WCW Slamboree 1995

1995 was the third and final year WCW would bill Slamboree as a ‘Legends Reunion,’ with focus on honoring stars of yesterday, along with developing current feuds and angles. For 1995 – somewhat shockingly after the abortion that was Uncensored – WCW was actually allowed to still exist, and used Slamboree mostly to settle issues left over from Uncensored – which is a bit contrived, considering Uncensored was designed with the sole purpose of blowing off feuds with crazy gimmick matches.

From St. Petersburg, Florida; Your Hosts are Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan.


Opening WCW Tag Team Title Match: Harlem Heat v The Nasty Boys: Brian Knobs gets taken out before the match, so Jerry Sags takes on both guys alone. He drops them with a double-DDT early, and gives Stevie Ray a pumphandle slam for two, but gets caught in the wrong part of town, and the Heat don't even have to bother cutting the ring in half. Booker T with the Harlem Sidekick, and Stevie Ray with a sidewalk slam - but they don't bother covering. Booker with the Harlem Hangover (a flying somersault legdrop), but again doesn't stay on the guy. Stevie tries to match his brothers high flying with a BOTTOM ROPE legdrop, but somehow it isn't quite the same. Sags finally comes back with a piledriver, as Knobs runs up onto the apron. Tag, and he's an outhouse of fire. Nasties finish with a powerslam/flying elbowdrop combo for the titles at 10:52. Dull opener, though making it a handicapped match for the majority was certainly a welcome change in this dull series. Unbelievably this was the fourth straight pay per view meeting between these teams, presumably because WCW hated everyone in 1995. Even more unbelievably, they'd go on to have MORE pay per view matches later. ½*

Kevin Sullivan v The Man With No Name: This was during the retarded (even by 1995 WCW standards) period when Ed Leslie 'got amnesia' and turned face. But also forgot his name. No Name jumps him at the bell, and they spill to the floor for some Grade-A amnesic ass whipping. Inside, a ten-punch count, and he hooks the Sleeper, but Sullivan falls back to break. To the floor again, Kevin rams him into the rail. Back in, Sullivan with the chops, but No Name no-sells, and hits a piledriver for two. He argues the count with the referee, allowing Sullivan to rake the eyes, and they spill to the floor yet again. Kevin posts him, but loses a slugfest - but dodges a blind charge. Tree of Woe, and Sullivan finishes with the double stomp at 5:24. Well paced, but repetitive (hey, guy had amnesia, give him a break!), and lacked even a shred of psychology. It was kept short enough, though, thankfully. ¼*

Legends Match: Wahoo McDaniel v Dick Murdoch: The screen segues to black-and-white, hammering home that they're old timers (as if their glorious man-boobs weren't enough to do it), and likely because this is going to be about as sad as Schindler's List. They fight over a couple of collar-and-elbows - with McDaniel dominating with armdrags - until Murdoch gets him in an armbar. Things 'heat up' when McDaniel starts throwing chops, but quickly slow back down with an overhead wristlock. More chops, but Murdoch comes back with a series of elbowsmashes, and he comes off the top with a knee to the neck. More elbows, but McDaniel reverses an Irish whip, and hits a big chop for the pin at 6:18. Just a couple of old men wrestling around the way I used to with my brother. When I was ten. DUD - but at least now we know what our grandparents were bored by.

IWGP Heavyweight Title Match: The Great Muta v Paul Orndorff: Muta scares him into the corner a couple of times with the threat of various kicks, which leads to endless stalling. They go to a stalemate over a wristlock, so Muta hits a roundhouse kick, and Orndorff bails to regroup. Inside, Muta gets a mat-based side-headlock, but Orndorff counters into another wristlock. Elbowdrop misses, and Muta lays him out with a dropkick, before dropping a crisp elbow. Long chinlock, until Orndorff side suplexes out, and dumps him to the floor. He chokes him with an electrical cable out there, and then stupidly just leaves him there instead of dragging him back in, where he can win the title. Muta beats the count, so Orndorff suplexes him, and hooks a chinlock of his own. He gets almost as bored of it as I do, however, and switches to a front-facelock to continues the resthold exhibition. Muta finally breaks, but misses a 2^nd rope elbow, and Orndorff with a fistdrop for two. Piledriver, but Muta backdrops out, and hits another roundhouse. Handspring elbow, and a bulldog only get two, so he gets pissed, and hits a flying moonsault to retain at 14:11. Dull, slow match - filled with stalling, and restholds. I guess they figured after that last match, they'd look good by comparison. ¼*

WCW Television Title Match: Arn Anderson v Alex Wright: They fight over the initial lockup, and Wright surprises him with a quick armdrag. He keeps Arn grounded with a side-headlock, but Arn keeps finding counters, so Wright overwhelms him with acrobatics, and hits a moonsault. Enzuigiri further infuriates Arn, but Wright gets him back in the headlock. Arn tries an enzuigiri of his own, but Wright ducks him, and hooks an STF. Arn makes the ropes, and bails to the floor to regroup. Wright follows with a baseball slide, and a plancha. He posts him for good measure, and inside goes to an armbar to capitalize on the shoulder. Arn fires off some shots to the knee to slow him down, and lays him out properly with a spinebuster. Arn with an armbar of his own, but Wright shoves him off when he tries a figure four. Poorly executed spinheel kick by Wright, and he suplexes the champ. Well executed missile dropkick gets two, but Arn counters a backdrop with a well timed cradle for two. DDT finishes at 11:36. Was solid enough the whole way through, but really got going towards the end. * ¼

Hawk v Meng: This was during Hawk's singles run, as Animal was off collecting insurance money for a back injury he suffered in late '92 - splitting up the team for a few years. Meng ambushes him with a series of punches, kicks, and chops, then piledrives him - but Hawk pops right up. He misses a blind charge, however, tumbling all the way to the floor over it. Another slugfest goes Meng's way, so Hawk clotheslines him, and hits a diving shoulderblock so lazy, he doesn't even leave his feet on the follow-through. Flying splash misses, and they spill to the outside again - both getting counted out at 4:41. This was billed as a 'bonus match,' which is like billing diarrhea as a 'bonus' to food poisoning. DUD

WCW Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony: Gordon Solie (an inductee himself) brings out the other legends, Wahoo McDaniel, Angelo Poffo (father of Randy Savage), Terry Funk, Antonio Inoki, Dusty Rhodes (who brings young Cody with him), and Big John Studd (represented by his son, as Big John passed away in March). The ceremony drags on for a good twenty minutes, though it's very different than the WWE's fun pre-WrestleMania versions, as kayfabe was still in effect so we don't get funny road stories. It's basically just Solie reading off a career retrospective for each, and then the guy coming out for a brief 'thank you.' This was the last appearance of the WCW Hall of Fame, as they would drop it for 1996.

Lights Out Match: Sting v Big Bubba Rogers: 'Lights Out' is fancy talk for a No Holds Barred Match - though Bubba had just defeated Sting cleanly in a No Holds Barred match at Uncensored, making it a bit redundant. Sting brings a table with him to show that he's hardcore, and the sight of it alone clears Bubba out of the ring. Guy must be a blast at picnics. They spend a long time playing to the crowd before finally locking up - and Sting sends him right to the floor with a dropkick. Bubba takes his time to regroup, and rakes the eyes coming in, then hits him with a cross corner clothesline. He chokes him out with his tie, but Sting just throws another dropkick to stop the abuse-by menswear. Bubba with another eye rake, but Sting catches him with a clothesline, and they spill to the outside. Sting rams him into the table out there, then slams him onto it. He tries it again, but Bubba throws powder in his eyes, and sets the table up in the corner. Piledriver, but Sting backdrops out, but misses a Stinger Splash onto the ultra-resilient table. Bubba takes his belt off, whipping Sting, and hits the Bossman Slam to finish - but it only gets two. He goes up top, but Sting slams him off, and hits a flying splash for two, then lays the table on top of Bubba for a double stomp. Scorpion Deathlock finishes at 9:29. Right on par with the Uncensored match, though this time they actually bothered to make use of the 'No Holds Barred' stipulation. ½*

Main Event: Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage v Vader and Ric Flair: Big staredown before the bell, so Ultimate Warrior-clone The Renegade runs in to clear the heels out, and give Hogan and Savage proper posing time. They finally start - going with Hogan and Vader - but 'start' may be overstating it, since they stall forever, doing dueling posing routines to psych the other out. Vader finally takes him to the corner for some body shots, but Hogan casually shrugs them off, and clotheslines him. Another puts the big man on the floor, so Savage follows out with a flying axehandle. Inside, the faces try a double-clothesline, but Vader counters by simply being fat. Flair goes with Savage - firing off chops - but Randy retaliates with a series of jabs, and Flair Flips right into a Hogan big boot. Flair goes to the eyes to takeover, but Savage just keeps throwing jabs, and tags Hogan. He no-sells the chops, so Flair goes to the eyes again, but gets slammed off of the top rope. Hogan with a figure four, but Arn Anderson runs in to break it up. He manages to clip Hogan's knee on the way out, and Flair hammers it. Tag to Vader for a leglock, and he hits a suplex - but Hogan pops right up. Some well timed double-teaming settle him down, and Vader hits an avalanche. Vaderbomb, and then a version off of the top rope - but Hogan dodges it, and gets to Savage. He unloads on Flair, and gets his turn to slam Flair off of the top. Flying elbowdrop, but Anderson gets involved again before he can cover. That lures Savage to the floor for some double-team abuse, as Renegade threatens Anderson. Vader nails Savage with his flying moonsault for two, and then gives him some body shots for having the balls to kick out. Flair with more chops, but Savage catches him with a clothesline off of a criss cross, and tags Hogan. Ten punch count for Flair draws Vader in, but Hogan handles them both pretty easily - and even manages to take out Arn Anderson in his spare time. Legdrop finishes Flair at 18:57. Afterwards, the heels do a beat down, so Savage's father (and Hall of Fame inductee Angelo Poffo) jumps the rail to make the save. Hey, can't blame him. Hogan was essentially holding the heels off with one hand tied behind his back for most of the match - could see why he wouldn't think they were a threat. Predictably, he gets beat up - which upset me as a kid, particularly because Savage sold his grief for his father so well. This main event would have been a big dream match a couple of years before, but they had destroyed Flair and Vader's credibility so systematically by then that this wasn't particularly intriguing. Old man Poffo was pretty much the only bit of the match where they looked like proper heels, and even then, it was for beating up an old man - which isn't exactly persuasive. Match was well paced, but overbooked, and hurt by Hogan's constant no-selling - even during the heat segment. *

BUExperience: Uncensored was significantly worse, but at least it felt like they were trying to do something exciting and original – no matter how far they were off the mark. This was just another bad throwaway show, so unmemorable and historically insignificant that – even though I saw it live in 1995 – I couldn’t have told you much about without having my memory jogged. DUD