NWA (WCW) Power Hour (February 23, 1990)

 

Original Airdate: February 23, 1990 (taped February 12)

From Rainsville, Alabama; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Gordon Solie

Norman the Lunatic v Hacksaw Higgins: The promotional graphic shows Norman holding an electric guitar. Was that part of his gimmick? I’ll admit I haven’t seen that much of his stuff on the weekly shows, but I don’t remember that at all. Norman with a 2nd rope splash at 4:54. Just under the wire for an acceptable squash length. Afterwards, Cactus Jack runs out, but Norman sees him coming, and wins a slugfest. Unfortunately for Norman, here’s Kevin Sullivan to back Jack up, and Norman takes a beat down. DUD

Gordin Solie is in the studio with Wrestling News Network, and the big news to talk about this week is Sting’s injury: and he will be out of action for at least six months. At least they didn’t still advertise him for WrestleWar, and then do an angle on the show to get to Lex Luger instead. That kind of bait-and-switch, while common enough in pro-wrestling, would have been a bridge too far for them at this stage, after years of Dusty Rhodes’ booking

Brian Pillman and Tom Zenk are ready for the Freebirds at WrestleWar

The Fabulous Freebirds v Larry Santo and Paul Drake: Gosh, they were only playing the big towns at this stage, weren’t they? Rainsville? I consider myself pretty well versed in various towns and cities in the U.S., but even I’ve never heard of it. Apparently, it’s more than an hour to the next ‘big’ city, like Birmingham or Huntsville. Just feels like such a random place to run a TV taping, though they did draw a crowd here, so I guess they knew their market. You know, I never realized how much of his look Shawn Michaels stole from Michael Hayes when he turned heel in 1992. Especially by 1993, he looked like he was cosplaying as him. Though, Shawn ended up becoming so much more famous, that it looks like Hayes is dressing up as him here. Especially since Shawn did the look so much better. Hayes with a DDT at 8:45. Remember what I said about ‘acceptable limits?’ DUD

Clips from World Championship Wrestling, where they did a show long angle with the Horsemen trying to muscle Lex Luger out of his title shot against Ric Flair at WrestleWar - to no avail. They did a good job of pivoting here, and making the Flair/Luger match hot, despite the disappointment of losing Sting

The Road Warriors v Doom: The Warriors are dressed like the Faces of Fear this week. Animal and Ron Simmons start, and Animal fights off a blitz, winning a criss cross with a monkey flip. Tags all around, and Hawk works a side-headlock on Butch Reed. Hawk with an atomic drop and a clothesline, so Reed tags out. Hawk and Ron measure each other, and Hawk gets the better of it, using a clothesline to knock Simmons out of the ring. Tags to Animal and Reed, and Reed hammers him, but loses a criss cross with Animal pulls a press-slam. Tag to Hawk, and he holds Reed in an armbar once Butch is back in. Reed forces a criss cross, but gets caught in a hiptoss, and Hawk adds a bodyslam to set up a fistdrop for two. Back to Animal for stereo backelbows, and he grounds Reed in an armbar. Animal with a bodyslam of his own, but Simmons pulls down the top rope as Animal runs them, and Animal takes a spill over the top. Doom double up on him out there, and inside, Animal is in trouble. Doom work him over, until Reed hits the knees on a splash attempt, and Hawk gets the hot tag. He drills Reed with a neckbreaker, and a jumping shoulderblock gets two when Ron saves - Roseanne Barr the door! Doom dump Hawk out to isolate Animal, and Ron goes to the top for a dive to finish him - only for Hawk to shove him off, and hit Reed with a flying clothesline at 12:17. Good tag action here. Very basic, but well structured. **

BUExperience: Some good push for WrestleWar, and a fun tag feature are enough to make this a solid entry.