Ryan Navigates '90 - #35 (5/19)
The Snowman angle from Memphis, Tugboat, RoboCop, and Connie Chung? What more could you possibly need?!?
EDITOR’S NOTE: On February 28th, the wrestling world lost Osamu Nishimura at the age of 53 after a long battle with cancer.
Nishimura had quite the varied career. Aside from his native New Japan Pro Wrestling, he spent a lot of time working in the smaller American promotions during his first learning excursion, challenging for the NWA World title on multiple occasions and working in Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW), NWA New Jersey, Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), among others.
In the 2000’s, Nishimura was most famous for his work in Tatsumi Fujinami’s MUGA World Pro Wrestling (which would later be renamed Dradition). MUGA was based around a very traditional grappling-heavy style evocative of decades past, of which Nishimura was an expert practitioner. After leaving MUGA, he signed on full-time with All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Throughout his career, he appeared in Europe’s Catch Wrestling Association, CMLL, NWA Bluegrass, CHIKARA, and many other places. Hell, one of Nishimura’s last ever matches was as Dory Funk Jr.’s partner against Atsushi Onita and Raijin Yaguchi in a Double Hell Current Explosion Deathmatch in December 2024!
Aside from wrestling, Nishimura was a politician, serving as a food education instructor for the Tokyo Bunkyo Ward Assembly until his death, being elected four times for the role.
Rest in peace, legend.
Good day!
It’s MAY 19th on the Navigation…
…and, by gum, it’s an eventful one. We finally arrive at NWA Capital Combat ‘90: RETURN OF ROBOCOP, so we’ll have plenty of action and happenings from that show.
If that wasn’t enough to sate your appetite, we arrive at a very intense, noteworthy angle in Memphis, Connie Chung’s Wrestling Maniacs, Tugboat, and a litany of USWA Dallas material.
SATURDAY, MAY 19th
WWF Superstars of Wrestling
This week on The Brother Love Show, our guest is TUGBOAT! Yeah, bitch! Tugboat!
Love asks Tugboat if he thinks he’s big enough to push around anyone he wants, prompting Tuggers to TOOT aggressively at him. The Best Boat Machine doesn’t care if it’s the Queen Mary, or the U.S.S. Enterprise, or even the LOVE BOAT, they all get pulled around by the TUUUUUGGGGBOOOOAAATTTT. Brother says that someone’s going to be sick of him pushing everyone around, prompting Hulk Hogan to come out to back up his buddy. Love blows a gasket at the sight of the Hulkster.
Hogan says he’s known Tugboat since he was a teeny, tiny Tugboat. Even back then, he was training, saying his prayers, and eating his vitamins! He claims to have brought Tuggers into the WWF, and Hogan’s happy that he has the big man to watch his back when the seas get rough. He’ll return the favor should Tugboat send an S.O.S. because the bond of friendship can never be broken!
Brother Love berates Hogan for interrupting the show this week, then dares him to come back next week to confront Earthquake. Hogan says Hulkamania is the strongest force in the universe, then him and Big Tug chase Brother Love away to end the segment. I guess that’s a “yes” to next week?
Tugboat has always been a guilty pleasure of mine, probably because he may have been THE first wrestler I liked as a little kid. Even before I started watching full-time in 1991, I remember wrestling being on TV and my ma pointing at the big fella on the screen and going “look, Ryan, it’s Tugboat!”. Even though the gimmick is really idiotic (I mean, the dude thinks he’s a boat), I can’t help but have some fondness for it. Fred Ottman seems like a lovely guy.
Now that I’m done waxing nostalgic, the segment did establish the Hogan/Tugboat alliance that presumably would have resulted in an eventual heel turn for Boaty McBoatface and a main-event feud between the two. It also set up the Hogan/Earthquake angle for next week.
Next, we join Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and Rick Rude at the beach. Rude is doing timed runs on the coast, stopping to remind Ultimate Warrior that he took his Intercontinental title.
Like the waves crashing on the shore, Rude will beat Warrior’s body until he crumbles to the mat. He’s promises to take Warrior’s WWF title before running another five miles. My old, terrible knees hurt just thinking of sprinting like that on wet sand.
Even though it doesn’t exactly break new ground, this is still effective work from Heenan and Rude.
USWA Championship Wrestling (Memphis)
Jerry “The King” Lawler comes out to the announce desk to chat with Dave Brown as the crowd greets him with chants. Ahead of his upcoming match with Kerry Von Erich, The King talks about his previous attempt at unifying all the world champions in the US via a one-night round robin tournament, but he claims the WWF and the NWA turned him down. World Class Championship Wrestling accepted, resulting in the SuperClash III match with Kerry to unify Jerry’s AWA title and Kerry’s WCCW belt.
Lawler reminds us that he won that match, and the result had been eating away at Kerry since. However, before Lawler can go further, The Snowman walks in, unannounced and unexpected. Dave: “We’re doing an interview here”.
Dave holds the mic to Snowman, but before much can be said, Eddie Marlin comes out and tells him that he has no business being on the show. Marlin tells him that if he wants to be on the show to contact him, but Snowman’s DONE trying to reach him. Snowman says that Lawler’s no real world champion because he refuses to wrestle him.
A furious Marlin reminds him that he booked Snowman in Memphis before, but he kept missing his dates because he only wanted to wrestle Lawler. Snowman reiterates that he wants Lawler, and he’s making an open challenge. Marlin has had ENOUGH of Snowman’s challenging his authority, but he does offer to put him on Monday’s card, just not against Lawler.
Eddie explains that Snowman can work his way up like everyone else, but Snowman doesn’t want to do that. Him and Marlin argue some more, then Snowman goes to talk to Lawler, aggressively telling the crowd to quiet down before doing so. Snowman goes in on Lawler, accusing him of holding down Black wrestlers over the years and calling him out for making racist remarks in the past about welfare and food stamps.
Snowman insists Lawler doesn’t want to face him because he’s Black, prompting Eddie Marlin to jump in and tell Snowman that he’s trying to make it about race, but none of the Black wrestlers are on his side. Snowman says not one Black wrestler came in to take Lawler out, so Marlin namedrops recent challengers in Junkyard Dog and Brickhouse Brown.
Lawler has the mic now, but Snowman is still yelling to Marlin about how Lawler is hiding from him. The King tells him he’s right here and he’s not scared.
Jerry refutes Snowman’s claim that he doesn’t get opportunities because he’s Black, stating that he doesn’t want to work his way up to earn a shot. Marlin tells Snowman to leave, while security guards try to usher Snowman’s entourage out of the building.
Lawler takes off his shirt and challenges Snowman to a fight in the ring, but Snowman opts to stay at ringside. He claims that only white men have a chance at beating Jerry Lawler, not Black men. Snowman asserts that there is a fear in Memphis of having a “Black King”, but Marlin says he would have absolutely no problem with it as long as they go through the proper channels.
Lawler reminds Snowman about King Cobra, saying he was “man enough to beat me, he had the world championship belt”. Snowman says that Lawler’s still got the belt. All parties continue shouting at each other until Snowman promises to buy a ticket to the Mid-South Coliseum for Monday’s card.
Marlin and security continue to try to usher Snowman and friends out of the studio. Lawler tries to guide the conversation back to Kerry Von Erich, but Snowman is still shouting at him. After another few moments, Marlin FINALLY manages to get Snowman to leave.
Lawler tries to address Snowman one last time, but he stops to get RIGHT IN a heckler’s face. You don’t hear what Lawler says to the fan, but they must have said something really bad, possibly racially charged.
After Lawler returns, he says that Snowman went all over the country complaining to Black newspapers (notably the Tri State Defender) and Black radio stations about not being booked in Memphis due to the color of his skin. Jerry explains that Snowman wanted the title match handed to him from day one, but he’ll have no problem if Snowman works his way up. King Cobra earned a title match, but Snowman hasn’t. Regardless of race, Lawler only has one objective, which is to defend his world title.
Lawler FINALLY finishes his thoughts on Kerry Von Erich. Kerry’s worshipped in Texas and is a big, impressive athlete with a lot of major wins and titles, but Lawler’s got the gold, something Kerry will NEVER have. He promises to be victorious in the Mid-South Coliseum. YOU’RE A BIG LOSER, KERRY VON ERICH!
…wow. That segment was incredible. This had to be one of the first ever worked shoot angles, and probably one of the best-executed. There was a genuine air of volatility throughout this whole deal, and it felt realistic and spontaneous. It helps that Snowman looks like he could fuck you up at a second’s notice.
Wrestling angles centered around race are usually handled with all the care and nuance of a 2x4 to the ribcage, but this segment was really well done. Everyone had valid arguments, motivations, and reactions, and it came off as human beings interacting with other human beings. Even the camera angles gave this segment a unique feel.
Another way this segment stood out was that, even though this was presented as something that wasn't supposed to happen, it didn't break the suspension of disbelief. No cutesy insider terms, no fourth wall breaking, no winks to the “smart” fans, nobody telling us that everything but what we're seeing is fake. Everything made sense within kayfabe. I normally don’t care much for the Vince Russo-style “we’re going off the script, BRO” nonsense, so this was refreshing.
This was very tense, uncomfortable viewing, yet compelling. It would take a mighty effort to supplant this as the angle of the year.
Apparently, the stuff about Snowman complaining to Black media outlets really did happen. In what was likely a move to avoid estranging their sizeable Black audience, the USWA brought Snowman aboard and turned it into an angle.
Snowman was portrayed by Eddie Crawford, who had wrestled in Memphis and Mid-South during the 1980s. In the latter, he got a brief push as Television Champion after Junkyard Dog, the company’s biggest Black star, left for the WWF. He passed away in September 2021.
Dave throws it to a pre-tape from Kerry Von Erich, who says he went down in a motorcycle accident two and a half years ago, but he climbed back. The world title is the sweetest taste you’ll ever taste in your life! One man is the champion, that being Jerry “The King” Lawler, or Jerry “The QUEEN” Lawler! Oh ho, sick burn.
Lawler’s no more a champion than Tennessee is Texas…and vice versa. Zuh? Kerry recounts the infamous (and terrible) finish to the SuperClash III match, where Von Erich had Lawler pinned, but the referee ended the match because of Kerry’s blood loss. Monday night, Kerry’s coming to take the title. Memphis, get ready!
That was…certainly a promo, but Kerry’s energy makes them fun to watch. Dave Brown throws it to footage of Von Erich dumping water on Lawler all those weeks ago.
Saturday Night With Connie Chung
Well, THERE’S a graphic I never though I’d be putting here. In her relatively new show, the CBS anchorwoman tells us about Wrestling Maniacs: The NEW Family Entertainment!
We get clips of NWA action interspersed with footage of fan interviews. One fan explains that it’s a “soap opera without sex”. Just give it 7-8 years, bud.
Connie says there are THOUSANDS of wrestling maniacs out there, then says that WrestleMania V had the biggest one-day box office take in entertainment, grossing more than $25 million. Yeah, no.
Connie tells us flat out that pro wrestling is fake and choreographed, but it grosses $300 million a year.
Connie then throws it to footage featuring, of all people, TWA bankroller and future ECW owner TOD GORDON and his family as they watch the Royal Rumble in their living room. Hulkamania runs wild in the Gordon home, apparently.
We briefly hear from Ric Flair, Lex Luger, and Sting, who Connie positions as pretenders to Hulk Hogan’s throne. Saying that about Ric Flair sure is a choice. Luger claims he earned more in one year than his entire pro football career combined, while Sting says he was only interested in wrestling after learning about how much money he could make. I absolutely get that the point of any job is to make money, but I wouldn’t have been happy with my top babyface saying THAT on national television.
Ted Turner is cited as being the “owner of the NWA”, which is definitely not true. For a bit of clarity, he bought Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988, which was a keystone member of the National Wrestling Alliance, and rebranded it as World Championship Wrestling. Turner still used the NWA name and branding for a while, but the NWA and WCW still operated as completely separate entities. I’ll go into more detail about this stuff during the course of the project, but Connie would have been more accurate when she said Turner was the owner of WCW.
Turner apparently turned JCP around, earning $33 million in revenue last year, and WCW’s television ratings outperformed Braves and Hawks games. I can actually believe that last part because WCW’s ratings were pretty high for a while, and the Hawks and Braves weren’t exactly having banner years.
We hear about Jim Herd’s strategy for WCW, which is to target children, then the Road Warriors talk about being tactile, live-action superheroes.
Connie asks if today’s product is a kinder, gentler pro wrestling for kids as a clip plays of Norman the Lunatic teabagging Kevin Sullivan.
Clips are shown of production. Even the lighting guy gets some shine (pun intended), talking about how babyfaces and heels get different colors. Heels would get nasty, evil colors like green and purple, while the faces tend to get pink and other warm colors to make it all romantic.
We then hear from former NWA wrestler Big Jim Wilson, who explains that the bookers script everything that happens, and that he was blackballed by the NWA for not playing ball one night.
Basically, Jim was often outspoken about his issues with pay, travel, blading, and even tried to start a union, which the NWA wasn’t exactly keen on. There were also rumors that Wilson got blacklisted because he turned down sexual advances from promoter Jim Barnett, but those were denied by people close to both parties.
Connie says that wrestlers who do follow the script get rewarded with millions of dollars and titles, then explains that it depends on public appeal rather than athletic ability. Jim Herd basically confirms that it’s a popularity contest, and he actually says he would not put a popular wrestler in there with someone who could tear him apart.
Footage of Sting’s injury is shown, illustrating the fact that even the best laid plans can backfire, so the NWA is on the lookout for a new babyface. Enter the 7’6” Argentinian Jorge González, otherwise known as El Gigante.
When Tod Gordon plops another $30 on PPV, will it be to watch El Gigante? The segment ends with Tod explaining the escapism of wrestling fandom.
This whole segment is kinda nuts, maybe not so much today, but when you look at it from 1990 lens. I know that more and more people were wising up to the fact that wrestling isn’t completely real, but I imagine it would be a bit surprising at the time to see the NWA going on CBS and not just pulling the curtain back, but completely tearing it off the rod. Sting explaining the real cause of his injury on the same night of an NWA PPV is pretty wild.
From a 2025 perspective, there’s some new stuff to add to the surreal nature of the segment. Not only do we get friggin’ Tod Gordon and family hamming it up for the Hulkster, but you get Connie slinging around exaggerated dollar figures, Jim Wilson showing up for a few seconds, and the production team sweating over costume designs for El Gigante, who was being positioned as WCW’s future savior.
NWA World Championship Wrestling
Ahead of Capital Combat ‘90: RETURN OF ROBOCOP later tonight, it’s PROMO TIME! First up is the Four Horsemen, with Ric Flair saying that blood, sweat, and violence will be at an all-time high tonight in the cage.
Ole Anderson is excited that the Horsemen are at full strength and that they have Sid Vicious to take care of RoboCop. Arn Anderson says that Sid is the REAL Boogeyman. Does he eat worms, too?
Barry Windham says the demise of Sting and Lex Luger is at hand. Flair asserts that the Horsemen will blow the roof off the building. Woo!
We flip it to Lex Luger, who says that the adrenaline is flowing. In a few short hours, the talk will be done.
Luger says that, in the year and a half that they’ve been beefing, the Horsemen always relied on outside interference, but the cage will ensure that it’s just Flair vs. Luger. Man vs. Man. If Luger can’t beat Flair, he won’t ask for another title match again.
I would have loved to hear from Sid again, but these were a couple of snappy promos to conclude the build for tonight’s show.
USWA Championship Sports (Dallas)
Percy Pringle welcomes Kerry Von Erich to ringside for a chat. He immediately chides Pringle for calling him a coward for not wrestling Matt Borne, saying he didn’t want to turn his back on his friend. Percy clarifies that this is pro wrestling, where you defend your title against the rightful contenders, an obligation not upheld by Kerry.
Borne has given Kerry a reason now to fight, and Percy rightfully explains that, if Kerry wrestled him a few weeks ago, the parking lot brawl and Chris Von Erich getting the snot beaten out of him wouldn’t have happened.
Kerry says he GAVE the Texas title to Borne and gifted him the World title shot, but Percy again explains that he should be WRESTLING for the belt, not relinquishing it. Von Erich reiterates that Borne was wanting to fight, but Kerry was wanting to wrestle, so Kerry initially refused. Kerry says that Chris won’t even leave the ranch because he felt so degraded. If Matt Borne wants a FIGHT, he’s got a FIGHT!
Kerry says that him and Matt will go “fists and fire”. Either Matt Borne leaves, or he’ll stay, but if he stays, he’ll be injured.
Percy brings up the lumberjack stipulation for their next match, which is fine. You mess with Chris, you mess with Kerry, and when you mess with Kerry, he’ll take your head off. Kerry says there’s a DRIVE inside him after what happened to his little brother.
A bit long, clunky, and repetitive, but still some decent energy and motivation from the Modern Day Warrior. Percy had completely valid points about Kerry not wrestling Borne.
Matt Borne himself them comes out for a chat with Purse. Matt wants to shake Percy’s hand as he’s the only man who’s spoken the truth.
Borne keeps ahold of Pringle’s hand while explaining that the only thing he’s sorry for was attacking Chris as it got him nowhere. Percy reiterates that Kerry could have prevented all this if he wrestled Borne earlier, but Maniac Matt is happy about the lumberjack match stipulation.
Maybe he liked that stipulation a little too much…
Borne is going to prove that Kerry, with his Greek god bod that makes the girls “wet their pants”, is built for show, not for go! Another solid promo from Borne, and you can sense a potential turn coming for Pringle.
We now see Percy in the ring with “Beauty” Terence Garvin, who’s about to spill the tea on who wrecked Kerry Von Erich’s birthday party. Before Garvin drops the deets, though, he asks Kerry to come down and show him the $5,000 reward. However, “Gorgeous” Gary Young (and his awesome Tasmanian Devil shirt) runs in and immediately denies his involvement, despite nothing being said about him.
Kerry saunters down while Young continues ranting. Kerry tells him to shut his mouth, then Terence explains that him and Gary went to the ring to work out, but saw all the party decorations. Garvin told Young not to do it, but Gorgeous Gary ruined the party! You snitch!
Young explains that Garvin was only telling half the story, but incriminates himself by mentioning the contents of the gift boxes (some boots). Soon, Young attacks Kerry from behind as he was handing Garvin the money and pounds away until Kevin Von Erich makes the save!
Kevin snatches the mic and says he worked hard on that party, and Gary Young is HIS! Absurdity of setting up a feud over a birthday party aside, Young and Garvin were pretty entertaining here.
Next, “Superstar” Bill Dundee, with his newly-regained USWA Southern Heavyweight belt, comes out for a chat. He crows about winning the title back from “Hollywood” John Tatum (on 5/18), then asks if Tessa meant to throw the boot in the ring to Tatum, or to Dundee.
Tatum and Tessa come out, with Tatum saying that the errant boot throw was a mistake, then continues to rant until he’s almost hoarse. He drags Tessa in front of the microphone to say that she loves John, so Dundee retorts that if HE grabbed her by the neck, she’d say she loved him, too.
Dundee goes to walk away, so Tatum clobbers him from behind. Rude! Dundee gets rammed into the ringpost and busted open. Tessa tries to stop the abuse, but Tatum shoves and screams her away to continue the beating.
Billy Joe Travis and Jeff Jarrett come to help Dundee to the back as Tatum leaves. Tatum continues to be a complete ass, and it was a very good beatdown.
The Dallas coverage ends with “Stunning” Steve Austin and Jeanie Clarke coming to ringside for a talk. Austin talks about the I Quit match with Chris Adams last night, with Jeanie being locked in a cage.
Austin claims Adams was screaming “I Quit” while in a figure four (I’m actually not 100% of the actual finish of that match), then says that Adams wants a barbed wire match next week! The barbed wire doesn’t bother him as Austin is superior to Adams and pretty much owns him.
Jeanie teases bringing up some skeletons from Chris’ closet, implying that he had to do some things to survive in Los Angeles and Oregon. What she’ll divulge will be better than the National Enquirer! You don’t know the REAL Chris Adams! Jeanie then tells all the ladies at home that, when their husbands snuggle with them at night, they’ll be thinking of her. She then implies that the goss will be so hot that Chris Adams will be headed to his second divorce.
Percy tells them to cut it out and for Austin to get in the ring for his match. This was more good stuff to further heat up the feud. Austin continues to find himself on the microphone, and Jeanie’s messy as fuck. This is trashy soap opera stuff, but it’s so much fun.
NWA Capital Combat ‘90: RETURN OF ROBOCOP
The first PPV of the Ole Anderson booking era, Capital Combat ‘90: RETURN OF ROBOCOP comes to you HOT from the D.C. Armory in Washington, and I mean that literally because the building wasn’t air-conditioned. A sellout crowd of 7,500 strong filled the arena, and the show garnered 160,000 in PPV buys, good for a 1.4 buyrate. It’s down from Wrestle War’s 175K, but it still outdid most of 1989’s PPVs.
Surprisingly, the shitty main event finish from Wrestle War and the RoboCop-centric build didn’t completely turn off the customer base.
As mentioned in a previous Tugboat Tribune, Lex Luger had actually suffered a legit staph infection in his leg, which the NWA turned into an angle ahead of the main event.
The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) & Norman the Lunatic defeated Kevin Sullivan, Cactus Jack, & Bam Bam Bigelow after Hawk hits Sullivan with a top rope clothesline.
As discussed in last week’s Tugboat Tribune, this was the last NWA PPV for the Roadies before they jumped over to the WWF.
We’ll have one of their final TV matches on 6/2.
“Mean” Mark Callous pinned Johnny Ace after a heart punch and ropewalk elbow.
The Samoan SWAT Team (The Samoan Savage & Fatu) defeated Tommy Rich & Captain Mike Rotunda in just under 18 minutes (!) when Fatu pinned Rich.
Those first three matches were cut from the Turner Home Video release. Honestly, not much of value was lost.
In a Hair vs. Hair match between a couple of near-balds, Paul Ellering defeated Teddy Long after punching Long out with one of his own loaded boxing gloves.
Teddy ended up getting only a few locks snipped, so they couldn’t even fully deliver on the promise of a fully-bald Long.
The coverage from the Goodhelmet Yearbook collection starts with a promo from the Four Horsemen. Sid Vicious is still rocking that tux. They’re not cheap, so why not just use the hell out of it? He probably wore it to softball practice.
Ole says only an IDIOT would do what Lex Luger is doing, and his LAST BREATH will be taken in the squared circle! The Horsemen have NEVER allowed Flair to lose the title. Ric Flair (without the ponytail) comes into the picture and says that if Luger is coming into the match with one leg, he’ll remain a one-legged athlete the rest of his life.
Luger will pay the price for thinking that he was even half the man Flair is! Arn Anderson says the Horsemen are all individuals, but they work as synchronized gears towards the same goal: to keep what belongs to the Horsemen. They’ll die before they let Flair lose the title. Great promo from Flair and the Andersons here. Ole in particular had killer lines.
NWA United States Tag Team Championship: Flyin’ Brian & The Z-Man (c) vs. The Midnight Express (“Beautiful” Bobby Eaton & “Sweet” Stan Lane) - This one’s been building for a while, with belt theft and throat attacks fueling the disdain between the duos.
Per the stipulation, Jim Cornette is to be locked in a shark cage at ringside, but the teams go at it before that happens. As the teams brawl on the floor, Cornette runs into the ring…and right into a lariat from referee RANDY ANDERSON! Corny takes a hell of a bump off of that, too.
The faces stuff Cornette into the cage, then things start proper with Pillman and Eaton trading blows. Pillman counters and dodges Bobby’s stuff and hits a dropkick, then the faces do dueling monkey flips. Z-Man then launches Pillman into a slingshot double clothesline to send the Express scurrying.
Zenk and Lane continue, with Z-Man hitting a trio of armdrags. Stan dropkicks Bobby in error, Lane eats one from Zenk, then he gets pinballed with punches by the faces. Flyin’ Brian comes in and resumes the upper hand, armdragging and armbarring both Midnights until Eaton slugs Brian with some punches. Pillman comes back by landing on his feet out of a monkey flip and dropkicking Bobby in the mush.
Flyin’ Brian and Z-Man continue their dominance, countering any comeback attempt from Lane and knocking Stan into Bobby with an atomic drop. After a conference with Cornette, Lane hits a thrust kick into Zenk’s gut, but Z-Man again gets an armdrag, then another one on Eaton.
Eaton manages an armbar that he works for a while, but Z-Man escapes, then Brian barely gets a top rope sunset flip for two. Eaton falls victim to a double back body drop, then gets backdropped out of the ring. Zenk and Pillman whip Lane into Eaton and hit a double hiptoss as the babyface continue to rout the Midnights. Bobby and Brian do a nice bridging sequence, but Pillman misses a dive and takes a nasty spill to the outside. Bobby then follows with a swinging neckbreaker on the floor to FINALLY turn the tide in favor of the MXE.
Pillman tries to re-enter, but Lane knees him into the railing. The Express target Pillman’s throat with a necksnap and lariat from Stan, followed by a rolling necksnap/elbow combo. Eaton comes in for a slingshot backbreaker, then Lane decks Zenk, causing an emotional Z-Man to distract the ref, opening Brian up for some nefarious tactics. The caged Cornette approves.
More double-teaming from the Midnights gets two, then Lane checks back in for some redneck kung fu before dumping Brian for more abuse on the floor. Back in, Pillman gets a desperation sunset flip, but Bobby has the ref distracted. Eaton comes in with a GREAT flying elbow for a VERY close two, then Lane re-enters, only to get cradled for a near-fall. Eaton whips Lane into a forearm smash on Pillman, then Eaton works the pin for multiple two-counts.
Eaton hits a BEAUTIFUL Alabama Jam, but Pillman again kicks out! Brian comes back with a brute force tilt-a-whirl slam, and it’s HOT TAG Z-MAN! Zenk peppers both heels with fists and white meat babyface offense, but Lane manages a Russian legsweep! The Midnights hit the Rocket Launcher, but Z-Man kicks out!
Eaton misses a corner charge, then Z-Man hits a rebound crossbody, only for Lane to break up the pin. Brian angrily distracts the ref, allowing Lane to load up his boot and hit an enzuigiri on Z-Man. Eaton small-packages him for the win and the titles!
****1/4 - Excellent match here, with exciting near-falls, a good story being told, wonderful selling, and entertaining offense throughout. The Midnights were dialed in, bumping and feeding the babyfaces, then targeting Pillman’s neck when they finally assumed control. Zenk showed great fire, and Pillman was on another level as the face in peril.
We pick it up with Gordon Solie in the back as Sting and RoboCop head out to the arena, but the footage cuts out. The Stinger comes out wearing his best Zubaz and Gold’s Gym ensemble. As RoboCop makes his way out, the Horsemen lock Sting in Cornette’s little cage!
Fear not, though, because HERE COMES ROBOCOP!
…all 5’10” of him.
After eventually sauntering his way to ringside, he pulls the cage door off its hinges. Sting is free!
The Horsemen, now in the “Find Out” stage of FAFO, back away in terror and retreat to the locker room.
People hated the absolute shit out of this, but I can’t help but howl with laughter watching RoboCop casually walking down to help Sting and scaring the crap out of the Horsemen.
It could have been worse, though. The idea to have the Horsemen actually take BUMPS off of RoboCop was floated, but that was a bridge too far, even for the NWA.
Tony Schiavone is now with the Junkyard Dog, who has returned to the NWA! JYD barks before declaring war on the Four Horsemen, Mean Mark, and all the other baddies. Every dog needs a bone to chew on, and he found a bone!
Jim Cornette comes out to complain about JYD taking up the Midnight Express’ interview time. He brags about his team’s success before asking where JYD’s been.
JYD: “I’ve been at 845 Deberry Street in Louisville, KY. You know where that is?”
Cornette: “That’s my mother’s house!”
JYD: “That’s what I’m saying. I’m yo’ daddy!”
OK, that was tremendous.
Cornette tries to outwit Dog so that he can blindside him with the tennis racket, but JYD is somehow too smart for that, blocking the racket and sending Cornette running for the hills.
JYD can still cut an entertaining promo, but as I pointed out when he showed up in the USWA, he’s lightyears past anything that could be considered a prime. He was ridiculously out of wrestling shape, but since he worked cheap, had name recognition, and drew money years ago, Ole brought him in for a run on top.
Apparently, Tony Atlas was Ole’s first choice for a new Black star, but that didn’t pan out for some reason.
We pick it up at the end of The Rock N’ Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael “P.S.” Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) in a Corporal Punishment match. Morton is getting worked over by Jimmy Jam.
Garvin tosses Morton out for some whipping and choking with the strap. Back in, Garvin continues the beating until Ricky hurls him off the top rope. Hayes comes in and gets rammed into the turnbuckles, but Morton ends up going to the wrong corner. A Hayes bulldog is countered, however, and it’s HOT TAG GIBSON!
Gibson is a house afire before applying a sleeper on Hayes. The Freebirds break it up and Hayes DDTs Gibson, but P.S. struts around like a moron instead of going for the pin. Hayes sets up another one, but Morton comes off the top with a sunset flip for the three! Not sure about the legality of that as Gibson was the legal man, but whatever.
Morton barely gets to whip the Birds with the cat o’ nine tails (which the NWA allegedly picked up at a sex shop, I shit you not) until Hayes and Garvin escape.
There was a lot of uncertainty regarding how the match was going to work. Jim Herd thought it was going to be a Country Whipping match where the straps were in constant play, but since the match was booked to go 25 minutes, it would have been too excessive. Others, namely Morton and Ole, thought it was going to be a regular Strap match where the competitors were tied at the wrists, but that didn’t happen, either.
The end result was that they just used the whips a couple of times during what was otherwise standard fare, marking the SECOND time that the show didn’t fully deliver on an advertised stipulation.
NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) (c) vs. Doom (Ron Simmons & Butch Reed) - If you’re vegetarian or vegan, you may want to skip to the next match because we’re going to be seeing a lot of MEAT here. Jim Ross is LOCKED IN, rattling off all manner of collegiate football and wrestling credentials for the competitors.
Scott’s neon green with zebra stripes is enough, but Rick’s pink leopard print with vertical stripes is something else.
Rick yanks off Teddy Long’s bandana, exposing a head of hair that’s really only missing a few strands after the earlier apuestas match.
Scott and Ron stare each other down, with Steiner shoving the ref aside before coming to blows. After stalemating on a shoulderblock, Scotty puts Simmons down with two more and hits a HUGE powerslam! Simmons goes to the eyes and clobbers away, but Scott counters a whip and hits a release German suplex! Reed comes in to try his luck, clobbering away at Scott’s arm until Scott counters with arm wringers of his own. Scott ducks a leapfrog, then hits a dropkick, a back body drop, and some Steinerlines on both guys. Doom bails to the floor to regroup.
Rick tags in and eats some forearms from Reed, then they collide with clotheslines, with Steiner getting the worst of it. Butch resumes control until Rick blocks a hiptoss with a clothesline to send him scampering to the outside. Rick follows him out and slams Reed on the pretty blue mats, then Scott introduces him to the guardrail. Simmons re-enters and pounds away at ol’ Dogface until Rick counters a back body drop with a kneeling piledriver! Good lord.
Rick clotheslines Simmons to the floor, allowing more punishment from Scott, then Reed and Scott check in, with Scott hitting a shoulderbreaker for two. The Steiners work Reed over for a bit until Butch hits a nice flying knee on Scotty. Reed hurls him over the top rope behind the ref’s back, then Simmons beats Scott from pillar to post at ringside.
Doom dominates (Doominates?) Big Poppa Pump for a while. Multiple tag attempts are cut off, Scott is worn down, and even Theodore Long gets involved on the outside. At one point, Scott muscles Simmons into an Exploder, but he still can’t make the tag to Rick. Simmons cuts off a tag, allowing Reed to retain the upper hand with a snake eyes.
Reed drives Scott down with a bulldog for two, then hits a piledriver before tagging Ron back in. Simmons obliterates Scott with a shoulderblock, but Steiner hits a big twisting suplex out of a second attempt. Seconds later, Scott hits the Frankensteiner, and it’s HOT TAG RICK! Steinerline and a powerslam for Reed! Double suplex on Reed gets another near-fall as Simmons breaks the pin. Second-rope Hart Attack from Doom, but Rick breaks up the cover!
Scott and Simmons tumble to the floor, resulting in Freakzilla eating the ring post. While Long distracts the ref, Doom hit a second-rope double team to Rick, and Reed covers for the pin and the titles!
**** - Matches where big, rugged, beefy guys work stiff and throw each other around like sacks of laundry will always appeal to me, and this was no exception. The Steiners will suplex and piledrive you, whether you like it or not, and Doom were awesome powerhouses in their own right. At the time, Doom winning was considered a pretty major upset.
The only thing I will say is the match ran slightly long at nearly 20 minutes. Trim a few minutes off to make things tighter, and I’d put this over the US tag title match from earlier.
At the interview area, Teddy says he lost a little hair, but gained the world! Reed says they’re REAL professional athletes, and DOOM RULES! Simmons brags about winning the titles as predicted.
NWA World Heavyweight Championship, Steel Cage: Ric Flair (c) vs. Lex Luger - After the interference and fuckery at Wrestle War ‘90, things should (hopefully) be settled in the cage. Said enclosure is pretty massive, allowing Woman to remain at ringside within the cage’s confines, which kinda defeats the purpose of this kind of match.
After much argument, referee Mike Atkins checks Woman for foreign international objects and finds one in her glove.
Flair starts off by chopping Luger, then bails after Lex roars back. Luger shoulderblocks Naitch down, then hits a clothesline out of the corner for a very close two-count! After a suplex from the apron to the ring, Flair heads to the floor to regroup for a moment. He comes back in, but runs into a couple of press slams.
Flair gets a temporary advantage with an eyepoke, but Luger absorbs some chops and levels Ric with a clothesline. Another Flair chop is met with Luger’s dancing titties, so Naitch climbs up the cage. Luger gives chase, so Flair boots him down and takes over with chops, punches, and some ramming into the cage. Back in, Flair targets the injured leg and drops the knee. Flair hits a vertical suplex, but Luger FIRES UP! A clothesline puts Flair down, and it’s time for some corner punches.
Flair takes his turnbuckle bump and uses that momentum to fly up the ropes, but Luger catches him on the way down with a clubbing blow. Luger rams Flair into the cage, prompting him to again scale it. Luger follows up and rams his face repeatedly in the steel, then Flair eats some ringpost, busting him open in the process.
Back in, Luger counters an inverted atomic drop with a clothesline, but the pin is broken up as Flair grabs some rope. Flair again ascends the cage, and the Total Package again bounces Flair’s head against the steel like a blonde, bloody basketball. In the ring, Luger parries Flair’s chops, then brickwalls a shoulderblock attempt, causing Ric to bounce off like a tennis ball. Luger hits a superplex on Flair, but he buggers his knee on impact.
Flair is ALL OVER that injury, punishing the knee in his usual relentless fashion. The Figure Four is applied, with Flair grabbing the ropes for leverage. The ref catches him in the act, forcing him to release the hold.
Ole, Arn, and Sid head to cageside as Luger makes his big comeback. The announcers wonder where Barry Windham is as Luger hits a big clothesline for a VERY close two.
Luger gets another press slam as Sting comes out to neutralize the Horsemen. The numbers catch up to Sting, but here comes brand new sensation and WCW’s savior, EL GIGANTE! He’s wearing one of those costumes that was being drawn up during that Connie Chung segment.
He and Sting back the Horsemen away, but Ole Anderson uses the switch to raise the cage slightly, allowing the previously MIA Barry Windham to sneak in! Luger has Flair in the Torture Rack, but Windham breaks it up for the disqualification?!? Yes, a goddamn disqualification in a CAGE match.
Arn enters the cage and attacks Luger as Ole lowers the cage again, trapping Lex inside with the Horsemen.
Security manages to raise the cage back up, allowing Sting and El Gigante to make the rescue. Tony Schiavone interviews Flair, who rants like a lunatic until Sting attacks him! Another brawl is teased, but the Horsemen back away.
***1/2 - Luger’s condition going into the match was questionable, but Flair delivered on the formula and blood to get something good here. It doesn’t quite sniff the Wrestle War match, but the match was smartly worked and told a solid story with great selling from both guys. It was about as solid as you were going to get with one guy working with a staph infection.
Flair climbing the cage in a match with no escape rules was a bit odd, though I can almost see the tactical benefit of creating separation from Luger. Maybe he was trying to put Luger in a situation where he injures his knee, like Sting did?
However, that finish was awful. One of the main selling points of a cage match is the fact that there would be a decisive finish, or at the very least, no disqualifications. If you’re keeping a tally, that’s stipulation #3 that wasn’t delivered on by this PPV. Ole hit the ground RUNNING with the bullshit.
Apparently, per Dave Meltzer, Luger was originally slotted to win the gold here, but Ole getting the pencil, combined with Luger’s staph infection, forced an 11th hour change. Also per Dave, Woman’s involvement was used as reasoning to suspend her on-air, but in reality, she was fired from WCW in yet another boneheaded Ole decision. It’s a shame because Woman added something to the Horsemen act. Ole himself will manage the Horsemen on-air as he’s pretty much done with in-ring competition.
So, yeah, there was plenty of GREAT wrestling here, but there were a lot of booking misfires and undelivered stipulations to sour things a bit. I think the RoboCop stuff is wonderful camp, but your mileage may wildly vary. At the very least, check out the two tag title matches.
A main-event scene with Junkyard Dog and El Gigante, though? Yikes. Revisiting Ole Anderson-booked WCW is sure to be an experience.
THE TUGBOAT TRIBUNE
As always, the news comes courtesy of Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
The prospective main event of the upcoming Clash of the Champions XI show is set to be the Steiner Brothers (with Sting in their corner) vs. Ric Flair & Barry Windham of the Four Horsemen (with Sid Vicious in their corner). Lex Luger vs. Arn Anderson is penciled in for the undercard.
Neither of those matches happened. The actual card is SO MUCH WORSE.
Per Joe Pedicino, ComSat, a massive cable conglomerate, is looking to purchase WCW from Ted Turner.
The rumor is denied by those involved.
Vince McMahon was also making offers to Turner, but Billionaire Ted refused due to past acrimony between the two.
Vince did eventually buy WCW in 2001, but only because Turner was out of power at that point and AOL Time Warner wanted rid of it.
Genichiro Tenryu will be headed stateside soon to drive metaphorical dumptrucks full of money to Hulk Hogan and/or Ric Flair to work the first Super World of Sports show in August.
As a result of the Great Windham Family Counterfeiting Scandal, Blackjack Mulligan was sentenced to 24 months in prison and two years’ probation, while Kendall Windham got 27 months behind bars and two years’ probation.
NEXT TIME: Keiji Muto vs. Riki Choshu, Chris Adams vs. Steve Austin in a BARBED WIRE match, Kerry Von Erich vs. Matt Borne, and more!
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