Ryan Navigates '90 - #27 (4/22 - 4/25)
Who will be the new WWF Intercontinental Champion? Read on (or look at the thumbnail) to find out!
Good day!
We have a relatively light slate this time, with a couple of matches taken from Coliseum Video releases. This includes the finals of the Intercontinental title tournament to crown a new champion.
We’ll also have another glimpse of early Shawn Michaels singles action, another installment of the legendary Rock N’ Roll Express vs. Midnight Express rivalry, and a couple of promos to round things out.
SUNDAY, APRIL 22nd
NWA Main Event
The Midnight Express (“Sweet” Stan Lane & “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton) vs. The Rock N’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) - The Midnights are riding high after getting a pinfall victory over the current US tag champs on the April 20th episode of Power Hour, tainted as it may be.
So far in this series, these two teams have squared off a couple of times. The Midnights took a questionable victory on the 2/10 episode of NWA Worldwide Wrestling, while the Rock N’ Rolls retaliated with a win at Wrestle War ‘90.
Gibson and Eaton kick things off, with Ol’ Gibs getting an early advantage with a couple of armdrags. Beautiful Bobby fires back with a couple of cheap shots in the corner, but he soon eats a hiptoss and a headscissors from Robert. Morton tags in and hits Bobby with a hurricanrana, then slugs Sweet Stan off the apron. Lane comes in and immediately gets worked over by the Rock N’ Rolls. Gibson hits an open hand slap that Stan milks the selling of for a good bit.
This is your reminder that the NWA is brought to you by ROOS! Shoes for your feet, pockets for your stuff!
Sweet Stan comes back with those deadly martial arts kicks, but Gibson takes him down with an enzuigiri before tagging Ricky back in. Morton continues his team’s control as the crowd chants for the Rock N’ Rolls. Eaton tags in and it’s more of the same…until the Midnights catch Morton with a stun gun to block a headscissors attempt. Ricky assumes his God-given babyface in peril role, taking a couple of nasty backbreakers from Bobby.
Lane returns to the match, hitting a powerslam for two. The Midnights get some dastardly double-teaming in while Gibson has referee Nick Patrick distracted. Eaton hits a sweet twisting vertical suplex for another near fall, then Lane hits some dubious karate blows to Morton’s stomach and throat. Eaton hits a butterfly suplex for two, but Morton tries fighting back…until Eaton goes to the eyes!
Lane comes in for more dirty tactics, then Jim Cornette distracts the ref to prevent a Morton pin attempt out of a sunset flip. Eaton goes for another suplex, but Morton counters to one of his own. Seconds later, it looks like Eaton’s going to run into Nick Patrick, but Nick does a LEAPFROG (?!?) to avoid Bobby, then hits a DROPDOWN that leads into a Morton dropkick on Eaton! Holy shit, that was a great sequence. Patrick got some height on that leapfrog!
Lane tags in, but it’s also HOT TAG GIBSON! Robert fires back with a facecrusher on Sweet Stan, but Eaton pulls Gibson off a pin attempt. It’s a four-way fray as Cornette comes in for a tennis racket shot…but he hits Bobby by mistake! Gibson and Eaton clunk heads, sending Bobby out of the ring. The ref is still distracted by the other two guys, so Jimmy Garvin sneaks in and DDTs Gibson! Lane covers and scores another win for the Midnight Express.
***3/4 - A slightly abbreviated take on the Battle of the Expresses at just around ten minutes, but still a stellar match. For me, it doesn’t quite hit the heights of Wrestle War, but it’s a massive improvement over the Worldwide match. Both teams are having excellent years so far, with Eaton and Morton especially standing out as two of the best workers in North America at this point, maybe even the world. Gibson and Lane are no slouches, either.
The combination of formula, moves, execution, timing, and that awesome referee spot really makes for a high-level TV match. The ending doesn’t really detract much from this as it was a decent subversion of the usual tennis racket finish. The Midnights pick up another win to build steam en route to the U.S. Tag Team Championship match at Capital Combat, while more heat is added to the Rock N’ Rolls/Freebirds program.
Check this match out on WWE’s YouTube channel here.
MONDAY, APRIL 23rd
AWA Championship Wrestling
Hey, another bit of AWA television! This time, we have a promo from Woman and “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. Woman tells St. Paul, Minnesota to watch out, because the Nature Boy is coming their way! The green dress works for her.
Flair hypes up his return as NWA World Heavyweight Champion to the AWA, where his career started. He runs through his “limousine ridin’, jet flyin’” catchphrase before cracking some wise about Minnesota sports failures from the likes of Kent Hrbek and Wade Wilson (the Minnesota Viking, not Deadpool).
Ric boasts about Woman’s beauty and him being the best wrestler in the world before briefly addressing his opponent for Twin Wars, Brian Pillman. Flair puts over his football credentials but says that it won’t matter because this is the SPORT of professional wrestling! Flair then highlights his early career and training under Verne Gagne. He closes by saying that he’ll take the Twin Cities one notch beyond! WOO!
This was pretty fun little promo, playing off of Flair’s history in the AWA and doing a bit of build to the Pillman match.
We then get an ad about the Twin Wars show itself. Two wrestling powers! Two world championships! TWIN WARS 90, COMING TO THE TWIN CITIES! Europe’s “The Final Countdown” plays in the background. Methinks the AWA didn’t pay the insane fee to license that song.
MINNESOTA WILL EXPLODE SATURDAY MAY 5th! Both the AWA and the NWA titles will be on the line!
So, yes, Twin Wars was another attempt by the AWA to keep the lights on, as Verne Gagne leveraged his relationship with the NWA to produce a joint show.
I honestly wish I had 1/1000th of the optimism that Gagne had. Even with half of the proverbial Titanic sinking into the frigid Atlantic Ocean, Verne still gritted his teeth and assured himself and anyone who would listen that the ship would keep forging ahead.
There won’t be an actual footage of the show, but I’ll talk more about it when we get to May 5th because I don’t want to muddy up the timeline too much. I’ll be doing enough of that shortly.
Battle of the WWF Superstars
Intercontinental Championship Tournament, Finals: Mr. Perfect vs. Tito Santana - This was recorded for the 5/19 episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, and it was also released as part of the Battle of the WWF Superstars Coliseum Video release. It was taped on 4/23, so we’ll look at it here.
Of course, this tournament was a result of Ultimate Warrior relinquishing the Intercontinental title after winning the WWF Championship at WrestleMania. Here’s how we got to this point (courtesy of Wikipedia; the dates reflect when the matches aired on television, but they were all taped weeks in advance):
As you can see above, this tournament was filled to the brim with bullshit. We got lame duck finishes in THREE of the four quarterfinal matches, including two bouts where BOTH competitors were eliminated. Because of this, we bypass the semi-finals and skip right to the finals. Jimmy Snuka was so far down the ladder at this point that he was the only one to not be spared a pinfall loss in the first round.
Oh, and the Rick Martel vs. Roddy Piper quarterfinal match was filmed the day after the finals. This thing just felt not just half-assed, but about one-sixteenth-assed.
At the very least, the finals should be decent. Tito is looking for his third IC title, while Perfect vies for his first reign.
Tito and Perfect start somewhat tentatively until Santana elbows out of a takedown attempt. Santana continues to outwrestle Perfect in the early stages, including a crazy-fast hammerlock reversal sequence that results in another back elbow to Hennig’s jaw. Perfect soon gets a quick jab, but Santana swiftly comes back with a couple of armdrags and a dropkick to send Perfect tumbling to the outside.
Tito lays in some chops on the floor, then gets a slingshot headbutt back in the ring for a two-count. Santana maintains control via some armlocks, then fells Perfect a couple of times with shoulderblocks. However, Perfect trips him up during a drop-down, sending Tito to the floor. Perfect retaliates with chops of his own on the floor, then he works Tito over for a bit inside the ring.
Perfect unloads with the fists, but Santana gets a sunset flip for two. Hennig just slugs “Chico” out to the floor, but Santana grabs a foot, and it’s “wrap the leg around the ringpost” time! Santana works the leg over a bit inside the ring, allowing Perfect to take some crazy bumps after some knee kicks. Tito signals for the figure four, but Bobby “The Brain” Heenan comes out!
Perfect gets an inside cradle for two. Tito slugs away and looks for the flying forearm, but he’s distracted by the Brain. Moments later, Perfect withstands some punches and gets another inside cradle for the three and his first Intercontinental title!
**1/2 - This was a perfectly cromulent, fun little TV match, but nothing that will make you want to run through a wall, either. This could have used a bit more time to flesh things out, but you really only get so many minutes on WWF television. I did like Tito being more aggressive in his approach to this one, and he was still reliably solid. Perfect sold well and took his usual athletic bumps.
Post-match, Perfect introduces Bobby Heenan as his new manager. This pretty much puts to bed the alliance between Perfect and The Genius (more on that when we get to Saturday Night’s Main Event in the next article). No disrespect to Leapin’ Lanny, but Heenan is definitely a step up in presentation and credibility, even if Perfect is pretty much done with the main event scene.
Perfect as Intercontinental champion is about as big a no-brainer as you can get. The IC title was (and still is, in a lot of cases) considered the “workhorse” title, so Hennig is an ideal choice to carry the gold at this juncture.
TUESDAY, APRIL 24th
WWF Hottest Matches
Shawn Michaels vs. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase - This was filmed during the 4/24 WWF Wrestling Challenge tapings from the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas (the same taping that produced the Piper/Martel match I mentioned earlier). Shawn’s the hometown boy, so he gets a big Coliseum Video exclusive against the Million Dollar Man.
Lord Alfred Hayes says it’s the first time he’s seen either of the Rockers in singles action. Dude, he already had a singles match this year against Bret Hart. Watch yer product, Alfie!
Teddy gets some early armdrags to establish his superiority over his younger tag-specialist opponent. Michaels makes a comeback with some nice dropkicks and armdrags galore to send a frustrated DiBiase to the floor to collect himself. Back in, Michaels reassumes control with a side headlock, but DiBiase, like a good heel, gets a couple of pin attempts via use of the trunks. Referee Joey Marella pushes Ted back after witnessing another less-than-ethical pin attempt, prompting Gorilla Monsoon (Marella’s real-life father, for those who may not be aware) to give him a hard time on commentary.
DiBiase escapes, but Shawn soon reapplies the side headlock to slow Ted down. DiBiase backs Shawn into the corner, but doesn’t give him a clean break, taking over briefly with chops. Shawn attempts a roll-up, but DiBiase holds onto the ropes to block, so Michaels lands another dropkick. We return to Side Headlock County.
DiBiase again escapes and counters a blind charge with a big boot to the face to finally get a sustained advantage. DiBiase hits some of those sweet, sweet fistdrops. I love that move for some reason. Shawn also takes a hell of a 360 bump from a clothesline. The Million Dollar Man continues pressing his attack with a backbreaker, a back elbow, and a kneedrop for another near fall. Ted sinks in a chinlock, but Michaels soon counters a kitchen sink with a roll-up for two. DiBiase regains the upper hand and tosses Shawn to the floor, where interference from Virgil is promptly thwarted by Marty Jannetty.
Michaels still gets his throat dropped onto the barricade, though, and suplexed back into the ring for a two-count. Back to the chinlock for Ted, then Shawn counters a piledriver into a back body drop. They hit each other with the double-clothesline, but both guys make it up before the ten-count. DiBiase goes for the Second Rope Back Elbowdrop That Doth Always Miss…which misses! Great bump from DiBiase on that.
Michaels kickstarts his comeback with an inverted atomic drop, forcing Ted to beg off. Shawn continues with a back body drop and a beauty of a dropkick for two, then counters DiBiase’s own back body drop attempt with a swinging neckbreaker. Shawn gets a top rope crossbody for two, then Virgil trips Shawn up as he’s running the ropes! Marty chases him into the ring and immediately runs into a DiBiase clothesline. DiBiase regains the upper hand by hitting Shawn with a clothesline, but Marty and Virgil again hit the ring as Marella finally calls for the bell.
The Rockers hit a double dropkick to send DiBiase packing, then a double superkick to Virgil puts him down. Both of them scale the ropes for more punishment to the bodyguard, but DiBiase cuts them off and aids in Virgil’s escape. Ring announcer Mike McGuirk notifies us that Shawn and Ted were counted out (despite both guys being in the ring). However, she does correct herself and clarifies that the match ended in a double disqualification.
***1/4 - This was a pretty entertaining Coliseum Video exclusive, which shouldn’t be surprising given who was in there. DiBiase and Michaels got some time to tell their story, build heat for Ted, and give Shawn ample opportunity to shine in front of the San Antonio fans.
Having a double-DQ instead of straight-up putting DiBiase over Michaels was actually a bit of a surprise given that Shawn was still primarily a tag wrestler, and the WWF/WWE would be known for their meme-worthy propensity for having wrestlers lose in their hometowns.
Between protecting him with the double-DQ finish and giving him multiple singles matches on television and tape, you can sense that the WWF had Shawn in mind for a singles push down the line.
“WWF Hottest Matches” was recently uploaded by the WWE Vault YouTube channel, so give it a watch here.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25th
USWA Evansville TV (Memphis)
For the Evansville market, Jerry “The King” Lawler talks about the upcoming Texas Tornado Toughman Contest. Jerry says the name is a contradiction as he’s never found a tough man in Texas.
Jerry explains the rules of this match. They sound pretty complex, but The King does an effective job of laying everything out. It’s a four-on-four tag match where, if a team drops a fall, the other team picks a member from the losing squad to face off with, four-on-one, for one minute. If the chosen team member does not answer the bell at the 60-second mark, their team loses.
Lawler is teamed up with Jeff Gaylord, Sweet Daddy Falcone, & Ronnie P. Gossett, and he believes the babyfaces (Jeff Jarrett, “Superstar” Bill Dundee, and a couple of others that aren’t named. Possibly the Southern Rockers? Mike Awesome? Chris Champion?) cooked up this stipulation so that they can all beat the crap out of Gossett (“a manager with a heart condition!”). If the heels defeat one of the faces, Lawler says they plan on singling out Jeff Jarrett for the four-on-one beating.
Sadly, footage of this match doesn’t exist. It’s a shame because that actually sounds like a hell of a stipulation. Could you IMAGINE a four-on-four Joshi match from this time, similar to Dead Heat, but with the “four-on-one” stip?
Someone should revive this idea as it could be a great hook for a TV match. Get on it, Tony Khan! I know you read this!
Oh, as a personal aside, hearing the name “Gaylord” reminded me of a pretty funny story from my call center days over a decade ago. A co-worker of mine (let’s call him “Jeff” as I don’t want to use his real name) was fielding a call from a particularly hostile customer one day. Jeff was as polite and professional as can be, but he wasn’t able to do what the customer demanded, so the customer, picking up that Jeff was gay from his voice, angrily calls him a “gaylord”. Without a second of hesitation, Jeff matter-of-factly retorts with, “yes, sir, that’s me. Lord of the Gays”. I forget what happened with the rest of the call, but that response forever lives rent-free in my head.
THE TUGBOAT TRIBUNE
As always, the news comes courtesy of Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The Road Warriors may not be long for the NWA as their contracts are expiring at the end of the year.
They have a pretty sweet deal in Japan waiting for them, so that is their likely destination, unless the WWF offers something pretty big without completely changing their gimmick.
Genichiro Tenryu initially left AJPW to be a spokesmodel for Megane Super, a well-known eyeglasses manufacturer in Japan. However, the company decided to get into the wrasslin’ business and started building a promotion around him instead.
That would be the genesis of Super World of Sports, which we’ll hear more about over the course of the project.
For his part in the fledgling promotion, Tenryu was allegedly making the equivalent of a cool $652,000 per year. Yeah, I can’t blame him for taking that deal.
Another bizarre twist with the John Bonello “hiring a hitman to kill his wife” saga: Bonello was released after his father posted his bail. The father also currently lives with John’s wife. That whole thing was seriously fucked.
NEXT TIME: Another Saturday special, with Saturday Night’s Main Event, Jerry Lawler, Jimmy Valiant, SUPER DUPER MARIO, and much, much more!
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That NWA logo the AWA used looked so indie, was it too much to use the 1989 NWA Crockett era logo or the WCW one? And by this point the NWA (WCW) could've suggested to Verne Gagne to use the AWA as a developmental territory for WCW and send talent that creative had nothing for them to do in Atlanta to send up to Minnesota for awhile.
Nice find in the AWA's Twin Wars! That's the first I've ever heard of that and interesting to think AWA was joint promoting as late as 1990. Must be a story behind that somewhere. Was there any other WCW talented booked on that besides Flair and Pillman and was it recorded for broadcast or just a live event? The gates were very poor at that point for AWA and as I recall they were running mostly small venues and sporadically at that, so would be curious as well what the attendance was.