WCW Great American Bash 1992

 It's Board Watchalong time! We get an NWA Tag Title tourney rundown and the main event of Sting vs. Vader. Tony and Magnum welcome us to the show and Magnum's mullet is flying proud. Nogami is out and he's replaced by Shinya Hashimoto to team with Hase. Venutra wears an insane suit and Eric Bischoff meets with Bill Watts. In the NWA tag title tourney, you can jump off the top - but in WCW, it's a DQ. 

Pillman and Liger are out as a team to face Nikita FROM LITHUANIA and Steamboat. Pillman and Liger are the favorites due to the flying while the opponents are heavyweights. Brian and Liger work on the arm of Nikita. Pillman works on Ricky with a long chinlock. LIGER HITS A MOONSAULT for 2. Tombstone gets 2 for Liger. Brian runs wild and hits Air Pillman off the top and hooks the head nicely! Brian gets a sleeper on Koloff before we get Steamer vs Liger for some fast-paced action. Liger misses a dropkick and Pillman comes in with a crossbody off the top BUT IT'S STEAMER'S MOVE so he rolls through and pins him.  

Angry Steiners promo leads to Hashimoto and Hase coming out to one of two Japanese wrestler themes WCW used. Ross goes into Hase being a professor and we get Hase and Hashimoto working with Garvin, who wants nothing to do with movement or bumping. JESUS that long gutwrench gutbuster on Hayes was unreal. Hase was a low-key powerhouse. HASHIMOTO HITS A BLOCKBUSTER HOLD ON HAYES! Seeing Hashimoto do a bridge is unreal. Hayes takes them down with a pair of left hooks. Hase locks on a northern lights suplex to Hayes and wins it. 

Watts has the NWA Title belt and announces a Sumo Palace tourney SELLING IMMEDIATELY. He gives Hiro Matsuda the belt.  "WE TOOK THE NAME OF THE LAST CHAMPION WHO WORE THIS BELT, RIC FLAIR, OFF THE BELT!" That doesn't quite bury him like you think it does...Watts buries the NWA Title tourney by saying that the winner should face Sting to unify it. Rude and Austin are out and Madusa is looking sharp in a captain's getup. 

Jesse is pissed about Barry taping the fist up and Steve takes two bumps for it and an epic face-first bump off a corner elbow by Dustin! Rude charges into a boot and a lariat hits before a BACK SUPLEX. Rude works over Barry with a slick piledriver. Steve works Barry over with a chinlock as Jesse talks about this sapping him further. GOOD IS DUMB as Dustin distracts the ref allowing for the heels to switch without a tag. 

We're at an HOUR OF TAG MATCHES here and each match has a least been different. DUSTIN COMES IN AND RUNS WILD! Dustin hits a lariat off the top and we get a three count and a strange picture in picture of the winning pinfall. Well, that's a different thing to do I guess. Vader is with Harley and Eric Bischoff. 

Steamboat and Koloff are out for the semis against the Miracle Violence Connection. MVC is out with a fan loving their act with a goofy sign. Long chinlock kills the fans before Doc muscles Steamboat around. Bam Bam and Nikita go at it before Gordy tags in Doc. Nikita works him over with a front facelock before working into a dragon sleeper before a front choke. Ricky's back in and the crowd's alive and we get some weird cradles for 2. 

Ricky goes for a crucifix, but Doc RUNS HIM INTO THE BUCKLE WITH IT. Now that's a new one! Terry's in and misses a right arm lariat, but lands a left. Man was he born to be a wrestler. Nikita tags in and runs wild on Doc. He has his working shoes on tonight. GORDY LOCKS ON THE STF! Hopefully Erik Watts saw this and realized how shitty his version was. ELEVATED CRAB BY DOC! Nikita FALLS INTO A TAG TO STEAMBOAT FOR A HOT TAG! Diving chop off the top to Doc's back. Gordy shoves Ricky off the top into a spinebuster position and DOC HOLDS HIM AND SPINEBUSTER STAMPEDES HIM FOR THE WIN. Doc, even looking...about 45 here...was so damn strong. 

Hase and Hashimoto are out to face Dustin and Barry! We start off with some wrestling while Jesse talks about HOW YOU SEE WRESTLING HERE IN WCW. Hashimoto gets Barry in a cross armbreaker/triangle combo. Hashimoto and Hase hit a stuffed piledriver on Dustin. Barry hurls Hase into a powerslam for 2. Dustin comes in and leapfrogs Hase into a Barry lariat to end it. Ron puts over THE WORLD TITLE here in WCW and he wants to see who wins the title tonight.

Sting's got his USA jacket on while Vader is rocking the helmet. Ross brings up Vader's football history, because of course he does. Vader does a test of strength and Sting loses that - so he thumbs the eye and backhands him! STING WAS A SMART BABYFACE! Sting goes for a sunset flip but Vader drops down and does a double bicep while Ross and Jesse bury the WBF. "I heard bodybuilding wasn't doing so good!" "It don't pay nothin'!"

Vader gets a scorpion deathlock on as they go over the shoulders of Tony and Ron and we see Vader and Sting blurred in the background - tremendous shot there. A rarity on WCW broadcasts. Sting powers out. JAYSUS that right hook from Vader! I like that the bad execution actually plays into protecting the move since sure, Sting escaped - but it was only due to Vader not having Sting's experience in properly applying the hold. I love Sting busting out the koppou kick from time to time. DDT! Sting gets him in the corner and struggles with every fiber of his body to get a Samoan drop out of the corner!

LOOK AT THAT FACE! This man makes you believe. That's something Hulk Hogan never could do. You never believed there was a struggle. Here, his legs are shaking and his face is grimacing as he struggles to get AND KEEP Vader up.

Sting gets a German suplex for 2! Stinger Splash! A second one to the back leads to Sting hitting the hook of the post! He's out on his feet here! STING GETS OUT AT 2. He's down and out though. He can barely stand. Vader powerbombs him and cradles him in the cover to win it. FANTASTIC match. The post-match has Nikita and even Ole come out to help Sting up. I love the symbolism here of Ole, letting the past be the past, helping Sting out of the ring here. It's a small bit of long-term storytelling that rewards you for being a long-time viewer.

LOCKER ROOM INTERVIEW with Vader and Race. I love that WCW would do this stuff - it makes it feel like a sporting event. This is all so perfect. So of course it's time to close the show with the NWA World Tag Title closing the show out. On one hand, hey, that's the focal point of this show - so fair play there. On the other, THE WORLD TITLE IS THE WORLD TITLE and should close the show. The Steiners come down and get ejected. A ONE HOUR TIME LIMIT is announced as fans somehow don't just make a beeline for the exit. 

Doc works a long bodyscissor on Dustin after Dustin throws elbows. Okay, it's THE MAIN EVENT OF THE SHOW. We can start with something other than headlock>headscissors spots and bodyscissors.... TOP WRISTLOCK. Gordy gets an STF for Dustin. Doc comes in and gets a long chinlock/bodscissors...Jesus Christ! They're literally working this like they're opening match guys on a Mid-South Wrestling TV taping, but CAN DO moves from 1992. OH THANK GOD Barry ran into the buckle. We've got a sign of life in this match. DOC GETS THE TORTURE STRETCH. Now we're cooking with at least a light flame here. We're at Bic Lighter-levels, but I'll take it. 

Well that lasted about a minute. Time to put that fire out. WE'VE GOT SOME WRESTLING TO DO BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WE DO IN WCW. WE WRESTLE! This is right out a latter-day Gagne show where the ship is sinking and he's giving you boiler plate wrestling, putting it over as THE REAL WRESTLING LEAGUE while fans chant "boring" and he's stuck doing commentary WHILE THIS IS GOING ON explaining the logic behind it all. Doc hits a left arm lariat and Dustin spins for the sell to end it. THANK GOD! 

Doc and Gordy are unified champs. Ross talks about how in seven days, Gordy and Doc have won the WCW World Tag Titles and NWA World Tag Titles. We get a runthrough of the events tonight by both sets of announcers and Gordy and Doc stare down the crowd. Boy was this the wrong team to close out a show - second PPV in the watchalong with the Beach Blast show after this being evidence of that too.

AEW Dynamite 10-7-20 - Jericho 30th Anniversary Show

The roster talks about Jericho's influence on them in the opening video package. PNP talks about becoming a team when they read his first book. Jungle Boy says that the match he had with Chris was his first big match here. Darby said that the pep rally appearance showed that AEW was for real while Britt says he's the original role model. JUST the AEW photos alone at the end show that he's had a ton of career highlights in just under two years here already. Unreal.

Miro is at ringside playing an arcade machine and JR messes up Ricky Starks' name, which of course pisses Taz off. Ex hypes up the card and Hobbs vs. Cage starts things off. Will Hobbs is on a 4-match streak and that's used as a nice way of showcasing that he's earned a shot. I like the small touch of the FTW graphic being orange and black. Cage has his right thigh taped up, because of course he does. Cage muscles Hobbs around and gets winded in the corner. No-move fallaway slam into a standing moonsault for 2. Pumphandle facebuster hits for Cage, but Hobbs just slugs him in the jaw with forearms. BIG SPINEBUSTER HITS FOR 2. Frog Splash misses and the Drillclaw ends it. 

Taz gets on the mic and gives Hobbs the chance to join Team Taz. That's Option A, but Option B is he says no and gets an ass-kicking. BUT HERE COMES DARBY! Darby's painted hashmarks on his jacket and painted spine on the skateboard are great. He comes off as someone who just does everything himself and it's hard not to root for him.

Ted Irvine, Bully Ray, Slash, and TANAHASHI give Jericho props for 30 years. Lance with Jake cuts a promo on HOW 20 MEN COULDN'T STOP HIM SO MOX HAS NO CHANCE. The Bucks watch TV from a WWE viewing position backstage. Ex and Tony talk about the fines not hurting the Bucks, so JR says just take them off TV and hurt them that way. FTR's out to face H2 and Cash gets a ringpost figure 4 on Evans. Dax goes for a a German, but Evans springs out and koppou kicks him! POWERPLEX ENDS IT! Backstage, the Bucks superkick the guy holding the camera for their shot. Nick says they owe him 10K and Matt says he forgot his wallet. Heel Bucks rule. Best Friends come out for a challenge next week. 

MJF cuts a promo about never meeting your heroes - but he disagrees with that after meeting Chris Jericho. Gene Simmons, Lars Ulrich, and Don Callis put over Jericho. Lars is a better promo than 99% of people in WWE. Dog collar match is hyped up for the TNT Title. Cody gets an ungodly huge intro while Brodie brings the chain, Anna Jay, and John Silver with him. Cody does the Hogan shirt rip and wow, it's only been since late August that Cody was taken out - feels like it's been longer. They've done A LOT with Brodie in that time. 

Cody dropkicks Silver on a chair outside. Cody hits a lariat, but eats a DDT. Brodie tells Anna to get him out and Cody is sliced above the eye. They fight on the floor and Cody gets chain-pulled into the barricade. Cody responds by chain-pulling him INTO A CUTTER ON THE FLOOR! Cody hits a package piledriver off the apron through a table! Brodie comes up bloody! 

Cody just slugs him with the chain and Brodie is a mess. Brodie gets his revenge by hanging him on the ropes with it. Black Hole Slam hits for 2 for Brodie. Brodie tosses a chair at Arn, who ducks and comes in to kick the shit out of somebody and Reynolds eats a spinebuster! Arn takes a gutshot and goes down! Cody clubs him with the chain and gets 2 off Cross Rhodes. He tries Din's Fire but Brodie escapes and superkicks him twice and powerbombs him on the chain for 2. Brodie gets a superplex and a pop-up dragon suplex! Cody gets a floatover Reckoning and uses the chain across the eyes, mouth and nose before slugging away with the elbow! Cross Rhodes hits once more and ends it!

Cody cuts a tremendous babyface promo about being able to compete in front of a live crowd and he spent from the time he was 15 to this point to feel the people! He's sticking with the fans until the end! It isn't pandering, it's his life's work to be a wrestler and what he wants to do is to come to the anniversary of Dynamite and defend the TNT Title. ORANGE CASSIDY ACCEPTS THE CHALLENGE! Kenny cuts an overly-dramatic promo about winning tournaments without even having to try. He drop Page down and says he's a "tag team wrestler" to go for a singles title. Swole beats Serena Deeb with a pump kick and discus elbow in a match that wasn't too long in a traditional sense, but went too long because Swole just isn't all that good. 

Mox cuts an intense promo on Archer saying that he could lose it to Archer, but he can survive him - he did it before. He faced him before in Tokyo and we get shots of their WK match. Archer followed him across the world and we get a reprise of the Death Rider stuff with him in a bar actually as himself and not a body double. He'll have to take the belt off his dead body - and maybe he'll do it. But hey, everybody dies, right Lance?

Lance gives Jericho a shoutout with Ex hyping up Luther as a friend and rival of Jericho since 1991. Kevin Smith and Eli Roth send in love too. Jericho and Hager's wins are covered while the roster sings him to the ring. Jericho is just beaming in the ring. This is tremendous. It's not about him being a face or heel here, but just honoring a legend in his time. Tony hypes him up as a Wrestling Observer Hall of Famer and boy is hearing that on TNT something else. Ross talks about how he was Dr. Luther, but he lost his license. Lionsault to Luther as Ex talks about Luther giving Jericho the idea of that move. Luther takes out the goons, but the Judas Effect KOs him.

Jericho gets the mic and gets a ton of cheers and claps. He says 30 years is only due to the fans...and then MJF's theme hits. He says this isn't about him so he wants his music cut, it's about CHRISTOPHER! And he's certainly not here to take his spotlight, he RESPECTS HIM. IT'S GIFT O CLOCK AND HERE'S CLOWNICHO THE CLOWN! HE'S HOLDING A PRESENT AND HE'LL GET SAMMY HIS JACKET, HE SWEARS. He wants to show him love next week too, and tonight. IT'S A PHOTO OF MJF! Oh this is going to be great. Whatever it is whenever that happens, it'll be great.

He breaks the picture on Clownicho's head and hits a Judas Effect! HE HATES CLOWNS AND INTERRUPTIONS! MJF and Jericho cackle about this and the MJF announcement next week before they go to an SNL-style credits sequence with Jericho doing everything. Tremendous show! 

WWE NXT Takeover 31 - Balor vs. 'O Reilly

 

Priest vs. Gargano is the opener from the CAPITOL WRESTLING CENTER, formerly the PC. If you're Johnny, shouldn't you just jump this fucker doing this goofy imaginary archery bullshit? The Capitol Wrestling Center looks fantastic. Johnny ducks under and eats a spin kick. There's a weird empty void noise going on that is distracting. Johnny gets a tequila sunrise but Priest escapes and lands a springboard forearm. Tornado kick to take Johnny off the apron...why? A high kick would do the same thing. Razor's Edge on the apron...WHY!? Standing Asai DDT and kneeling flying forearm by Johnny gets 2. Johnny puts goons in his way for a flip dive to get a reprieve. Johnny punts him in the balls on the floor and gets an STF/Gargano Escape combo! Priest gets the draping Cross Rhodes to win. Great match - not a classic, but it told a solid story with Johnny cheating as much as he could and still failing.

KUSHIDA vs. Dream is up and Dream is cosplaying as Doc Brown and KUSHIDA just whips his ass, hopefully for wearing dishpan gloves. KUSHIDA dropkicks the steps into his hand trapped in the post. Hoverboard Lock is on, but Dream wants a driver, but KUSHIDA keeps his grip and taps. THANK GOD. This went on forever. HALLOWEEN HAVOC IS BACK with Shotzi as host. We go backstage to Johnny and Candace with flags. 

Isaiah Scott vs. Santos Escobar is up and Swerve starts off with a Fosbury flop. Escobar's entrance getup is fantastic. Apron PK by Swerve. Swerve gets 2 off a turnbuckle draping DDT and sells it great. He sits him on the top rope and springboard ranas Escobar onto his goons for 2. Fantom Driver gets 2. Arm clutch stomp by Swerve! Swerve is so great - but the goofy faces aren't helping this. The Angel's Wings to the knee hits for the win. 

Io is SUCH A STAR in her intro. Candice as the babyface in peril as a heel works quite well. GARGANO ESCAPE! Io gets the rope, so Candice surfboard stomps her down. Johnny runs in with a ref shirt for 2. A REF COMES DOWN TO DEBATE HIM BEING A REF. This is doing a great job of exposing that Johnny is actually smaller than most regular refs. Okay, Johnny taking like five bumps for the near-fall was something else. Spanish Fly into the Io sault hit and end it. TONI STORM IS ON THE TRON AND SHE'S BACK IN NXT!

The NXT night vision biker is the building! Okay, so is the NXT Nightvision biker just sending in clips? And if so, why is WWE airing them? EMBER MOON IS THE NXT BIKER! Balor vs. KOR hype video. Balor gets a long headlock, but goes for a sunset flip that gets turned into a flash armbar before Balor gets the ropes. SLIDING KNEE to the back by KOR! Basement SHOTGUN DROPKICK TO KOR smashes his face in! Long armbar with Finn doing the KOR guitar riff. Tremendous! Kyle gets all busted up and locked in a half crab. WACKY LINE BY KOR! 

Inverted bloody Sunday hits for 2. TOP ROPE ON THE ROPE DRAGON SCREW BY KOR! DIVING KNEE TO THE HAMSTRING OF BALOR! DRAPING FLYING KNEE! Roll through stomp and the Coup de Grace ends it! This was a great star-making match for KOR as a single. Barrett talks about seeing this making him glad to be retired. Barrett is so great at giving a match a big-match feel. He put over their work as harder than anything he could've done, and got across a great point that KOR's pain hurt worse because he lost.  

Ridge Holland brings Cole out on his shoulders 

 

WWE Raw Homecoming - 10-3-05

F4W Board watchalong time! Raw was only 12 years old here, which is astounding given that it's felt the same for at least a decade now. We start off with FIVE MINUTES OF CLIPS. Mick is out that WWE is back home on USA! He brings out Roddy Piper for Piper's Pit. Piper asks when Mick's coming back and Mick says he loved his last run, and Roddy gets buried by Randy Orton. Piper and Orton brawl and Orton Sr suckerpunches Mick and he RKOs Piper and then Mick. We get Kurt vs. HBK hype with Eric bitching out Teddy for Orton's attack. Kurt's out to face HBK and we get a legends front row rundown. Kurt gets a back suplex and ground and pound for an early edge. Kurt grinds him with a hard chinlock but HBK escapes and Kurt drops down and gets a facejam. 

HBK goes for a baseball slide, but Kurt grabs him for an Angle Slam on the floor. BUCKLE BOMB BY KURT! Super Angle slam gets a fall for Kurt! Shawn sunset flips out of an Angle slam attempt and then that turning into an ankle lock. HBK rolls through that for a fall. Kurt locks on a bodyscissors before another ankle lock. HBK gets kneebarred in it and after a long time, he taps. Kurt locks on more leg locks before getting sent down and HBK HITS THE FLYING ELBOW. SWEET CHIN MUSIC GETS A FALL! MOONSAULT INTO THE ANKLE LOCK! Another long ankle lock after an escape and a sweet chin music hits and the time limit expires at a 2 count. 

HBK wants sudden death to settle this, but Kurt doesn't. Austin is hyped as is CENA VS. BISCHOFF FOR THE TITLE. Kevin Von Erich gets a nice tribute and he looked...99% the same as he did when he was in his prime. Eric asks VINCE to make his match No DQ and VINCE says no. Lilian gives Vince an intro that credits him with Hogan, Austin, Rock, and talks about how well-endowed he is. Vince says they're uncensored and IT'S LIKE THE OLD DAYS! We get clips of Austin vs. McMahon, which by this point was only seven years old and Austin had been retired for 2 1/2 years. This would be like getting Good Old Days clips for Brodus Clay and Alberto. Jesus. Austin rolls clips, including the pants-pissing and beer bash before laying him out with a stunner.

SHANE'S OUT AND STILL HAS DARK HAIR and eats a stunner. Steph screeches about this being Raw, USA, and HER FAMILY'S SHOW. Steve flirts with Steph and hits a stunner on her too. Linda comes out and asks why he did all that and he says they're on USA and then they drink some beer and he spills beer on her and stuns her too. This went on for at least seven eternities. Todd asks WHAT VINCE'S THOUGHTS ARE ON AUSTIN ATTACKING HIS FAMILY. Someone's getting FIRED over this! Lita's out in tiny shorts to bring Edge out to face Matt Hardy in a ladder match.

Matt traps him in the ladder for a ladder vise grip. They slug it out for a bit before we get a shot of Lita's cleavage. They fight on the ladder and Edge gets knocked into a corner ladder, sending him into Matt's ladder as he recoils off the ropes and bumps onto the other fallen ladder. Good stuff there. Matt goes to powerbomb Lita through a table on the floor, but Edge canes him and running splashes him through a ringside table. Matt and Edge fight on a ladder AND A TWISTO OFF THE LADDER HITS! Matt goes for the case, but Lita canes him. Lita moves the ladder when Matt's on the truss and Edge swings him into the rope and Andres him in the ropes before Lita crucifixes him. TREMENDOUS! God what a great act Lita and Edge were - and this was their prototype act before they REALLY got great in '06. Cops take Matt out because he's fired from Raw due to this match.

HOGAN IS ON THE SHOW HERE and an SD tag match is featured to remind you HEY SD IS A THING. Trish and Ashley show off their tits and Mae comes in to show hers off too. Then Ted offers her a grand to put her shirt back on. Snuka takes Ted's money and tells Ted he'll pay him back. Maria brings in RIC in his fantastic black and blue robe. Ric talks about coming back to WWE four years before this and being broken BUT NOW HE'S BACK IN DALLAS AND HE'S THE IC CHAMP! THAT MAKES HIM A PLAYER! HHH's nicknames get put over by JR before they face Masters and Carlito.

The Traps on Trips and Masters are telling a lot of truth here. We see Ric come out and Kevin Von Erich looks at him one last time in an arena.  HE'S THE GAME! THE CEREBRAL ASSASSIN! HE'S THE BADDEST OF THE BAD! And remember - OTHER PEOPLE GAVE HIM THOSE NICKNAMES! Flair runs wild with chops but Carlito gets a figure 4 and a spinebuster. HHH comes in and runs wild and wins with a pedigree on Masters. HHH BONKS FLAIR WITH THE HAMMER! I forgot about this turn and love HHH using the hammer like a fist drop - something a bit different. Backstage, HHH kicks his ass throughout the break and his leg is covered in Flair's blood. Flair is so great here as the battered old legend. God, I'd forgotten all about this turn - but it's fantastic. HHH bitch slaps him and throws him in a limo and smashes the window next to Flair with the hammer. TREMENDOUS!

Dusty cuts a promo about being on Homecoming! Dusty talks about Raw memories...of which he has none, so he talks about the guys he wrestled here. Rob Conway comes out and calls them old while looking older than half of them. Dusty tells him to stop talking shit because the table he's eating off of was built by the legends! WITHOUT THAT TABLE, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE ANY FOOD! They punch him before a flip flop n fly! KEVIN GETS THE CLAW IN DALLAS! Superfly dive! Women 2-on-3 match is terrible, but has some cheesecake. Kurt and Eric exchange words backstage before Rey and Batista are out for the tag match with Benoit to face JBL, Christian, and Eddie. JESUS is Batista ripped but Eric ends it. 

Gene brings out Hogan for a promo before Eric gets squashed by Cena to set up Kurt brawling with him and then an INTER-BRAND BRAWL breaks out. All righty. Good-ish show, but not as great as I remembered it being.