The SmarK Rant for NWA Power Hour – 02.09.90

The SmarK Rant for NWA Power Hour – 02.09.90

Taped from Cobb Country, GA

Your hosts are Jim Ross & Gordon Solie, since apparently Jim Cornette has lived up to his promise and quit the show after last week.

Buzz Sawyer & The Great Muta v. The Italian Stallion & Zan Panzer

Zan is a mysterious masked man in bubblegum pink, looking like a MUSCLE figure come to life, and introduced as being “from Europe”, so that narrows things right down. Feels like a 1990 WCW gimmick. He was Gene Anderson’s kid Brad, so I’m shocked he didn’t end up as World champion once his fake uncle took over. Buzz takes the Stallion down with a headlock, but Stallion gets his own while JR and Gordon stress how Buzz Sawyer is really, really crazy. Feels like it’s building to a Match Game style punchline, but sadly Cornette isn’t here to provide one. Zan comes in and Muta works the arm before taking him down with a cross armbreaker. Buzz comes in and JR spreads malicious unfounded rumors of Kevin Sullivan trying to get a manager’s license and take over the career of Sawyer. Well they would end up as a tag team by the end of the month, at least. Panzer fights back on Sawyer, but the Stallion comes in and Buzz tosses him for a beating from Muta. Back in the ring, Buzz with a snap suplex for twos, and then Muta brings Panzer in for a spinkick. Muta with a suplex to set up Buzz for a flying splash, and that finishes at 6:50. Saywer and Muta were a completely mismatched team that did not have any kind of chemistry at all.

WRESTLING NEWS NETWORK! WITH GORDON SOLIE!

Sadly this version immediately edits out Gordon’s thoughts on Sting getting betrayed by the Horsemen and all the stuff that happened at Clash X.

Meanwhile, the Road Warriors have words for the Skyscrapers. They’re gonna pluck them like chickens! I thought that was someone else’s gimmick?

The Skyscrapers v. The Galaxians

Yes, it’s the debut of MEAN MARK here on the Power Hour, taking the place of Sid Vicious on the way to WrestleWar 90. I last did that one in the 24/7 era but it’s a banger of a show and I’d totally give it another look. I wasn’t counting on seeing my second Nightmare Ken Wayne match of the week here, but the Galaxians are the masked version of the team otherwise known as the Nightmares, Ken Wayne and Danny Davis. Spivey hits a Galaxian with a big boot, but the other one comes in with a double dropkick and Dan just shrugs it off. Another Galaxian tries a flying bodypress and Spivey just ignores that as well. Over to Mark, who drops a leg on a Galaxian and then tosses him out to the floor. Mark plows through both Galaxians and then the Scrapers give one of them a double big boot while JR runs down the football career of Spivey. Powerbomb finishes at 4:30. We know Mean Mark had some stuff in him later, but he just wasn’t Sid.

Funk’s Grill: Terry Funk has sad news for us, as he’s leaving for greener syndicated pastures as of this episode and this is his last show. So Jim Cornette joins him as his guest, but Terry walks off and leaves the show to Cornette to host from now on. Jim is more than happy to take it over and lead it back to greatness as The Louisville Slugger.

Sting v. Jacko Victory

Victory’s status as a member of the Royal Family leads me to wonder if he was contacted about possible succession as King before they settled for Charles yesterday. If it was a King Ralph situation and they all died from a family photo gone wrong, would he be in the conversation? Huge if true. JR notes that although is not a party pooper as such, the little Stingers are his priority and the Horsemen just couldn’t deal with that, man. Now, clearly this was taped before Clash X because Sting is not limping around the ring clutching his knee and going “Ow!” instead of “OWWWWWW!” They fight for the lockup and Victory bails to the floor to take it over with Lord Littlebrook while JR promise that Sting will absolutely positively be at WrestleWar 90 despite the Horsemen attack, which leads me to believe that the commentary was also recorded before Clash X and they’re just going off what the plans were at the time. Victory tries a top wristlock and Sting powers out of that and takes Victory down a bunch of times, chasing him to the floor again. Gordon Solie is just beyond checked out here. They were better off leaving him on the WNN segments at this point. Back in the ring, Victory gets a slam and misses an elbow, and Sting goes to work on the arm as a result. Jacko slugs away in the corner while Sting fires up the “thousands” of fans in attendance, as claimed by JR. They fight to the floor and Victory puts the boots to him out there, but Sting gets a suplex on the floor as it really feels like they’re stretching this out for no reason. Back in, Sting goes back to the arm, but Victory rakes his face on the ropes and slugs him down in the corner. Victory with a chinlock, but Sting fights out of that with a jawbreaker as this drags on. Sting makes a comeback, but a Stinger splash misses and Victory gets two off that. And back to the chinlock, but Sting fights out and dropkicks him to the floor. Back in, Sting with a flying bodypress for two, but Victory goes up with his own, and Sting catches him in a powerslam to counter. Stinger splash hits this time, and the Scorpion Deathlock finishes at 13:25. This felt WAY longer than it was, but it was quite decent. **1/2

BREAKING NEWS: Jim Ross cuts into the broadcast with a special report, noting that the Horsemen have attacked Sting again and injured his knee, putting the PPV main event in jeopardy.

This definitely felt like a lesser episode of the show compared to some of the really good main events we’ve been getting in 1990 so far. Hopefully Sting is OK!