Goody Bag XXVIII: No Expectations

 

WWF Title Match: Ric Flair v Bret Hart: From a WWF TV taping in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada on October 12 1992. Feeling out process to start. Howard Finkel in the background, just casually sipping on a cup of coffee while holding the title belt in his lap, is my new favorite thing. Flair manages a cross corner whip, but Bret reverses a vertical suplex for two, then hits his own cross corner whip to setup a backdrop! Ric bails, but ends up in an armbar once coming back inside, which Bret hangs onto for a while. Ric eventually takes a cheap shot in the corner to escape, and he smacks Bret with a chop before tossing him over the top - only for the Hitman to come back at him with a slingshot sunset flip, forcing Flair to think fast with a block. Bret tries again, and this time tugs Flair's tights down to force him into the cradle for two, then adds a backdrop, followed by a pair of clotheslines to send the champ to the outside. Inside, Hart delivers a headbutt for two, so Flair goes to the eyes, and hits a kneebreaker. Into the corner, Flair unloads with chops, and a snapmare sets up a kneedrop, but Hart dodges! He capitalizes by trying a figure four, but Flair is quick to block. Headlock, but Hart escapes with his own kneebreaker, and he drops a series of elbows to the leg to setup a leglock. Having suitably worn Ric down, Bret shifts to the figure four, and he gets it on this time! Ric gets the ropes, so Bret drags him away and tries another elbowdrop to the knee, but this time Flair dodges. Nice timing on that exchange. Hiptoss, but Bret counters to a backslide for two, so Flair throws a closed fist to try and cut him off, but Bret gets a sleeper on anyway! Flair escapes with a side suplex, and he hooks an inside cradle for two. Butterfly suplex gets two, and a kneedrop connects, but it aggravates the champion's leg as well. Corner whip sets up a chop for two, with Ric holding on for multiple pin attempts. He argues the count, allowing Bret to schoolboy him for two, but Ric cuts him off again with a kneebreaker into his own Figure Four! Bret manages to reverse, but Ric is in the ropes right away, and that's a break. Flair keeps hammering the leg, and he goes back to the Figure Four, but this time Hart counters with a small package for two! That leads to a slugfest in the corner, and Bret is able to control with a cross corner whip, but he hits boot on the follow-up charge. Flair goes to the top rope, but Hart manages to recover to slam him off, and another cross corner whip sets up another backdrop. Hart adds a pointed elbowdrop for two, and a Russian legsweep is worth two. Backbreaker sets up a 2^nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two, and a nice vertical suplex is worth two, leaving Flair begging off! He suckers Hart into the corner for some chops, but Bret pulls down the straps, and starts slugging at the champion! He muscles Flair up to the top for a vertical superplex, which rattles the Nature Boy enough for Hart to apply the Sharpshooter for the title at 26:29! I can totally see why both guys would be disappointed with this one. It's certainly not 'bad,' but well below what you would expect. And given the participants, and given the time period, and the length of time they were given, anything less than, like, four-and-one-half-stars, would be considered a disappointment. It's a weird kind of match, where it's not quite a 'Flair match,' and not quite a 'Hart match,' but some weird hybrid that seemed to take the weak points of both of their 'standard' match styles, and magnify them. It was more of a Flair match than a Hart one, however, which is another issue, as Bret doesn’t really plug into that formula very well. ***

Hulk Hogan v Great Muta: From NJPW Wrestling Dontaku in Fukuoka Japan on May 3 1993. This is non-title, but Hogan is the WWF Champion, and Muta is the IWGP Champion here. Hogan with a takedown into a cross-armbreaker right away, and Muta is forced to use the ropes to escape, and he bails to the outside to kill the momentum. Back in, Hulk takes him down again for a front-facelock, but Muta manages to get back to a vertical base in the hold, and take it to the ropes to force a break. They size each other up with a test-of-strength, and Hogan powers him down to an armbar, so this time Muta gets aggressive, slugging free instead of using the ropes. Hulk responds in kind with a pair of knees in the corner, and a cross corner whip sets up a corner clothesline. Muta fires back with a pair of dropkicks to send Hulk to the outside, but Hogan is smart enough to put some distance between himself and Muta to thwart a dive. Back in, Muta snapmares him over to setup an elbowdrop for two, and he tries his own armbar, but Hogan reverses, then takes him down to hammerlock by using a drop-toehold. Hulk shifts again to an STF, then into a cradle for two, and Muta bails. Go Hulk! Muta decides to go underneath the ring, and he comes out the opposite side, in a weird bit. Maybe he was concerned that Doink snuck over to Japan in Hulk's luggage? Hulk goes to the outside to vertical suplex him, and they spill into the crowd for a brawl, with Hogan controlling. Back to ringside, Hulk delivers a side suplex on the floor, but a whip into the post gets reversed, and Muta adds a second smash into it for good measure. Inside, Muta hits him with the timekeeper's mallet (which he pocketed while on the outside), and a snapmare sets up a chinlock. Hulk starts to power out, so Muta strikes preemptively by dumping him to the outside for a vertical suplex on the ramp, and then clotheslining Hogan back in. That just pisses the Hulkster off, however, and he starts unloading mounted punches. Leg-feed enzuigiri gets two, but Muta reverses a cross corner whip, and delivers the handspring backelbow. Backbreaker sets up the flying moonsault, but Hogan kicks out at two! Muta dropkicks him out of the ring for a brawl in the aisle, and Muta grabs onto a rope ladder to swing at Hulk with a move. Sorry, the camera missed it, and I couldn't see what the move was, exactly. Still neat, though. Muta uses a chair before bringing things inside, but Hulk gets pissed again, so Muta slows him down with some mist to the eyes. Up for a flying dropkick, but Hogan dodges, and hits the Legdrop - though only for two, since this is Japan. Big boot and the Axe Bomber finish up for real at 15:55. And of course, afterwards, Hogan gives a famous interview where he calls the WWF Title a 'toy,' and says that the IWGP belt is superior. Not a great match in the general sense, but a damn good one, and certainly much better than anything Hogan was doing in North America. *** ¼

NWA World Title Match: Ric Flair v Sting: From WCW Saturday Night on August 21 1993 (taped August 2) in Atlanta Georgia. Both guys are babyfaces at this point, but you have to believe Flair will be playing the heel here. Feeling out process to start, with the Stinger dominating. Reversal sequence sees Flair work a nice counter to an armbar down into the Figure Four, but Sting is able to block the hold. Criss cross looks like it was supposed to end in Sting hitting a press-slam, but they botch it, and go to a chinlock instead. They did their best saving that one, but it looked awkward. After working the chinlock for a bit, they try the sequence again, and this time Sting successfully press-slams him, then adds a vertical suplex. Another criss cross ends in Sting countering a monkeyflip with a Boston crab, but Flair gets the ropes, and he bails to the outside to stall for a bit. In, Flair feels his inner heel with a cheap shot during a test-of-strength, and he goes to work on the challenger with chops in the corner. Snapmare sets up a kneedrop, but Sting dodges, and capitalizes on the miss with a leglock. Sting shifts it into a half-crab, but Ric is in the ropes again to save himself, so Sting press-slams him for two. Elbowdrop misses, so Flair tries whipping him into the ropes for a backelbow, but Sting counters with an abdominal stretch! Ric makes the ropes again, so Sting corner whips him to setup the Stinger Splash - only for Flair to sidestep. He quickly capitalizes by pulling Sting to the outside for a piledriver on the floor, but ends up getting countered with a backdrop! Inside, Sting with a hiptoss and a clothesline for two, but he again gets suckered into a cheap shot during a test-of-strength, and Ric dumps him to the outside. How dumb can you be? Sting hustles back in, so Flair tries chops, but Sting no-sells. They seem to have a bit of a miscommunication as Sting delivers a pair of corner whips, and Flair bails to the outside after eating a few shoulderblocks during a criss cross. He suckers Sting into trying a bodypress as Ric re-enters, but then sidesteps, and the challenger crash lands on the ropes. That allows Ric a kneedrop, and he hooks a crucifix cradle for two - hanging onto it for multiple pin attempts. Snapmare gets a few leveraged two counts, but the referee wises up to his tricks before he can continue down that path, so Ric delivers a vertical suplex for a few non-leveraged two counts. Ric goes up for a flying bodypress, but Sting rolls through for two, and hits a hiptoss, followed by a dropkick. Another dropkick, but Flair dodges this one, and Sting wipes out. Flair is on him with a side suplex for two, and another snapmare leads to a flying forearm smash! A big chop in the corner knocks Sting to the outside, so he comes flying back in with a slingshot sunset flip for two, then counters hiptoss with a backslide for two. Cross corner whip flips Flair out of the ring, so the Nature Boy goes to the eyes, and he climbs up - only for Sting to slam him off anyway! Clothesline gets a few two counts, and a hiptoss sets up a series of clotheslines that end in Ric going over the top. He sweeps Sting out after him for a whip into the guardrail, but the challenger no-sells, and stalks Flair back into the ring. Ric tries another side suplex, but Sting counters this one with a rollup for two, so Flair goes to the eyes instead. I love how casually Flair is slipping into heeling on Sting here. Kneebreaker sets up the Figure Four, and Flair has it well applied at center ring, but Sting manages a reversal! Flair escapes, as Sid Vicious appears at the curtain to watch the action. Figure Four, but Sting counters with an inside cradle for two, so Flair blasts the knee to cut him off - only for Sting to start no-selling! Press-slam and a two-handed bulldog get two, and an inside cradle is worth two. Into the corner for a ten-punch, so Flair tries an inverted atomic drop, but Sting no-sells, and clotheslines the champ for two. Another press-slam sets up a splash, but Ric blocks by lifting his knees, then delivers a hanging vertical suplex - only for the Stinger to pop right back up with a clothesline! Figure four of his own is applied, but Flair has the ropes, and he sweeps Sting into a leveraged pin for two - Sting then countering it into a cradle for two! Neat! Ric tries cutting him off with chops, but Sting isn't playing along, and delivers an inverted atomic drop. Upstairs for a vertical superplex, but Sting bangs up his neck on the landing, and can't immediately cover - only getting two once he does. The crowd is buying into all of this like crazy here! Sting with a press-slam, but a criss cross ends in Ric throwing a bodypress, and both guys going tumbling over the top. They messed that up a bit. Both fight to get inside, but Sid prevents Sting from making it, and the challenger is counted out at 39:35. Flair objects, but here come Harlem Heat to back Vicious up, and the whole thing ends in a big brawl. That's quite the TV match! Some pretty noticeable botches throughout, and perhaps a bit overlong (they could have easily trimmed twenty minutes off without losing anything), but still a really good, long match. *** ½

WWF Tag Team Title Cage Match: The Steiner Brothers v Money Inc: From SummerSlam Spectacular on August 22 1993 (taped August 16) in Poughkeepsie New York. No tags required here, and the only way to win is for both team members to escape. Cute start, as Ted DiBiase slaps Scott Steiner, and when the Brothers gang up on him, Irwin R. Schyster uses the distraction to start climbing! The Steiner's stop him, but while they're doing so, DiBiase climbs! He gets stopped, but the challengers manage to fight the Brothers off, and both climb. Rick Steiner pulls DiBiase down by hooking the tights, and IRS is brought down via his necktie. Money Inc keep getting in some shots and trying to escape, but the Steiner's are hot on their tails each time, until Ted ends up bringing Scott off the top of the cage with a vertical superplex, and they're able to gang up on him. That allows Rick to try and escape, but the challengers pull him down, and double up on him as well, until Scott saves! Both Brothers manage to get to the top of the cage, and over the side, but IRS brings Scott down with another superplex, and DiBiase manages to pull Rick down to ground in a front-facelock. Money Inc climb, but IRS is brought down with an overhead suplex from Rick, and Scott knocks DiBiase off by bashing his face into the cage! Scott quite nearly escapes, managing to get over the top and halfway down the side before Ted grabs him by the hair to keep him in. Following a big collision, Scott and Irwin both escape, but Rick is in much better shape than Ted is, and IRS quickly rethinks things, and climbs back in to stop Rick from escaping! That allows Money Inc to gang up, but Scott climbs back in with a flying axehandle off the top of the cage to save his brother! There appears to be some clipping going on here, but it's tough to be sure. IRS manages to escape, and he tries to assist Ted in doing the same - pulling his hand from the floor as Scott pulls his ankle from inside the ring! That ends in DiBiase upside-down in a tree of woe, which allows both Steiner's to climb, so IRS hustles back in to save! Rick manages to get away and escape, but Scott isn't so lucky, and eats an inverted atomic drop. Money Inc go to work on Scotty, but he manages to dodge a tandem clothesline, and take both challengers out with a double-clothesline! Scott is battered, but manages to climb, but he's dealing with two guys, and gets overwhelmed. That allows Money Inc to climb, and DiBiase escapes, so Rick thinks fast - running over to where IRS is almost out, and stopping his climb down by putting him on his shoulders! Hey, both feet must touch the ground, we know the rules! That draws DiBiase over to try and knock IRS off of Rick's shoulders, but in the meantime no one is covering Scott, and he escapes to retain at 20:00. And that marks Money Inc's last match as a team, ending a great run. You know, I've heard this one talked about so many times over the years, and I'd only seen the heavily clipped version from RAW before. Having seen the full match, it's honestly not that great. The finish is great, yes, but the match is mostly climb/save/climb/save sequences over and over, with very little else going on, and very little in the way of high spots for something that lasts twenty minutes. I found it to be very repetitive, and don't get the hype for this one. * ¾