Sunday, May 17th, 1992
Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum
Jacksonville, Florida
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Off The Grid, Volume 11:
After a fairly impressive firework presentation for 1992, we go to Tony Schiavone and Eric Bischoff breaking down the show. They then send it down to Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura.
United States Tag Team Championship Match
Fabulous Freebirds vs. Greg Valentine & Terry Taylor
I'm not going to pretend to be some sort of expert on the Freebirds, but seeing them as babyfaces is just bizarre. Terry Taylor is really going by Taylor Made Man, which is an awful name. Did the world really need these title belts in 1992? We get a lot of strutting and stalling by Michael Hayes early on. Hayes catches Valentine's leg and hits an atomic drop. Garvin is in and then avoids Valentine charging at him in the corner and his shoulder hits the ring post. Freebirds start using comically quick tags on Taylor to work on his arm. This feels like a glorified house show match thus far. Taylor dumps Hayes out onto the elevated ramp, but gets back body dropped back into the ring by Hayes. Taylor dumps Garvin out to the floor and distracts the ref to allow Valentine to leap off the apron and hit Garvin. The champions cut the ring in half, with Garvin trying his best to make a tag. He finally does and Hayes cleans house. Hayes goes for the DDT, but Taylor breaks it up with the Five Iron. Hayes is able to kick out of the pin attempt, but Valentine maintains control afterward. Valentine slaps on the Figure Four on Haye, but Garvin illegally breaks up the hold. Garvin gets the tag and hits a double clothesline. Valentine trips him up and that starts the chaos that leads up to Garvin hitting the DDT and the Freebirds becoming the new champions. The first half was a little clunky, but it got better as it went on. Nothing special, but entertaining enough for an opener.
Match Rating: **1/4
Tracy Smothers vs. Johnny B. Badd
I finally get to debut my gimmick of being the biggest Marc Mero fan on the internet. I did not realize that he was already 31 here in the early stages of his career. Badd hits some boxing style punches, but then runs into a boot from Smothers. Smothers hits a nice top rope reverse elbow for a 2 count. He goes up top again and hits a reverse crossbody, but Badd rolls over to get a nearfall. Badd makes his comeback and hits a big powerslam. He makes his way up to the top rope and hits a leaping sunset flip, but Smothers kicks out. Smothers misses a kick and Badd hits the left hand and that's enough to put away Smothers. The match had some good action, but it felt a little disjointed.
Match Rating: *3/4
Missy Hyatt is backstage interviewing the Freebirds. Michael Hayes yells a lot.
Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Scotty Flamingo
Scotty Flamingo is Raven, of course. After a stalemate to start, Flamingo slaps Bagwell and they go back and forth. Bagwell gets in some early offense until Flamingo it able to slow things down. They both end up going over the top rope, which is a big no no. Since it wasn't on purpose, the match continues. Bagwell makes his comeback and looks pretty green doing it. He hits a double ax handle off the second rope. He hits a fisherman suplex, but Flamingo got hsi ftoo on the rope. Bagwell rolls up Flaminto, who then counters that, holds the tights and wins the match. There really wasn't much to this one and probably shouldn't have been on the pay-per-view.
Match Rating: *1/2
We are shown highlights of Cactus Jack and Abdullah The Butcher attacking Ron Simmons, who is then saved by Junkyard Dog.
Mr. Hughes & Cactus Jack vs. Junkyard Dog & Ron Simmons
Cactus Jack attacks JYD from behind on his way down to the ring and he hits an elbow drop off the elevated ramp. Simmons comes out there to save him and JYD is selling the injury. This segment is dragging on and on...and on. Finally Simmons runs to the ring and takes on both men. Simmons hits a double clothesline and both men roll out of the ring. So somehow after that, they just randomly decide that this is going to be just Simmons vs. Hughes. It's not clear who decides it or why Cactus Jack is okay with this. Jesse then starts ripping on Oklahoma football and JR no sells it. They also still have no idea if Cactus is allowed in the match. Hughes is every bit as boring here as he is in 1993 WWF. Jack attacks Simmons behind the referee's back. Jesse won't drop this being changed to a one-on-one match, which is code for this is stupid. Simmons fights back with clotheslines. He hits a back body drop, but Hughes rakes his eyes. It doesn't help him much because he hits a spinebuster and a chop block for the victory. I'm sure a wrestler exists that could have a good match with Hughes, but unfortunately Simmons was not it. This hit a lot of different levels of stupidity and was just a real drag.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Todd Champion vs. Super Invader
So Champion is a Sting wannabe and Invader is Hercules in a mask. Somehow WCW thought this was worthy of being on a pay-per-view. Invader hits a side suplex and then a back suplex. It seems as if Invader doesn't have much interest in selling for Champion here. Invader throws Champion out of the ring and into the guard rail. This is absolutely dreadful and the crowd seems to agree with me. Invader goes up to the top, but Champion gets his boot up. Invader lets him get about two moves off before dumping him on the top rope and then hitting an ugly powerbomb for the victory. This was an embarrassing performance by Invader.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Richard Morton vs. Big Josh
War Games matches are great, but man, does it make the rest of your card just suck. Josh starts off hot and hits a running forearm in the corner. It's pretty amazing that Josh went from being a lumberjack to a clown in the span of a few months. The crowd doesn't care about this one either. Morton goes for a monkey flip, but Josh counters by stomping on him and then hits a body slam. Josh catches Morton off the second rope and hits an inverted atomic drop. Josh hits Northern Exposure and gets the victory even though the referee's hand never hits the mat for 3. I like both of these guys, but this was another bad match.
Match Rating: 3/4*
Light Heavyweight Championship Match
Tom Zenk vs. Brian Pillman
Zenk getting scared by his own entrance is the highlight of this show so far. Things start off slowly with both men trying the same maneuvers. Zenk goes for some quick pin attempts, but Pillman kicks out and starts working on Zenk's knee. Pillman misses a somersault leg drop and lands on his back. Zenk goes to work on the back and gets a 2 count out of a suplex. Pillman puts on the Figure Four and Zenk gets stuck in for quite awhile. Pillman leaps off the ropes, but Zenk catches him and hits a bodylsam.The action has really started to pick up here now. They both go for leapfrogs and bump heads. Zenk pops Pillman up into the air and drops him on his face. Pillman is able to kick out again and the crowd is really getting into this. Pillman goes off the top rope, but Zenk hits a dropkick. Pillman is able to save himself by being right next to the ropes. Zenk misses a top rope dropkick and Pillman is able to pin Zenk here in a really nice match. Zenk actually looked really good here and Pillman is Pillman.
Match Rating: ***3/4
Match To Determine The #1 Contenders For The IWGP Tag Team Championships
Tatsumi Fujinami & Takayuzi Iizuka vs. Steiner Brothers
Ventura tries to sell this as American made cars vs. Japanese cars because of course he does. We get some mat wrestling from Scott and Fujinami to start. Scott messes up a reverse body slam on Fujinami, but then hits it on Iizuka. Iizuka hits a shoulder in the corner on Scott and then a somersault dive off the top rope. Iizuka puts on the Boston Crab in the middle of the ring. Scott is able to reverse it and hits a double underhook powerbomb. Scott makes a tag and Rick hits an elbow drop off the top rope with Iizuka on Scott's shoulders. Rick hits a kind of nasty looking German suplex on Fujinami. Scott is back in and hits a reverse elbow and a single-legged crab. Fujinami gets Rick on his shoulders and tags in Iizuka. Iizuka comes off the top rope, but Rick catches him and hits a belly-to-belly suplex off his shoulders, which is one of the all time great counters. Fujinami breaks up the count and starts working on the leg of Rick. Iizuka has a bloody mouth and a swelled up eye, but he comes in and continues the work on the leg. In comes Scott and he hits a tilt-a-whirl suplex. Rick rams Iizuka stomach-first into the turnbuckle and Scott puts him in the abdominal stretch into a slam. All four men come in and we have a brawl, but the referee is able to get them separated. Rick hits a belly-to-belly suplex on Iizuka and now we're back to Scott and Fujinami. Iizuka comes in, but he is able to counter it and then Rick illegally hits a double clothesline. Fujinami hits a suplex on Scott illegally and evens the score. The Japanese team hits a spike piledriver and Iizuka hits a dropkick off the top rope to the gut of Scott. Fujinami and Scott collide in the middle of the ring and both guys tag in their partners. Things break down again and Rick hits an overhead belly-to-belly suplex on Iizuka off the top rope for the victory. That was a freaking hard hitting and intense wrestling match.
Match Rating: ****
WarGames Match
The Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson, Steve Austin, Bobby Eaton, Rick Rude & Larry Zbyszko) vs. Sting's Squadron (Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Nikita Koloff)
Windham and Austin start things off. No complaints from me there. Windham gets the better of Austin and starts raking Austin's face in the cage. They hold the coin toss after the countdown and you'll never guess it, but the heels win the toss. In comes Rick Rude, who takes it to Windham. It should be noted that the crowd is super hot for all of this. Austin is bleeding from the forehead, but is now able to help out Rude. Steamboat is the next man in and the roof is blown off the building. Steamboat is able help give his team the advantage and we're already counting down to the fifth entrant. In comes Arn and he hits a DDT on Windham. He then hits Steamboat with a spinebuster and then teams up with Rude to do a double Boston Crab on him. Windham makes the save, but the numbers game slows down his momentum. Rude hits a piledriver on Steamboat, but they then hit a double clothesline on each other. Dustin Rhodes is next and he hits an inverted atomic drop on Austin, who also accidentally hit his head on the top of the cage. I still have no clue why they didn't make the cage a foot taller. Austin is a bloody mess. Rhodes hits an electric chair on him and Windham has Anderson's head in between the two rings and is dangling him upside down. Yeah, this match rules. Zybszko is in next and he and Rhodes go right at it. Madusa climbs up the cage and drops Paul E's phone and drops it to Anderson. Up comes Sting to scare her off, but the damage was done. Anderson uses it to shift the momentum and Rhodes is now busted open. Sting is the next competitor in and he military presses Rude multiple times into the roof of the cage. He then hits a back body drop on Austin into the cage. They pan to outside the ring with Madusa taping up Bobby Eaton's fists as the countdown is below a minute. Eaton is the only man to walk in methodically and we then get a bad angle on a boot from Rhodes on Austin, who completely whiffed. Rude tries to unhook the top rope, but Sting is able to stop him, but the top rope is now loose. It's now time for the last entrant and that is Koloff. Koloff helps Sting up and they have a staredown. Koloff pulls Sting out of the way and takes the blow. They fight them off and give the double high five. Both men go on a rampage and the crowd is excited for it. Rude goes back to the top rope again. Sting has the Scorpion Death Lock on Anderson, but Eaton breaks it up. The turnbuckle is out now. Dustin locks in the Figure Four on Zbyszko. Zbyszko is able to get out of it and goes for the turnbuckle. He goes to hit Sting with it, but he ducks and he hits Eaton instead. Sting locks in an arm bar on Eaton and he is the one to submit. This was non-stop action and just an absolute blast to watch. The hot crowd was the icing on the cake too. After the match, the Dangerous Alliance starts pointing fingers as Sting's Squadron heads to the back. This match ruled and really the only complaint I have is the ending was a little weak. Still, this is absolutely a classic and a show saver.
Match Rating: ****1/2
This is the type of show that makes you grateful that the fast forward button was invented. However, I am reviewing the entire show and the beginning to this show was a real chore to get through. However, the final three matches were fantastic, with the main event being legendary. I still can't emphasize enough how bad some of the other matches were, but in the end, it really doesn't matter.
Overall Rating: 82%
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