Friday, June 23rd, 1989
Baltimore Arena
Baltimore, Maryland
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
Off The Grid, Volume 2
Double Ring King Of The Hill Battle Royal
They all start in the first ring and once they are eliminated, they go to ring number two. The winners of both rings will square off in a match for $50,000. There are 14 competitors including Dan Spivey, Sid Vicious, Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner, Scott Hall, Ron Simmons, Terry Gordy, Mike Rotunda, Steve Williams, Brian Pillman, Bill Irwin, Ranger Ross, Kevin Sullivan and Eddie Gilbert. Ranger Ross and Ron Simmons are the first two eliminated and move to the second ring. This obviously makes things hard to follow, but the crowd is really into this. Simmons really gets eliminated by Ranger Ross? The eliminations are quick and we are down to Sid and Pillman in the first ring. Sid wins the first ring in anti-climatic fashion. The second ring is down to Dr. Death, Spivey and Rotunda. Dr. Death eliminates Rotunda, while Spivey watches. Dr. Death tries to clothesline Spivey over the top, but he falls to the mat instead. Rotunda distracts Dr. Death and Spivey clotheslines him from behind, eliminating him. Teddy Long comes to the ring and says that he's not going to let his tag team destroy each other and they are going to split the prize money. This was decent for what it was, but hard to follow along.
Match Rating: * (out of 5)
Gordon Solie is now backstage with Teddy Long. He cuts a generic promo of how everyone should be afraid.
Bill Irwin vs. Brian Pillman
Both of these men were just in the opener. Irwin immediately attacks Pillman, but Pillman fires back with a dropkick. Pillman hits a head scissors and it takes Irwin out of the ring. He hits him with a baseball slide dropkick and then hits arm drags upon Irwin's arrival. If I would have watched this era of NWA wrestling, there's no way Pillman wouldn't have been one of my favorites. Irwin hits a vertical suplex and he isn't particularly over with the crowd here. Irwin hits a clothesline and is relentless with terrible trash talk. Irwin dumps Pillman outside the ring. Irwin misses with a splash on the ropes and Pillman hits some dropkicks. Pillman misses a flying dropkick and lands hard. Irwin the tosses Pillman from one ring to the other. The ref is distracting Irwin and Pillman leaps off the top rope and hits a crossbody into a pinfall and gets the victory. Chalk this one up as a disappointment. Not bad or anything, but Pillman should have been featured more here.
Match Rating: *3/4
Solie is now back with Paul E. Dangerously. He says he doesn't care if he wins tonight, he is just focused on getting Jim Cornette out.
The Dynamic Dudes vs. The Skyscrapers
No one was a cooler dude than Johnny Ace. Ace picks up a kid out of the crowd and plays frisbee with him. I can't believe this gimmick didn't get over more. Jason Hervey is here to high five the Dudes as well. Johnny Ace hits a dropkick that barely gets to Spivey's chest and Spivey no sells it. The Dudes hit a double monkey flip. Ace follows it up with a clothesline in the corner, but Spivey gets the boot up on Douglas. Sid finally comes in to a big applause from the crowd. He hits a few moves and tags right back out. Spivey misses with an elbow, but he hits a side slam on Douglas anyways. The crowd is chanting "We want Sid!", which is really something. Spivey hits a variation of the powerbomb and then a boot sends Douglas to the outside. Teddy Long hits some of the weakest looking kicks to the back of Douglas you will ever see. Spivey suplexes Douglas back into the ring for a 2 count. He tags in Sid again to another big pop. Sid is probably my favorite bad wrestler. Again he only stays in momentarily. Spivey misses with a headbutt and Douglas makes the tag to Ace. He hits a clothesline off the top rope, but Sid breaks up the pin attempt. Sid and Spivey go for a double clothesline, but they end up clotheslining themselves. The Dudes hit a double hip toss on Spivey. Spivey then goes for a powerbomb, but he drops Ace on his head in a bad looking spot. That's enough for the victory though. Why was this so long? This should have just been no longer than five minutes. The Dudes looked extremely mediocre here too.
Match Rating: *
Jim Cornette cuts a promo on Paul E. Dangerously.
Tuxedo Match
Paul E. Dangerously vs. Jim Cornette
Cornette goes right after Paul here, but Paul throws some white powder in his face. They do their own version of a brawl here, which is a sight to be seen. Cornette starts choking Dangerously, but he fights him off. Heyman is only 23 years old here, which is incredible. Cornette is 27. Seeing Cornette as a babyface is just bizarre. Cornette rips off Dangerously's shirt, but they then collide into one another. Dangerously grabs more white powder, but Cornette kicks it into his face and he rips off Dangerously's pants for the victory. Dangerously immediately runs to the back. I know some people find this entertaining and I also know that this is not meant to be graded like a traditional wrestling match. However, this is nothing I ever want to see again in my life. Twice is enough for me.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Gary Hart says that the Great Muta is undefeated and that Japan has the best athletes.
Texas Tornado Match
The Varsity Club vs. The Steiner Brothers
So we have babyface Jim Cornette and babyface Missy Hyatt here. Things get started right away. Sullivan and Rick go at it with a chair outside the ring. Rotunda clubs Scott out of the ring and then hits a clothesline on Rick. The Steiners come back with Scott putting Rotunda in the tree of woe and Rick hits a powerslam. Rick headbutts Sullivan below the belt and then a clothesline. Sullivan hits Rick in the head with a foldable stretcher. Sullivan has Rick up for a body slam, but Scott comes up off the top and they get a double pin seemingly out of nowhere. That was really, really short. It was all action and it was a reminder of how awesome the Steiners were.
Match Rating: **1/2
Sting talks about all of the respect he has for Muta. Eddie Gilbert, wearing a 49ers hat, says that he'll be there to make sure Gary Hart doesn't get involved.
NWA Television Championship Match
The Great Muta vs. Sting
They are both in separate rings when the bell rings, so Sting leaps over and hits a crossbody to get things going. Muta follows up with a chop off the top rope. Muta hits a cartwheel elbow. Sting moves from a moonsault attempt, but Muta lands on his feet. He kicks Sting out of the ring and hits a leaping dive over the top rope. Muta is looking great here. Sting hits a top rope clothesline and then hits a standing dropkick. Sting leaps over the top and lands on his feet to get into a fist fight with Muta. Muta counters a move and puts Sting in the sleeper hold. Sting gets out, but misses a big elbow drop. Muta has Sting in a chinlock and then into an abdominal stretch. Muta unleashes a barrage of kicks. He does the cartwheel elbow, but this time Sting avoids it and then hits a running bulldog. Sting ducks out of the way of mist, but it hits the referee instead. Muta then avoids a Stinger Splash and then hits a moonsault, but Sting barely kicks out. Sting hits a back suplex and gets the victory. Sting was super over here. The match was good, but really short. Sting looked like an absolute star and Muta lived up to the hype. They try to sell the drama of Sting's shoulders being down, but honestly it looks like the match should have never ended.
Match Rating: ***1/4
Lex Luger reminds us that he is the greatest US Champion of all time. He also does not want there to be a No Disqualification stipulation. They try to sell it that there will be no match if they don't remove the stipulation. That probably would have helped if he would have, you know, actually just said it himself.
United States Championship Match
Ricky Steamboat vs. Lex Luger
Ricky gets the big entrance with his family leading the way and then he is carried out on a board holding a komodo dragon. They make the announcement that it would be a No Disqualification Match. Luger gets on the mic and says that no one tells him how to defend his title and tells Steamboat to waive the stipulation or he is leaving. Obviously, Steamboat agrees. Steamboat goes for a few quick pinfall attempts to start, but is unsuccessful. He hits two dropkicks and a back body drop. Steamboat is just so, so good here. They go outside the ring and Steamboat hits an atomic drop. On their way back in, Luger hits Steamboat with a knee lift. Luger goes to work on the back of Steamboat. Steamboat gets a quick pin attempt in while Luger is arguing with the referee, so Luger just clubs him with some good looking clotheslines. Luger hits an inverted atomic drop, but Steamboat comes back with a swinging neckbreaker. Luger gets out of a Steamboat body slam, but Steamboat ducks and Luger leaps to the outside. Steamboat tries to body slam him back in the ring, but Luger pushes him down for a pin attempt and the ref's hand hits 3, but that's not it. It seems like this era of NWA has so many mistakes like that. Steamboat starts hitting some running right hands and then goes up top. Steamboat hits a chop and gets a 2 count. Luger hits a back body drop that sends Steamboat into the second ring. Luger goes to the outside and grabs a chair. Steamboat trips him up and he hits a slingshot into the corner, causing Luger to hit his head with a chair. Steamboat grabs the chair and throws the ref down. Steamboat delivers some chair shots and then chases him to the back. Obviously, they sell that the match should have been a No Disqualification Match. This match was really good, but the ending was absolute garbage. Regardless, this is probably my favorite Luger match of all time.
Match Rating: ***3/4
The Freebirds and Samoan Swat Team are cut a promo about their WarGames Match. The Midnight Express try to cut a promo while Dr. Death is flying around. The Road Warriors come on in and Dr. Death tells them that they are two tough cookies. Nothing, and I mean nothing, makes you sound tougher than saying that.
WarGames Match
The Fabulous Freebirds & The Samoan Swat Team vs. Steve Williams, The Midnight Express & The Road Warriors
We start off with Jimmy Garvin and Bobby Eaton. Eaton tries to use the cage on a kick and the top of that is just so flimsy. After some good action, Eaton has Garvin in a Boston Crab as Terry Gordy enters and they quickly take advantage of the two-on-one scenario. Gordy is a big dude. They throw Garvin into the cage as the countdown begins and Dr. Death comes in and hits a double clothesline. Williams gets Gordy up and presses him up against the top of the cage multiple times in an impressive display of strength. How was Williams never NWA Champ? In comes Samu and the heels regain control of the match. Animal is in next and I love how over all of these guys are. Animal then hits a big leaping shoulder tackle over the top rope of both rings in a spot that would still hold up. Fatu is in and the Samoans go to work on Animal. Stan Lane is surprisingly the next man in. Michael Hayes is in and he has some DDTs to spread around before he struts his stuff. Hawk is finally in and hits a double clothesline off the top rope to a big pop from the live crowd. Hawk goes to work on Garvin's neck and then hangs him up on his back by his neck and Garvin submits. The ending was a little out of nowhere for me, but that was some great action otherwise. After the match, the victors all get out except Animal. They close the door and start destroying him, while his partners try to get in. They finally get in, as the heels retreat.
Match Rating: ****
Ric Flair is backstage and says that Terry Funk will have the fight of his career tonight.
NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match
Terry Funk vs. Ric Flair
They start brawling right away and Flair gets the best of Funk. Funk getting into it with fans is such good stuff. Wait, Funk was 45 years old here? After some intense brawling to start, Funk has Flair reeling. Flair goes for a suplex on the apron, but Funk counters it and both men tumble to the floor. Back in the ring and then Flair dumps Funk out to the floor. Flair hits a few of his signature knee drops and then hits a piledriver. Flair hits a second piledriver and Funk falls out of the ring. Flair locks in the Figure Four, but Funk hits him with a branding iron while Gary Hart has the referee distracted. Flair is now busted open. Funk removes the mat outside the ring and then starts choking Flair with his wrist tape. Funk goes for the piledriver, but he counters and hits a back body drop. Funk goes for an elbow off the apron, but it ends up looking really awkward. Funk hits a neckbreaker right in front of Jason Hervey. Flair is able to get a hold of the branding iron and smashes it on Funk's head. Flair misses with a running knee in the corner and Funk starts using the spinning toe hold. Flair goes for the Figure Four, but Funk puts in a small package. Flair counters that into a pin and gets the win out of nowhere. Flair doesn't have a minute to celebrate as Great Muta comes in and sprays him with the green mist. Muta and Funk destroy Flair and out comes Sting to make the save. After a pause in the action, they start brawling again out in the aisle. They start brawling in front of the announcers. Flair cuts a fun promo telling Funk that they're just getting warmed up. This match was really good, but it was another match with a weird ending.
Match Rating: ****
This is a famous show and for good reason. I don't think it is in the top tier, but it's not far off. For me, the endings to too many of the matches were questionable at best. And I also question anyone who would give the Dynamic Dudes/Skyscrapers match as much time as Luger and Steamboat. The last two hours are full of fantastic wrestling and an extremely hot crowd.
Overall Rating: 90%
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