WCW Slamboree 1993

For 1993, WCW introduced a new event for the month of May (a slot previously filled by a revolving door of pay per views) with Slamboree. The first show was billed as ‘A Legends Reunion,’ and promised a night focusing on the stars of yesterday (including an induction ceremony for the new WCW Hall of Fame), as well as a main event showdown between WCW Champion Vader and Davey Boy Smith – fresh out of the WWF’s midcard, and into WCW’s main event – an expensive move WCW was hoping to justify.

From Atlanta, Georgia; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko. They start by bringing all the Legends out into the ring (for a reunion!) – including Stu Hart and the Fabulous Moolah, both of whom it is downright bizarre seeing in a WCW ring.


Opening Match: Marcus Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio v Bobby Eaton and Chris Benoit: Sign in the (heavily papered) crowd: Marcus is Great! Can't pay for wit like that. Scorpio starts with Benoit, and a big criss cross ends in Scorpio dropkicking him, and sending him scurrying with an armdrag. Cheap shot from Eaton tries to slow Scorpio down, but Bagwell is right at his side, and they clear the ring. The dusts settles on Bagwell and Eaton, and Marcus works a wristlock, but gets suckered into a cheap shot from Benoit, and thrown over the top by Eaton. Back in, Eaton slams him, and a flying kneedrop leaves him on his back as the heels cut the ring in half. Benoit flying splash hits the knees allowing the tag to Scorpio, and he's a house of arson - finishing Benoit with a flying corkscrew legdrop at 9:25 - which made sense, since this was pretty much the end of Benoit's run. Scorpio brought his usual sloppiness, but Benoit's selling of it covered nicely, and the heat segment was well worked. Generally energetic, and a good choice for the opener. * ¾

Van Hammer v Sid: Sid (making his return to WCW) is Colonel Rob Parker's surprise mystery opponent for Hammer, and kills him with the Powerbomb at 0:36. Short, and to the point. DUD

Legends Six-Man Tag Team Match: Blackjack Mulligan, Wahoo McDaniel, and Jim Brunzell v Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco, and Dick Murdoch: Brunzell starts with Snuka, and they trade hammerlocks until Jim tags out to Mulligan to keep WristlockMania running wild. Snuka powers into the corner to allow Murdoch a cheap shot, and he tags in all official-like - dropping an elbow for two. Both guys tag (McDaniel and Muraco), but Wahoo ends up in the wrong part of town and worked over. He manages to get the tag off to Brunzell for a dropkick on Murdoch, and he tries a sleeper - but gets driven right back into the heel corner for some more friendly triple-teaming. A Snuka miscommunication with Muraco ends in them having their own shoving match, and a six-way brawl quickly breaks out as the faces try to capitalize - but the referee throws the whole thing out at 9:06 This was less a properly worked match than a highlight reel of spots (tag in, do a couple of moves, let the next guy do his bit, etc), but was energetic. Still, DUD.

Legends Match: Thunderbolt Patterson and Brad Armstrong v Ivan Koloff and Baron Von Raschke: Brad is standing in for father Bob here - though sadly, Bob would outlive his son. Big four way brawl to start, Patterson and Armstrong clearing the ring. Patterson starts with Von Raschke officially, and the Baron cowers in the ropes. Well, Nazi's didn't like black people, no secret there. So much so he decides to tag his Communist pal Koloff in to deal with the problem, but Patterson's already gassed from staring down Von Raschke, and tags Armstrong. He quickly gets slaughtered, and the ComuNazis cut the ring in half. Von Raschke hooks the clawhold, but Armstrong manages to get the tag off to Patterson, and a four-way brawl ends with Thunderbolt clobbering Von Raschke for the pin at 4:39. For America. Armstrong did his best to carry this (allowing himself to look weak in the process), but these guys were a couple of gears behind him, and thankfully they wrapped it up quickly. DUD

A Flair for The Gold: Ric Flair hosts a pay per view version of his television interview segment. The idea here (promoted on WCW programming, and literally promised to the fans by Flair himself) was that Ric (now back from his WWF tenure) would reform the Four Horsemen with original members Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard. However, the plan broke down when WCW threw Tully a lowball (guess they needed to save up that Davey Boy main event money), and left them without a fourth Horsemen - leading to Flair introducing Paul Roma as the replacement. This would be the wrestling equivalent of getting the Beatles back together, with John Mayer replacing George Harrison. Almost universal consensus is that this is the absolute low point for the stable, but it still felt prestigious - especially compared to some of the shit they went through during the nWo days. I think a lot of the bitterness comes less from Roma joining an elite group like the Horsemen, than the letdown people felt when the promised reunion with Blanchard didn't materialize.

Legends Match: Nick Bockwinkel v Dory Funk Jr: The first couple of tie-ups end in stalemates, and a lot of squaring off ends with Bockwinkel hooking a hammerlock. He keeps after the arm, Dory eventually countering into a chinlock. It devolves into a slugfest, but that goes literally nowhere, so Funk takes him down with a snapmare - only to get swept off of his feet into a Boston crab attempt. He manages to block, so Bockwinkel tries a side-headlock, countered by Dory with a side suplex for two. Armbar, but Bockwinkel goes back to the headlock to counter. Another geezer slugfest ends with Nick hooking a chinlock, but Funk throws uppercuts to break, and he suplexes him for two. Dude, stick with the headlocks! No one wants to see a broken hip on pay per view. Piledriver gets two, but Bockwinkel counters a butterfly suplex into a backslide for two, then hooks a figure four. Funk makes the ropes, and cradles Bockwinkel - but the time limit expires at 15:00, ending in a draw. This was like activities day at the senior center, or something. It's not like they didn't try, but Bockwinkel had been retired some six years, and Funk was twenty years removed from his legendary NWA World Title run (to give you some perspective), making this way too long for what they could do - which was basically slow (albeit well executed) mat holds. ½*

Rick Rude and Paul Orndorff v Dustin Rhodes and Kensuke Sasaki: Rude starts with Sasaki, and things heat up right away as both men critique the others outfits. It all ends in Rude unloading closed fists on him, but Sasaki hooks a wristlock to take the pep out of his step. Both guys tag, and Dustin works an armbar on Orndorff - but doesn't cut the ring in half well enough, and Rude gets the tag. Big slugfest ends with Dustin backdropping him to the heavens, but a blind charge misses, and Dustin goes flying over the top to the floor. Rude and Orndorff join him for a couple of shots into the rail, and back inside, Rick hits a swinging neckbreaker for two. The heels cut the ring in half, until Rhodes reverses a Rude tombstone for two, and Sasaki is a house of arson - triggering a four-way brawl. In the chaos, Rude catches Kensuke with the Rude Awakening, and it's over at 9:30. Heated up a bit during the Rude/Rhodes section, but really dull stuff, overall. ½*

WCW Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony: Gordon Solie unveils the WCW Hall of Fame, and starts by reading off the names of some of the recently passed wrestlers for a moment of silence. He then brings out inductees Lou Thesz, Verne Gagne, Mr. Wrestling II, and Eddie Graham (posthumously, represented by son Mike). Very different than the WWE's fun pre-WrestleMania versions we see today, as kayfabe was still in effect so we don't get funny road stories – basically just Solie reading off a career retrospective for each, and then the guy coming out to accept a plaque.

Sting v The Prisoner: 'Prisoner' is Nailz - fresh from getting kicked out of the WWF for literally attacking Vince McMahon backstage, and getting a one-shot deal in WCW to put Sting over. He gets right to choking Sting (well, go with what you know...), but the crowd isn't buying it - chanting 'Bossman' at him. Backbreaker gets two, but a blind charge misses, and Sting fires off a series of jabs. Eye rake slows him down, and Prisoner dumps him to the floor to add some variety: choking with an electrical cable. Sting with a backdrop to come back, but the Stinger Splash only gets two - Prisoner barely selling it. Leaping elbowdrop misses, but Prisoner gets caught up bitching at the referee, and Sting hits a flying bodypress to finish at 5:16. Terrible, but thankfully short, because they were just not clicking, and the transitions were brutal. Too bad the guy didn't stick around in the WWF - a showdown with early-90s era Undertaker (and refereed by Lex Luger) would have been all time. -*

NWA & WCW World Tag Team Title Cage Match: The Hollywood Blonds v Dos Hombres: This was set up when the Blonds won the unified tag titles from Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas on TV in March, so the former champions donned masks, and the 'rookies' beat the Blonds in a non-title TV bout to get a shot here. Unfortunately for WCW, Shane disappeared (surfacing in ECW) before the blowoff, leaving Tom Zenk under the mask, though the announcers still play it up as Douglas - the graphic during the ring entrances even labeling him as Shane. Steve Austin starts with 'Hombre' Steamboat, and immediately takes him to the mat to try and tear the mask off. Series of chops send Austin scurrying to tag Brian Pillman, but he makes the mistake of trying to trade chops with Steamboat, and eats cage. Tag back to Austin, but Steamboat quickly takes him down with an armdrag/armbar combo, and tags Hombre Zenk in for a hammerlock. Into the cage, so Austin begs for a timeout...and Zenk actually gives it to him, backing off to strategize with Steamboat. Surprisingly, that doesn't backfire, and Ricky backdrops him into the cage, then atomic drops him into it - playing pinball with Austin. Zenk with a flying axehandle, but Steve rakes the eyes, and passes to Pillman to unload chops. And since it's Zenk instead of Steamboat, he has a lot better luck with it than he did the first time around. Zenk bails back to Ricky to play pinball with Pillman (everyone gets a turn!), but Brian tugs the tights to launch him into the Blondes' corner, and tags Steve. Steamboat responds by suplexing him into the cage (leaving him tied upside down), and follows up by bodypressing him out of that steel tree of woe. Zenk can't keep it going, however, and the Blonds cut the ring in half - until Pillman eats boot on a 2^nd rope splash attempt, and Steve gets a side of dropkick. Tag brings in a casa of fire, even ripping off the mask before taking out both Blonds with a flying bodypress off of the top of the cage for two - though the timekeeper misses his mark, and actually rings the bell. They keep going as if it didn't happen ('Shane' not joining Steamboat in unmasking), and Zenk gets caught with a stungun from Steve at 16:08 - jobbing out Shane Douglas without even needing him in attendance. Match was fun, well paced action - notable for some great selling from the Blonds. ** ½  

NWA World Title Match: Barry Windham v Arn Anderson: Anderson with a quick shoulderblock for two to taunt the champ, and a well executed belly-to-belly suplex gets two. Backdrop for two, and now Windham's just plain annoyed, and slaps him in the face - taking him off of his feet. Arn responds with a DDT for two, so Barry bails to regroup - suckering the challenger onto the ramp way with him, and leaving him on his back to take the count. Arn tries to sunset flip back in, but runs into a stiff knee from Barry, and a DDT for two. Slugfest ends with Anderson pulling the top rope down to dump him, and he takes the opportunity to bash him into the rail a couple of times - busting him open. Inside, Arn cradles him for two, and gets frustrated, so he starts pounding on the gash with closed fists. Kneedrop, but Barry catches him with a dropkick as he climbs the ropes - sending Anderson crashing to the floor. Windham follows with a suplex out there to make sure he doesn't beat the count back in this time, but Anderson's getting uppity. Flying clothesline from Windham, followed by a kneedrop of his own for two. Suplex for two, but he gets caught with a spinebuster coming off the ropes, and bails to the floor to avoid getting pinned. Anderson protests, so Barry whacks him with the title belt, and gets the pin at 10:55. A little on the slow side, but they worked quite well together, and the psychology was sound. ** ¼

Main Event: WCW World Title Match: Vader v Davey Boy Smith: Smith had recently jumped to WCW, and was immediately pushed to main event level (despite being a career midcarder) to try and justify his big money contract. Power-stalemate to start - which is actually believable, since Davey looks like he's taken every steroid he could find in North America (and half of Europe's) to prep for this one. Vader finally gets sick of him, and shoves him into the corner for a brutal series of forearms, and Davey's selling now, boy. He bails to the floor to regroup, so Vader stupidly follows - missing a dive onto the rail, and getting slammed on the floor. Okay, all the ones in Europe, too. Inside, Smith manages a visually impressive hanging vertical suplex, and a powerslam allows him to clothesline the champ over the top - popping the crowd big time. Vader takes his time to regroup with manager Harley Race, and drops Bulldog like a Samoan when he tries a crucifix on the way back in. Vader with a pair of great looking elbowdrops, and the Vaderbomb gets two. 2^nd rope bodyblock sends Davey crashing across the ring, but Vader kindly helps him up... to unload more forearms on him. Superplex, but Davey shoves him off, and hits a flying headbutt to slow the monster down. Atomic slam for two, but he runs into a short-clothesline, and Vader capitalizes with a nasty flying splash - cracking his rib in the process. He dumps Bulldog to the floor for Harley to abuse while he recovers a bit - still managing to buttsplash his challenger. Reverse chinlock, but Davey powers into an electric chair, and starts shooting clotheslines. Running Powerslam, but Race pulls Bulldog out at two, and Vader adds a chair shot to draw the disqualification (and save the title) at 16:16. Both guys worked hard (particularly good effort from Davey Boy, obviously happy with his new position on the card), and it was a stiff, hard hitting power match - even if it had no place main eventing a pay per view. ** ½

BUExperience: The Legends Reunion concept failed to excite the fan base (not to mention that a lot of this came off like a bad indie show – with old stars going through the motions for a couple of bucks), and the first outing didn’t manage to draw – the fifteen thousand seat arena in WCW’s hometown not even half full for the show, and of the seven thousand or so in attendance, half papered. While there are some fun matches, the show is so historically insignificant, it’s really not worth seeking out. *