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It’s been one year since I’ve joined WWEClassics.com and the theme that month I joined is the same one that is featured this month – The 2010 Hall of Fame Class. I remember that in 2009 they had a TON of Hall of Fame matches but this year I think they’re focusing just on this year’s class.
---Week One---
The special feature this month looks awesome – a complete WWE Madison Square Garden Event from April 25th, 1988. I can’t wait to work my way through that one! It also looks like this week is focusing on the one and only Ted DiBiase.
-Randy Savage(c) vs. Ted DiBiase for the WWE Title-
This is one of the Wrestlemania IV rematches and it took place on July 23rd, 1988 at the famed Spectrum. Ted has Virgil with him while Savage has Liz with him. Savage chases Virgil to start and this allows DiBiase to attack from behind with an axehandle that gives him control. The best part of that sequence is the guy at ringside who ran away when Savage leapt out of the ring after Virgil. Savage comes back with a clothesline and knee lift sends DiBiase to the outside. DiBiase comes back in only to get atomic dropped back to the outside. The announcer (I think Billy Graham) says we’re six minutes into the match, although the stopwatch says we haven’t even hit three yet. Savage gets a microphone as we pan to the audience and see a LOT of empty seats on the opposite side of the camera. Savage just says his catchphrase and really, that’s all I needed to hear. Savage clotheslines DiBiase down but DiBiase wisely tosses Savage to the outside using the tights. Savage tries for a back drop and DiBiase slows and uppercuts Savage. Ted connects with an axehandle off the second rope and that gets a two. Savage is clotheslined down and Ted tries to follow that up with a suplex. Macho blocks it and gets one of his own. Savage ducks a clothesline and cross bodies DiBiase for two. Ted is up first and clotheslines Savage down. He drops an elbow and covers for two. DiBiase slows things down with a headlock which Macho eventually breaks by running to the corner and ducking down so DiBiase’s head hits. DiBiase heads to the second rope and tries an axehandle but Macho counters with a shot to the gut. Savage slugs DiBiase down and then slams DiBiase’s head into the corner 10 times and now Virgil gets on the apron to interfere. Savage clotheslines DiBiase over the top rope before heading upstairs. He connects with an axe-handle and the fans are feeling it now. Savage heads upstairs for the flying elbow drop but his attention is diverted when Virgil takes Liz. Savage chases him and the two start brawling on the floor. However, Savage has been counted out at 12:40 to give DiBiase the win. Of course, titles can only change hands on a pinfall or submission so Savage is still the champ. Savage elbows DiBiase out of the ring to end this thing so DiBiase elbows him out and parades around with the title. Savage threatens him with some chairs to get his title back. This was a fun match but it lacked a certain something to make it really stand out. I mean, Savage and DiBiase wrestled a clean match but at 13 minutes it felt too short. A lot of Savage’s trademark moves weren’t there, either (axehandle from the top, the flying elbow drop, etc). ***.
-Ted DiBiase vs. Bret Hart(c) for the WWE Intercontinental Title-
This is an MSG match-up from December 29th, 1991. DiBiase has Sherri in his corner. Heenan notes how beautiful she is so Gorilla tells Heenan to see his oculist. Heenan deftly states that his back is fine. Okay, so DiBiase has the Million Dollar Title with him so I know the result of the match that is two beneath this one. We start with a lock-up and Bret breaks clean. He does shove DiBiase though. The two battle over lock-ups and DiBiase corners Hart (after three minutes) and shoulders him in the gut. The banter between Gorilla and Heenan is great. DiBiase bails to the outside to stall but this time Hart follows him. Hart slugs him away and rolls him back in and DiBiase begs off. DiBiase is atomic dropped back to the outside. DiBiase confers with Sherri so Hart performs the dreaded Double Noggin Knocker on the Million Dollar Team. Hart brings DiBiase back in, snapmares him over and legdrops him for two. Hart goes to the side headlock take-over and gets a nearfall so DiBiase turns him over for a nearfall, too. Hart holds onto the headlock and DiBiase tries breaking but he just can’t. DiBiase does break but he’s quickly dropkicked down and we go back to the side headlock. DiBiase sends Hart to the ropes to break but misses a clothesline. Hart leaps at DiBiase but Ted ducks and Bret clotheslines himself on the top rope. DiBiase chokes away after out commercial break. He clotheslines Bret down and covers for two. DiBiase goes to the side headlock. Hart breaks but misses a charge and DiBiase locks on the Million Dollar Dream. Heenan tells the timekeeper to ring the bell and Gorilla says that only the referee can ring the bell. Of course, fast-forward to November of 1997 and it was Vince McMahon who rang the bell, rang the fucking bell. Sherri for some reason rings the bell and awards DiBiase the title. The referee says the match must continue and DiBiase covers Hart for two. DiBiase tries a back drop but Hart counters with a neckbreaker. Hart plays possum and just lays into DiBiase when he gets the chance. A suplex for Hart gets two. Hart small packages DiBiase for two. Hart delivers a back breaker which sets up the second rope elbow for two. These two have really sucked the fans into this match. DiBiase tries a bodyslam but Hart reverses into a reverse sunset roll-up and then shoves Sherri off the apron. Hart hits a gut-wrench suplex for two and then clotheslines DiBiase over the top (and almost into Sherri). Hart follows with a slingshot crossbody before bringing Ted back into the ring. The bell rings at 18:55 but that doesn’t stop Sherri from pulling at Hart’s shirt. It seems the official decision is a time-limit draw. The fans are not happy with that result and it really brought a great match to a grinding halt. Of course, you needed to keep both guys strong heading into the Rumble (though Hart wouldn’t have the title by that time). This was great match, even with the long headlock spots. Those at least told a story, of Hart weakening DiBiase and Ted using it to set up the Dream. ****.
-Ted DiBiase vs. Shawn Michaels-
I like this match-up. This is from May 14th, 1990 and was on an episode of PrimeTime Wrestling. Since this is 1990, Virgil is still in Ted’s corner. Shawn was still a Rocker so Marty Jannetty is in his corner. This is a very early singles match for Michaels in the WWE. Gorilla says Michaels is a competitor but is better in the tag ranks. Of course, he’s won more titles than anyone else in the ring or at ringside COMBINED. DiBiase armdrags Michaels a few times to show whose boss and he brags to the crow at his wrestling prowess. Michaels connects with a wicked dropkick to DiBiase before armdragging him right to the outside where Ted needs to regroup. That first dropkick by Michaels just nailed DiBiase in the face. DiBiase returns but is hiptossed and armdragged again and Michaels goes to the side headlock takeover. DiBiase tries to roll Michaels over for a nearfall. Michaels shoulderblocks DiBiase down and Michaels again goes for the side headlock. DiBiase gets to the corner to break and gets in some cheapshots. DiBiase counters a reverse sunset flip and brags a bit but gets dropkicked down and Michaels goes back to the side headlock. Michaels sends DiBiase to the corner but a blind charge finds the boot of DiBiase. We head to a break and Michaels gets a roll-up for two but DiBiase is in charge and knees Michaels in the back before dumping him to the outside. Virgil makes his way over but Jannetty is there to back him off. Michaels gets jabbed in the throat by DiBiase behind the referee’s back. He brings Michaels back in and covers for two. DiBiase tries a piledriver but Michaels counters with a backdrop. A double clothesline spot sends both guys down. DiBiase bodyslams Michaels down and panders to the crowd. He tries a reverse elbow off the second rope but Michaels has moved out of the way. Michaels hits an atomic drop and DiBiase begs off. Michaels sends DiBiase to the corner and backdrops DiBiase on the rebound before delivering another dropkick for two. DiBiase tries another back drop attempt and this time Michaels hits a neckbreaker. Michaels heads upstairs and connects on a high crossbody for two. Michaels runs off the ropes but is tripped up by Virgil. Jannetty chases Virgil into the ring and DiBiase clotheslines Jannetty down and tosses him to the outside. Things start breaking down when Virgil and Jannetty get into the ring. The ref calls for the bell at 12:22 and the Rockers clean house, sending DiBiase to the outside with a double dropkick and felling Virgil with a double superkick. They go for the double fist-drop but DiBiase crotches Jannetty and they escape to the back. The announcer calls this a double count-out but everyone was in the ring so she quickly changes it to a double count-out. Gorilla called this classic but I wouldn’t go that far. Michaels wasn’t as good as Hart was yet and didn’t hang with DiBiase as well. His offense was mostly the dropkick which worked at some points. Plus, the headlock spots here didn’t seem as necessary in the match. I like DiBiase because he knew how to work a good match and this is no exception. This may be Michaels first really good singles match in the WWE. ***.
-Ted DiBiase(c) vs. Frank “The Gypsy” Rodriguez for the North American Heavyweight Title-
This is from way back on March 23rd, 1979 and it was on an episode of Championship Wrestling. Ted is beardless here and it’s really weird seeing him like that. This is for the North American Heavyweight Title. We start with a lock-up that ends in a stalemate. Rodriguez snapmares DiBiase over but DiBiase counters with a side headlock takeover. Rodriguez comes back with some forearms to the back but DiBiase comes back with a snapmare and kneedrop for two. DiBiase elbows Rodriguez down for two. DiBiase powerslams Rodriguez and that does it at 1:50. Well, that was short and sweet. Well, this will get the usual squash match rating – ½*.
-Ted DiBiase vs. Virgil(c) for the Million Dollar Championship-
This is from Survivor Series Showdown held on November 24th, 1991. I don’t think this was a PPV match but just a show leading up to the PPV. Ted has Sherri in his corner. Ted goes behind Virgil and trips him up, obviously showing up his former bodyguard/servant. Virgil hiptosses DiBiase in return and schoolboys him for two. Virgil ducks a clothesline and small packages DiBiase for two although it sounded like the ref counted the three-count. DiBiase returns from taking a breather and Virgil goes to the arm before going to the side headlock takeover. That must be like the fifteenth one I’ve seen in watching these DiBiase matches. DiBiase gets to the corner and doesn’t break clean, instead he waffles Virgil. Virgil sends DiBiase to the corner but runs into an elbow. DiBiase tosses Virgil to the outside and distracts the ref so Sherri can get in some cheap shots. We take a break and return with DiBiase rolling Virgil into the ring. DiBiase suplexes Virgil down for two. DiBiase grabs Virgil in a chinlock and McMahon claims that DiBiase is pulling Virgil’s hair. What? I hope he was joking. Virgil somehow revives and breaks the hold by elbowing out but runs into a DiBiase knee lift. DiBiase hits a fistdrop for two. DiBiase bodyslams Virgil and goes for his reverse elbow off the second rope but that misses. Virgil slugs away at DiBiase with some of the worst punches I’ve seen. DiBiase is clotheslined down and gets a side Russian legsweep for two. DiBiase is whipped to the corner and slugs away but the Repo Man makes his way to ringside. He takes the Million Dollar Title. He’s about to leave but Repo Man lays into Virgil with the title. DiBiase takes advantage of this and covers for the pinfall and the title at 10:01. DiBiase tells Virgil to never mess with the Million Dollar Man and DiBiase stuffs money down Virgil’s throat. Tito Santana runs down to make the save. He’s in full matador regalia here. DiBiase is atomic dropped out of the ring by Tito and DiBiase heads to the back. I’m sure this set up a tag-team match somewhere down the line and that should be an interesting one. The fact stands that Virgil just can’t wrestle. DiBiase/Hart was ****, DiBiase/Savage and DiBiase/Michaels were ***, this was just bad by comparison. *1/2.
---Week Two---
Week Two focuses on Antonio Inoki, a legend in the sport who I never really watched. This should be a fun look for me to see the guy.
-Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen-
This is a Stampede Wrestling match from August 1st, 1979. This was the main event, too, according to the announcer. He’s getting some decent heel heat here. Diana Hart (I think she married the British Bulldog?) presents Inoki with some flowers. This is Japanese Rules, which means it is a 61-minute time limit. A lock-up is won by Hansen, who shoves off the leaner Inoki. Hansen misses an elbow in the corner and runs into a few armdrags. Inoki dropkicks him down and legdrops him but misses a second one. Hansen is right on him with a bodyslam but Hansen misses the elbowdrop and Inoki armdrags Hansen down into an armbar. Hansen gets to a vertical base and forearms out of it and boots Inoki to the outside. Hansen boots Inoki on his way into the ring and snapmares him over, drops a knee and covers for two. Hansen puts Inoki in a chinlock and clubs him in the chest to keep the pressure on. Inoki gets Hansen up on his shoulder and slams him down for two. Hansen responds with an elbow to the back of the head. He goes for an elbowdrop but Inoki kicks out of it. Inoki takes him over with a drop toe-hold and bows the legs up. Inoki pulls him over for a crossbow but Hansen thumbs Inoki in the eye to break. Hansen chokes Inoki using the rope and piledrives Inoki down. He covers but Inoki’s legs are in the ropes. So Hansen stomps away and hangs Inoki in a tree of woe in the corner. Hansen stomps away until the referee frees Inoki. Inoki makes a comeback and chops away at Hansen. Hansen responds with some rights. He misses an elbow off the ropes and Inoki dropkicks Hansen down. Hansen is up first and elbows Inoki in the back. He hangs up Inoki in a vice but Inoki kicks off the ropes and rolls through with Inoki. It was a blown spot because I think it was supposed to be the pinfall. So they try something similar and Inoki backslides Hansen for two. So Inoki hits an enzuigiri and drops a knee off the top rope for the pinfall at 9:07. The fans weren’t into this match but I thought it worked well. There was the glaring blown spot in what was supposed to be a bridge out sequence but the beginning started with some decent pace and I can’t find too much fault in a late 70’s match. ***.
-Antonio Inoki vs. William Regal-
This took place at one of the WCW Clash of the Champions, from August 24th, 1994. So it’s 16 years later and Inoki is still wrestling! Regal boots out Inoki before he even gets to the ring before we begin. They have a cool feeling out process leading to Inoki slapping Regal in the face. Regal grabs a chinlock and forearm uppercuts Inoki in the corner. Inoki slugs out of the corner only to have Regal push him back down. Inoki turns that around into a choking sleeper that the referee breaks. Regal forearms Inoki in the corner and knees him in the head after tying him up. Regal headbutts Inoki and kicks him down. Regal chokes Inoki and tries locking him up. Inoki is able to break free and the cat and mouse grappling game continues. Regal boots Inoki onto the announce table and Inoki returns by missing a spin kick. When I say miss I mean he blew it. Regal continues with the forearms and locks a single leglock on Inoki. We head to another camera to show Hulk arriving to the show (limping). The fans react more to Hogan’s arrival than to what is going on in the ring. Regal throws more forearms so Inoki chokes Regal down again. Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel makes his way to ringside. He tells them that everyone has told Hogan NOT to wrestle so of course Hogan will wrestle tonight. Regal boots away at Inoki only to have Inoki choke Regal down AGAIN. Is that all he can do at this point? Regal hits a double underhook suplex for two. Regal tries another uppercut but Inoki ducks and chokes out Regal for the submission victory at 8:41. This was a stiff match but it was very one-dimensional and for most people very boring. Inoki didn’t do much and Regal basically walked Inoki through it. I did like how the choking did eventually wear down Regal. This was much different than the match above but equally as interesting. ***.
-Antonio Inoki vs. Ric Flair-
This is aptly called Collision in Korea. This took place on August 4th, 1995. The announcing took place after the match as our crew (it sounds like Eric Bischoff) says that this was a festival for peace and this was Flair coming back out of an injury. Flair takes down Inoki with a side headlock which Inoki breaks with a headscissors and Flair escapes from that. Flair takes Inoki down and works the arm and Inoki breaks by kicking Flair in the back. Inoki keeps booting away leading Flair to bail. Flair returns and stomps away at Inoki. He stuns him over the top rope and Inoki falls to the outside. Flair sends Inoki into the ringpost and brings Inoki back in from the apron via a suplex for two. Flair keeps covering and Inoki keeps kicking out. Flair puts Inoki in the STF before working the leg of Inoki. Flair chop blocks that leg before delivering a knee to Inoki’s head. Flair goes right to the figure-four which Inoki is able to break. Inoki sneaks in a small package for a two and backslides Flair for two. A slugfest ensues which is won by Inoki. Flair is sent to the corner where he heads up and over onto the floor. Flair gets to the ring and begs off but he just lures Inoki in and boots him in the gut. Flair snapmares Inoki over and heads upstairs but you know what happens. Inoki tosses Flair off, dropkicks him (though misses by a mile) and covers for two. Flair comes back with an elbowdrop for two. Flair hits a back suplex that knocks both guys down. Flair rolls over and covers for two. Inoki comes back, rolling out of a bodyslam attempt and hitting a rolling kick and dropping a knee off the top rope. A standing enzuigiri ends this at 14:53. Of course Flair would do the job for the legend in Korea. Flair actually worked a very nice match here, doing some things he doesn’t normally do and I like the changes he threw in. ***1/2.
-Antonio Inoki vs. The Great Hossien-
This is from the World’s Most Famous Arena (MSG for those who don’t know) and it appears this is from the December 17th, 1979 card. You may recognize the Great Hossein as the Iron Sheik. Hossien gets on the microphone and says he doesn’t like American wrestlers. Hossien (still in his attire) attacks Inoki from behind. Hossien is bodyslammed and choked over the top rope and then with his garb. Inoki rips Hossien’s clothes to shreds. Hossien shoulderblocks Inoki down but on other attempts he is armdragged down and Inoki works the arm of Hossien. Hossien comes back with a bodyslam but misses an elbowdrop. Inoki tries a single leg crab but just drops down for a sort of leglock. Hossien breaks and chops Inoki down. He puts him in a chinlock which borders on a choke. The fans start chanting Iran sucks which is an interesting chant. Inoki frees himself and hits a dropkick followed by some chops for two. Hossien comes right back with a dropkick of his own for two. The two exchange abdominal stretches that Hossien gets the best off thanks to a hair pull. The two men collide and knock each other down in the ring. Hossien hits a suplex and tries for another one but Inoki is able to block it and hit one of his own for two. Inoki grapevines the legs of Hossien before going to a bow and arrow. Hossien stars loading up the boot after breaking and tries slamming Inoki’s head into it. Inoki blocks and tries taking the boot of Hossien off. Hossien kicks him off but Inoki goes back to his mission of taking the boot. Inoki pulls it off so Hossien boots him down and loads up the other boot! Hossien drives Inoki into the boot that is off and loads it up on the turnbuckle. He slams Inoki’s head into it again and Inoki’s busted open now. Hossien keeps pounding Inoki with the boot but that just pissed Inoki off. Inoki connects with his standing enzuigiri to end this at 13:58. Hossien goes mad, knocking the ref out with the boot and driving it into Hossien before leaving. This was really boring. *1/4.
---Week Three---
Week Three focuses on Mad Dog Vachon and Wendi Richter. This should be an interesting week based on the characters involved and my general apathy towards both. I really only know Mad Dog as the guy whose foot Diesel took in an In Your House years ago and Wendi competed at the first Wrestlemania and later got screwed out of her title.
-Wendi Richter(c) vs. Fabulous Moolah for the WWE Women’s Title-
This was from the very first Saturday Night’s Main Event, which aired on May 11th, 1985. Cyndi Lauper has been banned from ringside! Cyndi was in the corner of Wendi at the time and this was during the heyday of the Rock N’ Wrestling stuff. So we start with Wendi booting Moolah in the gut only to get eye-poked down. Wendi is tossed down and Moolah chokes her over the top rope. You know what I just noticed; Wendi looks a lot like Hilary Swank’s character in Million Dollar Baby. I just saw the movie a week ago and the whole Wendi character (even the voice) reminds me of that movie. Moolah panders to the crowd after tossing Wendi but doesn’t see Wendi come back into the ring. Wendi dropkicks Moolah to the outside and she follows. Wendi brings Moolah back in but Moolah takes the advantage with a backdrop for two. Wendi is up quickly and boots Moolah down. Moolah holds onto the top rope so Wendi pulls her legs and Moolah flies off. Wendi does it a second time and covers for two. Wendi chokes Moolah so Moolah breaks with a shot to the gut and she continues choking Wendi using the ropes. Moolah tries a bodyslam but Wendi rolls through it and gets the pinfall at 3:17. This wasn’t anything special and honestly was too short to be worth much in terms of wrestling match. *1/2.
-Wendi Richter(c) vs. Judy Martin for the WWE Women’s Title-
This was from a WWE show called World Championship Wrestling. That’s pretty interesting. This match took place on December 15th, 1984. Martin takes down Wendi but Wendi stops that with a head-scissors. Martin slugs down Wendi and elbows her down after an Irish Whip for two. Hillbilly Jim is watching from the crowd and this is before he made his wrestling debut since Vince calls him just a wrestling fan. Wendi flips over Martin using her arm and goes to work with an arm-bar. Wendi stomps Martin’s hand for good measure, too. Wendi puts Martin in a hammerlock and let me tell you, Martin should’ve been trained by HHH so she can know how to break it. Wendi issues a dropkick and she goes back to work on the arm. Martin comes back with a clothesline and she tosses Wendi to the outside. Wendi hauls Martin to the outside with her and slams her head into the apron. Martin returns fire and bodyslams Wendi on the outside. The ref calls for the bell at 4:58 and it appears to be a count-out finish. Well, it wasn’t completely useless, although the working the arm stuff seemed to go on forever. ½*.
-Wendi Richter & Fabulous Moolah vs. Velvet McIntyre & Princess Victoria-
This was from MSG and took place way back on March 14th, 1982. I didn’t even know Wendi was in the WWE back then. It’s even funnier that she’s teaming with Moolah considering their history. The referee checks out the girls’ boots and all before the match which culminates in Moolah doing a little comedy spot where she moons him. Victoria and Wendi start. Wendi grabs a hammerlock which Victoria flips out of and rolls up Wendi for two, in a kick-out that was assisted by Moolah. Victoria is sent to the heel corner and into the knees of Moolah. Moolah chokes her with the tag rope which draws McIntyre into the ring. Victoria is double-teamed in the corner and is dumped to the apron. Victoria didn’t take the fall to the outside well enough to so Moolah does it again on the opposite end of the ring. Moolah slugs Victoria into her corner by mistake and McIntyre is tagged in. She monkey flips Moolah so Moolah bails to her corner to tag in Wendi. Wendi lifts her by the throat before running into her. She seats McIntyre on the top rope and press slams her off. Wendi stretches out the arms of McIntyre while keeping a knee in her back. She hits a big boot off the ropes and covers for two. McIntyre is bodyslammed and sent into Moolah in the corner. Wendi now steps on her hair and pulls her arms up. I guess they’re weakening her hair for some sort of hair submission I’m not familiar with. McIntyre is able to escape eventually and make the hot tag but Victoria is quickly subdued by an entering Moolah. Victoria is set up in a tree of woe in the heel corner which draws McIntyre into the ring so it’s more cheap heel heat for the bad girls. Moolah gets distracted by Wendi and both the face girls grab the heels in a body scissors move. The referee gets mixed up in a pile of the four bodies and the ref tries to restore order. That doesn’t work and McIntyre and Victoria are dumped to the outside. Moolah and Wendi brag to the crowd which allows the faces to get into the ring and dump the heels! Moolah gets to the apron and she’s snapmared in by Victoria. Victoria tries a hurricanrana but Moolah powerbombs her down and that’s enough for the pinfall at 11:53. This wasn’t too bad. The tag formula worked well, there were some funny spots in here and I thought the ending was well done. **.
-Mad Dog Vachon vs. Lanny Kean-
This was form some show I’ve never heard of called WWE Wrestling at the Chase. Of course I’m guessing the Chase was the name of the venue. Anyway, this match is from July 1st, 1984. I have to tell you something. Mad Dog Vachon always reminded me of the Marvel Comic book character named Puck. Puck was a member of Alpha Flight, was a midget and was Canadian. Vachon grabs the microphone and tosses it out of the ring. For those who didn’t know, Mad Dog was in fact the father of Luna Vachon. Vachon hiptosses Kean out of the corner and goes right to work, back-raking Kean and biting him in the corner. Mad Dog stretches apart the mouth of Kean which certainly seems like an effective maneuver. Vachon keeps on him with the backrakes and tosses him to the outside. Mad Dog picks up a chair but opts not to use it. Kean bites Vachon back and Lanny gets an eyerake of his own inside the ring. Vachon takes Kean down with a hiptoss and bites the nose of Kean. Vachon knees Kean in the gut and bodyslams the poor guy before getting a double stomp in his gut. Vachon sets Kean up on the middle rope and charges with a butt-splash, a move that the Big Boss Man would later use a lot in his early 90’s squash matches. Vachon finishes with a piledriver at 3:52. Vachon tosses Kean to the outside where he delivers a conchairto on the concrete. This was not a wrestling match but just Vachon mauling the jobber. ½*.
-Mad Dog Vachon vs. Nick Bockwinkel-
This is an AWA match from December 23rd, 1983. I am thinking looking at the run-time (three minutes) that this is clipped. And yes, this is JIP. Bockwinkel is sent into the corner by Vachon and is bitten. Vachon charges but Bockwinkel sidesteps and Vachon posts his shoulder. Bockwinkel tries a piledriver that is countered with a backdrop. Vachon chokes Bockwinkel over the second rope before charging with a butt splash. Vachon bodyslams Bockwinkel and covers for two. Vachon lifted his head up it seems. Vachone piledrives Bockwinkel and pins him for the victory at 1:58 (aired). Heenan had tried running in to make the save but had failed. So Vachon didn’t win the title because Heenan was disqualified. I can’t rate this because it was clipped and there was just no way to gauge what was going on.
-Mad Dog Vachon vs. Bobby Heenan-
This is an AWA match from November 1st, 1980. Heenan does a massive stall-job to start, escaping to the outside a bunch of times. Heenan tries to Pearl Harbor Vachon but Vachon catches him and slaps away. He chokes Heenan to the apron and both tumble to the outside table. The referee breaks them up when they’re in the ring and this allows Heenan to blindside Vachon with the cast he’s wearing. Mad Dog fights back and bites the weasel. Vachon misses a blind charge and Heenan takes advantage. He wears Vachon down with an armbar. Vachon fights back with more biting and kicks the lower rope into Heenan’s throat. Heenan responds with some eyerakes. Vachon sends Heenan into the corner and backdrops him on the rebound. He rakes the back of the Weasel. Heenan bails and he’s counted out at 10:22. This was a long stall-fest between the two but the crowd heat was pretty damn good and for a manager vs. a wrestler it wasn’t terrible. *.
-Introducing Stone Cold Steve Austin-
This is a cool edition of Introducing, dealing with the man himself – Steve Austin. Steve talks about being in USWA and being picked up by the WCW and working there for five years before getting fired. He went to ECW and honed his character before debuting in the WWE. His character was really watered down until he hit it big after the 1996 King of the Ring. Steve was brought in as the Ringmaster and Ted DiBiase was his manager. Steve came in as the Million Dollar Champion. Steve’s first match in the WWE took place on an episode of Raw. He debuted on the January 15th, 1996 Raw against Matt Hardy of all people. Austin hits the Lou Thesz press early and pounds away but Hardy surprises him with a roll-up. Austin backdrops Hardy and gives him some tosses in the corner. Hardy tries fighting back but that fails miserable and he’s walloped in the corner. McMahon announces a Billionaire Ted sketch is forthcoming. Those were crazy if you’ve ever seen them. Austin snapmares Hardy over and drops an elbow (not an FU elbow yet) and covers for two. Austin tries another backdrop but Hardy’s onto it this time. He boots Austin and tries for a suplex but Austin counters and flapjacks him down for two. Austin chokes Hardy with the middle rope before trying a butt splash in the corner. Hardy ducks out but Austin no-sells the spot. Austin clotheslines Hardy over the top rope before locking on the Million Dollar Dream. That ends this one at 4:37. This was a cool medium-length squash match. *1/2.
---Week Four---
2009 Extreme Rules PPV was added this week, but it’s one I have no interest in and I don’t think I’m missing anything.
-Keith in Action-
Keith faces the Cuban Assassin in this November 2nd, 1979 Stampede match. Keith gets an early backdrop but a second one is reversed into a sunset flip by the Assassin. Keith takes over CA with a side headlock CA breaks by reaching the ropes and he trips up Keith and starts wringing his leg. Keith kicks him off and they battle in the corner. Keith starts working on CA’s leg now. We cut ahead a bit (a commercial break or a quick edit?) with CA bailing to the outside. CA comes back and knees at Keith and this match is seriously lacking in pace. It’s just back and forth with the two no-selling the other’s offense in any long-term sense and just stringing together a bunch of moves. Keith backdrops the Assassin but can’t maintain any sort of control over the match. The two exchange rights and Keith fells the Cuban with a pair of them. Keith bodyslams CA before backdropping him and locking on a figure-four for the submission at 8:33. Like I said, it was just a bunch of moves strung together with no story and it’s tough for me to get into a match like that. *1/2.
-Makhan Singh, Great Gama & Vladimir Krupoff vs. Brian Pillman, Owen Hart & Keith Hart-
This is from the New incarnation of Stampede, taking place on November 8th, 1986. I know the faces. I don’t know the heels. I am assuming that Gama is in the ring now starting with Owen. Brian Pillman is billed as the newcomer here. Krupoff is tagged in (I think) as the announcer tells us we’re at the 18-minute mark. Krupoff pulls Owen by the hair (and the announcer does confirm that its Krupoff in the ring). Singh comes in and he looks like the fat dude from Lost. He splashes Owen and covers for two. Owen escapes and tags in Pillman. Pillman tries cleaning house on Gama but Singh interferes and soon all 6 people are in the ring. The heels are all sent into each other. The announcer was obviously wrong about being at the 18-minute mark because the timekeeper called this match 3-minutes long which confirms what my watch said. Pillman pounds at Krupoff before backdropping him and dropping an elbow for two. Singh interferes to turn the tide and Pillman makes the tag but the ref didn’t see it. Gama suplexes Pillman and Singh is tagged in. He clubs Pillman down and locks him in a bearhug. Pillman isn’t out so Singh breaks the hold and tags in Krupoff. Pillman hits a clothesline and a neckbreaker and covers. That was broken up by Gama and the ref is distracted now. Nothing becomes of that except that Owen is tagged in. Owen suplexes Krupoff and hits his piledriver to end this at 8:00. This was an exciting tag match and it’s interesting that the refs tried to make it seem like it was a longer match than it was and it seemed like they told the workers to make it seem like were wrestling for longer than they did. **1/4.
-Owen Hart in WCW-
This is from WCW Pro and it aired on March 29th, 1991. This is a very short match and incredibly rare. I think Classics.com showed a previous Owen match before. Owen flips out of an arm wringer and takes down his opposition with a headscissors. I don’t even know who he’s wrestling. Owen flips over a drop down attempt. Keith Stark appears to be the opponent. Owen hits an enzuigiri and a backbreaker. Keith sends Owen to the corner and Owen jumps on the top rope and tries to flip over but he slipped and blew the spot. Keith is dropkicked to the outside and Owen follows with a pescado. Owen hits a gut-wrench suplex inside the ring and puts a chinlock on Stark. Owen takes him over with a headlock before connecting on a belly to belly suplex. Hart heads upstairs and hits a reverse crossbody to finish this at 2:40. It’s your usual jobber match, and I won’t take off too much for the blown spot since it was more athletic than your normal jobber match. ½*.
-Jim Neidhart in Action-
This comes to us from Stampede circa May 1st, 1981. This is JIP with the Anvil (without a full board and long hair) is battling Goldy Rogers. Neidhart is backdropped down by Goldy. Neidhart blows a leapfrog by falling after jumping over Goldy. He follows with a shoulderblock and a killer powerslam to end this at 1:03. The announcer assures us that this was a 2:20 match and we just missed a minute of it. Then it gets the usual squash match rating, minus for blowing a damn leapfrog. ¼*. We hear from the Anvil afterwards and he complains about the interference that plagued his match.
-The British Bulldogs(c) vs. Bad News Allen & Luke Meyers for the Tag Team Titles-
This is from the June 1st, 1984 Stampede show. Bad News Allen is also known as Bad News Brown in the WWE. This gets a TV-14 warning before the match starts so I see some blading in this match. Meyers immediately clubs Davey Boy from behind on the apron and Allen delivers some headbutts. Allen crushes Davey Boy down as the announcer calls this at 10-minutes which doesn’t sound right, since it looked like the damn thing just started. Davey is clubbed by Meyers and it looks like Davey Boy has been busted open. Allen continues pounding away and the ref gives them a yellow card. WTF? Allen gets another yellow card for reasons I still can’t fathom. I guess from keeping Davey in the corner too long. Meyers clubs down Davey and covers but the pinfall is broken up by Dynamite. Davey reverses an Irish whip and he’s able to make the tag to Dynamite. Dynamite explodes into the ring (pun intended) and all hell breaks loose. Dynamite is whipped into Meyers and the two collide knocking the ref out in the process. Allen charges Davey and is dumped to the outside. Davey tries suplexing him in off the apron but the manager of Allen trips up Davey and Allen falls on top of him. The ref takes his time to get over but he does and he counts the pinfall at 7:13. So it looked like Allen and Meyers won the title but the titles were not awarded because the match was now called a DQ because Davey tossed Allen over the top rope. Oh well. It’s a shame if this was clipped. The heel offense was uninspired but the last few minutes were fun. **. We hear from the champs afterwards and they call Meyers and Allen animals.
-Hart Family 8-Man Tag-
This is from Stampede V2 and it took place on October 25th, 1988. This is Jason The Terrible, Owen Hart, Bruce Hart, and Brian Pillman vs. Makhan Singh, Johnny Smith, Rip Rogers and Kerry Brown. This looks well into the match as most of the wrestlers are sweating it up already. It looks like we’re starting with Pillman as the face in peril. Singh comes in and elbows Pillman down. Pillman is wearing biker shorts which isn’t really a good look for him, or anyone for that matter. Rogers comes in and misses a few elbowdrops which allows Pillman to tag in Jason. Jason the Terrible is wearing a hockey mask a la Jason. He sends bodyslams for everyone before sending Smith into a tied up Rogers. He does the same with all the rest of the three heels. He gets blindsided by Smith and Smith ties up Jason in the top two ropes. A pier-six erupts as the announcer mentions that 55 minutes of the match has gone by with only 5 minutes remaining. I have to assume that this was the promotion trying to show the matches going on longer than they were for some reason. Things degenerate and Owen comes in and smashes everyone with chairs. He gets a yellow card for his actions. Smith grabs the chair and uses it on everyone but Jason no-sells it. So Jason takes the chair and cleans house and now we just have people standing around. Who is the legal man? Singh is left in the ring with the Harts and Jason and Singh is whipped into the chair in the corner. All four heels are locked in a sleeper by the four faces as the ref announces that only two minutes remain. Rip breaks out of Jason’s sleeper and he knocks all the other faces out of holding onto theirs. This is just a mess right now. Owen reverses a Tombstone and hits one of his own before backdropping Smith. There’s 30 seconds left with no sign of a pinfall in sight. Sure enough, this mess is over at 7:58 shown. The faces are interviewed and they don’t really say much. There’s no way that this was an hour-long match. This was beyond bad and no wonder the second incarnation of Stampede didn’t last. DUD.
-Davey Boy Smith vs. Dynamite Kid-
This is from the May 1st, 1981 Stampede and is the second match featured from that show this week. I was really excited to see this match for obvious reasons. Of course it is JIP. Davey has on some weird tights. Davey reverses an Irish Whip and Dynamite flies hard into the corners. Davey monkey flips him over and drops a leg. He heads upstairs and hits a flying splash off the top for the pinfall. That was a quick one. Wait, it’s a two out of three falls match. Davey goes right after Dynamite in the corner once the match restarts. Davey is very thin here. He’s about the size of Dynamite. He bulked up A LOT in the ensuing 10 years and all those steroids didn’t help him live long at all. He’s actually skinnier than Dynamite here! Dynamite misses an enzuigiri but Davey has attacked that knee long enough so that Dynamite can’t really stand. He somehow gets up and knocks Davey down with some rights. The ref gets bumped by a charging Dynamite. Dynamite suplexes Davey over the top and Dynamite’s manager gets in a cheapshot. Dynamite revives the ref and Smith is counted out at 3:34. This was most-likely an epic match in full. The two of them were about 10-15 minutes into the match and were stiff as hell. Dynamite and his manager cut a promo afterwards. This was criminally short. **.
-Hart Brothers vs. Cuban Commandos-
This is from June 14th, 1988 and the Hart brothers in question are Keith and Bruce. Keith is worked over by the Cuban and he’s double teamed and as we’re JIP. Bruce is tagged in and he flies in with a clothesline. Bruce hits a flying elbow drop off the top and covers but Morrow breaks up the pinfall. Now it’s Bruce’s turn to play Hart-in-peril. The Cuban slows things down with a hammer and sickle arm-bar but Bruce breaks and tags in Keith. Keith throws forearms against both and backdrops the Assassin before dropkicking Morrow and back dropping him. The Assassin is suplexed and Keith covers but Morrow breaks up the pin. Keith locks on the figure four and again Morrow breaks it up. Keith and the Assassin collide and the Assassin shoves Keith into the referee. This devolves into all four men in the ring. Morrow grabs a chain and knocks out both Hart brothers with it. Bruce ducks a double clothesline and knocks both Cubans down with a clothesline of his own. The referee gets up and is shoved into the corner but the Harts manage to send both Cubans into each other. The ref rings the bell at 6:39 for a Double-DQ. Wow, Stampede was not good in 1988. This was another match I had a lot of trouble sitting through. 1/2*.
-Bruce Hart in Competition-
This is JIP from the June 1st, 1984 show. That’s the same show that the Bulldog match came from. Bruce is wrestling Goldy Rogers and the timekeeper tells us this is the five-minute mark. Hart tosses Goldy to the corner and elbows away but Rogers slugs his way out of the corner. Goldy chokes Bruce over the top rope Bruce eventually stops taking a beating and dropkicks Rogers to the outside. The dropkick literally didn’t get any higher than Goldy’s groin. Bruce tries a backdrop that looks like Goldy was supposed to sunset flip out of. So Bruce pounds away and tries another one but Rogers lifts a knee to counter. Bruce hits a flying clothesline to end this at 5:48. This was like the previous Hart match that had no flow to it and was just a series of back and forth and moves strung together for no rhyme or reason. *.
-The Bottom Line- This was a very cool month and I enjoyed it in some ways better than last year’s HOF showcase. This one only focused on the wrestlers who were inducted this year and it made for even rarer matches to be shown than just throwing in some Hogan or Flair matches. I like those guys but I feel I’ve seen so many of their matches already. Week One had the best wrestler of the bunch in Ted DiBiase and there were some great long matches that totally made the month. Inoki’s were fun for me because I never saw him work but I can’t really say that they were all classics. Week Three started getting into the more obscure HOF members, if you get what I mean. I can’t say I was terribly impressed watching either Mad Dog or Wendi Richter and the star ratings show that. Week Four was really a treat. The matches didn’t set the world on fire in terms of star ratings but it was just so awesome to have all this old Stampede footage showing very young versions of the British Bulldog, Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart and Dynamite Kid. I think the 1988 version really paled in comparison to the early 80’s stuff. It was really a mixed bag in terms of match quality (only six matches were *** or higher, and half of those were because of DiBiase and the other half because of Inoki) but there was so many rare things (I’m looking at Owen in WCW as an example) that you can’t really complain too much. I thought this was a decent month, and I eagerly await Chris Jericho month which is up next!
Here’s a rundown of matches I didn’t watch this month.
--Week 1--
I caught all of Ted’s match-ups this week!
--Week 2 –
I caught all of Inoki’s matches but the only thing I didn’t review was Bob Eucker’s Appearances from Wrestlemania IV. I reviewed that whole event elsewhere on my site if you really care.
--Week 4 --
--The Harts vs. Shawn Michaels & The Knights
I skipped this one on the WWE Hart & Soul DVD I just posted since I saw it a year ago on Most Powerful Families in Wrestling and that is enough for me.
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