Goody Bag XVIII: Where the Big Boys Play

 

NWA Television Title Match: Great Muta v Arn Anderson: From NWA (WCW) Power Hour on January 12 1990 (taped January 2) in Gainesville Georgia. Feeling out process to start, with Arn dominating, and hitting a vertical suplex. He works a standing side-headlock and an armbar, but Muta escapes with a leg-feed kick, and he follows up with a swift elbowdrop before dumping Arn to the outside. Muta follows to send him into the guardrail, then back in for a flying tomahawk chop on the challenger. Handspring backelbow dazes Arn for the Muta-Lock, but Anderson escapes, and hammers on him with mounted punches. Muta responds with a spinkick, but Arn counters a ten-punch with an inverted atomic drop, then adds a second one for good measure. Anderson keeps coming with a hammerlock slam, and he grabs an abdominal stretch on the champion, but Muta gets into the ropes, and both men go tumbling over the top. Muta sends him into the rail again out there, then back in for a backdrop, but Anderson blocks, and quickly adds a rotating spinebuster! That brings Muta's henchmen into play, and Anderson is knocked silly, but kicks out of a lateral press at two. Muta with another spinkick and a backbreaker to setup a flying moonsault, but Arn lifts the knees to block, and quickly adds a DDT to win the title at 13:17. This took forever to get going, and was kind of dull even once it got off the ground. Disappointing. *

WCW United States Title Match: Lex Luger v Sid Vicious: From WCW World Wide Wrestling on March 2 1991 (taped January 28) in Dothan Alabama. Sid stalls a lot to start, before getting some shots in on Luger in the corner, and hitting a cross corner whip - only to miss the charge in, and get schoolboyed for two. Lex with a second schoolboy for two, so Sid wants to slow it down with a test-of-strength. Vicious has got enough charisma to keep the crowd engaged, but man, this match sucks thus far. Criss cross goes Lex's way with a bodypress for two, and he grounds the challenger in a wristlock. Sid escapes and tries a headlock, but Luger quickly fights free, so Vicious throws a clothesline instead, then drops the champion throat-first across the top rope. Vicious with an ugly powerslam for two, and he dumps Luger to the outside for a flying axehandle off of the apron. He adds a ram into the rail out there, then nails Luger with a clothesline on the way back in. Vicious with a neckbreaker for two, so he tries dumping Luger out again (Sid might want to read the rulebook from time to time), but Lex pops back up, and slams his challenger. Vertical suplex gets two, and a backelbow knocks Vicious out of the ring. Lex follows with his own flying axehandle off of the apron, and he reverses Sid into the post out there for a countout win at 9:32. Luger was still in a motivated period in early '91, but not even he could polish this turd. DUD

Brian Pillman v Shane Douglas: From WCW Saturday Night, October 17 1992 (taped October 5) from Atlanta Georgia. Feeling out process to start, with Brian taking control early, but losing a nice criss cross when Shane takes him down in a hammerlock. Pillman gets the ropes to escape, and a reversal sequence ends in Shane hitting a hiptoss - prompting a frustrated Pillman to accuse him of hooking the tights. That allows Brian to take him down in his own hammerlock, but Shane reverses, so Pillman starts throwing chops. Shane takes him back down with an armdrag into an armbar, but Brian manages to reverse, so Douglas forces a criss cross, and manages to take him down with a hammerlock. He tries to turn it into a pinning combination, but Pillman goes to the eyes to escape, and he hits a turnbuckle smash. Shane uses a double-leg takedown to keep things mat oriented, but Pillman quickly escapes an armbar, and violently tosses Shane out of the ring. He follows out with a baseball slide, then right back in with a flying axehandle for two. Snapmare sets up a chinlock, and Brian uses the ropes for leverage as he tries to hold onto control. Brian hits a 2^nd rope twisting bodypress for two, and a spinheel kick is worth two. He tosses Shane back to the outside (Douglas taking these bumps onto the exposed concrete both times), but Shane ducks another 2^nd rope bodypress on the way back in. Douglas slams him down off the top, and delivers a hanging vertical suplex for two. Dropkick sends Pillman to the outside, and Shane follows with a nice plancha onto the exposed floor! Brian thinks fast and goes to the eyes to allow him to send Douglas into the post, but the referee doesn't appreciate that behavior, and DQs Pillman at 13:21. Good stuff here, with both men working hard, and building to a nice match. *** ¼

NWA World Title Match: Ric Flair v Sid Vicious: From a WCW house show in Kingsport Tennessee, taking place the night after Clash XXIV on August 19 1993, in front of under five hundred fans. Sid seems to be mocking Hulk Hogan in the early going, cupping his hands to his ears multiple times. Feeling out process to start, with Sid overpowering the champion throughout. Flair is finally able to retaliate with some chops, and he's able to knock Sid onto the apron, then clotheslines him off - Vicious selling it by falling over the rail into the front row! Sid stalls out there before coming in and working a headlock, but Flair counters, so Vicious goes to the eyes, and pounds him in the corner. Ric manages to fire back with a bodyslam (With ease, too. Even Hogan used to sell it like it was more difficult) to setup a kneedrop, and he unloads with those patented chops. Sid with a slam of his own, but a legdrop follow-up misses, and Flair slaps on the Figure Four - only to have Robert Parker quickly break it up! Sid capitalizes by sending Flair flipping over the top off of a cross corner whip, but Ric beats the count, so the challenger works an extended nervehold. Flair finally makes the ropes, so Sid quickly punishes him with a clothesline over the top - where Parker is waiting to get his licks in. Ric sweeps Sid down from out there to crotch him on the ring post, and he dominates a slugfest on the way back in with chops. He actually manages to hit a flying axehandle (after messing up the flip in the corner on the first try, though), and the champ goes low to put Vicious down. He goes for the kill, but here comes Parker again, and we have a DQ at 17:06. Pretty par for the course for Sid, but easily one of the worst pre-nWo Flair matches. It was a house show though, to be fair. ¼*