Ryan's Dive into '95 - Part 23 (6/4 - 6/10)
We have an All-Japan tag match that some people really like. Plus, a Triplemania match, a Hart family affair, Dan Kroffat acts like a dick, the Dungeon of Doom shows up, and more!
If you haven’t read it already, please check out my introductory article that explains what this series is all about. As a reminder, footage is sourced from the Goodhelmet 1995 Yearbook, unless otherwise stated.
How ya now?
After a lightweight week last week, we’ve got a huge slate this week. How huge, you ask? Well, we only have the match that many people consider to be the greatest tag team match ever wrestled. If that doesn’t make for a blockbuster week at The Dive, I don’t know what would. That match is going to cast a large shadow over everything else, but there’s still some other good stuff. We have an atomicos match from the third AAA Triplemania series of shows, a killer AJPW juniors match more vignettes, and what looks like one hell of a King of the Ring qualifying match on paper.
Well…
JUNE 5th
WWF Monday Night RAW - The week starts off with a Diesel music video. It's mostly clips of him doing his few wrestling moves to various jobbers and sauntering around, all set to his “Diesel Blues” theme music. There’s a lot of contrast on display, as you get sneering, badass heel Diesel destroying enhancement talent with ease juxtaposed against happy-go-lucky, Jackie Gleason-quoting, dork-ass babyface Diesel. It does absolutely no favors for his current character.
Owen Hart vs. The British Bulldog - As discussed during my look at In Your House, this was actually a dark match filmed after the live PPV went off the air. This is also the final (well, in theory) King of the Ring qualifying match. Davey Boy always has upper-tier chemistry with the Harts, so this should be a good time.
Both guys work over the arm to start, giving us some really fun mat wrestling. Jim Ross states multiple times that ONLY WINNERS ADVANCE, so you may as well flash a written description of how the match ends on the screen in big, bold font. Bulldog gets a press slam for two, then Owen bails to regroup. Bulldog slingshots Owen back in and continues to dominate with armbars. Owen makes a few attempts to regain the advantage, but they are quickly snuffed out by Davey Boy. Big stalling vertical suplex gets a VERY close two. ONLY WINNERS ADVANCE.
Owen soon takes over after a kitchen sink, then starts the beatdown as RAW ROLLS ON!
This week’s episode of Monday Night RAW is brought to you by ONLY WINNERS ADVANCE.
And we're back with Owen NAILING a spinning heel kick and getting a jackknife roll-up for two. We've under five minutes left as Owen grabs a sleeper. ONLY WINNERS ADVANCE. Bulldog fights out and hits a back suplex. Bulldog gets a sunset flip for a close two, but Owen comes back with an enzuigiri! ONLY WINNERS ADVANCE. Owen goes for a dropkick, but Bulldog catches him and catapults him into the turnbuckle, then follows up with a fisherman's suplex for two! Davey busting THAT one out of nowhere. I love that the announcers aren’t allowed to directly name Mr. Perfect, but they reference him.
Bulldog goes for a surfboard with under two minutes remaining (which is stressful because ONLY WINNERS ADVANCE), but his shoulders were down, resulting in the hold being quickly released. Bulldog gets the running powerslam, but Owen gets his foot on the ropes! Inside cradle and crucifix each get two counts as we've got under one minute left! ONLY WINNERS ADVANCE. They keep trading flash pins until the 15-minute limit expires! WE HAVE A DRAW!
***1/4 - As expected, this was quite good. Bulldog hit some fun power stuff and Owen was a resourceful, technically-sound heel. They also had a terrific sense of urgency near the end as they kept going for rapid-fire pinfalls in the face of the encroaching time limit, because ONLY WINNERS ADVANCE. Things actually got really exciting near the end. I’d have to assume that a good portion of Owen’s heat segment was left on the cutting room floor as we got 12 out of 15 minutes. The match basically went from feeling out and Bulldog shine to the finishing sequence fairly quickly. JR and Gorilla foreshadowing the ending throughout the match with the subtlety of a diamond-encrusted sledgehammer to the face didn't exactly help, either. Nowhere near the best match these guys would have, but this was rock solid.
As I’m sure you picked up by now, ONLY WINNERS ADVANCE, so both guys have been knocked out of the tournament. Another qualifying match between Lex Luger and Yokozuna was booked for the June 12th episode of RAW. Yoko won that one by count-out to round out the field because he, as a winner, advanced. The tournament matches slated for the King of the Ring PPV are as follows:
Yokozuna vs. Razor Ramon (who defeated Jacob Blu on the 5/20 Superstars to advance)
Bob Holly (who somehow defeated the mighty Mantaur on the 5/15 RAW) vs. The Roadie (who defeated Doink on the 6/3 episode of Superstars)
The Undertaker (having defeated Jeff Jarrett on the 5/29 RAW in a match that set a new ratings record BREE WOO) vs. Mabel (who defeated Adam Bomb at In Your House)
Shawn Michaels (who had just defeated King Kong Bundy on the 5/22 RAW) vs. Kama (who disposed of Duke “The Dumpster” Droese on the 5/27 Superstars)
On, paper, with the exception of Holly vs. Roadie (yes, that was an actual match that you were expected to pay real hard-earned money for), the brackets looked pretty decent. The first round matches were gonna be rough going, but there were some tantalizing match possibilities in there for further rounds. The early scuttlebutt from Dave Meltzer was that this was going to be a Shawn Michaels showcase, much like Bret Hart's 1993 tournament run was. Yeeeaaahhhhh, about that. I’ll talk about it more when we get to the actual pape.
We now check in with The Bodydonnas, as Skip runs up and down the stairs a lot. Sunny says that Skip gets his workout in before his matches, because when he gets in the ring, it'll be NO SWEAT. Hahaha, get it? Because they’re EVIL FITNESS GURUS.
We now get a close-up of Jerry “The King” Lawler's nasty unwashed feet. Seriously, those things are nastier than the shit I read about Louis Dangoor and Hawaiian pizza. Jerry hasn't washed them in two weeks, and doesn't plan on washing them until after the King of the Ring PPV. The reason? Because Lawler accepts Bret Hart's challenge for a match, but it's going to be a “Kiss My Foot” match.
Speaking of The Hitman, Bret Hart comes to the ring to be interviewed by Vince McMahon. Bret addresses the newly-booked Kiss My Foot match.
Lawler taunts Bret at ringside by taking off his boot.
Bret accepts the terms of the match and explains his recent misery stemming from losing to Lawler at In Your House as The King waves his foot around. He will not only make Jerry kiss his foot at King of the Ring, but he threatens to make Lawler kiss his OWN disgusting foot. That’s a LOT of foot talk.
In a completely minor note that won't have ANY impact on the future direction of American pro wrestling, Eric Bischoff and Ted Turner had a meeting on this day. What came of it was a certain Monday night television show that I'm sure we'll see more of later this year.
JUNE 6th
ECW Hardcore TV - We start with Joey Styles trying to interview Paul E. Dangerously, who keeps bumping into Joey and yelling “DEMOLITION DERBYYYYYYY!!”. Paul explains Tasmaniac's character change, dropping the caveman/savage gimmick and going full HUMAN SUPLEX MACHINE.
We now cut to the end of The Sandman (c) vs. Shane Douglas for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. Douglas does the Flair turnbuckle bump and eats a clothesline on the apron. The crowd WOOs in response.
Sandy thwarts an escape attempt and hits a DDT on a table on the floor, then dumps another table onto Douglas. Back in, Sandman gets a slingshot senton, but misses a top rope legdrop, allowing Douglas to take the advantage. Sandman reverses a belly-to-belly into one of his own. Shane puts his foot on the rope, but Woman knocks it off and the ref counts three!
Sandman retains…but Bill Alfonso comes out. Because of the interference, he restarts the match!
Woman encourages Sandman to cane Bill Alfonso, so Alfonso threatens to shut down ECW if that happens. Sandman takes a swing, but Cactus Jack runs in and takes the blow to save Extreme Championship Wrestling! Sandman continues to wail on Cactus until Douglas rolls Sandman up for the three and the title?
Alfonso tries to present the belt to Douglas, but original referee John Finnegan takes it away and presents it back to Sandman. Meanwhile, Shane and Cactus exchange pleasantries and look to engage in fisticuffs, but Dean Malenko comes in and attacks Jack's leg! Tommy Dreamer comes out and runs everyone off…then Raven and Stevie Richards attack Dreamer and Cactus!
This was kinda nutty, but ECW reveled in that kind of excess. It turns out that Shane Douglas does not win the title here, so Sandman's reign continues unabated.
JUNE 9th
AJPW Super Power Series, Night 15 - You see the date, you see the logo. You know we've got the BIG ONE coming up, but first…
AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship: Danny Kroffat (c) vs. Rob Van Dam - Hey, it's a young pre-ECW RVD! Danny Kroffat is someone a lot of people will remember as one half of the Can-Am Express with Doug Furnas. Furnas and Kroffat were an incredible team, despite what WWE's YouTube will have you think. They tore it up in AJPW, had some appearances in ECW, and even had a brief run in the WWF in 1996-97 (where Kroffat wrestled under his real name, Phil Lafon).
RVD is clad in a plain black singlet, a far cry from the awesome airbrushed singlets he would become famous for. He does do the spinkick during his ring intro, though! Kroffat enters to Guns ‘n Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle”.
Feeling-out process to start until Kroffat takes over with some CHOPS. RVD comes back with a Japanese armdrag (that may be the first time I’ve seen that move done in Japan!) and a rebound crossbody for two. More feeling out until Kroffat nails a hook kick, but Rob quickly hits his rolling monkey flip… but Kroffat lands on his feet! RVD flips him off to retaliate.
Kroffat takes the bait and eats a few kicks. They dodge each other's kicks and it's a PARITY SEQUENCE! RVD works over a headlock for a bit until Kroffat grabs the hair to back him into the corner…then knees him in the nards! We then get another pinfall sequence before everything is square again. RVD soon snags a surfboard, but Kroffat quickly escapes.
Kroffat SPITS on RVD from the apron and hops back to the floor. RVD responds by kicking Danny in the back of the head! He then follows with a suplex and a moonsault off the apron (which the cameras mostly misses). Kroffat comes back with a vicious Saito suplex in the ring, then suplexes RVD back out of the ring!
Kroffat follows with a nasty gourdbuster in the floor. Back in, he works over the midsection, at one point grabbing a surfboard using Rob’s HAIR! What a jerk!
Second-rope senton gets two for Kroffat. Rob comes back by dumping Kroffat, then following up with a somersault plancha! RVD nails his flying sidekick, a standing moonsault, and a delayed floatover suplex, earning some two-counts, but Kroffat hits a big DDT for two. RVD catches a dive with a belly-to-belly for two, then hits a springboard legdrop for another near-fall. Beautiful split-legged moonsault gets another two!
Kind of a weird powerbomb-gutwrench thing from RVD leads to a 450 attempt…which misses! I don’t remember seeing him try that before, honestly. RVD comes back with some strikes, but Kroffat lariats his head off for two! Flipping senton off the top nets a near-fall, as does a Tiger Driver! Inverted superplex gets three as Kroffat retains!
****1/4 - The main event pretty much gets all the love from this show, but this match was quite excellent. RVD didn't have nearly the level of charisma that he would eventually be known for, but he did very well in hitting his moves and taking stiff bumps. Kroffat was on another level, though, being a complete dickhead heel while still keeping the match going at a good clip. Absolutely give this one a watch.
AJPW World Tag Team Championship: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi (c) vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue - You may have heard of this one before. As you may recall, these two teams went to a full 60-minute time-limit draw on January 24th. Taue had recently come up short against Misawa in the Champion Carnival final, and Kawada has never managed to pin Misawa during his career, so the Holy Demon Army has something to prove. Kobashi and Misawa are the walking wounded, with Misawa still recovering from the broken orbital bone sustained during his Champion Carnival match with Kawada, and Kobashi having a bum leg. It's got Larry Trainor-level bandaging on it.
Kobashi and Taue kick things off with some striking and dodging of said strikes. Kobashi goes for a wristlock, but Taue kicks the damaged leg to put that to an end. Kobashi is not pleased.
Kobashi fires off some chops, but Taue comes back with a facecrusher and tags in Kawada. Kawada weathers some chops and nails some of his own. Kobashi Irish-whips Kawada, who boots Misawa right in the fucking orbital bone and off the apron! Misawa tags in to get him some of Kawada. They exchange chops and elbows, then dodge and parry each others kicks…then Kawada catches Kobashi napping on the apron and boots HIM off.
After a tense stand-off, Taue tags in and quickly eats a rolling elbow. Kobashi comes in and works over Taue for a bit. Chops are exchanged until Kobashi nails a big boot. Misawa comes in and lays in some kicks. Kobashi comes in for a delayed suplex for a near-fall. Taue continues to be the Holy Demon in peril for a bit, eating a shoulderblock off the apron from Kobashi while Kawada runs in and gets BLASTED with a Misawa elbow for his efforts. Elbow suicida to Taue follows, then a double-suplex gets two.
Taue dodges a Kobashi shoulderblock and finally tags out to Kawada! Kobashi's injured leg is the target of several vicious kicks. Kobashi tries a kick of his own, but he slowly collapses because of his injury. This sell was an absolute thing of beauty.
Kawada drops a HUGE knee on the leg and applies a standing leglock. The Holy Demon Army works the leg over in vicious fashion, with Taue getting a scorpion deathlock. Kobashi powers out, but Kawada tags in and fucking WRECKS the leg with kicks. Taue attempts a kneebreaker, but Kobashi escapes and falls into his corner for the tag! Misawa comes in and beats on Taue and goes after Kawada on the apron, who wisely dodges. A second attempt DOES catch Kawada, finally giving him a taste of his own medicine, and Misawa continues the elbow party on Taue.
Misawa applies a Boston crab, but Kawada just casually strolls in and kicks Misawa right in the eye, then just walks off! Fucking COLD. Kawada continues abusing Misawa's face with brutal knees and kicks. Misawa tries to fire back with elbows, but Kawada nails a Yakuza kick and Taue claws at the orbital bone behind the ref's back, then dropkicks Kobashi's leg!
Misawa comes back with elbows, felling Kawada in the corner, but Taue intervenes. Kobashi tries to put a stop to that, but Taue attacks his leg. Taue then Nodowa Otoshi’s Misawa onto Kobashi's injured leg! That is absolutely BRILLIANT.
Kawada comes off the top with a knee to REALLY fuck up Kobashi's leg, then hits a spinkick on Misawa for two. Kawada and Taue continue working over Misawa's face in vicious fashion. Kawada even gets Misawa's own crossface on him as Kobashi applies more athletic tape to his leg. Kawada hits a brutal lariat on Misawa for a near-fall. Kawada hits a big powerbomb on Misawa for a close two while Taue drops Kobashi knee-first on the guardrail! Kawada gets the Stretch Plum as Kobashi gingerly tries to stop it. Taue tries to cut him off, but ends up taking a lariat.
Kobashi breaks it up, and Kobashi and Kawada end up clotheslining each other down. Ganmengiri from Misawa, and it's a big tag to Kobashi! Kobashi launches some chops, which are absorbed by Kawada, who then kicks the bad leg. Kobashi gets his own leg kicks, but Kawada soon regains the upper hand. Taue tags in and Kobashi kicks HIS leg and unloads the chops in-between bouts of fighting through considerable pain. Taue takes the blows and fights back with a couple of boots to the face.
Taue tries some Baba chops, but Kobashi POWERS UP and HURLS Taue away.
Falling lariat takes down Taue for a two-count. Powerbomb is blocked, but Misawa comes in for a double Tiger Driver for two as Kawada breaks up the pin. Kawada eats a double elbow for his efforts. Kobashi goes for the moonsault, but Kawada kicks him in the face! Kobashi manages a thrust kick and collapses into his corner for MOLTEN HOT TAG MISAWA! Elbows ahoy! Tiger Driver gets a SUPER CLOSE two on Taue! Misawa grabs his crossface while Kobashi has Kawada occupied in the corner, but Kawada, much like Buster Bunny on the SNES, busts loose and breaks the hold.
Kawada hits a SICK backdrop driver on Misawa and looks to accept the tag from Taue…but Kobashi knocks his ass off the apron! Kobashi comes back in and lands a German, but can't hold a bridge because his leg is cooked. Another moonsault is teased, but Kawada kicks the leg and slams Kobashi off the ropes. Kawada tags in, but Kobashi reverses a backdrop driver for two! Kobashi manages to gut out a back suplex and goes for another kick at the moonsault can, but Taue cuts him off. Misawa uses this distraction to nail a frog splash on Kawada, continuing the theme of Misawa bailing out the injured Kobashi.
Kobashi goes for the moonsault again, but Kawada interrupts. Misawa interrupts that interruption and puts Kawada down with a slam and a senton. Kobashi FINALLY lands that moonsault…for TWO! Kobashi landed on the leg, which is now and truly fucked. Misawa tags in and tries for some tiger moves without success, but manages a release German on Kawada. Tiger suplex hold gets two! TIGER DRIVER, but Taue breaks up the pin by kicking him in the eye!
Taue strikes it again and hits a Nodowa Otoshi, but Kobashi goes to intercept a top rope Nodowa…until Kawada kicks his leg! This allows Taue to score a SUPER Nodowa Otoshi! Kawada then nails an abesigiri (rolling kick) to Misawa's chin! Taue then goes for a Nodowa off the apron, but Kobashi interrupts…only for Kawada to kick his leg out of his…uh, leg once again! Kawada then lariats Misawa in the back of the head, and Taue gets the apron Nodowa! Fuuuuuuck!
Kobashi crawls on top of Misawa to absorb the blows for him as that is pretty much all he can do at this point. Taue eventually rolls Misawa into the ring, but Kawada can't get a cover as Misawa keeps rolling out, finally ending up out of the ring. Kawada tosses him back in, but only gets two. Kawada tries a powerbomb, but Kobashi clings desperately to Misawa's legs to prevent it. Taue pulls him off and hits him with a Nodowa as Kawada hits a folding powerbomb…but Misawa rolls out of the pin!
Misawa blocks another powerbomb, but the tank's pretty much on ‘E’ at this point. Again, Kobashi comes in and sacrifices himself to mitigate further harm to his partner. The Holy Demons have had enough of this selflessness shit and nail a backdrop driver-Nodowa combo to completely wreck Kobashi! Misawa gets a desperation elbow on Taue, but Kawada NAILS a huge ganmengiri for a close two! Kawada hits a backdrop driver, but Misawa persists! Another ganmengiri hits the mark!
Kawada hits a MASSIVE folding powerbomb and GETS THREE! We have new champions, and Kawada FINALLY gets that elusive pinfall over Misawa!
***** - I mean, what else can be said about this match that hasn't already been said by better writers? It's the closest thing I can think of to a truly *perfect* match. This had the big moves, the close calls, the multi-layered storytelling, the SELLING, facial expressions, creative spots, molten crowd heat, an excellent pace that peaked and valleyed at the right times, an incredibly satisfying ending, EVERYTHING you could possibly want out of a wrestling match. Kawada turned the aggression up to eleven in order to finally get that pinfall over his long-time rival. Even though he and Taue leaned more heel than they normally would, the crowd was still ecstatic that he was able to best Misawa after so many years and attempts. Both Misawa and Kobashi came in with injuries, and they were masterfully exploited by the Holy Demon Army.
Taue was a great remorseless bastard, and Misawa was excellent as the elder of his tag team who kept giving his team a fight chance and kept swinging in the face of increasingly-unfavorable odds. However, Kobashi absolutely took this match from ‘excellent’ to ‘work of art’ with his performance. His selling and facial expressions were INCREDIBLE, playing the gutsy babyface like few others have before or since. The stuff with him sacrificing himself to preserve his partner was incredible storytelling.
I believe this was the very first AJPW match I have ever seen, having first watched it over two decades ago, and I immediately fell in love with the style. I’ve seen it many times since, and I find new things to love about it each time.
So, yes, this bout is absolutely my pick for match of the year thus far, and it would take an absolutely Herculean effort to unseat it.
Hell, I’ll throw my vote at it being the best tag match of all time. Yes, better than Hangman Page & Kenny Omega vs. The Young Bucks. Better than Midnights vs. Rock ‘N Roll. Better than Rhodes & Steamboat vs. Anderson & Zbyszko. Dare I say it, even better than Brothers of Destruction vs. Kronik.
In terms of the best match EVER? I’d say it’s absolutely in the conversation at least. I’ll just leave it at that.
We already know that the Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue match from May 7th was voted Match of the Year by the readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, but this tag had to have come in near the top, right?
Well, dear readers, this match came in SEVENTH in the Match of the Year voting. SEVENTH! Just for context, here’s the top ten:
Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon (Summerslam)
Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis (ECW South Philly Jam)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada (1/24)
Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (ECW Hostile City showdown)
Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada (6/9)
Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis (9/22)
Ultimo Dragon vs. Lion Heart (7/7)
Manami Toyota vs Akira Hokuto (9/2)
It’s crazy to think that a match that has been universally beloved for decades didn’t even make the top five in the MOTY voting. The almost-as-amazing Champion Carnival finals between Misawa and Taue didn’t even make the top ten! I don't want to get mad at a nearly 30-year-old Observer Awards vote, but COME ON, GUYS!
Bitching aside, we’ll still have several other match of the year contenders to check out over the course of this series, some I haven't seen yet. I’ll probably go more in-depth with my own personal match of the year rankings when I close out this series.
JUNE 10th
AAA Triplemania III-A - As a significant departure from the last match, we have some hot atomicos action from the first of three Triplemania shows for 1995.
Perro Aguayo, Konnan, La Parka and Octagon vs. Pentagon, Cien Caras, Jerry Estrada and Mascara Ano 2000 - That’s some pretty insane star power on the tecnico side. The Pentagon here (the future Espanto Jr.) was the first to use the name and was basically conceived as Octagon's Wario. He's not related to anyone else that used the Pentagon name, but his son works in CMLL under the Espanto Jr. name, and his nephew is Andrade El Idolo. Mascara Ano 2000 somehow earned the name “El Padre de Más de 20” ("Father of More Than 20") over the years. It's doubtful that he actually sired that many children, though, but still.
PRIMERA CAIDA: Before the in-ring action starts, Perro Aguayo Jr. (who was set to make his debut shortly) and Fuerza Guerrera, the seconds at ringside, have themselves a scrap. We then get a crazy brawl around ringside involving everyone in the match. Jerry Estrada beats the shit out of La Parka with a sign.
Estrada wails on La Parka with a chair as Pentagon posts Octagon and the other two rudos double-team K-Dogg, presumably after he asked them if they listened to his podcast. La Parka absolutely EATS a ringpost. Within the fracas, Cien Caras cradles Konnan for the three, giving the first fall to the rudos.
SEGUNDA CAIDA: The wild brawling picks back up, with Estrada and Penta double-teaming Perro Aguayo on the floor.
Back in, the double-teaming continues, but Aguayo fights back, and everyone goes after their rivals.
Pentagon, being a cowardly shit, runs up the aisle when Octagon nears. After more brawling, La Parka and Jerry Estrada have a go in the ring, with Parka dancing around, much to Estrada's confusion…then Estrada just boots him down. Parka comes back with a ganmengiri (!), then Estrada takes a HUGE backdrop out of the ring. Pentagon and Octagon check in, but Penta runs away before the Battle of the Polygons can commence. Mascara Ano 2000 and Perro Aguayo now go at it, but the heels quickly overwhelm Perro, allowing them to control things for a bit.
Perro makes the comeback, causing Penta and Mascara to clothesline each other after making Mascara bodydrop Pentagon out of the ring! Konnan comes in and doesn't do much, other than getting kneed by Cien Caras. They do a fast sequence until Caras misses a boot and flies over the ropes. Konnan goes after the other rudos and gets the crowd amped up. Jerry bails, but La Parka hits a BIG moonsault to the floor on him! Octagon hits a rebound headbutt and pins Mascara, giving the second fall to the tecnicos!
TERCERA CAIDA: Before the third fall commences, Mascara takes one of the refs over for a kiss from a lovely lady at ringside. La Parka and Penta trade sick dance moves to start the fall. Parka causes Estrada to be chopped by his teammates, and Parka dances like a madman while the rudos surround him!
Naturally, they beat La Parka down, but Parka slips out, and the rudos continue beating down Pentagon by mistake! That was legit hilarious; probably one of the biggest laughs I had so far doing this series that isn’t attributed to Buddy Landel. Konnan and Estrada then go at it, with Konnan getting the best of that exchange. Pentagon makes a go of it, but Konnan continuously shuts the door on HIM.
Mascara and Perro come in, and Aguayo chops Mascara down the damn aisleway! After a bit more chaos, Mascara blasts Pentagon with a Coke bottle by mistake. One of those glass ones, too! Octagon flies out onto Estrada with a tope suicida! Aguayo snags the bottle and runs out Mascara. Konnan gets Cien Caras in a semi-Gory Special…and Caras gives it up! The tecnicos win!
***1/2 - The match structure and pacing were very odd here, with a lot of stops and starts that didn’t really feel natural. However, I still found this to be extremely entertaining. The brawling was appropriately chaotic, the heels (especially Pentagon) were great as craven cowards that cheated and ran away whenever their rivals were within reach, and that La Parka spot was legitimately hilarious. Him and Pentagon were the MVPs of this one, but Octagon supplied some great high flying and Estrada took some crazy bumps. I don’t think much of Konnan as a wrestler, but the fans were VERY into him. Fun stuff!
Post-match, the brawl continues as the hostilities between these eight men are NOT OVER.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling - It's the second week in a row where we're not walkin’ in Memphis, but SMW is back! We catch up with Al Snow and Unabomb in a PAID ADVERTISEMENT. Don't worry, Unabomb, Snow’ll pay ya back next week.
They are NOT bad guys, despite Smoky Mountain's bias against them. Snow pledges that the Rock ‘n Roll Express have had their LAST shot at these titles. Snow then addresses someone who stole something from his bag backstage, believing to be a fellow wrestler. If that wrestler does not come forward and return the item, they will receive a “package in the mail” from Unabomb…
…yikes.
WCW Saturday Night - We board The Mothership this week and end up with Kevin Sullivan stumbling around in some sort of vaguely-doomy dungeon.
We then hear The Master (the former King Curtis Iaukea) screaming to Sullivan (“SULLIVAN! YOU! HAVE! FINALLY! ARRIVED!”). He then starts ranting and raving about Hulkamania (“from the cesspools of Beirut to Tokyo”) while Kevin Sullivan kneels at his feet.
That's an unfortunate screenshot. Takes me back to Ring King on the NES. Anyway, Kevin grovels and laments being unable to defeat Hogan.
The warriors are gathering (from the corners of the earth and the SEVEN OCEANS), and Sullivan will lead the DUNGEON OF DOOM to bring Hulkamania to extinction! Yup, the infamous Dungeon of Doom starts here, and by God, we will be seeing this stuff for a while. It's aggressively stupid, yes, and they clog up the WCW main event scene like an accidentally-flushed paper towel, but it's…kind of amusing in a ‘50s B-movie way. It does get WAY worse, though, so buckle up.
I mean, this is the week of the Pillars tag, so it's automatically a great week, but we also got a terrific Kroffat/RVD match that same show. Some fun was had with the AAA atomicos and Bulldog/Owen, and we got the friggin’ DUNGEON OF DOOM making its debut! What more could you want?
NEXT TIME: Variety is the key as we get a match from RINGS, another Rey/Juvi match, a New Japan tag, Rock ‘n Roll Express as HEELS, and a whole lot more!
Smell ya later!