Ah, let's return to the glory of WCW Pro from 1996. Commentators are Chris Cruise, Dusty Rhodes, and Larry Zbyszko
4-6-96:
Scott Norton vs One Man Gang:
"Flash" had some problems with Shark of the DoD in 1995, this may be a continuation of that. Or it might just be awesome. Gang had lost the US title to Konnan, and wouldn't be around much longer. Which is a shame, as I would have loved to see him involved in the Big Bubba-John Tenta feud. Match is a lot of clubbering, clotheslines, and other big guy vs big guy stuff for four minutes, until Norton finishes with a power slam! Very enjoyable, I am digging Norton
-There's a Men at Work vs Public Enemy match, one of the first matches in their 2034 best of series (and I swear Men at Work eventually won one). I really enjoyed the first four months of the P.E. run. They had a fun match against the Steiners, and the Nasties, except they never ever won. WCW was the best in the world for having great undercard tag teams: Men at Work, State Patrol, Barrio Brothers, etc. Public Enemy play face here, in contrast to their role on the main shows. Not much to this one, Kanyon and Star mock the P.E. a lot, Grunge takes forever to set up his inverted DDT, and Rocco flips around a bit before finishing with the Drive-By senton. Does make me long for a U.S tag title revival at least for the year of 1996.
4-13-96
Men at Work vs Steve Armstrong/Brad Armstrong: Whoa, I am pumped! My two favorite Armstrongs, with Scott playing cheerleader outside, going against the cranky construction crew. This is easily the semi-finals of my hypothetical US tag title tournament. Armstrongs have some basic tandem offense, nice dropkicks and armdrags, what more do you need. Things get a bit messy as Men at Work transition onto offense, but Kanyon does do a uranage backbreaker. They try a partner assisted Canadian breaker, and the Armstrong comes back. Finish plays of the earlier transition, as Kanyon tries to backbreaker again, Brad floats over and hits the russian leg sweep for the pin. Some nice ideas, but everyone seemed a step off. I demand a rematch, it could only make Men at Work better.
Barbarian vs Konnan: Dusty discusses Meng and Barb forming a "big and bad" tag team. I think Dusty finally understated something. Konnan is pre Dungeon of Doom here, and US Champ. Konnan starts arm dragging the Barbarian, then spins twice around for a kick to the abdomen. I have no idea what happened here, he must have thought he was Chun-Li. Barbarian gets control quickly and gives him a suplex on the outside. That makes this practically a Pro Hardcore Match. I fully support Barbarian as United States champion. Powerbomb gets a near fall, and a second is countered into a slow hurricanrana roll up for the three. Interesting match, basic pro main event.
More to come!
4-6-96:
Scott Norton vs One Man Gang:
"Flash" had some problems with Shark of the DoD in 1995, this may be a continuation of that. Or it might just be awesome. Gang had lost the US title to Konnan, and wouldn't be around much longer. Which is a shame, as I would have loved to see him involved in the Big Bubba-John Tenta feud. Match is a lot of clubbering, clotheslines, and other big guy vs big guy stuff for four minutes, until Norton finishes with a power slam! Very enjoyable, I am digging Norton
-There's a Men at Work vs Public Enemy match, one of the first matches in their 2034 best of series (and I swear Men at Work eventually won one). I really enjoyed the first four months of the P.E. run. They had a fun match against the Steiners, and the Nasties, except they never ever won. WCW was the best in the world for having great undercard tag teams: Men at Work, State Patrol, Barrio Brothers, etc. Public Enemy play face here, in contrast to their role on the main shows. Not much to this one, Kanyon and Star mock the P.E. a lot, Grunge takes forever to set up his inverted DDT, and Rocco flips around a bit before finishing with the Drive-By senton. Does make me long for a U.S tag title revival at least for the year of 1996.
4-13-96
Men at Work vs Steve Armstrong/Brad Armstrong: Whoa, I am pumped! My two favorite Armstrongs, with Scott playing cheerleader outside, going against the cranky construction crew. This is easily the semi-finals of my hypothetical US tag title tournament. Armstrongs have some basic tandem offense, nice dropkicks and armdrags, what more do you need. Things get a bit messy as Men at Work transition onto offense, but Kanyon does do a uranage backbreaker. They try a partner assisted Canadian breaker, and the Armstrong comes back. Finish plays of the earlier transition, as Kanyon tries to backbreaker again, Brad floats over and hits the russian leg sweep for the pin. Some nice ideas, but everyone seemed a step off. I demand a rematch, it could only make Men at Work better.
Barbarian vs Konnan: Dusty discusses Meng and Barb forming a "big and bad" tag team. I think Dusty finally understated something. Konnan is pre Dungeon of Doom here, and US Champ. Konnan starts arm dragging the Barbarian, then spins twice around for a kick to the abdomen. I have no idea what happened here, he must have thought he was Chun-Li. Barbarian gets control quickly and gives him a suplex on the outside. That makes this practically a Pro Hardcore Match. I fully support Barbarian as United States champion. Powerbomb gets a near fall, and a second is countered into a slow hurricanrana roll up for the three. Interesting match, basic pro main event.
More to come!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Some WCW 1996 PRO!
Right now I am going through my 1996 WCW Pro set, so let's see what we have here as I make my way through the year.
3-9-96
Sting vs Barbarian: Fun little match, always enjoy Barb on offense. I wasn't paying as much attention as I was writing the intro for this blog while it was going on. A five minute a affair, I think there was a powerbomb by Barbarian, I must re-watch this at some
3-16-96
Dave Sullivan vs Fit Finley: Oh wow, this might be the best Dave Sullivan match ever. He hits a sweet big boot, drills Fit with a clothesline. Finley is in the early stages of his big American run with Regal, and was doing solid hurty matches on the B shows with guys like Brad Armstrong. This is three and a half minutes, Dave misses a corner charge like he's 1988 Ken Patera, and fit wrenches the shoulder with a Fujiwara armbar for the win. There was also senton by Fit earlier, so this is fun! Best Evad ever...it doesn't take much.
Brad Armstrong vs Ric Flair: This probably happened a half decade earlier and was awesome, I don't know. But here it is in 1996 and I have no problem with that. Brad gets a huge flurry earlier, Flair flips over the buckle, get caught on the way down, and takes the Russian Leg Sweet for a near fall. Brad has great punches fighting out of the corner. Match is mostly Brad taking the offense, Flair trying to get ahead but getting put down by multiple punches and backdrops, almost to the point of repetition. Very little leg work, and once the Flair spots are run through, Brad misses a dropkick off the top (the flat back bump kind, which is fun to see) and Flair hooks on a rope assisted figure four for the win. With 10 more minutes, it would have been really good, as is, it's a very cliff notes Flair match. Looking forward to the eventual Flair-Hardwork Bobby Walker match that I know is here somewhere
3-23-96
Hulk Hogan vs Meng:
The rare Hogan appearance. Nothing drives me crazier than one of those Hogan matches where he just chokes and bites...then chin locks. Meng comes back with a back rake, and choking. Was hoping for a more fiery brawl, but I really should know better. Hogan bites the leg to counter a pile driver, then bites the neck. Ax Bomber!!!! Elbows!! The choking and biting continues for a while, and at least no one is in control for a long period of time. Just as I say that, we hit the nerve hold. Meng its a big superkick and Hogan hulks up to avoid an elbow, nice to see a variation. Big boot follows and Savage tosses him a chair, bringing out most of the Dungeon of Doom! We are deep into the build up to the Uncensored Cage of Doom build up. Kinda fun, could have been more, but an odd sight.
Ric Flair vs Mark Star: The Flair Pro Tour continues! Star's early offense is short lived, and mostly a headlock and a few roll ups. I keep looking at the elevated Pro stage and wondering why I never heard of anyone getting hurt from it. Match feels like the end of a longer Flair match as Star's comeback offense is a small package and backslide. Flair taking backdrops even in 1996 is scary. Finish is similar to the last one, just Mark misses a second rope knee drop, and the figure four finishes. Interesting to watch different lower card guys fit into Flair match, not a bad way to see who's good and who is a lower card guy for a reason.
And we're out for now, I can't wait to watch more than this
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