Goody Bag 33: Dawn of the Deadman/The Icon Defined

NWA World Tag Team Title Match: The Road Warriors v Sting and Lex Luger: From NWA (JCP) Main Event on December 25 1988 (taped November 25) from Charlotte North Carolina. Animal starts with Sting, and hits a big boot early on, but Sting fires back with a bodypress, followed by a dropkick to send the tag champion to the outside. Tag to Hawk on the way back in, so Sting drops him on his head with a piledriver, but the Road Warrior totally no-sells it. He delivers a vertical suplex, but now it's Sting's turn to no-sell, so Hawk throws a dropkick at him! Bodyslam sets up a 2^nd rope flying fist, but Sting gutpunches him out of the air, and a dropkick sends Hawk to the outside! Tags all around, and a test-of-strength goes Animal's way following a cheap shot, but Lex wins a criss cross with a powerslam. Tag to Hawk, and Luger wrenches at the arm with a wristlock, but gets his eyes raked, and Hawk delivers an inverted atomic drop. Funny bit right after the move, where Hawk emphatically gives Luger the finger. Jumping shoulderblock, but Lex dodges, and Hawk ends up on the outside. Back in, the challengers take turns cranking on the arm, but Hawk powers into a tag. Lex welcomes Animal back in with a wristlock, but the champion quickly slugs free, and he dumps Luger to the outside - where Hawk is waiting with some abuse! Back in, Hawk dropkicks Luger for one, as the Warriors start cutting the ring in half. Luger manages to dodge a few elbowdrops to get the hot tag off to Sting, and he dives in with a bulldog on Animal. Flying bodypress gets two, and the Stinger Splash sets up the Scorpion Deathlock, but Hawk saves, and Roseanne Barr the door! The Warriors send Luger to the outside, and they gang up for the Doomsday Device on Sting, but Lex comes back with a chair to stop them, and the referee disqualifies both teams at 12:40. Really fun power match here, with lots of action and mayhem. ** ¾

Submit or Surrender Match: Sting v Cactus Jack: From WCW Power Hour on November 23 1991 (taped November 10) in Minneapolis Minnesota. I think. No two sources can seem to agree on exactly when and where this was taped, other than that it was sometime in November, sometime before Sting dropped the US title to Rick Rude on November 19. Though, this aired after that title change did, and he's still announced as champion, which makes it even more confusing. The Network lists it as November 10, for what it's worth. Cactus attacks, but misses a charge, and ends up taking a spill to the outside. Sting follows to send him into the guardrail a few times, then tries a suplex out there, but Jack blocks by shoving the champion into the rail. He beats on Sting with a trashcan, but an attempt at a headlock is countered when Sting side suplexes Jack on the can. Back in, Sting beats on him with the can, and puts it over Jack's head for an elbowdrop onto it. Sting comes off the top with a flying splash onto the head/can situation, and he unloads a ten-punch in the corner, followed by a clothesline. Criss cross ends in Jack headbutting him in the groin during a leapfrog attempt, and Cactus works the part with a legdrop to the groin. Straddling ropechoke follows, and Jack cross corner whips him to set up a one-handed bulldog. He tries for the pin, but that's not a thing here, so no dice. Jack with a kneedrop, and he dumps Sting to the outside for a trip into the rail. He grabs a chair out of the crowd (with some fan desperately trying to hold onto it to stop him), and Jack cracks Sting across the back with the weapon. He snaps Sting's throat across the top rope on the way back in, and a clothesline sets up a chinlock. Sting escapes with a stunner, but misses a dropkick, and Jack drops him with a double-arm DDT. Again, but this time Sting counters with a backdrop over the top, and he dives after Cactus with a plancha! Sting with a vertical suplex on the floor, then back in for the Stinger Splash, but Jack dodges. Sting keeps coming with a 2^nd rope flying bodyblock, but Cactus catches him with a hotshot, and the champion ends up down on the outside. Jack follows for a backbreaker out there, and he dives off the apron with a flying elbowdrop into the aisle - like the one he used on Undertaker during his WWF debut the night after WrestleMania XII. Jack grabs a microphone, and tells Sting to quit, but the champion says 'not a chance.' Jack responds by grabbing another chair, but it backfires on him, and he takes an absolutely sick bump off the apron when Sting dropkicks him - landing hard on the concrete! Holy fuck! Not surprisingly, he's out cold, and Sting hops out - slapping on the Scorpion Deathlock, with the referee calling for the bell when Jack can't respond at 12:58. This was simply awesome, with non-stop action, and crazy bumping from Cactus. Not quite at the level of the Beach Blast match from 1992, but not far off, either. ****

WWF Title Match: Ric Flair v Undertaker: From a WWF TV taping on September 2 1992 in Landover Maryland. Flair's all 'sup, Mean Mark?' at the bell, but Undertaker gives him the cold shoulder, and pinballs the champion around a bit. Press-slam sends Ric bailing for the outside, so he goes to the eyes to fight 'Taker off on the way back in, and tries firing off chops, but Undertaker no-sells. 'Taker corner whips him to send Flair flipping to the outside, and the challenger stalks him back in for the jumping clothesline, but Ric ducks. Undertaker ends up on the outside, where Mr. Perfect fires off some cheap shots, and Flair runs him into the post, then the guardrail. All of that doesn't even take 'Taker off of his feet, but it staggers him. Back in, Flair throws a low blow and a side suplex, but Undertaker barely even acknowledges it. Ric tries a vertical suplex out of the ring, but 'Taker reverses back in, so Perfect tosses the champion a foreign object. Flair nails 'Taker with it, and for the first time in the match, the challenger is down, and not sitting up. Ric wastes no time capitalizing with the Figure Four, but trying to get a submission from zombie Undertaker is laughable. Indeed, he escapes with a chokeslam, so Perfect pulls the referee out at two, but Undertaker keeps coming with a jumping clothesline. That brings Perfect in with a chair, and that's a DQ at 7:36. Actually a really fun match, with Undertaker plugging into Flair's formula nicely, but with the zombie aspect adding a unique twist. ** ¾

Bret Hart and Undertaker v Diesel and Shawn Michaels: From a WWF house show at Madison Square Garden on March 17 1996, right before WrestleMania XII. Dok Hendrix serves as the special guest ring announcer for this one. Undertaker forgoes his full entrance to rush in and attack Diesel before the bell, and they brawl up the aisle and to the back. That leaves Hart and Michaels back in the ring, and Shawn hits a pair of armdrags to trap Bret in an armbar amid the confusion. Looks like there's no hard camera for this, and we've got only a single ringside camera, with the cameraman moving around constantly, without any other angle to cut to. That's unique, compared to the usual polished presentations from this era. Bret escapes the armbar and corner whips Michaels to set up a 2^nd rope flying axehandle across the back, followed by a headbutt to the groin. Snapmare sets up a chinlock, but Shawn fights free, so Hart throws a knee to put him back on the mat. Russian legsweep connects, and Bret unloads on Michaels with uppercuts in the corner, but Shawn slugs back. A charges misses, however, and Bret delivers a pointed elbowdrop, then sends Shawn flipping in the corner off a whip. Bret fires off a few headbutts to the lower back, as Undertaker arrives, and hops up on the apron. Bret tags him, and they take turns working Shawn over, as Diesel comes back down the aisle. Undertaker sees him, and hops back out to brawl with him - again ending up backstage, out of the view of the paying audience. They could have at least spilled into the crowd, or something. Meanwhile, Hart holds Michaels in a chinlock, but Shawn fights out in the corner, and cross corner whips the Hitman. Shawn goes up, but Bret slams him off, as our camera man keeps spinning around like a top. Bret with a pair of legdrops for two, and a piledriver gets two. Shawn starts swiping at him, so Hart grounds him with a front-facelock, but HBK breaks free in the corner, and manages a sleeper. Bret quickly escapes with a side suplex, but both guys are dazed, and a criss cross ends in a double knockout spot, as 'Taker shows back up. Bret hits Shawn with a backbreaker, and he passes to Undertaker for the ropewalk forearm. Choke in the corner and a bodyslam follow, but an elbowdrop misses, and Shawn hits a pair of jumping forearms, followed by a dropkick for two. Just then, Diesel returns, and he takes Bret out, then comes in with a chair to go after Undertaker - getting his team disqualified at 15:19. Afterwards, Diesel keeps beating on Undertaker and Hart, but Michaels protests, so Diesel whacks him with the chair as well! This was basically a Hart/Michaels match, with some minor involvement from Undertaker, and no involvement from Diesel. Not really much as a match, but interesting to see. * ½

WCW European Cup Title Match: Sting v Kevin Nash: From WCW Millennium Final, a German only pay per view event held on November 16 2000 in Oberhausen Germany. Axel Schulz acts as the special guest referee for this. I believe this is the same Cup Sting won in a tournament way back in 1994, which was also held in Germany. I can't think of any other time he defended it, and it wasn't ever acknowledged on US TV, as far as I remember. This match gives me hope that the Network might one day add the full event to its catalog, since it's one of the few WCW pay per views that isn't on there. Not sure why they haven't done so already, frankly. Nash pounds him down to start, then unloads with knees and elbows in the corner. Bootchoke follows, so Sting starts kicking at the knees, and he clips the leg to put Kevin down. Sting works the part with a leglock, but Nash slugs free, and clotheslines him. Cross corner clothesline follows, and a bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop for two. Cross corner whip gets reversed, and Sting tries the Stinger Splash, but Nash lifts his boot to block, and delivers a snake-eyes. Straddling ropechoke follows for two, and a sidewalk slam gets two. Headvice is applied, but Sting escapes with a series of clotheslines, and the Splash connects! Second one follows, staggering Nash into a DDT to set up the Scorpion Deathlock, and he taps at 5:46. He was so close to the ropes, I thought for sure they weren't done yet there. This was just them going through the motions here, but still interesting to see, due to the rarity of this event. ½*