[AAR]WCW 1991 - the Challenge

[Neil]

1.43?  That's pretty good for a WCW PPV in 1991.  I think you're moving in the right direction.

[Syt]

WCW Main Event, Week 4, January 1991

There's two non-televised matches:

In a bout that had solid in-ring action but not much in the way of heat, Brad Armstrong defeated Chris Benoit in 7:27 by pinfall with a Side Russian Legsweep. [60] Chris Benoit and Brad Armstrong have great chemistry, it turns out.

In a bout that had solid in-ring action but not much in the way of heat, The Reverend Buddy Landel and One Man Gang defeated Chris Jericho and Cactus Jack in 9:28 when The Reverend Buddy Landel defeated Cactus Jack by submission with a Figure Four Leglock. [45] Hericho debuts with a surfer gimmick, rated 81. All wrestlers improved in their skills a bit.

The TV show kicks off with Lex Luger in the ring. To face Bobby Eaton, Luger offers Vader an alliance. Vader says he'll think about it. [62]

Teddy Long is in the ring giving an interview. Diamond Dallas Page and Kevin Nash come out and enter the ring. After some back-and-forth insults, they attack, laying Long out two-on-one. Tracy Smothers comes out from the back, hits the ring, and cleans house, saving Long. [51]

In a match that had some good action and average heat, Scott Hall defeated El Cubano in 7:16 by pinfall with an Outsider's Edge. [59]

After the match Scott Hall has an interview, in which he goes off on a rant about how much he hates Michael Wallstreet. He's on a quest to kick his entitled ass. [52]

In a match that had some good action but not much in the way of heat, Brian Pillman defeated Dustin Rhodes in 8:28 by pinfall with an Air Pillman. [63] Pillmans cocky "I'm awesome" heel gimmick has gotten a 100 rating!

Brian Pillman is being attacked by The Steiner Brothers in the ring. Seeing the assault, Steve Austin comes running in and fights them both off, saving Pillman from a serious beating. [55]

Vader comes out to the ring and announces that after long deliberation he'll accept Luger's offer of joining up. [67]

In a bout that featured great action and average heat, Barry Windham defeated Ron Simmons in 14:52 by pinfall while using the ropes for leverage. [72]

In a post-show match: In a bout that featured great action and great heat from the audience, Sting defeated Bobby Eaton in 17:54 by submission with a Scorpion Deathlock. [60]

Final rating: 67.

I should use more pre-/ost show matches to try out pairings/workers, I guess. And I notice I forgot to schedule the TV Title match; I''ll move it to Saturday Night, I guess.

[Syt]

WCW Saturday Night, Week 4, January 1991

Two pre-show matches:

In a bout that had solid in-ring action but not much in the way of heat, Terrence Taylor defeated Cactus Jack in 8:12 by pinfall with a Flying Forearm Smash. [48]

In a bout that had solid in-ring action but not much in the way of heat, Scott Hall and Vader defeated Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho in 9:45 when Scott Hall defeated Chris Benoit by pinfall with an Outsider's Edge. [58]

The opening match is for the TV Title. Tracy Smothers gets his shot that he earned after winning the battle royal at Clash of the Champions. In a match that had some good action and average heat, Tracy Smothers defeated Junkyard Dog in 10:30 by pinfall with a Jaw Jacker following interference from One Man Gang. Tracy Smothers wins the WCW World Television title. [41]

Despite the tainted finish, the two contenders shake hands after their bout. [58]

Smothers' celebration is cut short, though, when Diamond Dallas Page appears in the aisle and challenges Tracy Smothers to defend his title against Kevin Nash. Smothers accepts! [60]

Answering to Scott Hall's rant on Main Event, Michael Wallstreet cuts an interview in which he laughs off the threats, treating them with contempt. [53]

In a match that had some good action and average heat, The Steiner Brothers defeated Kevin Nash and Larry Zbyszko in 10:07 when Rick Steiner defeated Larry Zbyszko by pinfall with a Steinerizer. [62]

Steve Austin and Brian Pillman are scheduled next. On their way to the ring they run into the Steiners who are none too pleased to see the two. A brawl erupts, during which Pillman and Austin put the Steiners through two tables. [52]

In a match that had some good action but not much in the way of heat, The Lightning Express defeated Brian Pillman and Steve Austin in 12:15 when Brian Pillman was disqualified while fighting Brad Armstrong. During the match we also saw Rick Steiner run in and attack Pillman, and Scott Steiner also attack Austin.  The Lightning Express make defence number 1 of their WCW World Tag Team titles. [65]

The Reverend Buddy Landel has an interview in which he taunts Tommy Rich. [48] Note to self: cancel that storyline.

In a match that had some good action and a good crowd, Lex Luger defeated Sid Vicious in 13:21 by disqualification. Lex Luger makes defence number 5 of his WCW United States title. [76] Luger and Sid have great chemistry, so putting them into the ring together gives a bonus.

Lex Luger is being attacked by Sid and Eaton in the ring. Seeing the assault, Vader comes running in and fights them both off, saving Luger from a serious beating. [57]

Sid Vicious is in the ring, along with Bobby Eaton. Eaton announces that he has made his decision, and he will be joining with Sid as an ally. [66]

Ric Flair comes down to ringside in order to do colour commentary on the next match. [75]

Before the match begins, though, Flair jabbers about how inferior Sting is as a wrestler compared to him. [85]

In a match that had some good action and average heat, Big Josh, Sting and Ron Simmons defeated Arn Anderson, Kevin Sullivan and One Man Gang in 20:19 when Sting defeated Kevin Sullivan by submission with a Scorpion Deathlock after interference from Junkyard Dog. During the match we also had Ric Flair hit Sting. [75]

Overall rating: 76

[Syt]

And here's the results of the 1991 WWF Royal Rumble:



Earthquake as WWF Champion.

[daveracher]

Wait and is that Paul Roma teaming with one of Demolition to beat the Hart Foundation for the Tag Team title? 

[CountDeMoney]

Sgt Slaughter won a battle royal? Cool!

[Neil]

Earthquake was a monster heel back in the day.  A title reign is a bit surprising (given that only faces held the title during at the time), but not totally crazy.

[Syt]

Wait and is that Paul Roma teaming with one of Demolition to beat the Hart Foundation for the Tag Team title? 

Not sure, maybe they changed Smash's gimmick a bit (kinda like Crush in the 90s?).

Not sure I agree about Earthquake. He was no Yokozuna. Well, he was, but not ... well, you know what I mean.

I've followed the modern WWE these last few weeks (remember, I haven't really watched for 10+ years). I like that the technical level of wrestling is pretty decent; there's few "pseudo wrestlers" left who are all gimmick and no moves (I'm looking at you, Great Khali). That said, the storylines are a bit meh, and some of the pairings seem odd. E.g.,  like the Wyatt family in their hillbilly grindhouse horror psycho ways. However, why put them into a story with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan (who I like), both of which are mostly "realistic" gimmicks and seem out of place in this story. Speaking of Punk: I've looked at some of his older stuff. He's not too spectacular in the ring (but not that bad, either), but damn can he work the microphone. Yes, he breaks the fourth wall with impunity, but what he can do without a script is pretty awesome.

Other wrestlers I like: Antonio Cesaro (always been a fan of power house wrestlers), Alberto Del Rio (classic smarmy heel), Shield (esp. Roman Reigns), Ryback in a dumb way, Damian Sandow (always liked snobbish gimmicks), AJ Lee (I love the mix of cutesy and psycho ). It's weird to see Lawler as face commentator and JBL at all - last I saw him was as Justin Hawk Bradshaw of the New Blackjacks). Most other workers leave me pretty meh, including Cena, Orton or Langston.

Survivor Series was also rather ho-hum (I always preferred Royal Rumble, though), and the episode of Raw that followed it was much better than the PPV IMHO. It was better than the dreadful Manchester Raw episode, though.

[Neil]

Actually, I think Yokozuna was a super-Earthquake.  I remember back in the day, Earthquake was the Kane/Yokozuna-style monster heel.  1990 was the year he was feuding with Hogan, after all.

I was flipping channels the other day, and it seems that Golddust is back with the WWF.  Not only that, but he seems to be fairly popular and is holding the tag team belts with a guy that I presume is his brother.  I guess the whole homo angle plays a lot better in 2013.

[Syt]

Yeah, he returned this year. And that's his little brother indeed. I actually liked Goldust (before they turned him into a BDSM gimp). One of the best entrance themes ever. On gayness: from several articles/comments it appears that the WWF/WWE locker room is pretty supportive of gay wrestlers.

Speaking of Kane, sometimes wrestlers' real life antics are ... surprising.

Jacobs is also involved in political issues, and publishes his views via a blog. He supported Ron Paul for President in 2008. He is a member of the Free State Project, and spoke at the organization's 2009 New Hampshire Liberty Forum. He has also spoken at the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

In an interview on the Tom Woods Show libertarian podcast, Jacobs mentioned Woods, Harry Browne, Ron Paul, John Stossel, Peter Schiff, and Murray Rothbard as his political influences, and stated he is "theoretically a Rothbardian", but does not believe that a stateless society will be achieved in his lifetime.

[Syt]

WCW Main Event, Week 1, February 1991

Two dark matches to get the crowd going a bit:

In a bout that had solid in-ring action but not much in the way of heat, The Juicer defeated Cactus Jack in 7:51 by submission. [45] Cactus Jack wasn't performing well, but the commentators improved the quality of the match.

In a bout that had solid in-ring action and average heat, El Cubano and Arn Anderson defeated Brian Armstrong and Steve Armstrong in 7:45 when Arn Anderson defeated Steve Armstrong by pinfall with a DDT. [54] (I'm pretty sure I wanted to book not Arn Anderson ... obviously didn't change his spot from the default - the game uses a drop down field, and his name is on top.)

The show begins with a video hyping Pillman and Austin vs. The Lightning Express in a non-title match tonight. [47]

Kevin Sullivan and Arn Anderson and Josh and JYD are backstage; an argument breaks out, and all four of them start brawling. A host of road agents and staff have to pull them apart. [62]

Diamond Dallas Page cuts a backstage promo with Paul E. Dangerously. DDP hypes his protege Kevin Nash. [66]

In a match that had some good action but not much in the way of heat, Dustin Rhodes defeated Kevin Nash in 8:22 by pinfall with a Running Bulldog. [57]

Vader and Luger have an interview in which they taunt Sid Vicious. [68]

In a match that had some good action and average heat, The Lightning Express defeated Steve Austin and Brian Pillman in 12:50 when Steve Austin was disqualified for using a weapon. [61]

In a bout that had solid in-ring action and average heat, Michael Wallstreet defeated Tracy Smothers in 13:36 by count out. During the match we also had Scott Hall distract Wallstreet. [53] It seems Tracey Smothers pretty much blew the match, even though he and Wallstreet have good chemistry.

Overall rating for the show: 59.

[Sophie Scholl]

Good to see this continuing.

[katmai]

Syt, in your estimation how do you "win" as it were, I know in opening post you said be able to take on WWE, how do you gauge that?

[celedhring]

Just discovered this and read it all in one go. As a nostalgic wrestling fan I'm loving it, keep it up!

[Neil]

Good for you for giving Page and Nash jobs.  I always liked those guys.