveyed a greater sense of being self-assured in this match than the previous encounters I had seen. His style for 1994 was so different than pretty much everyone else beside heel Doink The Clown. He was not a big bumping heel. He would stooge, but he felt a lot more understated than yesteryear's heels. He mocked Sting, but also was credible on the mat. He drew his heel heat from frustration rather outright cowardice or cheating. Eventually, he would add a level of roughhousing and meaness to his character that finally took him from potential star to superstar. Having Parker for a manager was good for him because he needed some to display weakness and to draw more heat. He could look strong and Parker represented his faults. Plus the "KFC" chants were hilarious. This was the best mat wrestling from Sting I think I have ever seen. He has come along way from those shitty, loose armbars of 1988! Sting is really good at showing up heels. It is the best part of his babyface character. Whether it is his Sting holler, outwrestling or overpowering his opponent thats where Sting shines. Austin uses the superplex to transition into a nice spinning armbar, which Sting fights outta from his back. Sting sells the arm, while punching his way back into it. Pillman decided he can not stand looking at the Colonel's mug on TV any longer and chases him. He gets in the ring and Pillman hits Austin. This triggers a DQ and the ref stops Sting from putting on the deathlock. In his promo, Austin gets it. Austin huffing and puffing says he can go another 30 and was ready to be the first man to reverse the Scorpion before that nefarious Flyin Brian robbed him of the opportunity. It is a great match to chart Austin's progression, but you never get the full story in this one.
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WCW International World Champion Rick Rude & WCW US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs Brian Pillman & Dustin Rhodes - Worldwide 01/15/94

If only all matches were this fun. It is not going to change your life, but still it is a very entertaining ten minutes. I didn't like how they were portraying it as a Pillman/Parker feud because it makes Austin seem second to Parker. However, I think they were also doing it so Pillman could look strong against Parker, but they protect Austin, who seemed on the fast track to number two heel status. Austin & Rude make such a great team. I loved all the showboating. Austin ratcheted up the heat on his chops. Plus, he came up with a great comedy heel spot: the sloppy skin the cat. How has nobody made that a part of their arsenal! O yeah, because all heels nowadays take themselves way too friggin seriously. Pillman and Rhodes were just excellent babyfaces bringing tons of energy to this match. I liked the heat segment even though it was a bearhug and chinlocks because they broke it up nicely either a Rude taunt or Dustin struggling. Unfortunately, there is no finish to the match. Pillman brings in Parker the hard way. It is rubber pants time for Parker. The heels bail and they just go off the air. I guess that's a countout? So WCW.

These four meshed so well together. Depending how much pain Rude was in, he easily could have extended his career by just stooging in a heel tag team for a couple years because this was the best I have ever seen him post-1992. Pillman & Dustin are just perfect babyfaces. Energy, energy, energy. They brought it. Austin looked at his best save for the earlier Pillman bout. I loved the sloppy skin the cat. He was in peak form with his taunting and stooging. It is too bad it had no finish because it was so fun.
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"Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col Robert Parker vs "Flyin'" Brian Pillman -

WCW Saturday Night 01/15/94

How can you hate Parker? He elicits "Foghorn" and "KFC" chants!

It is funny I am doing a concentrated Austin viewing session and coming away thinking Pillman is just friggin' awesome. That is not a slight on Austin, but just how badass Pillman is as a babyface when he cares.

This match starts off more tentatively than their war at the Clash. They hype Pillman's upcoming match with Parker and the loser must wear a chicken suit and thus they have transferred the heat from Austin to Parker. I think that hurt Austin more than anything else. Austin goes for the trick knee early. Pillman is like if you want a knee injury I can give you one. He applies the one of the most beautiful drop toehold into a toehold that I have ever seen. I am a huge drop toehold mark and that was downright Bockwinkelian. Incidentally, Bock is set to become the commish of WCW soon in the storylines. Pillman wraps Austin's legs around the ringpost and adds some chops for good measure. However, his obsession with Parker gets the best of him as Austin is able to clothesline him and ram his shoulder into the post. Pillman sells the arm the rest of the match like a champ and really makes the match. Austin works various arm holds while Pillman is in his element striking vicious chops from underneath while selling the bad left arm. Eventually, Pillman regains control, but a leverage move by Austin sends him careening to the floor. However, Pillman rolls through a powerslam attempt to win. That booking certainly spits in the face in the current style of the winner of the blowoff match losing the match before.

Austin is very good at the fundamentals. He works the arm well and sells for Pillman's chops well. However, he could have done more to get heat in this match. Pillman was just in another league. In the pre-Hogan world, the babyface side was so much more stacked that Pillman breaking past Flair, Sting, Steamboat, Dustin and AA just seems like too much. Austin had the easier path on the thinner heel side with Vader and a broken down Rude. However, Hogan'a arrival renders all this speculation moot.
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Austin and Rude as a full-time tag team are what sweet dreams are made of.

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WCW International World Champion Rick Rude, "Stunning" Steve Austin & Ron Simmons w/Col. Robert Parker vs WCW World Champion Ric Flair, Sting & The Boss w/Ice Train - WCW Saturday Night 01/21/94

Austin is very inconsistent in this time period. He is never bad per se. He just ranges from bland midcard heel to main event heel week-to-week (reminds me of Del Rio). This is one of those main event performances as he is the glue that holds this match together. He bumps around for Sting like a million bucks. His interaction with Flair is a tantalizing taste of what we never got. His missed kneedrop set up the babyface knee work. After Simmons holds the top rope down causing The Boss to go tumbling to the floor, Austin rammed Boss' head into the railing. He was the one always racing to cut The Boss off from tagging his partners. In a match with Flair, Sting and Rude, he was the lynchpin, which is a huge amount of respect by those guys to let the match run through him.
The beginning was fun with Rude doing all his atomic drop stooging bits. Even in his limited fashion, Rude was awesome here. We got the Austin show as mentioned above and then a Boss heat segment. I guess that is one way to showcase the Boss? Yes, in this time period he was on a hot streak, but I think his partners would have been better faces in peril. The heat segment was not up to snuff with the rest. The Austin bits were good, but Simmons just recently turned heel and did not have it down yet. Sting gets the hot tag and a melee ensues. Simmons who had deck his buddy Ice Train before the match get his comeuppance when Ice Train distracts him and Sting gets the pin.
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Austin was tremendous and Rude was great in small doses, which lends more credence to my hide Rude in tag matches would have made a great post-prime career for him. Weirdest thing about this match was how subdued Flair was. Flair usually takes over every match he is in. It was nice to let him standback and let others carry the load. Also, weird was they had all this starpower, but the match was a backdrop for the Simmons/Ice Train feud. WCW was always great for stuff like this. 
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WCW International World Champion Rick Rude, WCW US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff vs Sting, Brian Pillman & Dustin Rhodes - Superbrawl IV Thundercage

I take everything back about what I say Austin was not a big bumping heel. He takes the first bump into the cage and then takes the bump of the match by straddling the cage. The thundercage is a rickety, bush league Hell In A Cell with steel bars as opposed to mesh. Austin was the badass of the match because he also hit the offensive move of the match when he hotshotted Pillman into the cage busting Pillman wide open. Then after almost shredding his knee he bumps all over the place for the babyfaces. Pillman gets his blowoff victory to a huge pop after Sting press slams him onto Austin. Well so much for my theory in the previous match about protecting Austin from having to job to Pillman. The crowd was hot for this match with "Paula" chants to start and they did not let up in heat. What a friggin' bitchin' match. No one is going to mistake this for a high end Wargames, but this is still a really high-end six-man tag with tons of effort for all. On the babyface side, everything was so well-executed. Sting is a such a great shine babyface, Pillman as the plucky face in peril and Dustin as the energetic hot tag. The one big misstep I thought was having Sting be the one to get the hot tag and bust Orndorff open. You see once Dustin gets tag in how much better he could have done that sequence. Plus, Dustin/Orndorff were dance partners in this match. Orndorff looked great in this match targeting Sting's arm, hitting an absolutely wicked belly to back suplex on Pillman and blading off some cage shots. Again, I think Rude in a tag team was a perfect place for him at this time. He knows how to get heat better than almost anybody else. He still had highspots like his top tope knee drop. I also dug the Dustin bulldog crotch on the top rope. I was happy that Pillman ended up being the final hot tag in the match as he just unloaded on Austin before he got the win. It was an action-packed match, where every character played their role to perfection and the execution was off the charts.

If I didn't know anybody better, all the booking and in-ring work point to Austin and Pillman being pushed heavily, but both had pretty lackluster '94 after this. Well, Austin had the Steamboat feud, but still he did not have a hot angle. Those who are low on the match because it was played too much like a six-man. I would say that cage was used in the pivotal transition spots twice. Into the heat segment, it was Austin hotshot on Pillman and to the final hot tag, it was Austin taking wicked straddle bump from the apron. The cage was used effectively. I don't think it is as good as the high-end Wargames matches. I would still give this **** and say one of the better American six-man tags of all time. It is too bad WCW did not build on Pillman's win and the fact that Austin was finally breaking out.
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It will be awhile before I revisit WCW again so I bid my first love adieu. I will be on Titans of Wrestling this weekend looking at Portland so I have been watching and digesting plenty Buddy Rose goodness. I have Demolition and Rockers done and a shit ton of 00s puroresu to produce, so look for more blogs. Plus the next episode of Vivid Technicolor Radio on Dio should be out soon. Go to http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvMJmQ2IlqkAYx4mLyFZh1A catch Superstar Sleeze (that be me) and "Wicked" Nick discuss pop music and heavy metal. Keep it sleezy, bruthas and all the sexy ladies who read this.

Loose Canon Chronicle: Brian Pillman (WCW '95-'96)

In 1995, Brian Pillman was pissed. He was pissed he was not being pushed. He was pissed he was in the same, plucky underdog babyface gimmick. He was pissed he was not making more money. He was pissed at the system being seemingly rigged against him. In short, he was pissed at the world. I could never describe Brian Pillman's state of mind as well as close friend and preeminent wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer did in this article:https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/a...p4/farC1WnTeX0J and you can listen to Meltzer discuss Brian Pillman with Pillman's former tag partner, Steve Austin on the Steve Austin Show here: http://podcastone.com/Steve-Austin-Show-Clean

I will say it showed in his matches as a babyface how disinterested he was in every performances. He was having the same matches in 1991 against Ric Flair and Barry Windham with such panache. However, that was the problem. It was 1995 and he was being asked to work the same matches and the same character. In fact, he was retrogressing and wallowing aimlessly in the WCW mire. In Hogan's WCW, two things mattered: your size and the size of your contract. Pillman had neither going for him. In his standout match of the year, Fall Brawl '95 against Johnny B. Badd, Pillman played the heel and he later turned heel on the card aligning with Arn Anderson against Ric Flair. You could see that a rejuvenated Pillman could still a US MOTYC. He just needed a fresh outlook on wrestling. However, you could see how Pillman could channel his aggression into a heel. How can you be a smiling babyface when there is so much rage inside you?

My favorite look in wrestling

 

After his heel turn at Fall Brawl, Pillman set out to create a character that would revolutionize the wrestling world and to this day has earned him a cult status among smart mark fans. He became the Loose Canon. With kayfabe being shattered by the internet, Pillman strove to continue to keep everyone (including the boys and management) off balance by acting like an absolute lunatic both on and off screen. It totally worked. He physically hassled the very physically fragile Bobby Heenan making him "What The Fuck are you doing" on live, national TV.  He got himself fired as part of an angle with then-booker, Kevin Sullivan where he exclaimed "I Respect You, Bookerman", which was pre-planned, but worked Bischoff into firing him to really get the story over only to sign with the WWF that summer. He trolled the ECW audience with chants of "Smaaaaarrrrttttt Maaaaarrrrrkkksss" and threatened to "Whip out his Johnson and piss in this cesspool." He was not the first to use the worked shoot, but he was the first to make his character completely based on the worked shoot. He ushered in an era where the worked shoot became commonplace. Even to this day, Wrestling saw a fleeting rise in mainstream interest when CM Punk delivered a worked shoot promo to end a RAW in the Summer of 2011 kicking off the Summer of Punk II. Personally, I believe in everything in moderation so eventually CM Punk's pipebombs became obnoxious and overbearing. The difference with Pillman was that he was such a good clown and ass in the ring that you were always excited to see him get his comeuppance.

Even though Pillman proved he could still deliver a classic with Badd, Pillman would never wrestle at that level again. His football injuries, drug use, and bad attitude hurt the quality of matches. To his credit, he was a very effective heel  in all his matches. In a recent interview with Steve Austin, Meltzer says Pillman's goal was to be a main event heel. He was obsessed with the idea. To his credit, Pillman was not shy about heeling up in every match utilizing every trick in the book. He made all his opponents look good while getting his Loose Canon persona over. I loved his use of the slap in all his matches. It is such a prick thing to do. When the babyface got his receipt, it always elicited a big pop. I loved he busted out his trademark railing bump as it always looked good and made babyface look like a badass. Even when Pillman seemed to be at his most selfish, he was so selfless in the ring with all his opponents. (something I wished CM Punk learned in 2011 promos) Pillman never neglected the match he made his character work within the context of the match. In his one classic of this era, he also treated American fans to a very puroresu style of work that would in a lot of ways become the WWE Main event style today. He and Badd traded huge bombs down the stretch of a 30 mins in a crescendo that climaxed with a ferocious finish. In this era of his career, Pillman gets lauded for his character work, but in that match he facilitated a style would eventually become the predominant working style in North America.

 

The Brian Pillman of 1989-1992 is one of the greatest pure babyface workers in history of wrestling. However, that part of his career is often overlooked for the "sexier" Loose Canon era, which is covered in this blog. Even if the matches are not as good, you can see Pillman's wrestling acumen is almost unparalleled in how he successfully works his character into his matches. He delivers great stooging heel performances in the Ric Flair feud and transition himself into a really interesting feud with Kevin Sullivan before its premature end. The Brian Pillman ends in tragedy as you can read in the article above. However, he is one of the most influential workers both in and out of the ring. If you are a fan or a wrestler a lot can be learned from watching him. More importantly to me, you will be entertained when he is on the screen.

 

Choice Cuts of the California Brian/Loose Canon Era:

Brian Pillman vs Johnny B. Badd - Fall Brawl '95

Personal Favorites:
Brian Pillman vs. Ric Flair - Nitro 9/18/95

Brian Pillman & Arn Anderson vs. Sting & Ric Flair - Halloween Havoc '95

Brian Pillman & Chris Benoit vs Bart Sawyer & Buck Quartermaine - WCW Pro 01/13/96

 

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Fuck the world

 

WCW World TV Champion Arn Anderson w/ Ric Flair vs Brian Pillman - WCW Main Event 4/16/95

 

Flair has been reinstated and he back with his old pal, Arn Anderson. I found it amusing when Dusty speculated that Flair and Anderson may actually be family to explain their closeness. I was expecting Tony to say well they are cousins, duh! Pillman had apparently been out for late '94 and was doing squash matches in early '95. He was being revamped as California Brian with the theme of Blonds Have More Fun. Cowabunga, dude!

In some ways the booking is what I am really finding fault with in this match. He is still playing the plucky upstart against a champion just like in his Luger '89 and Flair matches. However, I think some fault has to be laid at his feet for how lukewarm this match was. In those matches, he was contributing to the match with a unique presence. In this match, he feels like he retrogressed to a vanilla challenger. Before, he was mixing aerial tactics, stiff chops and scrappiness to create a distinctive force in the ring. Now, he is just a hammerlocking, one early nearfall, reverse elbow-eating, Flair whipping boy on the outside, back body dropping, clotheslining, losing to an illegal sunset flip, generic babyface. Wright protests that Anderson had his hand clasped with Flair during the sunset flip. Flair and Wright spill out to the floor. In classic WCW fashion, they restart the match, but tell nobody. Flair intervenes and kicks Pillman during a cover to draw the DQ. I smell a rematch.
Anderson looked fine here. It was just Anderson by the numbers. Anderson always looks like a star and a champion. I liked how he cheated early on and Pillman was still able to negotiate back into hammerlock. It was their best stretch. The best part of the heat segment was Flair's beatdown on Pillman. I can't believe how interchangeable Pillman felt in this. It may have been some rust and disenchantment with the system. Lets see what happens in the rematch.
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WCW World TV Champion Arn Anderson vs Brian Pillman - WCW Worldwide 5/28/95
 

Who the fuck thought those hair extensions were a good idea for Pillman?

Anderson has just helped Flair beat up the elderly Angelo Poffo at Slamboree, which sets up one of my all-time favorite matches, Flair vs Savage at GAB '95. Anderson is booked against Renegade at GAB and Pillman who continues to be totally directionless is booked against Alex Wright.

When I first saw this series on paper, I had high hopes it would be as good as the Pillman/Windham series of '91. I thought this match was much better than the first match, but still didn't get to the place I feel like they could have due to an abrupt finish. The big improvement was in the heat and home stretch. The beginning saw Pillman use the headlock as his base, which was fine. Things picked up once The Enforcer hit a hotshot on Pillman. Both wrestlers worked hard from then on out and Pillman started to look like the Pillman of old. He was peppering in chops forcing AA to do cutoffs like hitting a swinging neckbreaker, which Pillman sold like a million bucks bouncing himself to the outside. They do the Arn-staple of the heads colliding in the corner. Arn attempts to hit a move off the second rope only for the Pillman to hit a dropkick on the button. I like when the babyface transitions by combining 2-3 spots together. Pillman is way more into this match and trying way harder to get the crowd involved. They blow a crossbody roll through, but Pillman makes it up with a sweet second rope bulldog and a great flying headscissors. The finish is lame as Anderson rolls to the apron and just snaps Pillman across the top rope. He at least has the courtesy to put his feet on the rope.

Pillman was on quite a roll before the match ended abruptly. Anderson looked good was playing a great foil for Pillman. He made Pillman look good and when he went on offense he always transitioned in an underhanded way. They definitely put a lot more effort in this match and it shows. It is too bad they never got 20 minutes together. This series was pretty disappointing.
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Brian Pillman vs Jushin "Thunder" Liger - Nitro 9/4/95
 

This is the answer to the trivia question, "What was the first match in the history of Monday Night Nitro".

 

It is a statement match and how WCW was going to distinguish itself from WWF: International talent, smaller talent, lots of action, no selling and botches. smile.gif Pillman seemed awfully sloppy at times and was still a couple weeks away from the heel turn that would take him from missed prospect to cult legend. Liger is one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, but he knew his job here: BRING DA MOVEZ~! Kappo Kicks, Mexican Surfboard (take notes, Das Wunderkind), Somersault Senton off the apron, superplex, top rope frankensteiner, powerbomb. They worked a tit for tat symmetry match, but Pillman was having trouble matching each of Liger's loves with his sloppy headscissors. Sometimes, Pillman was be too far pigeon-holed in that aerial light heavyweight role when he excelled at toe-to-toe fights with Flair and Windham. Pillman hits a tornado DDT and then negotiates a cradle to win.

 

I thought Liger came off as the bigger star. Not only did he have the bigger moves, he was more expressive (he is masked!) and vocal with crowd (shouting "One more time!" for a top rope frankensteiner). Pillman looked like a guy who could not give a shit. His best move is his one stiff chop and splash to the floor. Still this match accomplished what it set out to do. It was totally different than the 1995 WWF product and heralded that American fans would have a choice in their wrestling products.

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Brian Pillman vs Alex Wright - Saturday Night 9/10/95

 

This is the rematch from their GAB '95 match. If anyone has that match, please hook a brutha up. I have sent out some feelers and so far have come up dry.
You can see how much experience matters in a match like this. Pillman knows exact
ly what he can and what he wants to do. He is very sure of himself as he goes to the mat or does a dropkick here and there. He lets Wright shine, but Wright just isn't there. Wright has some cool ideas. He does some slick European chain wrestling, but occasionally lets go or misses a connection. I don't if he ever put it together, but I appreciated the attempt even if it was no Pat O'Connor vs Lorenzo Parente. Wright vs. Regal could have be interesting and I will have to check it out. Things eventually heat up as they trade chops and European uppercuts. Wright gets a nice headscissors in and a belly to belly. He definitely had a lot of potential. They do a bridge sequence into a backslide and Pillman gets the win.

It was a nice little face vs face encounter. The next night Pillman was turning heel so I don't think he minded making Wright look like the about to go in a completely different direction. You could really see the difference between a seasoned veteran and a rookie in this match. As Pillman was simple, but very effective in his execution, while Wright's reach sometimes outstretched his grasp.
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Brian Pillman vs Johnny B. Badd - Fall Brawl '95

Pillman's "Blonds Have More Fun" is an excellent slab of pop metal. Nice to see pop metal still had home somewhere in 1995. Before the match, the crowd is already firmly behind Johnny B. Badd. The winner of this match receives a mandatory US Title shot against then holder, Sting.

In this snippet of Pillman's career, he was not often paired with someone he had to carry. unfortunately, I did not have access to his GAB '95 match as a comparison point. Both were ostensibly face vs. face matches against an carryable opponent where Pillman chose to play the heel in that match. You can tell how much Pillman hated being a face at this point in his career. The first 5 or minutes are filled with lackadaisical, slow-motion hold work. They do the obligatory dropkick each other at the same time. One of my pet peeves in wrestling is when a wrestler just drops a hold for no reason and that happens more than once in this portion. Business picks up with a Billy Robinson backbreaker into a Boston Crab by Pillman. He lets go to punch Badd with a closed fist and Pillman starts to jaw with the fans and the camera. I was pretty underwhelmed with the match until that point. Badd hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Shoving exchange is won by Badd, which gets a nice pop. Pillman backs him into a corner and hits a hard reverse elbow. Pillman goes full-on heel at this point taking the walk up the aisleway, the facetious handshake and biting Badd. They have a sick collision on a double Thesz Press attempt, where was this fire earlier. At this point, it just turns into a bombfest, which is so strange for 1995 WCW and I was totally caught off guard. I enjoyed it a lot. Badd had a lot more aerial moves in his arsenal than "Flyin'" Brian. I always felt that was a misnomer that got him pigeon holed in places he did not belong when he should be having violent brawls because watching the footage he was so well-suited for that. Badd hits a powerbomb and Pillman hits a tombstone piledriver. Are we in the Budokan? They trade finishers (Tutti Frutti & Air Pillman) as the time limit expires. Nick Patrick says there must be a winner so we go to sudden death! Heenan wonders when he is going to get a chance to shave, which I thought was hilarious. Pillman chops the fuck outta Badd on the outside. YES! That's the Pillman I want! Badd counters a Pillman missile dropkick with a dropkick a callback to Pillman's counter-dropkick spot. They trade sleepers. Misawa counters Kawada's powerbomb with a headscissors takeover. I am sorry, I meant Pillman counters Badd's powerbomb with a headscissors takeover. I find a out a Badd Day is a Top Rope Frankensteiner and Pillman takes a great bump for it. He follows up that bump with always sick-looking railing bump. I find out a Badd Mood is a crazy somersault plancha. Lets Go Badd! I might have to explore him further. Badd does a reverse slingshot splash and eats knees. Pillman looking to prove why he is "Flyin Brian" and keep up The Badd Man whiffs pretty bad on a suicide dive. In his defense, Badd should have closer and to add to the complexity the stairs where right up against the apron there so he had to clear that too. At 30 minutes into the match, they fuckin sprint against the ropes and collide mid-ring with Badd falling on top for the win.

Pillman-san and Badd-san had quite the match that night that hitherto was rarely seen in America. Unfortunately, this style was copied and stripped down missing the transitions to hold together the big spots. Yes, the beginning of the match was lackluster, but once Pillman effectively turns heel it gets a lot better. I wish Pillman had a better transition to turning heel rather just kind of just snapping his fingers and saying I am going to heel it up. To that point, Pillman bumps like a heel, but does offense like a babyface, which I feel hurts how the middle of the match connects to the amazing finish. It is a very disjointed match, which I hate rating. The beginning was some of the lamest face vs. face wrestling you'll ever see. The middle was an interesting period where Pillman was heeling it up and Badd was playing the hero well in their mini-battles. Then finish they just go balls to the walls and Pillman stops cheating and heeling. There is no glue. Within the finish stretch, the transitions are great and they have plenty of callback psychology. I just can't fit the three portions of the match together. What I have found interesting about this match is a lot people just throw out **** and don't say why it falls shy of *****. The finish stretch, which is incredibly long for an American match, is friggin' good that I will agree with the consensus and give it ****. I am trying to do star ratings to keep everything straight for future lists and projects.
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I'll be naughty, nice or whatever you want me to be.



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Brian Pillman vs. Ric Flair - Nitro 9/18/95

You know whenever these two get together it is going to be a fuckin' barnburner. They did not disappoint. Pillman interfered and helped Anderson beat Flair at Fall Brawl '95. Flair cut a promo early stating that Anderson should not have brought outsiders into the family feud and now he was going to beat Pillman all over Johnson City, Tennessee.

I just love the little bits of babyface Flair you get everyone once and a while. His babyface strut that ends with his fists balled up always makes me mark out. I loved their chopfests throughout this match. The heat was just off the charts and the crowd was all about babyface Flair. He even hit a big double axehandle from the top to the floor on Pillman. Pillman was still honing in his new heel persona, but he feels so much better than the stuff I was watching him earlier in '95. Flair ducks the clothesline while running the apron and hits his own. Babyface Flair rules! Pillman catches him with a dropkick off the top, which is his best '95 spot until he developed his heel spots. Flair hits snake eyes on the railing and Pillman Flair Flops. This is a great TV match. They surprise me as Flair takes a press slam off the top. It looks like Flair is going for the kneecrusher, but hits a back suplex. Pillman submits to the figure-4 and ends this way too early.
O God in Heaven, why could we not get a Pillman heat segment! This is nowhere near their '90 or '91 encounters, but still it is a very energetic and heated affair. Flair looks awesome in this and Pillman looks refreshed and on his way to something big.
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Brian Pillman & Arn Anderson vs Steve & Scott Armstrong - WCW Worldwide 09/23/95
 

The freshly turned heel Brian Pillman does not have his Loose Canon persona developed nor the bitchin' hair he would later have. This is the first time Anderson & Pillman has teamed since Pillman aided AA against Flair at Fall Brawl '95. This is a competitive match, but the finish was never in doubt. There was some decent spots, but it felt a bit underwhelming and lackluster.

AA is willing to give the Armstongs a lot at the beginning. They outsmart him and then he begs off into the corner saying "Are you insane?". He definitely went over the top in trying to sell the Armstrongs as a threat. Pillman did plenty of heelish things in the match, but he was not vicious as he would become. He worked more in the vein of a AA-style heel with lots of stooging like crawling away on his knees from Scott's chops. He did this leapfrog spot that with better execution could be awesome. He leapfrogged Scott and then expected to leapfrog him again and instead he lands on a well-placed Scott knee. With better execution, they could have really had something. Anderson get a blind tag and plants a knee in Scott's back. Pillman closes the gap with a wicked clothesline. Scott has one of the most jobbererfic looks ever with an awful mullet, plain blue singlet and a lanky, skinny frame. They do abdominal stretch cheating spot. This match feels like the best hits of Arn Anderson, but done at lukewarm. Pillman eats knees on a rocket launcher. Steve comes in and he looks and wrestles way better than Scott. He runs through the usual babyface comeback offense. He climaxes with a clothesline off the top. Pillman makes the save. Pillman hits Steve in the head with a kick while he runs the ropes and AA plants him with a DDT for the win.

It is a perfectly good match and I love the best hits of The Enforcer. It just felt like Pillman was wrestling as an Arn Anderson clone and he could have be so much more. Also, I think the heels could have made the lowly Armstrongs earn more. They underestimated them then Armstrongs gain the upper hand and we get the freak out moment rather just out of the gate "Oh Shit!". I would not go out of my way to watch this match as Pillman would grow more into his own in this role and AA has had way better TV tags than this.
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WCW US Champion Sting vs Brian Pillman - Saturday Night 9/30/95

This should be Johnny B. Badd's title shot, but he mysteriously disappeared and conveniently Brian Pillman received his US title shot (Badd and Pillman fought for a US title shot at Fall Brawl '95).

Pillman is starting to come into his own as the Loose Canon. He knocks down the railing and jaws with the fans. Pillman is always down to clown in his matches, which I appreciate. Modern heels should not be so afraid to look foolish in the ring. Finally one of his heel tricks works as he does the old Hollywood Blonde's trick knee gimmick and he chop blocks Sting's knee. He works on Sting's knee for a bit with a single leg crab. Sting makes his big comeback with a press slam and then catches Pillman with a powerslam to win.

After the match, the hot angle was Flair looking for a partner in his fight against AA & Flyin' Brian and Sting shut his ass down. No way, Jose!

Abbreviated match, but Pillman was pretty enjoyable. Too bad, he was never given the time to have an all-time classic as the Loose Canon in WCW before the accident. He had all the heel tools to really deliver a big time match.
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Brian Pillman & Arn Anderson vs Ric Flair & Sting - Nitro 10/16/95

Ric Fuckin Flair, BABY! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The objective was to efface any doubt in Sting's and the fans' minds that Flair is on the up and up and sell the big Havoc '95 tag match. Well everybody still probably figured Flair was turning on Sting, but hey this was a fun, fun match. Flair was just amped throughout this match. I wish they could bottle Flair's energy because I could use some during the week, Pillman and Flair had some great chopfests. I loved that as soon as Pillman got the advantage he whipped Flair over to Anderson and Flair still would not stop fighting. The babyface Flair strut ending with his fists balled up is my favorite thing in the world right now. He kicks ass on the floor and even chucks Pillman from the apron to the railing chin-first. I missed the Pillman bump. Flair slaps on the figure-4 on AA and he moves out of the way of Pillman's splash. Im lovin it. AA gets an eye-rake on Flair while he applies on the figure-4 on Pillman. Pillman with his blind kick to Flair's head and the spinebuster swing the match in the favor of the Horsemen. NOW, Sting makes his entrance and the crowd is pumped. Flair hot tag to Sting and HUGE POP! Stinger splashes for everyone. Sting clothesline The Enforcer over the top rope and Sting chucks Pillman onto the top rope. Sting & Flair stand triumphant winning by countout. They cement their newfound friendship with a high-five. The Brain is gonna puke.

This was 90% babyface offense, but it sure was fun. Pillman was taking huge bumps. AA was awesome making Sting & Flair look great. Flair and Sting were on point. Anderson and Pillman were really banking on Sting not showing up and now they have to replan. While Flair and Sting look like they are going to exact some revenge, but this Ric Flair after all...

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Brian Pillman & Arn Anderson vs. Sting & Ric Flair - Halloween Havoc '95
 

WE WANT FLAIR! WE WANT FLAIR! WE WANT FLAIR! I liked this crowd's style. Flair was mysteriously "attacked" and Sting is going it alone for the time being mirroring Flair's rolling solo efforts on Nitro.

I really liked the babyface shines in both matches a lot. Anderson and Pillman were really effective in getting Sting over, bumping their asses off for him. I loved how the Horsemen altered their game plan upon each failed attempt to double team. When trying to pin Sting in their corner failed, they moved to being in the ring at the same time, then Pillman slapped Sting to goad him to the floor and still Sting saw it coming. This is new and improved Sting. He will NOT be emotionally compromised. biggrin.gif From the slap, Pillman now offers a handshake. It is best hits of heel tag teaming! Sting press slams Pillman. In a great spot, Sting catapults AA into Pillman's crotch. Subsequently, Sting chucks Pillman onto the railing for his signature bump. Pillman manages to pull himself up to the apron, but only the top rope is holding him up. So Anderson cracks Sting's skull off of Flyin' Brian's and finally the heels gain the upper hand. That is how you work a face shine sequence. The heels went through their arsenal of tricks and each time Sting either outsmarted or outpowered them only to falter to the numbers game. I love how it was just conventionally two guys caught up to Sting it was actually AA using an out of his feet Pillman like a prop. It was a tremendous transition spot.
Here's come The Man! The crowd goes bezerk and I just have a mile wide smile. I am total sucker for babyface Flair. He is just too much fun. The heat segment is effective, but not as fun as the shine. Flair gets involved, but never really grabs a hold of the Horsemen. He lets himself be goaded by Pillman into giving chase, but again does not wrangle him. How convenient? The spinebuster is the one heel highspot, but the entertainment is derived from the Flair as a cheerleader and the constant cutoffs. All the drama is what will happen when Sting gets that damn tag. He gets his knees up on a Pillman splash, but AA cuts off with a back suplex. They keep this up until finally Sting gets a double noggin knocker. TAG TO FLAIR! TAG TO FLAIR! TAG TO FLAIR! NOW WE GO TO SCHOOL! HE CLOCKS STING! That never gets old. Horsemen beatdown and a good chunk of the crowd is still cheering for Flair.

This is a really good match and one of my all-time favorites. I wished they explained some of the timeline better, but hey I enjoyed all of it. At the end of day, it is as simple as blood is thicker than water. I love the insane loyalty and devotion they have to each other. It is Flair & The Enforcer against the world. That's how it always has been and always will be.

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Reunited and it feels so good!

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Brian Pillman vs Eddie Guerrero - Nitro 11/20/95

Ric Flair is originally scheduled to face Guerrero on Nitro, but he tells Pillman to "take care of my light work".

Pillman mocks Guerrero's Mexican heritage by using his jacket like a matador would. They two have some excellent chopfests that are as intense as Pillman/Flair, but don't get quite the same reaction. I love Pillman's use of the slap and Eddie makes sure to get a receipt to punctuate a nice flurry of offense. Pillman uses his midair dropkick to gain control and then it is dirty tactics to maintain. The crowd is not hot for them even though Pillman spits on Eddie, but Eddie's double leg gets a bit of a reaction. Pillman is definitely in Loose Canon mode, but the audience is just not there, but they would get there. Pillman takes his railing bump missing a double axehandle to outside. Eddie follows up with a huge dive from the top turnbuckles and then a brainbuster. Pillman struggles a bit more, but eventually eats the frogsplash to give Eddie a huge win.

Bischoff seemed intent on pushing Benoit, Guerrero and Malenko at this point as important midcard players. Pillman was very entertaining throughout the match. He was such a despicable human in that ring. There were some slow spots and I would put the Malenko match over this, but this was a great Pillman performance. Eddie was also on fire. He is the newcomer and he earned every bit of that crowd reaction by standing toe-to-toe with Pillman in the chop exchanges, big dives and dishing out the punishment. Good TV match.

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Brian Pillman & Arn Anderson vs Sting & Lex Luger - Nitro 11/27/95

This match was more of a back drop for the Lex Luger angle. Luger is a heel for turning on Hogan & aligning with Jimmy Hart, but he is friends with Sting. Will he turn on Sting? Can he be trusted? Sting has issues with the Horsemen since they duped him at Havoc.

Luger was late to the match, but makes up for it with a blind knee while AA runs the ropes. This is in perfect symmetry with Pillman high kick/AA spinebuster combo. I love Luger, but trying to out-heel AA & Pillman is going to be tough. Sting hits facebusters on everyone. Press slams by both. Anderson gets sent into Pillman on the apron, which causes the Pillman bump to the railing. Luger kicks some ass heel style with moves like rubbing Anderson's face across the ropes. Stinger Splash and Scorpion Deathlock on The Enforcer. Pillman ascends the top turnbuckle to save, but Luger pushes him off right into Sting's knee. Was it intentional? The heels have a decent heat segment. Pillman goads Luger away from his corner so that he misses a tag. Luger finally has enough and comes in to clean house. Sting negotiates an O'Connor roll on Pillman to win. Flair is out to beat down his two opponents for Starrcade, but Hogan makes the save. Hogan goes to clock Luger, but Sting restrains him. Whose side is he on?

Pillman was hardly in this match. He still jawed with the fans or camera when he got a chance. It felt like he was just in the match to eat the pin. Anderson was good to get over the angle and stooge for Sting & Luger. Sting & Luger was just such a great angle and this match really established where they were going forward with this angle. Early Nitro was really good at using 5-10 minute matches that also sufficed as angle development segments. I would like to see that style incorporated better in the modern product.
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Brian Pillman & Chris Benoit vs Bart Sawyer & Buck Quartermaine - WCW Pro 01/13/96

The recently formed Four Horsemen had a healthy heaping of squash in this match, but it was the best type of squash: the type you work for. They actually worked a straight, short tag match that focused on heels dominating, but it still had a shine, heat and comeback. I think Pillman & Benoit looked better for it.

I have been trying to get Brian Pillman's haircut from this era forever. Giving it another whirl on Saturday. This Pillman was so different from the one just 4 years ago. He works smarter and it able to use every heel trick to get his character over as volatile and violent. Ambrose has a lot of Pillman in him and he needs to continue learn from Pillman. Benoit is just a total prick and his offense is crisp as usual. They work Sawyer in a heat segment only for him to crawl through Benoit's legs to get the hot tag. Quartermaine is able to get a dropkick before being planted by a Benoit powerbomb. Benoit's powerbomb may be my favorite powerbomb ever. Pillman then dropkicks Quartermaine into a dragon suplex. This was a very high-end squash.

Pillman and Benoit complemented each other well. They are total pricks, but different kinds. Pillman is off his rocker and focuses on tried and true heel offense like raking the face and cheating. Benoit is a violent prick with badass offense. They could have been a great tag team if Pillman stayed on.
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Brian Pillman vs Dean Malenko - Nitro 01/22/96
 

Pillman is in full loose canon mode. I remember his stuff around this time where he was so focused on getting the gimmick over that the matches would suffer, but damn if this match was not a sweet little sprint. It has been his best TV match of the '95-'96 stretch in WCW. Early on, it is all about getting the Loose Canon over with the idiosyncratic behavior, jawing to the crowd and Malenko and inside comments "Im the real shooter because I got a Full Metal Jacket!" (a play off Malenko's ECW moniker). It does make Malenko out to be a bit of a chump because Pillman is controlling him at will. Pillman is actually pretty good on offense laying in some stiff chops and punches. Then he slaps the taste out of Malenko's mouth and Malenko is fuckin hot. The Iceman kicks some Pillman ass and Pillman sells and stooges for him. Malenko looked awesome in this match. Pillman had a great knocked out sell off a brainbuster. Pillman hits a tornado DDT and a huge chop. Malenko came back with a Tiger Driver for 2. Nitro really ushered in the emphasis on offense and getting in spots due to hyper-compression. Pillman uses the railing and some eyerakes to regain control. Pillman goes to the well once too often for a tornado DDT as Malenko throws him off. The Gutbuster get a big pop so Malenko follows it up with a drop toehold into a leg lace? Malenko sometimes just did not get it. Pillman unloads a massive forearm as Malenko falls his foot gets caught in the ropes and is pinned. The one problem is that Pillman fell off the apron and thus the ref plainly saw Malenko tied up. Ugh.
Botched finish aside this was a fun Nitro sprint that was able to get over Pillman's character and showcase some great action.
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Brian Pillman vs Eddie Guerrero - Clash of the Champions XXXII

Tony: "Given the actions that just transpired, I think it is safe to say you want Eddie to win."
Bobby: "Oh no! I still like Pillman's style. Just keep him away from me."
Classic Heenan.
This match is infamous for adding the cult status of Pillman's Loose Canon gimmick. During one of his strolls around the outside, he decided to try to take off Heenan's jacket. Heenan, with a very fragile neck, was unnerved and explicitly said on air "What the fuck are you doing?" He composed himself and continued to be a proponent of Pillman. What is interesting is that before Pillman did that to Heenan, he kinda shoved Tony in the head. That sort of freaked the Brain out as he stated "Your head whipped back and forth" in a nervous tone. That comment could have been subtle foreshadowing. Was Brain in on the deal?

The match was short and more focused on getting Pillman over as a character. I liked Eddie not backing down from Pillman's four fingers in his face. Pillman was a really effective heel. He cheats, cowers, and is proud of his Four Horsemen status. I don't know if everybody has to go as far as Pillman would with the cheating, but I would like some modern heels to actual be heels in the ring. An eyerake never hurt anyone. Eddie had some cool offense to pop the crowd like a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker or the tornado DDT. Also, he got his receipt for a Pillman slap with a paintbrush of his own. I liked how Guerrero and Malenko did not back down from Pillman and each had their own spots. They did not have feel like generic faces, but wrestlers contributing to a match. After a double leg takedown with the feet on the ropes did not work, Pillman hit a nice cross body and grabbed the tights for the win.

You could only wish that there was no accident and that Pillman could have gotten 20 minutes with these guys because he was such an excellent heel. He was combining the heel tactics from his mentors, Flair & AA, with maniacal tendencies that created a unique blend of heel hitherto unexplored.
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Brian Pillman & Arn Anderson vs Kevin Sullivan & Hugh Morrus - Nitro 2/5/96

The Dungeon of Doom & Four Horsemen had a loose alliance to destroy Hulk Hogan & Macho Man, but due to Pillman's shenanigans and seemingly his lack of respect for the Taskmaster there was a falling out between the two stables. The previous week on Nitro, AA was ready to dispense some tough love onto Pillman using a belt, but Sullivan & Morrus hijacked the segment and beat up the Horsemen. Sullivan whipped Pillman like the dog he is (love that phrase) to set up their infamous SuperBrawl Respect Strap match. The Horsemen ran them off and challenged them so we ended up with this match. I actually really liked WCW's booking at this time. I think this is the good version of shades of grey booking. You have Jimmy Hart managing Flair, Sullivan and Luger. However, Luger and Sting are pals and Flair's best friend Anderson is having issues with Sullivan. It is interesting and complex for wrestling booking.
The Dungeon of Doom are de facto faces because Pillman is working his darndest to get himself over as an ultra-heel and Bischoff is pushing him hard on commentary as absolutely looney tunes. They feed Morrus some basic press slams. Pillman does his blind kick and AA takes over with a spinebuster. Things get really good when Sullivan and Pillman throw hands. They try to get it over as a shoot. The crowd comes alive. Sullivan hits his Tree of Woe. AA/Taskmaster pair off to outside and a mystery man hits AA with a broom. Was that ever revealed? Pillman takes Morrus' moonsault (his only move) and then gets whipped with the belt before escaping.

It was a pretty boring match until the worked shoot between Sullivan and Pillman. It was a good angle to get heat on the "Respect" strap match for SuperBrawl. You really felt like Pillman was becoming a big deal in WCW. However, this would be Pillman's last week in WCW.
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Brian Pillman vs Kevin Sullivan - Superbrawl VI Respect Strap Match 

"I respect you, bookerman" with those words Pillman immortalized the Loose Canon character and forever cemented his cult status in pro wrestling. I love his matches as a plucky babyface in the early 90s, but for better or worse Pillman is famous for the Loose Canon gimmick. Pillman sprinted to the ring and got in some pretty violent shots with the strap. Sullivan hit an absolute wicked right. At this point, Pillman grabbed the mic to utter his iconic words. Fellow Horsemen, Arn Anderson came out to give the fans their money's worth and to uphold Horsemen honor. It was actually a helluva street fight strap match. It could have been one of the all-time best strap matches if they got 10-15 minutes. It was gritty, violent with eye-gouges, low blows and violent strap shots. However, Ric Flair for the first time play Cap'n Buzzkill calling off the match. He unites Horsemen and the Dungeon of Doom in an Unholy Alliance to End Hulkamania. I love how Flair always calls Sullivan "Devil". Anderson always good for a badass line ends the segment with "In order to get Savage and Hogan, I would get into bed with the Devil himself". One of the biggest moments in pro wrestling history as kayfabe continued to be destroyed and Anderson/Sullivan put on helluva fight until it was stopped. 



What could have been



I will be continuing this series including the rest of Pillman's WCW career. I should have one done for Demolition and Steve Austin's late '93-early '94 all for this week. Pillman fell short of his goal of being a main event heel, but it was not due to a lack of trying. Unfortunately, personal demons and external circumstances led to his demise. He is one of the many tragic figures in pro wrestling.