World Championship Wrestling - Taking the World by Storm

[Janpei]

(OOC: For anyone who actually knows the real world events, I’m well aware that this narrative is a stretch. I was combing through some of my favorite TEW mods and the closest I could get to where I would have preferred this story to take off was Rising Storm’s 1991 kit.

 

If you’re not entirely sure what I’m talking about, I guess that’s good news for the narrative I’m going to attempt to set up and yet for some dumb ass reason, I’m still going to provide you the context.

 

Going to give a couple of shoutouts: firstly to a user by the name of jimbiz over on another forum. He's decided to play EWR for old time sake and made a topic chronicling his thought process in regards to his booking decisions. Was the main reason for getting back into Diary making. Then definitely have to say something to The Final Countdown. He is, in my opinion, one of the very best Diary/Dynasty writers I have ever come across on any fantasy booking forum. Again, another inspiration.

 

I'm also going to let it be known up front that there won't be much in the way of graphics or artwork, at least not initially. The forum that I've been sharing and posting my ideas on doesn't support images so I've not spent any time creating an image database and nothing I've typed has been formatted around including images. Right now, I feel that it will be an inevitable change but apologies for now!)

 

In 1991, Eric Bischoff made his official WCW debut as an on-screen commentator for WCW’s July Pay Per View, The Great American Bash

 

In 1993, after drawing unnecessary attention to himself with unsavory comments on racial and sexual orientation discrimination, Bill Watts was forced to resign from WCW where, prior to his release, had fulfilled the role of WCW’s executive producer.

 

While many insiders felt that the newly opened position would inevitably fall in the lap of Tony Schiavone or Jim Ross, it was relative newcomer, Eric Bischoff, who would have the seat at the table.

 

In 1994, Eric Bischoff was promoted from Executive Producer to Executive Vice President. As Executive Vice President, Bischoff became the boss of World Championship Wrestling.

 

In 1994, Bischoff did the unthinkable and signed Hulk Hogan. In 1995, he introduced WCW Monday Nitro to cable television, slotting it directly against WWF’s Monday Night Raw. In 1996, the wrestling world changed when Hulk Hogan became a bad guy for the first time since Hulkamania erupted in 1984. These highlighted events attributed to not only WCW turning a profit for the first time since its inception, but also gave the World Wrestling Federation legitimate competition with Nitro even winning the ratings war for 83 consecutive weeks.

 

But…’What if?’...

 

If you listen to any number of ‘shoot’ interviews or behind the curtain podcasts, you’ll learn that the attitude of Bill Watts did him no favors among the executives of Turner Broadcasting System. Stories range from mild tales of his personality rubbing people the wrong way to wild tales of him urinating out of his corporate office window. By all accounts, termination was a not a matter of if, but when. So even if Jim Herd wasn’t favorably viewed by TBS executives your other options were Ole Anderson, who had negative relationships with several key names, including Ric Flair, and Bill Watts who, as previously stated, would not fit the corporate mandate.

 

When the American Wrestling Association could no longer afford payroll, Eric Bischoff auditioned for an announcing role at the WWF but was not hired. Leaving AWA with no monetary compensation and his audition receiving no follow up from WWF. These two separate events become the driving force for Eric Bischoff. He’s had a taste of the business. He wants more.

 

Just getting an in is no longer satisfactory. He’s had first hand accounts of Verne Gagne’s money dealings in the AWA. He postulates on where Gagne failed and theorizes on decisions Gagne could have made to prevent his company’s decline (such as really getting behind Hulk Hogan when he started to take off)

 

So…Bischoff meets with WCW Vice President Bob Dhue. What was expected to be an interview for a broadcast position turns out to be a power play by Eric Bischoff.

 

”It’s no secret that you want Jim Herd gone but let’s be honest...Watts...he’d be a crass representation of your company”

 

That sentence, it was enough to catch Bob Dhue’s attention. It was enough for a former announcer to become head of operations of the second most recognizable wrestling promotion in the world.

 

At that moment in time, Bischoff wasn’t too sure where his attempt had gotten him. Bob Dhue gave him a nod, a thanks for your input, and a you’ve given me a lot to think about. Basically, the usual pleasantries when they plan on turning you down.

 

Unbeknownst to Bischoff, however, Bob Dhue immediately went to TBS executive Bill Shaw in regards to the encounter. Bischoff was everything Watts, Ole or anyone else in the wrestling business wasn’t. Was everything TBS was looking for. Young, intelligent, well-spoken, ambitious, could obviously play the politics game, clean cut, and given his limited experience in the wrestling industry, could provide a fresh set of younger, new eyes for the product and reasoned that for WCW to stand a chance to turn a profit, they would need to put some distance between them and the “old guard” since, as evidenced, the “old way” of doing things wasn’t working.

 

In December 1990, Jim Herd was asked to resign. WCW ushered in the new year with a new regime.

 

His first move: changing things up creatively. Bischoff not only wanted to sit in and contribute on the development of the programs, but as Shaw and Dhue had postulated, he wanted to add younger, more diverse brains to the writing table. His goal was to make it a television show that happened to be about wrestling and not necessarily a wrestling promotion that happened to have a television show.

 

The statement caused a lot of confusion. No one was really sure just what he meant by that. Bischoff, who already knew well ahead of time that he’d have his work cut out for him, introduced writers, not wrestling personalities, but Hollywood writers to the team.

 

And that’s where I come in. Who am I? Name isn’t important. I was a kid trying to chase a dream in California and only found myself fruitlessly shopping scripts off to studios for all my dream chasing. Bischoff didn’t see me as some hopeless romantic with Hollywood aspirations. He saw I had assistant writing credits for a couple of okay TV shows. He knew I had some pro-wrestling knowledge (and by some I mean I could tell you what color Hulk Hogan preferred wearing). Most importantly, though, he recognized that I had that same hunger and drive he had. No matter how many times my scripts were shot down, I kept writing, and kept improving, and kept sending them out.

 

”You’re exactly what we’re looking for.”

 

And there I was. Between being called ‘pumpkinhead’ by Dusty Rhodes to scowls from “the boys” for being an outsider to all night back and forth arguments over who we should put the title on, I, too, had a taste of pro-wrestling and I wanted more.

 

This is the story of the new direction World Championship Wrestling would take starting in January 1991.

 

Eric Bischoff’s first mandate at our creative meeting…

 

”We’re dropping our association with NWA. It makes us come off as ‘old timey’”.

 

The face Dusty made...it was one of confusion, anger, and a recognition that change might not necessarily always be a good thing. First official day in the creative room and Bischoff’s opening sentence alone caused for a four hour back and forth argument amongst everyone in the room.

 

This is going to be interesting…

[Janpei]

Starting Roster

 

 

(heels marked in italics)

 

Main Event

 

Arn Anderson

Barry Windham

Butch Reed

Junkyard Dog

Larry Zbyszko

Lex Luger

Michael Hayes

Ric Flair

Rick Steiner

Sid Vicious

Stan Hansen

Sting

 

Upper Midcard

 

Big Van Vader

Bobby Eaton

Brian Pillman

Dan Spivey

Jimmy Garvin

Kevin Sullivan

Ricky Morton

Ron Simmons

Scott Steiner

Terry Taylor

Tommy Rich

Tracy Smothers

 

Midcard

 

[i[big Cat[/i]

Brad Armstrong

Buddy Landel

Dustin Rhodes

Dutch Mantell

El Cubano

El Gigante

Master Blaster Blade

Michael Wallstreet

Moondog Rex

Norman the Lunatic

Owen Hart

Pez Whatley

Ranger Ross

Rip Rogers

Tim Horner

Z-Man

 

Lower Midcard

 

Chris Youngblood

Jack Victory

Lethal Larry

Lt. James Earl Wright

Mark Youngblood

Pat Rose

Rip Morgan

Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker

Steve Armstrong

 

Opener

 

George South

Jim Clontz

Master Blaster Steel

Motor City Madman

Scott Armstrong

The Minotaur

 

Enhancement

 

Killer Kyle

The Italian Stallion

 

Tag Teams

 

Doom (Ron Simmons & Butch Reed)

Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich

Sting & Lex Luger

The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin)

The Lightning Express (Brad Armstrong & Tim Horner)

The Renegade Warriors (Mark Youngblood & Chris Youngblood)

The Royal Family (Jack Victory & Rip Morgan)

The State Patrol (Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker & Lt. James Earl Wright)

The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner)

The Young Pistols (Steve Armstrong & Tracy Smothers)

 

Managers

 

Diamond Dallas Page

(Wrestler(s) managed: Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes)

 

Paul E. Dangerously

(Wrestler(s) managed: Motor City Madman & Big Cat)

 

Teddy Long

(Wrestler(s) managed: Ron Simmons, Butch Reed, Lethal Larry)

 

Other On-Screen Personalities

 

Missy Hyatt

 

Announcers

 

Gordon Solie

Jim Ross

Lance Russell

Tony Schiavone

 

Color Commentary

 

Magnum T.A.

 

Road Agents

 

David Crockett

Dick the Bruiser

Jody Hamilton

Mike Graham

 

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[Janpei]

Creative Breakdown

 

Franchise Players

1. Ric Flair

2. Sting

3. Stan Hansen

4. Arn Anderson

5. Lex Luger

 

Next Big Things

 

1. Scott Steiner

2. Brian Pillman

3. Owen Hart

 

Hot Prospects

 

1. Dustin Rhodes

2. Owen Hart

3. Brad Armstrong

4. Chris Youngblood

5. Buddy Landel

 

Talk the Talk

 

1. Ric Flair

2. Dusty Rhodes

3. Sting

4. Paul E. Dangerously

5. Michael Hayes

 

Showstoppers

 

1. Sting

2. Ric Flair

3. Brian Pillman

4. Bobby Eaton

5. Stan Hansen

 

Ring Generals

 

1. Ric Flair

2. Arn Anderson

3. Sting

4. Bobby Eaton

5. Ricky Morton

 

Who’s Hot

 

1. Michael Wallstreet

2. Ric Flair

3. Lex Luger

4. Sting

5. Big Cat

 

Time Decline

 

1. Moondog Rex

2. Dan Spivey

3. Dutch Mantell

4. Junkyard Dog

 

---

[Janpei]

”If we’re going to establish an identity for ourselves, we have to break away from the NWA.”

 

With that sentence from Eric Bischoff, our relationship with the National Wrestling Alliance was no more.

 

The gravity of the decision was lost on me, but as I continued my venture into my new career field, I recognized that for some of the locker room vets, the decision symbolized a real changing of the guard. I can only theorize that maybe Eric Bischoff believe that in order to become more mainstream, WCW had to disassociate from tradition. After all, our competitors up north did and look where it’s gotten them. Again, only speculation, but if the locker room vets viewed this decision the same way Eric Bischoff did, I think it was then that some of them genuinely, truly regretted the choice of making pro-wrestling more approachable.

 

Regardless of any of my theories, I can almost guarantee this was the kind of thing TBS had in mind when they brought in Eric Bischoff.

 

I wasn’t really sure what breaking away from the NWA meant until I remember phones ringing at the corporate office at all hours of the day. Office gossip started to spread. NWA affiliates no longer interested in working with us. Bischoff becoming blacklisted name within the Pacific Northwest Wrestling and Professional Wrestling Federation companies. Then went our Championships, which were loaned to us by the NWA to use on our television programs. If any of this bothered Eric, he hid it well.

 

”Starting with our January tapings, we’re on a clean slate. I have some ideas I’d like to bounce off of you all for those shows, but more importantly, and I know this is probably frowned upon...but let’s talk about the WWF. For the fourth year in a row, they’re doing a Royal Rumble and I’ll be honest, it’s kicking our ass. It’s innovative. It gives them brand recognition. It gives their audience something to look forward to every year. I want that. WCW needs that. What are your thoughts?”

 

And here we were, another multi hour conversation. Bischoff acquired a three hours off PPV airtime mid February and wanted to use that show to not only establish a new era of WCW but to introduce a unique match concept.

 

At first, we settled on a War Games match which is a match where two teams of five fight with in two rings that are enclosed by a cage. Dusty posited that if we’re looking for an annual event that War Games would lose its appeal.

 

”The War Games has always been a hot sella, but when you it every year it loses its meaning. Besides, in what sichuachion (trying a Dusty Rhodes vernacular...lol) could you find the need to have 10 or 8 eight guys break into two teams and even necessitate such a match. We save that for when it makes sense, daddy.”

 

Bischoff agreed but also chimed in that the War Games concept was very NWA in nature and that some might take offense if we introduce it so soon after severing that relationship.

 

A couple of members on our creative team thought of just borrowing the concept of the Royal Rumble and maybe adding pins and submissions, and while Eric played around with the idea for a while, he came to the conclusion that taking that concept and only adding small tweaks really would make them come off as number two.

 

So this conversation continued, all of us pitching our ideas. After going over tapes of 1990’s Royal Rumble, I did offer that the concept of having timed intervals a good idea and that since War Games had those, anyway, it wouldn’t look like we were borrowing WWF’s idea. From there we almost all unanimously decided that there shouldn’t be any eliminations, either.

 

Finally, we had our conclusion.

 

”This could really work. This could be a game changer. And with our newly introduced WCW World Heavyweight Championship...we could make that the grand prize.”

 

Listening to all the ideas, I wasn’t sure how things were going to play out, but the match sounded chaotic but that it could be a lot of fun for the audience.

 

With that out of the way, it was time to talk television tapings.

 

---

[Janpei]

Pre Taping Notes & Events

 

We have officially decided that our February PPV will fall under the WrestleWar moniker. While we don’t have a show fully mapped out, we do know that we plan to introduce a new unique match to the show and also crown the first WCW Heavyweight Champion.

 

While Eric Bischoff’s decision to move away from the NWA led to tension with a few promotions in our region, he forged a new partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling.

 

”They’re working a style there that I don’t think anyone in the United States has really paid close attention to. Plus, it can provide us some much needed exposure in the Japanese market.”

 

Bischoff put his thoughts on the back burner but did indicate he would be very interested in doing a joint show sometime in the future.

 

We’re pulling Harley Race away from managing Big Van Vader. Everyone agreed that we could get a lot of mileage out of a standalone Big Van Vader who just bullies anyone in his way. Eric is also really keen on making Harley Race an agent.

 

Speaking on our NJPW relationship, Keiji Mutoh turned heel during one of New Japan’s recent tour stops. While, I wasn’t too keen on the significance of the situation, I was clued in that a heel Mutoh could work all sorts of programs with our big star Sting.

 

Bobby Heenan was arrested at an airport for possession of a large amount of marijuana and stimulants. While I don’t know the specifics, I do know that this isn’t the kind of news a major company like WWF would want to be associated with.

 

In the most hated man in America category, Sgt. Slaughter turned his back on the American people by declaring his allegiance to the Iraqi regime. While many view the act as a cheap promotional tactic, the storyline is giving WWF a lot of buzz, be it good or bad.

 

---

[Janpei]

WCW Power Hour

Taped Wednesday Week 1, January 1991 (airs Saturday Week 1, January 1991)

 

Jim Ross & Paul E Dangerously open the show by discussing the events that had taken place over the last few days. Ross confirmed that WCW would no longer be working under the NWA banner and that WCW had a new owner. Heyman and Ross could only speculate on who might be in charge. ©

 

The Young Pistols defeated The Royal Family in a show opening tag match. (D+)

 

Vader demolished local wrestler Bob Starr for a quick victory. (D+)

 

Vader pummeled on Bob Starr before tossing him out of the ring. The referee tried to rein in Vader, but the big man chased him off.

 

”This is Vader’s house!” (B+)

 

We cut to a pre-recorded segment where The Four Horsemen ignore questions about WCW’s new ownership and focused right on Sting.

 

”Know this! The Nature Boy doesn’t care who’s in charge, because The Horsemen run things around here. Sting, the big man had your number last month! If you’re a tough as you think you are...Sting. Sid Vicious. One more time. Saturday night! Woo!” (B+)

 

Sting defeated local wrestler Ned Brady (C+)

 

Jim Ross and Paul E. Dangerously shifted the focus toward Missy Hyatt who revealed some information regarding new ownership.

 

”Guys, I have it on good authority that the new boss will be here Saturday night!” (C+)

 

WCW Power Hour Rating: B-

 

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WCW Saturday Night Taping Results

Taped Wednesday Week 1, January 1991 (airs Saturday Week 1, January 1991)

 

The show opened with Missy Hyatt who followed up with her information from Power Hour. The new boss was here and would introduce himself in mere seconds.

 

Dusty Rhodes stepped onto camera, standing to Missy’s left confirming that he’s the new chief of WCW

 

Dusty killed it with this interview, bringing a ton of energy and setting the tone for the new direction of WCW.

 

”Missy, can you feel it!? A new era in WCW! Saturday nights will be changed forever. This is not the show to miss!”

 

Rhodes went right to business and began to hit on the focal points that we jotted down in creative. He addressed the World Championship situation but said he’ll have more on that next week tonights focus: crowning a Television Champion.

 

”How can we put on a TV show for these people when we don’t have a champion for these people? Now when we were known as just another cog in the NWA machine, Tom Zenk was recognized as the NWA Television Champion. I’m not going to take that away from him, he was one heck of a champ! But I’m not gonna walk around and just hand out Championships, daddy! Tonight, we’ll have a four man tournament. One night only! The winner will face Tom Zenk at a later show to determine the first ever WCW Television Champion! Now I could sit here and flap these gums, Missy, or we could get to some action on WCW Saturday Night!

 

Again, Dusty was all over it with his delivery. I think I speak for everyone when I say we made a great decision on making him an on-screen personality. (B+)

 

In the first match of the night, Brian Pillman was able to best a game Big Cat after scoring the pinfall following an Air Pillman to advance to the WCW Television Championship finals. (C-)

 

Following the match, Tony Schiavone approached Brian Pillman wanting comments on the finals. Pillman, who we weren’t really sure was incredibly comfortable on the mic, did a serviceable job.

 

”I’m not entirely sure who’s in this thing, I guess I’m about to find out. I wish them luck. They’re going to need it. I’m winning it all!” ©

 

In the other Television Championship semi-final match up, Bobby Eaton dispatched Dustin Rhodes with an Alabama Jam. ©

 

Once again, Schiavone approached Bobby Eaton for a few words. We knew Bobby wouldn’t be as comfortable on the microphone so we let Schiavone do a bit more of the talking, I’m honestly not sure if it helped much.

 

”Listen, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care. Brian Pillman this, that, or the other. Flyin’ will be cryin! Hahaha!”

 

I think, we’re going to be a bit more lax on Bobby Eaton using the microphone. He’s an extremely talented in-ring worker. We should probably just put more emphasis on that. (C-)

 

The camera cut to an interview segment where Missy Hyatt welcomed out Sting. We didn’t want to spend too much time with this particular bit, we just had a couple of goals to achieve: 1) Sting and Missy Hyatt are some of our best looking talents as far as camera presence go. 2) We needed to continue the Sting/Four Horsemen program that was hinted at on Power Hour when Ric Flair dared Sting to challenge Sid Vicious again.

 

While not necessarily the kind of mic work that Dusty delivered, Sting kept it short and to the point. I think part of the issue here is we kept it equal parts Missy and Sting when we should have let Sting have a larger part in the segment.

 

”Flair, Vicious! I accept!” (C+)

 

The Steiner Brothers made short work of local opponents Mean Mike and Ned Brady (C-)

 

Much like Power Hour, Big Van Vader continued to pick up momentum after dominating The Italian Stallion, finishing the match with a Belly to Belly Suplex. (C-)

 

In a follow up to Power Hour, Big Van Vader once again picked up heat by beating on The Italian Stallion after the match. The referee tried to contain Vader, but you try telling a monster of that size what to do.

 

”I’m the biggest, the baddest, and ain’t no body here gonna tell me what to do!” (A)

 

In what was undoubtedly one of the best matches of the night, Sting fell into a trap set up by The Four Horsemen

 

The match between Sting and Sid Vicious started off very competitive, with the crowd really buying into Sting’s offense but also giving Sid Vicious heat whenever he’d regain control of the match.

 

From the back, we noticed Sid Vicious began moving a little bit more cautiously and Sting picked up on it and worked at a slower, less in your face pace, but it didn’t detract from the match as the crowd still went wild for the action.

 

Eventually, the Horsemen’s ploy became obvious as Ric Flair, Barry Windham, and Arn Anderson all appeared at ringside, encircling Sting who watched cautiously from the ring. In mere seconds, all three men moved into the ring, and the match ended in Disqualification. (B)

 

The segment that came after the match was supposed to feature all four men beating on Sting but Sid Vicious stood in one of the corner of the ring, wincing and grimacing, as the other three Horsemen continued their assault on Sting.

 

Eventually, ally Lex Luger hit the ring and Sid, not wanting to take any unnecessary damage, immediately slid out of the ring which really hurt what we were going for in this segment.

 

Still, though, Luger looked great as he assisted Sting in mounting a comeback and causing the other three Horsemen to retreat. (B+)

 

In the main event of the show, Bobby Eaton displayed quick reaction time to avoid an Air Pillman. It was only seconds later before Eaton would jump from the top turnbuckle and pick up the victory over fan favorite, Brian Pillman, with an Alabama Jam. ©

 

Probably wasn’t the best idea to close such an exciting show with another backstage interview, but we wanted to establish what things were to come in WCW and why people should want to stick around for next week’s show.

 

So to come full circle, we went back to Missy Hyatt and Dusty Rhodes and had our show openers, close the broadcast.

 

Neither Dusty or Missy did a bad job here, in fact, I think they both did really well. It’s just that the energy wasn’t at the same level as it was at the beginning of the program. Then again, this was more of an advertisement for next week’s program than it was anything else.

 

”Missy, I’ll tell you why ya should want to keep tunin in every Saturday! Because next week, I’ll be talkin about that big gold belt, the WCW World Championship and after tonight, I’mma go ahead and make it official: Lex Luger and Sting will partner up to take on any two Horsemen. The only place to see that is on TBS Saturday night!” (B-)

 

WCW Saturday Night Grade: B-

 

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WCW Main Event Taping Results

Taped Thursday Week 1, January 1991 (airs Sunday Week 2, January 1991)

 

Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross open the show by recapping the events that took place on WCW Saturday Night. A video package airs highlighting Dusty Rhodes as the new man in charge. ©

 

The Calgary Kid (Owen Hart’s new name in WCW) defeated Motor City Madman (D)

 

Alexandra York made her return to the new era of WCW. The York Foundation have been completely dropped from our plans, so we used this opportunity as a fresh reboot.

 

”It’s not about computer software, and random numbers and percentages. It’s about being a winner. Being dominant. The NEW Alexandra York Foundation introduces to you its first winner!”

 

Former Master Blaster Steel came out sans face paint and yet still looked as intimidating as ever. Alexandra York introduced him as Kevin Steel (for those who aren’t sure who this is: http://www.profightdb.com/img/wrestlers/thumbs-600/f5fc085c2bkevin-nash.jpg) ©

 

Kevin Steel dominated local worker Bob Starr before earning a pinfall victory. (D-)

 

Big Cat bounced back from his Saturday night loss by defeating Keith Hart (D-)

 

A recap of WCW Saturday Night aired showing the confrontation between Lex Luger & Sting against The Four Horsemen. Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross speculate on which two members of The Horsemen will take on Sting and Lex Luger on Saturday. (B+)

 

Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich defeated The State Patrol in tag team action to cap off WCW Main Event. (D+)

 

WCW Main Event Grade: C

 

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WCW Post Show Notes

 

Eric Bischoff was very pleased with how WCW Saturday Night turned out. Overall the show was viewed as being great and while we’re sure the TV rating and gate will be strong, we won’t have a final report until later in the week.

 

It turns out Sid Vicious tore his bicep in his match with Sting. Vicious has opted to work through it, but Bischoff wants to minimize his in-ring role so he can get healthy when we need him.

 

Expanding upon the injury Dick the Bruiser informed us that Sting caught some heat with some of the boys for Sid’s injury. Being an outsider and a member of the writing staff, I wasn’t privy to the locker room side of things. What I did know was that the incident was viewed as Sting’s fault and he has taken that accountability, apologizing and checking on Sid numerous times after the taping.

 

Road agent Jody Hamilton indicated that Tommy Rich’s lackluster performance on Main Event was due to him being under the influence of an assortment of narcotics. In light of the Bobby Heenan scandal in the WWF, Bischoff immediately fined him though no one was really sure if Tommy Rich got the message

 

Dick the Bruiser also offered his thoughts on Rip Morgan who he doesn’t think gets the business. He suggested that letting go of him won’t be a bad idea, but for the moment Bischoff is keen on keeping him around to put other talent over.

 

Brian Pillman also commented on The Italian Stallion’s selling and suggested on putting a halt on any major plans with him until he gets better. I personally didn’t see it, but then again, how much selling do you need to do when you have someone the size of Vader slamming you? Bischoff took the opinion under consideration, but again, The Italian Stallion is an enhancement worker so Pillman’s suggestion wasn’t too much of a concern.

 

In international news Stan Hansen retained the AJPW Triple Crown Championship in what I was told was a great match against Akira Taue What I find interesting about this piece of information is we’re in a working agreement with NJPW, AJPW’s rival. Hansen is a name we plan on using in our future shows (well, depending on his tour schedule with AJPW). Will this current situation put any kind of strain on our relationship with New Japan or even our All Japan contracted workers?

[Janpei]

WCW Power Hour

Taped Wednesday Week 2, January 1991 (airs Saturday Week 1, January 1991)

 

The show opened with an intense tag team that featured Arn Anderson & Barry Windham taking on Tommy Rich and Ricky Morton. It appeared that Tommy Rich might have gotten the message after all, as he really held up his end of the bargain. We used this match as more of a tool to push forward our plans with the Horsemen and Sting and Lex Luger while also continuing to serve punishment to Rich.

 

Despite Tommy Rich bringing his working boots, we made sure he’d be the one to take the pinfall after receiving a Spinebuster from Arn (B)

 

After the match, Horsemen Ric Flair made it clear: the two men taking on Sting and Luger on Saturday would be none other than Arn and Windham. Flair absolutely brought on the intensity.

 

”Luger! You want to stick your nose in our business? Fine with me! Barry and Arn will show you what happens when you cross the Horsemen! Sting! Your days are numbered!” (A)

 

Big Van Vader once again made short work of local talent Duke Droese with a big body splash. (C-)

 

Following the match, Big Van Vader once again doled out another beating before tossing Droese from the ring. Vader stood in the center of the ring, perfectly portraying a tough bully.

 

”Is this the best you got!?” (A)

 

Backstage Alexandra York introduced her new charge, Kevin Steel, to Tony Schiavone. Steel shared no words only giving a menacing look at Schiavone and then toward the camera. York ended the segment with a final note.

 

”This is only the beginning of the York Foundation expansion.” (C+)

 

Sting & Lex Luger showed what a force they could be in tandem, as well, when they defeated local twins Ron & Don Harris. (C+)

 

To end the show, a celebrating Lex Luger and Sting were confronted by Arn Anderson and Barry Windham. The two teams got in one another’s faces, but the tension never did escalate. It was a selling point and that was further emphasized with Jim Ross’s finishing touch.

 

”There’s only one way you can see this tag match, ladies and gentlemen, and that’s only on WCW Saturday Night!” (B)

 

WCW Power Hour Grade: B

 

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WCW Saturday Night

Taped Wednesday Week 2, January 1991 (airs Saturday Week 2, January 1991)

 

The show opened with Jim Ross welcoming WCW boss Dusty Rhodes for a spotlight segment.

 

While Dusty Rhodes sounded as great as ever, Jim Ross was noticeably off his game. Tripping over his words a few time. When it was Dusty’s turn to take over the conversational piece, though, he was able to get things on the right track.

 

He started by hyping up tonight’s big match up. A tag team encounter between friends, Sting and Lex Luger and Horsemen Arn Anderson and Barry Windham.

 

There was a momentary, awkward pause before Jim Ross realized it was his turn to follow up, inquiring information about the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. It was then that Dusty Rhodes introduced our concept to the audience.

 

”Ya see, daddy. I’m calling it World Championship Warfare. Six men will put it all on the line in one of the most grueling matches in professional wrestling. There will be a steel cell around the ring. Two men will start off. Every five minutes, a new man enters the match. Once all six men are in, the cell door will lock, and they must fight to a finish. Whoever scores the first pinfall or submission after all six men have entered the ring will be declared the winner and WCW World Champion!

 

Again, we all thought Dusty Rhodes did a great job, but the segment could have been a lot better had Jim Ross held up his end of the bargain. (B-)

 

Former NWA World Tag Team Champions Doom were able to defeat The Lightning Express on Saturday Night’s opening match after Ron Simmons floored Brad Armstrong with a diving shoulder block. (C+)

 

Tony Schiavone approached the victorious team, Doom, for some post match words, but Teddy Long set the tone with a pretty decently delivered promo.

 

”The boss man is making championship moves and that’s good on him but I’m here with the rightful World Tag Team Champions and not a word has been said! Doom is the best tag team in WCW and the world, and somebody in the back better recognize that.” ©

 

Buddy Landel scored a victory over Terry Taylor in a fairly entertaining match (C+)

 

Big Van Vader once again made short work of another local talent. This time Dino Casanova (C-)

 

Big Van Vader looked to continue his beating of Dino Casanova after the match, but Junkyard Dog came out from the back immediately getting in Big Van Vader’s face. Both men did a great job of teasing the crowd, making them believe they were about to come to blows but Big Van Vader caught big time heat by backing down and exiting the ring.

 

Jim Ross was back on his game during this segment, by punctuating it with a well delivered line.

 

”Vader may be big, mean, and nasty but I don't care how tough you are. No one wants a bite from a junkyard dog!” (B)

 

Missy Hyatt hosted an interview segment with Sting and Lex Luger. The popular duo caught some big time fanfare from the audience and both did a tremendous job in playing to the crowd and hyping tonight’s main attraction. Sting ended an already fantastic interview on a really high note.

 

”Flair! You asked for us? You got us! I didn’t start this thing but I will make sure I end it!” (A)

 

Larry Zbyszko defeated Ranger Ross after dispatching him with a piledriver. (C+)

 

The Fabulous Freebirds found an easy win over locals Marcus Bagwell and Mike Bucci (D+)

 

A video package highlighting the four man WCW Television Championship contender tournament aired. Jim Ross reminded everyone that tournament winner Bobby Eaton would meet Tom Zenk at a later date on WCW Saturday Night. ©

 

Barry Windham and Arn Anderson took the victory over Sting and Lex Luger after Ric Flair got involved and caused a distraction.

 

The match, itself, was a highlight of the show with all four men looking pretty good throughout. Whatever heat Sting may have had for what happened to Sid Vicious last week didn’t seem to show as Arn Anderson had no issues bumping and selling for his offense.

 

Jim Ross was once again superb on commentary and it’s a real shame that we didn’t get this version of Ross in the opening segment because he really gave this match a big fight feel.

 

We had gone back and forth during our meeting on where we wanted to go with this particular match, but ultimately reasoned that having Ric Flair interfere would organically get us to where we wanted to go, which would be Sting and Ric Flair for next week.

 

All in all, judging from the crowd response, this match definitely lived up to the hype. (B)

 

When the calamity calmed down in the ring, the attention was shifted to the back for another closing interview segment between Missy Hyatt and Dusty Rhodes. I think in the future, we’re going to have Dusty Rhodes handle more of the talking pieces because much like the opening, Missy Hyatt fumbled with her words before shifting her focus toward Dusty Rhodes.

 

Dusty did as well as ever. Responding to the events that just took place in the ring by announcing a blockbuster of a match for next Saturday night.

 

”This thing between Ric Flair and Sting can end only one way! And that’s by putting them in there one on one next week. Oh and I’m not done yet, Missy. The winner becomes the first official entrant in World Championship Warfare!"

 

Again, the segment should have had a bigger feeling than what it did and maybe it was because we gave Missy Hyatt too much to say. With as well as Dusty comes across on the mic, it just makes it that much more noticeable when you have someone not at his level share microphone time with him. (C+)

 

WCW Saturday Night Grade: B

 

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WCW Main Event

Taped Thursday Week 2, January 1991 (airs Sunday Week 3, January 1991)

 

The show opens with Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone discussing Dusty Rhodes big reveal from Saturday: the World Championship Warfare for the WCW World Championship. They speculated what six men would be involved but knew at least one of them would be either Ric Flair or Sting (C-)

 

The Young Pistols defeated local twins The Harris Brothers in tag team action. (D+)

Alexandra York and Kevin Steel joined Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone for a brief interview. Jim Ross asked York if she could elaborate on what she meant by ‘expansion’ York replied that tonight all they need to focus on is her client Kevin Steel making short work of The Calgary Kid. ©

 

Kevin Sullivan defeated local talent Tom Davis (C-)

 

Kevin Steel defeated The Calgary Kid in the final match of the night (C-)

 

To cap off Main Event, a video package played featuring the Sting and Ric Flair saga. While the video package ran, Jim Ross laid in place the advertisement piece for next week.

 

”Will things finally come to an end between Sting and Ric Flair? There’s only one way to find out, folks, and that’s by tuning in to TBS on Saturday night!” (A)

 

WCW Main Event Grade: C+

 

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WCW Post Taping Notes & Thoughts

 

WCW Saturday Night was another success. The UTC Arena was a sellout with 10,928 in attendance. We don’t have the TV numbers yet but Bischoff was extremely pleased with the end result.

 

There’s a lot of buzz on what the World Championship Warfare is and how the match will play out. This is exactly what Eric Bischoff was looking for when he first discussed having something to contest with the WWF’s Royal Rumble. In a month where Sgt. Slaughter turned his back on America and WWF gearing for its 30 man melee, it was nice that we were getting some of the attention.

 

Vader has been working a relatively rough schedule between working tour dates with New Japan, Continental Wrestling, and our Wednesday night tapings. He requested that we take it easy on him so what we planned for a feature match on a future Saturday Night taping with Junkyard Dog will tentatively take place at WrestleWar instead.

 

Mike Graham caught some heat with the locker room. He apparently had been rubbing a few guys the wrong way to the point to where it was brought to Bischoff’s attention. Bischoff pulled him aside to talk to him and things seemed to have smoothed over after that.

 

Sting voiced his displeasure with working Don Harris indicating that he was extremely careless in the ring and could have seriously hurt someone. Seeing that both Don and Ron were just enhancement guys for our South East tapings, we most likely won’t be utilizing them again anytime soon.

 

Jimmy Garvin was intoxicated in his Saturday Night appearance when he teamed with Michael Hayes to take on Mike Bucci and Marcus Bagwell. Bischoff was not at all happy with the situation but opted to not levy a fine, only asking that it not happen again. Rumor is Garvin did not respond to it well.

 

My personal suspicions on Tommy Rich were incorrect as Morton, Anderson, and Windham all came to the back to indicate that Rich was high out of his mind again. Bischoff levied a heavier fine on Rich and mentioned that were it to happen again, he wouldn’t be too keen on doing future business with him.

 

On a positive note, Bobby Eaton and Mark Youngblood were seen developing a rapport at the most recent Main Event taping when it was discovered that both men had a heavy interest in the niche sport, rugby.

 

Stan Hansen also stopped by the Main Event taping with cases of beer for the boys the locker room environment was described as being very positive. Luckily Jimmy Garvin wasn’t needed for this show.

 

The most recent episode of WWF’s Superstars had a staggering 18,970 in attendance. The show was headlined by a tag team bout with Jake Roberts and Jim Duggan beating Mr. Perfect and Ted DiBiase in a match that has been considered can’t miss television.

 

Big Van Vader returned to Japan for another NJPW tour spot. He and Keiji Mutoh teamed up to defeat Riki Choshu and Tatsumi Fujinami. Insiders are calling it a very early contender for one of the best matches of the year.

[Janpei]

WCW Power Hour

Taped Wednesday Week 3, January 1991 (airs Friday Week 3, January 1991)

 

The show opened with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Barry Windham at ringside with Jim Ross and Paul E. Dangerously. Jim Ross did a fantastic job of emphasizing that WCW Saturday Night would be the place to be as Sting and Ric Flair would hopefully put the finishing touches on what has been an epic saga.

 

Ric Flair proved that he was one of the best talkers in the business, bringing an intensity to the microphone when discussing their Saturday Night encounter.

 

”Sting! You put Sid on the shelf, I’ll give you that. We wish the big man a speedy recovery, but what you did to him will only pale in comparison to what I’m going to do to you Saturday night! Woo!” (B+)

 

Rick and Scott Steiner defeated local brothers Shaun and Steve Simpson in the opening match of the night. ©

 

Missy Hyatt joined The Steiner Brothers at ringside for some post match comments. Scott who did most of the talking, made a couple of comments about the win but ultimately focused on what Teddy Long said last week.

 

”Newsflash: they aren’t the only ones who were stripped of their Tag Team Championships but unlike Long, we’re not over here complaining about it!” ©

 

Alexandra York was in the ring with her charge Kevin Steel. She played up the big man’s most recent winning ways, but indicated that tonight, she was going to introduce her newest client to the world. Out came the newest member to WCW’s roster, a man who Alexandra York introduced as ”The Future Legend” Steve Austin ©

 

In his debut match Steve Austin defeated Keith Hart (C-)

 

The show went to the back where Tony Schiavone was with Junkyard Dog for some pre match comments. Junkyard Dog expressed his dislike of bullies and took note of how Big Van Vader back down when someone got in his face. (C+)

 

Junkyard Dog defeated Dutch Mantell in the final match of the night ©

 

WCW Power Hour Grade: C+

 

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WCW Saturday Night

Taped Wednesday Week 3, January 1991 (airs Saturday Week 3, January 1991)

 

WCW Saturday Night opened with Dusty Rhodes at ringside with Jim Ross.

 

As I indicated before, we scaled back on Jim Ross talking, merely serving to introduce Dusty Rhodes so he could establish the angle for tonight’s main event. Once again, Dusty delivered in spades informing Jim Ross that while he knows Sid Vicious is hurt, he’s warning Ric Flair now that if Arn Anderson or Barry Windham get involved in tonight’s feature match Ric Flair will lose any potential stake at being in World Championship Warfare at WrestleWar. (A)

 

Ron Simmons and Butch Reed started the show off in a dull opener by defeating local talents Barry O and Brian Walsh. (D)

 

Tony Schiavone approached Doom for some words on what Steiners said last night. We wanted to let Ron Simmons take control of the segment this time, to put over Doom as being mean and aggressive and not necessarily needing Teddy Long to get their point across. It didn’t go as well as any of us had hoped. Simmons had trouble tripping over his words and staying on point, but did at least plant the seeds for a program with the Steiners

 

”You got Rick over there barking like some kinda dog. Scott thinks he’s some kinda pretty boy. This ain’t the runway and we ain’t models. Steiners say something about us again and that pretty boy Rick...I mean Scott...won’t be walking on no runway.” (D+)

 

In a match completely void of any chemistry, Dustin Rhodes rebounded from his Television Tournament loss by defeating El Cubano (D)

 

Proving that they weren’t quite ready for Saturday Night segment time yet, Alexandra York’s clients Steve Austin and Kevin Steel defeated local talent Steve and Shaun Simpson. Austin looked a little confused and frustrated during the match, but a sideslam from muscle Kevin Steel put the finishing touches on a subpar match. (D-)

 

After the match Alexandra York approached Tony Schiavone to inform him that her charges would be at WrestleWar and would be more than willing to take on any two men in the WCW who think they have the means to stop her Foundation. (C-)

 

Bobby Eaton earned a win over Pez Whatley (D+)

 

After the match, Bobby Eaton motioned to his waist, indicating that the WCW Television Championship would be his. Jim Ross played up the eventual encounter, indicating that the match hasn’t happened yet due to Tom Zenk’s commitments in Japan. (C-)

 

Lex Luger defeated local worker Mike Davis (C-)

 

The camera cut to the locker room where a frantic Missy Hyatt indicated that there was seemed to be some kind of conflict happening right near her. She motioned for the camera to follow her where it was then revealed that the Steiners and Doomsday were in each other’s faces. There was a lot of indecipherable yelling, most of it coming from Scott Steinerand before a fight could break out, plain clothes security guards got in between the two. The segment could have probably been better if Scott wasn’t yelling like a lunatic but our tag team program was at least off to a start in the right direction (D+)

 

Ric Flair defeated Sting to advance into WrestleWar’s World Championship Warfare.

 

During our meeting for putting together this show, we agreed that we didn’t want to give away what was considered a Pay Per View headlining match away for free on TV and we also wanted to set up a way for both Ric Flair and Sting to get in the World Championship Warfare match.

 

So we had Flair plant the seed that Sid Vicious was out on medical leave during last night’s Power Hour. We then had Dusty Rhodes confirm that in the opening segment of the night. We also stacked the odds against Ric Flair by having Dusty ban Arn and Windham from ringside.

 

So everything was in place for us to truly show why Flair was the dirtiest player in the game. The match brought the crowd up, Flair sold Sting’s offense like a champ, and right when Sting went for the Stinger Splash, Flair intentionally...or unintentionally...you decide...positioned referee, Mike Atkins, in a way where he was sandwiched between Flair and Sting softening the blow for Flair but taking Atkins completely out of the picture.

 

With the referee down and out an injured Sid Vicious who, to everyone in the back, was injured but not nearly enough to put him on the shelf, made a surprise appearance before he dropped Sting with a powerbomb. Jim Ross alluded to Dusty only banning Arn Anderson and Barry Windham but never taking Sid Vicious into account.

 

With Sid Vicious disappearing to the back Ric Flair brought Mike Atkins to his senses, picking up the pinfall victory. (B-)

 

Just as Jim Ross was about to process the events that just transpired, a smiling Dusty Rhodes flanked to his left and did some more excellent mic work.

 

”Ric Flair, you and your Horsemen pulled one over on me, I’ll give you that. But let me pull one over on you. Now I said if you won tonight, you’d be in the World Championship Warfare and I’m a man of my word and I wish you the best of luck...cause you’re gonna need it. I say that, Jim, because at World Championship Warfare, Ric Flair will be the first man to start things off! And while I’m at it, I’ll go ahead and reveal number two because I’m sure he’s just dyin to sink his teeth into the Nature Boy, daddy. Because the man Ric Flair will be stuck in that cage with, one on one, for a full five minutes is…STING!" (B)

 

WCW Saturday Night Grade: B-

 

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WCW Main Event

Taped Thursday Week 3, January 1991 (airs Saturday Week 4, January 1991)

 

A video package recap of the latest in the Sting Four Horsemen saga from the most recent episode of WCW Saturday Night. Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone highlighted Four Horsemen fooling everyone by having Sid Vicious, who was reported to be on leave to rehab an injury, help Ric Flair advance into the World Championship Warfare.

 

It wasn’t all bad news for fans of Sting, though, and Ross reported that due to the interference from Sid Vicious, Dusty Rhodes decided to give The Horsemen a taste of their own medicine by not only adding Sting to the World Championship Warfare but having Sting and Ric Flair start the first five minute period together. (B-)

 

Big Cat continued his winning ways by defeating local talent Matt Borne. ©

 

Kevin Steel and Steve Austin of The New Alexandra York Foundation defeated Mark and Chris Youngblood (D+)

 

Alexandra York decided to the up the ante and add a little more interest to Kevin Steel and Steve Austin’s first WCW Pay Per View appearance.

 

”Any two men who think they can beat my clients at WrestleWar will receive a check personally written and delivered from my Foundation for a total of $50,000.” ©

 

In the final match of the night, Tommy Rich continued to receive punishment for his most recent behavior by taking a loss to Buddy Landel. (C-)

 

Back at ringside, Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone recap the show, particularly highlighting Alexandra York’s $50,000 Challenge. Jim Ross reminds the viewers that WrestleWar is only four weeks away and both he and Schiavone begin to speculate on what two men will challenge The York Foundation, what will management do about the budding rivalry between Doom and The Steiner Brothers, and finally, who the other four participants in the World Championship Warfare will be. Jim Ross end the speculation by indicating there’s only one way to find out:

 

”You folks at home probably want the same answers we do and there’s only way to get them and that’s by tuning in to TBS every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!” ©

 

WCW Main Event Grade: C

 

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WCW Post Taping Notes & Thoughts

 

We were all initially worried that the WCW Saturday Night wouldn’t turn out well, especially with all of the one-sided match ups, but we still saw really great numbers for our efforts. We sold out the Tupelo Coliseum to an audience of 10,000 people. Conversely, the WWF’s Superstars only saw an attendance of 6,276. I guess that will teach them for trying to run a show in Tennessee, a popular destination for our own promotion. With that said, it still shows that we’re not reaching nearly as many households as WWF as Superstars attained a 4.45 rating with 3.4 million viewers compared to our 2.44 rating with 1.8 million viewers.

 

Ricky Steamboat has officially signed a long term deal with the WWF. This was a pretty decent blow to us as we had plans to bring him in as a surprise entrant in the World Championship Warfare, even entertaining the idea of a program with Ric Flair for the next couple of months following WrestleWar. Steamboat seemed close to signing, but then informed us that Vince McMahon modified his offer to guarantee Steamboat a starting salary of $32,000. Meeting or exceeding that amount meant that Steamboat would be our second highest paid worker behind Ric Flair and Bischoff wasn’t necessarily interested in investing that kind of money into someone he wasn’t going to at least seriously consider making a focal point of WCW.

 

It seems like Tom Zenk’s tour with All Japan Pro Wrestling has come to an end and we can finally get the ball rolling on the WCW Television Championship bout between him and Bobby Eaton. We’re going to make an effort to show that our flagship show, Saturday Night, can be just as an essential viewing as our Pay Per View specials so we’re expecting to feature the WCW Television Championship a lot on Saturday Night.

 

It turns out both Shaun and Steve Simpson were working our tapings under the influence of cocaine. While The Steiners were able to work through it somewhat, they still expressed their displeasure with having to work with two potentially reckless men. Meanwhile, Steve Austin was very clearly frustrated with their lack of professionalism. Needless to say they will not be working for us in the future.

 

Arn Anderson wanted to follow Stan Hansen’s gesture of goodwill and showed up to Thursday’s taping of WCW Main Event with cases of beer. No one got out of control and it appeared to be an all around good time.

[Janpei]

WCW Power Hour

Taped Wednesday Week 4, January 1991 (airs Saturday Week 4, January 1991)

 

WCW Power Hour opened with Dusty Rhodes joining Jim Ross and Paul E. Dangerously at ringside. Jim Ross complimented Dusty’s handling of his position as WCW’s new chief of operations and Paul E. Dangerously mocked and called him a suck up.

 

Before Dusty could begin talking the three were joined by an irate Teddy Long who wanted to know what Dusty Rhodes was going to do to about compensating Doom after stripping them of their NWA Tag Team Championships and also alluded to wanting something to be done about The Steiner Brothers for instigating a fight that they had no chance of winning. At this moment, Dusty Rhodes announced that the two teams of The Steiner Brothers and Doom would meet at WrestleWar to determine the first ever WCW World Tag Team Champions. (C+)

 

Showcasing the talent sharing agreement with New Japan Pro Wrestling, Wild Pegasus made his WCW debut by defeating Keith Hart (D-)

 

The Calgary Kid and Brian Pillman defeated George South and Jim Clontz in tag team action. (D+)

 

Missy Hyatt approached the team of Pillman and Calgary Kid on the entrance ramp, wanting to know how this pairing came to be. Pillman indicated that he got to know Calgary Kid during his time in Canada and was very close with the entire family. To add to that, he also made one more declaration:

 

”Ms. York, kiss that money goodbye because at WrestleWar, me and The Kid are taking that check!” (C+)

 

A video package aired where Big Van Vader made it absolutely clear:

 

”I ain’t afraid of no man or animal on this planet. Junkyard Dog. This Saturday, I’m gonna hurt you!” (A*)

 

WCW Power Hour ended with Ricky Morton picking up a victory over Big Cat. (C-)

 

WCW Power Hour Grade: C+

 

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WCW Saturday Night

Taped Wednesday Week 4, January 1991 (airs Saturday Week 4, January 1991)

 

WCW Saturday Night kicked off with Dusty Rhodes and Jim Ross. Much like last time, we scaled back on how much Jim Ross would say, letting Dusty Rhodes really set the tone with his mic work. The hot streak continued as Dusty Rhodes was able to draw the fans in with his promo ability.

 

”Jimmy, we gotta show for these people tonight! The Steiners will be in action! Sting and Lex Luger are here! Those two big boys Vader and Junkyard Dog locking it up in the ring, baby! WCW Saturday Night is the place to be baby!” (B)

 

Rick & Scott Steiner defeated Jack Victory and Rip Morgan of the Royal Family to send an early message to Doom (C-)

 

After the match, we gave Scott Steiner some talking points. In the past, we allowed him to go a little off script, but after the backstage segment last week with Doom we gave him a loose structure. That didn’t seem to work out too well, either, but it still seemed like the crowd was very interested in seeing these two teams lock up.

 

”Teddy Long you talk too much! Me and Rick we do all our talking in that ring. Next we...WrestleWar...it doesn’t matter really, we’re going to prove who the best team in WCW is!” (C-)

 

Larry Zbyszko defeated Tommy Rich (B-)

 

Alexandra York appeared on stage next to Tony Schiavone to provide comments about what Brian Pillman and The Calgary Kid said on Friday’s Power Hour.

 

”I’ll be honest, we’re looking for higher calibre opposition with this challenge and not two little boys. BUT I’ll give them a chance...only under the condition that they beat one of my clients in one on one competition on next week’s Power Hour.” (B-)

 

The Fabulous Freebirds duo of Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin defeated Steve Armstrong and Tracy Smothers of The Young Pistols. ©

 

The camera cut to the interview area where Tony Schiavone was with Bobby Eaton, Tony wanted a couple of talking points from Bobby Eaton concerning his future bout with Z-Man.

 

”I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to pursue legal action!”

 

With Schiavone wondering who shouted those words out, he was soon answered as Paul E. Dangerously stepped to Bobby Eaton’s side.

 

”You see, Tony, I represent Mr. Eaton now and I think it’s an absolute travesty that while Bobby Eaton is expected to compete in WCW on a consistent basis Tom Zenk has been on vacation for the entire month. If someone in the office doesn’t resolve this injustice, I will get my legal team involved!”

 

We’re really high on Bobby Eaton as a performer and want to keep featuring him when we can on TV but so far nothing stuck. We finally agreed on pairing him with a manager. Initially, we planned on pairing him with Alexandra York and having him join her Foundation but figured that we already had her tied up in a program that was picking up interest on our minor programs.

 

Then Paul E. Dangerously was suggested and Bischoff being impressed with his work as colour commentator on Power Hour figured why not give it a try. Needless to say, it was the right call. (B-)

 

Sting and Lex Luger dominated local talents Bobby Blaze and Dynamite D enroute to securing a victory. (D+)

 

Missy Hyatt approached Sting and Lex Luger for some post match comments from the entrance stage. We were already expecting the match to not add anything of value to the show, just a chance to put Sting and Luger in the ring, but wanted the post-match interview to be the real focus of their Saturday Night appearance. Sting and Lex did a fantastic job here.

 

”Ric Flair, at WrestleWar I get a full five minutes with you to myself in a steel cage and Missy, I CAN’T WAIT! Every time you tricked, cheated, and weaseled your way out of feeling my wrath well now there’s no escape, there’s no running away, there’s no ducking and hiding. You know what they say about payback!”

 

Lex Luger followed up by getting straight to the point while not bringing nearly as much energy as Sting he still did really well with his own delivery.

 

”Sid, I see you like to get yourself involved in my friend’s business. It just so happens I have nothing to do at WrestleWar so why not get involved in my business? That way, when I’m done with you, you, Flair, and the rest of the Horsemen won’t have to play that you’re hurt!” (B+)

 

Big Van Vader and Junkyard Dog went to a double countout.

 

We weren’t really wanting to do much or give too much away with this match so much like the earlier tag match with Sting and Luger we weren’t expecting it to be a crowd pleaser. It still did better than expected, and we were also able to make some observations for the eventual play off.

 

The match just had a lot of brawling between two men with Junkyard Dog being the first man since our set of tapings in January that Vader wasn’t able to muscle around and bully. With that said, we still wanted to reinforce that Big Van Vader was as tough as he claimed by having him not back down from Dog and give as much offense as he took.

 

We eventually had the two take the fight outside continuing to punch away at each other. Referee Nick Patrick tried to get involved, instructing them to get back in the ring, but with the two men beating each other up on the outside, he had no choice but to count both men out.

 

The execution was okay, but there were two problems that were immediately picked up on in the back: 1) neither man sold the other’s offense. Still not sure if that was by design or if there’s some kind of negative relationship between the two but the intensity of the brawl really suffered because a lot of it didn’t look all that believable. 2) Junkyard Dog was gassed...and it was only a ten minute match with no real wrestling. We’re not dropping the program yet because JYD is one of our more popular stars and we’re really wanting an effort to get Vader up there, but now we know we need to put together a shorter match.

 

Problems aside, the match was still okay enough that it didn’t completely kill the program...besides, we had a contingency plan in place to close the show... ©

 

Because the fight did not stop there. The two big men continued to fight around the arena until eventually familiar WCW talent had to come out from the back to pull the two men apart. Having some of our workers come out instead of arena security really illustrated to the audience how difficult it would be to keep these two explosive personalities separated. While Junkyard Dog was noticeably tired, he still did a serviceable job of trying to get the other workers off of him so he could get his hands on Vader. Vader, meanwhile, looked like one tough, angry bastard. (B)

 

WCW Saturday Night Grade: B-

 

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WCW Main Event

Taped Thursday Week 4, January 1991 (airs Sunday Week 1, February 1991)

 

Main Event capped off from the broadcast area where Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone welcomed everyone to the program. They briefly ran down some of match ups to look forward to on tonight’s episode while also putting some hype into WrestleWar which was only *X Amount of Days Away).

 

Jim Ross then mentioned that Sting had words on the World Championship Warfare match and a pre-recorded video package played featuring Sting. Sting basically played up the concept, speaking about six men having to fight for survival but most importantly, a chance to make history by becoming the first ever WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

 

Sting also made sure to include that he has rival, Ric Flair, for a full five minutes to himself:

 

No Horsemen! No tricks and foolery! Just you and me in a cage Flair. I CAN’T WAIT!” (B)

 

Chris Youngblood and Mark Youngblood of The Renegade Warriors picked up a victory over Jack Victory and Rip Morgan of The Royal Family. (D-)

 

Another video package played featuring the brawl between Junkyard Dog and Vader from WCW Saturday Night. (B-)

 

Ricky Morton earned a victory over Jim Clontz (D)

 

Alexandra York and Kevin Steel who we’ve officially introduced as her muscle/bodyguard joined Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone for a brief interview segment. York indicated that if Brian Pillman and The Calgary Kid truly thought they deserved a chance at her Foundation’s $50,000 then one of them will have to beat her newest client, Steve Austin, on Friday’s Power Hour. With that, ”The Future Legend” Steve Austin, came out on stage in preparation for the final match of the night. ©

 

Steve Austin defeated The Juicer (D+)

 

WCW Main Event Grade: C-

 

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Post Tapings Notes & Reports

 

”We have to top that! is all an angry Eric Bischoff could say about the WWF and their hotly anticipated Royal Rumble.

 

They held nothing back, bringing Hulk Hogan back on television for the first time this year. WWF had him return by getting into a fight with Earthquake, in what will probably be a showcase match for their big Wrestlemania event.

 

In an angle that Bischoff is certain will get a lot of attention, the promotion surely surprised the wrestling world by not only having Ted DiBiase defeat The Ultimate Warrior to become WWF Heavyweight Champion but also having him payoff the 30th entrant of their titular match, DiBiase taking their place instead, to become the first man to win the WWF Heavyweight Championship and win the Royal Rumble in the same night. It’s certainly an interesting angle and with interest in our product slowly gaining traction, it’ll be interesting to see what their end comes up with to keep them in that number one spot.

 

We drew a house of 8,968 for our most recent episode of WCW Saturday Night in Chicago with a television rating of 2.45. While we considered the numbers impressive, we were still well behind WWF whose go-home episode of Superstars had 17,000 in attendance and a 4.54 television rating.

 

Thankfully for us, Sid Vicious was medically cleared over the weekend and we will officially be proceeding with Lex Luger and Sid Vicious at WrestleWar.

 

Bischoff had been spending recent weeks reaching out to top stars in an attempt to bring them under our banner. We were really disappointed that we couldn’t match Ricky Steamboat’s WWF salary, but did manage to get negotiations running with a big star. The plan, as of now, is to debut them at WrestleWar but we’ve been going back and forth on if we should use it as a way to emphasize that Saturday Night is can’t miss TV.

 

We’re continuing to scale back on how often we use Vader for in-ring work after a grueling NJPW tour. We have three weeks until WrestleWar and we’re hoping giving him those three weeks off, only having him do pre-recorded segments and interviews, will be enough time to have him rested up and ready to go in February. After working the brawl with Junkyard Dog on Wednesday night, he immediately took a plane to Japan where he wrestled Riki Choshu in one of New Japan’s headlining matches. According to some of the boys in the back, who keep an eye on the pro-wrestling world, it’s an absolute must watch match some calling it the performance of the year. Despite not seeing it, this means Vader now has two possible match of the year candidates and is now someone Eric Bischoff and the rest of us in the writing room have our eyes on.

 

We noticed Harley Race had began taking Jim Clontz under his wing, sharing road stories and also providing tips and advice to help Jim with his in-ring performance. Due to this, we featured Jim Clontz a bit more on this week’s tapings and while he’s not quite where we’d like him, Race clearly sees something in him.

 

Lex Luger was in Bischoff’s ear, also concerning Rip Morgan who shared thoughts similar to Dick the Bruiser who believed that Rip just didn’t have what it took to be a solid worker. Thankfully, we have no major plans for Jack Victory or Rip Morgan and for the time being, do a good enough job at putting our feature workers over.

 

Jimmy Garvin was once again drunk for the tapings and was immediately fined for his behavior. At this point, Bischoff indicated that he was beginning to feel that some workers didn’t respect him and that he wasn’t going to be as generous the next time around.

 

In positive news Missy Hyatt hosted a friendly poker game in the locker room that certainly brought everyone’s spirits up during the Main Event tapings.

[Janpei]

WCW Power Hour

Taped Wednesday Week 1, February 1991 (airs Friday Week 1, February 1991)

 

As per usual, Power Hour opened up with dialogue from the broadcast team of Jim Ross and Paul E. Dangerously. While, the two usually either hype up the current show or focus on a key WCW feud from Saturday night, our decision to stick Paul E. Dangerously with Bobby Eaton gave us the opportunity to incorporate the WCW Television Championship program into the show opener, obviously giving viewers a reason to tune in to WCW Saturday Night.

 

”Dusty Rhodes came to his senses. He may be ‘The American Dream’ but his worst nightmare is my legal team. Tomorrow night, my client, Bobby Eaton, finally gets his WCW Television Championship match against Tom Zenk.” (B+)

 

As part of the talent exchange with NJPW, Wild Pegasus returned to action in WCW by defeating Pat Rose (E+)

 

A video package aired featuring The Four Horsemen. Ric Flair declared that Sid Vicious had been medically cleared and was looking forward to putting the hurt on Lex Luger at WrestleWar. Flair then focused his attention on Sting, ending the segment on an excellent note.

 

”Sting, it’s not me that’s stuck in a cage with you. It’s you that’s stuck in a cage with me!” (A)

 

The Calgary Kid shocked The Alexandra York Foundation when he was able to beat Steve Austin with a roll up to earn himself and Brian Pillman a chance to earn $50,000 at WrestleWar. (C-)

 

Missy Hyatt approached The Calgary Kid, who was joined by Brian Pillman in celebrating his victory over Steve Austin, on stage for an interview. The newly forged alliance between Pillman and The Calgary Kid informed Hyatt that at WrestleWar, The Alexandra York Foundation would be filing for bankruptcy. (C+)

 

In the final match of the night, Arn Anderson defeated Tommy Rich. (C+)

 

WCW Power Hour Grade: B-

 

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WCW Saturday Night

Taped Wednesday Week 1, February 1991 (Airs Saturday Week 1, February 1991)

 

The show opened up with Dusty Rhodes joining Jim Ross for the opening of the show. Rhodes immediately discussed the melee between Junkyard Dog and Vader from last week, really emphasizing how tough and out of control both Dog and Vader were last week.

 

”Security guards weren’t enough to pull these two big men apart, daddy! The boys had to come out of the locker room to keep them apart. I’ve made the decision to make sure that both men won’t be in the same building at the same time until WrestleWar. They gonna settle then and only then who the tougher man is! They fight outside until the ten count, we’ll make it a twenty count. They fight outside until the twenty count, we’ll throw the count right out the window, baby!” (B+)

 

The Steiner Brothers dispatched The State Patrol in tag team action after a belly belly suplex from Scott Steiner allowed him to pin Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker. (C-)

 

After their tag team match, The Steiner Brothers joined Missy Hyatt on stage for some words on their current tag team rivals, Doom. We gave Scott Steiner a chance to work without having what he needed to say scripted for him again and this time things really worked out for the better.

 

”We don’t really need to have a conversation on who the best tag team is in WCW. These people already know. My brother, Rick, and I already know and at WrestleWar, Ron Simmons, Butch Reed, and that weasel, Teddy Long, will know too!” ©

 

Sid Vicious defeated Ricky Morton to showcase that he was back in full health and ready for Lex Luger at WrestleWar. ©

 

Sid Vicious joined the rest of The Four Horsemen on stage who were with Tony Schiavone for an interview. We had Ric Flair who is easily our best talker next to Dusty do pretty much all of the talking while we had the other three men just play the role of...well, three guys you wouldn’t want to bump into in a dark alley. Every single member of The Four Horsemen looked great in this segment.

 

”Lex you have no idea what you asked for, do you? This man, right here, Sid Vicious does not play nice. He’s big. He’s mean. He’s angry. And most importantly, he’s healthy. You and Sting are just pretty boys trying to play at being tough guys. Us? The Horsemen? We’re the original gangsters of professional wrestling. At WrestleWar, it’ll be YOUR blood on OUR hands!” (A*)

 

Doom dominated The Young Pistols to earn an early victory ©

 

Doom joined Tony Schiavone on the stage. Over the past few tapings, we began noticing that Teddy Long was pretty quick on the microphone, so even though our original desire was to put distance between Doom and Long by establishing them as tough men who don’t need a mouthpiece, Teddy Long complemented their brutishness with quick wit.

 

”Steiners call themselves the best tag team in WCW? Did you see how quickly Simmons and Reed put the hurt on those boys in the ring just now? The Steiners are great collegiate athletes, I’ll give em that. Doom likes to fight. Fancy moves and scientific wrestling looks pretty, but one right hand to the jaw is what ends night. Remember that, Steiners!” ©

 

Larry Zbyszko defeated Tommy Rich ©

 

WCW Television Championship Match

 

Paul E. Dangerously did a fantastic job at ringside and we all felt that he really enhanced Bobby Eaton and was really helping him get to that next level that we all felt was possible for Eaton. To add to that, Bobby Eaton and Tom Zenk also had great chemistry and it showed throughout the match.

 

We went back and forth on how we wanted this to go and Z-Man’s tour with All Japan was kind of a blessing in disguise now that I look at things in retrospect. The original plan, when we thought Zenk was available to make our tapings, was to have Eaton beat him at the next week’s WCW Saturday Night and from there, we’d just figure out where things would go.

 

With Tom Zenk being unavailable we had to find a way to keep the heat going with this angle. That allowed us to discover that Eaton could use some help enhancing his character, giving us the perfect pairing with Paul E. Dangerously. Paul’s promo work on the shows leading up to this match really helped pick up heat for a month long angle that was originally only planned for two weeks.

 

But why stop there? We had so much fun with Paul E. Dangerously harping on management over Bobby Eaton’s “mistreatment” and Bobby Eaton and Tom Zenk obviously work well together, we figured we could get a bit more mileage out of it.

 

So, we had Tom Zenk get the pinfall victory after dropping Bobby Eaton with a crossbody. The catch, though, was that Bobby Eaton was able to get his foot on the rope although the referee wasn’t able to spot it.

 

Tom Zenk defeated Bobby Eaton to become the first WCW Television Champion (C+)

 

We weren’t done there, though. We wanted Paul E. Dangerously to blow a gasket outside the ring and blow a gasket he did. He immediately got in the referee’s face, shouting “his foot was on the rope!” and demanding a restart, but referee Randy Anderson refused to indulge Dangerously and Eaton simply declaring that his decision as referee is final. This incensed Dangerously and Eaton who followed Anderson up the ramp continuing to argue about the outcome until all three men disappeared backstage. (B)

 

In the final segment of the night, Sting and Lex Luger joined Missy Hyatt on the stage for an interview. Hyatt wanted their thoughts on The Four Horsemen’s words earlier in the show and Sting cut right to the chase.

 

”Flair, why don’t you put your money where your mouth is. You want our blood on your hands. We want your blood on our hands. Why wait until WrestleWar? Next week, you and your pal Sid Vicious meet me and Lex Luger in that ring so then maybe we can hopefully settle all of this before WrestleWar!” (B)

 

WCW Saturday Night Grade: B

 

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WCW Main Event

Taped Thursday Week 1, February 1991 (Airs Sunday Week 2, February 1991)

 

Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone open the show by recapping Saturday Night’s closing segment. Sting and Lex Luger challenged Ric Flair and Sid Vicious to a tag match on the next episode of Saturday Night. Jim Ross concludes by stating it’s a match that the fans of WCW should not miss. (B)

 

NJPW talent, Wild Pegasus, continued his winning ways by defeating Keith Hart (D-)

 

Steve Austin defeated Jim Clontz (D-)

 

After the match, Steve Austin ally, Kevin Steel did some more damage to Jim Clontz before tossing him from the ring. Alexandra York then issued a warning to Brian Pillman and The Calgary Kid informing them that the Alexandra York Foundation is not a group to take lightly. (C-)

 

Junkyard Dog made an appearance, defeating local talent Bill Irwin in the final match of the night (D+)

 

WCW Main Event Grade: C

[Janpei]

WCW Main Event

Taped Thursday Week 1, February 1991 (Airs Sunday Week 2, February 1991)

 

Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone open the show by recapping Saturday Night’s closing segment. Sting and Lex Luger challenged Ric Flair and Sid Vicious to a tag match on the next episode of Saturday Night. Jim Ross concludes by stating it’s a match that the fans of WCW should not miss. (B)

 

NJPW talent, Wild Pegasus, continued his winning ways by defeating Keith Hart (D-)

 

Steve Austin defeated Jim Clontz (D-)

 

After the match, Steve Austin ally, Kevin Steel did some more damage to Jim Clontz before tossing him from the ring. Alexandra York then issued a warning to Brian Pillman and The Calgary Kid informing them that the Alexandra York Foundation is not a group to take lightly. (C-)

 

Junkyard Dog made an appearance, defeating local talent Bill Irwin in the final match of the night (D+)

 

WCW Main Event Grade: C

 

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WCW Saturday Night

Taped Wednesday Week 2, February 1991 (Airs Saturday Week 2, February 1991)

 

Tony Schiavone welcomed the audience to WCW Saturday Night before he welcomed WCW head of operations, Dusty Rhodes, to the stage. Dusty Rhodes was prepared to break down tonight’s episode of Saturday Night, but the two were interrupted by Bobby Eaton and his manager Paul E. Dangerously.

 

Dangerously was a heat magnet and it could not be ignored. Pairing him with Bobby Eaton made Eaton become one of our top heels almost overnight. All he needed to do was give a facial expression or two - look angry whenever Paul discussed the loss from last week or smirk whenever Paul threatened Dusty with getting his lawyers involved.

 

”You saw the footage. My client’s foot was on the rope. What are YOU going to do about it, bossman!?”

 

Dusty and Dangerously did great here. After weeks of putting a microphone in front of Dusty, we finally found a mouthpiece who could be his equal save for maybe Ric Flair.

 

”I’ll tell you what I’ll do, you little slimeball. I may not like you, but you do have a point. I saw the same tape as everyone else, Bobby’s foot was on that rope. I talked to Tom Zenk in the back and he has relinquished the Television Championship to me. Bobby Eaton and Tom Zenk will meet in a rematch tonight, baby!” (B+)

 

Kevin Steel and Steve Austin made quick work of The Young Pistols (D+)

 

Junkyard Dog defeated Big Cat (D+)

 

Junkyard Dog joined Tony Schiavone on stage to address what Vader said on yesterday’s Power Hour. Junkyard Dog indicated that he was the only man who has refused to back down to Vader in the WCW and Vader didn’t like that. Dog then promised to all of his fans that he would beat “that big mean bully”. (C+)

 

Larry Zbyszko defeated Ricky Morton ©

 

Missy Hyatt stated that she was going to do the impossible and have Doom and The Steiner Brothers join her on stage for an “exclusive” WrestleWar exposé. It didn’t take long before the two tag teams began exchanging heated words. Missy Hyatt tried to get restore some semblance of order, incessantly reminding them that they were here for an interview only. With the two teams voices getting louder, and shoving matches breaking out, Missy’s reminders fell on deaf ears. Before things could get too far out of hand, security guards moved in between the two teams and Missy’s interview segment was a bust. (C+)

 

Much to Paul E. Dangerously’s dissatisfaction, the rematch between Bobby Eaton and Tom Zenk went to a 15-minute time limit draw thus the WCW Television Championship remained vacant. (C+)

 

Ric Flair and Sid Vicious defeated Sting and Lex Luger

 

We planned for this to serve as nothing more than a WrestleWar teaser and we believe all four men did an exceptional job at that. Anytime Sting got his hands on Ric Flair the crowd blew up, but we made sure Sid Vicious would break it up just in the nick of time to remind people that at WrestleWar Flair would be stuck in a cage with Sting and wouldn’t have any help.

 

We didn’t want to ignore Lex Luger and Sid Vicious, either. These were two titans with impressive physiques. We decided to give them a couple of spots in the match where they would do test of strengths with both men coming off as equally impressive.

 

Our plans were pretty clear with our Saturday night programming. We wanted our marquee matches television matches to feel like they belonged on Pay Per View, but wanted to give the viewer a reason to come back for the next episode. That’s where the other two Horsemen came in.

 

Barry Windham came running down the entrance ramp and as he hopped up on the apron, Sting immediately met him with a right hand. Referee Nick Patrick placed his attention on Barry Windham demanding he get back to the locker room, immediately.

 

With the referee distracted, Arn Anderson clipped Sting with a chop block, causing Sting to collapse to the ring mat clutching his knee in pain. Arn disappeared back into the crowd, while Barry Windham stood up and retreated to the back. Ric Flair seized the opportunity, applied the figure four, and he and Sid Vicious were awarded the victory. (B)

 

On stage, Tony Schiavone discussed the outcome of the match and hyped up the World Championship Warfare. He went over the three confirmed entrants in Sting, Ric Flair, and Larry Zbyszko, and said that there were still three more yet announced.

 

”Make that two more!”

 

Schiavone looked to the direction of the voice and displayed a look of shock on his face as Rick Rude stepped into the frame.

 

”Pick your jaw up off the floor, you geek. Don’t adjust your TV set at home. You’re looking at the real deal. I don’t care about Stingers. I don’t care about Nature Boys. Larry Zbyszko doesn’t even belong in the same ring as me. I’m here for one reason and one reason only: that World Championship. Now you can finish talking, geek!”

 

Rick Rude shoved the microphone into Tony Schiavone's chest before walking off-camera. (B)

 

WCW Saturday Night Grade: B

 

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WCW Main Event

Taped Thursday Week 2, February 1991 (Airs Sunday Week 3, February 1991)

 

The show began with a video package that essentially served as a recap from WCW Saturday Night’s main event tag match between Sting & Lex Luger and Ric Flair & Sid Vicious (B+)

 

The Calgary Kid scored a victory over Motor City Madman (C-)

 

With The Calgary Kid celebrating his victory, Alexandra York was spotted on stage, writing down some notes, scouting the opposition for Kevin Steel and Steve Austin. (C-)

 

Dan Spivey defeated Pez Whatley (D+)

 

Another video package aired, replaying Rick Rude’s debut from Saturday night. Tony Schiavone then confirmed that Rick Rude would be the fourth participant in World Championship Warfare. (B)

 

Kevin Sullivan defeated Terry Taylor ©

 

WCW Main Event Grade: C+

[Janpei]

WCW Power Hour

Taped Wednesday Week 3, February 1991 (Airs Friday Week 3, February 1991)

 

*The Road to WrestleWar*

 

Jim Ross did his best to welcome fans to the show and talked about the excitement in the arena and in the locker room with WrestleWar only being two days away. Paul E. Dangerously wasn’t having any of it, still upset that there had yet to be a Television Champion declared.

 

”What do I have to do to get a proper meeting with the boss, Jim? Bobby Eaton had his foot on the rope, the referee ignores it. I begged, I pleaded, I bargained, and eventually I just had to confront Dusty on his own show to get that rematch. My client would have had Tom Zenk beaten, but he ran and played it safe for the entire fifteen minutes. Again, I can’t get a single response. Justice will be served!”

 

Despite Paul E. Dangerously’s rant, Jim Ross was able to indicate that all four men involved in the World Championship Warfare match would be involved in singles matches on WCW Saturday Night. (B+)

 

Enroute to ensuring his manager, Alexandra York wouldn’t lose her $50,000 on Sunday, Steve Austin gained a singles victory over Ranger Ross. Kevin Steel helped speed up the process by clocking Ranger Ross with several forearms outside of the ring while Austin had the referee tied up. (C-)

 

Following Alexandra York’s instruction, Kevin Steel and Steve Austin continued to punish Ranger Ross by putting the boots on the already incapacitated competitor.

 

The Calgary Kid and Brian Pillman made a mad dash for the ring, immediately sending Austin through the ropes and outside of the ring with a double drop kick. The big Kevin Steel would take a little more work to dispel, but the duo of Pillman and Calgary Kid finally found a solution after dumping Steel over the top rope with a double clothesline.

 

Steve Austin and Kevin Steel teased getting back in the ring, but would immediately back off any time Pillman and Calgary Kid charged toward their direction, wanting to continue the fight. Pillman and Calgary held their hands up in the air, running their thumb over their index and middle fingers, indicating that they would be $50,000 richer on Sunday. Once The Alexandra York Foundation retreated to the locker room, Calgary and Pillman helped Ranger Ross back to his feet. ©

 

In singles action, Michael Hayes defeated Norman the Lunatic (D+)

 

An extremely irritated Paul E. Dangerously had to witness a Tom Zenk victory first hand when Z-Man defeated Dutch Mantell ©

 

WCW Power Hour Grade: B-

 

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WCW Saturday Night

Taped Wednesday Week 3, February 1991 (Airs Saturday Week 3, February 1991)

 

*The Road to WrestleWar*

 

Jim Ross who tonight was joined by former NWA US Heavyweight Champion, Magnum TA on commentary, welcomed everyone to the show. The two immediately began hyping tomorrow night’s WrestleWar and discussed how six men would be locked in the World Championship Warfare cage to crown the first ever WCW World Champion.

 

Dusty Rhodes was then introduced by Jim Ross who informed everyone that ”The American Dream” had a major announcement concerning WrestleWar. The moment Rhodes stepped into the frame, Paul E. Dangerously appeared and demanded answers.

 

Once again, both men knocked it out of the park with their mic work. While the two got the crowd going in the opening minutes of the show, we all watched from the back, wondering how much further we could take a Dusty Rhodes and Paul E. Dangerously program. Again, it was another moment of catching lightning in a bottle and something we had planned to do as just brief segments for a couple of shows suddenly turned into a discussion on how we could make it one of WCW’s key storylines in the future. We had thrown a couple of ideas out there, but ultimately, we needed to get through WrestleWar and the weeks following that before really taking things into consideration.

 

”What do I have to do to get a meeting with you!? You’re the manager of this company...so manage! My client, Bobby Eaton, has been extremely upset and disgruntled with the work environment around here. You made him wait for weeks before he could challenge Tom Zenk for the Television Championship. He finally gets the match and the referee completely ignored his foot being on the rope. After days of pleading for a rematch on his behalf, you give me the okay and Tom Zenk avoided him for fifteen minutes. This is me telling you to fix this now or my client will find work elsewhere!”

 

Dusty Rhodes got in Paul E. Dangerously’s face and Paul immediately backed down. The crowd was just begging for Dusty Rhodes to serve him his just deserts but cooler heads prevailed and Rhodes began talking.

 

”If you would just let me come out here and do my job, you’d get the answer you wanted. I sent the contracts to Mr. Zenk and your client, not you, but your client Mr. Eaton. At WrestleWar, they will have a rematch and this time, there must be a winner! Now, could you please go back to whatever rat hole you crawled out of so I can continue running my show?” (A)

 

A very nervous, but pleased Paul E. Dangerously complied to Dusty’s request and walked off camera. With Dangerously gone, Dusty then shifted his attention to the Four Horsemen with another major announcement for WrestleWar.

 

”No matta what I do, The Four Horsemen find a way to undermine me. Lex Luger helped alleviate some of the stress by stepping in that ring with Sid Vicious at WrestleWar, but I see I still have a problem with “The Enforcer” and Barry Windham. I’m letting you people know right now, that they will not be a problem during the World Championship Warfare match. Ric Flair is going in there alone, baby! As for Double A and Windham, they gonna be too busy to plan any of their usual tricks to help Ric Flair. Ya see, Arn and Barry will be having a tag team match at WrestleWar against two of of WCW’s newest members.

 

These two men have been champions all over the United States, but in Japan, they became one of the greatest tag teams in that country. They wanted to prove that they could replicate that same success over here in America, baby. They came to me and they said ‘Dream, we’re chomping at the bit to take on the best teams you have. You gotta problem with Arn and Windham, Dream, you scratch our back, we’ll scratch your back. Let us prove how great of a tag team we are by taking on two of the best in the game, let us have Windham and Anderson.’

 

How could I say no, daddy? In a few seconds, these two men will come out for their debut match but at WrestleWar, they’re gonna help me take care of my Horsemen situation if you will. WCW, are you ready for the Dynamite Dream Team of Steve Williams and Terry Gordy?!”

 

Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy and ”Dr. Death” Steve Williams had made a name for themselves in All Japan Pro Wrestling as Miracle Violence Connection and had contacted the front office about looking for stateside bookings. For Eric Bischoff it was a no brainer as both men added value to our roster with both men already having name value among WCW fans. As I said before, Bischoff was looking to bring in a lot of top talent to help bolster the company and these two guys perfectly fit that bill.

 

Working behind the scenes, I learned that the more hardcore wrestling fan had probably heard about them forming a team in AJPW through the various pro wrestling magazines, but with practically zero coverage in stateside, a lot of WCW’s fan base would be seeing these two work together for the first time.

 

For obvious reasons (aka: TBS executives wanting to shy away from certain buzzwords) we had to abandon the Miracle Violence Connection name and quite honestly, Miracle Connection just didn’t have the same ring to it. Many pro-wrestling purists had considered the duo a dream pairing of two bulky brawlers so The Dynamite Dream Team felt like a good fit. (B-)

 

The Dynamite Dream Team defeated The State Patrol. (C-)

 

World Championship Warfare competitor, Larry Zbyszko, defeated Terry Taylor (B-)

 

Missy Hyatt had an interview segment with Sting and Lex Luger who kept it simple and focused on their matches at WrestleWar. Lex Luger indicated that he wasn’t intimidated by the big man, Sid Vicious, and that he was looking forward to finally getting a measure of revenge on The Four Horsemen. Sting did a good job of playing up how serious World Championship Warfare would be.

 

”Flair, for the last couple of weeks, all I could talk about was how much I was looking forward to being alone in a cage with you for a full five minutes. Then the reality hit me last week. Once that five minutes is up, someone else comes out there. Could be Rude, could be Zbyszko, could be anybody! Then another five minutes. And another. And another. And suddenly there are six men locked in a free for all with the same goal in mind: becoming the first WCW World Champion.

 

Flair, I’m going to let out every personal grievance that I’ve ever had with you in that five minutes. Every time you cheated, or disrespected me, or ran away from me, or had your buddies attack me from behind. I’m letting it all out on Sunday. Every time your flesh bounces off that unforgiving steel, you’re going to be reminded of all the things you’ve done.

 

When that buzzer goes off and that third man comes in, that’s it. Flair, this thing between me and you, it’ll be a thing of the past. You won’t matter to me anymore. The only thing that will matter to me then: becoming a World Champion that these people deserve!” (B)

 

World Championship Warfare competitor, Rick Rude defeated Norman the Lunatic (C+)

 

A pre-recorded video package aired with The Four Horsemen all doing a terrific job of highlighting their WrestleWar matches. Sid Vicious did a pretty serviceable job talking down Lex Luger declaring that he was going to force Luger into early retirement but it was really Arn and Flair who were the highlights of this particular segment.

 

”Gordy and Williams, you two think you’re the ‘dream team’ but I see right through you. You two couldn’t hack it here so you figured you’d make a quick buck overseas. You got lucky here and there but that luck caught up to you and you had to hightail it back to WCW before everyone overseas saw you two for the frauds you are. We are The Four Horsemen and we’re not four of the best, no, we are the four best in professional wrestling today. I hope those bags aren’t unpacked because come Sunday, you’re going to need a first class ticket back to Tokyo.” (Arn Anderson)

 

”Sting, that’s the problem with you, you’re too simple minded. All you’ve been talking about is what you’re going to do to me for five minutes. You’re just now realizing that there’s something beyond that first five minutes and that’s why you’re not championship material and more importantly, why you’ll never beat me or any other Horsemen for that matter.

 

You’re looking at the greatest minds in the game. We’ve been going over strategy for the entirety of World Championship Warfare and not just the first five minutes with you, Sting. While you’re over there going over what you’re going to do to me for a whole five minutes, me and the guys are figuring out where to hold the after party when I leave the arena with that World Championship belt. Woooo!” (Ric Flair) (B+)

 

A pre-recorded video aired, playing up the accomplishments of both The Steiner Brothers and Doom. The video was followed with Jim Ross stating that only one team could win and walk away as the first ever WCW World Tag Team Champions. (C+)

 

World Championship Warfare competitor Ric Flair defeated Dustin Rhodes (B)

 

A pre-recorded segment aired featuring Vader. He cut a simple, yet very effective promo on how he’s hurt people all over the world and that Junkyard Dog would be no exception. (A)

 

World Championship Warfare competitor Sting defeated Kevin Sullivan (B-)

 

WCW Saturday Night ended with Dusty Rhodes joining Missy Hyatt. We used this segment to pretty much advertise WrestleWar with Dusty telling Missy the reasons why it shouldn’t be missed.

 

”We got World Championship Warfare. Six men fighting in a big ol cage, Missy, to determine the first ever WCW World Champion. We got The Dynamite Dream Team getting right into the mix of things by taking on Arn Anderson and Barry Windham two extremely intelligent wrestlers. We got two big boys Junkyard Dog and Big Van Vader who will tear up the entire arena trying to get their hands on each other. The Steiners and Doom meet in that ring determine which tag team is the best in the world. Brian Pillman and The Calgary Kid could have a $50,000 check to to take to the bank Sunday night. Lex Luger and Sid Vicious are gonna lock horns. Plus a Television Championship rematch where there must be a winner! WrestleWar! Don’t miss it!” (B-)

 

WCW Saturday Night Grade: B

 

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WCW Main Event

Taped Thursday Week 3, February 1991 (Airs Sunday Week 4, February 1991)

 

*WrestleWar Preview Show*

 

Jim Ross was in a production area, welcoming the fans to a very special episode of WCW Main Event. He informed the audience that tonight’s show would skip the usual format in favor of giving everyone a sneak preview for WrestleWar.

 

Before Jim Ross could even finish the rest of his sentence, he was joined by Paul E. Dangerously and Bobby Eaton, showcasing one of the featured WrestleWar matches. With it being a sneak preview show, Paul E. Dangerously wasn’t given a spot to talk in long form but instead promised Jim Ross that he’s looking at the first ever WCW Television Champion, Bobby Eaton. (B-)

 

The State Patrol defeated The Renegade Warriors in the opening match of the night. (D+)

 

A pre-taped segment aired with The Four Horsemen running down their respective opponents at WrestleWar (B)

 

Dan Spivey defeated The Italian Stallion (C-)

 

Missy Hyatt was in the production room with Rick Rude who indicated that the guys in WCW liked to do a lot of talking and that at WrestleWar, he means business, and guaranteed Missy he’d be the first WCW World Champion. (B-)

 

Terry Taylor defeated Big Cat (D+)

 

Sting and Lex Luger were featured in a pre-recorded segment. With Luger talking about preventing Sid Vicious from getting involved in the World Title match and Sting saying that he has his priorities in line for the World Championship Warfare.

 

”Number one: beat on ‘The Nature Boy’ for an entire five minutes. Number two: win that WCW World Championship for everyone watching tonight!”

 

The camera then cut to live footage, giving fans their first free look at the cage, which had been set up five or six hours before the doors opened for WrestleWar to specifically give people a small taste of what they had to look forward to if they ordered the PPV. (B+)

 

WCW Main Event Grade: C

 

(OOC: so in a lazy effort to describe the World Championship Warfare structure, imagine a celled structure the height of the War Games cage in the early 90’s pic: http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/Reviews/2013/06/09/flairstingwargames.JPG but with space around the ring so that they can fight outside of the ring like in a Hell in a Cell pic: https://wwedvdnews.s3.amazonaws.com/misc/2016-10/thu2tbs_wwehellinacell5.jpg)

[Janpei]

World Championship Warfare

WCW World Heavyweight Championship

 

Sting vs. Ric Flair vs. Rick Rude vs. Larry Zbyszko vs. TBA vs. TBA

 

(The rules are simple. Two men start in a cage. Every five minutes a new man joins. Once all six competitors have come out, the cage door is locked shut and the six men will fight it out until one man is declared victor. That man not only has bragging rights for surviving World Championship Warfare, but they also become the first ever WCW World Champion.)

 

WCW World Tag Team Championships

 

The Steiner Brothers vs. Doom

 

(Both teams have a stake in being the best tag team in WCW. Both teams were stripped of their NWA Tag Team Championships. Now it's time to truly determine who the number one team in WCW is. Only one can be crowned WCW World Tag Team Champions.)

 

Lex Luger vs. Sid Vicious

 

(Since January, The Four Horsemen have been a thorn in Sting's side, allowing Ric Flair to stay one step ahead every inch of the way. In an attempt to watch over Sting's back, Lex Luger has stepped up to take on The Four Horsemen's main muscle, Sid Vicious.)

 

No Countouts

 

Vader vs. The Junkyard Dog

 

(Vader has made a name for himself in the past couple of months by completely picking apart his opposition, often times going overboard by continuing the beating after the bell. Junkyard Dog finally got in Vader's face about it and the two broke into a fight so chaotic, that it took other wrestlers to separate the two. Since then, both men have not been allowed to be in the same venue at the same time, but that comes to an end at WrestleWar. With both men being allowed to fight outside of the ring for as long as it takes, who knows where things will end up?)

 

No Time Limit; There Must be a Winner

WCW Television Championship

 

Tom Zenk vs. Bobby Eaton w/ Paul E. Dangerously

 

(On the first Saturday Night episode of the year, Bobby Eaton won a four man tournament to earn a match with former NWA Television Champion Tom Zenk to determine the WCW's first Television Champion. Tom Zenk had committed to working a few shows overseas and as a result, was not available for the first couple of weeks of WCW Saturday Night. This caused Bobby Eaton to find better representation, leading to him hiring Paul E. Dangerously as his representative. Paul E. immediately threatened WCW with legal action and the match was finally made The first match ended in controversy with the referee not seeing Bobby Eaton's foot on the rope after Tom Zenk scored a pinfall victory. Tom Zenk willingly vacated the WCW Television Championship and in the rematch, the two went to a time limit draw. Dusty Rhodes devised a solution for the situation: remove the time limit and let the two men wrestle until a winner could be declared.)

 

Alexandra York's $50,000 Challenge

 

Kevin Steel & Steve Austin w/ Alexandra York vs. Brian Pillman & The Calgary Kid

 

(Alexandra York has acquired new talent into her Foundation. First it was the tall brute, Kevin Steel followed by "The Future Legend" Steve Austin. York is so confident in her team, that she's offered to pay out $50,000 to any team who can beat them. The lightning fast Brian Pillman and Calgary Kid have stepped up to the challenge.)

 

Arn Anderson & Barry Windham vs. The Dynamite Dream Team

 

(Terry Gordy and Steve Williams have set their sights on the elite competitors in WCW. The Horsemen, meanwhile, are looking to rain on DDT's parade and show that Williams and Gordy are nowhere near as good as people believe they are.)

 

---

 

An Article from the February edition of WCW Magazine

 

YOU CAN JOIN IN ON THE ACTION TOO!

 

That’s right, WCW, fans. Why just watch at home when you can participate as well?

 

Introducing the first ever WCW fantasy season. You pick the winners. If you pick them correctly, you earn points. Whoever has the most points at the end of the season, earns a paid trip to Starrcade and a cash prize!

 

How it works

 

-The season begins in February with WrestleWar and ends in October with Halloween Havoc.

 

-Each month of a major PPV, we will post the entire PPV line up from opening match to main event.

 

-Fans mail us this card lined up with their predictions (postage paid for)

 

-The series will be divided into two blocks. Block A and Block B. The winner of Block A and Block B will both earn a trip to Starrcade.

 

-WCW will ask Block A and Block B winners to pick a wrestler to represent them. Those two will meet in a Fantasy Warfare Finals match. The winner of that match will be declared the number one contender for the WCW World Championship going into the next year.

 

Be sure to send those submissions as soon as possible and remember to have fun!

 

---

 

WCW Magazine Fantasy Warfare

 

Ric Flair vs. Sting vs. Larry Zbyszko vs. Rick Rude vs. TBA vs. TBA

 

The Steiner Brothers vs. Doom

 

Lex Luger vs. Sid Vicious

 

Vader vs. The Junkyard Dog

 

Tom Zenk vs. Bobby Eaton

 

Kevin Steel & Steve Austin vs. Brian Pillman & The Calgary Kid

 

Arn Anderson & Barry Windham vs. The Dynamite Dream Team

 

Ten point bonus (five points for each correct guess): who will be the two surprise participants in World Championship Warfare?

 

Okay...so...just post your picks. I'm going to put a couple of days between this post and posting WrestleWar because I would really like to see some folks jump in the pick'em game.

 

I think it could be a cool way to get people involved and I do plan on breaking the competition up into two blocks once I see who's all posted. If someone ends up joining at a later PPV, I'll give them points equal to the person in the middle of the pack so that they have an opportunity to win as well.

 

And I figured what I would actually do for the winner is put their likeness in the game and let them work one segment with a worker of their choice.

[SomeLazyMagic]

WCW Magazine Fantasy Warfare

 

Ric Flair vs. Sting vs. Larry Zbyszko vs. Rick Rude vs. TBA vs. TBA

 

The Steiner Brothers vs. Doom

 

Lex Luger vs. Sid Vicious

 

Vader vs. The Junkyard Dog

 

Tom Zenk vs. Bobby Eaton

 

Kevin Steel & Steve Austin vs. Brian Pillman & The Calgary Kid

Arn Anderson & Barry Windham vs. The Dynamite Dream Team

 

Ten point bonus (five points for each correct guess): who will be the final two mystery participants in World Championship Warfare? I'm following with the other guy and choosing Muta and Piper, as they seem the most likely this early in the 1991 mod.

 

I just want to say that I really like what you've put together so far, and I am totally looking forward to seeing WrestleWar as well as what you do with the company afterwards! KUTGW!

[Janpei]

WCW Magazine Fantasy Warfare

 

Ric Flair vs. Sting vs. Larry Zbyszko vs. Rick Rude vs. TBA vs. TBA

 

The Steiner Brothers vs. Doom

 

Lex Luger vs. Sid Vicious

 

Vader vs. The Junkyard Dog

 

Tom Zenk vs. Bobby Eaton

 

Kevin Steel & Steve Austin vs. Brian Pillman & The Calgary Kid

Arn Anderson & Barry Windham vs. The Dynamite Dream Team

 

Ten point bonus (five points for each correct guess): who will be the final two participants in World Championship Warfare? I feel like it'll be Sting and one of the TBA mystery men.

 

I just want to say that I really like what you've put together so far, and I am totally looking forward to seeing WrestleWar as well as what you do with the company afterwards! KUTGW!

 

 

Thanks but I should clarify that the bonus question is asking who the two mystery participants are. I completely misworded that!

[Janpei]

We were all on standby in the production room. All of us anxious and not really sure how things were going to turn out. Earlier this morning we had one final meeting to really finalize plans for the big show tonight. We had made our decision for the main event.

 

”I can tell ya right now, you gonna get some complaints.”

 

Dusty predicted. Everyone had something to say about what we had penciled in for the main event, but after what the World Wrestling Federation pulled off at the Royal Rumble by crowning a new champion in Ted DiBiase and then having him “buy” the #30 position in the Rumble to also win that event, Eric, and the WCW locker room and office alike, felt that we really needed a homerun with this Pay Per View.

 

”I get that, Dusty, I do. But we agreed that we needed something new. We’re halfway there with this World Championship Warfare concept. Now we need to go all the way, by going in this direction with the World title.”

 

Our options were revisited with everyone either contributing a new idea or supporting their existing pitches with reasons that they felt would strengthen their arguments, but Harley Race, who recently joined our ranks among the backstage staff backed Eric’s thoughts by confirming that the man who was in consideration to win the WCW World Championship was “the guy”.

 

As far as Eric was concerned, the decision was made. WWF created a new star in Ted DiBiase, WCW had to do the same. It was nothing against Ric Flair or Sting, who Bischoff praised by stating they were easily our hottest commodities, but WCW had to prove it wasn’t going to be the same old NWA act by going in a new direction.

 

That entire afternoon was met with phone calls. When the phones weren’t ringings, agents wanted to speak in private with Bischoff concerning how some of the boys felt about the main event to. These conversations always led to us having to redraft the planning for World Championship Warfare, but Bischoff was not wavering on his decision.

 

”It’s important that when WrestleWar ends, all six of these men come off as strong. They’re our top contenders participating in a one of a kind cage match. Our booking needs to reflect that in the weeks to come, but I’m not backing down on who I want to win this thing. If locker room bonuses are going to keep egos from flaring up, okay, I’ll pay up. I want everyone back there happy because the success of this match and this show is entirely dependent on all six of those men.”

 

Bischoff’s words from the morning meeting came back to me as our cameras panned around the North Carolina arena. I think it’s safe to say I was a bundle of nerves. Most us were. Not sure what to make of the arena and its sea of humanity I had to ask “How many people do you think are out there?” and Dusty smirked before responding “Should be a full house tonight, daddy.”

 

I couldn’t quite grasp the reality of the situation until Harley later mentioned they’re being some 25,000 people out there. I mentioned that most of us were nervous, but Eric seemed poised and under control. He stood from his seat and gathered everyone for just a quick motivational piece before going over the show one more time.

 

”Okay, this is it. Tonight, it’s put up or shut up. This is going to be the show that we all look at and say ‘This is the exact moment WCW brought the fight to Vince’. And I know that sounds corny. I know that sounds unrealistic. But in my mind, WCW is number one. And if any of you felt any differently than that, I wouldn’t have you on this team. You all have put in the work and it shows. Look at the monitors. Look at those people. Did you hear Harley? 25,000 to see WCW.

 

In thirty minutes, the first PPV under our guidance goes live. Dusty, we’re going to have you out on commentary tonight with Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross. It’s important if the new boss of WCW is there to call the action firsthand and also adds some extra significance if someone with your legacy is out there putting over the WCW World Championship and our first champion. Alright. Places everyone!”

 

Bischoff then spoke into his mic to let our road agent, Mike Graham, know that we were ready for The Four Horsemen to open up WrestleWar.

 

Alright, folks. Consider this post the 24 hour warning! Get those predictions in!

[Theheel]

Man you very busy getting all these shows up. I love 80-90s JCP/WCW

 

WCW Magazine Fantasy Warfare

 

Ric Flair vs. Sting vs. Larry Zbyszko vs. Rick Rude vs. TBA vs. TBA

With Jim Herd gone you might be able to prevent Ric from going to WWF in July. Even though he starts the match I say Flair somehow prevails to take home the gold.

 

The Steiner Brothers vs. Doom

Doom was so under-rated in my book. I think though we are moving to a Steiners vs Doc and Gordy program

 

 

Lex Luger vs. Sid Vicious

This is a tough match up to call. If it was me I’d have Sid win, but since I picked Flair to win the World Title I’ll go with Luger to set up a match

 

Vader vs. The Junkyard Dog

Unless he gets off the blow away diet JYD can’t hang with Vader

 

Tom Zenk vs. Bobby Eaton

since I was a huge Midnight Express fan I gotta go with Bobby and Paul E

 

Kevin Steel & Steve Austin vs. Brian Pillman & The Calgary Kid

Now I think Miss York is onto something here and moving in the right direction. I think her boys take it but what I’d like to see is Pillman turn on Owen and Join the York Foundation and the $50k was just her luring him in with the cash

 

Arn Anderson & Barry Windham vs. The Dynamite Dream Team

Hard for me to pick against the Horsemen, but I’m going to say Gordy and Williams

 

Ten point bonus (five points for each correct guess): who will be the two surprise participants in World Championship Warfare? Great Muta and just because I’d love to see him in WCW before he is past his prime (some would say he is here already), Rowdy Roddy Piper. In the mod I believe he is signed to the dying PNW (my home territory) and WWE to PPA contracts. So it could be feasible to sign him to a deal. I think Muta is likely but Piper is just my dream to see him and Flair go at it.

 

Okay...so...just post your picks. I'm going to put a couple of days between this post and posting WrestleWar because I would really like to see some folks jump in the pick'em game.

 

I think it could be a cool way to get people involved and I do plan on breaking the competition up into two blocks once I see who's all posted. If someone ends up joining at a later PPV, I'll give them points equal to the person in the middle of the pack so that they have an opportunity to win as well.

 

And I figured what I would actually do for the winner is put their likeness in the game and let them work one segment with a worker of their choice.

[Janpei]

WCW WrestleWar ‘91

Live in North Carolina

 

Airs Live on Pay Per View Sunday Week 3, February 1991

 

---

 

The show opened to the broadcasting team of Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross, and Dusty Rhodes. The three men hyped up the Pay Per View and Dusty talked up the crowning of the first ever WCW World Champion.

 

From there, Jim Ross announced that Missy Hyatt had an exclusive interview with The Four Horsemen to kick things off at WrestleWar.

 

Arn Anderson and Ric Flair handled all of the talking, both men once again putting the audience in the palms of their hands. Arn is honestly one of our better workers, and we honestly hadn’t realized this until much later in our tapings, so we’re looking to rectify that going into our bookings after WrestleWar.

 

”The Dynamite Dream team is what they call themselves, huh? It’s a miracle they even get to share the same ring with us. They have everyone fooled by how great they were in Japan, but folks I’m going to tell you now, there’s no connection between their success in Japan and their success...or lack thereof...here in WCW. I can promise you one thing, though, tonight, there will be violence.” (sorry I had to make some kind of Miracle Violence Connection reference)

 

”And while Arn and Barry send those two pretenders on the first plane back to Japan, the big man here is gonna break Lex Luger in half. Lex, for all of those muscles you have, you’re clearly lacking a brain. No one in their right man would step in the ring with my man, Sid. But I’ll give you credit, you’re smarter than your pal Sting. Sting, there aren’t enough little Stingers in the world that can save you from what’s going to happen to you in that cage tonight. Steve and Gordy are going back to Japan, but I’m sending you to the hospital. And ladies, The Horsemen are going to paint the town when this show is over, and if you ask nicely, I might let you hold that WCW World Championship belt. Woooo!” (B+)

 

The Dynamite Dream Team vs. Arn Anderson & Barry Windham

 

When we first started planning this event out, we weren’t entirely sure how matches were going to be arranged. The original plan was for $50,000 Challenge to open the show, but the guys on the team with ring experience stressed that it was important we open the show with our more popular workers and then sandwich the story driven matches in the middle of the show.

 

It was also important that we really introduced The Dynamite Dream Team off the right way in their first Pay Per View appearance. People were familiar with both Terry and Williams due to their past tenures under the Jim Crockett Promotions National Wrestling Alliance banners. With that said, it was a safe bet that your run of the mill WCW fan weren’t very familiar with the two as a tag team unit and with everyone on the writing team having a vested interest in bolstering our tag team division, it was crucial that they had a good performance here.

 

Starting with this match was the right choice, the wrestling was great, and the fans were really into it. Gordy and Williams were two powerhouse brutes, but their psychology and in-ring basics were significantly overlooked. Arn and Barry were the right choice in running this program, as the two teams were able to put on a clinic for the people who enjoyed the more scientific wrestling. Anderson and Windham also did such a fantastic job at selling Gordy’s and ”Dr. Death’s” power offense, that it really caused the crowd to break into excitement

 

We didn’t want Arn and Barry to take a straight up loss tonight, so after taking a big bodyslam, Arn rolled out of the ring and threw his hands toward The Dynamite Dream Team as if to suggest he was done with them. Windham who was also gasping to catch his breath followed behind Arn and The Horsemen duo began walking away from The Dream Team.

 

Williams and Gordy looked frustrated, taunting for the two to get back in the ring but from the stage, you could see Arn and Windham both wincing in pain before Arn simply stated “We don’t need this!”. By that time, referee, Randy Anderson, reached the ten count.

 

The Dynamite Dream Team defeated Arn Anderson & Barry Windham by countout (B)

 

---

 

Alexandra York’s $50,000 Challenge

”The Future Legend” Steve Austin & Kevin Steel w/ Alexandra York vs. Brian Pillman & The Calgary Kid

 

We knew this would be Kevin Steel’s last night with the company, so over the last two weeks, we really shifted our attention to Steve Austin who was really leaving a good impression with a lot of people in the back.

 

This was one of our programs that we wanted to focus more on the storytelling aspect, so they worked a very conservative style with it more being structured to manipulate the ebb and flow of the crowd’s excitement.

 

At one moment during the match, we teased the upset: The Calgary Kid had just dropped Steve Austin with a crossbody splash from the second rope. Kevin Steel moved into the ring to break it up, by dropping an elbow, but Calgary saw the elbow coming and moved out of position. This caused Steel to land right on his own tag team partner and Pillman came charging right at Steel both spilling outside of the ring. Calgary immediately went for the pin again and everyone thought they were witnessing a victory, but Austin managed to kick out right before the final count.

 

We lessened how much influence Kevin Steel would have on the match outcome, so we wanted to make sure Jody Hamilton who helped put the match together stressed to the four men that Austin would be the one to pick up the win while not putting much focus on Kevin Steel with Bischoff even telling Hamilton that Steel should get in Austin’s way occasionally, thus why Steel dropped the elbow on Austin.

 

Austin introduced his finishing move in tonight’s match, Legends Never Die, when he lifted Brian Pillman up in the air and dropped him across the top rope. Pillman bounced off the ropes and landed on the ring canvas, clutching his throat. From there, Austin picked up the pinfall for his team.

 

I really hated seeing Kevin Steel go as I felt he was made for television. I don’t work on the money end of things, but I heard it wasn’t a creative thing and more of a money dispute.

 

Steve Austin & Kevin Steel defeated Brian Pillman & The Calgary Kid by pinfall ©

 

---

 

WCW Television Championship

Bobby Eaton w/ Paul E. Dangerously vs. Tom Zenk

 

This was the program that I think we all fell in love with in the writer’s room. Since pairing Bobby Eaton with Paul E. Dangerously, the two were generating heat like wildfire and it also helped turn Tom Zenk into a big time babyface . There was even the secondary stuff that we focused on between Paul E. Dangerously and Dusty Rhodes by having Dusty refer to Paul as slimy and scum from the broadcast position.

 

It was also important to note that Zenk and Eaton worked well together and while we had originally decided that we wanted a more storytelling structured match, we were convinced that if we just let the two work a more traditional style that the fans would normally expect from a championship match, it would do us a better service

 

With Harley Race’s help putting this one together, they ended up with work that both men could be proud of. We were still able to implement some storytelling with Paul E. Dangerously’s work from ringside and Dusty Rhodes occasionally talking him down from commentary.

 

We went for a repeat ending of their first encounter, with slight modifications. Bobby Eaton was able to jump from the top rope and land on Tom Zenk with the Alabama Jam. When he went for the cover, Tom Zenk had mustered enough energy to get his foot on the rope. Instead of having Nick Patrick not see it, we had Paul E. Dangerously push Zenk’s foot away from the rope before Patrick was even aware of what was happening. Dangerously grabbed the belt and he and Eaton immediately hightailed it out of the ring while Zenk, who was still trying to regain his wits, was trying to explain to Nick Patrick what just happened.

 

Bobby Eaton defeated Tom Zenk by pinfall to win the WCW Television Championship (B-)

 

The interactions between Paul E. Dangerously and Dusty Rhodes was a happy accident that only came together as a way to put more heat on a Bobby Eaton and Tom Zenk program, but when we saw how well the two men worked together on the mic, we always wondered if we could get more mileage out of it. It was time to find out. Tonight would be the night that we’d build tension between Dusty Rhodes and Paul E. by having Paul and Bobby approach Dusty Rhodes at the broadcast table.

 

Dusty made very scathing remarks about what transpired in the ring and told Tony and Ross that Dangerously wasn’t getting away with any of that. Dangerously got Dusty’s face and told him Eaton was Champion and not a thing could be done about it. Rhodes immediately removed his headset and stood up, causing Dangerously to back down and the fans to pipe up in excitement. Dangerously seemingly had nothing to worry about as his charge, Bobby Eaton, moved in between the two and got in Dusty’s face. Dusty paused,knowing that as the head of management, he had to have a cooler head. He shook his head, put his headset back on, and took his seat. Eaton smirked, held the WCW Television Championship in Dusty’s face before he and Dangerously walked away. (B+)

 

---

 

No Countouts

Big Van Vader vs. Junkyard Dog

 

Due to Junkyard Dog’s declining abilities in the ring, we wanted to keep this one pretty short and to the point. We had spent weeks playing up how tough the two were, with both men going to a double countout in their only other encounter, so we wanted the no countout stipulation to play some kind of factor in the match.

 

The two spent most of their time outside of the ring and it was a short, wild brawl that clocked in at maybe nine minutes at most. It was short and to the point and it was enough to keep the fans invested. We weren’t expecting a whole lot from this match because their last go around had some issues, such as Dog getting winded pretty early and neither man selling each other’s offense, and those flaws were still present in this outing, but nowhere near as noticeable.

 

We got to our ending when Vader charged and hit a body splash on a standing Junkyard Dog that ended up sandwiching Dog in between the superheavyweight, Vader, and the security railing.. While that was enough to finish anyone off, Vader tossed Junkyard back into the ring and hit another big body splash before finally going for the pin.

 

Vader defeated Junkyard Dog by pinfall (B-)

 

We wanted to put an exclamation point on the Junkyard Dog Vader blow-off, so we had Vader run his usual routine by beating up Dog even after the match was over. With his victim not being the usual local talent we’d normally use in this spot and one of our higher profile workers, the crowd really ate this moment up, hoping for Junkyard Dog to rally and fight back, but booing when it was very clear that Vader wasn’t going to get his comeuppance. Vader flexed in the center of the ring while a few WCW officials came from the locker room to check on Junkyard Dog.

 

Our decision here is to give Junkyard Dog some time off because it was pretty evident that he just couldn’t keep up with the talent that we were putting our time in developing, but we also really wanted to sell the beating Vader gave JYD and we felt it wouldn’t have the same effect if Dog[/b showed up on TV a week or two down the road.

 

Overall, both men did great in this segment with Junkyard Dog doing a pretty damn good job of making Vader’s beating seem like a legitimate, career threatening moment. (B+)

 

---

 

Lex Luger vs. Sid Vicious

 

The fact that we all viewed this as a time filler really shows how stacked our first event of the year truly was. That’s not a knock on Lex or Sid as both have a lot of upside with both having great physiques and connecting pretty well with our crowd, this was just one of those matches that we put together for the sake of having something for them to do.

 

We weren’t really sure what the focus should have been. In retrospect, we probably should have put them on before the main event to work as a solid buffer to cool the crowd, but Dusty, who produced this match, decided that we should give them twelve to thirteen minutes just to see what they could do out there.

 

The result was pretty pleasing. Lex who’s not a scientific wrestler by any means, showed a lack of psychology at times, but it wasn’t to a degree where any of us in the back felt it hurt the match to a significant degree. Sid, as well, showed that he could be a reliable marquee feature and again, while lacking some of the finer aspects of wrestling that an Arn, Flair, or even a Sting possessed, he more than made up for those shortcomings with his intensity and physique.

 

So this really ended up being a thirteen minute litmus test to see if they could hang in our main event picture and I think everyone felt that they’d be a solid hand when needed. Lex eventually picked up the win after flying into Vicious with a forearm smash.

 

Lex Luger defeated Sid Vicious by pinfall (B-)

 

---

 

We wanted to give Sting some segment time so we ran an interview between him and Missy Hyatt so Sting could get the last word in on Flair before the World Championship Warfare. For anyone else, it would have been fine work, but for Sting it wasn’t up to par with previous offerings.

 

We’re not really sure what it was about this segment that didn’t work. Missy kind of rambled at the beginning. It’s also possible that Sting’s attention was more focused on World Championship Warfare since it was still a new concept to everyone and no one was really sure how things were going to work out.

 

Dick the Bruiser produced the segment requested that Sting be a bit more serious to sell the audience on the grave nature of World Championship Warfare and honestly, Sting works better when he’s all energy, the crowd feeds off of that. Maybe that was the issue.

 

”When that cage comes down and that bell rings, it’ll be just me and you, Flair. Your Horsemen won’t be there to save you. I’m going to cherish every single second that I’m alone with you in there. When that buzzer goes off, then it’s game time.” (B-)

 

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WCW World Tag Team Championships

The Steiner Brothers vs. Doom

 

Though we knew both of these teams could go, we wanted to cool the crowd so they wouldn’t be burned out by the time the World Championship Warfare started. Much like the earlier tag team match, the two teams worked a conservative style but still incorporated some of the usual tag team fundamentals, such as a hot tag from Rick to Scott so that the crowd did have moments to be excited for.

 

We had a back and forth in our meetings on where we wanted to go concerning the World Tag Team titles. Four days before WrestleWar Doom would be penciled in to win. A day later, The Steiners would be in the books. This went back and forth but ultimately we had a goal in mind. I’m not going to reveal that goal at this point in time, but we definitely had a tag team program that we wanted to build to so the best route to get there would be to put Doom over.

 

Some felt Doom really needed the rub, anyway, as a lot of people are high on Ron Simmons and Butch Reed and also believe that Teddy Long is really under the radar as far as mic work went. The feeling was that a lot of people had already went into this program thinking The Steiners were going to win, and felt it would really legitimize and help the long term trajectory of Simmons and Reed if they earned the honors of being the first World Tag Team Champions. With that, we had Doom dispatch Scott Steiner with Butch Reed posturing Scott so Ron Simmons could hit him with a diving shoulder block from the middle rope to pick up the pinfall.

 

For being so late on the card and being instructed to calm the audience, the match turned out pretty okay. I don’t think Eric had much interest in going any further with this particular program due to having other plans in mind for both teams, but I think everyone felt that both teams could really put together something special if given the time so maybe we’ll revisit it down the road.

 

Doom defeated The Steiner Brothers to become the first ever WCW World Tag Team Champions (C+)

 

---

 

World Championship Warfare

WCW World Heavyweight Championship

Ric Flair vs. Sting vs. Larry Zbyszko vs. Rick Rude vs. TBA vs. TBA

 

With the cell structure surrounding the ring, fans began to realize they were in store for something special and the excitement broke out. In the production area, we were nervous as hell. We weren’t entirely sure if this would be the success we wanted it to be or not, but hearing the fans reaction was a great start.

 

When Ric Flair’s music hit, the crowd really broke out, because now it was game time. The commentary team of Ross, Schiavone, and Rhodes did a good job of focusing on the Sting and Flair rivalry without downplaying the importance of crowning the first ever WCW World Champion.

 

Ric Flair was instructed to put over the gravity of being in something as intimidating as the World Championship Warfare structure and he did so by grabbing on the chain linked cage and shaking on it. He then looked up at the height of the cell before slowly walking in.

 

Once Sting’s music hit, the audience broke out, knowing that in just mere seconds not only was WCW’s top babyface coming out, but that he was finally going to get his hands on the elusive Ric Flair. Sting came out focused. Looking straight at Flair. He did break his gaze to look at the cell, pretty much doing motions similar to Flair by grabbing on the cage and estimating the height of the structure. Sting then moved inside and once the introductions were over, the cage door was shut, and the bell rang, Sting immediately laid into Flair.

 

The two men did some fantastic work in the cage and the crowd ate it up. Sting started with a series of right hands and Flair found himself on his knees, asking for forgiveness. Sting flexed, picked him back up and began punching him again. This caused Flair to roll outside of the ring, and the chase was on.

 

After a couple of laps around the ring, Sting was finally able to get his hands on Flair again and began using the cage as an ally. ”The Nature Boy” was tossed right into the cage and when he came bouncing back toward Sting, Stinger would run him to the opposite end, tossing him into the fencing on that side as well.

 

#3 - Larry Zbyszko

 

Ric Flair found an help once Larry Zbyszko joined the fray. The tide was turned on Sting and the audience cheered for a rally. Sting would fight back in spurts, but the two would always cut him off before he could mount a full comeback.

 

With the three outside of the ring, Zbyszko and Flair took turns tossing Sting into the cage and the wear and tear of being in the gruesome World Championship Warfare cell began to show as Sting’s familiar face paint had come close to completely sweating off. On the fourth attempt at sending Sting into the cage, he was able to stop himself before dropping Zbyszko with a clothesline. Flair immediately backed away with Sting chasing him back into the ring.

 

Flair once again dropped to his knees and Sting smirked, shaking his head no, but before he could get some more offense in, Zbyszko attacked from behind and the two men continued their alliance to take out Sting

 

#4 - “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff

 

”Mr. Wonderful” made for a surprising return to WCW after leaving in the fall of 1990 and he made his allegiance very clear by dropping both Zbyszko and Flair and helping Sting back to his feet, alluding to his partnership with Sting as The Dudes With Attitude. World Championship Warfare turned into a tag team war with Orndorff and Zbyszko fighting outside of the ring and Sting beating on Flair inside the ring. The crowd was eating all of this up and all four guys were doing a great job of putting on one hell of a performance. Any anxiety we had leading up to tonight was certainly gone after seeing this.

 

Even though the bigger picture was crowning a new WCW World Champion, Sting and Flair really brought their A-game and really focused on fighting each other for pretty much the entire length of the match up until this point and it really helped add to their feud, which had been a longstanding fixture in WCW to begin with. Anytime Sting got his hands on Flair the crowd went wild and the two men definitely made sure to incorporate the World Championship Warfare fencing, constantly bouncing each other off of it.

 

#5 - Rick Rude

 

Rude came in and made his allegiance clear - he had none. He started by tossing Paul Orndorff into the cage and then immediately broke out into a brawl with Zbyszko before sending him into the cage as well. With the Warfare door still opened due to Rude coming in, Flair saw this as his opportunity to get away from Sting and he made his escape by stepping outside of the cage. After fighting through Rude, Sting, too, made his way outside and once again, the chase was on.

 

Sting and Flair disappeared into the locker room, but it wasn’t for very long. Thirty, maybe forty seconds later Ric Flair came running back down the ramp, opening the cage door, and joining the World Championship Warfare action by chopping Orndorff. Sting wasn’t too far behind, moving back into the structure and exchanging punches with Rude and Zbyszko before getting his hands on Flair.

 

The melee stopped when the sixth man came out.

 

#6 - Vader

 

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WARFARE HAS BEGUN

 

The five men stopped what they were doing and watched as the massive Vader made his way into the cage. With the final participant being in the cage, referee Nick Patrick locked the cage door and World Championship Warfare began.

 

Zbyszko was the first to charge at Vader and Vader just jumped into him with all of his weight, taking him out. Orndorff then tried and ate a flurry of punches before being tossed out of the ring. Rude managed to get a kick and a couple of punches in, but ate a massive belly to belly suplex.

 

Then a moment that no one expected developed. Flair and Sting looked at each other, put their differences aside, and immediately started attacking Vader in tandem. Punches from Sting, chops from Flair, the crowd was going bananas. They finally backed Vader into the ropes, both men combining forces to Irish whip him to the opposite set of ropes, but when he came back, he dropped both men with a double clothesline.

 

Sting and Flair weren’t done though as both men fought back to their feet and got right back in Vader’s face hitting him with everything they had. The crowd exploded when both men joined hands and sent Vader outside of the ring with a double clothesline. Both men taunted, but Flair immediately ended the truce by rolling Sting up with a school-boy. Sting, however, was able to kick out and just like that, the rivalry between the two men was back on.

 

Bodies were everywhere and flesh had been torn by the unforgiving chain links. Flair, Zbyszko, and Orndorff were bloody. Sting’s face paint was completely gone and was instead replaced with traces of blood. The WCW crowd got to see Vader bleed for the first time after he missed a body splash on Rude and went face first into the fencing.

 

There was no second-guessing, World Championship Warfare was a success. We could hear the crowd from our production area. There was never a second of silence. All six men played a role in making this thing happen and they all deserved praise.

 

We were moving into the half hour territory and it was time to get the finale going. Flair and Sting formed their makeshift alliance again to take on the imposing Vader but it was a trap set up by Flair. Flair dug into his tights and pulled out a pair of handcuffs, which Ross hypothesized he was able to obtain when he ran to the locker room, and surprised Sting by handcuffing him to the fencing. With Sting attached to the cage, it was quite obvious that only five men had a chance at winning the WCW World Championship. The fighting continued in and around the ring while Sting struggled to get back in the hunt by trying to forcibly pulling at the handcuffs, hoping he could get them to break away from the chain linked fencing.

 

Flair would be next to be taken out of the picture as he tried for his usual top rope spot but was slammed to the canvas by Orndorff. ”Mr. Wonderful” taunted while Flair rolled to the outside and Rick Rude used that opportunity to throw Orndorff over the top rope. Zbyszko and Rude began fighting in one corner of the ring, but both were sandwiched into the turnbuckle by Vader. Vader then saw his moment, bounced off the ropes, and came crashing on Zbyszko with a body splash to pick up the victory and become the first ever WCW World Champion.

 

The crowd was absolutely stunned. Vader proved that he was as tough as he claimed by not only beating Junkyard Dog but joining the World Championship Warfare melee and winning. Again, it was such a tough decision in choosing who we wanted to win this thing, but the idea was to put it on a new face to establish that the new WCW regime weren’t afraid to take risks and not always rely on the safe bets.

 

We’re sure many saw similarities between what Vince and company did with Ted DiBiase at Royal Rumble and what we did with Vader here, but this wasn’t a case of the bad guy barely squeaking away a victory and then buying his way into an advantageous position. Vader had a bar room brawl, kicked that guy’s ass and then decided to go to the bar next door and kick everyone’s ass there too just because he could. Ted DiBiase was smart and nefarious whereas Vader was just a badass. Similar approaches, but two different stories being told.

 

There was absolutely no doubt that World Championship Warfare was everything we needed it to be. World Championship Warfare would undoubtedly be a permanent fixture in WCW’s budding future.

 

Vader won the World Championship Warfare to become the first WCW World Heavyweight Champion (B)

 

WrestleWar ‘91 Grade: B

[Mattywood]

I just got started reading this, but I'm liking what I'm reading so far. I love the Dusty-isms that you are throwing in.

[Janpei]

Behind the Curtain

 

WrestleWar was in the books and the six World Championship Warfare competitors made left the ringside area and made their way back into the production center. With each worker making their arrival into the room one by one, they were met with handshakes and congratulatory remarks from all of us. Last to arrive was Vader and the boys poured out from the locker room to give Vader a standing ovation, with most of the locker room shaking his hand, and congratulating him for earning championship honors. Ric Flair approached Vader shook his hand and told him that tonight was his night and that he earned it, but also told him that it’s his responsibility to go out there every night and show why he deserves to be top dog.

 

With the commotion calming down, Eric Bischoff finally spoke. He gave praise to all six men in the World Championship Warfare match and told Vader that he really looked like a star tonight. He also complimented Sting and Ric Flair by stating that the work they did with each other tonight added a whole new layer to their rivalry. He complimented Paul Orndorff’s professionalism and performance, stating that Paul looked like a million bucks out there. Rude and Zbyszko were told that their timing with the finish was excellent and Bischoff appreciated Zbyszko for doing the job.

 

Bischoff also gave some praise to Bobby Eaton and Paul E. Dangerously claiming that since pairing the two together, they have been gaining a ton of traction with the crowd and tonight was no exception. He shook Tom Zenk’s hand and told him that he really enjoyed their Television Championship match and that if he continued putting in the work, he had a very bright future in WCW

 

Finally, Bischoff complimented Dusty’s performance from the broadcast position believing that Dusty’s praising of the WCW World Championship helped elevate its prestige. Eric also liked the subtle things Dusty did during his confrontation with Dangerously and Eaton and that he felt that they had something special developing with that particular program.

 

”We’re not done, though. Tonight was a great night, we kicked ass, but it only gets harder from here. We have TV in two days and we need to start putting things in motion for Superbrawl in April. Let’s show everyone this wasn’t just a fluke!”

 

---

 

Notes & Blurbs from after WrestleWar ‘91

 

Head to Head

 

WCW Saturday Night February Week 1 - 8,464 in attendance with a 2.5 television rating (~1.8 million viewers) | WWF Superstars February Week 1 - 7,181 in attendance with a 4.58 television rating (~3.4 million viewers)

 

WCW Saturday Night February Week 2 - 5,000 (sold out) in attendance with a 2.52 television rating (~1.8 million viewers) |. WWF Superstars February Week 2 - 14,817 in attendance (sold out) with a 4.47 television rating (~3.3 million viewers)

 

WCW Saturday Night February Week 3 - 10,928 in attendance (sold out) with a 2.46 television rating (~1.8 million viewers) | WWF Superstars February Week 3 - 18,163 in attendance with a 4.57 television rating (~3.4 million viewers)

 

WCW WrestleWar ‘91 February 1991 - 25,000 in attendance (sold out) with a .33 PPV Buyrate (167,322 buys) | WWF In Your House 1 February 1991 - 15,902 in attendance with a .46 PPV buyrate (231,362 buys) | WWF Royal Rumble ‘91 January 1991 - 17,342 in attendance with a .58 buyrate (293,632 buys)

 

Planning for WrestleWar

 

During the time leading up to WrestleWar, we had flirted with different ideas in preparation for the event. Ricky Steamboat and The Great Muta were two names that had floated around as possible participants for World Championship Warfare. The deal with Steamboat was close to being finalized, but WWF were willing to offer a downside guarantee that the front office just wasn’t willing to meet. Given our relationship with New Japan, getting Keiji Mutoh involved was much easier, but when things fell into place with Paul Orndorff and Rick Rude we decided to go with that option instead.

 

Jushin Liger was another name that we wanted to feature on the show and we originally had plans to do a one-off program with him and Larry Zbyszko as a show opener. Ultimately, it was decided to place Zbyszko in the World Championship Warfare match.

 

Not everyone was pleased with the initial idea of putting the WCW World Championship on Vader so it was a delicate situation where it was absolutely necessary that everyone looked as good as possible when it came to the WrestleWar outcome. Sting had no issues giving Vader his time in the spotlight and Larry Zbyszko even offered to be the one who ate the pin. Rude and Flair primarily voiced their concerns, primarily focusing on Vader not being an established name yet. With a rewrite to the original finish (which actually had Flair taking the pin) and some locker room bonuses, neither man took much issue with doing business afterward.

 

Arrivals

 

Steve Williams, Terry Gordy, Paul Orndorff, and Rick Rude have all accepted small written deals with the company. While Rude, Williams, and Gordy will be featured specifically as in-ring talent, Paul Orndorff will slowly be phased into a Road Agent role. Orndorff expressed interest in helping produce segments for the show so, he’ll be joining us behind the scenes down the road.

 

We’ve also signed two younger talents to small pay per appearance deals. New Japan’s, Wild Pegasus has agreed to work shows with us during NJPW’s downtime and so far, we’re using him on our smaller programming, primarily Main Event. The second talent is a man we have plans to introduce on TV soon.

 

Departures

 

Word is that Kevin Steel let his push go to his head. Originally, Steel was going to be the sole focus of The Alexandra York Foundation but his ego made him no friends in the locker room. Steve Austin got along with everyone backstage and a few people were already impressed with some of the work he was putting in during the tapings, so the suggestion was to shift more of the focus on him.

 

The details that followed next, I’m incredibly fuzzy on, but Nash confronted Eric and said something along the lines of being worth a lot more than what he’s being paid. Bischoff wanted to neutralize the situation and feeling that WCW could use another big man similar in height to Sid Vicious, Bischoff met his pay increase request, but Steel tried to hold him up for more at which point, Bischoff didn’t budge. A day later, Steel barged into the front office and handed in his notice.

 

Tommy Rich once again showed up to the locker room completely strung out. Bischoff could no longer be lenient and terminated Tommy Rich on the spot. Tommy had a few friends in the locker room but everyone agreed that his lifestyle was becoming destructive. I really hope he’s able to find some help.

 

Michael Wallstreet’s and The Juicer’s contracts expired and both men were released from WCW. The idea going around is that we had to make room for our new signings so anyone that was deemed expendable by Bischoff was going to be let go. There are a couple of other names rumored to be next, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were given their walking papers, too.

 

Other tidbits

 

Jody Hamilton is really pushing for us to give Steve Austin more TV time. He thinks ”The Future Legend” could really be something. Brian Pillman, however, wasn’t a big fan of Austin’s selling and felt that he needed improve that part of his game if he was going to go further.

 

Ric Flair is not a fan of Buddy Lee Parker, believing he is too clumsy in the ring and could potentially hurt someone.

 

Rick Rude levied heavy criticisms on Kevin Steel and The Italian Stallion stating that neither of them were worth keeping around due to having really poor fundamentals. Steel would put in his notice only a three or four days after this conversation and there still are no real plans to do anything outside of having Stallion put over other talent on our roster, so no action needed to be taken. The best part out of all of this is Stallion was actually heard telling some of the boys in the back that he should be higher on the cards.

 

Lex Luger has been working out in the gym and is now classified as a ripped light heavyweight. The leaner, more defined frame makes him look like an action figure and we’re really aiming to feature him on television more.

 

Scott Armstrong got a lot of laughs from the boys in the back after doing a pretty spot on Dusty Rhodes impression. Even The American Dream couldn’t help but laugh before joking that Scott would never win another match in WCW again.

 

Arn Anderson had to stage a Wrestler’s Court to call out Buddy Landel who had been carpooling with different members of The Horsemen but not paying for his share of the car rental. The punishment was simple: Buddy pay for the cost of the entire car rental next time and Buddy accepted the punishment without complaint.

 

Jimmy Garvin got himself suspended for 30 days after showing up to a set of tapings completely inebriated. It was so bad this time that he wasn’t even allowed to work his match that night with the plans being changed to Michael Hayes working a singles match with Norman the Lunatic instead. From what I heard, Jimmy Garvin took the suspension really well, and it seemed to be the reality check he needed.

 

No idea how it started or why he thought it was a good idea, but Tracy Smothers got in a fight with Sid Vicious of all people after a Saturday Night taping. No one was there to witness how it started or what it was over, just that Smothers got in Sid’s face, started shouting, and then immediately started swinging. All I heard was that Sid Vicious ragdolled him across the locker room but it was broken up before any real damage could be done.

 

The consensus from the locker room witnesses all place Tracy Smothers as instigating the fight, so he was fined a small amount while Vicious was given a warning. Smothers reportedly did not take to Sid’s lack of punishment well.

 

Harley Race is continuing to pass his knowledge onto Jim Clontz who Race believes could be a solid hand if given the time. Ric Flair and Stan Hansen have also found proteges in Chris Youngblood and Mark Kyle respectively.

 

Sting helped calm everyone’s nerves in preparation for WrestleWar by hosting a poker tournament on the WCW tapings the Wednesday before the Pay Per View.

 

Rip Morgan had to buy drinks for everyone in the locker room after failing to shake Vader’s hand when he came to the back after WrestleWar. There was no animosity between the two, just that Rip wasn’t aware of the custom of shaking the Champion’s hand. Locker room leader, Arn Anderson, called him out and informed him of his bar tab duties. Rip Morgan seemed to take the punishment in jest, asking the boys where they were drinking tonight.

 

Steve Armstrong and George South had spent a WCW Main Event taping playing pranks on each other and it was said that they kept the locker room in good spirits with their antics.

 

Randy Anderson arrived an hour late for a set of television tapings. This was literally the first time Anderson had done anything wrong, including before my time with the company, so he was only given a warning.

 

WWF is exploring a monthly Pay Per View model. By running twelve Pay Per Views a year, Vince runs the risk of oversaturation. However, if it works, the company will have a huge revenue stream coming their way. Bischoff is keeping his eye on this development, so I imagine it won’t be too long before he decides to follow suit. Ultimately, it really depends on how this experiment plays out for WWF

 

In Your House is the first offering in WWF’s monthly Pay Per Views model. The show has seemed to be a critical and commercial success all around, with more preferring this show to their previous Pay Per View event, Royal Rumble.

 

On the show, they took the Earthquake/Hulk Hogan program to the next level by having Earthquake attack Hogan during an interview. Then Ted DiBiase had his first successful WWF Heavyweight Championship defense by beating Jim Duggan. The most entertaining match of the night was the main event, a six man tag with The Undertaker, Earthquake, and Sgt. Slaughter teaming up to defeat a dream team of Jake Roberts, The Ultimate Warrior, and Randy Savage

[Everything Ken]

GameFaqs represent.

 

I'll be following this.

[Mattywood]

Please tell me that Sid used a squeegee in his fight against Tracy Smothers.

[Janpei]

WCW Power Hour

Taped Wednesday, Week 4, February 1991 (Airs Friday, Week 4, February 1991)

 

Jim Ross opened Power Hour by citing WrestleWar as a classic, must watch Pay Per View extravaganza. He revealed that they would recap some of the highlights from WrestleWar throughout the night, but he was interrupted by his broadcast colleague, Paul E. Dangerously who wanted Ross to skip to the part where they show his client, Bobby Eaton, winning the WCW Television Title.

 

This lead to the night’s first WrestleWar highlight reel which revealed the ending of Bobby Eaton’s match with Tom Zenk where Paul E. Dangerously clearly played a factor in the outcome.

 

”I’m not sure I would have asked for that to be shown, Paul. It was clear as day that you got yourself involved in that match. You just implicated yourself, pal.” (A)

 

Steve Austin defeated The Italian Stallion (D+)

 

After the match Alexandra York spoke to Tony Schiavone about cutting the deadweight from her Foundation. With Kevin Steel gone, she referred to Steve Austin as a solo star in the making, but did indicate that she’s always keeping her open for new additions to the Foundation. (C+)

 

Another WrestleWar recap package aired showing stills from World Championship Warfare. It showcased the return of Paul Orndorff, Sting being handcuffed to the cage, and Vader ultimately being crowned the WCW World Champion. (A*)

 

The Steiner Brothers rebounded with a win over local talents The Patriot and Art Barr ©

 

Jim Ross closes the show by announcing that Sting will be present Saturday Night with something to say.

 

”Folks, I’m being told that Stinger will be at WCW Saturday Night and has a few things he would like to get off his chest. You won’t want to miss WCW Saturday Night!” (B-)

 

WCW Power Hour Grade: B-

 

---

 

WCW Saturday Night

Taped Wednesday, Week 4, February 1991 (Airs Saturday, Week 4, February 1991)

 

Dusty Rhodes has an interview segment with Tony Schiavone. He sarcastically congratulates Bobby Eaton on his WCW Television Championship win, but then informed everyone that Bobby Eaton would have a match tonight as a “reward”

 

”And Tony, I ain’t tellin’ you who he’s stepping in that ring with tonight so if I was Mr. Dangerously I’d have him preparin’ for anyone and everyone, daddy!” (A)

 

The Dynamite Dream Team continued their winning ways by defeating The Royal Family ©

 

During a post-match interview, The Dynamite Dream Team made their mission statement clear: they were eyeing Doom’s WCW Tag Team Championships. (B)

 

A bit was done in the backstage area where Missy Hyatt interviewed Rick Rude. We wanted Missy to start by asking Rude various questions about his time in World Championship Warfare, but the real focus was to ignite a program with Paul Orndroff:

 

”I may not have won World Championship Warfare, but look at my face, Missy! No scars on my body, no bandages, I’m still the sexiest man in World Championship Wrestling. Just look at me.” (Rick Rude)

 

”You’re no ‘Mr. Wonderful…’” (Missy Hyatt said sort of under under her breath.)

 

”I’m no ‘Mr Who’!?” (Rick Rude)

 

Missy Hyatt’s small comment resulted in Rick Rude getting angered, with him beginning to ask Missy to repeat what she said as well as making a host of insulting remarks that were aimed toward Orndorff. Missy Hyatt nervously directed the attention back to ringside as Rude continued to demand that Missy repeat herself. (C+)

 

Larry Zbyszko defeated Dustin Rhodes (C+)

 

A video package played that showcased Brian Pillman and The Calgary Kid who were referred to as WCW’s Youth Movement. It served as a highlight reel, showing some of the feats the two had accomplished since joining WCW with the video ending with a tagline that read ”WCW’s future is bright.”. (C-)

 

WCW World Champion Vader dominated local talent Art Barr for a quick win. (C-)

 

The camera cut backstage to Tony Schiavone who was doing some preliminary advertising for WCW’s next Pay Per View outing, Superbrawl, when he was interrupted by Larry Zbyszko. Zbyszko ran down the video package that played earlier featuring Brian Pillman and The Calgary Kid and made a comment about Saturday Night using airtime to talk about “two cocky, snot nosed punk kids” instead of asking a former World Champion about his experience in the World Championship Warfare match.

 

”Well, it’s time someone teach those punks a lesson. Calgary Kid, looks like someone gave your snot-nosed butt the night off. How about next Saturday, you get in the ring with someone who has some wrestling experience so he can show you your place?” (C+)

 

Paul Orndorff defeated WCW Television Champion Bobby Eaton in a non-title match

 

Bobby Eaton and Paul E. Dangerously did some fantastic work when it was revealed that Paul Orndorff was the mystery opponent. We had Dangerously and Eaton immediately get in referee, Nick Patrick’s face, demanding that the match be called off to which Patrick refused.

 

The primary focus here was to put Orndorff over as someone that Eaton did not want to wrestle, so the offense we did allow Eaton to get in always came off the heels of a distraction from Dangerously or cheap transitionary moves such as an “accidental” eye poke or Eaton being chased by Orndorff outside of the ring, Eaton rolling back in the ring, and then Orndorff eating stomps the moment he tried to enter the ring behind Bobby.

 

The end of the match came when Bobby Eaton decided that he had had enough and he and Paul E. Dangerously went to retreat to the locker room only for Tom Zenk to appear on stage, causing Eaton and Dangerously to back pedal down the walkway and back toward ringside where Orndorff stepped up behind Eaton and tossed him back into the ring.

 

With Tom Zenk at ringside keeping an eye on Paul E. Dangerously, it wasn’t too much longer until Paul Orndorff would earn the victory after taking out Bobby Eaton with a beautiful vertical suplex. (B-)

 

Sting joined Tony Schiavone on stage in the last segment of the night. Sting talked about his failure to capture the WCW World Championship on Sunday and said the result has been playing through his head all week. He said all he could think about was something as simple as a handcuff being the thing that kept him from his WCW World Championship dreams and with that he called Ric Flair to join him out on the stage.

 

The crowd was buzzing as a dressed to the nines Ric Flair came out and stood on the opposite side of Schiavone, going face to face with Sting. From the commentary position Magnum TA pondered if Ric Flair was even scheduled to be here tonight at which Jim Ross replied that he didn’t think so and then Sting began to speak.

 

”Flair, the two of us have done this dance for what seems like an eternity. Every city, every state, everywhere in America it’s been Ric Flair versus Sting, Sting versus Ric Flair. I told everyone that I was putting you in the past at WrestleWar and there was a moment on Sunday when I really thought that was true.

 

Despite us trying to hurt and take each other out on Sunday, we tossed those differences out the window once that big mammoth of a man Vader came out. When you and I fought side by side to take out one of the biggest threats in World Championship Warfare, I thought that was it. I thought that was the moment the Ric Flair Sting story ended.

 

Then you showed me why you earned the nickname ‘The Dirtiest Player’ in the game. In a memory that will forever haunt me, you handcuffed me to the cage. I watched my dreams slowly escape my grasp. With every single pull of strength I made trying to break free from that cage, I saw my chances at winning the WCW World Championship slipping further and further away from me. But then I noticed, yours were too. You were so concerned with taking me out of the picture that you were blindsided by Paul Orndorff.

 

I don’t know how many times I watched the ending of that match, Ric, but it hit me. As long as there’s a Ric Flair Sting, we will never be at the top in WCW. I thought long and hard on this but I think I have a proposal: we have eight weeks until Superbrawl. That’s two months. Two months to focus. Two months to train. Two months to commit every bit of energy to making sure we end this thing for good.

 

Now I’m not out here demanding anything from you. I’m not getting Dusty or the boys in the office involved. I’m asking you man to man, Ric. I called you out here out of respect because I want the two of us to talk like men. Ric at Superbrawl, no Four Horsemen, no Lex Luger, no tricks, no foolery, no cheating. If you beat me in the middle of that ring fair and square, I’ll look you in the eye, shake your hand, and call you the better man in front of the world. If I beat you, all I ask is that you do the same. What do you say Ric? One last time. Win, lose, or draw, we end this once and for all.”

 

Ric Flair paused, thinking the offer over before eventually speaking into Tony Schiavone’s microphone.

 

”No Horsemen, no tricks, no cheating. When I beat you, you’ll look me in eye, shake my hand, and admit to everyone watching around the world that I’m the better man. Sting, I’ll see you at Superbrawl. Woooo!” (B+)

 

WCW Saturday Night Grade: B

 

WCW Main Event

Taped Thursday, Week 4, February 1991 (Airs Sunday, Week 1, March 1991)

 

The show opened with a recap from WrestleWar with it being particularly focused on Vader who made history by becoming the first ever WCW World Champion. The broadcast team of Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross played up Vader’s toughness by discussing how we wrestled two matches to win the title and then the two analysts indicated that he could go down as one of the greatest champions in professional wrestling history. (A*)

 

A small desk was seen on stage and before anyone could wonder why it was there, Alexandra York came out with her laptop. She powered the unit up. Received a chair from one of the stagehands and sat at the desk, watching the show from the stage. Ross theorized that she was on stage to make observations and take notes, potentially looking to bolster her Foundation representatives. (C+)

 

Terry Taylor defeated Mark Kyle (D)

 

A recap of Paul Orndorff defeating Bobby Eaton aired. With Paul Orndorff defeating the champion in a non-title match, Ross and Schiavone wondered what this meant for Orndorff’s contendership status. (B-)

 

Kevin Sullivan defeated Norman the Lunatic (C-)

 

Dan Spivey defeated Ranger Ross (D)

 

The Sting Ric Flair segment from Saturday Night re-aired in its entirety. Once the video package ended, from commentary Jim Ross reconfirmed that Sting and Ric Flair would lock it up one last time at April’s Superbrawl (B+)

 

WCW Main Event Grade: C+

[Janpei]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="45250" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><strong>WCW Power Hour</strong><p><strong> Taped Wednesday, Week 1, March 1991 (Airs Friday, Week 1, March 1991)</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> Commentary Team: Jim Ross and Paul E. Dangerously</strong></p><p> </p><p> <em>WCW Saturday Night started with another re-airing of last Saturday Night’s show closing segment between </em><em><strong>Sting</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em>. Both </em><em><strong>Jim Ross</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Paul E. Dangerously</strong></em><em> played it straight, claiming the Superbrawl encounter between </em><em><strong>Sting</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> could be the single most important match in </em><em><strong>WCW</strong></em><em> history. (B-)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> Before the action could kick off tonight on Power Hour, </em><em><strong>Alexandra York</strong></em><em> was spotted seated at her desk where she would be scouting </em><em><strong>WCW</strong></em><em> talent, observing the show from the entrance stage. ©</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>NJPW</strong></em><em> talent </em><em><strong>Wild Pegasus</strong></em><em> defeated </em><em><strong>The Italian Stallion</strong></em><em> (D+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Kevin Sullivan</strong></em><em> defeated </em><em><strong>Dustin Rhodes</strong></em><em> (D+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Sid Vicious</strong></em><em> defeated local talent </em><em><strong>Mando Guerrero</strong></em><em>(C-)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> The show closed with </em><em><strong>Jim Ross</strong></em><em> indicating he had a surprise announcement. It was just made official and reported to </em><em><strong>Jim</strong></em><em> that </em><em><strong>Bobby Eaton</strong></em><em> would be defending his Television Championship against </em><em><strong>Paul Orndorff</strong></em><em> on WCW Saturday Night.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> Upon hearing the announcement, </em><em><strong>Paul E. Dangerously</strong></em><em> threw a tantrum. During the tantrum, he tossed his headset off his head and to the floor and grabbed on </em><em><strong>Jim Ross’s</strong></em><em> collar, erratically shouting at his broadcast colleague.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>”I’m just reporting what I’m being told. Don’t shoot the messenger, Paul!”</strong></em><em> (A)</em></p><p> </p><p> <strong>WCW Power Hour Grade: C+</strong></p><p> </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> ---</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="45250" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><strong>WCW Saturday Night</strong><p><strong> Taped Wednesday, Week 1, March 1991 (Airs Saturday, Week 1, 1991)</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> Commentary Team: Jim Ross and Magnum TA</strong></p><p> </p><p> <em>A replay of the </em><em><strong>Sting</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> segment aired to begin WCW Saturday Night. We were well aware that we aired this replay for a straight week of </em><em><strong>WCW</strong></em><em> television, but wanted to drive the point home that </em><em><strong>Sting</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> at Superbrawl was a big deal. (B+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>The Calgary Kid</strong></em><em> shocked the </em><em><strong>WCW</strong></em><em> audience, but more importantly </em><em><strong>Larry Zbyszko</strong></em><em>, when he pinned the former AWA World Heavyweight Champion, reversing a suplex attempt with an inside cradle. The direction we went with in this match started off with </em><em><strong>Zbyszko</strong></em><em> having his way with </em><em><strong>Calgary Kid</strong></em><em>, showcasing how inexperienced </em><em><strong>Calgary Kid</strong></em><em> was. </em><em><strong>Zbyszko</strong></em><em> could have had the win multiple times, but decided he wanted to “teach a lesson” to the young Canadian wrestler. Due to this, </em><em><strong>Zbyszko</strong></em><em> would pay in the form of taking a loss after </em><em><strong>Calgary Kid</strong></em><em> surprised him with the pin. (C-)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> Before their match, </em><em><strong>Tony Schiavone</strong></em><em> interviewed </em><em><strong>Doom</strong></em><em> from the stage, asking the team about </em><em><strong>Dynamite Dream Team’s</strong></em><em> comments from last week. </em><em><strong>Teddy Long</strong></em><em> indicated that there was a line of teams waiting to get their shot and that they’d all meet the same fate.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> A lot of us in the office really liked the work we were getting out of </em><em><strong>Teddy Long</strong></em><em>, </em><em><strong>Butch Reed</strong></em><em>, and </em><em><strong>Ron Simmons</strong></em><em>, but some saw a lot of potential in </em><em><strong>Ron Simmons</strong></em><em> becoming a break out wrestler, so they wanted to give him some mic time to see how he would do.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>”I know Dream Team are watching. You boys really think you’re ready for us? You’re gonna be just like these two fools in the ring right now.”</strong></em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> While it wasn’t the most fascinating thing I’ve heard since working for the company, </em><em><strong>Simmons</strong></em><em> wasn’t that bad out there. ©</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Doom</strong></em><em> powered their way through local competitors </em><em><strong>Mando Guerrero</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Billy Black</strong></em><em> for a quick victory. (D+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Arn Anderson</strong></em><em> defeated a very game </em><em><strong>Terry Taylor</strong></em><em> in a competitive match up. (C+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Missy Hyatt</strong></em><em> was backstage, discussing how exciting of a show WCW Saturday Night had been so far when </em><em><strong>Larry Zbyszko</strong></em><em> rushed on camera in a frenzy.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>”You probably think it’s real funny that that punk kid got lucky tonight. I’m done playing games. Next week, I want The Calgary Kid one more time!”</strong></em><em> (C+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>The Steiner Brothers</strong></em><em> showed their determination in climbing up the tag team rankings again by defeating </em><em><strong>Pat Rose</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>El Cubano</strong></em><em> (D+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Lex Luger</strong></em><em> defeated </em><em><strong>Dutch Mantell</strong></em><em> ©</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Lex Luger</strong></em><em> joined </em><em><strong>Tony Schiavone</strong></em><em> on stage for an interview and laid things out plain and simple for everyone watching.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>”I’m in the best shape of my life. I’m feeling good...no...I’m feeling great! Vader! You’re not the biggest or baddest man in WCW. I’m coming for the gold!”</strong></em><em> (B+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> WCW Television Champion </em><em><strong>Bobby Eaton</strong></em><em> defeated </em><em><strong>Paul Orndorff</strong></em><em> to retain the WCW Television Championship</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> We weren’t ready to end our program with </em><em><strong>Bobby Eaton</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Tom Zenk</strong></em><em> and the WCW Television Championship was such a crucial element for that particular story, so obviously we weren’t going to have the WCW Television Championship change hands here. At the same time, </em><em><strong>Paul Orndorff</strong></em><em> is such a popular name in </em><em><strong>WCW</strong></em><em> and with him just returning to the company, we needed to keep momentum on his side, too.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> Enter </em><em><strong>Rick Rude</strong></em><em>. We hinted at a possible program between he and </em><em><strong>Orndorff</strong></em><em> last week during </em><em><strong>Rude’s</strong></em><em> interview with </em><em><strong>Missy Hyatt</strong></em><em>. So during the </em><em><strong>Orndorff</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Eaton</strong></em><em> rematch, we had </em><em><strong>Rude</strong></em><em> make an appearance on stage before slowly strutting down to ringside.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> We let the match between </em><em><strong>Orndorff</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Eaton</strong></em><em> go on for a bit longer with neither man paying any notice to </em><em><strong>Rude</strong></em><em>. Then, when </em><em><strong>Paul Orndorff</strong></em><em> looked to finish </em><em><strong>Bobby Eaton</strong></em><em> with a piledriver attempt, </em><em><strong>Rude</strong></em><em> hopped on the apron and started hurling insults at </em><em><strong>Orndorff</strong></em><em>. </em><em><strong>Orndorff</strong></em><em> let go of </em><em><strong>Eaton</strong></em><em> and got in </em><em><strong>Rude’s</strong></em><em> face. </em><em><strong>Rude</strong></em><em> attempted to sucker punch </em><em><strong>Orndorff</strong></em><em>, but </em><em><strong>Orndorff</strong></em><em> blocked it and knocked </em><em><strong>Rude</strong></em><em> from the ring apron with a right hand. </em><em><strong>Orndorff</strong></em><em> then slid outside of the ring and continued to throw punches </em><em><strong>Rude’s</strong></em><em> way who was attempting to flee to the locker room area. With </em><em><strong>Orndorff</strong></em><em> in pursuit behind </em><em><strong>Rick Rude</strong></em><em>, </em><em><strong>Bobby Eaton</strong></em><em> was awarded a countout victory. (C+)</em></p><p> </p><p> <strong>WCW Saturday Night Grade: B-</strong></p><p> </p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="45250" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><strong>WCW Saturday Night Grade: B-</strong><p> </p><p> <strong>WCW Main Event</strong></p><p><strong> Taped Thursday, Week 1, March 1991 (Airs Sunday, Week 2, March 1991)</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> Commentary Team: Jim Ross & Tony Schiavone</strong></p><p> </p><p> <em>Another replay of the interview segment between </em><em><strong>Sting</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> opened up the show. </em><em><strong>Jim Ross</strong></em><em> indicated that both </em><em><strong>Sting</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> were absent from last night’s Saturday Night in preparation for their upcoming Superbrawl encounter. (B)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Big Cat</strong></em><em> defeated </em><em><strong>Tim Horner</strong></em><em> (D+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Lex Luger’s</strong></em><em> interview from Saturday Night reaired, where </em><em><strong>Luger</strong></em><em> not only called out </em><em><strong>Vader</strong></em><em> but also expressed his intent to win the WCW World Championship. </em><em><strong>Tony Schiavone</strong></em><em>, who conducted the interview with </em><em><strong>Luger</strong></em><em> last night, told </em><em><strong>Ross</strong></em><em> that </em><em><strong>Luger</strong></em><em> was really fired up last night and seemed very determined to get his hands on the WCW World Championship. (B+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>The Young Pistols</strong></em><em> defeated </em><em><strong>The Renegade Warriors</strong></em><em> (D+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Stan Hansen</strong></em><em> made his first appearance in the new era of </em><em><strong>WCW</strong></em><em>, picking up a win over </em><em><strong>Keith Hart</strong></em><em> (C-)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> To close the show, we reaired </em><em><strong>Vader</strong></em><em> being crowned the WCW World Champion at WrestleWar ‘91 with </em><em><strong>Jim Ross</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Tony Schiavone</strong></em><em> speculating, at the broadcast table, if he would respond to </em><em><strong>Lex Luger</strong></em><em> © </em></p><p> </p><p> <strong>WCW Main Event Grade: C</strong></p><p> </p></div></blockquote>

[Janpei]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="45250" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><strong>WCW Power Hour</strong><p><strong> Taped Wednesday, Week 2, March 1991 (Airs Friday, Week 2, March 1991)</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> Commentary Team: Jim Ross & Paul E. Dangerously</strong></p><p> </p><p> <em><strong>Paul E. Dangerously</strong></em><em> started the show by absolutely ripping into </em><em><strong>Dusty Rhodes’s</strong></em><em> decision making. By this point, </em><em><strong>Dangerously</strong></em><em> was convinced that management was conspiring against him in an attempt to remove the WCW Television Championship from </em><em><strong>Bobby Eaton</strong></em><em>. </em><em><strong>Dangerously</strong></em><em> played </em><em><strong>Eaton</strong></em><em> off as a misunderstood hero who was being bullied by management.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>”But Bobby Eaton proved ever the triumphant hero by beating Paul Orndorff...fair and square, might I add!”</strong></em><em> (A*)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Alexandra York</strong></em><em> was at ringside once more. Much like her last appearances, she was at her desk on the entrance stage, typing notes out on her laptop and watching the action unfold. (C+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Ricky Morton</strong></em><em> would defeat </em><em><strong>Jim Clontz</strong></em><em> in the first match of the night. (D+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Dustin Rhodes</strong></em><em> defeated </em><em><strong>Al Green</strong></em><em> (D)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>The Fabulous Freebirds</strong></em><em> earned a win over</em><em><strong> The Young Pistols</strong></em><em> when </em><em><strong>Jimmy Garvin</strong></em><em> pinned </em><em><strong>Tracy Smothers</strong></em><em> ©</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> It was announced that WCW World Heavyweight Champion </em><em><strong>Vader</strong></em><em> would be at WCW Saturday Night. </em><em><strong>Jim Ross</strong></em><em> finished the announcement by providing a lead-in to Saturday Night.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>”Will Vader respond to Lex Luger? There’s only one way to find out folks! See you Saturday night!”</strong></em><em> (A*)</em></p><p> </p><p> <strong>WCW Power Hour Grade: B-</strong></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> ---</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="45250" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><strong>WCW Saturday Night</strong><p><strong> Taped Wednesday, Week 2, March 1991 (Airs Saturday, Week 2, March 1991)</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> Commentary Team: Jim Ross & Magnum TA</strong></p><p> </p><p> <em>We had </em><em><strong>The Four Horsemen</strong></em><em> start the show off, cutting an interview segment with </em><em><strong>Tony Schiavone</strong></em><em> at the entrance stage. The focus of the segment was to build upon the idea that </em><em><strong>Sting</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> would be facing off at Superbrawl with absolutely no strings attached.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> I was beginning to understand that fans of pro-wrestling had began to pick up on pro-wrestling tropes. In this case, when there’s a guarantee of no interference, or cheating that means there will be interference and cheating...lots of it. We wanted to dispel that notion and present this match as the fight of </em><em><strong>Flair</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Sting’s</strong></em><em> careers.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>”Arn, Barry, big man! We’ve been up and down these roads together. We’ve hit every strip in every big city. We’ve been kicked out of God knows how many hotels. We are family. I am asking you, brother to brothers that this thing between Sting and me must stay between Sting and me. Last week, Sting, you came up to me like a man. You challenged me like a man. I don’t like you Stinger, but I respect you. I respect how you conducted your business. At Superbrawl, there will be no Arn, no Windham, no big man Sid Vicious. Just you and me in that ring. When that match ends and I beat you, I want you to tell the whole world that I’m a better man than you! Wooo!”</strong></em><em> (A)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Larry Zbyszko</strong></em><em> defeated </em><em><strong>The Calgary Kid</strong></em><em> with a reverse figure four leg lock. ©</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> After the match </em><em><strong>Zbyszko</strong></em><em> saw this as his opportunity to teach </em><em><strong>The Calgary Kid</strong></em><em> a lesson in respect and kept the submission hold locked in on </em><em><strong>Calgary</strong></em><em>. With </em><em><strong>Zbyszko</strong></em><em> refusing to release the hold, choosing to instead lock the hold in tighter, </em><em><strong>The Calgary Kid</strong></em><em> began to scream out in pain. As a result of </em><em><strong>Zbyszko’s</strong></em><em> malice, </em><em><strong>Brian Pillman</strong></em><em> came rushing out from the locker room and upon seeing </em><em><strong>The Calgary Kid’s</strong></em><em> ally, </em><em><strong>Zbyszko</strong></em><em> released the hold and bolted from ringside. (B-)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Missy Hyatt</strong></em><em> was backstage with </em><em><strong>Rick Rude</strong></em><em>, wanting to know why </em><em><strong>Rude</strong></em><em> took it upon himself to get involved in </em><em><strong>Orndorff’s</strong></em><em> match last week. </em><em><strong>Rude</strong></em><em> blamed </em><em><strong>Hyatt</strong></em><em>, saying this all started when she claimed </em><em><strong>Paul Orndorff</strong></em><em> was better looking and followed that up by saying ”Which we all know is a lie.” He then insisted that he was only at ringside last week to watch the match and had no idea that </em><em><strong>Paul Orndorff</strong></em><em> was going to attack him.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>”I’m not going to stoop to that slob’s level. I know I’m better looking than him and I’ll prove it. At Superbrawl, I’m challenging Paul Orndorff. Not to a match. I already know I’m better than him in that ring. I’m going to prove that I’m better looking, too, when I show these ugly, fat, sloppy people that Paul Orndorff is just like them, too, in the first ever Ravishing Posedown Challenge.”</strong></em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> We didn’t want to give everything away immediately at Superbrawl with this feud. Both </em><em><strong>Rude</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Orndorff</strong></em><em> were top level talents, but given the plans we had for </em><em><strong>Sting</strong></em><em>, </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em>, and most importantly, </em><em><strong>Vader</strong></em><em>, we didn’t want either of them to get lost in the shuffle. Instead of putting the two in a match at the Pay Per View, we figured we’d have the payoff end in some other form before placing them into different programs. (C+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> As things were getting set up for the next match, </em><em><strong>Alexandra York</strong></em><em> appeared on stage with a pen and legal pad, presumably taking down notes for the next match. (C+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> WCW World Heavyweight Champion </em><em><strong>Vader</strong></em><em> defeated </em><em><strong>Dustin Rhodes</strong></em><em> (C+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> The menacing </em><em><strong>Vader</strong></em><em> towered over the broadcast table, leaning in toward a nervous </em><em><strong>Jim Ross</strong></em><em>. </em><em><strong>Vader</strong></em><em> proceeded to snatch </em><em><strong>Jim Ross’s</strong></em><em> headset off of him and then spoke into the microphone. I’d love to commend </em><em><strong>Jim Ross’s</strong></em><em> acting in this segment, but when you have a guy of Vader’s stature staring you down, I’m not sure how much of it is actually acting.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>”You tell Lex Luger if he wants my belt, he better tell me to my face like a man.” </strong></em><em>(A*)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>The Steiner Brothers</strong></em><em> defeated local talents </em><em><strong>Booker & Lash Huffman</strong></em><em> (you get one guess on who these two are) ©</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> We had </em><em><strong>Dusty</strong></em><em> join </em><em><strong>Missy Hyatt</strong></em><em> on stage for an interview segment. Since the “new era” of WCW, </em><em><strong>Dusty</strong></em><em> has consistently been our go to promo guy and tonight was no exception. We’re continuing to add fuel to the budding </em><em><strong>Bobby Eaton</strong></em><em> </em><em><strong>Paul E. Dangerously</strong></em><em> program while also building some hype for our next big show, Superbrawl.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>”I gots some things to address, if ya will, Missy. Next Saturday, mark it on ya calendars. WCW Saturday Night The contract has been signed and I’m officially announcing tonight that at WCW Saturday Night, Doom will be defending their WCW World Tag Team Championships against The Dynamite Dream Team.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong> </strong></em></p><p><em><strong> But I got even biggah news than that. April 28th is Superbrawl! I’ve not only reviewed the tape from WrestleWar, but I also reviewed last Saturday’s footage too. The WCW Television Champion is...very questionable if ya will. That little slimeball Paul E. Dangerously put his nasty little mitts on Tom Zenk and coste him that WrestleWar match. Eaton was on the verge of losing last week, but I guess luck was on his side then too. That luck ends tonight.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong> </strong></em></p><p><em><strong> Ya see, Missy. This is WCW. That last W in there stands for wrestling. Bobby Eaton ain’t wrestlin’. He’s just gettin’ by with fortune on his side. Well fortune won’t be on his side at Superbrawl, baby. I am strippin’ Bobby Eaton of that WCW Television Championship. I am banning Paul E. Dangerously not from ringside, Missy, but from the entire building.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong> </strong></em></p><p><em><strong> If Bobby Eaton wants to win that belt back he’s going to have to prove to me, but more importantly to Tom Zenk, that he’s a wrestler. And since it seems like every time these two meet, there’s never been a clear winner, I’m makin’ this one a two out of three falls match with a thirty minute time limit!"</strong></em><em> (B+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> In the main event of the night, </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> defeated </em><em><strong>Ricky Morton</strong></em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Ricky Morton</strong></em><em> didn’t need much in the way of an agent to help them layout the match and I was told that it was fairly reminiscent of their series of matches during the late ‘80s. </em><em><strong>Jim Ross</strong></em><em> also brought up that fact from the commentary position and used the concept of storied rivalries to bring the conversation full circle back to the </em><em><strong>Sting</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> feud.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Ricky Morton</strong></em><em> had the fans behind him, the crowd getting louder with each succession of offense he was able to connect with against </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em>. By having </em><em><strong>Ricky Morton</strong></em><em> give </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> a run for his money, we teased that </em><em><strong>Ric Flair’s</strong></em><em> focus on </em><em><strong>Sting</strong></em><em> might give way to </em><em><strong>Ricky Morton</strong></em><em> scoring an upset on Saturday Night, but eventually </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> found his way to a victory with a figure four leglock.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> We still had </em><em><strong>Jim Ross</strong></em><em> point out that this was the most focused and determined he’s ever seen </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Magnum TA</strong></em><em> also pointed out the fact that </em><em><strong>Flair</strong></em><em> wrestled the entire match fairly, not taking any shortcuts whatsoever. </em><em><strong>Jim Ross</strong></em><em> drove home how important the Superbrawl match between </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Sting</strong></em><em> was and indicated that Flair had a completely different mindset in tonight’s match. (B)</em></p><p> </p><p> <strong>WCW Saturday Night Grade: B+</strong></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="45250" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><strong>WCW Main Event</strong><p><strong> Taped Thursday, Week 2, March 1991 (Airs Sunday, Week 3, March 1991)</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> Commentary Team: Jim Ross & Tony Schiavone</strong></p><p> </p><p> <em><strong>Alexandra York</strong></em><em> was spotted at her computer desk, with her laptop, watching tonight’s action from the entrance stage. (C+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>NJPW</strong></em><em> talent, </em><em><strong>Wild Pegasus</strong></em><em> defeated </em><em><strong>Al Green</strong></em><em> (formerly known as </em><em><strong>Master Blaster Blade</strong></em><em>) (D)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> A video package aired, highlighting </em><em><strong>Ric Flair</strong></em><em> and </em><em><strong>Sting’s</strong></em><em> storied rivalry (A)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Alexandra York’s</strong></em><em> client </em><em><strong>Steve Austin</strong></em><em> defeated </em><em><strong>Pez Whatley</strong></em><em>. After the match, </em><em><strong>York</strong></em><em> packed up her laptop and left with </em><em><strong>Austin</strong></em><em>. (D+)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em><em><strong>Terry Taylor</strong></em><em> defeated </em><em><strong>Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker</strong></em><em> (C-)</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><em> A video package aired, recapping what </em><em><strong>Vader</strong></em><em> said into </em><em><strong>Jim Ross’s</strong></em><em> headset about </em><em><strong>Lex Luger</strong></em><em> on last night’s WCW Saturday Night (A)</em></p><p> </p><p> <strong>WCW Main Event Grade: C+</strong></p></div></blockquote>