WCW Sunday {Pro} - Sunday, 11/23/97
WCW Sunday {Pro} - Sunday, 11/23/97
Note from Bill: Unfortunately, due to other commitments, Steve Raymond will no longer be able to do the Sunday {Pro} reports. So, the oft-mentioned Chan and Charlie will be taking over the Sunday {Pro} reports. Fasten your seatbelts...
- When Bill asked us if we would like a spot on his staff we had just one thing
to say? Because it was not just A spot, not a liver spot, or not like your dog Spot, but Steve Raymond's WCW {Pro} spot, we could only say, IT WOULD BE AN HONOR! After all, we too have average carpentry skills.
- To take a cue of our mentor, we will begin with at trivia question, what wrestling superstar's birthday will be on this Thanksgiving (Nov. 27)?
- Since this is our first column, we would appreciate any criticisms, comments or questions and will try to respond as soon as possible. To show our loyalty to Bill, we are actually watching WCW {Pro} this week for the first time in recent memory. Unfortunately, we also caught a good portion of "Return to Blue Lagoon" for our troubles. Speaking of early-90s movies, Charlie watched Last of the Mohicans earlier this week and could not help but notice the striking similarities between Steven Waddington (Duncan) and Curt
Hennig. Does anybody else see it?
- At the end of the movie, Gene Okerlund did a voice over to promote {Pro}. "Somebody's gonna get pasted...What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday evening." Even if you don't like {Pro} that quote made this a worthwhile report. We might add, it is only a good way to spend Sunday evening if you have the proper wrestling vittles, though (i.e. barbeque pork grinds, Hooters wings, Kool-Aid, Rolos, Hooters, etc...)
- The show opened with clips from Monday's Nitro and Dusty Rhodes and Scott Hudson immediately hyped World War III. Dusty was looking...uh, no. He was speaking as eloquently as normal as well. Who would have guessed that it only takes Dusty an hour to get from this taping to get to the pay-per-view. We would have thought it took longer for him to get in and out of the outfits that he wears.
- The first match pitted Fit Finley against Barry Houston. Houston had hearts down his tights, perhaps capitalizing on the pending entry of Bret Hart in WCW. That or he's just a little fruity if you know what I mean. Or maybe he just has bad tights. It is not a good sign when the referee (Nick Patrick) is the most famous man involved in the match. Finley resembled Jason of the Argonauts in Hercules the Legendary Journeys in his attire. I just admitted that I had no life by making a Hercules reference. It is amazing how
familiar Dusty appears with Houston's style when he does not appear to know that much about the superstars of the promotion on pay-per-views. Finley won with a modified version of the Cobra Clutch. The announcers did a remarkable job of pretending that they cared about the match considering who was involved. This Week in WCW Motor Sports had a very brief segment before the commercial break. Yippee! Or a more wrestling oriented expression might be Whooo!
- WCW then did a promo for World War III. Is there a more intimidating nickname in wrestling than Ernest "The Cat" Miller?
- In the next match, Barry Darsow debuted against Dusty Wolfe. Darsow is best known for his days as Russian Krusher Kruschev with Nikita and Ivan Koloff and copying the three-man title holder routine that the Freebirds originated in Georgia in 1980. He is also known for his days in Demolition as Smash in which later when Bill Eadie was injured, he once again repeated the three-man title holder situation with Axe (Eadie) and Crush (Bryan Adams). He more recently appeared in WCW as Blacktop Bully and the WWF as Repo Man. Dusty claimed he knew enough about him to talk for an entire hour. Kind of ironic considering he didn't mention him in the match. He did mention that if Wolfe didn't reach the pay window he wouldn't allow him to use the name Dusty. This is ironic, because Wolfe originally was known as Dale Wolfe but was hired by Vince McMahon and given the name Dusty to irritate Dusty. (Ed.: It should be noted that on 3/8/01, I got an e-mail from someone who said he is Dusty Wolfe (and I really have no reason to doubt it.) He said that the has had the nickname of 'Dusty' since childhood. Rather than the nickname being given to him to irritate Dusty Rhodes, Dale chose not to use his childhood nickname and instead go by his legal name at certain points in his career out of respect to Dusty.) Darsow has aged considerably (he's 38). He shaved his hair completely and has gotten more tattoos. He does not resemble when he was in the prime of his career at all. He won via submission. Dusty would not allow Hudson to call him Dusty after the match. We wonder if the Wolf Pack will be offended by the name Wolfe. The announcers picked this time to hype the Flair Hennig match at WWIII. Flair may win since Bob Ryder reported earlier this week that he had signed a three-year extension of his contract which was set to expire in February.
- The next match featured Vincent against Power Plant trainer Buddy Lee Parker, in full army fatigues. Scott Hudson may have made the understatement of the century when he claimed that Vincent was not the most impressive member of the nWo. Speaking of a man whose ring name has been used to offend the competion... Vincent actually did an impressive brainbuster on the outside. That was about the only time the announcers commented on the match. Vincent wrestled in Guess jeans it added credibility to our theory that Michael Jones is the most overpaid man on the face of the Earth. Buddy Lee attempted a move from the top rope. Insert your own joke there. Vincent won with the show's third consecutive submission victory. Seeing as how Charlie and I aren't as familiar with WCW's weekend programming, it was unusual to see Vincent actually show any semblance of offensive wrestling. Gene Okerlund then plugged the hotline and focused on Bret hart and Rick Rude, which the announcers had spent the entire match hyping.
- Scott Hudson predicted the Giant. Hudson did a remarkable job of pretending to understand what Dusty was attempting to say.
- Ohhhhhhhhhhh! Noooooooooo! Hacksaw Jim Duggan returned to defeat Frankie Lancaster. Scott Hudson noted that Duggan
could be a favorite in WWIII. Credibility must mean nothing to Hudson. Note to WCW Producers: Avoid close-ups of Duggan's face. Note to WCW's bookers: Avoid Duggan. For those veteran wrestling fans, Lancaster is the same "thumper" that wrestled in World Class Championship Wrestling in 1987 during the last days of the Von Erich's run and once held the tag team championship with Eric Embry (6/26/87-8/8/87) and Brian Adias (10/12/87-11/25/87). Duggan won with a shoulder block. We were just thrilled that he didn't tape his fists or use the 2 by 4. It was also the first match of the night that was not decided by submission, which Bill had predicted weeks ago that WCW would start using submissions more often. Remember, you heard it from Big Bill first.
- After four squashes, we finally get a decent match-up. Eddy Guerrero against Bobby Heenan's favorite Mexican Air Juvy. Prior to the match, WCW once again plugged tonight's pay-per-view. Dusty actually talks faster than these cruiserweights move. Unfortunately, we didn't quite catch anything he said. I wish we spoke carney so we could tell you what the wrestlers said. It was clearly audible on the tape. The match appeared to have been taped prior to Eddy's winning the cruiserwight championship since he did not come to the
ring with the belt. Eddy won with the froggy. It appeared he attempted his own version of the nWo thigh chop after the match. Surprising since it is against company policy.
- Four squashes and one very average match that could have been good. The announcers did a good job of hyping the pay-per-view, but several athletes debuted and despite winning gained no credibility as their debuts were heavily overshadowed by the pay-per-view.
- To answer the trivia question, Davey Boy Smith's birthday is Thurdsay. To show the quality of the program, the most excited we got was during a commercial when they announced that "A Christmas Story" will be shown on Thanksgiving on TBS. Once again, we would appreciate any feedback.