WCW Uncensored 1995

As part of its expanding pay per view schedule for 1995, WCW introduced Uncensored (or UnCenSored, for effect) in March, with the selling point being that all the matches would be ‘unsanctioned’ by WCW, and contested under no disqualification rules – with most of them gimmick matches.

It certainly sounded exciting to a ten year old, though the results were significantly less than pleasing – even if it did feature some particularly infamous ‘highlights.’

From Tupelo, Mississippi; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.


Opening King of the Road Match: Dustin Rhodes v The Blacktop Bully: A 'King of the Road' match is one of the more inspired (if completely and totally flawed) match ideas ever to come out of wrestling. The idea is that both men battle on an 18-wheeler MACK truck, inside a caged off flatbed... while the truck drives on the road. The winner is the first man to climb to the top of the cell, and sound a horn signifying that he's 'king of the road.' It was promoted as taking place 'live,' though that would take it from just innocently insane to possibly criminal - so they shot it a few days earlier. As a kid, this was definitely the match I was most excited to see, as it sounded wild, and completely different than anything else I'd heard of. As you can imagine, moving around (let alone 'working') on the back of a moving truck isn't particularly easy. Bully jumps him (well, slowly stumbles over to him), and throws him around into the cage, with bales of hay cushioning their falls. The editing becomes obvious when Rhodes goes from one end of the truck to the other, as if by magic. Not to mention that the lighting keeps changing from mid-day to dusk, repeatedly. He actually has the balls to bust out a piledriver, and then does something more reasonable - hitting him with the hay. Hey, I'm all for bumps, but I don't want to see a guy break his neck. Bully chokes him with a rope, but Dustin throws a pail of water at him to slow him down. No! Not cool, refreshing water in an outdoor setting! This is medieval! The truck turns, which sends them both predictably flying, and Dustin pulls off a side suplex. Bully nearly makes the horn, but the motion of the truck fucks him over. Rhodes tries for the bell, so Bully tears his shirt off, and chokes him with it, as both guys bleed. The highlight for me is when the truck hits traffic, and a school bus presumably full of incredibly confused kids passes by. They make the brilliant decision to climb onto the roof of a moving truck, and not surprisingly fall off (though, thankfully, into the truck), and Bully rings the bell at 13:00. Blading was a strict no-no in WCW at the time, and both men were actually fired over it, as a nice thank you for risking their lives to accommodate WCW's ridiculous ideas. Rhodes would surface in the WWF as Goldust, and Barry Darsow is still puttering around. Match was like the climax of a very bad action movie. It's easily one of the worst 'matches' I've ever seen, but I can't in good conscious go into negative stars, when they both worked hard in something that shouldn't have even be promoted as wrestling. DUD

Martial Arts Match: Jim Duggan v Meng: Yep, because when you think 'Jim Duggan' you think of someone fit for the discipline and training that goes into martial arts. Sonny Onoo is the guest referee, mostly because he's Asian. Duggan wears a headband, presumably to look more like a 'karate guy.' Duggan stalls forever - first refusing to bow to Onoo, then Meng, plus leading the crowd in endless 'USA' chants. Meng finally jumps him with a savate kick for two, and Duggan starts throwing punches to the face. The doesn't work, so he takes off his boot to use as a weapon - a strategy employed in only the most respected dojos across the world. Meng responds with chokes, and a nervehold. Meng misses a series of elbowdrops, and Duggan hits a ten-punch count - to the protests of the poor referee. 3-Point Stance, but Meng no-sells, and hits him with a superkick for the pin at 7:04. This wasn't just bad, it was offensively bad. It wasn't even a 'martial arts match,' just a standard match, with a referee in a gi. Meng at least tried to play the game - Duggan just did his standard, shitty, not at all martial arts related moves. -****

Boxer v Wrestler Match: Johnny B. Badd v Arn Anderson: Anderson is the Television Champion - though it isn't on the line, since the show is 'unsanctioned.' The gimmick here is that Badd can only win by knockout, while Anderson must score a pinfall or submission. Further, the match is broken up into three minute rounds.
ROUND 1: Anderson slips up when trying to go for Badd with wrestling, running into jabs. Badd takes him to the corner with body shots, so Arn bails to regroup. Back in, he desperately tries to grab a front-facelock, but takes a shot to knock him down. He cowers in the corner with his fists up for the rest of the round, as Badd fires off shots so loose, Vader was probably puking in the locker room.
ROUND 2: Badd tries to trap him in the corner again, but Anderson is ready for it, so Badd just goes with punching him in the middle of the ring instead. Anderson makes it up before the count, and hides in the corner some more.
ROUND 3: Between rounds, Anderson jumped Badd with a DDT, and threw him over the top for good measure. That allows him to finally takeover, choking Badd down. Spinebuster, so Badd's corner man runs in. Anderson takes him out, and keeps after Badd's throat.
ROUND 4: Anderson jumps him again, so the corner man puts the spit bucket on Arn's head, and Badd 'knocks him out' at 9:22. Certainly more energetic than the previous match, but it was a complete train wreck - coming off as a bad boxing match (they were all very clearly pulled punches), and not at all a wrestling match. I don't think there was a single actual wrestling spot, besides the DDT between rounds, and the spinebuster in the third. -*** 1/2

No Holds Barred Match: Randy Savage v Avalanche: Savage jumps him coming in, but gets into trouble when he tries to shoulderblock the big man. To the floor, Savage dives with a flying bodypress, and posts him. Slam, but Avalanche topples him for two. Legdrop, but he's not tan enough to get more than two. Same hairline, though. Bearhug into a belly to belly suplex, and Avalanche actually busts out a dropkick for two. He tosses him to the floor, and returns the favor by basing him into the ringpost. He blocks Savage from reentering, and the referee actually works a countout in a no holds barred brawl. Savage 'beats' the count in with a flying axehandle, but gets buttsplashed off of a sunset flip. Splash gets two, and a powerslam sets up the running buttsplash - but Savage rolls out of the way. He tries a schoolboy for two, and another flying axehandle, but Avalanche catches him, and railroads him into the corner. Another powerslam, but a 2^nd rope splash misses, so the big man bails. Savage follows out with a flying axehandle, and suddenly a very masculine woman runs out of the crowd to jump him. No, it's not Chyna though, it's actually Ric Flair in drag (that must have led to some potentially super awkward conversations with fans), and they do a beat down until Hulk Hogan runs in for the save. Official decision? Randy Savage wins by perplexing disqualification at 11:44, as apparently they can't be bothered to remember their own gimmicks. Remember, the whole show was sold as 'anything goes,' and the announcers spent literally the entire night hammering home the point that no disqualifications could occur, because the show is unsanctioned. Also, it's not like Avalanche went nuts and pulled a gun, or some shit, it was a simple two-on-one, non-weapon involved attack. Bad, if inoffensive, match before the ending. The ending was offensive. - ½* Savage left the WWF for this?

No Holds Barred Match: Sting v Big Bubba Rogers: Hopefully they'll remember their own stipulations this time. Sting with a series of punches at the bell, and he chokes Bubba with his own jacket. Backdrop, and they spill to the outside for Sting to 'post' Bubba - though I've bumped my head on my car door more convincingly. Inside, Sting with a splash, but gets nailed in the nuts when he tries a leapfrog off of a criss cross. He hits his knee on the way down, so Bubba capitalizes with a leglock. Piledriver, so Sting backdrops him again, but can't capitalize because of the knee. Another leglock (Shhh! Crowd is sleeping. Let's not wake them up), and he goes to the top, but literally slips and falls off. That allows Sting a flying tomahawk chop, and a slam. Sleeper sets up... a second sleeper... and a nice release German suplex. Flying splash gets two, so Bubba clips the knee, but misses a blind charge. Slam, but the knee gives out, and Bubba topples him for the pin at 13:43. Repetitive, punchy-kicky stuff - though they made an effort at some psychology, at least. ½* Match of the night, so far!

Texas Tornado Match: Harlem Heat v The Nasty Boys: Heat are the World Tag Champions, but those aren't on the line. Only my sanity is. The Heat come out of the crowd to jump them, and pair off with Stevie Ray slugging it out with Jerry Sags, and Booker T with Brian Knobs. Sags gets dumped, and the Heat clobber Knobs with a weak spike piledriver. The Nasties respond by giving Harlem manager Sherri a tour of their armpits, and they brawl up the aisle towards one of those odd concession stands set up in areas fans aren't allowed to go. Maybe they're there for the referees? Everybody does their best to stay vertical - as a spilled drink slicks the floor - until the Heat bust out their secret weapon: cotton candy. That isn't a cute name for some double-team move - I'm talking about literally hitting a guy with cotton candy. Sherri keeps getting involved, and swatted and/or slipping, as they start to spray each other with mustard. Well, if that gets in the eyes, I suppose it might be effective. They destroy the concession stands (that poor vendor. First a location where customers are literally barred from visiting, now this), and get the pin when Knobs powerslams Booker T at 8:43. At least it was relatively quick. I've seen these two teams ramble on for more than twice that in their endless(ly bad) series around this period. ¼*

Main Event: Strap Match: Hulk Hogan v Vader: This is a 'touch all four-corners'-style strap match, and a rematch from SuperBrawl - where Vader was disqualified against Hogan. Hulk has The Renegade (making his WCW debut) with him - a literal Ultimate Warrior clone that WCW tricked fans like me into thinking would be an appearance from the actual Warrior, when Hogan promised 'the ultimate surprise' for the show. Match starts with both guys brawling on the floor, as Renegade keeps Ric Flair at bay. Inside, Hogan chokes him with the strap, but Flair runs in again, so Hogan knocks him out, and Renegade stalks him up the aisle. Meanwhile, Hogan keeps dominating Vader, but loses a tug-of-war, and gets knocked around. Slam, and the Vaderbomb squish the Hulkster, but Vader wastes time choking him with the strap instead of hitting the posts. To the floor, Hogan goes ballistic with a chair, and posts the big man. Inside, Hogan whips away, and crotches him a bunch of times with the strap for good measure. Back to the floor, more whipping, and Hogan slams him with ease - as Flair and Renegade continue their cat-and-mouse game. Hogan starts dragging him to the posts on the outside, but only makes one before Vader launches him into the rail - though by 'launch' I mean more 'gently suggest' Inside, Vader with a chokeslam, and a splash, but Hogan HULKS UP!! Big Boot! Legdrop! - but Hogan only gets three posts. Meanwhile, a mysterious masked man appears at ringside, and takes out Renegade, allowing Flair to get properly involved. They pound on Hogan, and Vader makes three corners before Flair decides to stop him for a splash request. It misses, of course, so Flair unhooks Vader from the strap, and nails Hogan with a chair himself. He casually no-sells it, though, and starts unloading on Ric with the strap, then ties him to it. He drags him to four corners for the moral victory, but, of course, it doesn’t count, since, well, Flair’s not in the match. That’d be like a DQ in a No Holds Barred match. For whatever reason (see: crack) the officials decide that that constitutes a victory at 18:21. Despite the fact that Vader is still on the floor. Afterwards, Hogan and Renegade stare them down, as the masked man runs back in. He reveals himself to be Randy Savage (Randy Savage under a mask!), and the faces clean house, as original masked man Arn Anderson struggles to get to the ring in shackles, as Savage had apparently taken him out backstage after he jumped Renegade earlier. People talk about overbooking, and Vince Russo's problems, but this match makes anything from the worst of the Attitude Era seem like good, logical booking. It was a dull match to begin with - not helped by Renegade, Flair, and various masked men's involvement - and really tanked when Hogan literally beat someone who wasn't in the match for the win. How did they stay in business with this shit? -*

BUExperience: What was this shit? I’ve seen my share of wrestling, and I think I can safely say this is one of the (if not the) worst pay per view ever put out by either of the big two. The match of the night was ½*. Unbelievably, after that display, WCW still brought this shit back the next year, and four more times after that. I mean, points for effort, as this certainly intrigued me enough as a kid to beg my parents to order it – but watching now, I literally feel bad they spent actual money on this. I may have to buy them a card. And it’s eighteen years later! It was literally three hours of stupidity, bad wrestling (with matches literally designed to discourage actual wrestling), and piles of bullshit at every step (a disqualification in a No Holds Barred match? Hogan beating Flair when he’s facing Vader? The Renegade? The Ren-e-gade?!) – I could probably write a book about how bad this show is. And it wouldn’t be a short story, either. DUD