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Episode 69: WCW / New Japan Supershows Retrospective
69 Plays10 months ago
We've finished our seventh series! It's time for a look back at WCW's partnership with New Japan in the all-too-short Supershow series! See how you do remembering series stats, and hear our selections for series awards. Plus: Which matches made our Ultimate cards? Have there been notable changes to our overall stats? And what bizarre regimmickings have we created this time? For all this, plus news on our next series...let's go to the ring!
Music by Michael Gary Brewer at https://www.instantmusicnow.com/
Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LetsGo2theRing/
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Transcript
Introduction & Host Banter
00:00:00
Speaker
There are 29 people who only show up for a single match in any capacity on a bat, a beach. whoop Wow, it didn't change that line. I did change the stats. I know that. OK, good. There are 29 people who only show up for a single nine match in any single nine match. What the heck am I saying? Oh, we well, we had a great team match. So that is true. That is true. Well, I just found the show intro.
Humorous Co-host Descriptions
00:00:54
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 joined by a 240p blurry figure who may be either Alec Pridgen or Takayuki Izuka. Can't be sure. I get that a lot. It's it's really, really awkward at work. I try to show my name bad, but you know, that doesn't really help.
00:01:18
Speaker
resolution at all 240p yeah no it's hard to read that yeah well thankfully i can tell from your voice though that's good at least yes how's it going tonight al it's going right for me how about you i feel a deep-seated sense of accomplishment because we have finished our seventh series oh wow yeah seventh gosh wcw new japan super shows and what a brilliant series this was It's perhaps my favorite that we've ever done, and not just because there were
Series Completion & Quality Discussion
00:01:49
Speaker
only three shows. so Just about everything on here was just plain fun, and there's not a bad show in the bunch. Tonight, we're gonna take a look back over the super shows, play some guessing games, and hand out some awards. So I hope that you'll have fun listening and play along.
00:02:08
Speaker
There were three WCW New Japan Super Shows running from 1991 through 1993. The first Super Show was in March, and the second and third both on January 4th of their respective years, the beginning of a long-running series for New Japan, but a much shorter one for WCW. Though this series did take place on pay-per-view, I was unable to find pay-per-view numbers for it. All three shows took place in the same location, the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.
00:02:38
Speaker
All right, Al, you ready for some guesses? I'll do my best. All
Attendance & Themes in Super Shows
00:02:44
Speaker
right. Which show do you think was the highest attended, according to pro wrestling history.com anyway? Oh, um, I feel like maybe the first one, because that at fairly sad, the big draw at the United States World Championship sort of against their own. I could end with flair on the card. I can see that being a big draw.
00:03:05
Speaker
Alright, in third place, we had 1992's Super Show 2 with 50,000. In second place, we had 1993's Super Show 3 with 53,500. And in first place, 1991's Super Show 1.
00:03:23
Speaker
with 54,500. So all quite close. Yeah. It's all in the same arena for this one, though, of course, the last four Star Cades, I believe, were also in the same arena and they had quite a decline. So. Yes. Yeah. That is very true. The match counts for this series ranged from six to seven. So which shows it's a tie, do you think had the most? Hmm. Remember the shows.
00:03:49
Speaker
I think two had a pretty good amount as a recall. The third one or the call has a pretty good butchering done to it, which I think puts that at six. and Okay. In second place, we have super show three with six, like you thought. right And in first place, we have super show one and two tied with seven each. Okay.
00:04:11
Speaker
Now we've spent the last few months covering each individual super show, but what can we say about the series as a whole? What traits or themes stand out? Is there something that unifies the series? Is there anything that changes notably from 1991 through 1993?
International Competition & Wrestling Styles
00:04:28
Speaker
So Al, what are your thoughts on some themes or just just overall thoughts on the series? so I hear a few downs. We'll see. It went to hours overlap. Uh, the most obvious theme I have is the theme of international competition. Okay. Something that really, really good to highlight in the first show more, it's more so than the other ones, but still does fall through is that the Diaz years, these Ford wrestlers, in this case being mostly American or Canadians coming over Japan and church or improved dominance.
00:04:56
Speaker
Thankfully, it's not done the same way as like the takeover idea. um Like we would see 95. Yes. It's a much more of a friendly competition. Like, you know, it's like what we have now when the first game in football, they go to London or somewhere else and, you know, do a game there, sort of a national kind of thing. That definitely shows up a lot in the first one, because again, you have the flair Fuzhanabi match.
00:05:20
Speaker
I also have the Stinders competing for the New Japan tag titles, stuff like that. That's the most obvious theme, obviously, of the show. Eventually, early on, you get a lot more of those mixed matches, whereas a little bit in the third show, as good as it is, it's a lot more of, here's New Japan guys fighting more New Japan guys, or fighting WAR guys.
NWA Title & Tag Team Wrestling Focus
00:05:40
Speaker
Right.
00:05:42
Speaker
Um, second theme I had was there's a real focus on the end of the way title, which is something that really started to not be a thing in WCW due to obviously there was this agreement with the end of the way that we discussed a little bit and we'll definitely discuss more on other shows. And essentially because you get, even when there's some dispute between WCW and the way you have an individual champion in new Japan fighting the belt, which is intriguing. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:06:12
Speaker
So that's definitely a big one there. Even the but big match with Shono Muda is for that belt and the Yudupan belt, I believe, right? Yes, I believe you're correct on that. I think Shono was NWA champion, not WCW champion. Correct. Because they sort of kind of had that worked out, but obviously they don't really work that into 94. They just get rid of the second belt and just make, here's one belt. Yes. Yeah. Well, and it spends a little time obviously as the WCW international belt. Yeah. In 93. So.
00:06:42
Speaker
Which they could, as you said before, they could do something like that if they really actually wanted to lead an international aspect of it. But you know, obviously they didn't really like make it a belt. You have like, you know, you have a Mexican superstar, a Japanese superstar. They can win, you know, any capacity in Japan or Mexico or the UK.
00:07:02
Speaker
Sting is trying to win this belt to show America's, you know, can be better than country A or B. There's a lot of stuff they could have done with that, but it said they just made it a fictional company called WCP International exists inside WCP. Oh, it was so weird. Yeah.
00:07:19
Speaker
not Not as much of a theme per se, but ah an observation is that there's a lot of focus on tag team wrestling throughout the series as well. Yeah. Which Japan in a way, I would say more so than America is really a thing.
00:07:33
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not a huge Japan guy, but I'm at least sort of in the peripheries. I'm aware of a lot of what's going on. If I don't know every wrestler, who's every belt or who did what group and so on and so forth. But the fact that new Japan, as far as I know, currently still has, they have heavyweight tag champions. They have light heavyweight or junior heavyweight. They call them tag champions. So they have tag team. It's under a certain weight, which WCP kind of thought of that near the end of the run, a little too late.
00:08:00
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. They did have the um world and U.S. tag titles, but those weren't different weight classes because the Steiners had both of them. Exactly. Yeah. So they didn't really do the different weight classes for it. They just did higher and lower ranked ones, I guess. Yeah.
00:08:15
Speaker
And I believe the new Japan still currently has open weight tag belts as well. Well, I think they have six man belts for every division as well. So they have a lot of tag wrestling. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Okay. Uh, that is reason number one, why we will never do a new Japan focused entire podcast unless you take over match recapping. Right. Yeah.
00:08:40
Speaker
ah Finally, the other thing I had, and it's kind of an ironic one is there's a theme on the actual show of sort of pageantry.
Pageantry and Match Focus
00:08:49
Speaker
Yes. Because you'll have grain entrances and like on the shows they have a band that plays people out. But Deb's debut cut almost all of that out.
00:08:58
Speaker
Very, very true. Yeah, there's more on the early shows, but yeah, the earliest show anyway. But yeah, definitely number three, especially is just like chop to shreds. Yes, exactly. Yeah, they want to show that could they have a band playing every single person out. But then all that cut down, except for I think mood is entrance on the on show to from correctly the mood and sing together. Yes, that's why I actually my sort for themes, I guess you could say for the show. Well, you definitely touched on some of the points that I was ah thinking of as well. All right. First theme like you kind of looked at it as interpromotional matches. Well, the international competition theme kind of is most focused on on show one. I think you see the interpromotional matches throughout the entire series. Agreed. Yeah, it just doesn't have as much of a ah U.S. and Japan theme. It's more just the two different companies from that point.
00:09:56
Speaker
We get a ton of those across the series though. We have Flair versus Fujinami, the Steiners versus Hase and Sasaki, Pillman, Horner and Z-Man versus Koshinaka, Kopagashi and Izuka, Luger versus Chono, Sting versus Hase, plenty more, you get the point. They crop up all through the series and are clearly the main focus of WSW's promotion of the shows and they're really cool.
00:10:18
Speaker
It's really great to see our familiar favorites face off against new faces and I'm glad that that last through the entire series. It's like we got three Starrcade 1995s and we really liked Starrcade 1995. That's true, yeah.
00:10:31
Speaker
But as you pointed out, it's quite interesting that unlike Starrcade 1995, they didn't really put on a kind of like full intra-promotional storyline. No. Each match is independent of the others rather than being about the overall organizations trying to score points with each other as groups. As with you, it's it's not a complaint. I think that three shows with a show long story of organization versus organization would have gotten a little repetitive.
00:10:55
Speaker
Yeah, but I just find it really interesting that you don't get that kind of tail when it's such a natural thing that you could see them deciding to do. So yeah, can you imagine if they introduce an outside group trying to come in and take a Redos W and run it for like four years the nonstop way past point we'll care about it.
00:11:14
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Can't imagine. you every Stupid to do that. Can't imagine. Yeah. No. Seems like the kind of thing that might be a hit for a little while and get them good, good business. But then they'd, you know, it just would go on too long. And I hope they never do that. I hope. Hopefully not. What you do get, though, is a lot of highlighting of what makes the two organizations different from each other.
Commentary on Wrestling Styles
00:11:37
Speaker
Tony and JR talk about differences in the rules, especially on the first show, but also spend a great deal of time and snark discussing how New Japan's wrestlers, referees, and such differ from WCW's. True. Yeah. Surprisingly, they frequently end up praising New Japan over their own company. Yeah. Which is not how that sort of thing usually goes when wrestling promotions bring up other wrestling promotions.
00:12:00
Speaker
That's true. Yeah. It genuinely feels like they are finding it refreshing to get away from a lot of the usual American wrestling referee bumps and rule breaking to get to watch matches with stories more about pure athletic contest. Mm hmm. And I get it. I do enjoy a good ref bump or a bad ref bump. Nick Patrick, all wild. Of course. Yeah. But it was neat to not only see matches that had a different feel from the norm, but to hear the commentary team noting that difference and praising it. Yeah.
00:12:30
Speaker
Not that we didn't have a very important ref bump on the series, of course, they still happen. It just doesn't feel like the go to tactic. Yeah. A ah somewhat surprising thing for me as well was just how often the show is focused on matches that had little to nothing to do with WCW.
00:12:49
Speaker
Yeah. To be fair, it's not like they step entirely into the unknown most of the time. Muda was a WSW regular and Chono, Liger, Fujinami, and Izuka all have one or more WSW appearances over the time span of this series. So even matches that don't directly feature WSW guys do generally feature at least one performer who will be familiar to WSW fans to some extent.
00:13:11
Speaker
Right. But still, it's really cool to see matches like Liger Nagami Ayagi versus Saito Hanaga Machine. Liger versus Nagami. The New Japan versus War Six Man. ah Liger versus Dragon and Fujinami versus Choshu, making the series despite having little to do with the company selecting the matches for the series. Muda versus Chono too, though that is for the NWA title.
00:13:36
Speaker
It's evidence that the folks editing the WSW versions were valuing more than just their own company, and really wanted to give the fans something different, and I appreciate that. We were already getting to see WSW guys in different situations, but we even get to see matches composed entirely of less familiar wrestlers, so we get a totally new experience. ah agreed Yeah, great, yeah. Lastly, and you brought this up as well, there's an unfortunate theme that increases over the course of the series, and that's cuts.
Editing Critiques and Presentation Issues
00:14:04
Speaker
Yeah. Every show cuts several matches and many of those cuts are painful, but you may or may not recognize that from watching the shows themselves. What you will definitely recognize is the decreasing amount of importance assigned to the shows. Mm hmm. From Super Show One having lots of expansive ceremony and presentation flair and Ric Flair to Super Show Three having, well, basically none. Yeah. Even cutting away from matches mere seconds after the pinfall, even with quite important matches like once for world titles.
00:14:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's true. Yeah. Super show one feels almost like a normal pay-per-view. And super show two has its moments of story and importance, like Fujinami and Shoshu's joint celebration. But super show three, it's it's like the editing team got the matches chosen and went home for the night. Then an intern grabbed the half finished tape and sent it to production by mistake. I mean, it's possible. It's entirely. but Yeah, it sounds very plausible. Yeah.
00:15:02
Speaker
You get a real feeling that WSW valued these shows less and less each year, and it's an unfortunate mark against an otherwise great series. But it's still a great series. Tons of great, unusual matches, a very different atmosphere, and overall high action quality combined to make this easily one of my favorites, quite possibly my single favorite series that we've done.
00:15:24
Speaker
We may have gotten three partial shows that were varying degrees of chopped to shreds and strict of importance, but they were still good despite that, which should tell you a lot about the quality of the series. Absolutely. Yeah. I'm going to look back very fondly on this one. Yeah. and said Other than sort of lessening importance that they seem to give it, the actual show quality is very high. Yeah. Yeah.
00:15:48
Speaker
Well, we've had a look at the overall show stats, but now let's take a look at some interesting data that I've gathered on the performers who appeared on the shows. So, Al, you ready to start with some guessing? Sure, sure. Let's go for it. Wait, start with some guessing. You already did some guessing. You ready to continue with some guessing? Yes. So first up, who appeared as a competitor in the most matches?
00:16:14
Speaker
As you might guess, with this being a short series, this is an enormous list. In fact, there are 28 people in third place with one match each, so I'm going to start listing with second place. Fair enough. So, Al, can you name just one of the people in first place? I mean, Sting is an obvious one.
Prominent Wrestlers & Commentary Overview
00:16:33
Speaker
Sting's on all three shows. Yep. Okay, so in second place, we have a nine-way tie with two matches each.
00:16:43
Speaker
aon anderson ahgante tatsumi fujinami hiroshi hase takayuki iszika shiro koshiakka dustin roads rick steiner and scott steiner And in first place, we have a six-way tie with three matches each. So all these people had one match on each show. Masahiro Chono, the great Muta, Jushin Thunder Liger,
00:17:12
Speaker
Of course, yeah. Akira Nagami. Masanori Saito. Oh yeah. And Sting.
00:17:21
Speaker
But that's matches overall. So who was a competitor in the most main events? So I'm only counting actual main events from the WCW perspective. Yeah. That's not a complicated thing. Yeah. Yeah. So the final aired match of the show, the WCW version of the show. So not necessarily the final match on the actual show in Japan. Right. So who's your guest for most main events?
00:17:48
Speaker
Oh, it's got to be Sting because I believe I know Sting's match with the Steiner's was main event show too. And I'm nine amps and certain they put him and Hase is main event on the WSW one for show three. All right. In second, we have a six way tie with one main event each for Ric Flair, Tatsumi Fujinami, the great Muda, Hiroshi Hase, Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner.
00:18:17
Speaker
And in first place, indeed, with two main events, this is Sting. But a show is not just about competitors. There's all sorts of other roles to fill. So next up, we have the commentary team. This one's entirely obvious, so I'm not going to make you guess. Yeah. So for the most matches called by commentator in second place with one match called Eric Bischoff.
00:18:45
Speaker
And in first place, a two-way tie with 19 matches called, all of them together, Tony Schiavone and JR. They did all but one match on the series. Yeah. Uh, normally next up would be managers, but aside from having seconds for some matches, there weren't really any managers for this series and the seconds weren't called out by name reliably enough for me to get their information. So good news, Al, you don't have to recall managers for this one. I know you tend to struggle with that one. Yeah. We will also be skipping the referee list this time as for most of the matches, I don't have the names of the referees. Yeah, that's true.
00:19:25
Speaker
Alright, we've talked a lot about the people with a ton of appearances, but what about the people with the fewest? There are 29 people who only show up for a single match in any capacity on a Super Show. Of the 29, three of them actually took home Match of the Night honors as competitors for their single appearance. Ricky Choshu, Kintsuke Sasaki, and Ultimo Dragon.
00:19:52
Speaker
We had some really, really surprising names on the list this time, too. Eric Bischoff. Rick Flair. Yeah. Lex Luger. Dusty Rhodes. And Big Van Vader. Yeah, that's true. Some of the biggest and most frequent names on some of our prior series there. It's true, yeah. All right, last but not least, let's take a look at who has taken home the coveted Match of the Night and MVP Awards.
MVP & Match of the Night Choices
00:20:23
Speaker
First up, for each host, who took home the most MVP awards? So Al, this is know thyself time, you ready? I'll do my best. So you never voted for the same person twice? That sounds right. So I'm going to give you five guesses to get all three names on your list. Okay. I remember picking Choshu because I really thought he stood out in that title match. Mm hmm.
00:20:49
Speaker
and Sting is usually a good guess. I'm trying to think of what it might have picked him. Maybe for show two, but I recall. I feel like I picked Fujinami, or I definitely was thinking about Fujinami based on show one. ah Yes, she did. OK, good. So that's two of them show three. So I haven't done yet, then. So I'm pretty sure that's going to be like her. like I picked him for the main or they pick a minute. I not picked his match. No, you picked his match, but you did your normal look for someone else.
00:21:18
Speaker
That spray, I did that, didn't I? I make this so hard for myself, don't I? I really do. I can't help it. I'm trying to think of other matches. I think the last show we did would be easier. I find it, it often isn't. Yeah. Do you want a hint? Sure. High pressure pinfall. Oh, did I pick Muda? You did. You picked Muda, yes. That's right.
00:21:46
Speaker
All right, that success you had Tatsumi Fujinami, Ricky Choshu, and the Great Muta. For me this time, I also didn't ever pick the same person twice either. So again, five guesses, three names. Hmm. Trying to give you, if you would have picked Fujinami, uh, for Cho-2, it's because I picked Chosu for that. I did not. Oh, interesting.
00:22:15
Speaker
I feel like you picked Sting at least one, because Sting obviously has all three shows. I surprisingly did not do that either, actually. Oh, yeah, I guess not. I'm trying to think of of the two who would have picked Liger or Dragon. I think Liger is generally a pretty safe guess. Generally, it would be. In this series, apparently not. okay Oh, OK. Oh, I know you went outside. You picked Hase at some point, didn't you? I know you really liked Hase. I picked Hase, yes, that's one of them. Gotcha.
00:22:45
Speaker
So we've got one guest left. You can get one of the remaining two. I feel like you might've picked Zabisco based on that tag match. I did, yes. Zabisco is one of them as well. There you go. All right, so the my three names are Hiroshi Hase, Larry Zabisco, and Masao Orahara.
00:23:05
Speaker
Oh, right. Yeah. off The six man guy who got the crap kicked out of him in that six man tag. but That's right. He just really impressed me with his i with his selling that night. It was it was really good. Yeah. Till he got knocked unconscious. Yeah, I know. Nobody's perfect.
00:23:20
Speaker
So that means we did not collectively ever pick anyone more than once. So funny. So we will skip our usual top MVP question because all six guys got the same same amount. but Fair enough. I don't think that's happened before, actually. I think we've always had at least one shared pick somewhere in the series.
00:23:39
Speaker
Yeah. Cause usually a match will come up, uh, like when we go back to is the steamboat, uh, rude match or well, some amazing like steamboat flare match or something like that or a sting flare match. Yeah. All right. Speaking of matches for match of the night, participations, we are looking only at competitors.
00:24:01
Speaker
Let's see you have a whole bunch of names each of which only got the match of the night once I'm not gonna make you try and get the entire list. So let's do five choices for at least three of the names Okay, I know I picked Chosu and Fuzanami for Cho-2 All right. Yep, that's two of them then Turn my white picture one. Part of me thinks I might have done the main event, but you know, it has that finish and that sometimes sours me. I think I did still end up picking that match. The Fudanami Flair match. You did not. Oh, that's what I did. I definitely considered it more than a match I would normally with that sort of weird, scurry, dusty finish ever. Yeah, I know it was in your consideration, but yeah.
00:24:50
Speaker
Oh, of course, um, Liger and Dragon is show three. Yes. Yes. Duh. So your match of the night choices, Al, were for show one, the Steiners versus Sasaki and Hase. So that's Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner, Kintsuki Sasaki, and Hiroshi Hase. Okay. Then for show two, it was Tatsumi Fujinami versus Ricky Choshu. And for show three, it was indeed Jushin Thunder Liger versus Ultimo Dragon.
00:25:19
Speaker
So guess what? What? I picked exactly the same matches of the night as you on every single show. That's an exact reversal of what happened with our MVPs. That's funny. So that means our two lists are the same and therefore so is the top match of the night list as everyone got exactly two votes. as That's fair. Yeah. That again has never happened, I don't think.
00:25:44
Speaker
Yeah, it just because we talked about this, we've had shows where there's there's like guys one good match or like there's going to be a great match on the show. So then we try to get a little more creative and go, you know, do they do a good job in situation in spite of things? And then there's shows like the, the series where there's so many good matches and you really got to decide, am I picking, you know, this flair for Tanabi match or picking this tag match? And then that makes those decisions harder to do for sure.
00:26:09
Speaker
Yeah, it is. It is genuinely fascinating to me that on a series as a wash in great matches as this series is that we agreed every night that it's fascinating. Yeah, I would not have called that not at all now. All right, with the show specific stats done, how about we take a look at the overall stats? OK, so these stats cover every wrestling show that we've covered.
00:26:36
Speaker
But, Al, the standings have not actually altered ah since last time. okay So I'm not going to make you guess for this set because that would be repetitive. Fair enough. But I will go over them again just to update some numbers. We have appearances as a match competitor overall. In third place with 33 matches now is Lex Luger. In second place with 40 matches now is Ric Flair.
00:27:05
Speaker
And in first place with 47 matches now, this is Sting. Appearances as a match competitor in main events. In third place with 14 is Hulk Hogan. In second place with 18, Sting. And in first place still holding on with 20, Ric Flair.
00:27:33
Speaker
Commentators in third place with 130 matches called JR. In second place with 218 matches called Bobby the Brain Hienan. Obviously he didn't get any new ones on this series, but he had plenty. Yeah. And in first place with 368 matches called 150 more matches than Bobby Hienan is unsurprisingly Tony Schiavone. Yeah.
00:28:03
Speaker
Just amazing, that the sheer scale of that though. it's It's always surprising. He's just so reliably on the shows. Yeah, because he goes to but WF for about a year, right? Yeah, he comes back in 1990. In fact, I believe capital combat is his first show back. Gotcha. Which may have relevance later tonight. Right. Well, I was thinking that even if we really get really covering all of those shows where he's not there for. and Admittedly, it's not at the time when it's the 11 12 people views per year thing. So that's also a factor. Right. Like even when we do all those shows, I'm curious if we if we're able to bump, you know, J.R. up at all.
00:28:39
Speaker
can I think that lead is insurmountable, right? Yeah, honestly, I'd be surprised if Bobby the Heena never gets taken out of second place even. Yeah. Well, we obviously haven't covered all as much of the later stuff, but obviously, they have taken up your view in 2000 and 2001, which is a real loss. So yeah, he he's got a cutoff point as well. Referees. So looking at all referee appearances, whether they were the original ref or came out as a replacement or to rectify a call,
00:29:09
Speaker
In third place, we have with 35 matches called Mickey J.
Statistics on Competitor & Referee Appearances
00:29:15
Speaker
In second place, quite a bit higher with 78, is Randy Anderson. And in first place, still in the lead with 109, the ever trustworthy Nick Patrick. Of course. The top three positions do not change if we use only initial ref appearances. Mickey J loses one replacement appearance to hit 34. Anderson loses one replacement and one rectifying appearance to hit 76. And Patrick loses six replacement referee appearances to hit 103. MVP choices.
00:29:50
Speaker
So again, none of this has actually changed since last time we checked in, astonishingly enough. But just as a refresher, here we go. So first up by host, for you, you had Sting with nine votes. For me, we have a tie with six votes each, Sting and Diamond Dallas Page. And for John, it was Dusty Rhodes with three.
00:30:16
Speaker
gotcha So all of us together in third place with nine awards, Rick Flair in second place with 10 awards, Diamond Dallas Page. And in first place still at 17 MVP awards. This is Sting. Yeah. So the only thing that really could have changed on this ranking is if, you know, one of us had picked Sting at some point for MVP. Yeah. Like if you had picked him because that would have taken him out of his tie.
00:30:46
Speaker
Or, uh, if both of us have picked Rick flair, the first time it would have switched him above DDP and the overall list. Oh yeah. There you go. So we're definitely some, some potential changes on this series, but they just didn't emerge. Fair enough match the night competitors. So again, going by host first sting has gotten nine awards from UL. All right. And for me, it is a tie with nine awards, each Rick flair and diamond Dallas page.
00:31:15
Speaker
And for Jon, it was the Road Warriors, Hawk and Animal, each getting four. So for all of us together, in third place, we have a tie, with 15 Match of the Night awards each, Diamond Dallas Page, and Ricky the Dragon Steamboat. In second place, with 18 Match of the Night awards, Rick Flair. And in first place, with 20 Match of the Night awards, is once again, the man called Sting. Gotcha.
00:31:45
Speaker
So again, definitely there could have been some changes there, if especially if Rick Flair had ended up with one for his match with Fujinami. But ah both of us ended up picking the Steiners versus Sasaki and Hase on that show. So no changes. Gotcha. All right. And finally, our traditional Tully check.
Series MVP & Match of the Series Discussion
00:32:04
Speaker
Tully has not changed positions since last time either, meaning that he is still hanging out, tied for 9th place with Barry Windham. But as a reminder, here are the current standings for this absolutely critical award. yes In place with 14 matches of the night, Chris Benoit. In 5th place with 12 matches of the night is Vader.
00:32:30
Speaker
In sixth place, with 11 matches of the night, Ray Mysterio Jr. In seventh, with 10 matches of the night, is Jeff Jarrett. yeah In eighth place, we have a tie, with nine matches of the night each, Arne Anderson and Lex Luger. And in ninth place, we have another tie, with eight matches of the night each, is Barry Windham and Tully Blanchard.
00:32:58
Speaker
still hanging on in the top 10. Yes, if one of us ah or both was a pick that are in Windham match, that could have been back to take slightly, but didn't I'm doing that? Yeah, definitely. This was a dangerous series for Tully. He ah he might have gotten knocked out of the top 10 if certain awards were handed out. Yeah, I'm genuinely curious how long this is going to last because we have not gotten back to another series that has much in the way of Tully matches. No, it's true. So it'll be interesting to see if if he keeps hanging it on up there.
00:33:28
Speaker
Yeah, right. With all the data out of the way, it is time to give out some series awards. Each show we've awarded our match of the night and MVP, but now we're going to look at things across the entire series. So to start out, let's go for our series MVPs. You can name three people in no particular order. So Al, who are your series MVPs? OK, a couple of these are easy,
00:33:57
Speaker
but I really struggled with who I put in as my third position here. It's one of those good, hard choices. I'm like, i leg and man, this, yes. Should I get this person? the I've let it go. I've back and forth a lot on. So going every piece.
00:34:11
Speaker
Three words come to mind initially. Jushin Thunder Liger. Absolutely. All three shows he has good performances on. and Admittedly, the first one is not as great. We're still, still not sure if that's a booking thing or an injury thing, but even if the match is in the greatest thing, his sheer presence, like the style he brings in with his his outfits and his attire. Yes. He again showed up really well in the six-man match and of course took back the night for both of us with his match with Dragon, so there's no way I'm looking for this. Second, someone that didn't appear in all three, but for me, their appearances in two shows were so strong that I couldn't ignore him. And that's actually going to be Fujinami. Oh, yeah.
00:34:55
Speaker
Obviously you get him in flair, which is a great match, finished aside, you just to book a rematch. His orange is just so good in that obviously flair. Flair can make so many people look good, but it's still something special you get with Fuzhanami that shows why this man wrestled. I think still partly sometimes wrestles for, I think, longer than I'd been alive. So, you know, hey, fair play to him, but at least around the same period of time.
00:35:20
Speaker
I mean, that is the thing, right? Like you get with a Fujinami or a sting or a Ricky Steamboat or something is like, yes, Flair can make everyone, everyone look good. But sometimes he doesn't have to work at it. Yes. Because they just legitimately are really, really great. Yeah. And I think Fujinami definitely joins that club of people that can just go. Oh, yeah. And am really, really work alongside Flair to build a ah a tremendous contest.
00:35:47
Speaker
Yeah, and and again, it doesn't mean this is a knock on Luger, but you can tell, for instance, seeing Flair work with young Luger in like, you know, E-7, E-8, or even a couple years later, as we talk about, and how he sort of elevates Luger's game by giving him a strong fall to play off of, playing to his strengths in the match to lead out for him, versus a guy like Krishnami, who is just so talented that yes, he does do all those tricks that the Begg off and the figure four escape and everything.
00:36:16
Speaker
But it's definitely a difference just between when he needs to elevate a guy versus they just so naturally mesh well together. They're they're equal partners in the match. Absolutely. So again, the third choice is when I really went back and forth on. Some people I could have picked and it's going to be hard. Even if I written down when I'm still like second guessing myself or third or fourth guessing myself. I know the feeling.
00:36:41
Speaker
So my third choice is two people, but because you really can't separate them. And it's a little conditional for me because they technically only appear on two shows, but I covered their match on the third show that was cut. Gotcha. And it's so good that I didn't want to exclude them. So my third choice in my piece is Rick and Scott, the Snyder brothers. Fair enough. Yeah, they are really, really excellent on this series. Absolutely.
00:37:07
Speaker
It's really hard not to pick from someone like Jonah, who delivered in all three shows, or Muda, who delivered really strongly, or Hase even. Again, guy I'm not as familiar with, but he's really strong. But yeah, Standard Brothers across the three shows, I think, stand out for me. All right. For me, we have an agreement on two of these. Okay.
00:37:30
Speaker
So first up, yes, Jushin Thunder Liger. Well, his first appearance is a little bit underwhelming due at least possibly to editing. He still puts on a really good show in it. His second appearance in his six man tag is excellent, however, and then he absolutely nails his third appearance, putting on a bonkers match with old Timo Dragon that lives up to his dream match billing and of course took match of the night. So a reliably great performer. Absolutely.
00:37:59
Speaker
Second, Tatsumi Fujinami. While he only has two matches on the series, both of them are excellent, one earning match of the night honors. A ton is put on Fujinami's shoulders in Super Show One and his match with Flair absolutely delivers on the promise of an intense battle between two wrestlers from two different organizations in two different nations.
00:38:21
Speaker
His match with Choshu, meanwhile, manages to convey in a single match an entire long history between two storied wrestlers, and Fujinami does a lot to up the emotion and aggression in that match while still maintaining the largely respectful rivalry at the heart of it. And third, for me, Hiroshi Hase. Like he only has two matches on the series, but one got match of the night and the other was a strong candidate for it.
00:38:49
Speaker
Hase is quick, precise, and incredibly charismatic. A skilled performer in the ring who just comes off as incredibly likable in every appearance that we've seen. He's one of the few guys that I can watch in a match against Sting without automatically rooting for Sting, which says a lot, I think. It still bonkers me looking back that he has a match with Antonio Inoki on show two and they cut it. It's it's amazing. It's like that. Oh, that's so insane.
00:39:17
Speaker
The fact that we covered a three show series that was coming to new Japan, not one Anoki match. Yes. And admittedly one of those is because he's got an injury. Yes. But I mean, still that is, that is incredible. That somehow they dodged Anoki. Maybe that's the entire reason they went along with his collision in Korea thing. Like, we got Oh, we gotta apologize to Anoki somehow. Yeah. Right.
00:39:46
Speaker
Honorable mentions I do have for Masahiro Chono, The Great Muda, and Sting himself, all of whom were reliably great performers on the series and so much fun to watch. A great deal. Series MVP is always a terribly hard decision, but it felt brutal this time, with such stellar performances all around.
00:40:06
Speaker
Matches of the Series. So three matches in no particular order. So for your match with the Series L, Okay, so first one is the obvious choice. It is Liger and Dragon, as we talked about at length, but rightfully so on the last episode. It's an amazing match because it's two matches. Yes. They work this slow, but steady, constant action, which is hard to even explain. Technical match where they're rolling in and out of holds. They're very little striking. There's like no top rope moves or anything. And then they switch after working like a, well, it'd be a full match.
00:40:43
Speaker
Hell, it might be two matches in the Nitro Era, or in Thunder Era for that matter. They then work ah basically work a second match where they do what do you expect a Dragon Liger match to be. i could All the the know the spots you expect, the counter-inversals, strikes, all of that. After working a Techno Classic. So obviously that's got to make the list. And I got, of course, shit three.
00:41:08
Speaker
Second pick for me is the Ricky Chosu Tachumu Fujinami match from Show 2, a match that we didn't think we were going to get when we first watched it. Because again, yes again, it's worth mentioning the Wiki page. Do list this as a dark match, implying that it's not supposed to be on the pay-per-view broadcast, but of course it was because we watched it.
00:41:27
Speaker
Yeah, that surprised both of us and it was such a good surprise. Yeah, it's a great surprise. like I love for sure because it's it's for, there's no, there's no American stake to it. Right. It's not like the chonimuda match where it's for the NBA title is one of the two belts. It's the greatest 18 club championship. They're weird all fame championship belt and the new Japan title.
00:41:50
Speaker
As you said, it really, they tell the tickets to win the match. That makes you know, even if you did not watch any of the stuff before, like I actually haven't. You can tell these guys have been wrestling on and off for a decade or so, trading world titles back and these big high stakes matches. It's so good.
00:42:09
Speaker
Again, third choice is always Harvard. These are going to show this many quality matches. For me, I wanted to give some variety and really highlight other stuff the show has besides these amazing title matches. So unfortunately that means including Chiono Nuda, which is a really good match as well, especially overdelivers compared to their previous match.
00:42:27
Speaker
in America. So I wanted to highlight a tag match because there are quite a few of those. So for me, the one that I picked is the enforcers versus O'Hara Koshinaka tag match, which is from show two. Okay. The reason why I picked that is for me, that really embodied the theme of the WSB versus New Japan, the, you know, the American wrestling style with the Japanese wrestling style and the American wrestler.
00:42:55
Speaker
you know, the very brash talkative, you know, one like Zabisco. one Gotcha. And the less talkative is definitely still body language style of our Anderson. There's a couple really good tag match that to embody that, like we have with us diners, the potassium shown, which I almost picked as well, or even the, so say mental favor, which is the Saito duck match against dusty and Dustin Rhodes. But yeah, the one that abide the theme again, what this show is going for, one of the main themes of the international competition, the us versus them. Here's how different we are versus, you know, how can we mesh is that match. So yeah, it was like my dark horse third Matt Vick.
00:43:32
Speaker
I like that that that makes perfect sense to me that that one is the most clashes of different styles. Mm hmm. Where the the Steiner's ones are great, but the Steiner's adapt very much to the normal Japanese style. So they're doing a Japanese style tag match more. Yeah, that just happens to have an American team where the enforcers one is very much a contest between two completely different styles of performing, which is very interesting.
00:43:59
Speaker
Mm-hmm. I would say I almost picked the other. Aren't Matt, which is, aren't in Windham, which is good too, but that's also so good. Yeah. The sort of special sauce that is the Bisco and how we interacted on this show with this crowd is really sealed up for me. That's why he got an MVP for me. Yep. I get it. Yeah, absolutely. All right. For me, super show three Liger versus dragon.
00:44:25
Speaker
As you said, it was simply incredible. Liger and Dragon put on an amazing show that effectively consisted of two completely separate match designs merged together quite gracefully, yeah demonstrating the true variety of skills that they each possess. It's terrific.
00:44:39
Speaker
oh I also picked Fujinami versus Choshu. Knowing nothing about Choshu and next to nothing about Fujinami, I was still able to feel the history and intensity of the feud between these two wrestlers and get a sense of the stories that had come before from this one match. Had a really epic ending and we had one heck of a performance. And finally for me, Super Show won the Steiners versus Sasaki and Hasei.
00:45:08
Speaker
This was a pre-match of a match that we loved slash will love on collision in Korea. Yes, that's true. It was fast paced and constantly changing. And it was a match between two tag teams at the very top of their game. It was so much fun to watch. Plus it was a noteworthy achievement for the signers and getting a third tag title at one time. Somewhat unsurprisingly, those were my three matches of the night for the series. Yeah, it's fair.
00:45:33
Speaker
As a runner up, I believe you mentioned this one as well. Super Show 3's Muda vs. Chono was just an amazing match and a really great redemption for that pairing. Absolutely, yes. All right, now the awards that nobody wants. So first up, least valuable performers, the people that either didn't add anything or actively took away from the shows.
LVPs & Worst Matches
00:45:56
Speaker
So with this one, you can pick up to three.
00:45:59
Speaker
Okay, so again, my first pick is always the obvious pick. And again, nothing personal against the guy. I'm sure he was a very lovely man, but El Gigante was not good in either show. There was a certain sort of weird appeal. He kind of skated by a little bit on the first show where he had, you know, he spent like 40, 45 seconds to a minute building up a suplex. It was, it was a while crowd just oddly into it. Yeah.
00:46:28
Speaker
But yeah objectively, it's the worst match on the show. Cause you don't have, you know, like a so-so mid-card match, you know, like you might have on another WSW show. And obviously little bias against him because he had a less than exciting match again against Vader. So that messes with my, my love of Vader. Again, I'm sure he was a very nice person, but he did not do well in this show.
00:46:53
Speaker
Second for me, again, I do feel a little bad because in this case, because he only had one chance to show it because they cut one of his matches on a previous show. Well, that's Tony Homme, AKA, or Homme, still, and with whichever way. Yeah. Whichever you would decide is fine. He's okay. But so three has so many strong matches that just kind of being okay really stands out. Mm-hmm.
00:47:19
Speaker
Importance-wise, Poor Bon Simmons comes like a week and a half or so off of losing his world title on a house show because I guess the back off was kind of giving up on the day of his world champion. And he's thrown on here against Tony. It's not even like the third match on the show total. And it's like, Oh, he's your world champion. Like less than 14 days ago, but okay.
00:47:41
Speaker
It doesn't matter. They really was hoping that I could see so some sort of big stand out go, Oh wow. This guy is way more than I thought it was, but I mean, he's not terrible, but it's just, it's very so. So I get you. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't, didn't really think I had a third strong picks for this one. Thankfully it just gets a high show quality. So I didn't want to put third person in. Okay.
00:48:03
Speaker
Yeah, i can I can see the other argument for Tony Holm being that he also is one of the only guys that we've seen take a Ron Simmons spinebuster badly. So yeah, that's definitely a mark against you for sure. Yeah, for sure. But for me, I'm not going to pick anyone. Oh, yeah.
00:48:23
Speaker
We say up to three and that includes zero. Yeah, that's fair. There are a couple of names I could theoretically pick. I was thinking of Eligante and I was also thinking of Eric Bischoff. Yeah. But Eligante does well enough in his match with Vader, I thought, to make up for his match with Big Cat. And also the crowd in his match with Big Cat was fun enough that it kind of still made it semi enjoyable.
00:48:47
Speaker
And Bischoff, while clearly not really prepared to deliver a commentary on the six-man tag in 1993's show, still has really good energy enthusiasm and coverage of kicks that did help me enjoy the match in the end. Those are the closest options I could find on the series, and I'm mentioning them purely to say that they are not bad enough to get me there, which should tell you how good this series is. Yeah, that's fair. Worst matches of the series. Again, pick up to three.
00:49:13
Speaker
Going off of my picks, you can probably see where this is going. I have L.D. Gante versus Big Cat. Like I said, he has a sort of interesting appeal for this Japanese crowd. He comes out, they're sort of genuinely in awe of this giant, elongated man. This is a sort of Argentinian-stretched, Armstrong character. But when you get down to it,
00:49:34
Speaker
The biggest move in the match is him doing a real basic suplex on the guy. And then a big boot that it didn't, I think was a bad thing. I stomach if that kind of hops and sidekicks him in the, in the gut. Yes.
00:49:46
Speaker
Yeah, this is new Japan. This is the early nineties. There's such a high work rate. It's that it really stands out at this of the same year in WCW. They could be like a really lackluster tag match or just kind of overwhelming where they throw two guys that aren't quite ready for everybody. They throw them out there anyways, you know, like your jungle gym to deal with somebody. And I'm like, okay, well, this isn't that bad, but on this show, it really stands out more than it would anywhere else. Yeah, I can see that.
00:50:17
Speaker
Second match again, going off of really picks is the Ron Simmons versus Tony Halmey or home match from show three. As you said, he doesn't take a spinebuster well, which is incredible. A Ron Simmons spinebuster of all things. It was a certain interesting appeal for me going into this match. Cause I've, I know him very little cause I did not watch wrestling, especially at WWF. We, you know, when he was around as Ludwig Borga, I've seen highlights of his stuff.
00:50:46
Speaker
With his look initially, he kind of has an early Brock Lesnar shoot, tough guy kind of look. But then he did do a whole lot and they didn't really bought that much. He had some spots like SpineBuster that didn't really go well. But yeah, it's very disappointing. Again, on a high work rate show, in a high work rate series, in a high work rate country.
00:51:09
Speaker
There's less leeway for you to be underwhelming, I'd say. Yeah. Yeah. I will pick a third one, but it's a real conditional one as a total package. The new Japan versus war six, man. It's kind of a mess.
00:51:24
Speaker
Just because the way they handled it where they didn't have the normal commentary team covering it. So they at Bischoff in a booth, probably like a month later, it felt like by himself calling it felt like roughly at roughly a day before they sent the video out. Frankly. Yeah, it's very bad. If this match was in like the rest of the show, which if I and Ross calling it, statistically you think they would have more than the two names between two people. Yes. Bischoff can get two, they can get at least four, right?
00:51:53
Speaker
Well, he didn't get to as we established. He got that's that. He got one and a half because he had one of the other names, but was wrong about which guy it was. Yeah, he didn't put the name in the right places on the board, but he had two names. That's something. Yeah. So again, this match on his own is not terrible. And again and likewise, this match was in like the rest of the show would be fine, but.
00:52:15
Speaker
It has the stigma about it, plus you have the matches that was cut from it because of whatever reason happened. And this was sort of thrown on last minute. So not against people involved in that because they, one guy especially, really works hard and gets his a** kicked throughout it. And really to end, you said, really does sell the whole thing well. So, conditionally, this is the third Worth Matching Series for me. All right. All I guess so much fate is working against it, unfortunately.
00:52:44
Speaker
It's more about the presentation of it than anything else, basically. Yeah. Which I mean, that it looked that's fair. That's part of the match on a wrestling show is the show part. Yeah. So I think that's a fair opinion. Yeah. Also worth mentioning that that six band, again, a show run story about this rival company, W.A.R. war coming and competing with through Japan.
00:53:08
Speaker
Which commentators didn't cover and nobody else covers. So here's three guys you've you've never seen before. If you watch their two super shows versus two guys, you kind of recognize in the six man match. And now here's like Bischoff in a booth calling it and doesn't know anyone is properly. It's a shame. All right. For me, I went back and forth on this a lot. Sure.
00:53:33
Speaker
But again, I don't have a match I want to award this to. Yeah. Eligante versus Big Cat on Super Show 1 was pretty dull, but it was helped by the fact that the crowd is so clearly into it and Eligante is so clearly enjoying the reaction that he's getting. And for me, that was as close as the series got to bad. I would say as well the Eligante Vader match.
00:53:57
Speaker
Without the post-match stuff, it's a strong contender because yeah I love Vader. Obviously not a big fan of El Gigante. but they don't really do like anything in the whole match. i think I think what saved that one from consideration for me was one, the helmet spot, and two, the fact that Eligante does seem to be trying harder with his like punches oh but yeah than normal. At the very least, I could look at him and be like, I think he's trying. I felt like he was trying to grow as a performer in that one, so I gave him a little extra credit for that too.
00:54:29
Speaker
I think for me, the fact that Vader only gets one official match on the show and there's no moon salt. Yeah. If they get him a chance to get big stiff form, knock DeGante down and give him a moon salt wouldn't even be considering it for worst matches in the series. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Gotcha. At all. Well, thank, thank your home at Vader. Cause you got off of the worst match of the series list for Al that way. Yeah. Now that would have killed you. It would not have felt good. No, it would not have felt good at all.
00:54:58
Speaker
All right, for series overall, we've got some other awards to hand out.
Best Commentary Team & Humorous Moments
00:55:03
Speaker
So first up, the best commentary team. Now, we obviously only have a couple options on this series. Yeah. We have Eric Bischoff or we have Tony and JR. If you're picking the latter, as I assume we both will. Yeah. ah Which shows performance did you like the most? I think as a whole, we got more out of them with the extra stuff.
00:55:27
Speaker
the extra presentation and talk of, you know, visiting and everything, and really the extra feel in show one. I don't know. So I think they did that as a whole, they'd covered, you know, the matches better on show one versus show two or three. But yeah, just that extra stuff. And they, they really sell the, the sort of foreign intrigue aspect of it and strangers, strangely and kind of thing. And And they call the matches, well well, throughout the whole series. So there's no bad show for them commentary wise. But yeah, I think one has just the extra stuff, plus how how they cover the main event and the post match thing as well. Yeah, it was definitely fun hearing their like travel story kind of feel on that show because it was new. That really does help that performance, certainly. Yeah, but like two and three, I'm still not convinced they actually they even ever left. there's There's no proof otherwise. This is true.
00:56:18
Speaker
Yeah. Not, not in like one shot at them at a table. Like, I guess they didn't feel confident enough to try to do whatever an early, like blue screen rear projection effects. Like, look, here's the crowd behind us. Oh my gosh. That'd be the AWA team challenge series all over again. Yeah. If you're like me and you watch a lot of old movies, anytime you got to a film from like the fifties and driving a car and they're just rear protecting background behind them. That's what it looked like, which I would have been all there for.
00:56:48
Speaker
For me, it is really hard to pick as all three performances are really good from Tony and JR, but I'm going to go with Super Show 2. I thought the two just really seemed to have a ton of fun with that show, and they got really salty at times, hilariously so. Whether it was talking about how and New Japan's refereeing and rules enforcement put WCW's to shame, or JR taking potshots at the University of Miami football team. that's true yeah Plus, we got Tony's wonderful, he's still standing. Oh, there he goes. That's true, yeah. For Fujinabe versus Joshu. That was good, yeah.
00:57:21
Speaker
It's really good performance that gave entertaining moments in its own right in addition to complimenting the matches.
00:57:28
Speaker
Normally we hand out an award for best promos or non-match segments, but there weren't many of those on this series. yeah So I'm just going to go through some of the non-match stuff that we did have and feel free to chime in as we go.
00:57:41
Speaker
okay On Super Show 1, we had the introduction featuring the welcome party for WSW wrestlers visiting Japan, a kind of sort of Triforce appearance, and the four horsemen going shopping in Japan, and an all too brief bit that I would have watched extended to pay-perview length. Yeah, I wish they could. They could have sort of done a little more with that whole thing in general, not just the Forestman bit, like, twice a minute more throughout the show. Yes. I think that would have been nice. Yeah, that would have been a fun, fun thing to do.
00:58:10
Speaker
Super Show One also had the outro sequence with Ric Flair interrupting Fujinami's news briefing to evidently random show staff and wrestlers rather than reporters. Yeah, right. JR trying to interview Fujinami who claims they didn't speak English well and proceeds to speak English perfectly well. And Tony Schiavone wandering into frame briefly and sheepishly retreating. Yeah.
00:58:33
Speaker
Super Show 2. We had the post-match bit with Vader steam cleaning Elegante's face. Yeah. Muda's entrance with the acrobats. That was so very, very cool. Yeah. They very timely flying with Linda's reference there. Yes. Super Show 3 had Muda's shadow play entrance. That was really awesome as well.
00:58:53
Speaker
Oh, and Super Show One, of course, had Flair and Fujinami's entrances for their match, complete with their respective nation's national anthems. True, yeah. A very, very cool ceremonial part to that show.
00:59:06
Speaker
And that also just gives us the other non-match stuff was ah just the sheer amount of ceremony and presentation that we got mostly on super show one, but a little bit on two and three here and there, including the very formal ring introductions and the massive, massive, massive trophies handed out for every title match and some others besides yeah that time of the year must been great for trophy shops. Oh my gosh. Yes. Let's do good business in Japan. Yeah.
00:59:36
Speaker
Not all matches are the usual sort of singles or tag match. So what was your favorite gimmick match on the series? And I will remind because there were very few gimmicks on this series that we count gimmick as including anything other than a standard singles match and standard two man versus two man tag match. Yeah.
00:59:57
Speaker
So the real, the only option were the couple of six band tag matches they had, which to be fair on their own did deliver. Yes. Liger being in one obviously helps that poor guy getting beaten pillar to post in the, the one show three stands out. Like I said, especially when you covered the last eight away sort of sideshow.
01:00:19
Speaker
The six-man match gives you an extra purse on each side, so yeah have everyone gets more breathing room and you can have more stuff you can do. So just a little extra spice you can add to a match like that, which is why six-man, eight-man, and ten-man tag matches are very common in Japan. Especially because so much of New Japan at this point is everyone's in some sort of faction, so pick four faction guys and fight for the faction guys.
01:00:45
Speaker
Yeah. And between the six man tags, I'm going to guess it's probably the Likert one based off of earlier comments. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for me as well, there, there weren't really many gimmick matches on this series other than the six man tags. So I will also go with super show twos, Liger, Aoyagi and Nogami versus Sayido, Hanaga and machine. It was just some wild action and a really good match story of strategy and quick changeups slowly turning the tide against raw strength.
01:01:16
Speaker
Do you have a worst type of gimmick match for this series? Uh, I mean, it's really just a two like total, right? Yeah. Because there's two six men. So that really, yeah, me too. There's, I didn't even have a worst match. So I definitely don't have a worst gimmick match on the series. Yeah. There's, there's not even a match that seems to even be hurt by its gimmick, unless you maybe count having the commentary overdubbed in post-production by an unprepared commentator, which I don't.
01:01:42
Speaker
No, yeah. yeah Again, like I said, the actual match quality in the Six Man on Show 3 isn't bad. Nothing about it being Six Man hurts it at all. Right, yeah. Al, you had a terrific suggestion for an award. Yes. Since this series consisted of severely trimmed down versions of Japanese shows, the top three matches that were cut that you really wish were on the WSW version of the series.
Missed Matches & Improved Performers
01:02:09
Speaker
So what are your three matches, Al?
01:02:11
Speaker
Yes. Okay. So first I have a match that I really hope to see based, I would say honestly based on the one competitor, which is the match that they cut from show three, which is get a cheer 10 Ryu versus Ricky Choshu. Choshu was obviously very good and it is Matt, as you mentioned, the Virgin army. So the idea is they can see him again, really appealed to me and they cut it. So that sucked. Yes.
01:02:38
Speaker
It will help me in an aspect later on. You can probably guess, but as an overall show, then it's the pointing that as strong as show three years to not have that match on there. Yes. Yeah. Again, 10 Ryu was the face of the war promotion. So him and chose you fighting again, it was a big war. It was new Japan match, which they cut. So really even more hurting that theme that was on the show, but just not in the American one.
01:03:07
Speaker
I went into it before, get him disappointed and not see is the Hiroshi Hase vs. Antonio Inoki match they cut from show too. Aside from the fact that Hiroshi Hase is very good, it'd be nice to get him on a third show. The fact that Inoki has is not on a show at any point in the series with three shows is a real shock. As covered, he was injured or before training for the Third show was he would have gotten an attack match, but we didn't. So that hurts, makes this one feel good and worse because the enemy thought, Oh, we'll get him next year. Don't worry about it. But then, then they don't. Yeah, true. So third pick for me was a tricky one as they all tend to be because there was two matches that were cut that went away before.
01:03:55
Speaker
recording to watch and write at least a brief overview for them. So I really decide, do I include the Doom versus Bama Bagelow and Vader match from show one that was cut? Or do I include the Steiner Brothers versus the Hellraisers? That being Road Warrior Hawk and Kazuki Sasaki match.
01:04:17
Speaker
They're both good ones, but for me, the, the ludicrous, both no selling and hard selling you get from these diners and at least half of the road warriors and to Zaki is no slouch. Obviously as we've covered, like you your line is that Zaki is guy like built to Russell Steiner's like to take their bumps. Yes. Yes. And, and to just like be one of the few guys that they actually allow to dominate them fully at points and matches. Yeah, which is amazing. Yeah.
01:04:47
Speaker
Admittedly, the Hellraiser's match does have a disappointing countout finish, but as a reminder, the way they get to the countout finish is by doing a doomsday device to the guy from the ring apron to the floor into the metal barricade around the ring to knock the two people out. So I gave him a little bit of pass on that. that's That's one way to get to a countout. Yeah, as long as that's it's an epic enough ending, even with that, then I think you can look as aside from that. Yes, absolutely. absolutely All right, for my choices, first up, Super Show 2, Antonio Inoki versus Hiroshi Hase. More Hiroshi Hase, please. Yeah. Plus, cutting Inoki's match was just insane, as you noted. It's like if you had done a cross-promotional show with the w WWF and there was a Hulk Hogan match on the show and you cut it. Yeah, that's comparable. Yeah, yeah. That big of a of of just like, what? Wait, what?
01:05:44
Speaker
It would be like if New Japan had done their own cut version of this, but today that was a brand, the whole thing, I believe. And they gone, you know what? We don't really need that Fuzhanami versus Flay match. Let's just cut that. Right. Yes. Yeah. Like just a massive, massive performer from the other company. And you're like, no, no, that's gone. Or if we go back to Horoshi Hase, if someone they're like, you know, Hase is great, but we don't need a third sting match. Let's just cut that sting Hase match. Yeah. Yeah.
01:06:10
Speaker
Next up, Super Show 3, Tatsumi Fujinami versus Takashi Ishikawa. More Fujinami, please. Yeah. Yes, that is the entire thought process for this one. Takawa was quite good from what I've seen as well. So yeah, he's no slouch. And next up, I was also picking between those same two matches that that you were L, Bigelow Invader versus Doom and Hellraisers versus Diner Brothers. so Right.
01:06:38
Speaker
I also went with Hellraisers versus Steiner Brothers. I was, I was really torn, but I love the Steiners in this era and the team of Hawk and Kintsuki Steiner line. This Sasaki sounds really, really fun. Even before I heard your description of what actually happened in the match. I was trying to to picture like thinking of it before I heard your depictions of what happened in both of the matches, which one do I genuinely think I would have been more excited to see. And this one just edges ahead by a hair. That's fair. All right.
01:07:11
Speaker
the best performer with a single appearance on the series. So who was it? You would have really loved to see again the most. So it was a lot of great options to pick from here. The two most obvious ones for me anyways, our ultimate dragon, who we only got super so three does really well against the Liger there. I definitely would have loved to see that outfit again. Oh yeah, for sure. Or of the guy who I talked about his match being cut and being disappointed. That being Ricky Chosu.
01:07:42
Speaker
So, I mean, I gave him MVP and, and Tyler does Matt so strongly. There's no way I'm not picking Ricky Choshu here. All right. Yeah. As you said, there were a lot of good one-time performers on this series, including some of our favorites. We have all team O dragon, Rick flair, Vader, and dusty all showing up once. But as with you, actually, I'm going to go for the same guy who I'm pretty sure we'll never get to see again on a WSW show. i so no Unfortunately that being Ricky Choshu.
01:08:12
Speaker
He really, really impressed me in his expertly crafted match against Fujinami. And I wanted to see more from him, but sadly it was not to be. So here's hoping I'm wrong and we actually get more Choshu on a later series somehow.
01:08:26
Speaker
Most improved. Is there anyone you thought was not too great when they first showed up, but later on they really improved and turned things around? Yeah. So that was a tricky one because most people will start at really high or they start out not so high and they kind of stay at that point.
01:08:41
Speaker
I think for me, and this is a case where a guy had three matches. So you have a broader spectrum to cover. Going from his first match, which has all this buildup in storyline, and that didn't really do that well. And then last too long to being a strong performer in six man and tag matches later, it would be a Kira Nagami or a Kira in all caps. I really feel because it seems like he has so much to offer in that first match and it just, it goes so short and doesn't feel right.
01:09:11
Speaker
So thankfully he got more chances to show up. Yes, yeah. ah Well, this is interesting. The less than stellar initial appearance definitely wasn't his fault, but I'm also going with Akira Nagami. Okay.
01:09:27
Speaker
He was so ill-served by his first appearance against Liger, possibly due to poor editing, that's unclear, though booking him to make his big return only to lose was kind of sad to begin with. yeah Still, it was very clear that he had potential, so it was good to see that he got to fulfill that on the later shows with some really fun showings that let him show a lot more of his stuff.
01:09:45
Speaker
I particularly love his single leg crabs on Super Show 2, even if he did keep getting beat up for putting them on too close to the enemy corner. That's true. Yeah. A good example of a wrestler turning things around purely by getting the chance to actually show what he could do after being hidden before. Mm hmm. And now the overall show rankings.
01:10:07
Speaker
There's only three shows on this series, so we're gonna rank them in order. So let's go from, okay, it sounds wrong to say worst because all of these are good. So from least best to best. That's fair. So what's your order, Al?
01:10:23
Speaker
So what I had to do is I looked at the matches and then I, I looked at what I picked for my, they will get you later, which is the ultimate super show card, how we match it from each show end up on there. And that was a big factor. Oh, that's a good idea. Yeah.
01:10:38
Speaker
To be fair, some matches don't make my ultimate car but I'll cover because like it'll be a singles match to somebody which is good but then a tag match so it's certainly not a knock against the other show that I don't pick more from it but go based on that. Going I guess least best to best best. It would be Super Show 1 which has a sort of mixed bag as like overall really great matches as a lot of people that do well, but do really well in other shows, but still is a very strong one. Then for me, it should show three because it has some really strong matches, but also has the fact that it's so chopped up does hurt it a bit. And again, it's covered the, did a weird thing where they randomly cut one match and then just throw in the six men and through Bischoff to do commentary. It's a strike against it. It's a really strong match.
01:11:32
Speaker
show quality wise, but as a show show, it's kind of mixed. If and it didn't have as great matches, it'd probably be in third. Right. So that makes the best combination for me of sort of style pump circumstance and match quality that being super show too. All right. Okay, for me in third place is super show three.
01:11:58
Speaker
Okay. And second place is Super Show 2. And in first place is Super Show 1. Okay. I found all three shows pretty much on a par in terms of the action. They're all exceptional. So the difference for me was primarily presentation. That's fair. The sense of gravitas that each show had, the ceremony, the conveyed importance, and quite frankly the amount of the show it feels like we're getting to see. That's where I found a notable decline across the series.
01:12:25
Speaker
Super Show 1 felt almost like a normal pay-per-view. You could certainly tell it was trimmed down, but you still got a lot of the style and spectacle of a wrestling show, with major moments like the national anthem entrances, at least limited promos, post-match celebrations with huge trophies, and videos building up the event. Much of that disappears or is at least reduced on Super Show and on Super Show 3 it declines even more to the point that it felt like a production I could have made by just chopping it together a few matches I liked.
01:12:53
Speaker
So strange as it might be, I ordered the three shows largely based on their non-wrestling content. I get that. No, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, if they had given half the importance and sort extra feel to Super Show 3 that they gave Super Show 1, it'd be no contest. That's top one. i I think so. Yeah, there's such, such stellar matches on on that show. I mean, match quality is high for the entire series, but there are some absolutely amazing ones on Super Show 3, and it's such a shame that it just falls flat in show production. Yeah.
Muda's Performances & Custom Super Show Cards
01:13:28
Speaker
because the actual matches on that are are are just great. You can take it in so many different parts and sort of dissect it. Just making one rest of this on all three shows, for instance. Muda is very good in all three shows, obviously. But booking wise, he's treated best by Super Show 3. He has that great match with Chono. Yes. He gets to show off really well in Super Show 2, but again, that weird sort of flat, abrupt finish that you use in Super Show 2 with that tag match with him and Sting. It's a bit disappointing. Likewise, again, as good as the action is with him and Sting in the singles match.
01:14:04
Speaker
again, the sort of weird way that he that I guess the mist is not disqualification or there aren't qualifications. Just speaking him, you can sort of see how he's treated across those. That helps one factor in helping me decide how to make the shows. Yeah, yeah, I do agree. I think Super Show three is is amazing from a match standpoint. I think I said on our actual episode when we were doing our wrap up,
01:14:30
Speaker
that that was the one that if you need more than just the matches to enjoy a wrestling show, you're going to have the hardest time liking Super Show three. hu I think you will like it, but you'll have the hardest time liking it. No question. Yeah. That's where for me, it was it was weird, but it's the nonwrestling content that did it. I get that.
01:14:53
Speaker
We've given our awards and our analysis, but there's one more thing that we'd like to do here to have some fun. Our ultimate super shows. Altus shows, maybe? Yeah, yeah. So here's the rules. And this was super hard this time, like even beyond the normal. It was, yeah. I'm genuinely curious if we've actually got the same card. If you can see. Each of us designs a card featuring eight matches drawn from the actual super show matches.
01:15:23
Speaker
We can only use each performer as a competitor once. So someone can show up as a manager or a commentator or interference or some other role on other matches, but you can only use them once as an actual competitor. You can use any match in any position. You are not required to pick an actual main event for your main event. Gotcha. So yeah, i I don't know about you Al, but eight matches was so hard. There's so many other matches that each choice eliminates.
01:15:51
Speaker
I will say I ended up putting six on mine, ah but input of putting eight so that maybe that's why my mom was a little easier. Oh, okay. That's, that's fine. I think this, this is a show, a series where we can make an exception to our normal rule because it was bonkers. Gotcha. Okay. So my, uh, super, super show, I guess.
01:16:10
Speaker
Uh, begins with Jushin Liger versus Ultimo dragon from super show three. For me, I like to space out singles and tag matches, which I know you like as well. So I followed that up with the. Sentimal choice for me, which is the dusty and Dustin road versus Kim duck and Masa. So, you don't match from super show two. Okay. Following that with the sting versus rosy Hase mass from super show three. All right.
01:16:37
Speaker
Add a little gravitas and some titles online doing that changing booking wise. I have Masayor Chono versus great Nuda from super show three and my fourth vision. All right. Again, cause I want to put some tag in there. I have the match I highlighted earlier, which is the enforcers versus O'Hara and Kushadaka. Awesome mission for show two. Mm-hmm.
01:16:59
Speaker
So of course my main advantage, you can probably guess from it not mentioned yet, Reki Choshu versus Tsumu Fujinami from Super Show 2. All right. That's my six match card. Very cool. So we do not have the same card in part because I have eight matches, but also I only matched four of those. Oh, okay.
01:17:19
Speaker
So my opener was super show three. El samurai and judge jacks versus Nobukazu or a Hara and Kitahara a really fun six man tag to open the show. Hopefully on a earth 91 93 or a Hara gets to remain conscious for the ending. And Tony and Jr get to provide commentary. Big idea. My second match super show to Vader versus elegante. Okay.
01:17:48
Speaker
I will be honest, this is on here because I ran out of matches that I rated more highly and I wanted to reach eight. Yeah. I was going to say, if you want me to include seven, I'd probably throw that one on there for me personally as well. To be honest though, it is fun to get that helmet spot on the show. Sure. Yeah. Super show to Ohara and Koshanaka versus the enforcers. There is no way that I'm leaving complaining. Larry is a Bisco off of my show. Of course. Then super show three.
01:18:17
Speaker
Jushin Thunder Liger versus Ultimo Dragon. Duh. Yeah. Just an incredible match. There's no way I can leave it off. Follow that up with Super Show 2's, the Rhodeses versus Saito and Duck. It's just felt like a good one to put after Liger and Dragon. The fun of seeing Dusty and Dustin together would let the surely exhausted crowd enjoy themselves while they recovered their energy. Yeah, makes sense.
01:18:42
Speaker
Follow that up with Super Show 3, Muda versus Chono. I was really torn between this and Muda versus Sting, because I wanted to get Sting on the card somehow, but this match was just such a good redemption for this pairing that I had to choose it. Absolutely, yeah. So, sorry Sting. Seventh, we have Super Show 1, the Steiners versus Sasaki and Hase. Such a crazy, intense, high-velocity, high-impact tag match, so there's no way that I could leave it off.
01:19:12
Speaker
Also, sorry, Sting, because that meant I couldn't have Sting versus Hasei, which was also really good. Yeah. And so my final match is Super Show 1, Fujinami versus Flare. Okay. Obviously I had to have Fujinami on the show. Yeah, of course. I picked this one over the Choshu match because I think it's pretty much the reason the series exists. It's the strongest example of the partnership between WCW and New Japan.
01:19:39
Speaker
On Earth-9193, I think WCW just accepts the finish and schedules a normal rematch, but the show ends with a heck of a brawl featuring most of the New Japan wrestlers against the Earth-9193 horsemen, Ric Flair, Arne Anderson, Larry Zavisco, and Vader. Oh, what about that? I think it takes Liger, Dragon, Chono, and Muda to drive Vader off. That sounds about right, yeah.
01:20:03
Speaker
I like that. i I genuinely was afraid going into this just because of the sheer number of things that get eliminated with each match that we would end up having the same show. Right. Right. Just
Creative Match Gimmicks & Previews
01:20:12
Speaker
with maybe different orders or something. But we got a good, a good amount of difference in there still. So that was good. Yeah. said If I was going to make mine seven, I'd probably throw ah Vader and Gigante on there. And while I can't conclude it, if I was concluded match eight, I'd be breaking the rules a bit to include the Steiner's Hellraiser's one. True. Yeah. like I would get to be eight.
01:20:35
Speaker
Now it's time for some re-gimmicking. Yeah. Each of us has been given a match from each other's card, and we have to give that match a new gimmick or stipulation that would turn it into something new. We provided our matches to each other ahead of time, but we have not heard each other's re-gimmickings, so this should be fun.
01:20:54
Speaker
So Al, do you want to do the one that you did for me first or the one that you had me do for you? um I'll do mine for you if you want. Okay. So from Al, I requested Super Show 2's Vader vs. Eligante. I made my feelings pretty clear about DeGante and about Vader by now. So I'm like, what do I do rather than just having Russell in a match?
01:21:18
Speaker
And I thought, let me try to be timely. So this, this show is taking place in 1992, 1993. So I would take a note from video games. Okay. Civically, Street Fighter II. My goal is you create the obstacle stage from Street Fighter II, in which between matches, you plant Vader and Gigante in the ring with two full-sized cars.
01:21:42
Speaker
And they were given a minute to smash cars and whoever smashes the car the most gets the most points and wins. Nice. You can guess who wins that match. Yeah, I'm pretty sure a single falling fridge would detonate a ah car pretty much so. Yeah. I mean, any show that has Vader doing a moonsault to the top of a car. How is that not a five star show? The only concern I have is that sounds awfully like Vader being in the junkyard invitational.
01:22:12
Speaker
Well, which would have made that better. Let's be clear, but still, yeah, he he would have taken out five or six people and made it a lot cleaner. Yeah, that that's true. Yeah. Vader would just have knocked everyone out in the opening 30 seconds and then just waltzed over to the gate. So yeah, why didn't they do that? Exactly. All right. So for me, Al requested super show to the enforcers versus Ohara and Koshanaka.
01:22:39
Speaker
So, Al, I present to you the debate club match. Since Nabisco is so good at running his mouth, let's give him the opportunity to do so at length. Sounds good. This is mostly a standard tag match, single fall to finish. However, every two minutes a bell rings signaling the start of debate time. At that time, the wrestlers in the ring must pause and the wrestlers on the apron are brought to the stage where two podiums have been set up.
01:23:06
Speaker
There, they are each posed a question dealing with the differing ways that World Championship Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling handled rules, such as the 10 count versus 20 count, or moves off the top rope being illegal or legal. The response order is determined by a panel of five judges composed of Sting, Vader, Vader's helmet, Hiroshi Hase, and Antonio Inoki, the latter two inexplicably cut from WSW's broadcast. Aww.
01:23:33
Speaker
Vader's helmet expresses its votes by emitting steam, which Vader swears it does on its own, even though it strangely always agrees with him. I mean, I'm not gonna argue with that guy. The five judges evaluate which in-ring competitor was doing better at the time of the bell ringing, and that team's debater gets to choose whether they speak first or second. Then, both speakers have one minute to make their initial point, and then the first speaker gets an additional 15 seconds for a quick rebuttal, since the second speaker had a slight advantage by getting to hear their points first. Sure.
01:24:03
Speaker
An interpreter is, of course, provided. The debate is scored by a second five-judge panel, consisting of JR, Tony Shavani, Tiger Hatori, and two Japanese men whose names are never given by the WSW broadcast. Okay. The winner of the debate earns an advantage for his team in the next two-minute match segment. The Debate Club. A literal club composed of a large gold trophy with a wooden handle on it.
01:24:28
Speaker
Oh, so the debate club is not like the bullet club then. It's very different. No, it's it's actually a a giant club. Yes. Made of a trophy. Gotcha. Only the team that won the debate is allowed to use the club for that segment. The other team can disarm them but can't actually strike with the club or they'll be disqualified.
01:24:46
Speaker
The match proceeds to a single fall by pinfall or submission. However, once that happens, the losing side can challenge the winning side to one last debate as to the legitimacy of the pinfall to try to get it overturned and continue the match.
01:24:59
Speaker
After a hard fought match and several tense debates, the Enforcers at first lose by pinfall when O'Hara uses the debate club on Arne. But Zabisco successfully annoys everyone at the post-pinfall debate, breaking every rule about time and continuing talking until they agree to let the match continue just so he'll shut up. That sounds alright. Leading to an Arne spinebuster for the win. Not wishing to listen to Zabisco complain anymore, O'Hara and Kushinaka just accept defeat. Nice. Oh, I'll admit I'm proud of that one.
01:25:28
Speaker
That was good. I mean, when you were laying out the judge of the first, I was waiting for the end to be and for some reason, Patty Mullen. I thought of doing a reference to Clash of the Champions. Yeah, I kind of did, if you notice, because there's five judges and we do only get three. I did notice that, yes. Yeah, that's fair enough. Yeah, I like that. That's good. Is it wrong that I kind of feel like that would almost be interesting to watch? Yeah, thanks to that.
01:25:53
Speaker
I kind of like the idea too, like if, like the break point happens when, you know, orange got oh, hard and like a friend. He'll like, if I do a suplex and they call debate time. So he sort of holds him in the headlock for a while before it managed to let him go. Yeah. yeah or just like Yeah. They literally have to freeze in place. exactly Yeah. And that wraps up our coverage of the WCW new Japan super shows. So what have we got coming up next? Well, first up for our bridge show.
01:26:24
Speaker
Capital Combat. I have been waiting for this show for a long time. That's true. And I know you have too, Al. I have, yes. Taking place in Washington, D.C., this wonderfully weird show features the Undertaker in his Meade Mark Callous gimmick, Jim Cornette in a cage, Paul Ellering versus Teddy Long with their hair on the line, the Road Warriors teaming with Norman the Lunatic of all people, Lex Luger versus Ric Flair for the world title with what I believe is the first appearance in WCW of Allegante. Yes. And of course, Sting turning out to be Best Buds with RoboCop.
01:27:04
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yes, W.C.W. really presented RoboCop on their show as though he was a real person who existed in the same reality as Sting. And the poor horseman had to sell fear of this science fiction movie character and take the segment totally seriously. Mm hmm. I also recall poor Gordon solely getting roped in somehow. I believe so, yes. Oh, my goodness.
Upcoming Wrestling Shows & Announcements
01:27:28
Speaker
And now our next series.
01:27:31
Speaker
um It's coming. An evening of unspeakable horror. It's coming. Terrifying destruction. It's coming. A howling good time with the monsters of professional wrestling. It's coming. October 28th Halloween Havoc 89. Settling the score. A pay-per-view event bordering on the edge of insanity. Call your cable operator for availability if you dare.
01:28:02
Speaker
Next up, Halloween Havoc. Lasting from 1989 through 2000, Halloween Havoc is one of WCW's longest series. I believe it's beaten only by Starrcade and The Great American Bash. Yes. According to Tony Schiavone, this is what he thinks of as WCW's WrestleMania, not Starrcade. Interesting.
01:28:23
Speaker
It does certainly have the big spectacle going for it on many years, including matches like the Thunderdome match, Chamber of Horrors match, in which the goal is to strap someone to an electric chair and turn it on, which I'm sure WSW will not make look silly as heck. No, no. A monster truck match between Hogan and Giant, and vampire Tony Schiavone.
01:28:43
Speaker
Ah, yes. It also has some quite important matches like Hogan vs. Flair with both men's career on the line in 1994, causing a retirement I'm sure stuck totally, and that hasn't already been disproven by multiple prior series that we've done.
01:28:58
Speaker
No, no, not at all. Plus, Randy Savage versus DDP makes an appearance. Oh, yeah. Vader versus the Guardian Angel in a reprise of some of your favorite matches from past series. Nice. Dustin Rhodes versus Steve Austin. Yeah. And a little match called Hogan Warrior 2 that people might have heard about.
01:29:19
Speaker
Astonishingly, I genuinely forgot that was on this series until I was going through the matches. there's There's just so much infamous insanity on the Halloween Havoc series that even that can get lost in the shuffle. That's true, yeah. So our upcoming releases are in October, Capitol Combat, and in November, or possibly October 31st, if I can manage it. We'll start our new series with Halloween Havoc 1989.
01:29:48
Speaker
Look forward to them. If you've enjoyed listening to us tonight, you can find us on Facebook as Let's Go to the Ring. A link will be available in the episode description. Follow us for episode announcements and other show details, and share your own thoughts about each show as we go through. You can subscribe to our show on Apple Podcast, YouTube, YouTube Music, Audible, iHeartRadio, Spotify, TuneIn, or Pandora. And please, if you've enjoyed this show, give us a rating or review, and share the show through your favorite social media platforms to help others discover us.
01:30:19
Speaker
Many thanks to ProWrestlingHistory dot.com for attendance figures and to Gina Trujillo for our logo. This is Bob Moore for Alec Prigen, signing off. Good night, everybody. Happy wrestling.
01:30:44
Speaker
And in 20 place, still holding on, Rick Flair. Did I say in 20th place? You did, yeah. Wow. Sorry, Rick.