This will be the final Board watchalong for Clash shows until they go back on Peacock - so we'll go out with a bang here! We start things off with a card rundown - and it's stacked, especially for a TV show in this era. You've got tag titles, the NWA Title, and TV Titles on the line alongside a six-man tag. Flair and Arn vs. the Blondes is such a great stylistic matchup. This is at the Scope in Norfolk, VA - which is where they would later hold the World War 3 cards. This venue always looks great on TV. Jesse and Tony are on the call, and while Jesse's WCW stuff was hit or miss - if Rude's on the show, he's going to be "on" for at least one match.
Ron Simmons vs. Paul Orndorff starts the show off and Ron is OVER here. Fans are doing the wave with him and he comes off like a star. Not "THIS GUY WAS WORLD CHAMP A YEAR AGO!"-level, but a star. Dick Slater is out as Paul's replacement due to a groin injury. Whoever told Slater to wear trunks was a bad friend. Slater eats a punch and rolls out. Tony talks about Ron beating Paul on TV after the TV time limit. I love Jesse making LOGICAL POINTS about the advantage of being a champion - and especially the TV Title's time limit.
Hiptoss out of the corner and a 3 point stance is avoided when Paul grabs the leg. Simmons and Slater slug it out and Ron powerslams him to win it. Larry chats about things for a bit, mainly THE YOUTH. and THEN ERIC INTERVIEWS MICHAEL BUFFER. What an amazing 10 seconds of TV. Regal makes amazing faces, we get a fan showing WHY he does so, then the director...cuts to a shot of a guy SHOOTING REGAL before finally getting that guy's camera shot of Regal himself. Tremendous.
Regal works him over for a bit before Jesse talks about how much tougher rugby is than football. Regal cheats a bit with the tights to win this with an O'Connor roll. We get a tremendous shot of the Scope and a plug for an OFFICIAL TAPE OF THE SHOW, which I had no idea about. Maxx says he'll give Johnny his Badd Blaster and BADD BLASTS HIS FACE OFF!
Z-MAN COMES OUT IN BRIGHT BLUE SWEATS and beats him up for a bit with a nice superkick and then eats the Paynekiller for an injury angle. I dig it - you get him over as a killer with the blaster and then get his hold over. Great booking for a mediocre talent. SCORPIO'S THEME IS INTACT! Barry's, sadly is too. Glad Scorpio's WCW theme is owned by WWE. They should re-release that on digital platforms. Maybe don't do that for Barry's WCW theme here. Jesus, what a horrible semi-main event heel theme song. MICHAEL BUFFER IS HERE AND YOU'D BETTER MAN YOUR BATTLESTATIONS, THIS IS FOR THE NWA CHAMPIONSHIP! Hearing Michael Buffer do a 2 Cold Scorpio intro running down his stats, 400 matches, being ranked 3 in the world, and coming back from Japan is surreal. HE'S THE DISS THAT DON'T MISSSS!
Jesse talks about Scorp being the underdog and underlying that, a tag wrestler - so he has nothing to lose here. He can run wild and take more chances than Barry. Barry bullies Scorp around while Jesse gets in a great line about wondering which guy Jordan's betting on. Barry clubs him on the apron and has...slowed the pace down. Jesse's "Out Cold Scorpio" line is fantastic. Barry wants the superplex, but Barry IS BLOCKED! ROTATING SPLASH hits and gets 2. I like that since it wasn't the finish, HE DIDN'T KILL HIS FINISH. RANA BY SCORP! BACK-BUMP DROPKICK OFF THE TOP FOR 2. Scorp flies in AND EATS A PERFECT PUNCH. That needs to be a finish NOW. Leaping DDT hits-ish for the win. This was either bland, or really fun - no in-between.
Another plug for the tape. FOUR TO SIX WEEKS FOR DELIVERY. Holy Jesus. Davey, Sting and Dustin are backstage with Eric for a promo and I think Davey's steroids are on steroids because he is ungodly huge here. Sting says "I'LL BE DAMNED IF I LET ANYONE MASTER ME" resulting in an amazing Davey face.
Six man tag is up and we've got some amazing Dustin-Vader stuff here alongside a reprisal of Sting vs. Vader and Sting vs. Rude. Tons of great action here and a briefcase shot to Dustin ends it and gives Rude a win over Dustin. They go to double powerbomb Davey, but Rude sneaks up and honestly looks like he'll take out Sid but Sting stops him. I love Rude because yeah, he's a heel - but he really did seem like he would smack Sid with the case because he's enough of a badass to take on Race, Vader, and Sid by himself to get a shot at Vader's title.
Buffer does the intros for the world tag title match - which FEELS LIKE A MAIN EVENT MATCH here. Arn as a babyface is the EXACT SAME CHARACTER he is as a heel, only he's fighting bad guys. Brian does Flair's strut and holds his back and Arn has enough of this shit and just throws him on the mat by his hair. Brian chops him and calls him a fucking bitch in the corner before eating a shot to the jaw. Another great thing about Arn being a face - as a heel, YOU CAN'T OUT-CHEAT HIM! MASSIVE WE WANT FLAIR chant. THEY GET HIM and pop huge!
GOD HAS ENTERED THE RING! Flair beats the shit out of both of them, then Arn pops Brian in the corner. FLAIR FISHHOOKS AUSTIN! Ric chops and punches him before Arn stomps away on Steve STEVE AND ARN GO AT IT and Arn headbutts him! Steve missing the rope-ass drop BUT RECOVERING ENOUGH TO DO THE FILM REEL BIT is amazing. SNAP DDT HITS FOR ARN! FLAIR IS IN AND AXEHANDLES BRIAN! Flair flying forearms Brian and WINS THE FIRST FALL, which Buffer calls a title win.
Thankfully, that happens as they're fading to a break - so it's barely audible. FLAIR FLIP OVER THE ROPE AND HE RUNNING CHOPS BRIAN AND AUSTIN. God, Flair is such a fun babyface during this era. Superplex by Austin to Flair and it only gets 2 off a super-lazy cover by Steve. AUSTIN STOMPS A MUDHOLE IN THE NATURE BOY! Brian clips Arn for a nearfall! More heel teams need to bring back the "hold your partner's head during a half-crab" spot. Mainly THE VARSITY BLONDS. ENZUIGURI BY ARN!
Flair gets a figure four, but BARRY ATTACKS FOR A DQ and we get a Roma save. Roma gets no pop saving Flair, who IS GOD HERE. Barry cuts a promo on Flair and the Blonds retain because the last fall ended in a DQ, so while the champs lost the match, the titles can't change hands. Oh bull-shit! This was a pretty fun show overall - with the Regal match probably being the most amusing, but the tag title match was still fantastic. Great work always holds up nicely.
No comments:
Post a Comment