Ryan Navigates '90 - #16 (3/4 - 3/10)
An early meeting of Japanese icons, the Midnight Express go for the throat, Warrior tells Hogan to hijack a plane, and John Tesh tells us about steroids.
Good day!
We have about a full week of material this time around, including a more low-key Saturday slate than the last few. We’ll have an early matchup in what would become an all-time great rivalry in Japan, the crowning of new AJPW tag champs, and more legendarily bonkers Hogan and Warrior promos. Plus, an actual Hogan match on syndicated television, plenty of stuff from USWA Dallas, the NWA U.S. tag titles go up for grabs, and Entertainment Tonight shines a spotlight on steroids.
We don’t have much happening on March 4th or 5th, so we start on Tuesday!
TUESDAY, MARCH 6th
AJPW Excite Series 1990, Night 10
Tiger Mask II vs. Kenta Kobashi - We start off with a bit of history as we get one of the first singles encounters between Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuharu Misawa, if not THE first. Kobashi’s only a little over two years into the business at this point, and he’s rocking the red trunks and kneepads, a far cry from his trademark orange gear.
We get some early lockups and feeling out, with Kobashi focusing on the arm. Tiger gets some headscissors out of a couple of armbar attempts, but Kobashi remains on top. TMII counters an armdrag with one of his own, but Kobashi lands on his feet out of a monkey flip attempt as we’re all square.
Misawa hits a rebound headbutt for two, then they make a shambles out of a neckbreaker attempt (Kobashi fell way too early on that one). Moments later, both guys trade strikes, then TMII hits a crossbody for two before locking in the figure four headscissors. I love that birds-eye view camera angle that AJPW did a lot of around this time.
Kobashi escapes via the ropes, then he blasts Mask with kicks in the corner before targeting the leg with a kneebreaker. Kobashi continues with the abuse on TMII’s knee with various holds, including a half-crab and a bow and arrow, but Misawa escapes via the ropes. Tiger manages an enzuigiri, but Kobashi fires back with a spinning wheel kick to send him to the floor. Kobashi then follows with a plancha to the outside! Back in, Kobashi applies the Manami Roll, but holds onto the leg for another submission attempt.
Kobashi releases and applies a Texas Cloverleaf, but Tiger makes the ropes. The knee-centric assault continues with another half crab, then a figure four after strong resistance from Tiger Mask. Mask finds refuge in the ropes, then hits a kick to escape another kneebreaker attempt. Sliding kick knocks Kobashi out of the ring, then after some fakeouts, Tiger hits a pescado. Back in, Kobashi hits a backdrop driver and a quasi-powerbomb for two-counts. Kobashi lands a moonsault for two, back before that move would become a MUCH bigger deal for him.
Kobashi gets a rolling prawn hold for two, but Mask fires back with a German suplex for his own near-fall. Kobashi bridges out of a Tiger Driver attempt for two, then he goes for a missile dropkick, but Tiger tries his own dropkick to counter that one? That was a bit weird. Tiger Mask counters a backdrop into a crossbody for two, then finally hits the Tiger Driver for three!
***1/4 - It was kind of interesting to see these two work a more junior-esque style rather than the heavyweight slugfests they’d engage in later. This had some exciting near-falls and some nice offense from both guys (particularly Kobashi during the heat segment), but there were definitely some mistakes and odd choices to remind us that there was still room for growth. It’s still pretty fun to see such these two before everything came together for them.
We cut to the end of Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen (c) vs. The Miracle Violence Connection (“Dr. Death” Steve Williams & Terry Gordy) for the AJPW World Tag Team Championship. Hansen’s lying on the floor while the MVC doggedly attack Tenryu’s leg.
Hansen makes it back to the apron as Doc and Gordy continue their attack. Gordy secures a Scorpion Deathlock, but Hansen breaks it up with a massive shoulderblock. Doc comes in for a spinning toehold, but Tenryu escapes and nearly makes the tag before Williams knocks Hansen off the apron. Hansen grabs a chair, but Gordy fights him off as Doc hits a backdrop driver on Tenryu.
Williams gets an ugly figure four that ends up more like a Prison Lock, and Tenryu submits seconds before Hansen could break up the hold with the chair!
The MVC waste no time in winning their first of five AJPW World Tag titles.
Post-match, Hansen has had ENOUGH of Tenryu and attacks him with his bullrope! Jumbo Tsuruta comes in for the save, then Tenryu lashes out at BOTH guys with the rope. Him and Hansen brawl a bit on the floor before everything calms down. Really hot post-match angle here.
THURSDAY, MARCH 8th
Entertainment Tonight
Well, this is certainly a unique addition to the lineup: a segment on Entertainment Tonight featuring Mr. Roundball Rock himself, John Tesh. Tonight’s Inside Story: anabolic steroids! I love the superimposed steroid needle over the muscleman. That’s not where they usually do the injection (from what I’ve heard and read).
ET (Entertainment Tonight, not the alien) shows us some NWA footage before we get clips of “Superstar” Billy Graham, one of the most influential wrestlers in history (for better or worse). We hear from Superstar himself, who goes over all the different forms of steroids he used before Tesh narrates the physical damage from years of its abuse. Specifically, Graham had to have his hip replaced in 1986 due to steroid-induced decay (complete with footage of the surgery), and he recently had to have his ankle fused. He’d have a litany of health problems for the rest of his life, most of which could likely be attributed to decades of steroid abuse.
Superstar claims that at least 90% of wrestlers take anabolic steroids, which wouldn’t entirely be surprising. Bruno Sammartino checks in, saying he never took steroids, but does back up Graham’s 90% usage estimate. Bruno is on his own campaign to warn youngsters about the dangers of getting juiced.
Graham claims to be the first major athlete to come clean about steroid usage, and he may not be far off. He’d have to at least be one of the first ones to do so. We close off with Graham telling us that if we use steroids, we’ll end up like him.
I’ve always liked Graham as a performer, and he’s a very engaging personality, but he wasn’t exactly consistent in his stance on steroids over the years. At this juncture, he harbored a lot of acrimony due to the wrestling business leaving him physically and fiscally broken, as it often does. At one point, while the feds were investigating Dr. George Zahorian, Vince McMahon, and the WWF for steroid distribution, Graham himself tried to sue Dr. Zahorian and the WWF for making him take steroids in order to maintain his position. However, he lost the suit due to having abused steroids at least a decade prior to working for the World Wrestling Federation.
In his bitterness, Graham spent a lot of time in the early 1990s on the talk show circuit decrying steroid usage. There was also the infamous episode of Donahue from 1992 that I won’t get into here (I’ll save that for when I dive into 1992). However, when Graham was on WWF commentary in the late 80’s, he’d talk about wanting smaller wrestlers like Terry Taylor to bulk up, and, decades later, would encourage Kofi Kingston to get on the gas in order to gain 50 pounds of muscle.
Most haunting, though, was what he said on his “20 Years Too Soon” WWE DVD documentary. Even knowing all of the horrific things steroid abuse would do to his body, Graham claimed that he’d do it all over again if he had the opportunity to go back. That’s how intoxicating the allure of riches and renown can be.
As for the segment itself, even though we’ve heard all this stuff by now, it was pretty interesting because steroids weren’t really a major topic of discussion in this time period. Steroid prescriptions were only just made illegal for non-therapeutic purposes in 1988, and we were still about a couple of years away from the anabolic shit REALLY hitting the fan for the WWF.
FRIDAY, MARCH 9th
USWA (Dallas)
Jeff Jarrett & Bill Dundee vs. Billy Joe Travis & Terrence Garvin - The deal here is that Garvin is just returning to the ring after a tenure on commentary, and the babyfaces are eager to get their hands on him due to weeks of antagonism and interference.
While Dundee pursues Garvin on the floor, Travis eats some early offense from Jarrett, including a huge back body drop that forces Billy Joe to beg off.
The heels stall on the outside for a while until Travis and Double J trade big punches. Travis is backed into his corner, but Garvin refuses to tag in, so Jarrett chases him around the ring. Garvin retreats to the ring, only to collide with Travis by mistake! The Sportatorium fans LOVED that. After more running, Garvin holds Jeff in place for Travis, but Jarrett expectedly ducks, causing Travis to deck Garvin! Garvin’s selling is magnificent.
I love that the only real offense on Garvin so far was erroneous contact from Travis. Garvin continues scurrying away and hiding behind Travis to avoid the babyfaces. The fans chant something nasty at Garvin that I’m NOT going to transcribe as USWA ROLLS ON…
…and we’re back with Dundee dropkicking Travis in the back of the head. Billy Joe begs for a tag, but Garvin still refuses. Billy Joe goes to the eyes and DDTs Dundee, and Garvin FINALLY tags in to stomp away at Superstar. Dundee gets up and Garvin IMMEDIATELY hurries to his corner to tag in a reluctant Travis.
Travis ends up getting tangled in the ropes, so Jarrett gets some free shots in as Dundee again chases Garvin. Terrence says something on the house mic to piss Jarrett off, and both faces pursue him! Dundee ALMOST gets Garvin by the hair, but Beauty escapes. Jarrett and Dundee work over Travis until Garvin gets a knee to Jarrett’s back as he’s running the ropes. Travis hits Double J with a piledriver, and Garvin is more than happy to come back in and claw at Jarrett’s back.
Jarrett comes back with one punch to the gut, and that’s enough for a tag to Travis, who goes to the eyes. Billy Joe gets a nice swinging neckbreaker and a pumping elbow for two. Garvin checks back in, but Jarrett soon punches him out and tags Dundee back in. It’s a four-way fray with both faces taking turns back bodydropping Garvin. Beauty runs into the crowd, and Dundee follows…but he’s attacked by Steve Austin and Jeff Gaylord! Both teams are counted out!
Post-match, Jarrett runs out to send the bad guys scurrying, then Dundee and Jarrett attack Travis, who’s posing in the ring.
*** - This was a super-fun match with a ridiculously entertaining storyline. The fans were frothing at the mouth for Jarrett and Dundee to get their hands on Garvin, and Beauty was great here as the chickenshit heel. Travis did a terrific job maintaining a level of sleaziness that kept him from being overly sympathetic despite wrestling most of the match by himself, and Jarrett and Dundee’s babyface work was rock solid.
We pick it up at the last few minutes of Steve Austin vs. “Gentleman” Chris Adams in one of the many, MANY chapters of this feud. Adams, in his Kobashi-orange trunks, dropkicks Austin to the floor. Skandor Akbar comes to ringside, so Adams gives chase as Austin lies in wait.
Austin clobbers Adams as he returns to the ring and lays him out with a clothesline. Austin works a sleeperhold for a while, even pulling the hair to stop Adams from countering. The Gentleman escapes with a jawbreaker and gets his own clothesline on Austin. Adams scoopslams Austin, but hits the referee on the way down in a rather hamfisted ref bump.
Akbar grabs Adams’ foot as Austin procures some brass knuckles, but Adams ducks and gets a back suplex. Adams grabs the knuckles for himself, but the ref stops him, allowing Austin to get a cheap shot. Austin goes for another punch, but Adams blocks it and socks him with the brass knuckles, resulting in a disqualification.
From what we saw, you can tell that Austin is still green as grass. Adams was pretty much walking him through this one, but you can still see the potential in the future Stone Cold.
We clip to an interview with Chris Adams, who plugs a local signing before addressing Steve Austin Williams, who has shown his TRUE COLORS.
He is an idiot because he thinks the USWA belongs to him despite being in the business for six months, then challenges him to a scientific wrestling match next week. No punches, hairpulling, or knuckle dusters.
SATURDAY, MARCH 10th
WWF Superstars
Who’s ready for more Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior promos?!? Anybody?
Hogan starts by saying that WrestleMania VI is more intense than the first five put together. The pressure, the workouts, everything is more intense, BROTHER. Hulk talks about going back to his roots, that being Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach, California.
“Mirror, mirror,
On the wall
Is the Ultimate Warrior the one
That’s gonna make the Hulkster rise and fall?”
That was certainly a clumsy verse. The mirror said the Hulkster understands the balance of nature and the food chain. Hogan started getting worried as the mirror faded out, and says WrestleMania VI will predict the future. Warrior wears the paint so we don’t know who he is. If Hogan wipes the war paint off and recognizes Warrior as the NEW chosen one, Hulk has the obligation to fight with all his heart.
Hogan warns Warrior about what would happen if it turned out that he was NOT the number one Hulkamaniac before finishing with the usual. The magic mirror stuff popped me huge, looking forward to the magic mirror bullshit during their insipid WCW feud in 1998.
Warrior starts again with growling and snarling towards HO KOGAN. In between a ton of nonsense and grunting, Warrior asks HO KOGAN to seize control of the plane to WrestleMania by overtaking the pilots (who already made the sacrifice), then nosedive the plane into TOTAL SELF DESTRUCTION in order to prove his worth as a warrior.
“Kick the cockpit door down.”
“ASSUME THE CONTROLS…HO KOGAN!”
HO KOGAN must self-destruct so that he will know who is the chosen one. Warrior is NOT the chosen one, but he’s the ONLY one.
Anyone who watched the “Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior” DVD that WWE put out a couple decades ago (holy crap, I'm old) may remember Christian doing a hilarious impression of that promo.
Hogan talks about magic mirrors and other messianic hogwash, and Warrior encourages Hogan to commit mass murder and suicide via hijacking a plane. CLEAN FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT!
Hulk Hogan vs. Dino Bravo - It’s not often that we get a syndicated match with the Hulkster. Big Dino’s got Jimmy Hart and Earthquake with him for this non-title bout.
Bravo wins the initial lock-up, but Hogan gets the best of Dino with punches and a running elbow in the corner. Hogan rains down some punches while Jesse Ventura on commentary protests. Bravo takes a big bump off a Hogan fist, but Jimmy Hart distracts Hulk long enough for Bravo to beat Hogan down with his craptacular offense. Dino distracts the ref, allowing Quake to choke the Hulkster unabated.
Bravo eventually gets his Side Suplex, but Hogan HULKS UP and polishes Dino off with the big boot and the legdrop.
1/4* - Really not much of a match here. Bravo’s clumsy as hell and wrestles like he’s underwater, so it was probably for the best that Hogan dispatched him without a sweat.
Quake immediately blindsides Hogan as Bravo gets RIGHT BACK UP for the attack. Hogan comes back and disposes of Bravo to make him look like even more of a chump, but Earthquake crushes him with the butt splash. Warrior comes out and clotheslines Quake to send him packing.
Hulk did not want Warrior’s help, so WARYAH runs around the ring and nearly clotheslines Hogan from behind. He stops himself, however, and runs off into the night.
Hogan’s all like “WTF, mate” before posing to the delight of the fans.
If nothing else, this segment foreshadows Earthquake’s later run as a top antagonist as he got some shine before Warrior made the save.
NWA World Championship Wrestling
NWA United States Tag Team Championship: Flyin’ Brian & The Z-Man (c) vs. Midnight Express (“Beautiful” Bobby Eaton & “Sweet” Stan Lane) - During the pre-match promos, Pillman says that Jim Cornette’s had “more doubles partners than Rock Hudson and Liberace combined”. Jesus, dude. Meanwhile, Lane ironically hates pretty boys, and Eaton looks way too damn nice to be a bad guy.
Just a reminder that the NWA is brought to you by ROOS.
Eaton and Pillman start, with Bobby arguing a hairpull after Brian gets an armdrag. Eaton gets some right hands to Pillman before Brian escapes a superplex and lands some chops. Pillman gets a dropkick and barely gets a flying headscissors on Eaton as Lane climbs the ropes. However, Z-Man shakes the ropes, causing Sweet Stan to land babymaker-first on the top rope.
Bobby drops some knees and tags in Lane, but he gets immediately armdragged by Pillman and worked over by the now-legal Z-Man. Lane ends up crashing to the floor when attempting a roll-up, and he takes time to get it back together as WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING ROLLS ON…
…and we’re back with Lane tagging out to Eaton, but he gets slammed immediately by Zenk. Pillman checks back in as the youngsters work over Beautiful Bobby. Z-Man armdrags both Midnights, and Pillman slingshots in with a clothesline on both!
After things settle down a bit, Lane clobbers Brian during a roll-up attempt, and Eaton runs his throat into the ropes, then lands some neckbreakers for two-counts. Lane tags in and hits his own swinging neckbreaker and a thrust kick to the throat as Jim Ross clues us in that Cornette “found something out” about Pillman. Eaton tags in after a Lane clothesline to the throat, but Pillman makes a comeback, only to miss an elbowdrop. Lane decks Zenk, allowing the Express to double-team Pillman. Brian tries another roll-up on Lane, but Eaton goes to the eyes. The Midnights hit a drop toehold/elbow combo, and Eaton works some two-counts off of that. Another Pillman comeback bid is cut off when Eaton tosses him to the floor.
Eaton crotches himself in the corner and it’s HOT TAG Z-MAN! He fights off both heels and gets a sleeper on Lane…but Cornette sneaks in behind the ref’s back and blasts Zenk with the omnipresent tennis racket. The ref does catch Jimbo in the act and disqualifies the Midnight Express! Not a lot of clean finishes this week.
Post-match, Cornette commands Eaton and Lane to assault Pillman’s neck and throat, resulting in a tennis racket-assisted Veg-O-Matic!
Wrestlers from the locker room try to intervene, but they’re quickly dispatched by the Express. Corny continues dropping the butt of the racket into Pillman’s throat before the heels are chased off by the Rock N’ Roll Express. The Midnights steal the US tag belts as the show goes off the air.
***1/2 - A very strong tag match with fantastic selling and babyfacing from Pillman. The Midnights’ focus on Pillman’s neck and throat was supplemented by interesting and diverse offense, and Z-Man did what he needed to do. The DQ finish led to a super-hot beatdown and the start of what was apparently set to be a much bigger angle that didn’t materialize.
The plan was presumably for Cornette and the Midnights to exploit Pillman’s childhood history of throat cancer and his numerous surgeries. This was to build sympathy for Brian and heat for the Express, and it explains all of the throat-based offense during the match.
Pillman even filmed segments of him discussing his cancer history in his trademark rasp. However, Jim Barnett (who had just recently taken over the head booker position with Jim Herd) apparently wanted to save those segments for when Pillman was higher up the card, so they didn’t air at any point to bolster this angle. There was also no real follow-up to the angle from what I can tell, so this storyline just didn’t go anywhere. It’s a shame, too, because there was serious potential there.
USWA Championship Sports (Dallas)
We start with a commercial for the NAWA promotion in Texas, as they run a Tuesday show every week at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas. It doesn’t sound like much, but the bar was once owned by JACK RUBY and featured Sid Vicious (the Sex Pistol, not the wrestler) getting his nose broken on stage by a beer bottle.
Be there for the BEST in Texas-style wrestling! This NAWA is not the same as the Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based North American Wrestling Association that was around at the same time.
We now hear from Jerry “The King” Lawler in his only promo this go-round, a rarity in these articles. He calls out Jeff Jarrett, who’s apparently next in line for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Championship. The King lays into the fans in Dallas, using all manner of vocabulary (including a very not-PC word) to call them idiots for thinking that Jarrett is a worthy contender.
Lawler will prove to the fans and the USWA officials what a TRUE world champion is. Jarrett isn’t a wrestler; he’s an insult to the profession. Lawler is not there to impress the fans, but to defend the title and take it back home.
Pretty good little promo here, but the stuff with the separate lineages for the title depending on whether the title is in Memphis or Dallas continues to be baffling.
Marc Lowrance is with Kerry Von Erich, who says that when heaven needed a champion, they took his brothers David and Mike, but when Texas needed a champion, they got Kerry Von Erich. He kicked Soultaker’s butt last night, but he got banged up a little. He’d rather have the Texas Heavyweight Championship than the World Heavyweight Championship because “Texas IS the Texas Heavyweight Championship”. Sure, why not?
KVE then calls out that “Brillo head”, Billy Joe Travis, who attacked him and walked out of the ring with his belt. Going against Kerry is like a sparrow fighting an eagle, or an army tank against a pop gun. He challenges Travis to come out, promising not to touch him. He just wants to talk with him.
Billy Joe comes out with Terrence Garvin and the Texas belt in tow.
Travis says Kerry is COCOA PUFFS and says he’s the rightful owner of the belt. Kerry warns Travis not to put his finger in his face again, or he’ll KILL HIM. Whoa! Kerry challenges him to a match where whoever leaves the ring with the physical belt becomes champion (the same stip he had for the Soultaker match). Billy Joe retorts that he doesn’t like Texas, and he’ll rename the Sportatorium to the Billy Joe Travis Auditorium.
Kerry asks for his belt back, then goes against his promise, discus punching Travis (in slow motion, which was pretty hilarious), and snatching his belt back. He’ll see Travis NEXT FRIDAY!
Well, that wasn’t very sportsmanlike, Kerry! Kind of a weird, awkward promo from both guys, but it served its purpose. Kerry in particular seemed more out of it than usual, and that says a LOT.
International Championship Wrestling
We close things out with another promo from ICW Heavyweight Champion Tony Atlas as he addresses tonight’s opponent, Rochester Roadblock.
Tonight is your night to be the man! Tonight is your night to get whupped like never before! You have NO IDEA what it takes to be a champion! Atlas says he’s the baddest because he’s got the gold, and everyone else has got a lot of mouth. The belt tells everyone who the man is, and Atlas is the man.
Another really good promo from Atlas here. The fact that neither of the Big Two promotions had any idea how to harness that particular skill is wild to me.
Now it's time for THE TUGBOAT TRIBUNE!
As always, the news comes courtesy of Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
As mentioned above, the duo of Jim Barnett and Jim Herd have taken over NWA/WCW head booking duties from Ric Flair.
Oh, boy.
Herd has hired someone to play RoboCop at the next PPV, Capital Combat.
OH, BOY!
The injury bug has bitten the NWA pretty hard. Among the wounded are:
Arn Anderson, with a pinched nerve and herniated disc in his neck.
This would be what eventually causes Arn to retire in 1997.
Buzz Sawyer, who sustained a fractured wrist in his match with the Dynamic Dudes at WrestleWar ‘90.
Other than a couple of house shows in 1991, that was it for Buzz.
Eddie Gilbert, with a possible punctured lung that resulted from a missed dropkick. Yikes.
Shane Douglas, with a knee injury.
He’d actually end up leaving due to a lack of push and would be in the WWF within a few months.
Stan Lane, who had a neck injury but wouldn’t miss much time.
Ricky Morton, with a torn pectoral but worked through it.
NEXT TIME: Tony Atlas vs. Atsushi Onita, lucha action, and more WrestleMania VI build!
Catch up on the rest of Ryan Navigates ‘90
Also, check out my other series!
The Wrestling Society Xperience
If you're into classic metal, check out Ryan Ranks on the CGCM Rock Radio!