October 1994

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This time Vader & Tenta jump them to start and a microsecond of crowd brawling before it settles into Yamazaki and Vader, which is a much better start than Albright/Tenta because Yamazaki immediately starts cracking legs with kicks. Vader sells big for him here but he finally clobbers his way back and drops him with a German, which Yamazaki subsequently sells really well. Again, Tenta stinks in there, just no selling everything and almost falling down trying to throw sumo slaps. He does use a crab hold, so there's that. The Vader/Albright interactions are, of course, the main attraction and Albright dumps Vader with Germans until he gets woozy. Yamazaki and Vader cl…

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Hot start with the strikes and Grom having to fight a fiesty Yamamoto off before he's able to start building some momentum. Yamamoto brought the kicks but Grom also lets loose with the open hand slaps. I thought Yamamoto did a terrific job of selling in this match, which doesn't happen all that often in RINGS -- between milking the ten counts and submission breaks, to dragging the leg there at the end. Cool finish with Grom using a sweet leg-whip takedown but getting snagged in Yamamoto's rear naked choke. Grom's second best performance of the year behind the Todorov match, and another feather in Yamamoto's 1994 cap.

Previously on PWO:

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I've watched 4 WCW shows from this era and I still have no idea what Dave's gimmick is all about. He's meant to be dyslexic, which somehow causes him to act like a total headcase? Oh, he's also cosplays as Hulk Hogan? Fair enough. Anyways, he's a drizzling shits in the ring and it makes you realise that Hogan is actually super talented to pull off his shtick. Dave's act seems like it's for children, but the kids in the audience don't seem to care for him. Kevin tries to make chicken salad from chicken shit, but there's only so much you can do. Kevin loses this by countout. Next. ★

We kick off the show with an Elvis impersonator facing a Little Richard impersonator. Badd has some cool custom Halloween gear on. There's not much to comment on here as not a whole lot happens. Honky spends most of the time working down Badd with a lengthy chin lock and they wrestle to the 15 minute time limit and the crowd aren't pleased with the result and this damaged Badd. With the exception of Bobby Heenan trying his hardest to get this match over, there wasn't enough urgency in the last few minutes, which makes me feel like this went the limit just to fill up time. Who thought it was a good idea to book The Honky Tonk Man this late in his career? Man, I'm missing …

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I have no idea why they decided to do this match again, considering their last outing went down like a fart at a funeral. Thankfully there is less house show high jinks and more action in this when compared to their last match. Stars & Stripes get a strong shine segment until they get cut off by the heels and they work over Bagwell for an extended period of time. Roma is incredibly agile, as he vaults up to the top rope with little effort. It's clear that they have big things in store for Bagwell by how they are putting him over on commentary. The crowd don't seem to care for him as they are firmly behind the heels. All it takes is for Orndorff to get cheered is to do…

Duggan defends his US title from the man that he beat in seconds at the last PPV. This is the same Jim Duggan that's been portraying a patriotic doofus on WWF TV for years, and not the excellent brawler Jim Duggan from Mid-South 1985. He's way past his prime and most just stomps around, being loud and generally annoying. Austin saves this, by acting as a great chickenshit heel. Of course this has a crap finish, which sees Austin gets himself disqualified by throwing Duggan over the top rope. Austin deserves better. ★★

You can put Terry Funk in literally anything and he improves it tenfold. The greatest American wrestler ever in my books. He's batshit crazy here, even by his standards. He gets frustrated and starts wailing HIMSELF with a steel chair, the mad lad. This was a fun brawl, with one GOAT and three competent brawlers. This is worth watching just to see The Funker getting piledriven onto a pumpkin. Have I mentioned that I love Terry Funk enough times? ★★★

With the exception of their disappointing match at Fall Brawl, these two work well together and have great chemistry. Bossman attacks Harley Race before the match starts, which doesn't seem like something that the Guardian Angels would approve of. I feared for Race's safety when Vader is body slammed on top of him. This match was all potatoes and even the commentators sound surprised by how hard these guys are laying it in. I loved the finish. Angel suplexes Harley Race, but Vader splashes him directly after. ★★★