Ryan Navigates '90 - #52 (7/8 - 7/13)
Sid Vicious is no blonde-haired prima donna cutie!
Good day!
After the absolute gluttony that was Part 51, it’s nice to have a relatively light slate of content. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have some of The Good Stuff coming up, though.
We’ll have a youth vs. experience battle for All Japan’s junior heavyweight title, Jeff Jarrett taking on new rival Iceman King Parsons, and some odds and ends to round things out.
SUNDAY, JULY 8th
WWF Wrestling Challenge
“Mean” Gene Okerlund welcomes Demolition to the interview platform for a chat. HERE COMES THE AX! HERE COMES THE SMASHER! That Rick Derringer song is a top five wrestling theme at the very least. R.I.P., Rick.
All three members (Ax, Smash, and Crush) come out, with the latter two wearing the tag belts.
Gene is unsure of what to make of the situation, so Ax tells him he doesn’t have to make anything of it. He then directs a message to the Hart Foundation: there’s a NEW Demolition in town; one more powerful and destructive than ever before. They’ve grown to a three-member unit because their power structure expands every day.
Crush then tells everyone that it’s NOBODY’S STINKIN’ BUSINESS as to why he’s here, especially Gene, who he refers to as “amoeba”.
AMOEEEEEEBAAAAA! AMOEEEEEEEBAAAAA!
Crush came to Demolition under one condition: that he didn’t have to like anyone, and he was allowed to beat up anyone he doesn’t like. Isn’t that what they print on recruitment material for ICE?
Crush says he already hates the Hart Foundation’s STINKIN’ GUTS!
Smash approves of Crush’s attitude because it aligns with Demolition’s own. They don’t care about these STINKIN’ people, and they’re only here to knock somebody’s head off! After the head is knocked off, Ax axes them, Smash smashes them (phrasing?), and Crush crushes them!
That was super-cartoony, especially on Crush’s part, but it was a fun little interview to further establish Demolition’s new heel dynamic and further the issue with the Hart Foundation. I always enjoyed Ax’s super-raspy voice in promos.
Crush’s facepaint needed serious work, though, as it stuck out like a sore thumb. It would look much cooler once he adopted the red and silver color palette of the other two.
As brought up in a past issue of the Tugboat Tribune, Crush was brought aboard to help carry some of the load as Ax was dealing with a heart issue.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 11th
USWA Evansville Television (Memphis)
Jerry “The King” Lawler addresses The Snowman, proclaiming that all the talking will end once they compete in an upcoming 2-out-of-3 Falls match (“like the good old days”).
The King extols the virtues of that style of match, saying you had to PROVE you were worthy of being a champion instead of stumbling into a fluke win. Lawler doubts that Snowman has it in him for such a long match, and he promises to take back his USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship.
Simple, effective, and it did a good job explaining the benefits of the 2-out-of-3 Falls stip.
THURSDAY, JULY 12th
AJPW Summer Action Series 1990, Night 5 (Bruiser Brody Memorial Night)
AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship: Masanobu Fuchi (c) vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi - I will always pop for Masa Fuchi coming out to Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone”.
Kikuchi, a tremendous babyface, is about two and a half years in the business at this point. This is his first ever shot at the junior title.
The elder Fuchi dominates on the mat in the early going while the intrepid Kikuchi escapes his holds. Kikuchi fights back and bests Fuchi in a knucklelock battle before establishing his own upper hand for a bit. Moments later, Kikuchi backs Fuchi into the corner and UNLOADS with elbows and shoulders!
After Fuchi takes a moment to collect himself, he tries to aggressively wrest Kikuchi against the ropes, but the youngster fires back with forearms to force another retreat. Fuchi re-enters the ring and regains the advantage with some knees to the guts and a vicious bodyslam. Kikuchi, in pain, defiantly stares daggers at Fuchi.
Fuchi baits him into a lock-up, but ends up slapping him around instead. Fuchi then wrecks Kikuchi with harsh big boots before stomping him into jelly. Kikuchi rallies back with punches, but Fuchi blocks a dropkick with a boot. Even when lying on his back, Kikuchi keeps fighting.
Fuchi again wrestles Kikuchi to the mat, trapping the leg and grinding his elbow onto Kikuchi’s head. Fuchi works his way to a full mount, but Kikuchi grabs the ropes to force a break. Fuchi hits a gutwrench for two, but Kikuchi counters a vertical suplex with one of his own, then assaults him with a pair of huge missile dropkicks for two!
A fisherman’s suplex nets another near-fall, then Kikuchi hits another missile dropkick. However, he charges at Fuchi and takes a backdrop to the floor for his trouble. Fuchi follows up by whipping Kikuchi into the railing and slamming him onto the bare wood floor!
Kikuchi crawls back in, only to get immediately hurled out again. Back in, Fuchi locks in a Boston crab, but Kikuchi makes the ropes with the quickness. Fuchi continues pressing his attack on the back, applying another Boston crab, this time in the dead center of the ring.
Kikuchi grasps the ropes before getting yanked back by Fuchi. He switches to a half-crab, but Kikuchi finally breaks via the ropes. Fuchi smacks the greenhorn around, but Kikuchi fires back with wild blows and looks to scale the ropes, but Fuchi cuts him off at the pass. Fuchi looks to toss him off, but Kikuchi shifts his weight and lands on top for a VERY close near-fall!
Kikuchi looks for his OWN Boston crab, but settles for a half-crab that Fuchi quickly escapes. Kikuchi immediately secures a high-angle crab, but he’s still too close to the ropes. After much resistance, Kikuchi hits a beauty of a German suplex for another close near-fall.
Kikuchi goes for a victory roll, but Fuchi sits down on it for two. Kikuchi ducks one enzuigiri attempt, but Fuchi lands the other. Fuchi gets a backdrop suplex for another two-count, then finally puts Kikuchi down for the three with a German suplex.
**** - Take a surly veteran like Fuchi and put him with a plucky underdog like Kikuchi, and you’re bound to get something highly entertaining. Fuchi was in his element as the tenured bully, torturing Kikuchi with vicious matwork and using his guile to outwit the youngster.
Kikuchi’s top-level babyface fire served as a tremendous compliment and created an engrossing dynamic. Even though Kikuchi wasn’t exactly a featured player at this point, he got the crowd very much behind him with his selling and comebacks. AJPW’s juniors division doesn’t get the same level of acclaim as New Japan’s, but it still produced some worthwhile stuff.
Fuchi was actually in the thick of a monstrous 1,309-day reign as AJPW Junior Heavyweight champion. He won the title for the third time on October 20th, 1989 and wouldn’t drop it until May 21st, 1993! All told, he’d have a record 2,443 combined days days as champion across five reigns, which equates to a little over six and a half years. That is more than double the second-place Yoshinari Ogawa, who had 1,211 total days as junior titleholder.
Kikuchi had multiple unsuccessful title shots over the years before finally winning the gold in 1996.
FRIDAY, JULY 13th
NWA Power Hour
This week on the Louisville Slugger, Jim Cornette welcomes Arn Anderson and Sid Vicious from the Horsemen. On a bit of a sad note, Sid no longer has his tuxedo.
Ole Anderson and Ric Flair are apparently in a meeting with the WCW board of directors to debate that “freak ripoff” that happened at the Great American Bash. Arn says that if you have a problem, the only way to correct it is to identify and locate every source of said problem. The Great American Bash was the most horrific night the Horsemen can remember having in a long time.
Rather than spending the night partying in Baltimore like after the last few Bashes, the Horsemen spent all night plotting the destructions of every single Dude With Attitude. Cornette then brings up Sid’s quickie loss at the last Clash of the Champions, saying that was also a ripoff.
Sid tells Lex Luger that he’s not looking at a “blonde-haired prima donna CUTIE”! He’s looking at the biggest, meanest and nastiest man in the business! When you look into Sid’s eyes, you’ll know he’s telling NOTHING but the truth! His facial expressions are incredible.
Arn says that the Horsemen of today were brought together by necessity, and they specialize in “big men”, saying they know who they are.
Arn again brought the goods on the mic, and Sid’s portion was delightfully maniacal.
USWA Challenge (Dallas)
Jeff Jarrett vs. Iceman King Parsons - We’re already getting a match from last Saturday’s big quasi-shoot angle. Iceman comes out in workout clothes, rather than his wrestling gear, signaling that he’s here to FIGHT.
Much like the Jerry Lawler/Snowman feud that came before, this match starts off with a lot of rough grappling and brawling on the mat in an attempt to create a shoot-like feel. Referee Tony Falk separates the competitors, then Parsons boxes Jarrett down and blasts him with a headbutt.
The lads circle each other around, then Jarrett backs Iceman into the corner for some punches, but Parsons pops him in the face when Falk breaks it up. Jarrett fights back with some rights, then they end up scrapping again on the mat. Falk again involves himself, so Parsons socks HIM! Good.
Jarrett punches Parsons down as Falk calls for the disqualification. They scrap again, with Parsons slugs the ref down again in the process. The melee resumes until several wrestlers from the back break it up.
Parsons grabs the mic and asks Jarrett if he had the referee in his back pocket again (dude, you punched him TWICE), then tells all the “little girls” holding him back to TURN HIM LOOSE. Jarrett nearly makes it back, but a bevy of babyfaces hold him back as Gary Young and Sweet Daddy Falcone restrain Iceman.
Parsons grabs Craig Johnson’s microphone and threatens to get Jeff Jarrett, even if he has to do it at the store or at church! He’s just like all the ROOTY POOTS out here, then refers to Jeff as “Jessica”. Oh, got his ass.
Of interest, after Parsons leaves, Craig promotes an upcoming interview with The Snowman and refers to him as the NEW USWA Unified World Heavyweight Champion, marking a rare occasion where that title changing hands was actually acknowledged in Dallas.
The match itself was a bit short to rate, but while it was generally fine for what it was, it didn’t successfully capture the gritty, realistic feel of the first Lawler/Snowman match. Jarrett/Parsons felt much more “pro wrestling” with a few raw takedowns and hard punches mixed in with obviously-worked strikes.
It’s also still not entirely clear WHY Parsons is specifically targeting Jarrett, even after having some mic time. In Memphis, they made the beef crystal clear right away, thus giving the fans a reason to believe that Snowman and Lawler hated each other.
This is like when a movie or TV show gets rebooted, but it fails to capture what made the original so special. While I still enjoyed the chaos and the brawling, I can’t help but feel that it suffers greatly in comparison to the Memphis version of the angle.
Also, how am I JUST noticing that the feuds involve guys named Snowman and Iceman? That’s pretty cool.
THE TUGBOAT TRIBUNE
As always, the news comes courtesy of Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Dave reports on the infamous July 4th parasailing accident that resulted in a shattered face for Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, and it was GRUESOME. I’ll spare you the horrific details, but feel free to check out any of his interviews or watch his Dark Side of the Ring episode for a detailed account.
Ten hours of surgery was needed to reconstruct his face using parts of his hipbone.
He is estimated to be out at least 18 months, if not longer. There’s doubts that he’d even return to the ring.
Brutus would eventually come back, but he wouldn’t be a fraction of the worker he was.
Given what happened, he was lucky not only to be alive, but to come out of it looking relatively normal (for him).
The WWF is likely planning to using the incoming Kerry Von Erich to replace Brother Bruti in the planned SummerSlam Intercontinental title match with Mr. Perfect.
In FMW news, Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto had an empty arena match that went 34 minutes and ended up in the bushes outside of the arena.
This was apparently a tribute to Terry Funk.
Tully Blanchard’s attempt at a comeback was halted by a serious Achilles tendon injury that requires surgery.
NEXT TIME: TONS from Memphis, Stan Hansen vs. Tommy Rich from WCW, and more!
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Nice piece that brought back some old NWA memories. Ah, Dudes with Attitudes. I forgot all about that face group. NWA had a way in this era of presenting faces that made you want to boo them, but in a fun way, I recall. Sometimes you booed just because of a name like here. This stuck out more because the general fan base at the live shows there always seemed to lean heavy into liking the heels, and not just The Four Horsemen, but others from the roster too like Midnight Express and a few others.