Wednesday, August 24th, 1994
Five Seasons Center
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
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Off The Grid, Volume 60:
We get a disclaimer that this is the most complete version of the show due to technical difficulties. It seems as if the intro must have been what they are referring to since the Nasty Boys are the first thing you see and they reference that the national anthem was sung.
Nasty Boys vs. Pretty Wonderful
The Nasty Boys are usually a pretty good time. As I say that, I'm already not paying attention to the match. Orndorff just always feels so old when I see him during this run. I don't necessarily mean it in a mean way, just that he seems like he's just from such a different era. Orndorff goes for the piledriver, but Sags is able to hit the back body drop and tag in Knobs. He gets double teamed after he gets in a bunch of right hands. Things break down with all four in the ring. Orndorff hits a suplex and Roma hits the splash. Sags hits an elbow off the top on Orndorff and picks up the win despite not being the legal man. This was a fun enough Clash style match.
Match Rating: **1/4
We get a Hulk Hogan hotline commercial. I bet that's not a scam.
Mean Gene brings out the "most awesome force in WCW history"...Hulk Hogan. There's no way at this point that you could even really say that. As Hogan comes out (following Jimmy Hart first), a masked man attacks Hogan from behind and he sells it like it's the most insane beating ever taken. Gene keeps saying "Look at that knee!". It looked like absolutely nothing. You'd think a guy who has starred in movies would be a better actor. Mean Gene wants to get a word with him but then says he is in way too much pain and starts yelling "Get him out of here!". This is just so bad.
United States Championship Match
Ricky Steamboat vs. Steve Austin
Oh good, they're just going to talk about Hogan instead of this match that should rule. We get a pretty slow pace here to start. We get news that Sting saw what happened on TV and is taking a plane to get to the arena. He will wrestle in Hogan's place tonight if needed. It should be noted also that Barry Darsow is in the front row and the now have acknowledged him as a "loud mouthed fan". Surprisingly, there hasn't been a lot of note in here until Steamboat crotches Austin on the top rope. Steamboat goes for a superplex, but Austin shoves him off. Steamboat comes back and slams Austin face-first into the mat. Steamboat shows some more fire and the crowd loves that. We get a series of pin attempts, which is probably one of my favorites of the more frequently used spots in a match. It goes on for quite a bit and then eventually works for Steamboat and we have a new champion. The match started slower than I expected but picked up to some good stuff at the end.
Match Rating: ***1/4
Oh, don't worry. It's time for more Hulk Hogan. They go to Eric Bischoff and see Hogan coming out of the ambulance at the hospital. He says Hogan felt something snap in his knee.
It's now time for a new music video from Honky Tonk Man, who is coming to WCW. Talk about striking while the iron is hot. His song is basically his usual song except he says "baby" instead of "man". This was as pointless as you would think it would be in 1994.
Mean Gene is now with Nick Bockwinkle. If Hogan is unable to wrestle tonight, he will have to relinquish the title.
We go to a segment with Dusty Rhodes is in the ring with Dustin to talk about some of the opponents in the way and that Dustin is a future world champion. Dusty wants to be Dustin's partner. They embrace and the crowd goes wild.
Bunkhouse Buck & Terry Funk vs. Dusty Rhodes & Dustin Rhodes
We get to hear one of the worst entrance themes of all time with Dustin's. Luckily, they get right to business and we don't have to hear much. Schiavone speculates that this was always their plan to get Dusty back in the ring. Dustin gets most of the action to start before tagging in dad. Dusty is 48 years old here and the crowd loves all of his elbow shenanigans. We get the classic spot where Bunkhouse hits Funk on accident and out comes Arn Anderson. I will say, all four men are putting in a good effort here. It all breaks down and Arn comes in and DDTs Dustin for the stupid DQ finish. Meng is now out and Dusty hits him with a wooden chair, which smashes over his head and Meng no sells it. We get a melee with the heels destroying the Rhodes family and officials trying to break it up. We take a commercial with chaos still continuing. This was more of a storyline match but the effort here was really good and the crowd loved all of it.
Match Rating: ***
Back to this stupid Hogan drama with Bischoff. They are very concerned about the severity of his knee injury. If Hogan forfeits the title, he will get the first title shot but Hogan wants to wrestle tonight. Jimmy Hart says whatever Hogan wants to do is what he'll do.
Back to Mean Gene in the arena and he brings out Ric Flair. If Hogan can't wrestle, Flair wants Hogan to walk down the aisle and hand him the title. We get lots of yelling here from both Flair and Sherri.
We come back from commercial and Mean Gene says that he has heard that Hogan is on his way back to the arena and Heenan can't believe it.
Lord Steven Regal vs. Antonio Inoki
Regal starts as the aggressor as Heenan and Schiavone tell us how Inoki has wrestled Muhammad Ali and Andre The Giant. Just in case you were worried about Hogan since we haven't heard about him for about 2 minutes, they show him limping into the arena. Nick Bockwinkle joins the announce team just in case you needed more Hogan news. He says that he advised Hogan not to wrestle. Meanwhile, the action in the ring is mostly on the mat. Then out of nowhere, Inoki puts the choke sleeper hold on, which seems like it should be illegal. I mean, this is the same organization that disqualifies you if you throw someone over the top rope. Anyway, that's the finish. This was dull.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Call the Hulk Hogan hotline.
WCW Championship Match
Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan
We get the delayed Hogan entrance with Flair on the mic calling for him. He comes out with his knee wrapped and a limp. Hogan goes right after Flair before his robe is even off. Hogan is his usual cheating self and starts biting Flair. Flair pulls Hogan out of the ring but it's Hogan so of course it doesn't work. Flair goes up top and Hogan slams him to the mat. Hogan then starts brawling with him up the entrance ramp. Hogan misses with a chair and that allows Flair to get his first offense in. Flair hits a vertical suplex and of course Hogan no sells that too. To his credit, the crowd absolutely loves this. Sherri comes in and hits Hogan's knee and Flair starts to focus his attack there. Flair puts on the Figure Four in the center of the ring and naturally Hogan the good guy is able to rake the eyes of Flair to get out. Hogan hulks up and hits a leg drop but that hurt him. Flair puts on the Figure Four again and I should comment on how good Heenan is here. Hogan reverses the hold and rolls to the ropes. Sherri hits Hogan's knee with her shoe and Hogan rolls out of the ring. Flair wins by countout and the crowd absolutely hates that. They announce Flair as the new champion for some reason and then they announce Hogan as the winner by disqualification. Leave it to WCW to ruin a good main event. Out comes the masked man and he helps Flair attack Hogan. He puts the Figure Four on again and the masked man runs away. Out comes Sting to make the save. You know, if you're going to do an injury angle, it would have been ok for Hogan to lose here. This was one of the best Hogan WCW matches that I can remember though before the stupid ending.
Match Rating: ***1/4
Shows like this are so hard to rate. I enjoyed everything for the most part but at the same time the Hogan stuff was so obnoxious, and the finish was your typical crap Hogan finish. However, 3 of the 5 matches were pay per view quality and that's enough for me to recommend it. If you for some reason like Hogan, this one's for you.
Overall Rating: 68%
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