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Episode 12: Starrcade '94
25 Plays6 years ago
It's Starrcade 1994, brother! Hulk Hogan arrives in WCW to face off against the best and toughest opponent they could possibly find for such a landmark show...the Butcher? Mr. T fights a handicap match against Kevin Sullivan and his own shirt sleeves. WCW is very proud of all the awards its wrestlers won and wishes to tell us about it...at length. Oh, and some guy named Jean-Paul Lévesque shows up - seems pretty good, I wonder if he ever made it big. For all this and more, let's go to the ring!
Music by Michael Gary Brewer at https://www.instantmusicnow.com/
Logo by Gina Trujillo at http://resuki.com/
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Transcript
Harley Race's Legacy
00:00:00
Speaker
Before we begin today, some sad news. On August 1, 2019, Harley Race passed away, reportedly the result of lung cancer. He was 76 years old. We've only glimpsed a small part of Harley Race's long career, which spanned from the 1960s to the 1990s as an active wrestler and later manager, and all the way into the current decade for appearances.
00:00:24
Speaker
It nearly ended before it truly began, as a car accident in 1961 took the life of his wife, and doctors told Race he might never walk again. But he did, and he went on to wrestle for decades before the accumulation of injuries and a second car accident in 1995 brought it to an end. His career spanned multiple wrestling promotions, and he won championships and awards across the globe.
00:00:50
Speaker
Race continued to give to the next generation of wrestlers after his own in-ring career was over by opening his own independent wrestling promotion, World League Wrestling, and a wrestling school, Harley Race's Wrestling Academy.
00:01:04
Speaker
We've only seen the latter end of his active performances, but we've still seen a small piece of his massive brute importance to wrestling as a whole. It was his loss to Ric Flair at Starrcade 83 that launched Flair into his incredible run as the central figure of Jim Crockett promotions and later WCW. Harley races legitimacy as a champion and a tough,
00:01:26
Speaker
and abiding figure in the wrestling world were essential to building up the next generation and his selflessness in being willing to push someone else to the top should be honored. As Ric Flair himself recently put it, without Harley Race, there was no Ric Flair.
00:01:44
Speaker
For me personally, Harley Race was a figure that I wasn't that familiar with before we started this show. I found his performance at Starrcade 83 exceptional, an intimidating and legit tough guy who was soft-spoken but whose words carried weight. He had a presence that drew attention, even without all the glitz and glamour that later wrestlers would attain.
00:02:03
Speaker
You paid attention when Harley Race spoke and watched what he did. And even as a manager, he did his part for a match. His incredible participation at Starrcade93's Flair vs. Vader match made that all the more special, connecting a storyline a decade long. Race was a figure I didn't know much about coming into this show, but he's one that I've been pleased to discover. Would the two of you like to share any thoughts on Harley Race and his passing?
00:02:32
Speaker
I mean, I didn't know him until we started this, uh, these episodes. Um, he's, he's not a wrestler that I ever heard about actually. And, uh, I hope that he is recognized as one of the greats. He had multiple titles, you know, it'd be neat to see how modern wrestling pays tribute to one of the golden era or classics, you know, we missed.
00:02:58
Speaker
Yeah, it's really interesting to see with him because yeah, he said he really, his loss at Starrcade is what sets so much stuff in motion without him for the question of what could have happened, like where there would have been at that point. It's interesting because we see him very first show and then he just disappears, although he is still around in wrestling. He's just not in the shows recovering.
00:03:20
Speaker
And then suddenly he reappears older, but somehow tougher looking as a manager with Vader. And even in an era when managers mostly just sort of stood in the background and got the promos for wrestlers who couldn't speak well, he was in there taking bumps, honestly more than some wrestlers did, but it was pretty impressive. We'll see a little bit of this on the show as well. It's amazing how much, just how important he was to all of wrestling, especially at this period of time. Absolutely.
00:03:49
Speaker
Our sympathies and best wishes to Harley Race's friends and family.
Introduction and Hosts' Lives
00:03:53
Speaker
May you be blessed with good memories and find comfort in each other.
00:04:33
Speaker
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Let's Go to the Ring, where we take a look at the good old days and not so good old days of World Championship Wrestling, series by series. I'm your host, Bob Moore, and I'm here with the World Championship Podcasting International World Champion, Alec Bridget. It's an honor to be whatever I'm supposed to be. And the leader of the Scorpahawks, Matrix Mullins. Screeching.
00:05:02
Speaker
I was about to think, do I have to warn John it's an audio show? He's just making hand motions there. I always get so flustered at this point because I have no idea what you're gonna say. That's true, that's true. That's part of the appeal. It's the excitement. It's the excitement factor, John. Oh, yes.
WCW 1994 Highlights
00:05:20
Speaker
Since the last time we've recorded, we've had a few changes. I've moved into a new place, and John, you've welcomed a new family member into yours. Congratulations. She would say hi, but uh...
00:05:32
Speaker
She's probably not able to. It may be a little bit. She squeaks like a mouse though. That's her nickname. The first was turtle. And this one we call her mouse. Okay. I mean, we really wanted to have some other aquatic animal, but I don't know of any aquatic animals that squeak like seals. Sea cucumber? Sea cucumber. There you go. I feel like there must be an ASOP fable about a mouse and a turtle, but I can't think of one. Yeah. The scorpion and a turtle.
00:06:00
Speaker
Oh, that's a frog. Scorpion and a frog, yeah. Never mind. Yeah. It works better with the frog for sure. No. Yeah, less armor. Exactly. Yeah. Tonight we're going to be taking a look at Starrcade 94, Triple Threat.
00:06:18
Speaker
1994 may go down as one of the most consequential years in the history of WCW, featuring the debut of Terry Belea, better known as Hulk Hogan. A gigantic star for the WWF for years, Hogan parted ways with them in 1993 and spent some time in New Japan Pro Wrestling, including matches against the Great Buddha.
00:06:37
Speaker
In 1994, while Hogan was filming the wonderfully weird Knight Rider in a Boat TV series, Thunder in Paradise, at MGM Studios, WCW was filming there as well.
00:06:50
Speaker
As with many things wrestling, there are varying stories on how it all happened, but Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair got in touch with Hogan and ultimately got him to sign with WCW. Hogan's first pay-per-view with WCW was Bash at the Beach 1994, in which he defeated Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Spoilers. I mean, depending on which order you end up listening to these in.
00:07:14
Speaker
potentially years down the line when we've actually done Bash at the Beach. They'll be listening to this after that anyway, so. It was a good thing I wasn't listening. Hogan and Flair had a months-long feud, all leading up to a match where Flair put his career on the line against Hogan's title less than a year after he put his career on the line against Vader's title. Spoiler warning again. Reverse spoiler warning. I'm not really sure how to give a spoiler warning for a show that's before the show that we're discussing, but we haven't actually discussed the show yet.
00:07:41
Speaker
Anyway. It's the inception of a spoiler warning. Yeah. That didn't go as well for him this time. And as we roll into Starrcade 1994, there is a new WCW Heavyweight Champion in town, Hulk Hogan.
00:07:53
Speaker
A word before we begin. In 2012, Hogan made some pretty offensive comments about black people and repeatedly used the n-word. He has apologized for his comments and promised to do better, but time will tell if he truly deserves the second chance that he's now getting. I just want to clarify that our comments on this show, and future ones, are about Hogan's performances as a character in WCW, not Terry Belea's activities and statements outside his performances. We definitely do not endorse those.
00:08:23
Speaker
Starrcade 94, Triple Threat, took place at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, in front of 8,200 fans, 6,400 paid. It received about 140,000 pay-per-view buys, so we're up a little from last year's 120,000. This is, however, a notable drop-off from 1994's previous pay-per-view, Halloween Havoc, which got 225,000 buys.
00:08:49
Speaker
That show featured the Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan career vs. title match. Similarly, Bash of the Beach 1994, Hogan's debut, brought in 230,000 buys. Those aren't unprecedented numbers for WCW, by the way. Great American Bash 1990 brought in 235,000 buys, for instance, but they're pretty rare, and they haven't been seen for a few years. Now, Fall Brawl, between Bash of the Beach and Halloween Havoc, only brought in 125,000, but...
00:09:16
Speaker
that didn't feature Hogan or Flair matches. So this is the first WCW pay-per-view featuring Hogan that dropped under 200,000 buys. It could be because it's, you know, December 27th. It could be. It could be. It could also be because, you know, it's Hogan versus the Butcher. Oh. I mean, I'll say what is the common thread? You have Hogan Flair, Hogan Flair, Hogan the Butcher.
00:09:43
Speaker
Yeah. They could have featured Murder Boat or whatever it's called. Oh, the Thunder and Parrot. Yeah. Yeah. Murder Boat 1999. If Hogan's WCW career actually involved Thunder regularly, the boat from that show, I would be all for it. That's a ridiculous show, but it's awesome. Given that the next year's Bassett Beach is actually at a beach, it's amazing it doesn't drive up to the beach on that boat. Yeah. It's probably going to show it's canceled, but you know. That would have been awesome.
00:10:13
Speaker
Hey, I learned from that show that you have to eat a lot of rice, brown rice, because it's a complex carbohydrate and you need that to bulk up. I don't remember anything else. I eat brown rice all the time. Why do I not have huge muscles? I think you have to work out.
00:10:33
Speaker
The tradition continues with Starrcade 94. Chairman of the Board, Hacksaw Jim Duggan will have to fend off Vader to hold on to the US title. Young European star Jean-Paul Ravec and Gus Wunderkind are gaining momentum.
00:10:49
Speaker
Who will continue their winning way? Sister Sherry hopes to light up the nasty boys. She has Harlem heat hot on their trail. Honky Tonk Man has struck the wrong chord with television champ Johnny B. Band. Can Johnny change his tune? Mr. T is going from rap to wrestler to confront one of the faces of fear.
00:11:08
Speaker
But can he avoid being strapped to the deranged Kevin Sullivan's tree of woe? The popular Sting will try to avoid a season's beating as he braces himself against the Avalanche. Macho Man Randy Savage has a scheduled meeting with WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan. Will he shake his hand or slap his face? And in our feature content, the Hulkster will face off with the backstabbing butcher and attempt to figure out what went wrong in this lifelong friendship.
00:11:37
Speaker
Live from Musing City, USA, Knightfield, Tennessee, this is Starrcade 94.
00:11:49
Speaker
We opened with an honestly pretty comprehensive video package going over each of tonight's matches briefly. The music underneath reminded me of something from some video game or another, but I couldn't place it. The video package is honestly pretty good and gives a decent idea of what's going on at this year's Starrcade, but there's a few points to make.
00:12:08
Speaker
The video package includes mention of the Honky Tonk Man versus Johnny B.Bad. Honky Tonk Man was at Clash of the Champions before this Starrcade, but he won't actually appear for reasons that I'm sure Al will get into when we get into that match. The video package calls Sting the Popular Sting. That's the understatement of the millennium there.
00:12:27
Speaker
He arguably might be the most popular wrestler of the year. I can't confirm that, though. Interestingly, we actually get a part of the video package dedicated not to a match, but to the question of what's going to happen when Macho Man Randy Savage, a recent WCW arrival, meets up with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan. I think that makes this the first storyline-only highlight in an opening video package, the first time they've intentionally highlighted something that is not itself a match.
00:12:53
Speaker
Honestly, it's a pretty decent choice for that. The possible reunion or re-explosion of the WWF's megapowers is an important moment. An important moment that's largely important because of things that happened in an entirely different company, but important nonetheless. I really like the logo. I was hoping they were going to make, like, Saved by the Bell joke.
00:13:14
Speaker
And they didn't. It's got the colors, doesn't it? Yeah, the font and the framing and everything. It's taken over for Steve Austin's old trunks. They didn't have the squiggles and all the other triangles and things. It's almost like you condense the more you know rainbow down. There you go, yeah.
00:13:33
Speaker
I do have a question about how you schedule a meeting in a wrestling ring with a guy. Like, I'll be here at the end of your match, whenever that is. I guess tonight? Yeah. Like Hulk, like, take a note with him, like his boot, he pulls it out. Oh, right, yeah, I have to meet him after the thing. Yeah, yeah. They have a secretary. Two-way communicator rush. Well, that's Jimmy Hart, probably. I mean, as his manager. That's true.
00:13:58
Speaker
Just yells in his megaphone, or what's it? Hulkaphone? Yes. Yells in his Hulkaphone. Hulk, you've got a meeting with the Macho Man. Come on, holster. Tony Schiavone wishes everyone happy holidays and welcomes us to the show alongside Mean Jean Okerlund and Bobby the Brain Hienan. Jean tries to make some kind of joke about Hienan being like Edward Wood because of how he dressed. I've tried to figure out what that means and utterly failed.
00:14:26
Speaker
Filmmaker Ed Wood is the most obvious reference, but that Ed Wood cross-dressed and Heenan is not cross-dressing. He's in a black suit with silver patterns on the arms. So yeah, if someone can explain that one to us, let us know. To be fair, you don't know if he's cross-dressing underneath the tuxedo. I'm hoping that Jean doesn't know that either, frankly. I mean, the best I can think of, and I think is actually what they're going for, is there's a weird plot point in Bride of the Monster.
00:14:55
Speaker
one of the more forgotten Edward films, in which the police tech has been the whole movie in a tuxedo, because apparently he was called in before he was going to go to the opera or some nonsense. I don't know why he needed a plot point to explain why a guy is wearing a suit the whole movie, but it's in there. Weird.
00:15:11
Speaker
Maybe. Hienan endears himself to the crowd by insulting Nashville and claims he saw 12,000 pickup trucks parked outside along with three mules and an old bloodhound. The announcers point out that Dave, Evad Sullivan, he's dyslexic, you see, is in the crowd dressed as Santa Claus.
00:15:30
Speaker
Aaron Tippen sings the national anthem this time. Not a bad version, if a little country for my taste. Go Lightning. That was weird, yeah. Oddly, he's in Nashville, Tennessee, but he wears a jersey for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Which, what?
00:15:45
Speaker
Aaron, we appreciate your support, but kind of an odd choice for Nashville. Yeah, I'm not sure I get that. I assume there's a Tennessee hockey team, I really have no idea. I assume so, yeah. I guess he's just a Lightning fan, which, you know, okay, go Lightning. Be the Thunder. Yeah. They probably just saw him in the audience, like, can you sing this?
00:16:07
Speaker
Tony, Gene, and Hienan discuss Hogan versus Butcher, and how Savage said that he was going to come to either shake Hogan's hand or slap him in the face. Hienan says that he bets Savage will slap Hogan in the mouth and knock him from here to Mississippi. Gene says he'd like to see Savage slap Hienan, and Hienan says he'd like to see Savage slap Gene, and, completely unprompted, Tony.
Hogan's Return and Rivalries
00:16:29
Speaker
Poor Tony, what did he do to you, Hienan? Except for having an amazing mullet this year. Seriously, that thing is incredible.
00:16:37
Speaker
like turns to the side at some point you're like, oh my gosh, party in the back. It is very much a party in the back. Yes. Tony proclaims no slapping and throws to a video of Savage in an awesome black and gold jacket and hat with Gene from WCW Saturday night.
00:16:54
Speaker
Do you know a man that goes by the name of Hulk Hogan that hangs around here? I hope you're not living in a cave and haven't been in New York because Hulk Hogan is the WCW heavyweight champion. He is. He is the champion. Well, you know, I think I might have a problem with that because past, present, and future, the number one wrestler in the universe
00:17:21
Speaker
is the Macho Man Randy Savage. And Hulk Hogan, you're number two. So I don't care if you're in a garbage can, come on out here. I don't care if you're underneath the ring, come crawling over here because we gotta do something man to man. We gotta TCB, take care of business. Get them out of here right now.
00:17:40
Speaker
Well, I don't believe Hulk Hogan is available, but I don't think Hogan's the kind of guy that would ever back down from any kind of a confrontation. Who is that right? Well, I'm going to put you on the spot right now. What I want you to do is tell me a situation where, when, what time that I can meet Hulk Hogan and get this thing resolved. Real simple. He's going to be at Stargate on December the 27th in Nashville, Tennessee. Oh, really? Yes.
00:18:07
Speaker
Starrcade? Starrcade. December the 27th, Nashville, Tennessee, Music City. Let me tell you something. I'm thinking about something right now. That's kind of cool right now, because I can wait. Good things can wait. I'm going to tell you something mean, Gene Okerlund, by a hook or by a crook. The macho man is going to be at Starrcade. Oh, yeah, I am. And somewhere in the night,
00:18:35
Speaker
I'm going to have eye contact with Hulk Hogan and one of two things are going to happen. One, I'm going to take my hand and put it out to you Hulk Hogan and shake your hand. The other thing that may happen is that I might
00:18:56
Speaker
slap you in the face and spin your head all the way back to Venice Beach, California. Put the boots to it. Thank you very much. No, no, stop it right there. I'm going to tell you something right now. Hulk Hogan, Music City, Nashville, Tennessee, Macho Man and Hulk Hogan, have a date with Destiny. Oh, yeah, Star-K did it.
00:19:27
Speaker
He sounds bored. Yeah, not energetic at all. This was alright. I really like the uncertainty they played up here, leaving us uncertain if Savage would be on Hogan's side or against him. Savage seems wild enough to leave us entirely uncertain at the end of the promo what it is he actually will end up doing.
00:19:46
Speaker
There's some awkward points here, though. Mostly the kind of ham-fisted way that they've worked in the Starrcade information, and Macho repeating it back to Gene excruciatingly slowly. Like, yeah, Macho, we got it. Starrcade exists. It's also again kind of strange that it seems like we're just expected to know what Savage's history with Hogan is. Neither Gene nor Savage really talk about just why Savage might be Hogan's friend or foe, other than Savage building up Hogan as the best wrestler. Second. Second best? Yeah.
00:20:16
Speaker
I was hoping he was going to say ultimate warrior because he knows the future. Yeah. But I mean, I know Savage and Hogan's Mega Powers angle, the feud leading to WrestleMania five and so on. But WCW is kind of assuming all their fans watch the WWF rather than making this a WCW story. So points for the tension, I guess. But it's a little bit awkward. Well, the thing is, they're assuming you're watching WCW
00:20:43
Speaker
because how Hogan is there because you watched WWF. Yeah. Cliff notes version of the Hogan Savage feud. They were buddies after WrestleMania four. They ceased to be buddies between WrestleMania four and WrestleMania five. They fought at WrestleMania five and several times thereafter and Savage remained a heel until late in his WWF run when he became a face again.
00:21:05
Speaker
I'd like to note that I'm glad this is shown on Starrcade, since the WWE Network has still not uploaded enough of these shows that they own all the rights to and have all the master copies of to the network. Yeah. I'm a big fan of the macho cheese.
00:21:24
Speaker
Back to the announcers, and Gene shills the hotline. 1-900-909-9900. Antoni mentions the Pro Wrestling Illustrated award ceremony held in Nashville recently. He holds up a PWI magazine, and Hienan amusingly takes it for a closer look. Then, because Hogan is on the cover, he casually rips it to shreds. Gene yells at him as they cut to the award ceremony's footage, and Hienan looks innocent.
00:21:48
Speaker
PWI's Bill Aptor builds up Hulk Hogan's return to the ring to defeat Ric Flair, then later retire Ric Flair, and awards him 1994's Wrestler of the Gear. WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwickle hands over the very large trophy.
00:22:11
Speaker
Well, you know something, brothers, this goes back a long time ago because with Jimmy Hart by my side, we tried to hang the wrestling boots up a while ago, but it really didn't happen. We were doing Thunder and Paradise and we had all the people coming through MGM Studios saying, Hulk Hogan, when are you gonna wrestle again? Hulk Hogan, you retired and your legacy is still hanging.
00:22:29
Speaker
I said Jimmy, what do they mean Hulk Hogan's legacy isn't finished? And they wanted to know if I could beat Ric Flair. And every day we went to Film Thunder and Paradise, every day we do a movie or we travel through the airports, everybody would say Hulk Hogan wrestling is not the same without you. Hulk Hogan, we want to see you get in the ring with Ric Flair.
00:22:46
Speaker
So I don't know if Jimmy Hart were stirring it up or not, but slowly but surely the people that voted for me as the wrestler of the year were the ones that actually got me back into the ring. And thank God for the WCW because I had my chance, I stepped in the ring with Ric Flair, I seized the opportunity, and I proved to the whole world that Hulk Hogan is the real world champion, the greatest champion of all times, the WCW champion.
00:23:11
Speaker
And all I get to say for all my friends here at the table and everybody else in the WCW, in 1995, sir, what are you going to do in the WCW when Hulk Hogan keeps running wild on you? And thank you very much for the trophy. The rest of the year is tremendous. It's going to look real good along this to the WCW heavyweight title belt. Thank you, PWI. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
00:23:39
Speaker
In 1995, sir. It's a pretty sedate Hogan promo here. He's just in a good mood and not the Shouty Hogan that I'm used to. Honestly, it's not a bad promo, and it highlights the importance of the Hogan vs. Flair matches earlier in the year.
00:23:56
Speaker
They were in the WWF together for a while, and the WWF did start building towards Hogan and Flair as a major match, and did indeed hold some matches at house shows, and I believe one televised match. But they never got a real pay-per-view highlight for an epic match in the WWF, which is kinda sad.
00:24:14
Speaker
So yeah, the WWF had pretty much left that one on the table for WCW to pick up and use. That said, while this is a perfectly acceptable promo, it does absolutely nothing to build to any of the things going on with Hogan tonight. So I'm not sure why this needed to be on the show. There's no mention whatsoever of the Butcher feud, of the Three Faces of Fear, or of Randy Savage. So as far as this show's angles, this was pretty pointless.
00:24:41
Speaker
For me, he's definitely a bad guy because he keeps saying the WCW. It drives me insane. Yeah, he says that a lot. I think that tends to happen with a lot of the guys that came over from the WWF.
00:24:54
Speaker
Well, the other thing about it, too, if you think about it, he's really, really cocky. Okay, so he talks about it's going to put the trophy on his shelf, and it'll look good next to the WWE World title. Presumably, that trophy is not moving anywhere. You don't know how to trade that in or defend a trophy. Yeah. But yet, he assumes you're going to keep that belt forever, I guess. Well, I mean, he may just be saying it'll look good on there for however long I have the belt. I don't think that's what he meant. Probably not, yeah. No.
00:25:22
Speaker
He clearly has a problem with past tense and future tense. But, you know, I generally think it was, you know, it's going to look really good when I put them both up. There's no determinant amount of time or anything, but it is a bit presumptuous. Slightly. To note, 1993's rest of the year was Vader, which is 100% deserved. And I'm pretty sure there's no problem where he's like, well, thank you guys, I'm going to put this on my shelf.
00:25:49
Speaker
Really appreciate it. That would be really weird for Vader to say. I know. It'd be more like, thank you, let me use this to bludgeon you to death. That's more Vader's style. Right. Yeah. It wouldn't be so much people at a podium. People five feet away behind barricades and the right shields and the bulletproof shields that the MythBusters set up. Exactly. Thank you for the award. Here you go. It's over there. Take it. Yeah. Don't hurt us.
00:26:17
Speaker
We go back to the announcers, and it's time for our first match, and we get our first official Tony Schiavone Let's Go to the Ring.
Starrcade 94 Matches
00:26:25
Speaker
I did miss highlighting that back at Starrcade 1990 when Missy Hyatt said it after interviewing Michael Wall Street. My bad. To be fair, anything with Michael Wall Street is extremely forgettable, so, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sadly. Tony, would you do the honors?
00:26:41
Speaker
Let's go to the ring with our first event here at Starrcade in Nashville. All right, so our first match is Hacksaw Jim Duggan versus Vader with Harley Race for Duggan's WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. The referee for this match is Nick Patrick with his sweet mustache.
00:27:06
Speaker
This is, by the way, the first of our three main events tonight. Yes, there are three main events, and one of them is the first match. That may not be an automatic disqualification on it being a main event, but it's gotta be close. The special main event, in that it's not a main event. Yeah, pretty much. The overarching story, basically once the Flare thing died down, was that
00:27:31
Speaker
Vader wanted his title back. He's a multiple time world champion at this point. He really wanted to win it back. And if it meant destroying Hulk Hogan, all the better. So they set up a match at an earlier show than this, where he asked to win the number one contendership.
00:27:47
Speaker
And despite that, he is not getting his match tonight. It's going to the Butcher for obvious reasons that are not in story. So since that's out of the way, he's decided he has to win the United States title, which occasionally, meaning almost never, makes you the default number contender for the world title.
00:28:09
Speaker
So basically he, Vader, the bad guy, has to win multiple number one hindership opportunities to buy to Hulk Hogan. The guy should be not afraid of any challenge. Yeah, true. Vader looks pretty darn cool, highlighted in silhouette and fog as the curtains open. He does muscle poses and kind of barks at people and proclaims that it's Vader time as he comes down the ramp. Duggan comes in with his traditional ally, a 2x4.
00:28:36
Speaker
Vader charges Duggan on the ramp, but Duggan fights him off with forearm strikes and throws him into the barricade, and Vader's mask is already off.
00:28:44
Speaker
Duggan charges the ring and Race takes a swing at him, so Duggan lands several punches to drive him into the corner, then flings him to the other corner, where Race flips over the turnbuckle and out to the floor. Race is still giving it his all for the fans there. Duggan leads the fans in USA chants against Harley Race, from Missouri, and Vader, originally from California and at the time billed from the Rocky Mountains. I guess technically the Rockies do extend into Canada? So maybe Duggan thinks that's un-American?
00:29:12
Speaker
Maybe if you're at a high enough point in the mountains, we think you're outside like a tan goose U.S.? Yeah, maybe, maybe. Okay, Canadians are Americans. Okay, let's be clear. They're both in North America. Right, right, yes. They are Americans. Everyone on North America and South America and Central America are Americans. That is true, that is true. They're just not United States, United Statesians. Yes, yeah, true.
00:29:41
Speaker
John doesn't want to get in trouble with Canada. Yeah. They are known to be violent people, so it's good to help us out. Yeah, thanks. Thanks, John. Hey. I mean, they do have, they would send Bret Hart after me, I'm sure. I just want to keep as many allies as we can. Actually, let me take off Canada so I can meet Bret Hart. That would be good.
00:30:00
Speaker
The two brawl outside the ring, and Duggan gets the better of that with a whip to the railing. Vader follows Duggan into the ring, but Duggan beats him up and clotheslines him out of the ring. Heenan notes that Vader hit his knee on the apron, and yeah, that did sound like it hurt. Duggan hits punches, forearms, clotheslines, and a strange kind of knee drop slash splash for two. The camera missed it, but I think Race tried to grab Patrick's leg to break that up.
00:30:26
Speaker
Duggan chinlock, and we clearly see Vader planning a spot with him. Vader gets an eye poke and wins a slugfest, and race taunts Duggan. Duggan fires back, but Vader dodges a second rope elbow drop. Tony says that it was a rare high-risk maneuver from Duggan. Hienan says that for Duggan taking a shower is a high-risk maneuver.
00:30:48
Speaker
Vader clotheslines Duggan from behind, and Duggan falls over the ropes and clearly intentionally runs face-first into the barricade. He utterly failed to make that look like momentum carried him. Race comes over, but Patrick is watching so he doesn't do anything. Back in, Vader hits vicious punches to the ribs. A second rope splash gets two as Vader took too long to go for the pin.
00:31:09
Speaker
Duggan kicks his legs to knock him down on a second attempt, but Vader comes back with the double forearm. Vader is limping, so Patrick checks on him and Race chokes Duggan. Vader and Duggan trade blows, and Vader gets Duggan down, but Duggan dodges the moonsault. Duggan gets the three-point stance clothesline for two as Race gouges Duggan's eyes. The crowd tells Patrick, but Race insists that he's innocent.
00:31:34
Speaker
Tony notes that the crowd loves Duggan, and he says that he is the blue-collar champion. Hienan says that's because he's too dumb to have a good job. Duggan catches Vader into a power slam on a second rope dive, but Race distracts Patrick. Duggan grabs Patrick, but Vader ambushes him. Duggan fights back, but Vader dodges another three-point stance charge, and Race holds up Duggan's 2x4 for Vader to throw Duggan into it.
00:32:01
Speaker
Vader catches Duggan on the rebound for an odd kind of reverse power bomb for the three count and the win. Vader celebrates and leaves with his new title, and Vader asks, who's the number one contender and who's the man? You are Vader, Heeden says. Thoughts on this one?
00:32:19
Speaker
I've really torn this one because on one hand, it's Vader Match, so I really can't be too negative of anything involved in Vader. The problem is that this match is just completely wrong. So the whole point of this story they're building up is that Vader is super tough. Vader is a dilemma threat to Hogan, assuming he makes it out of the show with the title, of course. And that he's someone you have to be worried about. He's a guy that you have to overcome.
00:32:48
Speaker
So of course he spends, what, 80% of the match getting beaten up by the guy who's not Hulk Hogan and who's definitely not a Hulk Hogan at this level, no offense to Duggan in storyline sense.
00:33:01
Speaker
So, all the Vader stuff's good, but it's so much Duggan in control. I really can't like it that much. I mean, we even got into Duggan's most egregious moment dubstep. You will get to that a different show. I don't spoil it yet. But I don't know who booked this match and who put it together, but they did a really bad job. No offense whoever you are.
00:33:25
Speaker
I don't remember Axel looking this way before. He looks like a character from the Croods. Yeah. He looks a little crowbagged in there. And I guess whoever was telling Vader to throw the match about halfway through said, hey, you should start doing stuff.
00:33:40
Speaker
Because he was just kind of making sure he ran into things. Yeah. For a while. It just doesn't seem like, I mean, this looks like more story than anything else. You know, I know they want to build up Duggan, I guess, but I think they could have done a better job letting Vader be Vader. Yeah.
00:33:59
Speaker
I mean, the thing is, Duggan is the placeholder for the storyline. He's a means to an end. I mean, I guess it won't protect him in The Lost, but yeah, they just booked things so confusingly to me. Yeah. I'm with you guys on this one. If I were looking at this in a vacuum...
00:34:17
Speaker
It's not necessarily a bad big man brawl. Sure. There's lots of striking, but they put a lot into their strikes. Vader's punches to Duggan's ribs in particular just looked vicious. The crowd was actually pretty hot. And Race was, again, very nicely involved as a manager. He's very active, if not to the same degree as Starrcade93. But that was an epic manager performance. So, you know. Oh, yeah.
00:34:39
Speaker
And the ending actually did a pretty nice job of throwing a few quick twists in there. It looks like Dugan screwed, and then looks like he fought it off, and then just when you think he's about to win, Vader cleverly counters him to seize victory. So it kind of comes together fairly well there. The problem is, this isn't in a vacuum. Correct.
00:34:55
Speaker
You know, we're looking at it alongside Vader's last couple performances in particular, and it just feels weird. There is no sign here of the unstoppable monster Vader that we saw at Starrcade 92 and 93. The guy who just shrugged off blows and yelled, no pain, no pain! Duggan doesn't have to wear Vader down or anything. He just takes him down straight away.
00:35:19
Speaker
It's Vader who feels like the underdog here. Vader has to repeatedly cheat to take charge. He doesn't do it just through sheer toughness. He does it with an eye poke or Harley Race's eye gouge. I mean, I know Vader is the bad guy and bad guys in wrestling cheat. But in 92 and 93, it felt like much more of Vader's character was about him just being super tough and brutal. Race might cheat to get back in control or to cut off a comeback, but not as their central strategy.
00:35:48
Speaker
In this, it feels like that's the only way that Vader can hope to win, which just feels... wrong. Especially as Vader's being built up to face Hulk Hogan soon. You'd think that they'd want him as strong and impossible to defeat as possible, like you were saying. So that Hogan would look awesome fighting him, but no, apparently not.
00:36:08
Speaker
It's a really underwhelming performance here and a far cry from what we've been getting used to from Vader. Also, I hate Vader's new finisher. It looks incredibly stupid. That reverse powerbomb thing is like, what the heck is that? Yeah, I really don't understand it. I mean, he has the moonsault and he has the powerbomb. Is it just... Yeah, why is one of those not good enough? Why can't Doug can go down to the moonsault?
00:36:32
Speaker
Right. And it's like this dug in the only power bomb, which before I would not be powered by Vader, but I'm also not being paid to be powered by Vader, so I don't know. Yeah. It's a weird looking move. It doesn't look like a big strong guy move, even though I'm sure it took muscle to pull them up there and everything, but it's like it doesn't look right to me. What do you feel like on it, John? Did you like the reverse power bomb or not? No.
00:36:58
Speaker
I think I was still like reeling from there. They called it a Duggan clothesline, which I have no idea what that is. He just basically ran through. I know it's the other guy, but like, I'm like, what is he doing? He just basically touches them on the neck and then flies towards the camera and then he falls down. I was still reeling from that. So yeah, there's some weird stuff going on in this match. Yeah, it's not the, uh, and did, uh, did Vader miss the moonsault?
00:37:25
Speaker
Yeah. I always wonder why wrestlers hurt more when they miss something and land on the nice, smooth mat than landing randomly on someone's elbow or... Yeah, it is a little... It doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense if you're thinking about it in actual physics, is it? The one that always gets me is like, I can kind of understand if it's the moonsault or something where it's like, you can sell it as, oh, he's braced for one type of landing or he kit differently than expect or something. But the one that always gets me is the dropkick.
00:37:55
Speaker
Whether you hit the drop kick or you miss the drop kick, you are landing exactly the same way because you're not landing on anything other than the mat ever. But when people miss a drop kick, they often sell like, oh my gosh, I missed something and I collided with the mat harder than expected, even though that's exactly the same way I was always going to collide with the mat. But even then, like if you're moving forward, when you hit the mat, it's going to be less of a hit because you can roll through it. Yeah.
00:38:22
Speaker
distribute that force so it doesn't make any sense I mean I can kind of excuse stuff like the moonsault because
00:38:30
Speaker
If you're doing that and you land on the guy, he's absorbing at least half the energy when you make collision. So it's being dispersed. Whereas you hit the mat, you're taking all of that. And to be fair, sometimes when they land on the guy, they also do sell. It's just they happen to be pinning the guy at the moment. They can afford to lay there for a moment or two. So it's not always a complete contrast, but a little bit silly.
00:39:00
Speaker
It's as silly as the USA chant. Yes. I was glad Vader won. I didn't know where that was going to go. Yeah, it looks unlikely for a bit, doesn't it?
00:39:18
Speaker
I do appreciate how reputable Nick Patrick is. The crowd is telling what happened, but he didn't see it. So you can't punish Vader for that. Yeah, yeah. That's just good sportsmanship. Yep. Good character.
00:39:32
Speaker
There's no real rematch between Vader and Duggan, thankfully. The title run in theory is a big thing for Vader. He's won the US title and he's this dominant guy. That's just me saying Hogan, but basically into the pink strip of the title for beating up people too much. I mean, it's Vader. Right. I think he could get more slack for that, but yeah.
00:39:58
Speaker
We go backstage with Gene Okerlund, who shills the hotline again. 1-900-909-9900. He's with Kevin Sullivan, Avalanche, and the Butcher, the three faces of fear. They have a tombstone which reads, Hulkamania, Rest in Agony.
00:40:17
Speaker
All right, we are back in the catacombs, if you will, of the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. And by the way, get the complete story on the WCW hotline tonight. Mike, today, Chris Cruz are standing by to fill you in. With me at this time, I have, ladies and gentlemen, the three faces of fear. And of course, they're all gonna be hotly involved in action tonight. But you're starting with you. What's the meaning of this tombstone?
00:40:42
Speaker
Well, me, Gene, the faces of fear are here at force, and we took the liberty of bringing Hulk Hogan a little bit of a late Christmas present to put at the foot of his bed tonight. Hulk Hogan, tonight is my night, baby. I'm Sky High, and I'm gonna take home the WCW championship belt around my waist, and we're gonna go out and party tonight.
00:41:10
Speaker
Hulk Hogan, you're in for some pain. I came here to fight and fight, I will. And you're gonna know that you've been in a fight tonight when you get done with this match. You're scary, but you're very scary. Avalanche, tonight it's gonna be you one on one with Sting, the very popular wrestler of the year. Sting, I finally have you, one on one.
00:41:36
Speaker
And I hope that your medical insurance is paid up. Because tonight you're going on a trip to the nearest emergency room in Nashville. You will feel the avalanche you're finished in.
00:41:51
Speaker
All right, Kevin Sullivan, finally. Hogan, you can align all of your men in a row. He sting yourself because the faces of fair met a man on the way to Nashville. Yes, we did. You see, Hogan, their alliances sometimes have to be made even to stop the most powerful force in the universe.
00:42:21
Speaker
The Alliance was made Hogan. We're not going to this. We're our backs against the wall. We're turning around. This is the headstone. The funeral parlor has been bought. The gravestone has been chiseled. And the man has been paid. The diabolical Kevin Sullivan, one of the three faces of better. They're all in action tonight here at Star King. Let's get back to the ring.
00:42:48
Speaker
Angry umpire at the end there. I love the butcher. He's like Napa. Hey Vegeta, we're going to kill him. We're going to kill him. Three short promos here. Avalanches I think was the best and butchers I think was the worst. Sullivan does a respectable job of building some intrigue for the main event at least. Who will they have on their side? I wonder. Yeah.
00:43:15
Speaker
Butcher keeps on showing off the tombstone and holding it up for the camera, but seems to regularly forget to act like the tombstone is actually heavy, and then suddenly act like it's heavy again. It's pretty hilarious to watch. I do love when Jean says, you're scary Butcher, and it's like the most insincere sounding statement I think that Mean Jean has ever made.
00:43:36
Speaker
The tomb set thing reminds me of Uwe Boll does utter commentary for House of the Dead. It's important to know how he feels about every movie he did. He comments during one scene that Jurgen Proknow plays the ship captain, takes him there in the boat.
00:43:53
Speaker
that he's a really great actor because he looks like he's having a hard time carrying this big metal thing across the boat while he's, you know, getting ready. But he explains, of course, that the idea was empty the whole time. Yeah. But they wouldn't believe that looking at him. He's clearly lift something heavy. He was a better actor than the butcher. Exactly.
00:44:11
Speaker
I thought it would be better if they put rest in pieces because like exactly you know like you still keep the acronym and it even and it goes with the butcher concept I know yeah I have no idea why they didn't do that that's so dumb maybe two more of it the other missed opportunity is Sullivan in his weird wavy of fluttering accent there yes he starts doing the race average oh yeah but then goes oh yes yeah that was that was odd
00:44:41
Speaker
It's like, did, were like, did you be afraid you're gonna beat you up if you said, didn't you just get afraid? Maybe it was like, oh, it's a spoiler. I'm supposed to be suggesting not letting you absolutely know. Yeah, nothing really noteworthy here otherwise, really, but it does have some amusement at least. Like that Hogan has to line up all his men, one of which is himself. Yes. He has three guys, one of which is him. Yes. That's not how that works, really.
00:45:10
Speaker
It's been due to actually just occurred to me while listening to that again. So this show has three main events, which of course means it has no main events, as people pointed out.
00:45:20
Speaker
And two of those feature the faces of fear, which are understandable. One is staying involved as the world title. However, the third face of fear match with Kevin Sullivan is not one of the main events. Not a main event. I mean, I agree. It's not, but it's weird. It's a little insulting to Sullivan. Yeah, right. Yeah. They could treat it like trials, the tribunal or a fear.
00:45:44
Speaker
You get three judgments from each of the faces of fear. It's kind of like a Homer-like epic. Yeah. And in this case, it's more like the Homer of the Simpsons than the Homer of the Odyssey, but you know. Yeah. Someone should really complain about his booking these shows that his match is not a main event. Did you ever find out is it Sullivan booking at this point? Oh yeah, it is. It is, yes. At least one of the major ones, for sure. Not Booker T. No.
00:46:11
Speaker
Our second match is Jean-Paul Levesque versus Das Wunderkind. Alex Wright. I'm not even, I'm just gonna say Alex Wright. I'm German, but I can't pronounce a word of German. Das Wunderkind. Das Wunderkind. There you go. The Wonderboy. So, what is the secret of your powers? Versus Alex Wright.
00:46:36
Speaker
It the birth nature D reference I think ever yeah surprisingly anyway can kill a yak With mine bullets That's how kinesis Bob we're losing it go ahead. Yeah the referee for this match is Jimmy jet
00:46:54
Speaker
All we really have for story is that they're both making their pay-per-view debuts, and they are both undefeated. It's pronounced de-but. Sorry. Go on. Please. Jean-Paul Lavec may be better known to the wrestling world as Triple H. Holy crap, he is Triple H? I was wondering. The whole time, I'm like, this guy looks really like Triple H. What the hell?
00:47:25
Speaker
No, I have like that in my notes like six times and I'm like, holy crap. Okay. That's great. Yes, it is them. Okay. Well, all right. I have no notes for this thing.
00:47:43
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. Triple H himself, one of the stars of the WWF's Attitude Era, and the later husband to Stephanie McMahon, daughter of Vince McMahon of the WWF slash WWE, shows up here in WCW in a gimmick clearly inspired by that of Steven Regal, just more French. He comes out dressed up in a wrestling version of a European noble sort of outfit and takes the hand of a lady in the crowd as though to kiss it, before giving a disgusted look and dropping her hand and wandering away.
00:48:11
Speaker
Heena notes that kissing a woman's hand in Nashville is the same as kissing your foot. Same size and same aroma.
00:48:17
Speaker
The look works fine for Triple H, but the music doesn't really go with it, and that can't be the music they actually gave him, right? It's just kind of a weird techno-rock kind of thing. Yeah, because when he goes to WWF, when he's the original Triple H, he is owed to Joy. And that makes sense for this over-the-top sort of thing. Yeah, you would have expected something more like Regal's music last year or something for the gimmick he's going for.
00:48:43
Speaker
Alex Wright has a leather jacket and straight techno music. A couple fans kind of dance in the crowd, and Tony insists that Wright can dance. Hienan says Wright can't. I agree with Bobby Hienan. Oh, it was awesome. There's like some Hasselhoff looking things in the leather jacket. The second Knight Rider. Yeah, yeah. It's a Knight Rider slash Thunder and Paradise kind of night.
00:49:09
Speaker
Alex can, however, flip in the ring quite nicely. Hienan says that he'll go down to the ring to show Wright how to dance. Tony says he should. That'd be Hienan's Christmas present to Tony. But Hienan says, oh wait, they're about to have a match. He can't. So close. We get yet another ad for the hotline. 1-900-909-9900. And we see Sting, in cool shades, talking to announcer Mike Tenet backstage.
00:49:36
Speaker
Lavec pushes right to the corner and grabs his cheek, insulting Wright's youth. Wright is 19 here, although they do keep saying that he's 18, but he was born in May of 1975, so that would be 19, right? Yes.
00:49:49
Speaker
So a little bit off, but whatever. Wright uses acrobatics to get out of Leveque's holds, and Leveque backs into the corner and tries to get Ref Jimmy Jett between them. So Wright faults over Jett. Jett quickly separates the two and very loudly tells Leveque to get back to wrestling. The two are evenly matched in mat wrestling. Leveque keeps trying holds, but Wright counters everything he tries. They do mistime a dropkick spot in the middle, but otherwise it's pretty smooth.
00:50:16
Speaker
After Wright counters a headlock into a head scissors, Leveck flips free and finally loses his temper. He decks Wright and batters him with stomps, forearms, and choking, then hits a spinning wheel kick. With Leveck's blonde hair that's freed himself from his ponytail now, he kind of looks like Chris Jericho here, especially during the spinning wheel kick. Yeah, I can see that. He takes a bow. Leveck controls and hits a nice snap suplex and dodges a Wright crossbody to send Wright rolling to the floor.
00:50:43
Speaker
Leveque stops him from getting back in a couple times, but Wright makes it back in with a sunset flip, but Leveque keeps his balance and punches free, then hits a power slam for two. Wright's arm goes down twice on a headlock, but he keeps it up on the third try.
00:50:58
Speaker
Wright fights back, but Leveque gets a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and bows again. Wright dodges an elbow drop and comes back with punches, some very nice European uppercuts, and a strange sort of spinning elbow strike combination knee strike that doesn't quite hit the way I think he meant it to. I don't know what that was supposed to be, but it kind of looks cool still, but I have no idea what's actually happening. It was definitely something. Yes.
00:51:24
Speaker
Leveque stops the offense with a knee strike, and they run the ropes and knock heads. Both get up, and Leveque whips right to the corner, but Wright backflips off the turnbuckle, lands behind Leveque, and rolls him up for the three count and the win. Hienan insists that Wright was pulling the tights. Tony denies it. It looks more like he's got the leg in the replay. Thoughts on this one?
00:51:45
Speaker
I like this match actually surprisingly more than I thought, especially on the second watch. As I mentioned, there's no real story like going into it. Other than there's basic stakes, obviously it's a match and they want to look good in their first show, but it's not blood for you. There's no personal vendetta. It's just two guys in the ring. But I tell a nice story what they're doing technical wrestling at first. And then when that clearly not working, I'm going to call them Triple H because I'm lazy.
00:52:12
Speaker
Triple H punches him and thus begins the fighting part of the match, which is really good. I like that they have some creative stuff in there. Like the bit when he's holding on from the sunset flip and he basically makes Alex Wright crab walk backwards to the ring. It's a weird visual, but it's kind of interesting. It's interesting too that to put his character basically anytime he gets out of a situation he punches his way out, where they make a point if Alex Wright is always resting his way out, never punching his way out or kicking his way out.
00:52:38
Speaker
Yeah, there's definitely some stuff that doesn't quite work 100%, the just trying to dropkick thing, as you mentioned, and the weird jumping. I'm definitely hitting you with something, but I'm not sure what move.
00:52:50
Speaker
That said, even if I'm not sure what all of the moves are, they're all done really well, so I can't really fault them for that. They build a story pretty well throughout, honestly, and I don't think this is actually intentional, but if you think about it, the match is somewhat bookended, because he goes into the ring, slips out the rope to show off, and his finish involves putting out the rope and pinning. I think it's even the same corner. I believe so. Yeah, that's true. That's interesting.
00:53:16
Speaker
Yeah, it was a good set of foreshadowing. The whole time I was waiting for him to pull that move, you know, or do something similar. Yeah, good point. I like this match a lot, actually. The dancing in the beginning was nice. It's had a nice tone. I like John Paul's character. I did like the walk down in the beginning where he was going to kiss someone's hand and just kind of just walked off. Yeah. I thought that was good. And the lady seemed to think that was hilarious, too. Yes. Yeah, she's clearly laughing up a storm there.
00:53:44
Speaker
You know, I did like some of the Matt wrestling that they did, had some familiarity there for me. Looked like they both had some technical chops. There was a lot of, I don't know, Euro shaming or whatever the whole time. I'm like, what's a European uppercut? I know it's that swing or whatever, but you know, they kept on making Germany and French jokes the whole time. That's true. Yeah.
00:54:09
Speaker
Unfortunately, three quarters of the way through my notes, I started doing it myself and was gonna slap myself in the hand. Just because it just seemed so natural. There's one point where JPL does a headstand to get out of a leg lock, because this is like the third one, and I called it the spiteful tower. And because after that, he is so...
00:54:31
Speaker
Yes. And I started calling Das Wunderkied, er, kind, or whatever, er, you know what I mean? Uh, as Das Groove or Das Right. But a lot of kicks to the head, which was nice. That Total World Backbreaker or whatever you called it was awesome. And, you know, Go Lightning. Because he was in there. Yeah, they showed Tippin in the crowd again. Yeah, there was a random cut to the Train of the Stafford Man in the Lightning jersey. Yeah. I also have Euro uppercut and Ali uppercut.
00:55:03
Speaker
Do you know why, why is the european uppercut? Like why they have that? Oh, um, no. Close fist punching is legal in european wrestling. Oh, it's like a forum strike. Okay. Yeah. So you have to do that in lieu of punching. Okay. That's, that's neat. Yeah. Well, I mean, you don't break your hand that way. Yeah. I'm glad that, you know, we did get to see some jumps off the rope, even if it wasn't used a lot.
00:55:28
Speaker
Yeah. Only having it done like maybe twice or three times or jumping over the ref. I thought this was all going to be like a high flying match for him, but I'm glad they used it in spots where it was needed. Okay. Google Underkid.
00:55:42
Speaker
Yeah, this was a pretty nice match. Both performed very well. The match had a nice storyline to it that they built, like you were saying, pretty much entirely during the match. Lavec at first seems sure that he can take right through pure technical wrestling, but when that goes wrong, he loses his temper and the match gets really hard hitting.
00:55:59
Speaker
The match ended up quite a good mix of technical wrestling, some acrobatics, and some striking, all of which were performed pretty well. We get a couple spots of slowdown with headlocks that go a bit long, but otherwise the two kept things moving and packed in quite a lot of action. Wright's acrobatics were pretty exciting, and Leveque had some nice character work and some surprising moves of his own, even if he does at this point feel a little bit more like an imitation of Steven Regal than his own character.
00:56:27
Speaker
Wright didn't have much character for his part, but his ability in the ring made up for it. He just kind of leaves the character side to Leveque. They did have a few moments where they didn't quite seem to be on the same page about what they were going to do next, or where their timing was just a bit off, leaving some moves looking somewhat awkward, but there wasn't much of that.
00:56:46
Speaker
Overall, it was a fun match and it was pretty cool to see Triple H this early in his career. Also, it's noteworthy, I think the two of them each are only like two years into their wrestling career at this point. I believe so. I believe that's about right. Yeah, somewhere around two to three years tops. So that's pretty impressive to be
00:57:05
Speaker
between the two of you, like neither one more experienced, but putting on a match this good. Yeah. It's a nice surprise, both seeing Peter Triple Eight on a WSW show of all things, and just being a match, unless you know about this exact arcade you've probably never heard of, seeing it's pretty interesting. Yeah.
00:57:24
Speaker
Do we see Alex later? Alex will show up several times over the course of our run. Yeah, he's a regular WCW performer. I'm looking forward to that. Yeah. Sadly, we do not get a second Alex Wright Triple H match, at least not on any paper views.
00:57:39
Speaker
Basically what happens is Triple H goes to the offices, hey, I want to be a singles wrestler. Clearly he showed he could be on this one. They decided otherwise that he should be back and attacked him with Regal, which they briefly mentioned in commentary that they had been in line. That's true, yeah. But it's not like an official thing. The back office wanted that to be his own thing. That's what all he was going to be. They were going to be known as like the aristocracy. That would be a great name.
00:58:05
Speaker
I imagine they would go with Blue Blood because that's what they would do with Bobby Eaton. And Steven Regal, yeah. So he has a choice. I can hang around here. I'm sure make pretty decent money. But be a tag team guy and not a big star. He chose to leave and be a big star in his own. And guess which month he picked? January. Yes!
00:58:27
Speaker
He left in January. Good for you, Triple H. It's all tax purposes. There's that early business acumen. Yeah, yeah. Tony talks up the next Clash of the Champions from Caesar's Palace. Hienan says that he likes Vegas because there's always a sign up saying, say hello to Blue Eyes, which clearly means him. Tony says, no, that's Frank Sinatra. Hienan says he's never heard of him.
00:58:55
Speaker
I thought Blue Wise was Chris Pine. No. Chris Evans? No. Robert Redford? Maybe. Okay. So our third match is Honky Tonk Man versus Johnny B. Bad for Bad's WCW World Television Championship.
00:59:12
Speaker
We have weeks and weeks of buildup on the shows. Wrong and Hockman has come in as part of the Hulk and his buddies show up. Parade we will see throughout the next few years for sure at WWE. He would challenge him at the class champion before this show and get himself disqualified because apparently despite being a successful heel for, I think at least a decade at that point, he forgot how to be a heel and cheat when the ref's not looking. That's buildup for this match.
00:59:40
Speaker
However, Onondoc Man decides that he didn't want to lose, so he was fired. So, our third match is Arne Anderson with Colonel Robert Parker and Meng versus Johnny B. Bad for Bad's WCW World Television Championship. The referee for this match is Randy Anderson. So yes, thanks to Honky Tonk Man being fired, we get a match with Arne Anderson, refereed by Randy Anderson.
01:00:05
Speaker
No relation. No relation, no. Incidentally, though, the two apparently were childhood friends and did train together. Randy really is named Anderson, where Arne's actual name is Martin Lundy. He received the Anderson name when he joined Ollie. Yes. Just one of those weird, coincidental things, I guess. Yeah.
01:00:25
Speaker
So Honky Tonk Man's music starts up, then stops. Arnanderson gets no music, but does get to be accompanied by Meng, who looks as badass as possible in black suit and white tie with sunglasses. Tony suggests that Honky Tonk Man chickened out, but Hienan insists he must just be stuck in traffic.
01:00:44
Speaker
Bad comes out with twin Bad Blasters and a gold and silver sparkly jacket with a kind of short cape of fringe coming off the shoulders. He has his full theme song now. Weirdly, though, I think they've kind of moved a little bit away from the Little Richard thing in his actual gimmick. His song now highlights it. Here comes Johnny B. Bad And you don't want to make him mad
01:01:18
Speaker
So, yeah. He tests the cheers from the sides of the crowd and fires the blasters off to the sides that cheer the most to send confetti raining down. It's a nice little bit of crowd participation, honestly. It was a good opening. And there was money in that too, I think. Yeah, I'm not sure it's actual money. It might be dollars with his face on him or something.
01:01:39
Speaker
I don't know, it is W. They would be stupid enough to put $100 bills in. Yeah. $101 bills. There you go. It's kind of funny to think about that whole thing, though, outside of wrestling, because it's like he's a good guy, and he finds the side of the crowd that cheers the most, and then sees you dump trash on them. That is true. Yes.
01:02:03
Speaker
You're welcome! You should be a heel-wrestling announcer, El. You could ruin all the gimmicks. That's my job. Rare bad line from Hienen as he says that they should have bombed Nashville instead of Hiroshima. What is it with WCDW Announcers and Hiroshima jokes? I don't get it. Arne quickly grabs the TV title and poses with it, and Bad takes a swing at him to get it back. Arne complains to Randy that Bad's already starting with a close fist-punching.
01:02:33
Speaker
Arne dominates to star and cheats with hairpoles to keep bad grounded. Tony confirms that Arne and Randy are not in fact related, and Hienan says of course not, Arne looks intelligent. Randy questions Arne about the hair-pulling, and Arne actually looks to the crowd to prove his innocence, but they disagree.
01:02:50
Speaker
Meanwhile, the cameraman sneaks in a shot of the ring reflected in Meng's sunglasses in the most artistic shot in WCW history. Arne and Bad trade holds in takedowns, and Tony tries to explain Bad's Golden Gloves boxing history, but Hienan says he thought Tony meant that Bad wore boxers. Tony loses his train of thought.
01:03:09
Speaker
Arne won't take Bad seriously and sets him on the turnbuckle, laughing at him. When Bad fights back, Arne claims he pulled his hair, and Parker is all, sure sure sure sure, which I think was him agreeing with Arne. Arne puts Bad on the turnbuckle again and slaps him, drawing gasps from the crowd. Bad fires up and gets a flurry of throws and a dropkick, and Arne rolls out.
01:03:30
Speaker
Back in, Bag keeps the momentum and counters Arne's moves, but finally gets caught with Arne's beautiful spine buster. Arne chokes Bad and rakes his eyes, then gets an abdominal stretch and uses the ropes repeatedly. Henan says, that's fine, Arne just needed help with his balance. Arne hits a double axe handle, but the crowd chants for Bad. Sunset flip by Bad, but Arne fights for a while to keep his balance and finally punches Bad to break.
01:03:56
Speaker
Arne can't keep Bad down, and they trade sleeper holds and strikes before a beautiful, high-angle sunset flip off the top rope by Bad for two. Bad tries to monkey flip Arne out of the corner, but Arne blocks it and pins Bad with his feet on the ropes. Randy catches it and stops the count. Arne thinks he's one, but Bad rolls him up from behind for three. Randy actually kind of fast-counseled a little bit there. Bad celebrates and escapes before Parker can try anything. Thoughts on this one?
01:04:25
Speaker
This is a tricky one because obviously there was literally no time for store because they fired the guy like, I think it's like three days before the show. Yeah, at some point like that. Weirdly, we had more than one Starkey with this event happening. Cause we had that with British Bulldog. Yes. For the Rick Roode match as well. And arguably the Rick Roode not being allowed to wrestle thing to kind of count as well. So you think they'd be more prepared for this kind of thing in hindsight?
01:04:50
Speaker
So be stupid, they will never be prepared for anything. Fair enough. For what it is, it's pretty decent. There's not a lot of... I would say there's not a lot of story, but the problem is the story is basically the last story we got. I mean, it's a slight variation of it, but it's wrestler not respecting other wrestler, which fires them up. It's just maybe a slight inversion because bad is the one that gets more violent as a result of the turn versus that, but...
01:05:19
Speaker
It's not a bad match. It's just not super memorable because it just kind of literally comes out of nowhere. It's not a bad match. Oh, yeah, I got it. Yeah, I said that. I'm sorry. It was not an accident. Yeah, there's good moments. It's just in the long run is not super memorable for anything.
01:05:40
Speaker
It's weird seeing R and V heal, but maybe not. I don't know. If you like him, then... We just like him so much, but he's almost always a heal, but we just like him. He's never really a heal to me. I was going to say, always complimenting him. I'm wearing his shirt, so... Oh, okay.
01:06:00
Speaker
No, I thought it had a great opening. They had a lot of nice exchanges, especially if this is a match that was just thrown together in a couple of days. There was no repetition. I mean, like, we weren't getting into something to kill time. Good wrist locks, good slams. I didn't feel that either the wrestlers were just trying to stick with something that was safe or simple. Both had great performances. I only laughed at the hair pulling thing because I'm like, Arne doesn't really like to pull.
01:06:28
Speaker
I'm glad, uh, bad one, actually. Yeah. Are you sad we didn't get the clash of the Louis Richard personator and the Elvis personator? Actually, that was one of my big concerns that like here we have a musical city and we're supposed to have two musicians.
01:06:47
Speaker
or musical-themed fighting, I thought there would be something in there, like maybe a dance-off or some sort of different play. Yeah. No, yeah. You do wonder how that match would have gone had it happened, because they'd have to do something with the Music City concept, too. Yeah. I think that was the setup. I think that's what they were trying to go for. They might have had the equivalent of air guitar solos. I don't know. Yeah. Probably not. Probably not. Yeah.
01:07:15
Speaker
I think I'm with you guys on this. It's a pretty smooth match, as you'd expect with Arne in there, and Bad's also become a reliable performer by this point. There's a decent start of a storyline, with Arne clearly not respecting Bad's ability and treating the match like he can easily win, leading up to a slap that sets Bad off and leads to a chain of offense that forces Arne to start taking the match more seriously. At the same time, it just doesn't feel like a complete story to me. It's like it hits that point, and then it's just a match. Yeah.
01:07:43
Speaker
They do moves to each other and it's fun to watch, but there's not much of an actual narrative to spot after that beyond, you know, heel and face. They could have had them bring down a guitar at least. Yeah. And still smash.
01:07:57
Speaker
There are some beautiful spots in this match, Arne's Spine Buster and Bad's Top Rope Sunset Flip in particular, but while the performance is fine, I just couldn't latch on to something really. Like you guys point out, it's understandable there's not that much time that they actually had to prep before this. They do a very respectable job considering that. Oh yeah, sure.
01:08:17
Speaker
You would not, looking at this match, think, oh boy, they must not have had a long time to prepare. Like you were saying, John, there's no spots where it's like, oh, they're clearly figuring out what the heck they're doing. These two put together a respectable match very quickly.
01:08:33
Speaker
But I feel like I'd like to see another match from these guys to see what they could really pull off given more time and a proper build up. But for what it was, it's an acceptable match, just not something I felt myself really able to get into. Can't say that. Well, at least they set them up for rematch potentially.
01:08:54
Speaker
This is sort of a side thing, but, um, with bad, they were always promoting his boxing background, which is kind of weird. Cause it's like the, you're promoting how much he's like a little richer with this, like bright style. But that's also, he's this really comfortable guy. It's a little confusing for me, but more confusing for me watching in 2019, because during the big push of Baron Corbin in modern WWE, they're constantly promoting the fact that he's a golden gloves boxing champion.
01:09:19
Speaker
There you go. You couldn't look at those two and think there'd be a connection there. Nothing similar at all. Yeah, true. But there is. There is. That's interesting.
01:09:31
Speaker
I just remember the other thing that kind of bugged me about this one is you've got Parker on the outside, you've got Meg on the outside, neither does anything. That's true. And that feels like probably the point where you can tell this was planned on very short notice is that they didn't have time to put in that extra complexity of, okay, where do we want there to be an attempted interference? You know what would have helped that actually, if this matches plan last minute, which it is, and you don't have time for that.
01:10:01
Speaker
you should really start building that story with Arne doesn't respect bad but have him like tell them to go back yeah yeah he tells them to go back because he doesn't need he doesn't need the help I don't yeah exactly that would be a great way to do it yeah to keep it simple but still explain why that's not involved yeah but Meng at least I got to look like an utter badass on the outside he looks so cool oh yeah
01:10:27
Speaker
So there is a rematch between Johnny B. Bad and Arnerson, which takes place on main event, in which Bad loses a TV title in January. At least it's a storyline thing in January at this time, not a random injury or something, right? Correct. Okay. But this is at least the second time we've had Arnerson win the TV title in January following this arcade. Yeah. It's his yearly tradition.
01:10:55
Speaker
Wrestling is cyclical, clearly. We go back to the announcers, and Tony says they were, quote, very proud that the Nasty Boys were named Tag Team of the Year. Really? Proud and Nasty Boys do not go together in sentences. We then cut to footage of the ceremony. Apparently, 18,904 fans voted the Nasty Boys Tag Team of the Year. Really?
01:11:26
Speaker
Was it a situation where there was nobody else that was nominated and just by default? No, there's definitely other tag teams. Hold on. I think it has something to do with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Oh, okay. Because Bebop and Rocksteady are basically the nasty boys. Same demeanor, same motive, everything. Okay. That's a theory. Which one looks more like the Warthog then? Oh, um, Doug.
01:11:56
Speaker
Knob knob looks more like the warthog. Yeah Thank you gentlemen, thank you since you're giving out congratulations I like to give out a few to all the nasty fans across the United States and around the world Europe Japan everywhere is nasty. We're with you I'd like to thank my family for sticking behind me and my longtime friend knobs We've been together forever. We're the tag team of the year and of the 90s take it over knobs Thanks a lot
01:12:26
Speaker
Let me tell you, Tag Team of the Year, the Nasty Boys. Well, we're going to be the Tag Team of the 90s. Thank you, everybody, and stay nasty, because Nasty's coming at you, and Nastyville is where you're going to go. It's mine.
01:12:48
Speaker
I still fail to see why we actually have these promos on Sarcade. It was short and it was kind of funny to see Knobs not in any way very his style for a speech at an awards ceremony, but this again does absolutely nothing to build to the actual match that they're having tonight. There's no mention of the Nasty Boy's opponents tonight, Harlem Heat. I'd find these much more tolerable if they doubled his match promos.
01:13:10
Speaker
It is at least a little bit funny when they kind of fight over the plaque at the end. Sure. But at least it's something like the nasty voice has a match that follows it. The other two promos don't have anyone, but at least the timing is good on this one. Yeah, true. Well, I like that you're talking about how one of this is the date for the setting and one is clearly not.
01:13:32
Speaker
I think that's just a thing with them. So in 2010, when Bischoff and Hologen came to TNA, and thus brought all their friends with them, as he does it everywhere. Just, you know, good to be his friend, I guess. They're all appearing on the show, and, however, the Nasty Boys run pretty short in TNA, because apparently they were at a big, like, fancy dinner party thing, which, first off, why do you invite them to a dinner party?
01:13:56
Speaker
It's like a set up to a bad 80s movie. So it was big fans that are at a party with the wrestlers and Spike TV, the network people just promote the new show and all that. They apparently acted really bad in a public setting. That's not clear what they did, but I guess just being themselves. Yeah. And they were released. Okay. This is maybe not as much of an act as it looks. Yeah. The calm one, if you're asking, is Rocksteady. He's very steady, so that makes sense.
01:14:28
Speaker
We go back to Tony, who threatens us with more award ceremony footage, then advertises Nashville restaurant, The Stockyard. Incidentally, that restaurant closed in 2015, so no road trip. Sorry, guys. I had a whole thing planned. You're gonna go to Scott Steiner's Shoney's, go to Adwillah Butcher's House of Chinese Food and Ribs. I think Mean Jean Burgers is probably starting to run somewhere. I don't know. No, it's not. Johnny B. Ribs.
01:14:56
Speaker
Geez. I would go there. Yeah. So our next match is The Nasty Boys, Brian Nobbs and Jerry Saggs versus Harlem Heat, Booker T and Stevie Ray with Sister Sherry. The referee for this match is Nick Patrick.
01:15:14
Speaker
Just some complicated stuff to explain here. I'll try to be brief. There's a fairly competitive tag team division at this point in WCW. The current champions are Stars and Stripes, Patriot, and Marcus Alexander Bagwell, playing full Americana. And if you're wondering why they aren't on the show as champions, that is actually a very good question. So essentially this is a match between the top two teams that aren't champions here.
01:15:40
Speaker
they're building up this angle going into the match and going into Clash of Champions, alternately having Booker T or Stevie Ray pulling out their giant 90 cell phone, which I guess it was left to our prop from when Paulie dangerously. Yes, probably. And calling a mysterious manager in the back for advice who would help them win matches but wouldn't actually appear. So you come Clash of Champions, you're building up to the match
01:16:04
Speaker
setting up for Starrcade where it's a Tarlem Heat versus Nasty Boys. And the Chiron on the screen comes up says, Harlem Heat with Sensational Sherry. Blowing the surprise right there. Yes. Lo and behold, the shock surprise in the match is they make a phone call and she appears and they are fully surprised to see her. Yep. WCW at its finest, truly.
01:16:30
Speaker
But yeah, so these are basically the two top teams. I don't know why it's not a battle match, but this will be good. Harlem Heat comes out with blue themed outfits, which go well with Sherry's blue dress, but don't really work with the flame patterns that well. Yeah, yeah. Sherry's flame pattern sunglasses are kind of cheesy, but kind of awesome at the same time. The Nasty Boys have their own theme song, which they sing.
01:16:55
Speaker
We're the nasty boys, we've got a bad reputation When you see the nasty coming, better change your direction Everybody talks, but we know talk is cheap If you mess with the boys, we'll rearrange your teeth We're the boys, we're the boys, we're the nasty boys
01:17:22
Speaker
I have to tell you, if all the wrestlers, the Nasty Boys, were not the ones I would have bet on singing their own theme. Just curious, did Johnny bad sing his own theme? Uh, no. What? Yeah. Okay, sure. Makes sense. The Nasty Boys are the faces in this match, according to the booking, but let's be honest, the Nasty Boys are never faces. They have them. That is debatable.
01:17:49
Speaker
We get a four-man brawl to start, and Sags gets two off a pump-handle slam almost immediately. Harlem Heat wanders around calling the crowd rednecks to stall for a bit. Booker hits strikes in a pretty cool flying forearm with spin, but flings himself airborne on a Sags kick-out. Sags finally catches Booker for a slam to tag Knobs, and we get another four-man brawl, leading to Sags whipping Knobs into Ray. Hienan says, this is usually the beginning of the end! Oh Bobby, don't raise my hopes.
01:18:19
Speaker
They brawl outside the ring. Back in, Sherry distracts Sags and Patrick, and Knobs shoves Booker out, but Rey clotheslines him out too. Rey is apparently the legal man now, but I don't recall a tag. Booker beats up Knobs and throws him back in, but Knobs recovers and they go back and forth. They totally mistime some kind of counter of a whip into the corner, and Heening quickly covers by saying Knobs just didn't have the power to force Rey into the corner.
01:18:43
Speaker
Knobs and Sags trade off working on Ray's arm, but Ray tags Booker, only for Booker to get hip-tossed immediately for the nasties to work on his arm too for a while. Ray eventually breaks that up, but Sags knocks him off the apron, only for Booker to dropkick Sags out. Ray hits a nice bicycle kick, then tries to drop Sags on the barricade, but Sags shins hit, and Sags topples down onto the ramp hard. Ow. Yeah.
01:19:08
Speaker
Hienan, bless him, tries to sell us that Rey meant to do that, but Rey's awkward pause makes it pretty clear that didn't go as planned. Back in the ring, Booker gets his nice jumping sidekick, and he and Rey trade off beating Sags down. Awkward bit as Rey hits a clothesline, but Sags barely rocks back while Rey falls over. Kind of a miscommunication there. We get a magna grip by Rey, a cool axe kick by Booker, and bear hugs by both Rey and Booker.
01:19:37
Speaker
Hienan says he's never lost a street fight, because he hires people to fight for him. Tony says, I'd hire Meng. Fair enough. Sags counters a charge with a clothesline, and Booker takes such a massive flipping bump, he actually accidentally axe-kicks Sags in the head. Sags looks to be out for a few seconds, and Patrick has a great kind of, oh crap, reaction to it. I'm pretty sure that was a botch, but it looked awesome.
01:20:05
Speaker
Sags recovers and gets the hot tag to Knobs, who runs wild on Harlem Heat. Four-man brawl, and Booker deals with Sags outside, while Ray holds Knobs for Sherry, who accidentally sprays Ray with... hairspray, I guess? By accidentally, I mean they so mistime it that Knobs has clearly, totally dodged by the time she sprays, and there's absolutely no way she didn't know that she was gonna hit Ray. Booker up on the
Tag Team Division Drama
01:20:27
Speaker
top rope, and Knobs rolls into the mat.
01:20:29
Speaker
Sags goes up top and Elbow drops Booker, Sherry up top, and she dives to try to hit Sags, but he dodges, and Sherry splashes Booker. Patrick rings the bell, and it's a DQ win for the Nasty Boys. Knobs grab Sherry, and Sags threatens her with the hairspray or whatever it is, but drops it, and jams her face into his armpit instead. That's called Pity City. Yeah. She rolls out of the ring and escapes with Harlem Heat.
01:20:59
Speaker
Knobs wishes everyone a nasty Christmas. No thank you. Hilariously, in the replay of Sherry jumping off the top rope, we can see a bit of Bad's Confetti flying around. It's still there. Ah, thoughts on this one?
01:21:13
Speaker
Well, it was better than last year's match with the Nasty Voice. Was it? I mean, I think it was. It was definitely shorter. Okay. And it didn't have Sting in it, so my hopes weren't quite as high. Okay. But yeah, it's definitely much more of a brawl than a match, which I think is pure at least a boxed set of Nasty Voice matches. I'd appreciate that'd be the tagline.
01:21:38
Speaker
I like Harlem Heat, I always have. I'm glad they're officially in the Hall of Fame. They probably should've been tagging me for the year. They'll get that honor next year, by the way. And the year after that, actually, so it was pretty well earned. My motive was it was more of a semi-coherent fight than a match. I did like that Booker T. got to do a lot of stuff at the match. They clearly knew, they had someone, even at this point, who could do stuff and had moved and had lessism
01:22:06
Speaker
He always does his little things with his character. You know, he sells really well like that crazy flip that doesn't go well just mostly because of Jerry Saggs being the wrong place. Little extra things he does through matches that makes him stand out, which makes it a shame that it takes so long for him to get his due in WCW. Yeah. And in wrestling in general. He's definitely the best part of the match.
01:22:29
Speaker
It'd be nice if they could do a Nasty Boys finish without all sorts of weird shenanigans and timings and Banaka spray and jumping. Obviously it's not a much of a train wreck as what happened the year before, but that's a whole other thing we're gonna do again. Like I said, it's better than last year's match, but I still recommend it. Yeah. This match has two of my favorite things, the Nasty Boys and bear hugs.
01:22:57
Speaker
Thank you, Bizarro John. There's all kinds of craziness happening here, but I did enjoy the heat. I disagree with Bob. I think the blue looked great with their flames. I'm glad that Sherry chose to end the match. Thank you, Sherry. Nope. Yes. I'm just like, this is enough. Clearly we need an end.
01:23:22
Speaker
Yeah. And I was glad they even foreshadowed that. So I was like, all right, there's a dead in sight. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's not very good. Pity City wasn't great either. No, no. Yeah, I would say like, okay, so.
01:23:41
Speaker
Booker and Ray both had some pretty good kicks, Booker especially, but this was a slow match and played by botches. So similar to last year's nasty boys match then. Yes. Consistency. Yeah. At least Booker's accidental flipping ax kick was kind of awesome. The armwork by the nasties goes absolutely nowhere. Nobody but Booker seems to know how to make a wear down hold look remotely interesting.
01:24:07
Speaker
And the ending is a bit of a mess, leading to an anti-climactic DQ. I guess the best thing that I can say for it is that it is kind of neat that when Shari's first attempt to cheat goes wrong, she immediately has another plan. Yeah, yeah. So that's kind of a nice touch, but the match, yeah, slow, clumsy, pretty mad match. I was not fond of this one. Like I said, at least it's shorter than last year's Star K match with them. Yeah. Is there like an anti-match of the night? Ugh.
01:24:39
Speaker
to cut back on the whole Stars and Stripes thing, Stars and Stripes don't appear in the show as tag team champions because at this point, they've already taped the show in which they lose the titles. On December 8th, so a full two weeks and change before the show, they gave a match for main event in which they lose the tag titles to R.L.M.E.AT. And if you're wondering, that match aired on January 14th. Okay. The announcers actually mention
01:25:08
Speaker
WSW tag team champion Stars and Stripes during this match, but in fact, they are technically not tag team champions anymore. Yes. Except that they are because the episode in which they lose the titles has not yet aired, even though they lost the titles more than two weeks earlier. That's gotta be weird. Yeah.
01:25:29
Speaker
I mean, they have continuity. Yeah. The best is still the time that that was Freebird's due to some weird complicated taping in like 92.93. I think when they're really trying to save money by taping so much in advance in the studio, that they are basically handed the belts and saying, you're fighting these guys to lose the titles.
01:25:50
Speaker
And then the next day they come back and go, okay, here's the titles, you're now gonna be winning the titles from as it happens before this match where you lose the titles. Yeah, so they literally lose the titles before they actually win the titles. Yes. They have a negative title ring. And a negative six day title ring, yes. That's insane. That's absolutely wonderful. Or they just have the titles, those titles from then on.
01:26:19
Speaker
They never technically lost the titles. The Freebirds are still the champions. They can come back for a match anytime they want. No rush. No. Okay. We go back to the announcers.
01:26:35
Speaker
1-900-909-9900! This time, they show Hogan and Jimmy Hart being interviewed for the hotline. Hayden nicely builds up that Hogan used to stand as a team with the Butcher, but now he's standing across the ring from him. And he works in the Savage angle, too. Tony builds up the Sting vs Avalanche, Sullivan vs Mr. T, by the way, that's happening, and Hogan vs Butcher matches, and mentions that Sting got the Most Popular Wrestler of the Year award from PWI's readers.
01:27:05
Speaker
How is that different from Wrestler of the Year? Well, people like you better that way. But Wrestler of the Year, they're looking at your body of work and going, you're the most successful. Okay, I get it. Well, you guessed it, of course. That means more award ceremony footage. Hienan asks where his award is as we fade out, and Tony informs him he's not getting one.
01:27:30
Speaker
Bill Aptor does at least remember to say, this is Sting. So there's some points in his favor. Sting totally looks like he's cosplaying as a Shadowrun character. Just a very cyberpunk sort of black jacket and sunglasses look.
01:27:45
Speaker
I thought he was the guy that was in the beginning of Bad Dudes. Oh, I can see that too. I was thinking he looks a lot like the main character of, I think it's the SNES Shadowrun game. Jake Armitage, I think it is. But he has almost exactly the same sort of sunglasses and a very similar haircut. It was very funny. But let's face it, he's probably actually cosplaying as Matrix Mullens. Or Stinginator. Two, the new batch.
01:28:26
Speaker
Well, thank you very much. I want to say thanks, of course, to all the stingers out there, and I always talk about the different sizes and shapes of stingers, the different colors of stingers out there, paint it up, some of them with the hair spike just right. And hey, you know, this is pretty exciting for me too, because I do feel like I'm kind of like the rocket Gibraltar here. I've been here for a while now, and I feel like I was almost born and raised here at WCW.
01:28:32
Speaker
This is Sting!
01:28:51
Speaker
This is important to me, and the only thing I have to say being surrounded by a nasty sensation here, red and yellow there, a great manager there, whoa! Thank you very, very much. I make speech, okay? Very good, man. Thank you so much.
01:29:08
Speaker
At least he's taking it seriously. Yeah, yeah. Worst Mario impression ever. Yeah. Sting's Shadowrun costume aside, this wasn't anything particularly notable. Sting just gives kind of a basic awards speech at about half the volume and energy level he normally has. And again, this does nothing to build to a match. I don't understand why we have to have this stuff on the show. Yeah, I don't get it either.
01:29:35
Speaker
Did they show it another time? I don't know. I mean, we don't have the shows from this period yet. We do not have the show from this period. Thanks again. This would be a much more appropriate thing to do as, you know, like one segment on a TV show. Yes. Rather than interrupting Starrcade repeatedly. They could at least interrupt Starrcade to explain what a bunkhouse stampede matches. No. I need to know what that is. They should never do that again.
01:30:01
Speaker
We do at least get a pretty fun moment as the camera catches what looks like a pretty jealous look from Hogan as Sting goes up to accept the award. I'm guessing Hulk wasn't that happy that he wasn't winning the popularity contest here. It's weird that Hogan also won Comeback of the Year, but they don't show him winning both awards. I'm glad, but I'm not surprised. Hulk missed a few days to show if someone gave him an award.
01:30:28
Speaker
There's a giant picture of him in the background, you know. Yeah, yeah. It's hard to feel sorry for the guy. Yeah, yeah. Back to the arena, and Sting, with face paint, but without Shadowrun costume, is backstage with Gene. Sting's face paint is quite possibly every color in existence tonight. Gene confesses that he got drunk celebrating after the awards ceremony, and chills the hotline again.
01:30:52
Speaker
Moments from now, here in front of this capacity crowd at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, you're gonna be locking up with this awesome force known as the Avalanche at 500 pounds plus.
01:31:04
Speaker
Let me tell you something, it has been weeks, weeks and weeks that everybody's been talking about what they're going to do at Starrcade. Well, I'm tired and tired and more tired of talking about what I'm going to do. All I want to do is mention one thing. Avalanche is talking about how I look to the stingers.
01:31:23
Speaker
worldwide well I got news for you yes I do look to the stingers all different shapes and sizes and colors painted up spiked hair just like I said when I got my award and I mean every word of it they are my life blood just like wrestling is my life blood so I will walk into this either a loser
01:31:44
Speaker
or a giant killer. And me and Gene, I gotta lay it straight for you right now. I feel like a giant killer! All right, ladies and gentlemen, the reaction for the crowd out of the arena, nothing but positive.
01:32:02
Speaker
Drug use decide, great promo. Yes. He cuts like half of the same promo that he cut at the awards ceremony, rendering that segment even more pointless. And he actually says so himself, which is a little weird. He also says that he's tired of talking about what he wants to do and then talks about what he wants to do, which is also a little bit weird.
01:32:26
Speaker
But at the same time, he's way more energetic here than he was at the award ceremony promo. And the I feel like a giant killer line is a pretty great ending here, delivered with gusto.
01:32:40
Speaker
So short promo, but it ends well and it built to the match just fine about time somebody did. Thing definitely knows what decade he's performing at. I'll get the match. Yeah. It was very energetic. I was kind of hoping he would do more like the GI Joe platitude route, but he didn't. So our next match.
01:33:05
Speaker
is Mr. T versus Kevin Sullivan in a score settling contest. Referee for this one is Randy Anderson. I just realized last match we watched Booker T and now we're watching Mr. T. That's an interesting coincidence. We've got Randy and Anderson and Arne Anderson and now Booker T and Mr. T. Important, this is a score settling contest. This is not the war to settle the score. No. But it's a much different match. Yes, that's a different thing.
01:33:31
Speaker
With Hogan coming in, they felt like they needed more celebrities. Because obviously, with WrestleMania, that's what WrestleMania did. They said, hey, look how many people watched the show. Went so well when they had Joe Frazier on. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Definitely added to the show. So Mr. T was one of the many people they brought in as part of that.
01:33:52
Speaker
Mission T was brought in as the guest referee for the Halloween Havoc match we mentioned earlier. And subsequently he was brought in as well for a Clash of the Champions, who he was a six-man tag team match, where upon the end when he counted the pinfall for Hogan, he was attacked by Kevin Sullivan, who was obviously mad that he lost the match.
01:34:12
Speaker
So that's why he's walking to the ring pretty much dressed as a referee still. He has one outfit, yes. Except he actually has two. Because if you look at the opening video package and the footage of that Clash of the Champions match that's in that opening video package, he is wearing a short-sleeved referee shirt that shows his arms. Whereas when he comes out for his entrance here, he is wearing a long-sleeved referee shirt that closes around his wrists.
01:34:40
Speaker
So, yeah, it's a weird thing, especially given things that will happen in this match that we will explore. Yes. Kevin Sullivan enjoys watching footage of him beating up Mr. T on the large screens during his entrance and makes kind of an odd half-barking noise as he walks to the ring.
01:34:58
Speaker
Mr. T has, yes, decided to come dressed in his referee pajamas. Though admittedly, the WCW refs don't actually wear referee stripes. So I don't know, maybe this is just a fashion statement on his part? Um, yeah. Cause I mean, he did entering appearances for the WF, but I don't think he ever did it as a guest referee. Yeah. So that he's like a reference to that. It's, it's odd that he's specifically wearing an outfit that seems to suggest his referee storyline, except that WCW refs don't dress like that.
01:35:28
Speaker
That's true, yeah. I hadn't thought about that, but yeah, that's true. Mr. T dominates in the ring with punches and basic throws, but we cut to watch Dave Sullivan walk down the ramp dressed as Santa Claus and miss Mr. T doing a fireman's carry into something. Kevin Sullivan manages to throw Mr. T through the ropes and beats him up outside, then pulls his shirt over his head. They trade blows, and Mr. T gets the shirt caught on his hands and can't get it off.
01:35:55
Speaker
Yep. Ugh. The camera guy trips over the steps. Kevin slams Mr. T onto the steps and he falls on the camera guy and blocks the view. I like it when the camera guy's feet just go up. Yes. He's rolling backwards. Like he just tripped over the steps. You keep waiting for the house to fall down. Yeah. Oh, it's great. He did it smoothly. It wasn't jittery or anything. He manages to hold the shot, kinda. Yeah.
01:36:23
Speaker
Kevin slams Mr. T onto the steps and he falls on the camera guy and blocks the view, so WCW cycles cameras until it finds a camera guy filming the other camera guy. Mr. T kinda lies there like he's pinning the guy and still can't get his hands free, as I'm pretty sure the camera guy was struggling not to laugh.
01:36:38
Speaker
He was definitely striking onto the lap. Snickering to himself there. Oh yeah. Sullivan kind of slowly lands strikes to try to give T time. And WCW switches to the fallen camera guy's angle at the exact wrong moment. So we get a wonderful shot of Sullivan's crotch. Tony, that's a shot you don't see every day.
01:36:59
Speaker
T still can't get his hands free, so Sullivan tries to help him under the guise of pulling the shirt to pull him into punches. Sullivan finally kind of gives up and looks helplessly at the entrance ramp, and Jimmy Hart runs down in a hurry and puts his megaphone, uh, sorry, hulkaphone, into Dave's Santa bag. This is gonna get interesting, Heenan says. Why start now.
01:37:20
Speaker
Kevin gets T in the ring, and Jimmy runs around to distract ref Randy Anderson like the best babyfaces do, and Kevin clearly checks behind him to make sure that Dave is there before bouncing off the ropes so Dave can hit him with the Hulk-a-phone in the bag. Kevin topples, and T crawls on top for the three count and the win, putting this match out of my misery.
01:37:40
Speaker
T poses in victory with the shirt still stuck on his hands. Heart and T leave as Dave shakes hands with the fans. Sullivan beats up Dave and does a pile driver as Dave's pants fall down. Sullivan whips Dave with his own belt. The fans chant for Hogan, but Sullivan just kind of decides to stop and leaves. The trainers come out to check on Dave. Thoughts on this one? A big mess.
01:38:08
Speaker
That was the simple summary I have for it.
01:38:13
Speaker
Mr. T has a very limited history with professional wrestling. It's worth noting. He wrestles in the first main event of WrestleMania, and the tag team match with Hulk Hogan, which is generally viewed as a serviceable match. They balanced it well. They had three pretty solid veterans in there. He comes in, does his thing, looks good, and that's it. Then he comes back to WrestleMania II, where they put him in a boxing match against Roddy Piper.
01:38:42
Speaker
which is not well regarded. Other than the visual of Roddy Piper by slamming someone while wearing boxing gloves, which is genuinely impressive. And then there's this, the trifecta to wrap it all up. I don't know how good this was possibly gonna be. Without the shirt thing, was there a good match here? Could that have happened? I'm gonna say no. Feel pretty safe on that one. I'm gonna say no.
01:39:11
Speaker
I was happy to see Mr. T. Was not happy to see the crotch shots, but I am glad that they kept on going. They didn't like reset or anything. You know, let's just throw them on top of the camera, man. Let's just keep on kicking them. And you know, like, okay, this is raw. This is awesome. I appreciate that.
01:39:32
Speaker
I know that I like that they at least ended the Santa. At least they finished that thing, so it wasn't something that was going to pop up later. The Chekhov Santa? Yeah. And I didn't know who that Sullivan was. I didn't realize it was his brother. Dave Sullivan is Kevin's brother, from what I recall. Dave Sullivan is a big Hulk Hogan fan, which ticks off Kevin Sullivan. I noticed from the mustache, and the first time I thought, that's Hogan.
01:40:01
Speaker
Like, just like, because at first they just glanced at him just for a second and I just saw the mustache and I was like, all right, then they cut away. And I was like, oh man, Hogan's in a Santa suit. This is going to be awesome. Santa with muscles. Yes. But is what it is. I'm glad T1. That's all I can say. That's the only positive thing that came out of this. Yeah.
01:40:24
Speaker
This was a comedy of errors. There's nothing to it. Mr. T spends 75% of the short match with his hands all tied up in his shirt so he can't do anything. You can see the match just falling to pieces, and I'm pretty sure they rushed straight to the ending once they realized that nobody could get Mr. T free of his shirt.
01:40:43
Speaker
Basically, none of this goes right, and the only moment worth watching is the bit where the cameraman goes down and Mr. T falls
Celebrity Impact on Wrestling
01:40:50
Speaker
on top of him just for the unintentional comedy. Absolute disaster of a match. I can't think of too many more ways that this could go horribly wrong that weren't contained in here. That's absolutely amazing.
01:41:08
Speaker
Well, I think they had the long shirt on just so that they could rip off the referee thing. It's definitely weird when you look back at the footage from the earlier shows and he's wearing the short sleeve referee shirt. You're like, if you just had him wear that shirt tonight, then you would have taken the shirt off fine and you're golden, but they don't. So short sleeves get caught on his hands and
01:41:35
Speaker
He's stuck. I think they just had a small bit where Sullivan's supposed to pull it over his head and do some cheap shots and then pull it off. And then they can get it off and go on with the match, but no. No, that was not to be.
01:41:47
Speaker
And I think it looked like it was made out of silk or something, so there's no way you could really even just rip it. Yeah. Like a whole t-shirt or whatever. Yeah, I think my favorite moment of them trying to deal with it is the bit where Sullivan tries to help out. He grabs the shirt and tugs on the shirt really hard and sells it as he's pulling tea into his punches, but he's trying to rip it off of tea's hands. There's no way this could have gone worse. Absolute disaster. Yeah.
01:42:15
Speaker
On the classic champion mentioned a little bit ago, the last one before the Starrcade, we get a match with Dustin Rhodes. Just point that out because Dustin Rhodes is not on this show. Oh, yeah. Whereas Mr. T is on this show. Yeah. William Regal is also not on this show. More things to think about when you realize there's a Mr. T match. Imagine giant air quotes, obviously, on this show. Now, where is this in his career? Is this like,
01:42:45
Speaker
A-Team, Rocky. I think A-Team's been done for a long time, and Rocky III was before Hogan even made it big in the WWF. Mm-hmm, correct. Okay, so I can see why they had the boxing one, you know. Yeah. Oh, yeah, no. We're trying to tie into that. The rest of the many ones actually made sense, and there was still on or some notable at that point. Yeah. That all made more sense. This is about nine years after that. Yes. He still has that cartoon, right?
01:43:12
Speaker
That was also the 80s, I'm pretty sure. I think those comic books might have been in the 90s. That might be a thing, still. But I think it's really just he was once connected to Hogan. Let's bring him out. Sure. Yes. Who's famous and we can get cheaply? Rick Flair. This is the last mathematician she ever wrestled for anybody. As far as I can tell. No long run as WSW, International World Heavyweight Champion.
01:43:38
Speaker
I mean, someone's probably fighting for that to this day. That committee's thoughts have gone on. The only way coming out of this is the Dave and Kevin Sullivan feud. So nothing good comes out of this. We go back to the announcers. Hienan says that Dave hanging around the ring after hitting Kevin shows how dumb Dave is. Tony says two of their three main events
01:44:07
Speaker
Two of them are still to come. Tony advertises super brawl and lays out what's still to come and builds up the savage angle. Macho might be joining the faces of fear. That makes him very happy. We go back to Gene, who for some reason decides that we needed to know that people were running through the locker room naked a moment or two ago. He brings in Hogan and Jimmy Hart, thankfully not naked.
01:44:33
Speaker
running through in the ball. Hulk Hogan come on in along with Jimmy Hart. Ladies and gentlemen the WCW heavyweight champion of the world here at Starrcade 94. Holster this is your very first. There have got to be so many things running through your mind right now. The fact that you've got a title defense against the man that you thought was your friend, your lifelong friend, the butcher, and also another question we've got to address.
01:44:58
Speaker
What about the presence of the macho man here tonight? You got a lot of things going through your dome right now. Well, you know something, brother? We could go ahead and put the cart in front of the horse, man. But you know, if I had my druthers, I was hoping coming down to the 11th hour, man, when it came down to the final moment that something would happen with a butcher, that something would snap, that he'd remember something in the past, brother.
01:45:21
Speaker
Then he realized that blood is thicker than money, greed or evil, man. And then he'd come to me and say, Hulkster, I made a mistake. Maybe we could call the whole thing off. But you know, around the dressing room, the word is out. He's on an ultimate high. The faces of fear are the ones that are running wild tonight. And so with that in mind, Jimmy Hart, we know what we got to do, man. We got to focus on the cancer with body, mind, spirit and soul and the power of Hulkamania.
01:45:48
Speaker
We're gonna take care of all the family business, Jimmy Hart. And wait a minute. And as far as the macho man goes, if he makes a mistake, if he steps over that razor's edge, he will end up just like a butcher because everybody knows the macho man and I have wanted the same thing for a long time, the WCW title. And on a personal note,
01:46:12
Speaker
Shooting with the whole world. They know how the macho man feels about me and our personal differences They have never been so you can take that to the bank brother. I know about some of those personal differences now Jimmy Hart Why don't you two cheer horn? Well, you know, all I've got to say is this baby
01:46:29
Speaker
Why don't you jump on Hulkamania's bandwagon? Like everybody else in the world's been trying to do. But I'm there, baby. I will never turn my back on this man. With every breath that I have left in my body, I will always stand by this man's side. Macho man, you better get ready, baby. Are you friend or are you foe?
01:46:47
Speaker
You've got one man here standing behind you. You've got nothing. All I need is one Hulk-o-maniac like Jimmy Hart in this world. The butcher will go down on my feet. Anybody else, brother, that wants a piece of it, you're going to see the new Hulk Hogan. I'm tired of giving quarter. I'm tired of laying on my rear end.
01:47:07
Speaker
from now on, brother, the world titles on the line. So is the rule book as I tear my opponents in half. If I have to do that to the rule book, the butcher, the monster man. So be it because what are you going to do, brother? I'm going to be here to watch an old Hulk Hogan. I've got to tell you something. He is ready for this one tonight. Let's get you back inside this action packed arena. Much more energetic Hogan promo here, and it generally works.
01:47:37
Speaker
a lot of kind of weird statements here and there, but the energy's good and he does a decent job building up the storyline. In his own style, he gets across that he's upset about Butcher and hoped it wouldn't come to this, that he's not sure what Macho will do, and that he's gonna fight his way through it anyway. He actually does sound kind of stressed here, being short with Gene and making fun of him when he's stammered. Gene, by the way, looked like he almost cracked up at that.
01:48:02
Speaker
I think it's a pretty fair promo that gets across the storyline. It's nothing too special and it's not as wild as some other Hogan promos. There's no body slamming Andre in a way that cracks the earth open and forces him to swim people out of the arena. But it's fine. And hey, it's great to know that Jimmy Hart will always be by Hogan's side, right? Absolutely. Sounds like it. Any other thoughts on the Hogan promo? No, really.
01:48:35
Speaker
Nope. We cut back to Tony and Hienan, and Hienan is laughing his head off. Hienan joyfully says Hogan is scared to death. He knows Savage is here, the three faces of fear are here, he has to get in the ring with the Butcher, and all of that scares him to death. They will have a new world champion tonight. He tells Tony to wrap it up. So, Tony gives us another let's go to the ring. It's an embarrassment of riches tonight.
01:49:04
Speaker
We got a new world champion tonight! Wrap it up, Chavani! Let's go to the ring our next match here at Starkey 94 from Nashville! I'm just so happy. He's so giving. I was starting to doubt myself until now. That wasn't actually a Tony line that I named the show wrong. But no, no, this show has given me one thing. So our next match is Sting vs. Avalanche with Kevin Sullivan. Referee for this match is Jimmy Jett.
01:49:34
Speaker
So as has been noted through various promos and story parts here, Kevin Sullivan forms the Faces of Fear with Evelyn and Butcher, just Royal Aquamania. Sting basically comes in as Hogan's friend and is happy to challenge the giant, not the giant we'll see later, but this giant, just to be clear.
01:49:53
Speaker
But yeah, he's more than willing to come help him out and fight this big scary guy to help fend him off. At the end of the six-man tag at Cloud Champion, he beats up Sting a bit more, doing that splash that's supposed to look super intimidating, like he jumps and lands on him, except he clearly jumps and lands, puts his feet down, and then really nicely sits down on you.
01:50:14
Speaker
Which I'm sure is being appreciated, but doesn't look super deadly. You don't want him to mess it up. Yeah, that is true. I know, yeah. I'd rather him be too careful and not look real than look real because it was accidentally real. Sternums, don't go back real quick. Yes. There's some Yoko Zuno one where he drops very quickly or that's not, uh, yeah. Yeah. Poor guys.
01:50:40
Speaker
Sting, of course, still has his awesome man-called Sting song and massive crowd cheers. He sadly does not have any sparkly jackets tonight, which that disappointed me. He's got the Crayola colors. He figured he had enough bright colors on his face, I guess, tonight. They're all primary. Yep.
01:51:00
Speaker
Avalanche gives us a muscle pose and gets booed. Henan questions whether Sting can even put the Scorpion Deathlock on Avalanche. He's too big. The crowd erupts in cheers for Sting just standing there, and Avalanche jumps up and down to shake the ring, while Sting pounds on his chest. You're not Tarzan, Henan says. You're more like Boy.
01:51:21
Speaker
Stinger call for huge cheers, but Avalanche easily pushes Sting around. Sting dodges a splash and kicks Avalanche's leg several times, but Avalanche won't fall, and Sting looks worried. Someone in the crowd gives a pretty good Stinger call, and Sting takes a moment to actually acknowledge that with a point. Kinda cool of him to do that.
01:51:41
Speaker
Avalanche batters Sting. Sting kicks the leg but can't lift Avalanche. Avalanche hits a really nice elbow drop, some good rotation there. Tony notes that now Avalanche is off his feet. On top of Sting.
01:51:55
Speaker
It gets two. A nice leg drop follows. Sting gets Avalanche in the corner for more kicks to the leg. His aim's a bit off on one and he nails Avalanche in the crotch. Avalanche howls and rolls out of the ring to walk it off as Sting backs off. Avalanche gets back in and gets a headlock and stops to come back with a big clothesline. Bear hug but it's over relatively fast. Avalanche pushes Sting into the corner but turns his back for a moment and Sting hops on his back for a sleeper hold.
01:52:24
Speaker
Avalanche twice knocks Sting free, but Sting leaps back on and locks the holding good. Avalanche goes to his knees, but makes the ropes. Another slam attempt, but Avalanche falls on top for two. Avalanche hits a nice power slam, but takes time to pose. Sting gets up while he's not looking, and catches him rebounding off the ropes with a leaping clothesline to take him down, but Avalanche gets back up. Sting can't take Avalanche down again, but he knocks him into the corner. Unfortunately, Jet's trapped behind him.
01:52:53
Speaker
Sting doesn't notice and hits a great stinger splash. Jet's out cold. The crowd erupts in cheers as Sting finally manages to slam Avalanche and puts on the Scorpion Deathlock. Jet is still out so Sullivan gets in, but Sting breaks the hold to fight him off. Avalanche gets up so Sting tries to throw Sullivan into him, but Avalanche shoves Sullivan into Sting and throws Sting to the mat for the Avalanche drop, landing on Sting's chest.
01:53:20
Speaker
Another Sullivan yells, but Hogan runs down the ramp with a chair, accompanied by Randy Anderson, who declares a disqualification win for Sting, as Sullivan and Avalanche escape. Hogan tears his shirt off and checks on Sting. Shirt tearing was necessary, I guess.
01:53:36
Speaker
It's muscle memory this week. Yeah, there you go. It's like, I'm in the ring. I was gonna say, it's intimidating the others not to come back in, maybe. There, I guess. Yeah. Hienan says Sting and Hogan have been friends for a long time, but so were Butcher and Hogan. So be careful, he warns Sting. Hogan will use him and turn on him. Hogan helps Sting backstage. Thoughts on this one?
01:54:00
Speaker
So there's two ways to look at this match. I'll do the first one first, obviously. So on one hand, it's a decent match. Both formers are good. I obviously really like Sting. I've always liked Avalanche in his various iterations. He'd never been the most impressive big man, but he's definitely, he's very reliable. Exactly. Yeah. He had lots of experience in wrestling. He was a legitimate sumo wrestler, which is kind of amazing.
01:54:27
Speaker
So he knows how to use his weight and his size, his imitation. He has nice little bits in the match when he does the muscle pose when he obviously is not warranted. Yeah. And obviously his moves are nice and fluid and he definitely sells well.
01:54:41
Speaker
even the one time he's legitimately injured and not that selling from Stig's kick. Poor guy. Geez. But I have two problems with the match, unfortunately. One problem is Avalanche slash John Tenta doesn't have the stamina, I think, for this match because he's definitely gassed a good halfway through the match, I want to say.
01:55:05
Speaker
He does carry on, it's unlike he gives up, but it's definitely, there's longer pauses and you can see a little bit later when he does the muscle pose again. And he's like, has his eyes closely sweating so much over them. His body is definitely not where his mind is with that. He's committed to it, but his body is not keeping up. Yeah. So it hurts a little with a match just in that regard.
01:55:27
Speaker
And the other part of it is the finish, because it's the confusing DQ finish, because the referee runs in and ends the match DQ automatically, even though there wasn't actually Kevin Sullivan actually attack. He was going to. But yes, but this is not a pre-crime unit. We're not in minority importance. Is it still interference? You could say that it's for Avalanche using Kevin Sullivan as a weapon. Kevin Sullivan is a foreign object. That was good, though.
01:55:56
Speaker
I did enjoy that. Yeah. The way it looks like it should play out is that Hogan runs out fully with a chair and starts threatening people with it, and then the ref calls DQ. And I assume he's disqualifying Sting for Hogan running the ring with a chair and enact people, but apparently not.
01:56:14
Speaker
I guess, I mean, Hogan never actually hits someone with it either, so it's a questionable ending all around, I would say, yeah. And even questioning the logic of it, which obviously I do, it's a non-finish. It's designed to build another match later, even though, as we've mentioned in many chairs, I'm sure. This is Starrcade. This should be the big match show. It just never really is treated that way anymore, yeah.
01:56:36
Speaker
So that's the one mind of looking at the match. Yeah. The other mind, of course, is that I've seen Sting and Vader. And I
Critiques and Alternatives for Starrcade
01:56:45
Speaker
can't help but compare the two. And it's just not the same. Yeah. This is the sort of intangible that they had together, which even Sting and present day has talked about. They just had a certain chemistry together, and their matches are so good. And I have to compare them, and I really can't. It's a good Sting versus big man match.
01:57:04
Speaker
It's just that we two shows ago saw Sting versus Vader and this is never going to measure up to Sting versus Vader. And the thing with this match too is, again, it's good, but it definitely doesn't seem like it's evolved to what wrestling was evolving to even at that point in the 90s. It's definitely an 80s wrestling match on 1994 show. Good and bad in that
01:57:27
Speaker
Well, Vader's not that hard anymore, so who knows. Yeah. It might be equivalent during that day. Yeah. Apparently, judging from the beginning of the show, Sting could just probably kick Vader's butt now, so. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Sorry. I enjoyed both entries. I thought that Manvalanche or Avalanche did a really good job playing the heel. I mean, anyone playing up against Sting is going to be a heel, but he did a good job.
01:57:56
Speaker
I remember the jump scare thing, not jump scare in the traditional sense, where he's jumping around and shaking is a nice intimidation factor. For those of you that have seen Game of Thrones but have not seen Avalanche, he is the cross between Hodor, the Hound, and the Mountain, blended together into one being in a good way.
01:58:17
Speaker
I noted that there was a three to four push ratio. It took Sting four pushes to move the Avalanche back as far as three of Avalanche's pushes. You mentioned that he was gassed about halfway through the match and I agree, but I didn't really see it as that. I thought they were more stalling, but now it kind of makes that chin lock for days and even the brief bear hog a little bit more tolerable.
01:58:41
Speaker
I don't really expect a lot of people to keep up with Sting, like, you know, maybe Steamboat or, you know, Amuda or any other people, you're going to have a lot of quick movements. Obviously we're not dealing with too fast opponents. So, you know, power versus speed kind of thing.
01:58:57
Speaker
I like that Sting had to do multiple things to get him to swoon or show any effect. He did a good job selling after the multiple headlocks. I thought that it rewarded Sting for his tenacity. And for that, I am thankful. When they were getting ready to DQ, I honestly thought that it could go either anyway, because they were going to get Sting for knocking out the ref. I could see that too, yeah.
01:59:24
Speaker
When they were coming in, I'm like, I don't know what they're going to do. Even though Sting won by DQ, I was still kind of like annoyed. I'm glad Sting won, but this is not how I want it to happen. Yeah, absolutely. And he did do those moves to show they highlighted that and obviously he gets no credit for it other than the crowd. Yeah.
01:59:45
Speaker
Pretty basic match, but pretty good. This had a very clear story and it told it perfectly well. Sting needs to get Avalanche down to take out his legs to weaken him so he'll stay down for the Scorpion Deathlock, but Avalanche is big and very tough, and he just won't go down, instead throwing Sting around and generally doing as he pleases.
02:00:04
Speaker
There's not a ton of complexity here, though Avalanche does get in some pretty nice slams. I love how he does his power slams. We'll pick the guy up, then pause for a moment, wrap his arm around their head the other way, and then slam him down. So it looks very disciplined. And I love his elbow drop as well. He has just a good feeling of movement. He has a good rotation to it, so you get this extra motion feeling out of it.
02:00:31
Speaker
But otherwise, there's a bunch of strikes, particularly a bunch of kicks by Sting and not a lot else here. From a character side, this is pretty great, though. Sting does an excellent job of showing his frustration and worry as Avalanche will just not go down, but Sting won't quit and keeps up the fight even as he's rolled around the ring. Avalanche looks like he's enjoying himself kind of playing with his food. The crowd eats it up big time, and this gets some enormous reactions.
02:01:00
Speaker
The ending does hurt it quite a bit. I don't know why they had to do a DQ. Either half sting end up going down to the double team of Sullivan and Avalanche, staying so popular at this point that a loss will not hurt him. It'll just charge people up for him even more to see his eventual revenge. Or half sting just go ahead and win the day countering Sullivan and finally getting Avalanche down for a pin or the scorpion death lock. It's a good, if fairly simple match, but the lack of an ending just hurts a lot.
02:01:30
Speaker
I did really actually love the Stinger Splash spot, though. Jett was actually hidden entirely by Avalanche, so it made perfect sense this Sting did not notice he was there. I do have one issue with the ref crushing the horror spot, though, because earlier we had the melee match with Jimmy Jett as the super loud ref. Yes. But he never tried just shouting atop his lungs to warn Sting, hey, I'm behind this guy. You're like, I'm here, Sting.
02:01:56
Speaker
He would definitely hear him. Exactly. He is the loudest ref I have ever heard. Yes. I don't know. One accidental kick to the nuts aside, this went pretty well. Yeah, the performances were good. It's just that it lacks that final touch to cap off its story.
02:02:15
Speaker
Well, maybe they were just trying to highlight that Hogan and him are friends kind of thing. Yeah, I'm sure that's what it is, is like you said, it's to highlight that there's that side of the angle going on too. And you can't just have it be three totally independent matches against the faces of fear. I just would prefer that they highlighted it by like, I don't know, let this match go. And then for Hogan's match, have the faces of fear come down with Butcher, then Sting come down with Hogan.
02:02:42
Speaker
You know, Mr. T coming back out with the shirt still stuck to his arms. I'm sure that they are still back cutting him out of that thing, that poor guy. Or they could fight on the ramp, you know, to keep him from interfering. Right, yeah, just something. I'd rather have Sting as a background feature of Hogan's match there than have Hogan as a part of Sting's match that stops it from getting to an ending. I think you could have a more satisfying angle overall that way. I don't know.
02:03:10
Speaker
I actually have an idea that could possibly make this show better. Obviously it's way too late to fix this show, but hear me out. Not holding it? Yeah, no, that's not an option.
02:03:19
Speaker
No, no, okay, so instead of having what we're generously calling that match with Mr. T and Kevin Sullivan, and having this match, why not just have Mr. T and Sting in a tag team match against Kevin Sullivan and Neville Lynch? There you go. Yep, that would be a very good way of having T on the show, because you wanted to have him there, but not having a match depend on his ability to take his hands out of a shirt. Exactly.
02:03:48
Speaker
I mean, you get everything out of Mr. T being there that you would get in 1994. And you have Sting do promo with Mr. T, which would be fun. That would be hilarious and awesome. And yes, I'm totally down with that idea.
02:04:00
Speaker
So they do a interesting little two-step switcheroo thing. The next show we get a tag team match with Sting and Ray Savage together against Big Baba, who is now returned into, apparently important, and Avalanche, which leads to a match on the next show where they swap opponents. Oh, okay. So now Sting and Big Baba and it's Avalanche and Ray Savage. Okay. You okay? Yeah. Just kind of don't want to read this next sentence. Oh.
02:04:30
Speaker
Tony throws to yet more award ceremony footage, as Jimmy Hart apparently took home Manager of the Year. Heenan says, that's like Forrest Gump winning the Einstein Award for Intelligence. So, yeah, it's time for awards, part 3,061,973 of 5 billion. Thank you, thank you.
02:04:56
Speaker
You know what, this is definitely the greatest day of my life. Back in 1987 was the last time that I won manager of the year by Pro Wrestling Illustrated and first of all I'd like to thank all the fans that voted for Jimmy Hart, especially a lot of Hulkamaniacs, I'll tell you that right now. And also Pro Wrestling Illustrated for giving this award out each and every year.
02:05:16
Speaker
But you know what I'd really like to say right now is half of this award really goes to this man right here, Hulk Hogan, because I'm going to tell you about two years ago, this man slapped some sense into my head. He said, you know, Jimmy, you got a lot of talent, man, but you're going down the wrong path. You got to change your evil ways. He woke me up. So now I'm happy to say that every morning I do say my prayers. I do take my vitamins. And of course, you can see I'm definitely wearing the red and the yellow.
02:05:43
Speaker
And the Hawkster, all I can say, buddy, is this. As long as Jimmy Hart has a breath in his body, I will always be your friend, and I will always stand by your side. Thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate it. Jimmy Hart's such a good man.
02:05:59
Speaker
He does take his vitamins. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, yeah, vitamins too. This did, again, nothing to build to a match. But I actually do kind of think it was the best of these award ceremony promos for the simple fact that it at least kind of built Jimmy Hart's character a little bit with his, I don't know, conversion story. It kind of worked. I'd still rather the show just drop these bits entirely, but it was all right. It's weird hearing kind of promo not through a megaphone. That is weird.
02:06:27
Speaker
It was honestly weird to hear him say they owed half of it to Hulkster. Yes. I thought there was some growth there, like growth on like mold on a bread, but you know, it's still growth. He's got some culture.
02:06:42
Speaker
We go back to Tony and Hienan, and Hienan has his feet propped up on the desk and claims he's nauseous because Hart won the award. Hienan has actually won Managers of the Year. He actually has the record, in fact, for Managers of the Year awards from Pro Wrestling Illustrated. He has won it four times. I think next closest there's three different people that have won it three times. I know Cornette's one of them. I think Lou Alpano is another. That would make sense, yeah. He is a captain. Hienan should hold the record. Assassin number one. No. Very no.
02:07:13
Speaker
Heat and fakes throwing up as Tony introduces a video package. So next up is our final match. Hogan versus the Butcher. Starting during the feud with Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan started to have trouble with the mysterious masked man who before one of the class shows attacks him backstage with a pipe to the knee, which is definitely not based on any current event at the time whatsoever. Completely written idea of WCW's.
02:07:42
Speaker
This continues through a couple of shows where mysterious men will show up and then, like in a bad mystery film, the butcher suddenly runs in like he was just away around the corner and just what happened. In his identity at the time as Brother Bruti, I believe it is? Yeah, another name I refuse to say.
02:07:59
Speaker
Isn't it, too? I don't think that was their intent. His name that he used in wrestling forever was Brutus Beefcake. And they couldn't call him that in WCW because I think WWF might have owned the copyright on it. They definitely. Yeah. So they suggested it with Brother Bruti. It's the way the Dudley Boy, when they left WWE, they had to come Brother Ray and Brother Divan. Yes. I guess that's enough distinction there.
02:08:25
Speaker
But so obviously this all leads to one of the shows where the masked man is pro in the ring. Hogan decides to pull his mask off and walk away and turn his back instantly after unmasking him, I guess for dramatic effect to go himself. He doesn't want to know who it is right away. He wants to pull it off, turn and face the crowd, and then look back and be surprised who it is. You know, just likes to tease himself, I guess.
02:08:53
Speaker
And of course it is Brutus who then proceeds to explain that he's part of the three races of fear and he always held down by Hogan and he's going to get his shot.
02:09:04
Speaker
Now my issue with this, of many, the one I'm going to mention anyways, is that so when he's bruised apart beefcake, he has those shears all the time. Yeah. He famously rips off total recall with one of the promos about the blade being a part of him and, you know, he's now the butcher because quote, he butchered his friendship with Hulk Hogan. That is tenuous. Yes. And he has no butcher props whatsoever. He chops his hand a lot, though. He does.
02:09:34
Speaker
But yeah, he doesn't have like a big fake cleaver? No. They could always set up that the other two faces, there's a baker and a candlestick baker. It's better to go in a volatable direction and not show you want to go that way. No, no. Again, rest in agony. Yep. That was the show's message to me.
02:09:58
Speaker
We honestly get a pretty nice video package, if a bit overlong, going over the items that Al just discussed, the friendship between Brother Brutai, now the Butcher, and Hogan, and his eventual betrayal. There's a pretty great shot involved in the package from Clash of the Champions of Hogan, Sting, and Dave Sullivan, all coming to the ring for their match, all dressed in the red and yellow, but all with Sting-style face paint on, which is pretty awesome.
02:10:24
Speaker
Honestly, the package does take a bit to get through everything. It's a little over long, but it does a pretty good job of bringing us up to speed on the story. Whether the story is something worth being brought up to speed on is another thing entirely. Yeah. Couldn't we like get a five minute package explaining, you know, Alexa Luger, Rick Flair few we've gotten in the past. Yeah. I won't, I'm not sure I want five minutes on Ron Garvin against Rick Flair, but you know, something. Yeah.
02:10:49
Speaker
So our final match is The Butcher with Kevin Sullivan and Avalanche versus Hulk Hogan with the mouth of the South, Jimmy Hart, for Hogan's WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The referee for this match is Nick Patrick. Butcher comes to the ring, chopping his hand repeatedly.
02:11:09
Speaker
Butcher shows off the Hulkster shirt and rips it in two, which is what Hogan already does every time he comes to the ring for a match, so not really insulting. He does at least step on the thing a few times afterwards, so I guess that helps get the point across a little better. Yeah, I like to think if he went on, if he would sting, he'd go in the ring and stop and put face paint on. I go, this'll show you.
02:11:32
Speaker
Hogan's WCW theme, American Made, hits. It does not hold a candle to his WWF theme, Real American. Hogan has already ripped off his shirt in the Sting match, so he hasn't bothered bringing a new one. He has brought the chair, though.
02:11:47
Speaker
Michael Buffer does the ring introductions, as Commissioner Nick Bockwinkle convinces Hogan to give up the chair. Butcher makes weird faces and grabs at his own arm. Avalanche bellows that there's a new champion tonight and generally sounds far more intimidating than Hogan's actual opponent. Hogan finally gives up the chair as Bockwinkle orders Sullivan and Avalanche to leave. Buffer introduces Hogan as the King of Hulkmania. So close.
02:12:15
Speaker
Well, the Butcher killed Lie and Hulk him in. Oh, okay. That's the first part of the plan. There you go. Hogan gets his theme played again with Pyro. Okay. Hogan shoves Butcher around with ease in the ring, and Butcher flees outside. Hogan follows, but gets rammed into the barricade. Butcher controls with back and eye breaks. Tony says, this is Butcher at his best. Sadly, yes.
02:12:42
Speaker
Butcher chokes Hogan with the ring announcer's microphone cord in clear view of Nick Patrick, but isn't disqualified because of reasons.
02:12:49
Speaker
Lots of back rakes, as Hienan tells us that Butcher's justified because Hogan only got him a little roll on Thunder and Paradise. Butcher tries a chair, but Hart takes the chair, and Hogan atomic drops Butcher when he goes for Hart. Hogan now dominates with eye rakes, chest rakes, and very gentle barricade rams. Hogan hits Butcher a couple times with a chair in clear view of Nick Patrick. Tony outright says Hogan could be disqualified here, but there's no explanation why he isn't.
02:13:16
Speaker
I hesitate to say this, Al, but should we doubt Nick Patrick? I think he's earned our trust, but let's give him some leeway and see what goes. Okay, okay. I think they're just making up for the microphone thing. Oh, do you think he owed him one? Yeah, I feel like they already should have disqualified the other. They both get one.
02:13:36
Speaker
Sure. They're in their DQ credits and then they're cashing them in. I like how the rakes happen at every single side of the ring, so everyone can at least get to see that. And get to see one of the worst moves in professional wrestling. They're so giving. Yeah. As Hogan chokes Butcher with the chair, Heenan mentions that Butcher had plates put in his face after an accident.
02:13:58
Speaker
which is true. In 1990, Butcher was helping a friend get ready to parasail when the driver thought he got the signal to start and pulled Butcher's friend's feet into Butcher's face hard enough to break Butcher's facial skeleton. After the surgery, he temporarily became an interviewer in the WWF before returning to wrestling in 1993. That had to be awful. I will sympathize with the guy on that. Oh yeah, absolutely.
02:14:25
Speaker
Back in, Butcher hits a jumping knee that actually looks pretty good. They go back and forth with choking, chops, punches, a body slam, some biting, and some more wonderful back rakes!
02:14:37
Speaker
Hogan clotheslines Butcher into the corner, and Butcher does the single worst job of selling I have yet seen for this show. He just kind of leans forward and wobbles his head. Hogan chops him again, and Butcher somehow tops that, literally just standing there, leans slightly forward with no discernible reactions whatsoever until Hogan kicks him.
02:15:02
Speaker
The crowd counts along with Hogan's corner punches, but Hogan cuts them off and bites Butcher instead.
02:15:24
Speaker
Butcher gets back in control for more exciting choking and a nerve hold. WCW shows us the view through Patrick's legs for some reason. Butcher builds to and gets the sleeper hold, but a fight in the crowd distracts the crowd. Hogan goes down, and Patrick tries the arm. Once. Twice. Three times. A lady. Butcher lets go and celebrates, but Hogan raises the arm, so apparently it didn't count.
02:15:51
Speaker
Let's be clear, it totally should. Hogan's arm went down for the third time, and Butcher can very reasonably say that he was only able to raise it afterwards because Butcher had let go. If somebody pins you and gets a three count, you don't get to kick out afterwards or tell the ref you could have kicked out, you just lose. So you're saying if I lose via count-up, then run back in the ring and go, look, I'm here, I don't get to start the match again?
02:16:15
Speaker
No, I mean at the very least you might be able to argue with that if say the ref didn't see it. But no, I'm sure that happens. I've forgotten when.
02:16:27
Speaker
I think he just mistimed the holding up his hand and doing the uh uh uh or whatever you know like like no I'm still here kind of thing but yeah he technically lost the match there. I mean it's played like he lets it go down for three but then quickly like signals to the referee that he's not action conscious Nick Patrick being a nice giving person doesn't spoil Hogan's surprise for him yeah yeah well does he just lift his hand just before it touches the mat and then there wasn't a full three
02:16:57
Speaker
Maybe that's what they were going for, that it's like he catches it. He lifts it enough that Patrick notices that it's still up, but Butcher doesn't see it. But it just doesn't come off right. It did not look like that at all. I can see that being what they were going for, though.
02:17:10
Speaker
Hogan plays possum, and Patrick tells Butcher that Hogan didn't lose, so Butcher goes for a pin, but Hogan throws him off. Hogan hulks up, and Butcher can't hurt him anymore. You punch, punch, punch, whip, big boot, but Sullivan and Avalanche run in. Hogan fights off all three with punches, like drops Butcher, and pins him for the three count in the win, as Sullivan is nice enough to struggle, quote-unquote, on the top rope until Hogan wins the match.
02:17:37
Speaker
Hogan fights off the three faces of fear and heart hands him a chair. Savage runs down the ramp and negotiates with the three faces of fear, planting a joint assault. Hogan looks heartbroken, but holds up the chair. They face off, and Savage hits Sullivan from behind and joins Hogan in disposing of the heels. Admittedly, that gets a pretty big pop.
02:17:57
Speaker
Hogan actually gives Savage the WCW title belt to use as a weapon. Heenan encourages Savage to hit Hogan with it. Savage hands the belt back, and the two stand off for a bit. Hogan encourages the crowd to cheer for Savage, and they finally shake hands to a pop, and Hogan and Savage pose around the ring for the fans. Heenan is distraught.
02:18:19
Speaker
The replay shows the look of pure joy on Sullivan's face just before Savage betrayed him and joined Hogan. It's a little sad, actually. Thoughts on this match? I mean, yeah, it's not good. Understatement of the year. Yeah, I feel like we probably made that clear by now, but just... What part, Al?
02:18:44
Speaker
Well, I mean, I don't have like a thing for back rake, so this is not, you know, not the match for me. They're everywhere. Yeah, it's funny because so arguably Hulk Hogan's most famous match ever is the WrestleMania six him and Ultimate Warrior. Yeah. And that match, despite what they might claim at the end point, was 100 percent planned out to a tee. That thing was exactly planned and run through a dozen times, at least.
02:19:14
Speaker
And that match, no, because it has... Hogan does spots A through C. And then Warrior Gain Control does spots A through C. And they do a version of that throughout the match. And it will pace and structure together. This match has them doing the same thing, but they're bad things to begin with. It's back rakes and choking and shoving people lightly into things. It's like they've forgotten that they have muscles. Yeah. These two gigantic guys.
02:19:41
Speaker
that both have, you know, arms larger than my head. Can't think of a way to hurt each other other than gently raking their fingernails across the other's back. Throw a punch!
02:19:53
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, it's just not good at all. I mean, yeah, it's the selling is weird. The story's bizarre. Hogan, apparently tricking butcher, but not their breath, even though it's going out of the rules work, all these things. There's stuff that's so bad. It's kind of funny. If you're watching like highlights of the match, I would say.
02:20:15
Speaker
like I like the fact for the finish when Kevin Sullivan and that went to go into fear Kevin Sullivan he's like half clung away the ropes take the punch and sort of wiles on the rope like he can't get his balance to explain why he's not in there and attacking
02:20:29
Speaker
Whereas Avalanche, who I imagine is probably still tired from the match before and having to brush down the ring like that, takes one punch to the face and freezes up as if you unplugged his controller, or you hit the off switch on his forehead, and he just freezes completely into nothing. It is extremely unconvincing. Hogan is one punch man apparently when it comes to Avalanche. Just one hit and he just knocks him unconscious.
02:20:55
Speaker
The critical success first done strike, apparently. It's really sad when it almost feels like the ending part with Savage and all that is the actual appeal of the show instead of the match. And so it's like, yeah, it doesn't matter, but don't worry. Savage will come out afterwards. So stay for that. It'd be like if you watched a bad Marvel movie.
02:21:19
Speaker
But he knows they're really getting credit seen. He's like, okay, well, I'll watch two hours of the movie for this thing. And I don't think you would, and I don't think you should. No. I still can't get over the non-DQ. I think it's like Deus Ex Hulkamania, where they were just going for hype.
02:21:40
Speaker
Yeah. And they're just like, this is the situation. No, we can't DQ anyone. We need to milk this kind of thing. Randy's back there putting on more glitter or whatever. We need to do to prolong this. Yeah. I just, I think Al said just about everything that I would want to say much more eloquently.
02:22:00
Speaker
Oh, thanks. At some point I couldn't watch the match, so I just started like rhyming things. So just trying to like, I have chairs and megaphones will break your bones and something will not dequeue you. Nick Patrick? No, but I just can't read my handwriting. I just gave up. Like I was done.
02:22:21
Speaker
Usually I circle stuff or like write down things that stood out to me during this match. And I really just, nothing is worth underlining. Yeah. I mean, the, the punches fine, but.
02:22:37
Speaker
I still can't get over the raking or, you know, how Hulk does his Hulk up to each part of the crowd to see who gets the biggest reaction. It's the same thing. You know, they're just trying to get the largest boo. I wish we had the butcher earlier with his crazy megalomaniac promo.
02:22:54
Speaker
that was done so cheesily and horribly, I wish he was there. You know, like it would at least would have made the little, the pauses and the setups seem much more story. You mean like the crazy manic energy? Yes. Oh, okay. I will be fine if he was like wringing his hands in between things.
02:23:14
Speaker
Yeah. He wasn't doing anything like that. Twirling an imaginary mustache. Yeah, he like loses all sense of character once the match starts. Right. There was no story at that point other than let's repeat the same move four times and then Hulk will do it two to three times. Yeah. Yeah. Monkey C, monkey screw up. It was not good. This was awful.
02:23:41
Speaker
Let's pause here and think a moment about some of the worst matches that we've seen for the show, okay? Okay, gotcha. So we got Starrcade 84, Assassin number one in Buzz Tyler versus the Zambui Express. Match time, five minutes, 26 seconds. Starrcade 90, Skyscrapers versus Big Cat and Motor City Madman. Match time, one minute, one second.
02:24:04
Speaker
Sarcade93, Shockmaster versus King Kong, potentially incorrectly. Match time, one minute, 34 seconds. Earlier tonight, Mr. T versus Kevin Sullivan. Match time, three minutes, 50 seconds. Is that long? Yeah. Yes. Okay. This match is just as bad as any of those.
02:24:26
Speaker
but the match time is 12 minutes and 7 seconds. This just goes on and on, and there's nothing interesting in it at all. There's back rates, millions of back rates. It was hell typing the show notes for this match.
02:24:41
Speaker
basic punches, absolutely zero spots of any real interest, an utterly inexplicable lack of DQs for multiple chair shots, a chord choke, copious other choking, and the clear massive interference of Sullivan and Avalanche. That spot, where Hogan totally lost, but just didn't because WCW said so. That's why.
02:25:00
Speaker
I mean, this was awful. Hogan still had his usual charisma, but just didn't pull off anything interesting as far as the moves went. Butcher had next to nothing, it could not even manage to sell well for Hogan. I wanted this to end about a minute into it.
02:25:17
Speaker
It gets good crowd reactions, but how is beyond me? Some matches. Last year's Nasty Boys match, this year's Mr. T match. I could at least laugh about how badly they were going. This match did not even have that entertainment value for me. It's just awful.
02:25:33
Speaker
The only part that comes off reasonably well is the post-match, where I do think everyone did a pretty good job of playing out the will-he-or-won't-he savage angle. Hogan's expressions are actually pretty great there as he goes from actually worried to subtly queued in when Savage signals behind Sullivan's back that he's not really with them. So that part went fine. But the match never, ever watched this match. It was 12 minutes of my life that I will never get back.
02:26:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's fair. The hulking out wasn't bad. I thought he was giving himself whiplash. He's like whipping himself in the face with his hair. Yeah. That was awesome. That was the only thing that was like, okay. The thing that's basically Hulk Hogan on autopilot that he could do in his sleep. Sure. That part works where literally no longer matters who he's facing because it's going to go exactly the same way. Right. I will admit I'm a little astonished that Butcher didn't somehow screw that up. That bit with him
02:26:30
Speaker
in the corner, tilt it over, utterly failing to do anything that remotely counts as acting like you're in pain, or reacting to a move in any way, I think is the story of this match. Yeah. Just like a complete lack of wrestling. This is not wrestling. No. So sticking back to Mick Foley's book, and he talks about, obviously he wrestled his friend, you know, a duel the butcher, Terry Fong, like people he knew really well,
02:27:00
Speaker
quite a lot, and they had very violent, sometimes quite literally, explosive matches. And he talks about how when you're friends with people, it should be easier, you know, you know, your friend, it's really hard during the match, you know, he's just trying to make it look good. It's not like, hey, this guy is shooting on me, and you know, he's trying to get better. You can trust him. Exactly. There's a level of trust and standing there.
02:27:20
Speaker
It's apparently the opposite for Butcher and Hogan. They refuse to do anything that seems actually impactful. Butcher is, I guess, afraid of bruising Hogan at all, and then it's gonna hurt him? I don't know. They could've made it so Butcher was remorseful at some point, but Hulk's just hulking out, so... You know? Like, any kind of storyline to this match. Anything that actually gives you something that you can follow or latch onto in any way, but it's just them going through the motions.
02:27:50
Speaker
Yeah. It's bad. Very bad. Hogan's future, as we'll talk about in a moment, obviously leads towards Vader to imagine that people actually want to see and not this. As for Butcher, his next storyline would involve being hit in the head and losing his memory, which we'll definitely cover when that terrible thing happens. Is it wrong that I think that I want that storyline for myself right now? A little, but I understand.
02:28:19
Speaker
We go back to the announcers. Hienan asks why everyone gets behind Hogan, why everyone loves him. We cut back to the locker room, and some of the faces are there celebrating, along with a guy in purple and a baseball cap that I don't actually recognize. I could not figure out who that man was.
02:28:37
Speaker
Brad Armstrong's there, though. She wears jacket. Yeah, I was hoping for the America jacket. Alex Wright was back there in bright green. Yes. Alex Wright cosplaying his future John Cena. Yeah. That was throwing you off, I remember. It really was. Mean Jeans back there as well with Hogan.
02:28:58
Speaker
All right, Tony, what a way to end 1994 in front of this capacity crowd and the first millions all over the world watching on pay-per-view. Hulk Hogan, finally you have done it. And if this is any indication of what 1995 is going to be like, I can hardly wait. What a better year for Hulkamania. Well, you know something, brother, I got one thing to say, and that's, oh, yeah, brother.
02:29:32
Speaker
He kept me razor sharp. He kept me fine tuned brother. He kept me on the edge man, but I was hoping at the 11th hour.
02:29:43
Speaker
The butcher would turn his life around, brother. I talked to Jimmy up until the last minute, Jimmy Hart. I said, maybe he'll cave in. Maybe we'll do this thing straight up. Maybe he'll realize just get it on one on one would be the family way to go. But all the family business is down the toilet, brother. We realize he's rotten to the core. And like I said, brother, the macho man kept me razor sharp because I didn't know if he was friend or foe.
02:30:09
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
02:30:34
Speaker
Well, you know, brother, nothing wrong with a victory, nothing wrong with the greatest wrestlers in the world challenging me every night in the WCW. But when I stared in the brother's eyes, when I realized he wasn't gonna cave in, I had to do what I had to do, brother. I felt like taking him down, beating him right in the center of the ring. I'd beat a little piece of myself, brother.
02:30:58
Speaker
And I don't know how to say it other than when somebody's that close to you for so many years, man. It's not a shallow victory. But I tell you, man, I wish I could have turned the thing around, brother. Well, I'll tell you, it just wasn't to be. And I still can't believe that this guy sold out a lifelong friend. What the hell is that? What is that?
02:31:16
Speaker
Yes, sir.
Vader vs. Hogan Rivalry
02:31:33
Speaker
The whole world is watching and the whole world is listening. Look into my eyes and listen to what I have to say to you. You're living with a demon, brother. And a demon is called fear. That's right. For the first time in your life.
02:31:50
Speaker
You're afraid for the first time in your career. You are afraid. You're afraid to be standing here next to the man right now, brother. I can see it. I can see it in your eyes. I can feel it in your soul. I can hear, I can hear the Hulkamaniacs all over the world. They're saying, Hulkster, Hulkster.
02:32:12
Speaker
Vader is the number one contender. He is the heavyweight U.S. heavyweight champion. Are you afraid to wrestle Vader? Have you lost the will to be the best? Have you lost your desire? Have you lost your gut? Where's your soul? Are you going to stand up and be a man that you're supposed to be? Who is running this company, Mr. Buckwithos? Hogan?
02:32:39
Speaker
Are you? I want to know and I want an answer because, brother, you're looking at the man. I have no fear. I feel no pain. I am the number one contender. I am the US champion. What else is there left for me to do, brother?
02:32:59
Speaker
You know how you kill a snake? You cut its head off, and it dies. And guess what, brother? Uncle Manny, it dies with it. So I'm out. I'm calling you out. Right now, punk. I'm calling you out! You either! You either! You know something, Vader? Maybe you're right, brother. Maybe it's fair time right now! Here's Randy Savage impression. Needs to work. A little bit. A little bit.
02:33:30
Speaker
Good segment here, actually, with a few promos to wrap up tonight's story and set up the next one. Nothing too exceptional, but I like that they didn't just have Hogan brush aside Butcher's Betrayal, and Vader's invasion was a really good surprise. Hogan did a nice job of looking defiant, but still pretty intimidated, and the whole thing had a good sort of chaotic atmosphere, especially with Vader charging back in after the brawl that you can hear starting up there.
02:33:56
Speaker
when it looked like things were finished and calming down. I also liked Hogan making sure to use Vader's Vader time catchphrase. That's something that he does actually fairly well over the years, at least building up to feuds, is make sure to call out specific things about his opponent.
02:34:14
Speaker
Vader definitely makes that work for me because Vader is so intense, but he's also fairly eloquent. I guess a couple of miscues there and there, but he's much more verbose than you would think looking at him. You would think that Harley race would be doing the talking from him, looking at him, right? Yeah, exactly. You know, kind of have a snake and all this stuff. I'm like, yeah, it's really good.
02:34:35
Speaker
I do like that he's all shouty and everything and, Oh, it's time to listen to Vader and everything. And then he's Mr. Bachwinkle. You're still so polite to him, Vader. Yeah. When I heard the commotion starting up, I was like, Oh no, can we, I can't, can we just finish this? I just sat through that 12 months. I really don't want to see anything. I don't need anything else right now. But Vader did a really good job and maybe a third into the speech I was into it. So yeah.
02:35:05
Speaker
I don't like that Hulk just suddenly like at one point just snaps again. But again, that's the Hulk, I guess. Bruce Banner's gone and he's doing whatever. So no, it was good. And I would have liked race to actually chime in or do something to pull them back a little bit and then had them all start up or something, do like a slight voice or reason. We were missing that. Yeah. Yeah. There's not a lot of voices of reason in the mix.
02:35:31
Speaker
But maybe we'll get one now, as Gene calls over WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkle to get his thoughts on the situation. Nick Bockwinkle, get in here! Please! A little decorum, gentlemen. Yeah.
02:35:47
Speaker
There's no question. Vader won the three-way match. The triangle match. He won the U.S. heavyweight champion. His demands are legitimate. As many times as I have butted heads with this guy. I don't think there's any room in any sport for somebody that acts like that. But what he did here was out of line.
02:36:09
Speaker
But again, Nick, that's enough. The Nick Bockwinkle is double-talking me, more of that bureaucratic BS, and I don't know if I can take it. All right, ladies and gentlemen, from back in the locker room that's upside down, let's get you back out to the arena. Good lord. Well, that was a complete mess. Yeah.
02:36:36
Speaker
Bachwinkle just doesn't seem prepared at all for what he's supposed to say, and we only kind of get his point that Vader was out of line, but he's the number one contender. Gene just kind of seems frustrated midway through it, and I don't think it's entirely an act, so he kind of like just decides to cut it off and get it done with. I think they should have cut with the earlier stuff. This just wasn't necessary, and it provides a very awkward end to the segment.
02:37:03
Speaker
with one of their shows, they could have opened one of the shows with this bit and say, here's what we didn't show you at the Innist Arcade. Yeah. Plus you could have done a second take on that. Yes. He could have said better, you know, he didn't even know the name of the, like he won the three way. No, no, no, triangle match. Yeah, exactly.
02:37:22
Speaker
I don't know if he was flustered or what, but he could've just said, like, hey, you know, I don't agree with him. But, you know, he has a point. And just, that's it. Yes, exactly. Yeah. He can take care of all of it in, like, two seconds, single sentence. I don't agree with what he did here, but he's the number one contender. Boom. Yeah. We go back to the desk, and Tony and Hienan discuss the upcoming Hogan vs. Vader feud. And sign off. Starrcade94 is done.
02:37:53
Speaker
thoughts on Starrcade 94 overall. Definitely not a strong show. It's one of those shows where for the most part you can see why they think something would have worked.
02:38:11
Speaker
There's matches that in theory sound good and could be interesting, but obviously then different factors happen that make them not good. Vader showing how dominant he is before he challenges Hogan and defeating a known commodity like Jim Duggan. Great. But we don't get that match. We get Jim Duggan beats up Vader who has to cheat constantly and then barely wins.
02:38:36
Speaker
You have tag team matches that should be wild and chaotic and fun, but wild and chaotic and just not interesting and slow and kind of boring. Do you have whatever Mr. T versus Kevin? It's all supposed to be. That's just kind of the theme of the show. It's things that should be good and aren't for one reason or another. Very least, there's things that aren't as good as they should be. There's little gems of quality on the show, but you really have to endure so much.
02:39:03
Speaker
like area segments that are repetitious and award ceremonies and just matches that don't deliver to get through them.
02:39:12
Speaker
I think there's parts of the show you could watch on their own and with the way the network set up now where everything's more clearly separate in segments that I can go example, Oh, maybe you want to see a sting avalanche match. If you're a fan of them, I'm not saying you'll love it, but at least you can just pop in and watch that. But I don't recommend going through the whole show to try and get the little bits of quality there and there. I think there were.
02:39:38
Speaker
Admittedly few, but there was some high points. You know, I enjoyed the non Triple H match. I mean, the whole time I'm like, that has to be Triple H. There's no way. Yeah. And us wonder kid. I don't know. I'm at a loss really, because like after the nasty boys, everything went downhill.
02:40:01
Speaker
Yeah. And the whole disjointed promos kind of, I know that they had to put filler in to give them time to set up, I guess, if it was a live show. And it may be the only time that they presented those awards for some sort of prestige for the year. So I understand why they did it, but only one, and that was the nasty boys that kind of aligned with what the theme was. They could have taken that in any order. Mm-hmm.
02:40:26
Speaker
Presenting Hulk would probably get the crowd moving and everything, but your main event. Yeah, but I Was felt defeated quite a bit during this one. Mm-hmm. I just don't know Bobby Yeah, my favorite thing should not be the dancing I
02:40:50
Speaker
Because it was funny, it wasn't offensive. It should not be. And Macho was good too, but he was not on the menu, so to speak. It's like there's more interesting things off to the side, not what you're supposed to be focusing on. There's interesting potential there.
02:41:11
Speaker
but just never realized is kind of what you guys are saying. While watching the crowd during this, and there's like this one family, and they're all like just talking to each other. They're not even watching the match. I'm like, I get it, man. I really do. They're just passing hot dogs and drinking. They're like, you guys should live in the life.
02:41:30
Speaker
Like you obviously know what to focus on. Yeah. Hey, you know what? There wasn't a dozen tag matches. Yes, there is that one slightly bright spot. They didn't have any theme matches that can either go horribly wrong for corners or scaffold. Yeah.
02:41:48
Speaker
You know, they didn't have any spectacle or a cage match or something that just was blah. I kind of wish they did, to be perfectly honest. Like there was no pomp and circumstance. I don't know. It's just what... Yeah, you get a cage match at Halloween Havoc with Hogan, but you don't get it on this show. But yeah, something unusual, something different.
02:42:06
Speaker
on this would have broken things up at least. I don't know if it would have had any chance of being good. Oh, we definitely got something different. Yeah, true. But you know, something themed would have been nice. Yeah. Yeah, that's it. This was an awful show.
02:42:23
Speaker
Yes, there are some moments of entertainment to be had, and some of the matches are okay. But this is one show I strongly recommend skipping if you're going through WCW stuff. Read some summaries, or, you know, listen to this review, and just go on with your life. There's really not, even in my case, any individual segments to watch.
02:42:45
Speaker
with the possible exception of the historical curiosity of Triple H's single Stargate match, which was admittedly kind of cool to see. So if you're interested in the brief period of time when the future WWE executive vice president of talent, live events, and creative was part of the WWE's main rival, sure, look it up on the WWE Network and watch that one match. Otherwise, match quality wildly varied.
02:43:11
Speaker
with some truly atrocious matches on this show. Even the things that reach a decent to good level on this show feel like pale reflections of much better matches from earlier shows. Sting vs Avalanche is a perfectly acceptable David and Goliath kind of story with good character work, but just a few years ago we saw a truly epic version of that match with Sting vs Vader.
02:43:32
Speaker
Leveque vs. Wright is a pretty nice match showcasing move variety, technical skill, and some good acrobatic work, but just last year we saw a great version of that in Steamboat vs. Regal. This show's high points just aren't anywhere near as high as those of several other starcades we've watched. Some parts of this show work, but there's not a single part that inspired any kind of awe or wonder or gave me a memorable moment that's gonna stick with me.
02:43:57
Speaker
other than Sting accidentally booting Avalanche in the crotch, and that's not really what you want to show to be remembered for, you know?
WCW's Changing Atmosphere
02:44:03
Speaker
Mm-hmm. In the opening sequence.
02:44:07
Speaker
The pacing of the show is all kinds of strange. Frequent interruptions for award ceremony footage that has absolutely nothing to do with what's going on for this Starrcade and yet takes up a considerable amount of time, started reminding me of the really lengthy ads for the other shows on Starrcade 86. The interviews on the show itself sometimes work, but sometimes feel clumsy and poorly delivered. Even Jean sometimes seems a bit off tonight.
02:44:32
Speaker
WCW's usual stellar, giant air quotes there, visuals continue, and seem to have gotten worse, with cameramen now tripping over poorly positioned ring steps, weirdly positioned shots through referees' legs or straight into wrestlers' butts or crotches, and cuts away from the ring at exactly the wrong moment. The atmosphere of the company feels different.
02:44:52
Speaker
There's been larger-than-life characters for several years now in mind, but the sports atmosphere of the past has faded away entirely now. We still hear about number one contenders and championships and things, but there's just less focus on the idea that people are trying to ascend to the top of the sport, and more on a weird, kind of almost super-villain characters with the Three Faces of Fear concept.
02:45:13
Speaker
The rules have taken a backseat even more than the past few years. In the past, sure, we've maybe had to suspend the heck out of our disbelief to be able to get into the show's reality and pretend it was a legitimate sporting event, but now there's just not even an attempt to explain how the rules work in some of these matches.
02:45:31
Speaker
It's just the story for the match, you have to accept it. I mean, okay, so last year we talked about how quick on the uptake Harley Race was to realize that Flair was gonna hit Vader a second time with the chair and make sure they had the ref's attention.
02:45:45
Speaker
One year later, Hogan and Butcher are going after each other openly with chairs without the slightest concern of a DQ, not even a little nod to a distraction. It just isn't even trying for a sense of reality this year. The announced team is a fairly bright spot at least. Hienan may be my favorite wrestling announcer, and he does an exceptional job of managing to clearly be a heel announcer
02:46:07
Speaker
but still excellently build up the face wrestlers in between jokes at their expense. His little things, like he'll explain how much he dislikes Alex Wright and root openly for Leveque, but he'll simultaneously build up Wright's stamina and how hard it'll be to take him down, or he'll get really annoyed at staying and accuse him of pandering to the crowd, who he also insults a bunch,
02:46:28
Speaker
but at the same time he'll note Sting's strength and speed and how determined he is and how hard he's fighting. Aside from yet another strange and off-putting Hiroshima joke by a WCW-colored commentator, Hienan's performance is good, and Hienan and Tony interact very well and feel like they're starting to develop a pretty good back-and-forth style. I think they have some room for improvement from here, and I know there will be stronger shows for both, but it's a good start for this team.
02:46:56
Speaker
This show as a whole, though, is a mess. It felt like work going through this one. There were multiple matches I just wanted to end, to move on, to wrap it up. The show felt disjointed, poorly crafted overall, moving in fits and starts. It's just a bad show. Not impossible to watch, but bad. Avoid it. It's maybe one of the hardest times to ask this question, but...
02:47:23
Speaker
Match of the Night in MVP. Al, you want to go first? Sure. Basically for me deciding which one to pick, I rewatch two matches and two matches only. I rewatch the Jean-Paul Lavec and Das Wunderkind match. And I watched the Sting and Evelyn match. Thinking about I went to match, I could appreciate the little details looking at it again, but I also noticed how he was out of breath and all sort of things that go wrong and the finish I hate even more the second time.
02:47:53
Speaker
We're watching the, uh, feature triple H and Alex ride mats. However, there's still no story to it, but everything about it still worked. So for me, that was my match tonight. Okay. MVP. So I'm going to go outside the box a little in this. Oh, instead of picking Alex rider, uh, feature triple H, which I could, I could make easily make case for either one of them. My MVP for the show is Bobby Heenan. Okay.
02:48:23
Speaker
he made the show endurable. Even during bad matches, he would say funny lines and make fun of the crowd. And as you mentioned, he'd build up faces while something fun of them. Even the worst stuff on the show, he does something good in.
02:48:39
Speaker
He really is the MVP of the show. Is that our first announcer MVP? I think it is. I feel like it is. Yeah. Yeah. Breaking that mold. I think that's a, that's a very strong argument for him on that. Yeah, definitely. And this is one of those shows that definitely starts to push you to look outside the box. So you didn't even mention my favorite, uh, he and lunch from that. Okay.
02:49:00
Speaker
They talk about a Starrcade and, you know, Heaton says, yeah, you know, which is being a first Starrcade. Tony goes, that's right. It's your first Starrcade. And he responds, says, yeah, that's your last. No, I'm going to be in way more is like, oh, that's not what Gordon said. And he goes back and forth about Gordon Sully, who is still around. We just don't see him anymore. Apparently secretly hates Tony and is trying to get him fired. Yeah, that was pretty great. So good. Heaton is the best part of the show.
02:49:28
Speaker
Yeah, it was pretty good. John, match of the night in MVP. Well, I'm going to have to agree with Al on the Jean Paul Nevesque in Das Wunderkieden. I can't say it right either. Alex Wright, that was my favorite match. The dancing, the jackets, the mockingness of pre-H3.
02:49:50
Speaker
It was good. I enjoyed it quite a bit. And I don't know, I want to go out of the box too. I want to like say that my MVP was Cameraman02. Like he was committed.
02:50:05
Speaker
He goes down, but keeps filming, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's true. If he didn't do the crotch shot, if I didn't know that that came from him, which it obviously did, I would give it to the cameraman. I'm sorry. But since he had the crotch shot and I'm sorry. That's disqualified. Disqualified. DQ. Not that there was any real DQs in this whole thing. I'm going to go with Macho. Macho man. Okay. Yeah. It's good to see him. Every time he was on the screen, I was laughing. I was happy.
02:50:34
Speaker
He got to pull one over at the end, whether he did or not. Fair, fair, fair point. That's yeah. That's a good one.
02:50:42
Speaker
So my match of the night, I was in, I believe, exactly the same position you were out that I had two matches to look at. And this is another show where I kind of have to remember that this is match of the night, even if nothing's overwhelmingly good. So with that in mind, two matches here to choose from. Again, just like with UL, Sting versus Avalanche, and somewhat surprisingly to me, Alex Wright versus Jean-Paul Lavec.
02:51:07
Speaker
I'm shocking myself here, but yeah, same as you guys. I'm going with the latter. Well, Sting versus Avalanche had a pretty nice story and was, if not complex, at least well performed. One unfortunate kick aside, it loses a lot in not having a real ending. And at one way or another, and there's enough good character work that I would probably take it. But without that, the story just lost something majorly important. So the rookies take it.
02:51:36
Speaker
Ryde and Leveque did a great job, especially considering both are only a couple years into their careers. Their match had a good story to it as well, with Leveque overconfident and letting his frustration drive him to brutality when he couldn't out wrestle Ryde. Makes in some very nice spots, some good acrobatic work by Ryde, and a lot of move variety, and you've got a very fun match. There's a botch or two in the middle, but on this show, fun match is enough to give it match of the night. Not the greatest endorsement there, but it'll have to do.
02:52:07
Speaker
My MVP, I'm going to be a little bit more traditional. I'm going to give it to Sting. He has by far the best character work on this show in his match. He does a great job again of showing worry and desperation as he tries to figure out how to beat an opponent that he can't even get on the mat. And the crowd reaction for him just wow.
02:52:26
Speaker
Sting absolutely proves why he got the most popular wrestler award for 1994. Everything he does gets a gigantic reaction and he builds really effectively to that slam for a monster pop. I ended up liking Wright versus Leveque better as a match and feeling that, you know, as I said, Sting versus Avalanche just cuts off before an actual ending. But looking at individual performances, Sting still drew my attention the most and held onto it the whole time he was out there. So he's my MVP.
02:52:56
Speaker
Hard to argue with that face paint. Yes. And that wraps up our review of Starrcade 94.
Show Conclusion and Thanks
02:53:05
Speaker
If you've enjoyed listening to us tonight, you can search for us on Twitter or Facebook as Let's Go to the Ring. Follow us for episode announcements and other show details, and share your own thoughts about the Star Cades as we go through. And please, if you've enjoyed this show, give us a nice review on iTunes and share the show through your favorite social media platforms to help others discover us.
02:53:27
Speaker
Many thanks to OSW Review for attendance in pay-per-view figures, and to Gina Trujillo for our logo. Join us next time for Starrcade 95, the World Cup of Wrestling. It's WCW versus New Japan Pro Wrestling to see which organization stands superior. Sounds exciting! And random. Yeah. That is true.
02:53:51
Speaker
This is Bob Moore for Alec Pridgen and John Mullins, signing off. Good night, everybody. Happy wrestling. Tip your cameraman. Brought to you by Hum Kombucha. Only 25 grams. Wait, five grams of sugar and 25 calories per serving.
02:54:21
Speaker
Try hum kombucha, bubbles with benefits. Kombucha. You don't know what it is, but it's probably good for you. It's tea that's fermented. Only 1.8% hipster blood and 2% juice. Not the hipster blood thing. We should cut that. Oh, no, that's it. I like the hipsters. Do you? Well, I mean, everyone's a little bit. I have some flannel.