WCW {Pro} - Saturday, 1/31/98
- I'm going back to the future!
- {Pro} now airs on Saturday morning on WB20 in our area. The promos are quite honest as they feature Alex Wright, Public Enemy, La Parka, Scotty Riggs, Mortis, Eddy Guerrero and Glacier in their advertisements as opposed to many upper echelon stars they could have used. Ironically, Jeff Jarrett is the most featured performer in the spots though. It is followed by Shotgun Saturday Night and airs opposite LiveWire on the USA Network.
- Trivia: When Kendall Windham and Dustin Rhodes first debuted in the NWA/WCW, they were a tag team. What team name did they use?
- "Gentleman" Chris Adams defeated Dave Heath with a superkick.
- Adams has gone from beating the "Modern-Day Warrior" (Kerry Von Erich) to defeating the Vampire Warrior (Heath).
- Heath's greatest claim to fame thus far in wrestling is that of being Luna Vachon's ex-husband. He was also a member of the last International tag team champions in Stu Hart's promotion ever with Tom Nash, wrestling as the Black Harts (9/29/89-12/89).
- They are pushing Heath as a Curt Hennig type. Larry Zbyszko's initial response to Heath was "What a resemblance to Curt Hennig."
- Heath also emulated some of Hennig's trademarks. At one point in the match he "hulked up" and pulled the straps down on his tanktop. Hudson asked Larry what that meant and after Heath was pummeled almost instantaneously, the "Legend" replied, "Guess it doesn't mean anything."
- He also mimicked Hennig by screaming, "that's it!" at a point where he had the advantage in the match. Unfortunately for Heath, those moments were few and far between in this match.
- Heath had something designed or written down his tights. If anyone knows the origins or meanings of this, please e-mail me.
- Adams spent a great deal of the match administering ankle lock submissions. Unfortunately, this added nothing to the match as he does not utilize a finishing maneuver that has anything to do with the legs.
- Heath did a score a two-count with a lifting DDT, which was his most impressive offensive outburst in this match.
- Scott Hudson made the claim that Adams, "made a name for himself as a tag team wrestler, once teaming with the legendary Terry Taylor." While it is true that Adams and Taylor once held the UWF tag team championship (2/7/87-4/12/87), Adams' reputation was established far before that in World Class Championship Wrestling. He was a four-time American Heavyweight champion (1983-85) and held the company's "World" championship, defeating "Ravishing" Rick Rude (7/4/86-9/15/86).
- Zbyszko's response was, "what ever happened to..." Before he could question the booker's whereabouts, he began to dispute Taylor's legendary status, as only Zbyszko himself is a legend. It would have been foolish for Zbyszko to ask about Taylor since, in addition to his booking duties, was employed doing the Tuesday WCW Hotline Reports until being replaced by Ross Foreman this past week.
- The Admas superkick was not built to at all and came out of nowhere for the win.
- Lee Marshall conducted a brief interview with Bill Goldberg.
- Both Goldberg and Marshall referred to Goldberg by last name only.
- On the topic of championships, Goldberg replied, "Belts mean absolutely nothing to me. It's the win-loss record...I do this for pride. I don't want the belt around my waist."
- As if a wrestler professing not to want a championship did not sound ludicrous, the next question asked by Marshall was why he attempted to win his matches so quickly. Perhaps, this is why they employ Marshall. Regardless of which wrestler he interviews, the wrestler will always be taller and more physically fir than "Stagger" Lee and regardless of how idiotic a comment the wrestler makes, Marshall can make him look intelligent by comparison.
- Meng and the Barbarian (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Judo Suwa and Sumo Fuji when Meng pinned Fuji while applying the Tongan death grip.
- Fuji and Suwa debuted and were billed from Tokyo, Japan.
- Despite the implications of Sumo's name, both Suwa and Fuji are lighter wrestlers.
- Despite this, Sumo wrestled as "The Giant" on a tour of AAA last month. He dresses as the Giant with the same black singlet and also has the five o'clock shadow on his face. At approximately 6', Sumo would perhaps be considered a giant among the luchadores.
- Unlike most of the latest foreign talent in WCW, these wrestlers are not imports from New Japan Pro Wrestling.
- Zbyszko commented on the irony of having Judo and Sumo in the same match.
- Sumo Fuji and Meng started the contest with a sumo-style standoff. Zbyszko aptly noted that Meng has a sumo background and won the confrontation easily.
- The Barbarian did not sell a double-team for the debuting tandem.
- For the second consecutive match, the finish came seemingly out of nowhere.
- To demonstrate the push these newcomers will be getting, Zbyszko's commentary on the replay was, "Even the combination of two men against the Barbarian wasn't enough." Enough said.
- Horace Boulder defeated Scott Armstrong with a full nelson slam.
- Boulder finally debuted after more than a year of speculation that he would. He is Hulk Hogan's nephew and reports are that he is been under contract to WCW for quite some time without ever actually working. These same rumors apply with Randy Savage's brother Lanny Poffo, so Hogan is not the only WCW wrestler who incorporates nepotism.
- Boulder has wrestled extensively in Japan in particular for the Frontier Martial Arts promotio. He Frontier Martial Arts Brass Knuckles tag team championship with Hisakatsu Ooya (12/21/95-1/5/96) and its predecessor the World Wrestling Association Martial Arts tag team championship with Sabu (5/7/92-5/24/92).
- Boulder has a unique hairstyle as he has a bald head with his black hair cut in an unusual manner around the back and the sides. The announcers implied that his hairstyle alone qualifies him for Raven's Nest. That and the fact that his abilities put him on {Pro} as opposed to Thunder or Nitro.
- As soon as Armstrong appeared, the announcers began playing up the "Armstrong curse." Zbyszko noted that the Armstrongs are "good technical wrestlers but you can't tell by their win-loss record." WCW refuses to acknowledge that the youngest Armstring is one-half of the WWF tag team champions.
- A huge debate arose between Zbyszko and Hudson as to who is the oldest Armstrong brother that continued into the next match. Hudson claimed Scott and Zbyszko supported Brad. Brad was born on June 15, 1961, but I have not found Scott's birthday. His real name is Robert James, Jr. and that distinction is usually, but not always, given to the firstborn son. I know the days of birth are March 16 (Steve), May 4 (Scott), May 20 (Brian) and Bob (October 3), although I have been unable to find the years. If anyone knows, e-mail me. Zbyszko claimed that Scott was the youngest Armstrong which is obviously not true as Brian is most definitely the youngest.
- One thing they agreed upon, was that Scott was the worst of the Armstrongs. Zbyszko noted, "Boy, Scott missed out on the genetic pool." He added, "Definitely the smallest and the one the curse hurt the most." Just for the record, the order of size of the brothers (as listed in Pro Wrestling Illustrated) is: Brian (6'4", 240), Brad (6', 226), Scott (6'1", 212), Steve (6'1", 212).
- Scott is also most definitely the least pushed of the Armstrongs. Brad has held numerous championships. He was most recently a champion in WCW as the last light heavyweight champion (7/5/92-11/92). He also held the Smoky Mountain (8/12-10/20; 11/23- 11/25) and USWA (8/4-8/7) championships in 1995. Steve was pushed alongside Tracey Smothers as a member of the Southern Boys/Young Pistols team and given the United States tag team championship (11/5/91-1/14/92). Brian is now a WWF tag champion as "Road Dog" Jesse James. Scott has never done anything of note in either of the Big Two.
- The most impressive spot in the match came when Boulder hit a double ax handle off the top rope to the outside to the apron. It was not particulary impressive.
- The finish came again with little psychology involved.
- Boulder wore a shoulder pad on his right elbow and since it had nothing to do with a finishing maneuver, perhaps he has had an injury to that elbow at some point in their career.
- Disco Inferno defeated the masked Fidel Sierra with a Chart Buster.
- Sierra's identity was strange in this bout. Zbyszko asked, "Why is Fidel masking himself?" Hudson replied, "Have you ever seen him without his mask?" Zbyszko made the proper response of, "Yes."
- Sierra is most commonly known as the Cuban Assassin and has also wrestled under the name Fidel Sierra and his real name of David Sierra. "The Punisher" was written down both legs of his tights so either Sierra was wrestling as the Punisher or another jobber was booked in the bout without Zbyszko and Hudson knowing. Either way, it is doubtful Sierra wanted his name used in conjunction with this bout.
- Hudson called Disco, "Old D.I." upon entering the arena to which Zbyszko replied, "A D.I. would love to have him in the Marines."
- Sierra was wearing a mask that had a big grin on the front. It was the first match I have seen Disco in where his leopard tights were not the most striking attire.
- Yet again, the finisher comes with little build up.
- Kendall Windham defeated Bradley Cain with a face-first suplex.
- Cain was given a ring entrance for some reason. Perhaps, they assumed he was the WWF's macabre Cain as opposed to the over-excited jobber that entered the arena. This is probably the greatest example of WCW's struggle to fill air time with as much programming as they now have.
- Zbyszko and Hudson agreed that Windham was the youngest Windham brother but that did not identify Barry by name.
- Windham's current look simply does not work. He has aspects of a "bad @$$" character with a shaved head, a goatee, a tattoo on his left arm and a black leather vest. Yet his red trunks and fancy aqua-white boots not only are not color coordinated but contradict the tough image.
- My how the Windham boys have changed. From bleached blonde hair to their current looks.
- After the match, Hudson noted, "He's now two-for-two on WCW {Pro} upholding that Windham family tradition."
- Lee Marshall interviewed Chris Benoit.
- The entire purpose of the segment was to get over the idea that Stu Hart's dungeon is a great training center, and that Benoit was trained there.
- Now that Bret is employed by WCW, they can now push the Dungeon as an impressive feat. Marshall even noted that he had wanted to ask about Benoit's Hart association for a long while although did not imply that WCW bureaucracy prevented him from doing so.
- Benoit also mentions that he spent a year in the New Japan Dojo and it could not rival the intensity of Hart's dungeon. This is surprising given WCW's own Power Plant and the fact that they have a co-promotional agreement with New Japan and no official partnership with Hart.
- Benoit instructed Lee to "Shake the hand of the man, Lee."
- He claimed Hart, "personally tortured me."
- When asked what Stu incorporated into him, Benoit retorted, "Ask Kevin Sullivan. Ask Raven."
- The interview concluded with Benoit saying, "As I said, there's only a few of us (Hart trainees) around."
- Ultimo Dragon defeated Yuji Nagata (with Sonny Onoo) with the Dragon sleeper.
- Zbyszko objected to Hudson claiming this match was "to finish us off," alluding to the rumors of the show's cancellation.
- The announcers did an excellent job of establishing history in this match. They noted Dragon's past connection with Nagata's manager Onoo. They also mentioned that Dragon was disallowed entry into the New Japan Dojo and deemed to small and forced to train in Mexico while Nagata was given admittance to the dojo.
- The announcers did not mention the World War 3 bout between the two that caused legitimate friction between Dragon and WCW (11/23/97). Dragon was told that he was booked to win and ended up losing the encounter.
- Hudson admitted that Dragon is not as over in the States as he is abroad by calling him a "superstar in Mexico, a superstar in Japan and arguably a superstar in the United States."
- Dragon's headstand on the top turnbuckle was a totally blown spot as Nagata had to assist him in getting up and then back away from him. While this is certainly an inventive spot by Dragon, it is one of the most unrealistic in wrestling today.
- As friction between the announcers continued throughout the show, Zbyszko threatened, "Chris Cruise disappeared. Remember that." Claiming to retire Chris Cruise will get him over far more quickly than his claims of retiring Bruno Sammartino and Nick Bockwinkle.
- When Hudson referred to a "Fujiwara arm bar," Zbyszko claimed, "I did that before Fujiwara was around." It amazes me that Zbyszko continued to proudly display his age. In ECW, Tommy Rich has gotten over doing a gimmick where he is presented as being out of date by making such claims as having recently been down to Texas and having defeated the Von Erichs for the World Class six-man tag team championship. Ironically, The wins Zbyszko speaks of are more ancient.
- Trivia Answer: Windham and Rhodes were known as The Texas Broncos in 1988. They have each changed a great deal since the. Kendall has spent time in jail for counterfeiting. I am not sure if Dustin has not done a worse injustice to humanity as Golddust though.