Ryan's Dive into '95 - Part 45 (11/5-11/11)
Sting looks for revenge on Flair, FMW trios action, Jim Duggan discovers his roots, Vacant claims another championship, 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?
It’s a fairly light week match-wise on The Dive, but there’s still some noteworthy happenings to look at. The Four Horsemen round out their ranks, the WCW World Title controversy is addressed, Bill Alfonso makes a new enemy, and we get some fun angle work in the USWA. Plus, the matches are quite fun in very different ways.
Well…
NOVEMBER 6th
We get absolutely NOTHING from RAW this week. Looking at the results, it’s probably for the best. We go right to Nitro!
WCW Monday Nitro
We catch up with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, both clad in black on Venice Beach, hanging around with a homeless fella and a dude playing guitar.
Hogan plans on getting revenge on Jimmy Hart, Kevin Sullivan, Lex Luger, and that STINKY-ASS WART-INFESTED GIANT. Macho says that Hogan is too emotionally invested in the situation, so Hogan can take the low road while Savage takes the high road. Savage wants Hogan to continue to lean into the darkness. The homeless man rants incomprehensibly throughout.
Ric Flair vs. Sting - It may seem a bit quick for THIS match given that the angle at Halloween Havoc just happened, but this was actually selected by the fans via a 1-900 number vote. The WCW viewers who coughed up 99 cents of their hard-earned were rewarded with the ability to select a wrestler from the red locker room (Flair, Diamond Dallas Page, Meng, Big Bubba Rogers, The Shark, The Blue Bloods, and Scott Norton) to face a competitor from the blue locker room (Sting, Johnny B. Badd, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Alex Wright, Dave Sullivan, The Nasty Boys, and Mr. J.L.). I know Flair vs. Sting is the most tantalizing of the available options, but I will never forgive the WCW faithful for robbing me of Scott Norton vs. Evad Sullivan on live television.
Well, you don’t see THIS everyday: Ric Flair coming out without his signature robe.
Sting starts off hot, beating Flair from pillar to post before the bell to the delight of the crowd. Sting no-sells some chops on the outside and continues pounding away until Flair gets a suplex on the floor…but Sting no-sells THAT! He attempts a Stinger Splash against the guardrail, but Flair dodges as NITRO ROLLS ON…
…and we’re back with Flair in control, chopping and kicking away at the Stinger. Flair locks on the Figure Four and immediately grabs the ropes for leverage. Heels really need to get back to using the ropes for leverage. It’s easy heat!
Flair works the hold for a while, getting several two-counts in the process until Sting POWERS UP and reverses! Flair quickly escapes, but Sting has NO TIME for Flair’s bullshit and absorbs his blows. Sting makes his comeback…until Flair goes to the eye! Flair tosses Sting to the floor and looks to smash Sting with a chair, but the ref intercepts. Flair puts his hands on referee Randy Anderson, leading Bobby Heenan to say that Flair will get fined, but he won’t care because he’s got the money. Flair’s accounting team say otherwise.
Flair goes for some pin attempts with his feet on the ropes, then we get a bridge sequence that leads into a backslide from Sting for two. Flair ascends the ropes, but to the surprise of no one, Sting tosses him off and pounds away at him in the corner. The referee tries to intervene, but Sting carries him away, leading Flair to grab a foreign object. Flair decks Sting with it, but Sting kicks out of the pin! Flair goes for the chops, but STING IS NOT FAZED!
Sting hits the third press slam of the match and a superplex, then locks in the Scorpion Deathlock! Flair gives it up! Sting wins…but he doesn’t let go of the hold!
Sting holds on despite some referees and midcarders coming out to try to get him to stop. Sting finally relents and leaves…but runs back in and reapplies the hold! Lex Luger comes in and whispers something into Sting’s ear, and Sting finally relinquishes the hold leaves with Luger, much to the bafflement of the babyfaces in the ring.
***1/4 - Sting vs. Flair is always a fun dynamic. I’ll always pop for Sting no-selling Flair’s offense, and Flair’s heel tactics were on point here. The booking is a bit odd, though, as you had the Horsemen reform at Halloween Havoc, but you don’t see any hint of Arn Anderson or Brian Pillman. I’m not going to balk at a clean finish, but this is a rare instance where a fuck finish would be completely justified, especially since another match between the two is set for World War 3.
The stuff with Luger post-match is an interesting character direction for both him and Sting. Luger and Sting are best bros in real life, and they’re using that association to cast doubt on Sting’s loyalties to the rest of the babyface side of the locker room, and the tweener path that Lex takes is the most interesting character work he’d do.
We pick things up with “Mean” Gene Okerlund, who is in the ring with The Giant (wearing the Big Gold Belt), Jimmy Hart, and Kevin Sullivan. Jimmy takes a giant dump on Hulk Hogan’s movie career (warranted), and says that he had Hogan’s power of attorney while Hogan was in Hollywood. Hart signed the contract on behalf of Hulk for the Havoc title match, and had it added to the contract that if Hulk Hogan were disqualified, he would lose the WCW World Heavyweight Championship!
Hogan was disqualified, so The Giant is rightfully the WCW champion! Mean Gene brings in WCW Attorney Nick Lambrose who clarifies that The Giant is NOT the WCW champion! Lambrose reads a statement from WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel that says that the WCW title is now vacant and will be awarded to the winner of the three-ring battle royal at World War 3! Add another title to Vacant’s prolific lineage.
The Giant’s side is naturally unhappy with the proceedings and yell at the lawyer. Essentially, we got all of this convoluted bullshit so that Hulk loses the title without doing a hint of a job. They really should teach “Hogan Political Science” in school.
Also, now that the title is up for grabs in the 60-man battle royal, such luminaries as THE YETAY, Pez Whatley, The Barrio Brothers, and BIG TRAIN BART are in a WCW World Heavyweight Championship match on pay-per view. God, I love this company.
This week on the Monday Night War scoreboard, WCW’s streak came to an end as the WWF took the win with a 2.6 rating vs. Nitro’s 2.0 number.
NOVEMBER 7th
ECW Hardcore TV
On today's installment of Beulah’s Box, Tod Gordon is the guest. He wants to fight Bill Alfonso right now! Alfonso comes in from behind and whacks Gordon with a chair!
Beulah is not happy with Fonzie wrecking her segment, so he rips into her for being a woman. Alfonso continues pounding away at the commissioner with a chair. Beulah tries to intervene, so Fonzie continues yelling at her…until Gordon clotheslines him from behind! Beulah’s had ENOUGH and tackles Alfonso down and (kinda) slaps away at him!
We clip to Alfonso ranting about Beulah WANTING HIM and says non-PG things about her. Beulah keeps going after Fonzie as midcarders try to keep the two parties separate.
We have some interesting direction here for Beulah. Similar to what Lex Luger is doing, she seems to be going down a tweener route as she’s still firmly affiliated with Raven while butting heads with the most hated character in the company. ECW’s doing a great job of making fans want to see both her and The Todster kick the crap out of Alfonso.
Loyal readers, go ahead and ask Alexa to play “Misirlou” by Dick Dale, because it's time for PULP FICTION! Bill Alfonso threatens to kick Tod Gordon’s butt! The Public Enemy discuss their upcoming tag team championship match against The Sandman and 2 Cold Scorpio and the stupidly confusing stipulations! I’ll get into those next week because I don’t want to screw up the Pulp Fiction flow!
Buh Buh Ray Dudley stutters a lot!
Steve Austin, dressed as Eric Bischoff, threatens to fire people and keeps falling asleep! The Public Enemy are still confounded by the stips! Buh Buh Ray Dudley continues stuttering! Big Dick Dudley yells! Cactus Jack talks about drugs and pain pills, saying that he’s a junkie for HARDCORE WRESTLING and lists off his litany of injuries! Jack hates Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer for putting him in this position!
Terry Funk tells Tommy Dreamer and the fans that wrestling has ALWAYS been a sport to him! Buh Buh Ray tells us THAT’S ALL, F-F-F-F-FOLKS! Great promo from Jack here, and the Buh Buh Ray stuff is pretty funny.
NOVEMBER 11th
FMW Scramble Survivor '95, Night 1
Hayabusa, W*ING Kanemura & Masato Tanaka vs. The Gladiator, Hisakatsu Oya & Super Leather - What better way to celebrate Remembrance Day than with an FMW trios match? Super Leather is the former Corporal Kirchner of mid-80’s WWF semi-fame using a modified version of the Leatherface gimmick he used in the W*ING promotion and IWA Japan.
We pick it up with Kanemura tagging in Hayabusa to square off against AEW Texas Chainsaw Massacre Champion Super Leather.
Hayabusa uses his agility to evade Leather’s offense and hits a spinning wheel kick, but Mr. Leather dodges a springboard twisting senton and tags in Oya. Oya works over ‘Busa briefly until Hayabusa hits a dropkick out of nowhere and tags out to Tanaka. Tanaka scores a nice dropkick for two, but a mule kick to the junk and a DDT turn the tide in Oya’s favor. Gladiator comes off the top rope with a chair onto Tanaka, something they would do a lot of to each other in the coming years. Gladiator continues to give Tanaka severe brain trauma with a piece of the broken chair, then tags Oya back in. The baddies triple-team Tanaka in the corner, but a bloody Tanaka tries to mount a comeback. An Oya big boot puts a stop to that.
The heels team up on Tanaka on the outside, and it’s now a six-way brawl on the floor! Awesome rolls Tanka back into the ring and hits a slingshot clothesline for two. Big piledriver from Gladiator, but Tanaka gets a desperation sunset flip for two. Gladiator cuts off a tag attempt, and Leather checks back in and heaps abuse onto Tanaka. Awesome tags back in and hurls a table at Tanaka because he CAN.
Leather and Awesome set up the table, and Awesome powerbombs Tanaka through it, but Kanemura breaks up the pin! Gladiator props the broken table against the corner as Leather attacks Tanaka with a board with nails in it!
Awesome runs Kanemura into the table, but Kanemura reverses a second attempt and clobbers Leather, allowing Tanaka to make the HOT TAG to Hayabusa! He springboards in with a spinning heel kick onto Leather, then dropkicks Oya out of the ring and follows with a BEAUTY of an Asai moonsault! Slingshot senton and standing moonsault get two, then ‘Busa hits a fisherman’s buster and tags Kanemura back in. Big flying forearm from W*ING, then he and Tanaka double-team Oya. Big tornado DDT from Tanaka, followed by a double-team slam for two. Hayabusa comes in and hits a rounding splash for a close two! Kneeling powerbomb gets another two!
Hayabusa hits a Falcon Arrow, but Leather breaks up the pin. Tanaka tags in and hits a diving headbutt for another near-fall on Oya. After surviving some lariats from Tanaka, Oya hits a brutal falling clothesline and tags in Gladiator, who hits a HUGE running clothesline for two. Massive sitdown Awesome Bomb, but Kanemura breaks up the cover! Awesome hits a running Awesome Bomb, but Hayabusa BARELY breaks the cover! Gladiator hits a gigantic top-rope splash, but Tanaka kicks out! Super Leather tags back in and works over Tanaka for a while, hitting a big stalling suplex for two.
Oya tags back in and trades Saito suplexes with Tanaka before hitting a huge backdrop driver for two. The camera barely gets Hayabusa hitting Leather with a twisting plancha onto the floor as Tanaka kicks out of another backdrop driver. Tanaka gets a surprise roll-up on Oya for the three! The fans LOVED that.
After the match, the heels attack the faces, with Awesome powerbombing Tanaka and whacking Kanemura with the nail board.
**** - This was another super-fun tag from Frontier Martial-Arts. This one felt more like a standard tag match (with a few weapon and table spots thrown in) than a crazy brawl, but it was very well-worked with solid highspots and storytelling. Even though Hayabusa was the star of the promotion and his aerial offense was on-point, this match was all about Masato Tanaka. He survived multiple face-in-peril segments, played a tremendous babyface, and his sequences with Gladiator and Oya really stood out. The flash pin finish also really fit with the story being told. I’ve really come to appreciate Oya’s work during this series, Leather didn’t look too bad out there, and Kanemura was also there.
USWA Championship Wrestling
We’re walkin’ in Memphis this week with arena clips of Bob Armstrong in the ring challenging Eddie Marlin (former wrestler and on-screen promoter for USWA, father-in-law of Jerry Jarrett, and grandfather of Jeff Jarrett) to some geriatric fisticuffs.
Armstrong chokes Marlin in the corner, but Eddie comes back with some punches and overhand chops as the crowd goes apeshit. Tracy Smothers, Steven Dunn, Jesse James Armstrong, and Downtown Bruno attack Marlin and fend off the babyfaces while Bullet Bob applies a figure four to Marlin!
We cut to clips at another arena show that looks to be set in someone’s barn. Jesse James Armstrong goads Eddie Marlin into the ring by making fun of his need to walk with a cane after the previous beatdown. Armstrong whacks Marlin with a cane and attacks the referee!
Marlin is BUSTED OPEN as Jesse applies a figure four! PG-13 and Brian Christopher finally run in to chase Armstrong off.
We now cut to the studio where we have a SPECIAL DELIVERY for Jesse James Armstrong!
The special delivery turns out to be JEFF JARRETT, who absolutely unloads on Armstrong! They brawl until the parking lot until the ex-Roadie runs away!
This was a GREAT little angle here with tremendous fire shown by Double J.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling
We start off with Jim Cornette and Robert Gibson backstage, fresh off of the latter’s betrayal of The Thugs in the Double Chain match.
Cornette explains that Gibson was justified due to The Thugs taking the title shot that the Rock N’ Roll Express missed out on several months ago, and Jim blames Tracy Smothers for Ricky Morton getting fired from Smoky Mountain. Gibson says it felt GOOD to screw over The Thugs in Johnson City. Cornette says that the Rock N’ Roll Express are dead and that Robert Gibson is now “The King of Rock N’ Roll”.
We now kick it to Les Thatcher and The Thugs for their rebuttal.
Smothers expresses surprise at the events that transpired and says that Robert Gibson turned his back on the fans. The Thugs have a mystery partner for their six-man tag against Gibson and The Heavenly Bodies at Thanksgiving Thunder, and Dirty White Boy says we won’t find out until that night. The Thugs are going to BEAT UP the Militia!
WCW Saturday Night
On The Mothership this week, we catch up with Sting. He recounts the recent run-ins with Ric Flair, specifically Flair using small children to coax Sting into being his partner, and the match on Nitro where Sting wouldn’t relinquish the Scorpion Deathlock.
Sting did what he promised: he was going to leave Flair for dead if he turned on him. Sting refuses to provide more insight on the Lex Luger situation from Nitro, then promises to beat Flair again and not let go of the Scorpion Deathlock. Sting addresses Hulk Hogan’s accusations of him being a vulture, saying he’ll let it slide this time, but he won’t be so forgiving in the future.
We now get a vignette of “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan in IRELAND.
Duggan meets up with a professor of contemporary history in a pub and they establish that Duggan’s forefathers were taped fist fighters in the days of yore. They show a picture of Duggan’s grandmother, Mad Katie, who looks like John C. Reilly in drag.
The blood of taped fist fighters runs through Hacksaw’s veins! This would be the genesis of Duggan’s “taped fist” gimmick. Again, I love WCW and their supremely cornball bullshit.
Onto serious business, we get a promo from The Four Horsemen. Brian Pillman tells Sting that if he jumps on ONE Horsemen, you jump on them all!
Pillman and Arn Anderson introduce Chris Benoit as the fourth Horsemen. Benoit cuts an intense promo on Sting, then Arn sends a warning out to the babyfaces of WCW.
Stylistically, Benoit being a Horseman made sense and he fit in well with the group. This was such a flat way to introduce a new Horseman, though. No pomp or circumstance, no flair, and no Flair. Just a pre-taped vignette in front of a pink and purple background.
So, yeah, this was a bit light on matches, but there was definitely some history. That FMW trios match was awesome, though, and Flair/Sting is usually a fun time.
NEXT TIME: ECW November to Remember 1995! The 1-2-3 Kid shockingly turns on Razor Ramon! Karate Fighters! And more!
Smell ya later!