8/14/99

 

Disco Inferno vs. Adrian Byrd

Mike Enos vs. Lash Leroux*

Bobby Blaze vs. Mikey Whipwreck

Eric Watts vs. Al Green

Steve Regal/Dave Taylor vs. Bobby Eaton/Barry Darsow*

Barbarian vs. Disciple

Barry Horowitz vs. Bobby Walker

Steve Armstrong vs. Kidman

Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Vampiro

 

Final two matches are notable for Kidman and Rey both botching huge high spots which could've seriously injured both. Kidman catches his feet on the ropes doing the shooting star press and lands face first. Rey doesn't rotate on a quebrada and Vampiro stumbles back into the ropes, accidentally dropping Rey neck first on the ropes. Green vs. Watts was worked heel vs. heel. And who the fuck gets the win in Horowitz vs. Walker? That's a pick 'em right there. And Disciple went over Barbarian. I didn't know Leslie was employed in late '99.

8/7/99

 

Spyder vs. Jim Duggan

Disorderly Conduct vs. Harlem Heat

Ernest Miller vs. Dave Burkhead*

Juventud Guerrera vs. Psychosis*

Hugh Morrus/Jerry Flynn vs. Public Enemy

Brian Knobbs vs. Villano V**

Chris Adams vs. Eddy Guerrero**

Silver King vs. Horace Boulder

Barry & Kendall Windham vs. B.A/Swoll*****

Sid Vicious vs. La Parka

 

This was a pretty great episode right here.

 

Who knew Spyder was still employed at this point? The LWO broke up like 8 months before this. Spyder is like 5'7" but looked HUGE in the LWO. Disorderly Conduct controlled 77% of the match with chinlocks and it gets a lot of time, but a lot of disappointing time.

 

Ernest Miller was AWESOME in this match. Dude came off as the greatest stooging heel of 1999 here and I have NEVER loved The Cat but holy fuck I think I get it now. He was amazing here.

 

Juvi/Psych was so-so for what they could do. Not much time, and the botch a couple things.

 

Public Enemy match was looking decent until Morrus took a quebrada like a guy who has no idea what a quebrada is.

 

Knobbs/Villano gets like SEVEN minutes and Knobbs has some nasty elbow strikes and gives Villano a ton of offense.

 

Adams/Eddy is a no brainer as Eddy takes a bump through the ropes to the floor like a dude flying drunk through a windshield.

 

Horace looked really shitty here. King looked GREAT. But I thought Horace was better than this? He threw sub-2008 Shad Gaspard punches here. I thought this would be a sure thing. Sad.

 

Barry and Kendall might have been the best tag team of 1999. I want to see them against everybody. Kendall might have been top 10 in the US. He looked AMAZING here, throwing uppercuts at Swoll and doing some great stooging and missed elbowdrops. Duncum was a great 2nd (3rd?) here, always swiping at Swoll's legs and running great interference. Most underrated dead guy from 1999? Anyway, this tag ruled and as shitty as Swoll was (he ripped out his own earring taking off his fucking bandana for Chrissakes!), Barry and Kenall were the REAL deal. Especially Kendall. Fuck was he good here.

 

Sid/Parka coulda been awesome. Park hit a great clothesline but you knew what this was.

6/26/99

 

Dave Burkhead vs. Van Hammer

Al Green vs. Barbarian

La Parka vs. Kenny Kaos**

Barry Windham vs. Rey Misterio Jr.*

Bobby Blaze/Lenny Lane vs. Curt Hennig/Bobby Duncum Jr.**

 

God bless him, Burkhead tried his damndest here, but Van Hammer. But, Van Hammer.

 

Parka/Kaos was really fun, with Parka taking some crazy bumps for clotheslines and getting a decent amount of offense (including punching Kaos right in the face two times).

 

I'm gonna say it, but Barry Windham's SUUUUPER tight and SUUUUUPER short jean shorts are the most disgustingly distracting piece of wrestling attire I've ever seen. I would rather seen him in technically smaller trunks, as these awful denim shorts just looked like the most uncomfortably ball-strangling piece of clothing possible. Every time he moved or shifted I kept expecting a testicle to rupture. His whole outfit is completely preposterous, with nut-strangling short-shorts, cowboy boots, giant knee brace, tank top, and gardening gloves. WTF? Match was fun but ends premature as Kendall just runs in and starts beating Rey down, leading to K-Dawg, Swoll, Chase Tatum all running down and getting their swell on.

 

Great exchange from Hudson/Tenay during the 2nd West Texas Rednecks match:

 

MT: You know, Larry Zbyszko loves this song [Rap is Crap]!

SH: Really? I wouldn't think Larry would listen to anything made past 1912.

MT: Well he told me during Thunder last week that his favorite music is Bob Seger!

SH: Larry Zbyszko loves Bob Seger!?

MT: Yep, BIG rock and roll fan. You'll have to start watching the Thunder broadcasts more often!

SH: Now why would I want to do that!?

 

Hennig/Duncum were almost as awesome as the Kendall/Barry Rednecks duo. They just tore Lenny and Blaze apart. Duncum was decent in the ring, but his strengths appear to be his work outside the ring. His distraction spots from the floor or apron are done really great, and he does a bunch of cool stuff from the apron to keep the babyface on their toes (grabbing at them when they get close, yelling threats, being awesome).

Green vs. Watts was worked heel vs. heel.

Watts v the Dogg as a rib on Mid-south wrestling?

 

Here in New orleans I go into a diner where they have wall of autograpohed photos that include GW Bailey, John Laroquet, Hal Ketchum, Willard Scott, Pete Fountaine, James Gandolfini and the dog Al Greene.

2/27/99

 

The Cat vs. Steve Armstrong

Disciple vs. Jerry Flynn

Van Hammer vs. Johnny Swinger

Silver King vs. Erik Watts*

Juventud Guerrera vs. Lenny Lane

Kendall Windham vs. Meng*

Buddy Lee Parker vs. Saturn*

Barbarian vs. Meng

 

I am still in shock that Flynn got a clean pin over Disciple AND controlled much of the match. That is continually one of the things I love most about WCW B-Sides, as you get a whole bunch of pick 'em matches.

 

Watts/King was amusing as Watts tried a few cruiser spots that I don't remember him trying before (one of those hurracanranas where you start to give your opponent a rocker dropper, he stands up and you transition to a rana). Odd size match-up, but it kinda works.

 

Kendall/Meng woulda been a sure thing but it only went 2-2.5 minutes. Meng's strikes looked pretty garbarge for a stiff dude. Kendall looked like a fucking superstar though.

 

Buddy/Saturn was also fun while it lasted, but way too short.

 

Barbarian/Meng wasn't nearly as cool as it might sound on paper and ends in a DQ really soon in.

5/1/99

 

Damian vs. Juventud Guerrera

Adrian Byrd vs. Brian Knobbs

Barry Horowitz vs. Buff Bagwell*

Disorderly Conduct vs. Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko**

Kaz Hayashi vs. Rey Misterio Jr.**

 

Damian/Juvy wasn't bad, but they have much better matches in them. Very your move/my move with no real transition in between.

 

Knobbs actually looked really good in his match, nice punches and a couple super stiff Abby elbow drops. But it only went 2 minutes.

 

Horowitz got a lot of offense against Buff and it was a fun, competitive match, much better than I expected.

 

D.O. vs. Benoit/Malenko was AWWWWWEEESOME. Chris and Dean tear the hell out of Mean Mike's knee for most of the match, finding all sorts of ways to hurt a knee. Elbow drops, knee drops, stomps, leg locks, just beating the hell out of it. Tough Tom takes an ENORMOUS bump from the apron to the guardrail off a Dean forearm and D.O. get some fine hope spots. Really awesome.

 

And Kaz/Rey was even better, believe it, motherfuckers. Kaz Hayashi is the best worker in WCW in my viewings so far, maybe top 10 in the world at that point. Only guy that comes close out of what I've seen so far is Kendall Windham (no granted I haven't seen much Finlay or Benoit yet). Kaz might have the most offense of anybody in WCW. The offense he used in the Raven match was completely different than the stuff he busts out here, and he uses a LOT. All sorts of rad stuff like a twisting vertical suplex, twisting moonsault, double arm suplex into cattle mutilation, and the BUMPS! Good lord the BUMPS!! Kaz just wings himself all over the ring and into turnbuckles. That Rey guy ain't too shabby, but holy fuck Kaz Hayashi!!!

9/4/99

 

The Cat vs. Disciple

Villano V vs. Lash LeRoux**

Scotty Riggs vs. Scott Putski

Brian Knobbs vs. 4x4**

Texas Outlaws vs. Barry & Kendall Windham**

 

Well...there was that opener.

 

Villano vs. Lash was pretty darn fun. Villano got tons of offense including a couple senton variations and an awesome Thesz press off the apron that was much more a running leaping balls to the face. Awesome.

 

OK, somebody name a WORSE major roster worker in 1999 than Scott Putski. First, I did not realize Putski was still gainfully employed in late 1999; second, I cannot see HOW he was gainfully employed in 1999. He is clearly the worst guy on this entire roster. His punches were totally absurd and even little things like running ropes were totally baffling to him. Who could have been sitting in the back justifying Putski's spot on the roster?

 

OK, I was insanely excited for Knobbs vs. 4x4, and for 90 seconds I was not let down. I actually didn't even realize 4x4 ever wrestled a match. His size is absolutely silly as he's fat, but also lifts, so he has these insane arms and lats but a really flabby stomach, and he's squeezed into this awesomely goofy spaghetti strap camouflage tank top. The second he rolls into the ring Knobbs is ON him and starts stiffing the shit out of him in the corner with some nasty front and back elbows. 4x4 doesn't really know what to do, and Knobbs nails a nice corner charge. Knobbs bumps around nicely for 4x4 and I am beginning to really enjoy 1999 Brian Knobbs. This ends WAY too soon as Flynn and Morrus of the First Family run in, followed by a hilarious run in by Swoll and Brad Armstrong (seeing 4x4 and Swoll standing on either side of Brad Armstrong and the look of confusion on my girlfriend's face was awesome). Quite the spectacle of a match here.

 

And YES! The Windhams IN ACTION! Seriously, best team of 1999 right here. I always thought it was the Texas Hangmen (assuming this is Mean Mike/Tough Tom under the hoods). Barry and Kendall cut off the ring all through this bitch and this is WRASSLIN right here. Outlaws get a great hope fall with a hooded switcheroo/roll up, and then more big ass boots from Kendall and this is just the best.

2/20/99

 

Bobby Blaze vs. Lash LeRoux

Hector Garza vs. Barbarian

Fit Finlay vs. El Dandy*****

Dave Taylor vs. Hugh Morrus*

Ciclope vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.**

Konnan/Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Lodi/Al Greene*

Barry "Hole in One" Darsow vs. Mike Enos**

Hak vs. Bull Pain**

Villano V vs. Psychosis**

Chris Jericho vs. Booker T**

 

OH. MY. As you can see above, this was far and away the greatest episode of WCW Saturday Night in the history of this great sport. Any episode that features Finlay, Dandy, Dave Taylor, Halloween, Rey, Mike Enos, Bull Pain, Sandman, Villano V, Psyhosis, and Jericho should be frozen in carbonite and preserved for future generations to look on and marvel at. THIS was an amazing episode. It kind of sucks, because I'm fairly certain that it won't ever get better than this episode, and I still have SO much more to watch.

 

Blaze/LeRoux was pretty decent but LeRoux looked pretty terrible throughout most of this. It was exciting because I wasn't sure who would go over, which really gets me into a lot of these matches which I otherwise wouldn't get too excited about. Blaze is a good worker with an awful look, but sometimes those kinda guys go over recent Power Plant grads. Lash went over after just ignoring Blaze's cool comeback offense.

 

Garza/Barbarian was a squash but I would've nominated it with just a *bit* more time. Garza bumped like a freak and Jimmy Hart took a pretty big bump off the apron and it was fun while it lasted.

 

Finlay/Dandy was a match I didn't realize even happened, and was a dream match of mine. It's totally as awesome as you would expect 5 minutes of these two going at it would be. Dandy gets in 3 amazing right hands throughout the match that are sold incredibly by Finlay (especially one in the ring that staggers him into the corner) although WCW cameras keep doing those rapid jumpcuts away from his punches for some retarded reason. They work the mat and it's really nice and really rare to see Dandy against a worker who respects his abilities in WCW. More often than not he'd be cannon fodder but it's refreshing to see him against someone who respects him. Awesome.

 

Taylor/Morrus was disappointing inasmuch as it was Morrus taking 90% of the match, which isn't the worst thing to happen, but the match could've been REALLY fun if it was actually competitive. Taylor gets in some stiff uppercuts and Morrus' offense was fine, hitting some big corner splashes, but this should've been more competitive.

 

Ciclope/Chavo was awesome as Ciclope didn't get too many showcase (to my memory) matches and this was a good one. He hits his awesome stomach bump to the floor and bumps predictably nutty off the back of his head a couple times. This was a grand old time.

 

The tag match COULD have been fun but holy shit was Konnan fucking terrible. It was a really good time as it was, with Lodi and Al Greene taking turns either bumping admirably for Rey (Lodi dumps himself on his neck taking a rana) or plastering Rey with offense. Tons of clotheslines and Al Greene does a cool press slam spot. He pressed Rey 3 times, but then Rey shifted to give him a rana, so Greene just powerbombed him. Awesome. Konnan tried desperately to shit all over everybody's parade here. Holy fuck was he terrible. He was out of position for literally almost EVERY SPOT in this match. He took what could have been a really awesome match (if almost ANYbody else on the roster was Rey's partner) to a merely fun match.

 

Barry Darsow's golf gimmick had to have been made just to give Larry Zbyszko something that he can talk passionately about for long stretches of the matches. He kind of already did that already during most matches (Sample: "How can anybody beat Goldberg!?" "I can beat him on the golf course!") so it just makes it work better within context. Mike Enos works this like a total pro here, stealing one of Darsow's putters (Zbyszko: "Someone check Darsow's bag, make sure there's only the max regulation 14 clubs in there!") and really getting the crowd amped up to see the putter get snapped in two (which he does after a minute + of build). Darsow is all fired up afterwards and these two smack the crap out of each other and Enos gets a shockingly HUGE pop after he wins using the old putter to the dome routine.

 

Aw fuck yeah, Bull Pain vs. Hak?!?!?! I remembered Sandman getting a few months of in between ECW and WCW, and when he finally wrestled his first match in WCW he was in really great shape and looked really good. I don't know what my memory has been telling me all these years because this HAD to have been very early in his WCW year, and he was fat and bloated as FUCK here. Like, dude looked like he had gone on a 3 day bender and fallen asleep in a grave right before this match. His face looked like when Jerry Lewis had to take steroids and it just ballooned up all creepy. But this match ruled HARD. Hak threw some amazing right hands, always doing that INSANELY awesome "shake out the hand" that he did so well. He had three great variations of his left, each of them awesome, and each of them increasingly difficult to make look good. 1. His standing left looked great, 2. His left in the corner looked great, and 3. his left to an opponent lying down were great (these are the hardest to make look great). They both have a contest to see who can take a stupider bump on the floor, as Hak goes into the rail upside down (such a stupidly awesome regular bump of his) and Bull goes careening over the steps. This match was awesome.

 

Villano/Psychosis was easily the best Psychosis match I've seen since starting this project and this was some high end, non-stop killer stuff right here. Crowd was WAY into Psychosis when he came out, legit giant reaction for him. Villano played it up well and looked killer here. Psychosis hits a huge dive to the floor, Villano blasts him with clotheslines, and this just rocks.

 

Jericho/Booker gets 13 (!) minutes, which is really long for a late 90s syndicated match. It's just both of them killing time and working their schtick, but it's very fun and Jericho was a blast around this time.

 

Wow. THIS was the best episode of WCWSN. I am not looking forward to the next one as I have no clue how they're going to top this one.

Fuck, you must be in a good mood.

I remember that Finlay v. Dandy match being good. Not sure it was as good as the four minutes of joy that was Rey v. Dandy but seems like it might have been on that level

Good mood nothing, Will! Did you see that lineup!? I could've been in the worst mood ever and this would have turned it right around. All 10 matches had at least a couple things worthwhile. The first two matches weren't amazing, but match 1 had a couple cool spin kicks by Bobby Blaze and match 2 had some amazing bumping by Garza. All the others after that were either nominated or worth getting a 2nd set of eyes on. I doubt I'm gonna find another episode of ANYthing with 10 decent-to-awesome matches in a row.

 

And I'm not sure how I had no recollection of Finlay/Dandy, as I remember Hak vs. Bull Pain. You'd think I would remember Finlay/Dandy from the same flipping episode. Of course, again, I remember Sandman debuting in really good shape (good shape for Sandman) and this match couldn't have been too much after his debut and he looked like they had just fished him out of the river. Soooooo my memory is pretty patchy.

I wasn't judging the line-up. I was just counting the stars.

I want to say Blaze came in second to Jun Akiyama in the Observer rookie of the year votes, but Alvarez hasn't put up 93/94 issues yet.

4/3/99

 

Eric Watts vs. Booker T

Al Green vs. Scotty Riggs

Kaos vs. Bobby Duncum Jr.

Disorderly Conduct vs. Chris Adams/Mike Enos**

Vincent vs. Barry Horowitz**

Prince Iaukea vs. Lenny Lane*

Chris Jericho vs. Kaz Hayashi**

Raven/Saturn vs. Scott Armstrong/Silver King**

Rick Steiner vs. Fit Finlay**

Meng/Jerry Flynn vs. Barbarian/Hugh Morrus

 

I really like Watts' preposterously set-up hurricanrana which apparently is a regular spot for him. He is one of the largest guys I've seen do a rana this regularly. Kane sorta did one once, Steiner did his standing Frankensteiner which was always insanely impressive, Gran Markus did that one amazing one in 2003 against Rey Buccanero. What other big guys do ranas? All that aside and this wasn't much.

 

Green/Riggs saw them both working face and it really is alarming how into the matches this crowd is. I don't mind both of these guys, but this just went nowhere fast.

 

I am shocked how wrong I was about Duncum. I don't remember him being very good at all, but he has been pretty darn awesome in the B-Sides. That being said, he is working Kaos. I don't think High Voltage is actually a bad team, but Rage was the worker in that team. Is there any good Duncum from ECW?

 

D.C. vs. Adams/Enos sounds awesome on paper and go figure it fucking killed. Crowd was way into Enos and Adams and Enos really should have been pushed more.

 

Vincent vs. Horowitz was maybe the most fun 150 seconds so far on these shows. Horowitz gets to break out some offense he doesn't get to use much (running knee) and throws a great uppercut in the corner. Vincent is awesome like Stevie Richards, in that he literally has zero offense. All of his offense is backrakes, eye pokes, etc. Vincent bumps around awesome for Horowitz before cheating to transition to offense and the 10 seconds he transitions to locking on the brutal Fujiwara armbar are perfect. This was too awesome.

 

Iaukea/Lane was fast-paced and fun. Sometimes Iaukea looks like he could really go places, but I think they just tried too hard to get him over. It was like the Rocky push but with nowhere near as much upside.

 

Jericho/Hayashi was short and not quite as amazing as the other Hayashi performances, but he continues his rad trend of busting out new offense (running twisting dive over the top to the floor) and makes all Jericho's offense look great.

 

Raven/Saturn vs. Armstrong/King I assumed would be a total squash, but it was worked 50/50 and probably the best match on the show. Raven was actually really, really great in 1999. He looked great against Hayashi and looks completely awesome here, bumping for everybody and throwing real nice punches. Everybody gets time to shine here and it was a total blast.

 

Steiner/Finlay was fun as you would expect, and Finlay actually dominated the action. There was a DQ which is awesome as I figured Finlay would be getting pinned for sure. But it was booked to have him look really strong against Steiner. He got a bunch of the offense and then hit one of his finishers (the rolling fireman's carry), got a visual pinfall, then chose to roll to the floor, grab a chair, shove the ref across the ring, get DQ'd, then beat the crap out of Steiner with the chair, holding him down and choking him with it. Not how I woulda predicted this turning out.

 

We finish with the tag, which was fine for the short time given, but it ended pretty quickly in a giant schmozz. Jerry Flynn looks way better with that crew cut than his fluffy mullet.

Duncam looks good in a lot of the ECW matches, but the problem is he is usually paired up against people who suck or he's working matches that are too short to give you a real look at his skills. I've been looking for THE ECW Duncam match but haven't found it. Though he is a tremendous bumper in everything he's in.

10/30/99

 

Johnny Attitude vs. Scotty Riggs

Adrian Byrd vs. Steven Regal**

Texas Outlaws vs. Meng

Frankie Lancaster vs. Kaz Hayashi

Fidel Sierra vs. Prince Iaukea**

Dave Burkhead vs. Allan Funk

"Bad" Barry Horowitz vs. Jerry Flynn*

Al Green vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.*

Barry Darsow vs. Norman Smiley*

El Dandy/Silver King vs. Scott & Steve Armstrong**

 

I didn't realize Riggs was still in WCW at this point.

 

Regal has Taylor and Finlay with him as seconds, so that basically means the nastiest interference ever. Byrd got stiff in this one. Regal kept throwing him to the floor and they would just beat him. Any match where Regal just squashes a guy rules, but throw in Finlay AND Taylor = win.

 

Meng beat Outlaw 1 & 2 in less than a minute. Lame.

 

Hayashi is a god in these B-sides, but Lancaster is like the worst possible Bob Holly here. I guarantee you this man has kidney problems present day. Nice seeing Kax win with his sweet slingshot DDT.

 

Sierra/Iaukea was match of the show and I did NOT see that coming. Sierra worked ridiculously stiff and fast here, just not letting up on Prince. Prince held his own nicely and this was real competitive. Sierra specifically worked stiff in the corner, just nailing Prince with punches. He made up for it by leaning way into some dropkicks and this was too awesome.

 

Burkhead/Funk wasn't bad but Burkhead rarely brings much to the table in these kind of matches. It was better than expected, and I like Funk.

 

Horowitz and Flynn always match up nicely, and I believe both are Malenko trainees. Whatever the reason, it's always a good match-up. I got a kick out of the entrance graphic reading "Bad" Barry Horowitz as I had never heard him referred to as that before.

 

Green/Chavo was fun as well and I didn't remember Green being any good but he is perfectly fine. He throws a real devastating clothesline which doesn't sound like a big deal, but pay close attention at how many people wuss out and pull clotheslines and you start to appreciate Green's more.

 

Darsow and Smiley is another two that match-up well, as they are both over the top and really play up their goofiness but can work. Darsow was wearing his Blacktop Bully gear here and the announcers no-sold it.

 

Los Fabulosos vs. Armstrongs was awesome, and had me wondering the whole time "Who the hell goes over here?" Armstrongs never beat ANYbody, and the other team is Mexican. Well, when in doubt, bet on white. Still, the match got 7 minutes and was non-stop action, with tons of double teams and Dandy punching people. What's not to love about this?

1/9/99

 

Al Green vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Scott & Steve Armstrong vs. Nick Dinsmore/Mike Sullivan*

Bobby Blaze vs. Dave Burkhead

Bobby Duncum Jr. vs. Bull Pain**

LWO Party!!!**

Lash LeRoux vs. Glacier*

The Gambler vs. Chase Tatum

Fit Finlay/Dave Taylor vs. Disorderly Conduct*****

Buddy Lee Parker vs. Mongo McMichael*

La Parka/Silver King vs. Bobby Eaton/Kenny Kaos**

 

Green/BBB was really short and Bigelow was working really light. I had higher hopes for it.

 

OK this is really weird, as this marks two shows in a row where Scott/Steve Armstrong got the win in a match, and I have NEVER seen them win before. For the record, their finisher is Steve hitting a missle dropkick while Scott holds opponent and then hits a spinebuster. Both Armstrongs work really stiff here, especially Steve who beats the shit out of these two. Sullivan is the reason this is only a mid-level nom instead of a slam dunk. I don't know who he was, but he stank. He threw these awful uppercut punches that looked like Austin Powers judo chops. Still, Armstrongs made this work.

 

Blaze/Burkhead had its moments and Burkhead can really take a decent beating sometimes...but his comeback offense is just horrid. Worst corner punches this side of Kofi Kingston. Blaze can have some cool offense, but sometimes he tries to have too much and gets sloppy. However, he also kicked Burkhead in the head almost every time Dave was getting to his feet, and that was fucking awesome. Just toe of the boot, right to the head. This was too disjointed to nominate though.

 

Duncum/Pain was awesome, and I am fully on the Duncum bandwagon here. Guy looked like a total star here. A few different cool clothesline variations and nice bumps and presence. It was shorter than I would've liked, but Pain bumped big as always and it was good times while it lasted.

 

I love the LWO party segment. My buddy Sean had an LWO shirt, and we always teased him because he missed the LWO party segment, and we always would joke that he was a fake fan because only the real LWO fans saw the party segment. The awesomeness of the party grew to mythical proportions and Sean would get legit mad when we would say he wasn't a true fan of the LWO. Good memories.

 

Damn did Lash try here, but holy cow did Glacier suck most of the time. Lash had maybe his best performance I've seen here, bumping big time for Glacier's soft offense.

 

Gambler/Tatum starts hot with Gambler stiffing the shit out of Tatum by punching him in the jaw, then hitting a big elbow to the face, then a back elbow to the other cheek. Tatum looks rattled and I'm rewinding to see the juiced up lug get stiffed....when Tatum just hits some slam and gets the pin. Match went like 20 seconds.

 

Finlay/Taylor vs. Disorderly Conduct!?!?!? YES!!!!!! This is completely as great as it sounds on paper. Fit and Dave take approx. 96% of the match and it fucking rules. It's them just having an ass-kicking exhibition on DO. Mean Mike takes a beating here and Fit and Dave break out just a bunch of cool stuff. These dudes are two of my favorites, and this 100% lived up to how great it looked on paper. Slam dunk nomination.

 

Wow was Mongo not very good, but this might be THEE Buddy Lee performance. Dude looked awesome here and stiffed the shit out of Mongo. Practically everybody on this show worked stiffer than they usually do, must have been some sort of bet backstage.

 

Main event just kicked tons of ass. The set up of the bizarre team of Kaos/Eaton was awesome, as at the beginning of the show Eaton was sitting backstage in Zubaz pants, and Kaos comes up to him and says "Bobby. I need a partner tonight, and I know your career is almost over, and you're winding it down, but you're a great tag worker and have been a part of some of the biggest tag teams in history. Would you want to be my partner tonight?" And Eaton goes "OK." Fucking awesome. Match itself kicks all kinds of ass with Parka stiffing guys with kicks, had to have at least 7 kicks to somebody's face (including a brutal missle dropkick on King in an awesome miscommunication spot), Eaton punching Parka in the face in the middle of Parka dancing, Kaos working insanely stiff with some brutal shoulder blocks and wicked clotheslines. So many "power wrestlers" don't actually come off that powerful, since their bodies are held together with tape. But Kaos looked insanely powerful in this, best performance of his I've seen. Eaton hits tons of offense and gets the win with the Alabama Jam. King and Park got tons of cool offense too and this got like 8 minutes plus and was just too awesome. Great match.

7/24

 

Eddy Guerrero vs. Adrian Byrd

Barry Darsow vs. Jim Duggan

Brian Knobbs vs. Fit Finlay*

Juventud Guerrera vs. Kidman

 

Eddy match was disappointing because Byrd brings basically nothing to the table.

 

Darsow/Duggan went about how it sounds.

 

Knobbs/Finlay was just a royal cocktease that you buy drinks for all night and she pukes in your car so you drop her off at home and call her the next day to find out that she sobered up and boned some dude and you just went home and jacked it to that Leah Thompson scene in Howard the Duck because it was on tv and it's one of the hottest things ever. Maybe. The match is going GREAT and they're both stiffing the shit out of each other, but then the First Family runs in....BUT THEN REGAL AND TAYLOR RUN IN!!! A trios of Regal/Finlay/Taylor vs. Knobbs/Barbarian/Flynn will surely be ********, but that wasn't on this episode and fuck you guys for teasing me like that.

 

I think I've seen like 15 Juvy/Kidman matches, some are good, some are this. These guys were just on different pages. Can't really say either guy looked bad, in fact sometimes Juvy looked downright great, this match itself just didn't gel.

11/27/99

 

Chris Adams vs. Saturn*

Villano IV vs. Juventud Guerrera*

Curly Bill vs. Lash LeRoux*

Adrian Byrd vs. Jeff Jarrett

Elix Skipper vs. Allan Funk

Sonny Siaki vs. Rick Cornell

Johnny Attitude vs. Meng

Berlyn vs. Frankie Lancaster

Texas Outlaws vs. Creative Control

 

Adams/Saturn was short but fun, with Adams getting nice comebacks spots until Shane Douglas shoves Adams off the top, allowing the Rings of Saturn to get locked on. Adams took a nasty bump running full speed into the ropes, getting tangled up and falling hard to the floor. He also used a Stunner as a move to transition into hitting the superkick (with the superkick looking great to the shock of nobody)

 

Villano vs. Juvy was spot after spot after spot, no cares to selling, but who cares? They take it to the mat for a bit, do a bunch of cool headscissor rolls, neat ranas, Villano comPLETEly no selling a huge suicide dive (Juvy hit the dive, Villano just took it, didn't move, slapped Juvy, then threw him head first into the floor), Juvy doing the People's Elbow (Scott Hudson: "Is that supposed to hurt!?"), with Juvy winning with the Juvy Driver.

 

Curly Bill/Vincent has been a real treat in rewatch. Somewhere between Virgil and here he got good. Here he carries Lash to a real fun match, missing a giant fistdrop off the middle (and selling it great), bumping big from the apron to the floor (almost smacking the back of his head on the guardrail), stomping on Lash's face after a failed sunset flip, scraping his boots on Lash's face, and wearing baggy Tommy Hilfiger while portraying a redneck. Lash was a long for the ride, and of course won, but this was Curly Bill's match.

 

The constant him of piped in ambient white noise and boos sounds makes any episode of WCWSN sound like I'm watching Eraserhead. Creative Control does a run-in to help JJ handle Byrd (::groooooaannn:: I forgot their names were Patrick and Gerald. Bleccch), and this was a basic squash until Byrd got a couple nice hope roll-ups at the end. One of the schoolboys was actually really close.

 

Funk LEVELS Skipper with a shoulderblock to start, like when Albert Belle mowed down Fernando Vina. Match wasn't much, just a couple rookies. Funk gets his spots in the first part, Skipper gets the 2nd half. Funk hit mostly power offense (big powerslam, nice German) and looked better than Skipper (whose offense was bunch of light as air crossbodies and a big springboard dropkick that was also light and floaty and looked like it would not hurt a man).

 

Man were Siaki and Cornell on the gas. Cornell does a couple cool leg sweep takedowns that I never remember him doing when he later became Reno. Siaki chokes Cornell with his own ponytail, which is a pretty great use for a stupid looking ponytail. But man these Power Plant matches aren't that good. Every one of them is worked with one guy taking the 1st half, and the winner taking the 2nd half.

 

Meng/Attitude was real odd, with Meng doing normal pro wrestling moves (vertical suplex, snap mare, body slam), and then just hitting the Tongan Death Grip. Even Larry seemed perplexed. "Why is he doing all these wrestling moves? Why isn't he just beating this guy?"

 

Wow Lancaster really was the Bob Holly of WCW, just without ever getting pushed. Same balding bleacher hair, same juiced up physique (their body shape is also almost identical), both throw a nice dropkick. Berlyn was a gimmick I actually liked, and I thought Alex Wright actually looked cool that way. But I can see why Berlyn never went anywhere after that Duggan PPV match, and matches like this where he works 50/50 with Lancaster.

 

Main event went 2 minutes, CC won with a sideslam. I don't think one of the guys even tagged in.

7/31/99

 

Disorderly Conduct vs. Jerry Flynn/Hugh Morrus*

Mike Enos vs. Van Hammer

Al Green vs. Curt Hennig

Kendall Windham/Bobby Duncum Jr. vs. Rey Misterio Jr./B.A.**

 

Only an hour for this week's episode, which is a shame.

 

DC vs. Flynn/Morrus was a good 4 minutes. This was right after the First Family had injured Finlay, so I expected Regal and Taylor to be out for blood and do a violent run-in, possibly allowing DC to get a sneaky win. But it didn't happen. I think I've determined that Tough Tom is the better DC member...but every match I always forget which one is Tough Tom. DC get a nice control section against Flynn and cut off the ring, which is more than I was expecting. Barbarian cheats from the floor though and Morrus splats one of them with the No Laughing Matter. And then Flynn locks on the worst looking armbar ever.

 

Enos/Hammer is all Enos for the first 2 minutes (including just leveling VH with a shoulderblock), but then VH just cuts to his finishing run out of nowhere and looks bored doing it.

 

Green/Hennig was not great, and Hennig just looked sluggish and off in it. Green took a nice bump off a hotshot, and this just wasn't much. Hennig stumbled twice just trying to do the Perfect Plex.

 

Main event tag was an awesome 6 minutes. Kendall is the fucking greatest. His left hand seriously might be my favorite thing in recent wrestling that I've watched. Duncum has also aged really well in rewatch (his wrestling ability, not his "being alive" skills). He bumps really big and moves around with good purpose in the ring. Kendall and Duncum really bump around nicely for Rey, taking his offense in a way that does not look ridiculous (the way 6'6" dudes flying around for a 5'3" dude should look ridiculous). Eventually Barry and Hennig come in and beat Rey/B.A. down (Barry with the cowbell shot!) and then Swoll, Chase Tatum, and 4x4 (in his spaghetti strap camo tank top!!!) chug down to the ring and the Rednecks bail. Awesome while it lasted. Kendall was seriously so damn good in '99, really carried himself like a total smug badass.