2 Out of 3 Falls: Brian Pillman, Lex Luger, Ricky Steamboat

Hey yo,

I had thought I had seen it all in my 18 years of watching soap operas and then Bold and Beautiful busts out a Defenestration, shades of Prague circa 1618 to jump start the Thomas-Rick feud for CEO. Great, great ending to the weekend.

If we are real quiet, I bet we can hear the ocean between those cans!

I have half of the Mysterio, Malenko, and Dragon 2 Out Of 3 Falls written, but with the 15^th Anniversary of Brian Pillman’s passing, I thought it would be timely to cover one of the sharpest minds of the wrestling business. Pillman was a thinking man’s wrestler that maximized the most of his talents to deliver hotly contested wrestling matches. Due to compounding injuries and drug usage, Pillman reinvented himself as the “Loose Canon” a gimmick that blurred the lines between fact and fiction. The “Loose Canon” allowed Pillman to utilize that raspy voice (a result of numerous surgeries as a child to remove throat polyps) to its greatest effect whipping up WCW, ECW and WWF fans throughtout late 1995 until his death on October 5, 1997. While I love these promos and character, at this point in his career Pillman had largely been rendered immobile and his best years in the ring were left behind him. This has led Jim Ross, one of his biggest supporters, to declare that Brian Pillman died of a broken heart due to his failure to realize his dreams to become a main event player in the wrestling world. Since this is a blog that focuses more on in-ring work, not to say I don’t love a good promo and solid character work, I will be focusing on the years when Pillman is one of the greatest wrestlers in the world, but due to his size he was relegated to the mid-card. The mid-card is a very integral part of the wrestling show. Even though, the main event is what draws fans into arena, the fans aspect an entertaining show for three hours. When Pillman was on the card, the fans were ensured one helluva wrestling bout. My theory about Pillman is that his usage would have been maximized as a wrestling antihero. He was best as wrestling as a babyface, but better in the stick as a heel. Lets see if I can back this up by analyzing babyface contest against heel US Champion Lex Luger in 1989 and a heel performance with “Stunning” Steve Austin as the Hollywood Blonds against World Tag Champs Ricky Steam and Shane Douglas.

Best Sunglasses In The Biz

A quick word on the other contestants in the ring:

Lex Luger – I am a huge Luger mark and probably the biggest on the internet. The general consensus has finally arrived at the conclusion that I had, which is Luger from 88-91 was involved in some excellent bouts. They only make this conclusion stating that Luger could be carried by his opponent. I assert that Luger was one of the Best in the World in that timeframe. I hope to prove that in this blog and future blogs.

Ricky Steamboat – Is one of the best fundamental wrestler you will ever find, great at everything, but only truly spectacular at selling. His offense was solid and for the time you could say his aerial tactics were top shelf, but he was never going to give you crazy chain wrestling, a spotfest or a violent brawl. Instead, he would leverage his extraordinary selling to elicit sympathy from the audience building tension for his heated comeback. The central question about Steamboat is he the greatest babyface ever?

Steve Austin – You may have heard of this tough SOB’s name. Well before Austin became a beer-drinking, stunnering, foul-mouthed redneck, he was a blond, old-school heel from Hollywood. I think Austin always preferred being a heel and truly enjoyed the chickenshit and comedic aspect of being a heel. This is why he pushed for his 2001 heel turn because to him that was what true classic wrestling was. In this performance, he delivers an inspired heel performance 

Shane Douglas – The funny thing about Shane is that due to youthful appearance and long blond hair he was cast as a bouncing babyface both as Johnny Ace’s tag team partner and now as Steamboat’s tag partner. What is funny about that is Shane Douglas is one angry prick. From his ECW work, he found out just how fuckin angry he was. But even in these tags with Steamboat when he was supposed to be a smiling, happy-go-lucky babyface, you could tell it was forced because he was just an angry young man. I have a watched a lot of fuckin Shane Douglas over the past day, but this match against Blonds is probably the greatest performance of his career.

Sssssshhhh this was my sister's crush when she was 6. Ssssshhh I didnt say that. Lex Luger

NWA US Heavyweight Champion “The Total Package” Lex Luger vs Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
Great American Bash 1989

Backstory: Steamboat lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Ric Flair at Wrestlewar 1989 (candidate for greatest match of all time). Terry Funk was looking to get a shot at Flair after being snubbed and then summarily piledriving Flair on a table. This was 1989 so that was some wild fuckin shit. First Funk had to beat Steamboat and this was built as the Main Event of June’s Clash of the Champions. So one day, Luger interrupts a Steamboat/Funk promo and cuts the promo of his life. As much, I love Luger, I always thought his promos sucked the big one due to dry mouth and lack of any rhythm. So after Funk/Steamboat, Luger comes out and destroys Steamboat with a chair to seal his heel turn and set up this match. Now the match is supposed to be No Disqualification with build being Steamboat getting his revenge during this match.

Steamboat has a ridiculous entrance as he is carried to the ring on a plank with the least terrifying looking komodo dragon all the while he looks terrified of falling. Luger’s entrance actually malfunctions as he is on a rotating disk that is supposed to show him doing bodybuilder poses. He tries to spin with his feet and when it wont give so he just turns around and flexes. It is funnier if you watch it, I pinky swear. So Luger marches to the ring and he will have none of the NO DQ stip. In fact, if Steamboat does not waive it, he is taking his ball and going home. This makes sense because in a No DQ match the champion loses his advantage and in essence the title is held-up. Steamboat just wanting to get his hands on the Total Package accepts Luger’s desired alterations.

First thing I LOVE about this match is that Steamboat leaves his usual armdrags and armbars at the door because HE IS PISSED~! The beginning they establish Luger is stronger and Steamboat is quicker with multiple quick pinfalls. Ross and Caudle work to establish Luger’s heel turn even mentioning that some fans continue to cheer for him even though he mocks them (heel fans in 1989, they never got laid). Steamboat brings the hate with chops, dropkicks and a back body drop. Luger takes a powder and Steamboat continues his onslaught with an atomic drop. In one of Luger’s favorite spots, Luger cuts Steamboat with a kneelift as the Dragon attempted to get back in the ring. Luger is using Steamboat’s intensity against him and is setting up opportunities to create an advantage for himself. He follows that up with a  wicked lariat on Steamboat. But Steamboat will not be denied as he drives Luger’s head into a table on the outside.

Back in Ross informs us that Luger said “A good big man would beat a good little man everytime”. Luger catches Steamboat as he comes off the top rope with a punch to the gut. This continues the theme of Luger being able to turn Steamboat’s reckless abandon against him. Luger immediately follows up with a backbreaker and a Gorrila Press slam, which gets an audible pop. This time Luger established a heat segment with his focus on the lower back. The first act of the match was all about Steamboat’s anger and intensity and Luger looking for a way to stifle him. This introduces three elements:

• set up for the Torture Rack
• Will Luger get cocky or will he attack purposefully now that he has grounded Steamboat
• This whole match the Dragon has been offense how will he react on defense
• Luger doin extra taunting in order to get a heel reaction

Funny spot as Luger bitches about the count, Steamboat rolls him up quickly and the ref fast counts him. Tommy Young is one cheeky bastard. Luger, in a fit of frustration, rattles off three big lariats. Steamboat does the out on his feet, swinging in their aimlessly, fall on his ass sell job. Got to love Steamboat! Luger connects with a powerslam for two and finally a “Luger Sucks” chants starts. Steamboat catches him with a cross-body to get two in a well-timed hope spot. After trading moves, Luger crashes and burns over the top off a missed lariat (a typical 1989 Luger spot). Steamboat proved resilient, which forced Luger to go for a big bomb. This allowed Steamboat to use his quickness to cause Luger to miss his big bomb. 

Greatest babyface ever? Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

Luger falls on top of Steamboat on a bodyslam attempt for a 2 count putting over the fatigue at this point of this grueling contest. Luger eats a Flair press slam off the top and Steamboat gets a second wind a barrage of chops and dropkicks ensue. Steamboat connects with a top rope chop to get a 2 count. Now Steamboat is the one frustrated because he finally hit his big bomb and it only led to a two count. Luger grabs a chair (the same weapon he used on him a month ago), but as the ref blocks him from using it, Steamboat is able to catapult him into the corner with chair meeting Luger’s skull. Steamboat letting his anger get the best of him attacks Luger with chair thus getting DQ’d. Steamboat chases Luger to the back with the chair as that segment ends.

I fuckin love this match. Everything makes sense and it is so heated and action-packed. Steamboat does not work any holds and is out to punish Luger. He starts going for big bombs and Luger is able to finally stifle him. Luger works him over nicely and gets the crowd going. Luger gets frustrated and goes for a bomb and misses letting Steamboat back into the match. Then when Steambat hits his big move and cant get the win the drama kicks into overdrive because it feels as if it is only a matter of time before Steamboat wins. Only for Luger to feel the only way to save his title is the chair. Then Steamboat letting his emotions get the best of him use the chair to inflict more punishment on him. One of my personal favorite matches and all-time classic, definitely check this match out.

Flyin Brian with Extra Day-Glo

NWA US Heavyweight Champion “Total Package” Lex Luger vs “Flyin” Brian Pillman
Halloween Havoc 1989  

I do not know of any backstory to this match. Basically, I get the feeling that Pillman was a bright newcomer so they put him in there with one of the top heels and give him a shot at a major title and see how he does. This is one of the smartest worked matches I have ever seen. It is not like Steamboat/Luger, which has the ability to play off a feud. Instead all the drama in the match has to be generated between the ropes, which is not an easy task. Now factor in that both men debuted about three years before this and it is a very tough challenge. Both men delivered in spades with big time performances and getting very good crowd heat throughout.

The story does take a couple of viewings before you get a good grasp of it. It seems that not even announcers really understood what was going on as he often wondered why Luger was not going for power moves instead of his strike-oriented offense. All will be explained in the following paragraphs.

Instead of establishing the obvious Luger strength advantage, they put over Pillman’s tenacity by letting him stick with collar-elbow tie-up and get a playful slap out of that. Luger does not take to kindly to the insolence from the rookie (it was Pillman’s first year with company) and takes him to the woodshed. Then he gets cocky after all he is Lex Fuckin Luger. Pillman does not take kindly to that and just tackles him to the ground then follows it up with a chop, back body drop, dropkick, baseball slide and another chop. Luger is giving Pillman a lot here and making him look really good. Air Pillman misses and Luger bails; Pillman gives chase. Luger cuts Pillman off with a kneelift, hmmm where I have seen this before. Luger tries to set up for a power move to consolidate the advantage but Pillman evades him with a cross body block, which gets two. Pillman then grounds the more powerful Luger with an armdrag and wristlock.

This is the sequence I just fuckin love about this match. Pillman started off full of piss and vinegar, but that got him in trouble so now he is content with controlling the pace with an armbar. This frustrates Luger rather than really hurting him. Everytime, Luger tries to get something going on offense Pillman will use his quickness to get back into the armbar. They go back to this like three times, which really hammers home the point. Pillman does not how to put away Luger and Luger cant use his strikes to set up a control segment because of Pillman’s quickness. This only works because Luger consciously only uses strikes and no slams or suplexes during this portion. You really get a feeling that Pillman is out-wrestling Luger, but you are worried that he wont put him away. Perfect analogy is when an underdog has the slight lead on a favorite the whole game. You are in shock that they are hanging tough with the favorite and as the match progresses you are nervous if they can hold on. Just like in that scenario, when the favorite or Luger in this case starts to build momentum your stomach drops.

That’s when it happens. Pillman goes for the put away and crashes and burns on a splash attempt. Now Luger finally has the ability to put together an offensive sequence that makes Pillman only more sympathetic as he takes an ass-kicking from the much bigger Luger. Luger crushes him with a wicked clothesline from behind, steps on his throat and a delayed vertical suplex gets two as he releases all that frustration. As Pillman tries t build a comeback, Luger sends him crashing through the ropes onto the outside with a well-timed leverage move. Pillman gets a sunset flip for two when he gets back in and then Luger crashes and burns on his big lariat attempt as he hurdles over the rope to the floor. It is such a great spot because it looks visually impressive and Luger uses it late in matches to put over the fact his opponent is so resilient that he needs to go for a big move to end it, but cant connect. As they tussle on top, Pillman pushes Luger off the top and gets a sunset flip for 2. Pillman follows this up with a flying reverse elbow for 2. Now the place is rocking as Luger is begging off and Pillman is looking like a million bucks. Air Pillman (springboard clothesline) connects, but only gets two as Luger puts his foot on the ropes (protecting the finisher). Pillman misses a dropkick and Luger connects with a hotshot to escape with title.

Luger gave so much to Pillman throughout the match. In the beginning, he let Pillman look like his equal in the collar-elbow tieup. He sold for Pillman well during the hot shine segment. Then he let Pillman control a well-put together body of the match, which illustrated how Pillman’s quickness was besting Luger’s power. The heat segment put over Pillman’s resilience. Then finally the Pillman comeback really felt like Pillman was one move away from winning. The finish paid off how Pillman’s mistakes were his downfall and that Luger escaped with his title by hitting one lucky move off. Fabulous match and really shows how Luger was one of the best workers in the world in 1989 and that Pillman had a bright future ahead of him.   

Always the jokesters: The Hollywood Blonds

NWA/WCW World Tag Team Champions Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat & Shane Douglas vs The Hollywood Blonds (Brian Pillman & Steve Austin)
Clash of the Champions XXII

I watched three Pillman vs Steamboat/Douglas matches. Even though everyone says the Windham/Pillman and Blonds title change are the better matches. I have to disagree to me this is the best of the series. They pack more action in here and really build to heated finish. Yes the finishes of the other two matches are more satisfying, but the build is better in this match and the finish of this match is logical. Holistically, I prefer this match because of the real exciting shine section and a good employment of Blonds stock spots even if they had not started using the Towel yet.

From the outset, the announcers inform us that this title match will have a 30 minute time limit as opposed to a 60 minute time limit thus they expect a faster-paced match than normal. As if the wrestlers were hearing them, deliver an exciting, action-packed match. It was almost like the wrestlers were instructed to do that or something. Weird.

I love the agrression Austin displays and then how due to an early Pillman save and everything breaks down into a big melee with the faces sending the Blonds packing. It really lends to the big match atmosphere. Steamboat and Douglas are able to isolate Pillman’s arm and repeatedly come off the top onto the arm utilizing the quick tag. So early on it is established that Steamboat & Douglas are a smart tag team and consummate wrestlers. Pillman grabs a handful of hair and then feigns a knee injury off a criss cross to create an artificial timeout (THERE ARE NO TIMEOUTS IN WRESTLING!!! As every announcer ever has yelled). This establishes that Pillman and Austin are willing and capable of taking every shortcut to get ahead in this match. Douglas catches Pillman with a powerslam as he comes off for a springboard. This spot demonstrates that the babyfaces will be able to overcome the Blonds’ cheating because they are smarter and more talented. The babyfaces in all circumstances should always look better. Pillman tags out. Austin and Douglas do a surprisingly good and fluid chain sequence. It is not that long, but for 1993 it looks amazing. Douglas comes out on top with a double wristlock and is looking like a million bucks. He has been on top of his game all match. Austin uses the hair to escape, but Douglas cuts him off with the drop toe-hold (I love drop toe-holds), Steamboat is in and executes a hammerlock slam (I love that move too). This match has featured great psychology from the babyfaces. That is what is really lacking from the other two matches I mentioned. It felt like the early shine segment was meandering and aimless. In a really fun sequence, Steamboat press slams Douglas on top of Austin and when Pillman comes into save, Steamboat press slams him on Austin. That sequence had me smiling and the crowd rocking because the heels were really hamming it up. 

Pillman impersonating Ric Flair in the Famous Flair For The Old Skit

Austin is able to drop down and use a leverage move (grab the Dragon’s tights) to send Steamboat crashing into Pillman’s elbow (REMEMBER THIS) and then Austin is able to immediately capitalize with a belly-to-back suplex to kick off the face-in-peril segment. Pillman comes in and sucker punches Douglas, which causes the ref to be detained to calm down Douglas allowing for Pillman to throw Steamboat over the top rope (which should be a DQ in ’93 WCW). This has the crowd really hot as Pillman taunts the crowd as he grins like a Cheshire Cat. Austin follows this up with a bodyslam on the outside, but Douglas is there to break it up. Pillman brings Steamboat back in with a vertical suplex and really tries to press his advantage with multiple pinfalls. Steamboat uses a sunset flip as his hope spot but the ref is distracted by Austin in a good spot. Austin is in and hits a gutwrench suplex (one of my favorite suplexes). Austin suckerpunches Douglas to set up sending Steamboat into Pillman’s elbow again. However, they pay this off with Steamboat catching Pillman with an elbow instead and he take his wicked Pillman bump (“chin first” on the guard rail). I love how the Blonds attempted to use the move that gave them the advantage only for them to have this turned around on them making the babyfaces look that much smarter. However, Austin still cuts off Steamboat with a belly-back suplex and then with overhead body vice. I have to say while it is boring as a bearhug, it is at least more visually impressive. As the Blonds try to go for their coup de grace, Steamboat evades and Air Pillman strikes Austin. After a bit of struggle, Steamboat is able to tag in Douglas.

THE CROWD IS ROCKING!!! Katie Bar The Door, Shane Douglas is a HOUSE OF FIRE!!! He is just crushing everything in sight. Douglas hits the Belly To Belly on Pillman. Douglas had polished off Windham/Rhodes and Windham/Pillman with this exact move, but Austin is able to come off the top to make the save. Steamboat attacks Austin on the outside, but as the ref restrains Steamboat Austin grabs a title belt and whacks Douglas in the head as he had Pillman rolled up in the plain view of the ref. This is an auto DQ. Pillman DDTs Steamboat and Douglas blades off the belt shot. In one of my favorite visuals, Steamboat tries to cover Douglas with is own body while Pillman whips both of them with the gold belts.

This is more of a fun match than the previous Luger matches. It is like the Blonds/Douglas&Steamboat is a fun action blockbuster and the Luger matches are Oscar candidates. The Blonds match told such a simple storyline of how the babyfaces clearly outclassed the Blonds, but the Blonds were willing to cheat and thus the faces would have to overcome that obstacle. In addition, the match was wrestled at a wicked fast-paced with well-thought out spots. Every spot mattered and every spot led to a payoff. The best example is how Austin’s leverage move into the Pillman elbow got them the advantage, but when they go back to it Steamboat turns the tables on them and it leads to the Pillman bump. If you want a fun 16 minute sprint, I cant think of many better matches, you will have a smile on your face the entire time.

The Hollywood Blonds would pick up the tag team titles in March of 1993 only to drop the titles to the Horsemen team of Arn Anderson and Paul Roma in July of 1993 only for the Blonds to disband. The Blonds have gained legendary status on the internet as prime evidence that WCW's booking was rooted in keep the good 'ol boys club on top and that any other act that gets over is buried.  Thus the Blonds are looked on as a shining spot in an otherwise lackluster 1993 WCW and have gained that special mythos. They did have a badass catchphrase "This is your brush with greatness". Truth seems to be that the Blonds did not draw too well against Flair/Anderson and thus the decision was to resume Austin's singles push as he went onto capture the US Heavyweight Championship. In addition, the Blonds while having fun tag matches like this and against the Horsemen and Scorpio/Bagwell really failed to have that one true classic match. This being said the Blonds were a lot of fun and excelled as an old-school heel tag team that got under you skin.

Whether it was a heel or babyface, Brian Pillman always wanted to make sure the crowd was entertained and he made sure of that until his dying day. Rest In Peace, Brian Pillman.

The next blog will definitely highlight WCW’s crusierweight division as we look at Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko and Ultimo Dragon.