Wrestling Lunacy #2

WCW Main Event, 2/11/90

Norman the Lunatic vs Sargeant Buddy Lee Parker

Norman is fucking over here. Like Rock N' Roll Express having to keep their dicks padlocked from the fans kind of over. This is proof that while WCW had some stupid ideas, they had some fans that bought it hook, line, and sinker. Parker looks like a little baby here which is fun. It'll be a few years until he got to scream at green kids in a gym under the guise of the Power Plant. We get a tie up tease and it is halted because...Norman has a newspaper under his scrubs….wow. So we get that nasty shit out of the way and Parker gets Norman in the corner for some Power Plant shops and forearms! Norman says fuck you bitch and headbutts him away. Norman then goes into jobber killing mode and nails Parker with a nice clothesline as well as a scoop slam. Then the big move comes when Norman DROPKICKS Parker to the mat! It was definitely a Dusty one foot dropkick that looked shit for anyone that isn't over 300 pounds so I was impressed. Norman charges and Parker moves which allows him to get some offense in, aka throwing shitty strikes that Norman no sells. Parker throws a clothesline of his own and Norman bumps like shit off of it. Parker unloads on Norman though and shows some viciousness that I like until Norman decides it is time to end this bullshit. Total throwaway match but worth checking out Norman segments from this era because his overness is totally bizarre. It really is a wonder he never beat Flair for the belt with Herd's mindset.

Missy Hyatt was hot af back in 1990. Ok, proceed.

So there was a time when Sting was a Four Horseman. Yes, that is the case and no, it didn't last long. After the Norman match, we get a recap of the famous angle with Flair and the Horsemen giving Sting an ultimatum regarding his challenge for Flair's World title. Man this is some BUILD DAWG. Flair going batshit and screaming “get out of my life” at Sting is MONEY! This kind of angle from WCW makes me wish that these guys would have had the luxury of WWF production and melodrama to really sell that angle big time. We then get the images of the unfortunate Sting injury which was most likely a week previous to this show's airing. Flair pulled a Ronnie Lott when he ran up the entrance and pounced on Sting that was incredible. Old, crabby Ole Anderson is forever awesome.

The Mod Squad vs The Rock N' Roll Express

Imagine half of The Village People went and got some wrestling boots. That's The Mod Squad's aesthetic and it is veerrry interesting. The RNR Express looks hillbilly as always but they are gods so who gives a shit?! We get Pasty Boy starting with Ricky Morton and Morton takes a hellish bump to the apron, to which Morton says “welcome to rasslin' boay” and hits a beautiful body press from the top. In comes Gibson and he's a hip tossing MACHINE! RNR is always so fun to watch because they knew how to work with that psychology but could GO in the ring. Mod Squad is garbage. This match really enforced how good Robert Gibson was for me though. He does well here with two pretty green guys and you rarely notice that they are buffoons. RNR works an arm so magically and goddammit workers of today, WATCH THIS AND LEARN! It's awesome until Mod Squad no sells all the shit RNR does but hey! That's them jobbers for ya. As always, Morton starts selling like only he can. Seriously, Morton needs to tour every independent company in the fucking world and teach these youngsters the values of selling because he makes this match decent just by taking a shit kicking. Even a pickled Morton can get sympathy like crazy. This match makes me love RNR so much more because they manage to make The God Awful Mod Squad look credible by giving them a ton of offense and milking the Gibson hot tag well. Just absolutely pros and a clinic on how to make yourself super over as babyfaces. I will admit that this match went far too long but hey! RNR wanted to get a good sweat going I guess. Also, there's an awesome finish sequence after Gibson gets the big hot tag where Morton blind tags Gibson while Gibson is shot in and backdropped. During the backdrop, Morton runs right behind the Mod Squader (I don't know their names) and bumps him off the ropes into a roll up for the win. Very cool looking.

The Samoan Swat Team vs Steve Williams and The Road Warriors

Interesting six man tag, especially with Samoan Savage involved, yawn. Also, I recently saw a Mid South TV from 1984 that showed a rookie Steve Williams and BOY did he use those steroids because he was actually fat in '84 and six years later he is jacked to the gills practically. Although he's not at 1994 levels yet. We start with Williams and Samoan Savage and the press slams begin! Williams just rag dolls the Savage and Savage misses an elbow that looked strange. In comes FATU! In comes Animal! Will Animal feel the Stink Face wrath?! Oh wait that's a decade later...so we get a fairly good sequence with both men, Animal is very powerslam heavy. Samu comes in to try and double team but Animal double clotheslines them to oblivion before Hawk comes in to fuck shit up. Samu is smooth as shit here and his stuff with Hawk is fairly solid. The SST spends some time working on Hawk and it is just good family entertainment here. The infamous Samoan headbutts fuck Hawk up as well as superkicks like crazy. I mean people bitch about The Young Bucks but these dudes were like 25% super kicks predominately. I love the in and out tags by the Samoans. We get a beautiful splash by Fatu and shit breaks down with all six men going at it. The match ends with The Skyscrapers!~ coming in and fucking up The Road Warriors. Seeing baby Taker is always a treat, especially when he brings the stomping goodness.

WCW Prime Wrestling 4/24/95

So this will be interesting because as big of a fan as I was in the 90's, I never once saw this show. I'm not sure if it was because of syndicated television clearances or what but until I fell into the YouTube wormhole, I'd never even heard of this show existing. TIL WCW had a shit ton of TV I knew nothing about! Fun times friends.

Lord Steven Regal and Earl Robert Eaton vs Mike Davis and Barry Houston

This is a squash of all squashes. This gimmick at the time was very much ignored by a lot of people and hated by a lot of people that recalled the greatness of Eaton in the 80's and early 90's but I have to say Eaton was solid. Regal is fucking Regal as well so there's no worries on that front. Regal starts the match with Davis by immediately going for the arm. Regal does some sweet reversals and gets Davis in his clutches with some mat work followed by forearms into the corner. Regal gives Davis a bit of shine before fucking him up with European Uppercuts and talking shit. GIVE THIS MAN THE STRAP. Ugh if only I could transport back to WCW in 1995 and tell those fools to push this man to the moon! Eaton is in now and decides “Hey, you're going to look awesome today kids” but decides against that rather quickly and hits perhaps the first ever Angle Slam! Regal is back in and uppercut happy. Davis takes a vicious looking release German Suplex and by release I mean Regal just throw him sideways and watched him crumple. Regal and Eaton were fantastic here, showing off tag prowess at a pretty high level. Regal hits a nasty looking rolling senton and Eaton nails a top rope knee drop to the back of Houston's neck. In comes Regal and he puts a bow on it with the Regal Stretch. How did this team not ever go further? I feel like this had some legs and had potential but alas, we are talking about WCW in the mid to late 90's.

Tim Horner and Brad Armstrong vs Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck

This is a fun southern style tag match. It gets no time at all of course. Horner spends quite a while working a headlock with Buck working out of it but keeps getting caught. Even an atomic drop doesn't break the hold and man this makes SENSE. Buck keeps escaping and getting back in the hold until Horner gets sick of his shit and nails him with a right hand dropping him to the floor. In comes Brad Armstrong who….guess it? WORKS THE HEADLOCK. Buck gets Slater in and Brad keeps headlockin' like there's no tomorrow. We get a little drop down and duck sequence by both men until Brad finds himself back in control and gets the headlock. Atomic drop on Slater and Slater does the Terry Funkesque wobble sell that any loving American would appreciate. Slater gets a belly to back suplex but Brad WILL NOT YIELD and keeps that damn headlock on. Usually a match like this would annoy me but Horner and Armstrong work the headlocks well. Horner and Buck are back in and it's all about Horner's headlock. Buck gets a headscissors on but Horner reverses it into a...HEADLOCK! We comes back from commerical and Slater is fucking Horner's world up with right hands. A piledriver is teased by Horner gets the backdrop and tags in Armstrong however the ref didn't see it. Buck and Slater take advantage and beat on Horner a little. Things amp up with all four men in the ring and Slater and Buck are in trouble. Horner has a roll up but the ref is distracted so Buck decides to use a foreign object to blast Horner in his face so Slater can get the pin. Fun match with a rhyme and reason.