Bischoff and the Young Pistols are backstage. Bischoff's super-dyed hair amuses me. The Young Pistols were the Southern Boys, but it was "too Southern", so now they have shiny gold and silver and hail from Wyoming. Tracy did a great video in SMW about this saying he didn't really like this and had nothing against Wyoming, but he'd never been there. The Freebirds and Badstreet, formerly Fantasia are out. This is one of the worst eras in the Freebirds' history, and they're defending the six man tag titles against Dustin and the Pistols...I think. Freebirds are in red, white, and blue gear and the 'Birds are also US Tag Champs too. Badstreet is Brad Armstrong, who faces his brother Steve here.
Hayes has Fantasia on his ass, despite them having to change Fantasia's name to Badstreet because DISNEY OWNS FANTASIA and no one at Turner realized it until after they taped the shows. Garvin was apparently on steroids here, while Hayes...is on really bad ones if he's on anything. He's got quite the gut here, but he can still move. Great bit where Pat talks about how the Freebirds were briefly country here, recording "I'm a Freebird, What's Your Excuse" and Jim saying "I wasn't aware that was country - I just thought it was awful". Double facebuster by Dustin. Tracy flips into the ring backwards, which is neat. No part of Badstreet's gear fits the Freebirds act - even in this era.
Big Daddy Dink fits with this group like oil with water. Bradstreet takes a billion years to get into position for a Steve Armstrong flying lariat off the top. THE FREEBIRDS DO LEAPFROGS. Not very high leapfrogs, but yeah. Hayes still has a great left hand hook punch. Garvin's "we're sorry - REALLY SORRY!" rules. So much of this match was used for the Freebirds video in Mega Slams. Pat jokes about how Garvin must've grabbed the Freebird hair cream one day given how quickly his thick head of hair went away. Long chinlock by Hayes.
Left hand hook by Hayes leads to Garvin coming in. Chinlock by Garvin. Long chinlock by Garvin. Jesus, and this is an elimination match too. Badstreet lands a slick swinging neckbreaker. Tracy hits some punches, but eats another Hayes left hand. Steve runs wild on the heels. Big double shoulderblock by the Pistols. Mistimed double DDT by Hayes and Badstreet takes out Steve. Hayes backdrops Tracy over the top, so he's DQed. Now we've got Garvin and Badstreet left because you want a Hayes-less Freebird match.
Heels double DDT Tracy, so he's out now. Justin pins Garvin, and now we're down to Badstreet and Dustin...of course! Brad and Dustin are super-smooth together, and DINK GOES UP...to the second rope to distract the ref. Bulldog hits for 3, and I love that he hit Dink with his feet on the way down. Almost as good as Randy Anderson hitting Dustin in the head with his knee to make a count. Sting-Koloff is hyped up.
THE YELLOW DOG vs. Barry Windham is out, and boy is this amazing. You've got Pillman, who always had a unique build, and you put him under a mask but without a shirt still. Johnny B. Badd is facing him here. Badd is in the lipstick and original stereotypical gay getup. We get a shot of Vlad the Superfan in a Lex Luger shirt. THE VIDEO DIES because WCW lost its own master tape for this match. We come back to a huge drop in VQ and it's clearly just a VHS rip at this point.
Badd has fringe on his ass, lips on his ass, and his gear is riding up. Dog slaps the chest hard. Dog gets a very sloppy crucifix into a sunset flip, which Badd can't base for well at this point. Long gets bonked into Badd, and Teddy leads Dog into a shot by Badd. Dog goes for a blind dive, but slips a bit. Badd gets a slick super sunset flip for 2. Badd was basically a rookie and really is great given the experience level.
Badd gets a low high knee. Back suplex by Dog gets 2. Pillman hits a spinkick and Jim talks about how Pillman hated the mask, and Rocky Johnson hated wearing one until he was told to soak it in cold water first. Dog gets a crossbody, but Teddy just blatantly runs in for a DQ. Bischoff is backstage to interview Missy. He goes into the shower and Missy throws things at him. Missy is a brunette on TV for possibly the first time ever.
Big Josh is out for the lumberjack match against BlackBlood. The graphic says Sullivan is with him, but he's not here and Billy Jack Haynes is BlackBlood. Richard Morton is wearing a York Foundation shirt. DICK MURDOCH IS HERE! SPINNING BACKHAND CHOP by Big Josh here in '91, and it looked great too. Haynes and Borne and stiffing each other, and it's fun. As bad as News looks in gear, he looks even worse in regular human garb and his fanny pack makes him look fatter. We get an overhead shot of the lumberjacks...which I think are maybe eight guys total. JYD is here in a shirt, looking even fatter with a shirt. Lumberjacks brawl to provide some action since everything has slowed inside the ring. They talk about how Haynes asked for a raise at a TV taping and they pointed out that he wasn't over and anyone could play the part. BlackBlood goes to hit Josh with his giant wooden axe, but Dustin his hits leg with the axehandle and Josh wins. Dustin wins two matches!
El Gigante faces One Man Gang next. Holy Jesus does this sound dreadful, and OMG is replacing Sid who left to wrestle in the WWF. Sullivan comes out leading OMG out on a chain with Gang basically looking like a 450 pound version of Marty the Moth. Between being led out on a chain and having a bedazzled vest, there's a very overt gay vibe to all this. Pat talks about how Sullivan was handcuffed by playing a Satanist for years and now he's in a kid-friendly WCW where that isn't exactly tolerated. El Gigante comes out with Tiger Jackson on his shoulders and a series of midget workers around him. The one on the right-hand side is Mini-Swagsuke.
The midgets all group-bite Gang on the ass. Sullivan swats away some of them. Gang comes to his senses and tries to leave, but El Gigante tosses him back into the ring. They recap how this match started because Gigante won a stretcher match against Sid by throwing Gang on the stretcher. Gang walks, and then Gigante walks even more slowly behind him. Gigante hits some awful strikes and shoulderblocks in the corner. Gang hits a falling clothesline off the second rope, which results in Gigante lumbering backwards a bit. Gang chokes him with a plastic wrench. Sullivan goes to hit Gigante with it, but Gigante doesn't know to go down for it. Gigante gets his in the knee and then he moves even slower. They recap how Gigante went from basketball to wrestling because Turner had to justify his big contract somehow.
Gang stomps away with shots that could possibly damage a pillow very briefly. The 747 hits, but Giganted just tosses him off and over the bottom rope. Well, that kills his nothing finisher. Gang gets slammed off the top and hit with a back elbow. Gigante hits a suplex and Sullivan eats a clubbing blow. Gang has the powder, but Gigante turns it against him. Rabbit lariat hits and ends it. Well, Gang tried - I'll give him that. This wasn't any good, but Gang moved around a ton and even bumped off the top.
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