February 24, 1991
Live from Phoenix, AZ
Announced attendance: 6.800 (capacity: ca 15.000)
PPV buyrate: 160.000
Hi everyone and welcome to my review of the first ever WCW-exclusive PPV, after the NWA era. This show features a huge WarGames main-event, as the Four Horsemen take on the babyface team of Sting, Brian Pillman and The Steiners. Also, Lex Luger puts the US title on the line against Danny Spivey, Big Van Vader returns to WCW PPV to face Stan Hansen, and much more.
Before starting, here is the list of champions in WCW heading into this PPV:
- WCW & NWA World Heavyweight Champion: Ric Flair [champion since Jan. 11th 1991 – inaugural WCW World Champion, previous NWA World Champion: Sting]
- WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Lex Luger [champion since Dec. 16th 1990 – previous champion: Stan Hansen]
- WCW World TV Champion: Arn Anderson [champion since Jan. 7th 1991 – previous champion: ‘Z-Man’ Tom Zenk]
- WCW World Tag Team Champions: Doom (Ron Simmons & Butch Reed) [champions since May 19th 1990 – previous champions: The Steiners]
- WCW United States Tag Team Champions: The Steiners (Rick & Scott) [champions since Aug. 24th 1990 – previous champions: The Midnight Express]
- WCW World Six Man Tag Team Champions: The Junkyard Dog, Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich [champions since Feb. 17th 1991 – inaugural champions]
Enjoy the review!
The hosts are Jim Ross & Dusty Rhodes
WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship: The Junkyard Dog, Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich(c) vs. Big Cat & The State Patrol (Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker & Lt. James Earl Wright)
What a weird opener this is. This title was introduced just seven days before this PPV at a house show, and by looking at the inaugural champions you could tell they were just created for the hell of it. The champions also come out with no title belts, just to remove all the doubts that they were doomed from the start. After a grand total of nine months and four title reigns, it was deactivated. JR is all over the pro football backgrounds already on commentary and says there is a ‘tremendous crowd on hand’. Sure!
JYD and Cat get into a slugfest to start, and JYD gets the better of that with a clothesline. Headbutt and Cat is out of there. Off to Wright while JYD brings in Morton for a double back elbow. Morton takes over with a leapfrog and a number of different variations of armdrags. Here comes Rich with a double clothesline alongside Morton. Rich goes to work on Wright’s arm, who cheapshots him on the clean break only to eat a powerslam. Rich continues to work the arm and Wright rakes the eyes to escape. He slams Rich and brings in Parker, who misses an elbowdrop and gets worked over as well. Morton runs wild with a couple of atomic drops to both State Patrol members to wake up the TREMENDOUS crowd on hand! It’s back to JYD and Big Cat for a test of strength. Big Cat wrestles JYD down until he fights back with a number of headbutts and escapes with a back heel trip. Cat rakes the eyes and an elbowdrop gets two. Parker comes in with wussy punches, which JYD no-sells. Tag to Ricky Morton, but he gets nailed with a pipe shot to the back by Wright on a criss cross while Cat distracts the ref.
The State Patrol hit a backbreaker + flying headbutt double team for two. Double shoulderblock gets two. Tag to Cat and an elbowdrop gets two more. Dropkick gets two. Morton is already playing babyface in peril as always! Cat slams Morton but he moves out of an elbow. Unfortunately for Morton, Cat is too close to his corner and the heels stay in control. Parker hits a slam for two. The State Patrol hit a Bushwhackers-like battering ram, into a Parker bulldog into a Wright elbowdrop for two. Nice sequence there. They follow it up with a double backbreaker followed by a double elbowdrop for two more. Cat comes in with a backbreaker for another nearfall as Morton just keeps getting beat up. Big Cat gets in a cheapshot on Rich to get them all worked up and distract the ref, which allows the heels to triple-team Morton over in their corner. Parkers hits the chinlock only to miss a blind charge in the corner. Tag to Wright but Morton rolls over and gets the hot tag to JYD! JYD runs wild on both members of State Patrol and hits Parker (the illegal guy) with the Thump powerslam. The ref counts the pin anyway, only for Big Cat to break the count. JYD gets into a fight with Cat, and Morton simply gets the pin himself to retain at 9:54. What a stupid finish.
- Rating: The match was not bad at all, it was actually quite decent due to Ricky Morton – probably the greatest babyface in peril of all time – getting his ass handed to him for most of the final minutes. That finish made no sense whatsoever, with the illegal Morton pinning the illegal Parker, but this was much better than I expected anyway. **
Tony Schiavone interviews The York Foundation. Alexandra York is very happy with the computer’s accuracy and they’re looking for more wrestlers. The computer predicts Terry Taylor will defeat Z-Man in less than 15 minutes and 28 seconds. Taylor predicts pain. A feeling he must’ve been familiar with after that painful WWF run.
‘Beautiful’ Bobby Eaton vs. Brad Armstrong
Dusty predicts Bobby will win a major singles WCW title in 1991. Very clever prediction, bookerman! Eaton takes over with a cheapshot to start. Brad leapfrogs over, catches him with a flying headscissors, dropkick and an armdrag right into an armbar. Hot start as Brad now goes to work on the arm. Eaton takes him over into the ropes for the break and a cheapshot. However, Brad gets a monkey flip out of the corner and goes back to the armbar. Eaton escapes with yet another cheapshot and dumps Brad to the outside. He follows him and tries to send Brad into the railing, only for Brad to block and send him instead. And into the post as well. Back in, Brad goes back to work on that arm, but Eaton makes the ropes. Stalemate as we get a test of strength. Eaton wrestles Brad down with the help of a little kick to the midsection, but then Brad literaly walks over Eaton’s shoulders and hits a high crossbody for two. And back to the armbar. Into the corner where Eaton gets in another cheapshot on the clean break. Eaton with a slingshot suplex, but Brad lands on his feet and hits a suplex of his own.
Armstrong cranks on the arm but Eaton blocks an O’Connor roll and catches him with a clothesline for two. Great pop up backbreaker by Eaton gets two. Eaton with a slam followed by an elbowdrop to the forehead gets two. And we hit the chinlock. Meanwhile, The Great Muta is in the crowd to promote the upcoming WCW/NJPW SuperShow. Muta wrestled Sting on that show, but I won’t review it because it’s not on the Network. Anyway, back to the match as they exchange nasty elbows and knees until Eaton hits a fantastic slingshot backbreaker for two. I’m amazed with Beautiful Bobby here, he’s obviously most famous for the Midnight Express but he’s fantastic in singles wrestling matches as well. Back elbow knocks Brad silly, as Eaton then wipes him to the outside like he’s taking out the trash! Eaton drops Armstrong on the railing and gets back in, but eventually Brad breaks the count as well only to walk into an abdominal stretch. Eaton grabs the ropes for leverage until the ref catches him doing it and forces the break, as Eaton then misses a blind charge in the corner and gets dropped on his little Eatons. Ouch. Armstrong dropkick followed by a Russian legsweep gets two, as Eaton has his foot on the ropes. Eaton gets the swinging neckbreaker, though, and he goes up for the Alabama Jam and the win at 12:51.
- Rating: Fantastic undercard match between two great workers. Bobby Eaton in particular looked awesome here. ***1/2
Ad for WCW SuperBrawl, the next PPV coming up in May.
Itsuki Yamazaki & Mami Kitamura vs. Miki Handa & Miss A
Basically hype for the Supershow. Yamazaki is a former WWF Women’s Tag Team Champion back in the late 80s as a member of the Jumping Bomb Angels, by the way. They waste no time and start off with fast action. Yamazaki takes down Miss A with a flying armdrag off the top rope and then walks the top rope for a sunset flip that gets two. Off to Kitamura for a back elbow, but Miss A no-sells and just stiffs the fuck out of Kitamura with vicious forearms and kicks in the corner. This gave me a great shot of the TREMENDOUS crowd on hand, like JR said multiple times earlier. Take a look.
JAM PACKED, BY GAWD! Anyway Miss A brings in Handa for a fast sequence that ends with a slam for two. And it’s back to A, as Dusty is already sold! Vertical suplex gets two and A goes to work on the leg. She drops some knees on the leg but then Kitamura catches her with a flying back elbow. Off to Yamazaki who runs wild and hits a butterfly suplex for two. The crowd is very much into this. Back to Kitamura for a backdrop suplex, but Handa is there to break the count. Handa hits a forearm but walks into an inside cradle for two. Kitamura hits a dropkick in the corner and comes out of the corner with a bulldog. Back to Yamazaki, who shoots Handa into the ropes and meets her with a rolling headbutt to the chest. Gutwrench suplex gets two. Handa makes the tag to Miss A and shit gets real again, as A just throws kicks WITH EXTRA MUSTARD all over Yamazaki’s body. And then she kicks her in the face for good measure. A goes for a test of strength, but Yamazaki jumps over into a sunset flip for two, which Miss A turns into a pin of her own for two. Northern lights suplex gets two and then a backdrop suplex gets two more. Handa comes in for a northern lights suplex herself, which gets two. A and Handa hit Kitamura with a double shoulderblock followed by a double suplex, but here comes Yamazaki with a flying double dropkick to save the day. She can’t take Miss A down with a sunset flip, so Kitamura gives her a hand with a flying clothesline, which gets two. Miss A takes Yamazaki’s head off with a clothesline for the pin, but Yamazaki has her foot on the ropes. A goes for a German suplex, but Yamazaki blocks and rolls her up for the win at 6:47.
- Rating: This definitely came out of nowhere, but holy cow it was AWESOME. They certainly made the most of the relatively short time they got, with fast nonstop action and Miss A getting over with a crowd (and Dusty) that didn’t know her at all before the bell. Badass match. ***1/2
Meanwhile, Missy Hyatt promises to interview a man in the locker room. Hm, okay.
Buddy Landel vs. Dustin Rhodes
JR reminds Dusty they have to be impartial calling the action. Good luck with that, Jimbo! Landel bitchslaps Dustin to start, which only succeeds in getting him all fired up. Dustin with a backdrop and dropkick gets two. Landel hides in the corner and we get a stalemate. Landel chops away in the corner, but Dustin turns things around and nails him with elbows. Hiptoss followed by a clothesline for two. Dustin armdrags him and goes to work on the arm. Landel cheapshots Dustin and slams him. He goes up but takes too much time, allowing Dustin to get back up and slam him off as Landel begs for mercy. Nature who? Meanwhile, Dusty on commentary: “when you back a dawg into a corner, you gotta be very careful that it don’t bah-bah-bah-bite ya”. Very insightful comments there! Dustin misses a blind charge in the corner and eats post, as Landel drops the knee on Dustin’s skull. Landel chops away and goes to work on the arm. Buddy gets in a few cheapshots and a slam gets two. Landel works a sleeper, but Dusty makes the ropes and Landel eats boot on a blind charge. Dustin with a wussy clothesline, and then clotheslines him over the top and to the floor. No DQ in this case because it’s not the finish they booked for this match.. Back in, Dustin struggles to hit a gorilla press slam and then finishes with the bulldog at 6:33.
- Rating: The experienced Buddy Landel knew what he was doing and carried Dustin to a watchable bout, but Dustin was still way too green for it to be anything more than that, watchable. He was a bit sloppy at times, particularly on the clothesline and the press slam near the finish, but otherwise it was overall okay. *1/2
Meanwhile, Missy Hyatt is backstage in the guy’s locker room and she wants to know what is the first ‘babe’ to ever be interviewed by a woman in a wrestling locker room. She walks in and the first person she runs into… is Stan Hansen. And, well, there goes her attempt at interviewing someone. This was funnier than I thought it would be, and I’m sure it got Hansen some heat from the pervs who wanted to see a little bit more!
The Young Pistols (Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong) vs. The Royal Family (Jack Victory & Rip Morgan)
Tracy and Steve are obviously the Southern Boys with a new gimmick, and the Royal Family are still around from the international tag team tournament at StarrCade. They wouldn’t be around much longer. The Pistols go for a double team move but eat stereo clotheslines instead. Victory dumps Armstrong but the Royals miss a double clothesline on Smothers in the corner, as Armstrong comes off with a double high crossbody and then the babyfaces clean house with stereo dropkicks. And now… the lights go out in the arena. Should’ve paid the bill, guys. They fire up a spotlight so we can at least see the match. Morgan goes to work on Smothers’ arm, but Armstrong comes in and the Pistols clean house once more. Back in, Morgan takes over with a headlock on Armstrong and brings in Victory, who walks into an armbar. He escapes with a shoulderblock and we get a stalemate. Another shoulderblock connects and we get a stalemate. Blind tag by Smothers as the Pistols hit a double shoulderblock on Victory that gets two.
Smothers cranks on Victory’s arm and we get more double teaming by the babyfaces. Armstrong goes for another shoulderblock, but Victory moves out of the way and Steve takes himself out. The Royals cut the ring in half now as a back elbow by Morgan gets two. Victory eats boot on a blind charge in the corner to set up the hot tag to Armstrong, which doesn’t get a great reaction. Smothers runs wild with superkicks to both heels. Morgan gets a cheap knee to Smothers’ back on a criss cross to cut off the comeback, though, and Victory clotheslines him over the top for the ULTIMATE HEEL DICK MOVE while the ref is distracted. Just call an audible and go home already, this is going on way too long already and the crowd doesn’t care. Just as I say this… Morgan works a bearhug. Joy, says I. Morgan hits a spinebuster for two. The Royals hit a double suplex as now Victory gets his own bearhug. Really? The Royals double-team Smothers to the point Armstrong comes in himself and breaks it up, as it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN PHOENIX… under complete silence. The Pistols go for another double suplex on Smothers, but Armstrong dropkicks them and Smothers lands on top of Morgan for the win at 12:05.
- Rating: Good lord. It’s not that it was technically bad or anything, but it was just ridiculously long, heatless and incredibly boring. *
Meanwhile, the new manager of the Freebirds calls out Doom and Teddy Long. The Freebirds’ new manager? Diamond Dallas Page. You might’ve heard of him before!
No DQ Match – Terry Taylor(w/ Alexandra York) vs. ‘Z-Man’ Tom Zenk
According to JR, these two traded a number of DQ victories and draws on TV, so we get this no DQ match at the PPV. Lockup results in a stalemate. Another one and Zenk takes over with an armdrag and a dropkick. Taylor gets up in Zenk’s face, but he slaps him in return and Taylor bails to think some strategy with York. Back in, Taylor cheapshots Zenk, who gives him one in return and Taylor bails some more. Zenk takes over with a headlock and a shoulderblock gets two. And back to the headlock he goes, working the count a few times but Taylor makes it to the ropes. Okay and? It’s no DQ… They get into a slugfest and Taylor backdrops him for two. And back to the headlock. Jesus, can’t you do anything else? Taylor tries to get out of it, but Zenk uses the ropes for leverage and rolls back into the headlock. Into the corner they go and the ref forces the break once again. FUCKING WHY??? Taylor whips Zenk into the other corner and hits a backdrop suplex for two. To the outside they go, where Taylor chokes him out with a TV cable but the ref can’t do anything about it. The ref gets in Taylor’s face and they get in a heated conversation. That conversation? “Choke the life out of him with the TV cable all you want Terry, but DON’T YOU DARE USE THE ROPES”.
Taylor pokes the eyes back inside and hits a backbreaker for the win… actually never mind as Zenk had his foot on the ropes to stop the count. See what I mean about the ropes? That’s going too far, man. Taylor works a few restholds but gets clotheslined over the top to the outside, as they get into a slugfest on the outside. Meanwhile, JR says this is the first major PPV of York representing her York Foundation. Damn, I know Rotunda left for the WWF, but no need to Chris Benoit him like that. Zenk with a swinging neckbreaker and a SPECTACULAR superkick, but Taylor has his foot on the ropes. Ugh, fuck off already, will ya? Taylor blocks a kick and talks some trash only to eat an enziguiri from Zenk. He follows it up with a high crossbody but York is up on the apron and misses the count. Taylor rolls him up from behind with a handful of tights for the win at 10:51.
- Rating: I had a high rating ready for this match, but unfortunately I got my feet stuck on the ropes which breaks the count, I’ve heard. All jokes aside, this didn’t work. **
Paul El Perigoso interviews El Gigante
Check out the Latino swagger on Paul E. Eat your heart out, Tito Santana! This is your “we want El Gigante on the PPV but he’s too shitty to wrestle” portion of the show. Heyman introduces El Gigante, with JR saying he wants to be the next World Champion while Dusty reinforces that Ric Flair is on Gigante’s mind. The fact that they even considered this is absolutely mental. Heyman wants to teach Gigante a few words in English, like jerk. “Because that’s what you really are, jerko amigo”!! Gigante is going to be the special referee for a cage match for the title between Flair and Sting and he has no doubts Gigante will try and steal the belt from Flair. He asks for Gigante’s comments on the whole situation. His comments? ‘No hablo inglés’. No wonder this company was on its ass. Heyman gets tired of the jerko amigo, and throws his hat in Gigante’s face, who picks him up with a half assed slam. And then Gigante steals his hat to close the segment. I hope Gigante gave Heyman at least half of his salary that night, because he literally carried the entire segment on his night while Gigante just stood there doing nothing at all. Well better than having him wrestle a match, I guess.
Meanwhile, Hiro Matsuda and The Great Muta promote WCW/NJPW Supershow. Muta spits some green mist to end the segment.
Big Van Vader vs. Stan Hansen
This is a grudge match from Japan. This is only Vader’s second WCW PPV appearance, having squashed Tom Zenk the prior year. They’re wasting no time here and get into a slugfest on the ramp already. Hansen hits the LARIATO and just dumps Vader over the top and into the ring like a giant sack of trash. There is Hansen’s tobacco all over the ring already. Hansen pounds away on Vader in the corner but then walks right into Vader’s own version of the LARIATO. Vader slugs away on Hansen for two, getting some more tobacco hanging out of Hansen’s mouth in the process. Vader follows it up with a massive corner clothesline and a big fat elbowdrop gets two. Vader dumps Hansen and follows him out there, taking the fight to the outside. Hansen goes back to the ring to get away from Vader, but he follows him back there. Another corner clothesline misses, and Hansen drops Vader with a BACKDROP SUPLEX for two. Hansen pounds away some more and drops an elbow for two. Vader bails as they proceed to hit each other with chairs and boxes for fun. Vader slams Hansen ribs-first on the railing and drops an elbow right there on the floor. Hansen brings Vader back to the outside and throws him into the steps. They crawl back inside and literally get into a slugfest on their knees. They headbutt each other and throw the ref out of the way, drawing the double DQ at 6:21. They ignore the stupid rules and continue the fight, as Vader comes off the top with a flying clothesline. Hansen moves out of the way of a splash though, and just RUNS HIM OVER with a massive shoulderblock. Good god almighty!! Hansen tries to hang Vader with his bullrope, but Vader blocks and they just continue beating the shit out of each other all the way back to the curtain.
- Rating: This was really fun to watch, I loved it. I wish it would have been longer and it had a proper finish, but for the six short minutes they were out there, they wasted no time and had an awesome hoss fight. ***1/4
United States Heavyweight Championship – Lex Luger(c) vs. Danny Spivey
This doesn’t look promising on paper, but I’ve heard good and even great things about it before. Let’s see if it lives up. JR and Dusty announce the winner of this match will be awarded with a new US title belt. Lockup to start and a stalemate. Spivey cheapshots him on the clean break to take over but Luger backdrops him and fires away with a number of shoulderblocks. Spivey goes to work on the back already to set up his side slam (thank you, JR!), but then Luger blocks a Spivey atomic drop and hits a backdrop suplex for two. And we get a stalemate yet again. Spivey eats boot on a blind charge as Luger slugs away. Hiptoss by Luger but then he misses a charge and goes flying into the other WarGames ring! Luger is brought back into the main ring with a Spivey vertical suplex and then a TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER gets two. Neckbreaker gets two more. Spivey snaps Luger’s neck in half before hitting a great looking DDT for another good nearfall. Lex took that one like a champ. Holy crap I’m digging this one! Luger shows some life but Spivey cuts him off with a headbutt. Corner clothesline gets two. Spivey misses a blind charge in the corner and Luger rolls him up for two, but Spivey easily takes back control and pounds away with some nice kicks on Luger. Lex blocks a suplex and gives him one of his own, but Luger is way too beat up and he can’t follow up with anything, allowing Spivey to take back control.
Spivey slams Luger and comes off the top with a fantastic flying elbowdrop for a nearfall. Spivey works a legscissors(!!!) to punish Luger’s back some more, and then hits a big boot for two. Spivey sets up for a piledriver, which Luger tries to block, but eventually Spivey overpowers him and connects for two. Luger starts hulking up and no-sells a number of shots from Spivey, so Spivey is like “okay, fuck it” and hits a belly to belly suplex instead. That gets two. Spivey works a chinlock but Luger still has some life left in him, as he elbows his way out of the hold but then runs right into an overhead armdrag. Spivey with a shoulderblock but then Luger stunguns him. Luger starts making a comeback as he slugs away and comes off the middle rope with a flying clothesline. Luger follows it up with a powerslam but Spivey shoves Luger to the floor. Luger tries to come back in with a sunset flip on Spivey, who holds the ropes and drops a fist on Luger to block it. They clothesline each other as we get a double KO spot. And then another one, this time via a double shoulderblock. Luger goes up but gets slammed off by Spivey, but Luger turns it into an inside cradle in mid-air for the win to retain at 12:52.
- Rating: Call it a miracle, call it whatever you want, but this way way better than it had any right to be. Very good psychology from Spivey over Luger’s back and neck in the first half of the match, with Luger taking some nice bumps and fighting from underneath like a champ in the second half. A fun and physical tussle and a great showing from both workers. ***3/4
New US Championship belt presentation
Former US champ Nikita Koloff presents Luger with the new belt after the match. As a former champion, he congratulates Luger on the match and says it’s his pleasure to give this to Luger… WHAM! Nikita hits Luger with the new belt right in the face and proceeds to challenge him because the title “is changing hands back and forth way too often”. Oh Nikita, you wait until WWE gets their hands on that title in the early 2000s! Very good angle.
WCW World Tag Team Championship: Doom (Ron Simmons & Butch Reed)(c)(w/ Teddy Long) vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin)(w/ Diamond Dallas Page & ‘Big Daddy Dink’ Oliver Humperdink)
The story here is that Doom had been having some miscommunications heading into this title match, so the Freebirds would try and take advantage of that. Typical Freebirds stalling as Simmons overpowers Hayes easily and he keeps claiming hairpulling. Simmons quickly has enough of Hayes and hits a spinebuster for two. Simmons eats a cheapshot on a blind charge though, and Hayes follows it up with a bulldog for two. Simmons comes back with a powerslam and then catches a flying Garvin in mid-air with another powerslam. The Freebirds bail and get some advice from Humperdink. Off to Garvin, who wants Reed instead. Reed blocks a hiptoss and takes Garvin’s head off with a clothesline. Garvin blocks a back elbow and gets a sunset flip for two. Reed cleans house with gorilla press slams on both Freebirds, until Hayes cheapshots him while he’s doing one to Garvin. Reed comes back with a backbreaker on Garvin and Doom hit a double back elbow. Simmons follows it up with a couple of headbutts while Reed slams Garvin on the floor. However, Garvin catches Reed with the DDT, but Reed makes the tag to Simmons who prevents Garvin from reaching Hayes. Are the Freebirds working babyface in peril here!? Simmons hits a spinebuster WITH EXTRA MUSTARD but Hayes is there to break it up. Holy shit that looked awesome. Simmons with a slam and again Hayes breaks up the pin. Humperdink gets up on the apron and distracts the ref while Long gives Reed some brass knuckles. Reed charges… but Hayes moves out of the way and Reed knocks Simmons out instead. Uh oh. Hayes holds Reed while Garvin simply pins the dead Simmons for the win and the titles at 6:56. Simmons shoves Long after the match, so Reed hits him with the knuckles again, this time on purpose, effectively turning Simmons babyface and starting his singles push.
- Rating: The match was fine and told the story it had to tell, but the dynamic with the Freebirds as babyfaces was really weird. It was fine. **1/4
Fun fact: the Freebirds had already dropped the belts to the Steiners at a TV taping six days before this PPV, which technically means the Freebirds had a -6 days title reign!
Main event – WarGames – The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Barry Windham & Sid Vicious) & Larry Zbyszko(w/ Arn Anderson) vs. Sting, Flyin’ Brian Pillman & The Steiners (Rick & Scott)
Arn Anderson is being replaced by Zbyszko here due to injury. Meanwhile, over on the babyface side, Pillman comes out with a taped left shoulder after the Horsemen destroyed him on TV literally the night before this event. Wanting revenge, Brian Pillman steps up to start the battle with Barry Windham, which is not a very wise decision to say the least. Pillman with a flying clothesline to start as he then uses the roof of the cage to dropkick Windham, as well as a flying headscissors, and Windham begs off. Pillman fakes a high crossbody and comes down with a missile dropkick instead. Windham moves out of the way of a bodypress and teases a whip into the cell, but Pillman answers with a blatant low blow and sends Windham into the cage himself. Pillman rams Windham into the cage repeatedly, and we even get some cheese grater action while Windham bleeds already. Pillman follows it up by BITING HIS OWN BLOODY FACE and gets Windham’s blood all over his own goddamned lips. Holy shit I wouldn’t mess with this maniac again. Windham continues to learn that the hard way as he earns another free trip into the cage and then eats a flying clothesline off the top. Pillman proceeds to dump Windham all the way into the second ring where he continues the punishment, and at this point Windham’s hair has already turned red. Pillman goes to work on Windham’s leg now as he just continue to beat the living shit out of Windham. Meanwhile, it’s now time for the coin toss, which is won by the heels. Shocking, says I, SHOCKING!
Ric Flair comes in for the Horsemen to make it 2-on-1 for the next two minutes, getting into an epic chopfest with Pillman until Windham breaks it up and they throw Pillman into the cage. Windham is all like “let me take care of him” as he then rams the injured shoulder into the cage. Flyin’ Brian then goes flyin’ all the way back to the original ring, getting his foot caught on the top ropes and landing right on his bad shoulder. They continue to go to work on the shoulder but here comes Sting!
The former World champ goes to work on the Horsemen with a double clothesline, as the crowd goes nuts for the Stinger. Sting catches Flair with a bulldog, but Windham crotches Pillman over in the other ring. The chops are no-sold by Sting, who answers with a Stinger Splash on Naitch followed by the Scorpion Deathlock… but here’s Zbyszko for the save. Sting says “alright then” and takes him out with a dive from one right to the other. The number’s advantage once again bite the babyfaces in the ass though, as Zbyszko is able to turn things around with the help of the Horsemen. Rick Steiner is the penultimate entrant for the babyfaces.
Flair & Windham are waiting for him by the cage door, but Steinerlines are abound and Rick runs wild on the heels. A Flair atomic drop is easily blocked and turned into a belly to belly before Rick sends him face-first into the cage. Cheese grater action follows and now Flair is bleeding. In other words, water is wet! Time for Sid Vicious as we have the full heel team in there already. He goes right after Rick to save Flair, but Pillman comes in from behind and he rams Flair into the cage himself to get his punishment. Flair is just taking a whoopin’ out there! Rick Steiner no-sells a whip into the cage by Zbyszko and pounds away, while Flair goes low on Sting. We get the final countdown as Scott Steiner completes the field and WarGames is officially underway.
Scott is a house of fire early on, taking Flair & Windham down with a double Steinerline. Butterfly sitout powerbomb on Zbyszko. That looked great. Rick then whips Sid right into a flying Steinerline from Scotty. Sting with a second Stinger Splash on Ric Flair as he tries the Scorpion Deathlock once more, but Zbyszko breaks it up. Sid rams Pillman’s shoulder into the buckle, but you can tell Sid is completely lost out there as he doesn’t know what to follow up with and keeps on loudly calling spots on camera. All four babyfaces then lock in stereo figure fours on the heels, with Arn Anderson getting all worked up on the outside and wanting to get in. Thankfully for them, they’re all close to each other and use each other’s bodies to get out of the holds. Sting gorilla press slams Flair into the cage numerous times like he’s Dr. Death or something and slugs away on him. Rick catches Sid with a Steinerline but Sid & Windham respond with a double clothesline. Pillman chops away on Flair and bites him too, while Scott gives Windham a half-assed DDT only to get back up and turn around right into a Sid big boot. Sid then blatantly calls more spots to Pillman before slamming him on top of the cage. Geez at least hide it, you big doofus. He then follows it up by almost killing Pillman with the Powerbomb, apparently forgetting there’s a cage right there and literally dropping him on his neck. Good lord… Sid hits a (much safer) second Powerbomb as out comes El Gigante to throw the towel and give up for Pillman, giving the Horsemen the win at 21:50.
- Rating: This was quite the awesome brawl for the most part, especially in the first few minutes with Brian Pillman showing some awesome fire and wanting revenge on the Horsemen. He was the true highlight of this match and came out looking like a big star. Sid Vicious was on a mission to single handedly fuck everything up, loudly calling spots numerous times and dropping the aforementioned up-and-comer Pillman right on his neck on that first Powerbomb, but he wasn’t quite successful. This still ruled and probably would’ve hit the full mounty had it not been for Sid being green and just overall shitty in early 1991. ****1/2
END OF THE SHOW
Final thoughts: I had to wait a long time, but FINALLY a good show from WCW came! The PPV started off with a really weird opener for the short-lived Six Man Tag titles, which Ricky Morton still carried to “watchable” level. From there, we got a number of good-to-great matches including Eaton vs. Armstrong, the Japanese women’s tag match, Vader vs. Hansen, Luger vs. Spivey and the WarGames main-event. Not forgetting the great angles between Luger and Nikita or Ron Simmons’ babyface turn as well. Sure, there was some forgettable stuff on the show as well, particularly in the middle, but there was enough to give this a thumbs up. 6/10
For comments and feedback, e-mail me at cunhatomas2001@hotmail.com
POINT SYSTEM
You can find out more about my point system here
| Wrestler | Star ratings | Result | Main-eventing | Extras | Total |
| Sid Vicious | 4.5 | 1 | 1 | +0.5 for winning the fall | 7 |
| Ric Flair Barry Windham Larry Zbyszko | 4.5 | 1 | 1 | – | 6.5 |
| Lex Luger | 3.75 | 1 | – | +1 for retaining a title | 5.75 |
| Jimmy Garvin | 2.25 | 1 | – | +2 for winning a title +0.5 for winning the fall | 5.75 |
| Michael Hayes | 2.25 | 1 | – | +2 for winning a title | 5.25 |
| Itsuki Yamazaki | 3 | 1 | – | +0.5 for winning the fall | 4.5 |
| Sting Scott Steiner Rick Steiner | 4.5 | -1 | 1 | – | 4.5 |
| Mami Kitamura | 3 | 1 | – | – | 4 |
| Bobby Eaton | 3.5 | 1 | – | – | 4.5 |
| Ricky Morton | 2 | 1 | 1 | +1 for retaining a title +0.5 for winning the fall | 4.5 |
| Flyin’ Brian | 4.5 | -1 | 1 | -0.5 for losing the fall | 4 |
| The Junkyard Dog Tommy Rich | 2 | 1 | – | +1 for retaining a title | 4 |
| Big Van Vader Stan Hansen | 3.25 | – | – | – | 3.25 |
| Terry Taylor | 2 | 1 | – | – | 3 |
| Danny Spivey | 3.75 | -1 | – | – | 2.75 |
| Dustin Rhodes | 1.5 | 1 | – | – | 2.5 |
| Brad Armstrong Miki Handa | 3.5 | -1 | – | – | 2.5 |
| Tracy Smothers | 1 | 1 | – | +0.5 for winning the fall | 2.5 |
| Steve Armstrong | 1 | 1 | – | – | 2 |
| Miss A. | 3.5 | -1 | – | -0.5 for losing the fall | 2 |
| Tom Zenk Big Cat Lt. James Earl Wright | 2 | -1 | – | – | 1 |
| Buddy Landel | 1.5 | -1 | – | – | 0.5 |
| Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker | 2 | -1 | – | -0.5 for losing the fall | 0.5 |
| Jack Victory | 1 | -1 | – | – | 0 |
| Rip Morgan | 1 | -1 | – | -0.5 for losing the fall | -0.5 |
| Butch Reed | 2.25 | -1 | – | -2 for losing a title | -0.75 |
| Ron Simmons | 2.25 | -1 | – | -2 for losing a title -0.5 for losing the fall | -1.25 |
Thank you very much for your time! Make sure you don’t miss the next review, which will be of…
Until then, stay safe!