WCW WrestleWar 1991

WCW WrestleWar 91
Phoenix, AZ
Veterans Memorial Coliseum
February 24, 1991

Another solid end to end wrestling show from WCW. The company seems to be on a roll in early 91. The WWF always had a leg up on WCW because of the consistency in their product, thanks to the dictatorship of Vince McMahon. NWA/WCW had been so up and down for the past two years because of the political mess backstage and the purchase of the company by Turner. It’s good to see the company back on track with a more focused direction. History says things will fall apart again by the time Flair leaves the company.

Unfortunately the entrance setup has been the one consistent thing since summer 91: the big WCW letters and the entrance ramp leading to the ring. This set isn’t bad, but I liked it when they came up with really creative sets. This card features two rings for the War Games match later in the night and the matches alternate from ring to ring. Jim Ross and Dusty Rhodes are on commentary again and I can’t believe how entertaining they are. I would have never expected it, but Rhodes and Ross add so much insight, and Rhodes is really entertaining with his goofy sayings and jibber jabber. They also had me laughing out loud at different points of the card.

Another thing that was hilarious was the huge sections of the audience missing in Phoenix. They booked the then-home of the Phoenix Suns and it looked to be about half full. Visually it looked much better to hold a PPV in a large arena instead of the smaller buildings they often run, but it’s unfortunate that they were drawing such low numbers.

1. WCW Six-Man Tag Team Champions the Junkyard Dog, Tommy Rich, & Ricky Morton defeated Big Cat & the State Patrol at 9:54 when Morton pinned Parker after Parker sustained JYD’s powerslam

WCW brought in the Six Man tag titles out of nowhere in early 91. I can’t find any info on a tournament or anything! At this point the guys didn’t even have actual belts. This kind of stuff always added to the bush league feel of WCW. The goofy good guy team of JYD and the makeshift RNR Express won the belts for who knows what reason. They defend the belts against another makeshift team of the Big Cat and the State Patrol – Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker and Lt. James Earl Wright. Despite who was involved this was a highly entertaining match! JYD basically looks like Typhoon. His gut is just out of control and he’s clearly in no shape to be in the ring. He did his typical punching and no-selling, but Rich and Morton carried the bulk of the match. The good guys pick up the win in an energetic, fast-paced battle.

2. Bobby Eaton pinned Brad Armstrong with a swinging neckbreaker and the Alabama Jam at 12:52

Armstrong seems to have dropped the dumb Candyman name and tights finally. This was a great in-ring battle. Just solid, back and forth wrestling. This match proves what two great workers can do, without gimmicks or even a storyline. These two guys take the crowd on a ride and keep a fast pace. Despite being a heel, Eaton is still crazy over and is just awesome to watch. Eaton’s slow building push continues with a big PPV win here over Armstrong.

During the event a few special guest wrestlers were shown, including the Great Muta who was there to challenge to Sting for a match the New Japan Supershow and Nikita Koloff who was there to present a new US title.

3. Itsuki Yamzaki & Mami Kitamura defeated Miki Handa & Miss A at 6:47 when Yamazaki pinned A with a roll up

In early 91 WCW entered a long term partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling. This of course continued well into the late 90s. We totally didn’t care or appreciate the Japan connection, but now I’m really excited to see it. This match featured four top Japanese women competing and it was easily one of the best matches on the card! The women go all out with crazy aerial and mat offense. Plus Dusty and Ross are laugh out loud hilarious on commentary, with Ross making jokes about setting up Rhodes with Miss A. I was so entertained by the quality in the ring and the commentary. Awesome match! It’s too bad WCW didn’t try to build a women’s division centered around these Japanese workers. It would have been outstanding.

4. Dustin Rhodes pinned Buddy Landell with the bulldog at 6:34

Finally, the last Buddy Landell match I’ll have to sit through! He was fired shortly after this card. Along with Dusty, Dustin Rhodes made his way to WCW from the WWF. Dustin would go on to be one the top stars in WCW in 90s so it was interesting to see him in his first major match. Landell was surprisingly decent in this one and Rhodes, though a little green, showed a ton of potential. A simple match that sees Rhodes win with the bulldog.

5. The Young Pistols (Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong) defeated The Royal Family (Rip Morgan & Jack Victory) at 12:05 when Smothers pinned Morgan

The Young Pistols are the former Southern Boys. Not sure why they changed the name, but the team seems to have a lost a ton of momentum since I last saw them in action. Here they are in a boring match against the Royal Family, who were last in the Starrcade tournament. One funny thing happened during this match, the lights in the building went out so the guys had to wrestle in the near dark for about five minutes. The Pistols pick up the win in an unmemorable contest.

6. Terrence Taylor (w/ Alexandra York) pinned Tom Zenk in a No DQ match at 10:59 with a roll up

Taylor is now in full heel swagger as a member of the York Foundation. His hair is slicked back in a ponytail and he wrestles a completely different style. This was a hard fought battle between these two young stars. WCW seemed to be trying hard to push new young talent in early 91 and so far they’re doing a great job. Taylor took advantage of the no DQ rule, choking Zenk on the floor and such. As Alexandra’s computer predicted, Taylor defeats Zenk in less than 12 minutes. Big win for Taylor.

7. Stan Hansen fought Big Van Vader to a double disqualification at 6:21 after both men shoved referee Randy Anderson; after the bout, the two men brawled over Hanson’s bullrope all the way backstage

Here’s a big feud from Japan being carried over into the States. Vader was still wrestling primarily in Japan, though WCW seemed intent on bringing him in. This was a total big-man brawl that was really entertaining. Both guys are still wrestling in that stiff Japanese style and simply beat the shit out of each other. The big punches and forearms looked extremely painful. The crowd was really into this match and sadly this ended in a cheap double DQ. Vader and Hansen continued brawling after the match.

8. WCW US Champion Lex Luger pinned Dan Spivey at 12:56 when, as Spivey attempted to bodyslam the champion off the top, Luger rolled through with a cradle for the win

Another solid match on a card full of great wrestling. Spivey dominates Luger and works him over with non-stop high impact offense. Spivey had been wrestling in Japan and brings a Japanese style to this match as well. In a nice nod to his former Skyscraper partner, Spivey tombstones Luger, which gets a big pop from the crowd. Luger eventually battles back and picks up the win by outsmarting Spivey. Good match!

After the bout, Tony Schiavone hosted a segment on the interview podium during which WCW official Grizzy Smith and former US Champion Nikita Koloff presented Luger with the new title belt, valued at $20,000. Suddenly for no reason Koloff smashed Luger in the face with the belt. Koloff then cut a promo saying he was denied a shot at the world title because he had been retired 2 years and then said if WCW officials wanted proof he was a contender they should look at what he just did to Luger. Koloff then said he would take the belt Luger stole from him 4 years earlier. This was all good, but in true WCW fashion this was so rushed. It left people no time to think about what just happened.

The new manager of the Fabulous Freebirds made his way to the ring next – Diamond Dallas Page! Yup, the big debut of DDP was as a manager for the Freebirds. Dallas is great on the mic in antagonizing Teddy Long and introducing the Freebirds. The Freebirds came down with two women and Dusty Rhodes had the borderline racist comment of the night when he said he loves “sweet brown sugar!” Rhodes continued perving it up as the women entered the ring. Page then introduced the newest member of the Birds entourage, their road manager Big Daddy Dink. The former Oliver Humperdink came down looking like a fat biker with a shaved beard. The group didn’t need this dumbass.

9. The Fabulous Freebirds (w/ Big Daddy Dink) defeated WCW Tag Team Champions Doom (w/ Teddy Long) to win the titles at 6:57 when Garvin pinned Simmons after Reed accidentally hit his partner with a foreign object thrown in the ring by Long, with Dink then shoving Garvin onto Simmons for the win

Once again Doom is inserted in a feud with another heel team, leaving the fans not much to cheer for. The story here was that Doom hadn’t been getting along for weeks. This match was fast paced, but nothing special. As expected, Doom fucked up in their cheating and Reed nailed Simmons by mistake and cost the team the match and the belts. Even though it was Simmons who got hit and pinned, Long and Reed blamed him. So again, in true WCW fashion, Reed suddenly attacks Simmons and Doom explodes. These angles had zero build up, no drama, nothing. This was done poorly.

10. WCW World Champion Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Sid Vicious, & Larry Zbyzsko (sub. for WCW TV Champion Arn Anderson) (w/ Arn Anderson) defeated Sting, WCW US Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner, & Brian Pillman in Wargames at 22:11 when referee Nick Patrick stopped the bout after Pillman, who entered the match with an already injured shoulder, sustained two powerbombs from Vicious; moments prior to the match ending, El Gigante came ringside, ripped the cage door off, and checked on Pillman, then carried an unconscious Pillman backstage

Now this was AWESOME!! One of the best Wargames matches and one of the most exciting main events I’ve ever seen! This battle was bell to bell action with the fans on their feet screaming the entire time. Arn Anderson was injured and replaced by Zbyzsko, who I thought would be terrible, but was really a non-factor. The drama and storytelling in this match was incredible. It made Brian Pillman look like a main event superstar. While the good guys tried to decide who would enter first, Pillman snuck into the cage, despite being injured, going after Barry Windham for revenge. Pillman destroyed Windham for the first five minutes and the fans were losing their minds. Windham was bleeding a gusher two minutes into the match and the action never let up. The Horsemen of course won the coin toss (has a face team ever won a coin toss?) and had the advantage, brutally working over Pillman. The fans were on their feet for the duration of this match and the excitement grew minute by minute. The blood was pouring as even Sting and Flair were busted open. Sid Vicious executed two of the most insane looking powerbombs on Pillman and legitimately knocked him out cold. That’s how nuts this match was. In a huge surprise, the Horsemen won when the ref declared Pillman was unable to continue. El Gigante came down to save his buddy Pillman and ripped the door off the cage. This stupid finale didn’t ruin the match thankfully. Awesome awesome awesome main event.