Sunday, July 17th, 1994
Orlando Arena
Orlando, Florida
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
Off The Grid, Volume 13:
Some guy named Daron Norwood sings the national anthem and then we get a clip of Sting vs. Ric Flair. Sting had Flair in the Scorpion Death Lock until someone interferes and it's Sherri dressed up like a man. Hogan makes the save, but Flair attacks Hogan's knee. Mr. T then makes the save for Hogan. As a result of this, Sting is injured and won't wrestle Steven Regal and Johnny B. Badd will be his substitute. Don't forget that the WCW Hotline is running tonight. This all feels really long. Just get the show started.
WCW World Television Championship Match
Johnny B. Badd vs. Lord Steven Regal
It's so easy to forget that Regal is only 26 years old here. Badd gets an early upper hand, with Regal going out to regain his composure. Regal is able to sneak in a headbutt before hitting an aggressive looking dropkick. Badd comes back with a flying headscissors and hits him with a big left hand. Badd follows it up with a dive to the outside that takes out both Regal and Sir William. I am still the president of the Marc Mero fan club. Badd goes for a sunset flip, but Sir William helps him cheat. The ref sees it though and kicks out the umbrella, allowing Badd to get a nearfall. Regal counters it and steals the victory for a kind of out of nowhere finish there. I like both of these guys and thought this was a pretty good opening match overall.
Match Rating: **3/4
After Schiavone and Heenan hype up the main event some more, we go to Mean Gene in the ring with Antonio Inoki. He is given a plaque for his contributions. He is then interrupted by Regal, who is wondering where his award is. Inoki takes off his jacket and Regal leaves the ring. Regal was good here, but the payoff was nothing? Now Jesse Ventura is here to announce. This show is all over the place and we're only one match in.
Vader vs. Guardian Angel
This is the worst incarnation of Boss Man. Angel tosses Harley Race out of the ring and Vader attacks him from behind. Angel goes off of the ropes and Vader hits him with a spin kick. Angel responds and slams Vader. I forgot how big Angel got here. Angel gets in a shot on Race on the outside, but this again gives Vader the chance to regain control. Vader goes for a sunset flip off the second rope, but Angel blocks it. Vader is right back at it though and nails him with a clothesline. Vader puts on a leg submission and then gets a 2 count. Vader hits the splash off the second rope and Race tells him to go up again. Vader goes up to the top rope and hits the moonsault. Vader sells it as well, so Race goes up top. Angel slams him off the top and knocks Vader out of the ring. He hits him Vader with a big right hand and suplexes him back into the ring. They accidentally bump into the referee and Race hands Vader a nightstick. Angel is able to get it away from Vader and the referee sees him with it and that's a disqualification. That finish makes no sense since he didn't use it. Vader attacks an upset Angel and celebrates on his way back. Minus that stupid finish, I enjoyed this a great bit. This was two talented big men that went out there and worked hard to have a really good match.
Match Rating: ***1/2
We get a video package of the Dustin Rhodes/Terry Funk storyline and it honestly feels like it's from 1987.
Bunkhouse Buck & Terry Funk vs. Dustin Rhodes & Arn Anderson
Arn and Buck start off, but Rhodes gets in and unloads on Buck. In comes Funk and Rhodes is all over him. Funk is able to dish out a little bit of punishment, but Rhodes recovers and then throws both men over the top rope behind the refs back. This of course should be a disqualification, but the ref didn't see it. Buck and Funk turn things around and isolate Rhodes after Funk attacks him out of the ring. Funk hits a reverse neckbreaker and gets a nearfall. Dustin starts a fiery comeback and he is definitely over with the crowd here. Rhodes finally makes the tag to Anderson, who then DDTs Rhodes and Funk covers him for the victory. Never trust a Horsemen. After the match, Anderson stomps on the arm of Rhodes while Funk and Buck hold him down. For a match that ended in this type of fashion, this was a good match. Rhodes did a really nice job in particular here.
Match Rating: ***
Mean Gene catches Arn on his way to the back and he lets us know that they're going back to celebrate. Tony and Bobby are with Hank Aaron and they talk about nothing. Mean Gene is then with Ric Flair and Sherri.
United States Championship Match
Ricky Steamboat vs. Steve Austin
Austin attacks Steamboat before the bell and things are underway. Austin goes up to the second rope, but Steamboat hits him with a dropkick and he is now draped over the top rope with his head towards the floor. We get a few nice bursts of offense by both men and Steamboat working on the arm of Austin. They have an awkward collision that Steamboat masterfully turns into a pin attempt in a nice recovery. Austin catches him the next time and hits a spinebuster. Austin hits a nice knee to the back of the head off the second rope and mocks Steamboat. Steamboat pulls off a catapult, but Austin recovers and hits a clothesline. Steamboat finally catches a break after hitting the Stun Gun on Austin. The crowd has been pretty hot all night, but they're in and out on this match. They do a multiple reversal Tombstone piledriver that Steamboat hits. The crowd comes alive as Steamboat goes up top, but Austin grabs the ref. Steamboat pleads for him not to call for the DQ and he obliges. Steamboat goes for a crossbody, but Austin reverses it and steals the victory. This probably could have been a few minutes shorter, but this undercard has been really strong so far.
Match Rating: ***1/4
We go back to Mean Gene in the locker room with Bunkhouse Buck and Terry Funk celebrating with Arn Andereson.
WCW Tag Team Championship Match
Pretty Wonderful vs. Kevin Sullivan & Cactus Jack
This is such a strange pairing of wrestlers. They emphasize on how well the team of Jack and Sullivan are working together in the early going, as they continue to get the better of challengers. The crowd begins doing the wave, which is never what you want as a performer. After pretty much getting dominated, Orndorff hits a nice piledriver on Sullivan. I am probably 10+ minutes into this match and I really haven't had a lot to say about it. It certainly isn't bad, but it hasn't really sucked me in yet. Just as I say that, we start getting shenanigans and it leads to Roma tripping up Cactus and Orndorff getting the pin while he holds his leg in a pretty poorly executed finish. I'm not sure Pretty Wonderful was super over here, but I guess it makes sense for them to win. Just a so-so match here.
Match Rating: **
They bring out Nick Bockwinkle and Shaquille O'Neal.
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan
The intro to this match is insanely long. As far as dream matches go, this one is nowhere near the top of mine. Obviously, it's a big deal, but just not to me personally. Jimmy Hart with Hogan just never feels right to me. We get a lot of stalling to start things off, which is to be expected in a match like this. The crowd is eating it up, so why not? As they are doing their thing, I'm looking up pay-per-view numbers and I am kind of shocked that SummerSlam 1994 beat this. Hogan hits the dreaded 10 fists in the corner and a weak looking clothesline. Sherri grabs Hogan's leg as he's running the ropes and Flair is now in control. Flair hits a chop and that sends him over the top rope? Sherri goes to hit Hogan with a chair, but Jimmy Hart is there to make the save. How are there still almost 25 minutes left in this show? Flair hits a nice looking knee drop and Schiavone does a nice job of selling it. Heenan is also on his game here. Hogan makes a little bit of a comeback, but then Flair cuts it off in an awkward fashion. They seem to be a little off and Flair puts him in a chinlock to slow things down. Hogan battles out, but eventually misses a leg drop. Flair goes for the Figure Four, but Hogan counters with a small package for a 2 count. Hogan hits the big boot, but Sherri pulls the referee out of the ring and slams him into the steel guardrail. She hits Jimmy Hart as well and Flair hits a chop block on Hogan. Sherri then hits a splash from the top rope on Hogan and a new referee comes in. Flair slaps on the Figure Four. After an extended time, Hogan gets to the ropes and Sherri chokes him behind the ref's back. Hogan makes his big comeback and Sherri misses him with a splash this time. Hogan clotheslines Flair and hits Sherri in the head. Hogan incorrectly applies the Figure Four and Sherri comes into interfere. Mr. T grabs Sherri, but Flair hits Hogan with brass knuckles from Sherri. Hogan kicks out and we get more Hulking up. Hogan hits the big boot and the leg drop and that is all. It gets a big pop from the live crowd, but this was every Hogan match you have ever seen in your life. You had two guys that were kind of set in their ways and they did not deviate from their usual match at this point in their career. It had a big feel, but this was only mildly entertaining at best.
Match Rating: **
They show Hogan celebrating in the back and then get an interview with Mean Gene. Beefcake and Duggan are both there and Brian Pillman is as well.
The first half of this show was really strong and showed off the talent they had in their undercard at this time. For whatever reason, they gave the last two matches both 20+ minutes and it just didn't work for me. Neither were horrible and hardly ruined the show, but it would have been nice to hit a home run with the main event instead of a stand up single. Either way, if you're a Hogan or Flair fan, you probably need to watch this and if you like mid-90s wrestling, you can do a lot worse than this show.
Overall Rating: 78%
No comments:
Post a Comment