The Giant vs. Scott Steiner (and other Dream Matches!)

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This week, I have a mostly WCW-leaning assortment, but also pulled out a Moxley/Danielson DGUSA match! First up, though is a FANTASTIC defining match for The Giant back when he was only in his first year and yet WCW World Heavyweight Champion! Here he takes on Scott Steiner, who does a great job putting over the newbie, making it look hopeless until it isn’t, then making him look like a million bucks on the way out! And Giant holds his own with the monster selling, too!

After that, it’s a WWE/WCW Vault upload as Mean Mark takes on Lex Luger shortly before Mark jumps ship and becomes the Undertaker- come see just HOW limited both guys were at this time! Then it’s 1999 WCW with a risk-taking Juventud Guerrera vs. Psychosis match, with some INSANE bumping and a hell of a finish! Then it’s Dragon Gate USA doing a small indie show with Bryan Danielson facing a goofy, wriggly heel Jon Moxley years before they’d form a stable together and then Moxley would try to single-handedly bury the entire company of AEW! Finally, it’s more of Outback Jack’s jobber years, as he takes on new dastardly heel “The Natural” Butch Reed!

WCW WORLD TITLE:
THE GIANT (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. SCOTT STEINER:
(WCW Nitro, June 17th 1996)
* Oh man! On paper this sounds remarkable- the nigh-unstoppable rookie Champion of WCW and he’s going up against one of the most credible tag team wrestlers in the world, and a guy even then fans were clamoring for more of- Scott Steiner! The Giant is of course a young, skinny Paul Wight in the most successful rookie year ever- green as grass but grim and a serious threat. I’m actually seen very, very little of him at this point, and Bobby Heenan puts over how successful he is so young. Scott is in a black & pink bisected singlet, and has his ribs taped due to an earlier attack. The Giant at this point doesn’t have much stage presence, but his size alone is impressive, and he’s clearly trying to under-act a bit, seeming unimpressed with everything. Probably better than overdoing it at this point.

Immediately Scott knows exactly what to do, as he easily uses his skills to hit a go-behind, but tries a German and can’t even get Wight off his toes. The big guy just growls thrice as Scottie fails to budge him, an Steiner does a perfect angry release and just starts staring at him like “… fuck… what DO I do here?”, putting him over tremendously. Scott grabs a single-leg and all the skill in the world ain’t pulling THAT off- the Giant easily shrugs him off by stomping. Scottie STILL wants to lift him, hoisting him up for a slam but Giant just Andres down and splats him, then gets up and starts kicking the shit out of him, enraged he got picked up while Scott holds his injured ribs like they cost him the lift, haha. Giant eventually STANDS on him, absolutely zero mercy and starts grabbing his face and just yelling at him. Giant drops a knee on the ribs and dumps him to the floor like a sack of shit. Scott’s so beaten down that Giant can easily wait him out, still stalks him from behind, and is doing the “step off his chest” spot when we’re back from break. A simple clutch wears Scott down and Giant is pretty good at choosing a different move each time to avoid repeating himself but it’s dragging a tad.

Scott’s look of disbelief and frustration when he can’t suplex the Giant. Suplexes are the core of the Steiners’ offense and he can’t even get ONE. The way he and the Giant sell it is perfect. And if he actually hits one later, the crowd is gonna shit.

Double-legdrop and a delayed suplex sets up Giant clotheslining him to the floor, but the merciless giant chooses to grab the dreaded WOODEN CHAIR, in payment for Scottie doing the same to him last week. But he’s slow getting in the ring and Scottie yoinks up the top rope into his nuts as he steps over it, and THAT’s how ya transition against a monster! Scott sells exhaustion as he chop-blocks Giant down and starts sleeperholding him, but the monster just effortlessly smashes him backwards into the corner. But Giant overdoes it at last and Scott gets his feet up on a charge, and the Giant is too green to know better and charges in AGAIN, bouncing off the corner and Scott hits a T-BONE SUPLEX! Huge bump from the Giant and the crowd comes alive because that was AWESOME! Steiner, true to form, is like “YEAH I SUPLEXED HIM! THAT’S FUCKING RIGHT!” all forgetting to cover, haha.

told ya.

Giant still flings him off at two, doing a good “blinking his eyes like he’s waking up” sell as Scott puts on the pressure with punches, but Giant slowwwwllly but surely gets up to his feet regardless, and Scott goes for the chair! Jimmy grabs it and gets flung down and Scott explodes it across the Giant’s shoulder! But with this perfect “uh-uh” head-shake, Giant just shrugs it off, snags him with a goozle, and The Chokeslam crushes him like a bug at (8:20 shown). Oh my god what a squash. Nothing can hurt this man for long. So of course in a couple of months his balls permanently get gelded and he’s the #5 guy in the nWo and underpushed for the next five years, lol.

See now like… THIS is how ya do it. You have a pretty green guy who’s a complete monster and 100% believable as a main eventer, this is how you put him over. Put a top tag guy who can work in there and have him eat offense for 80% of the match, only get going because he moves out of the way (the Hogan/Andre formula- Hogan couldn’t get ANY offense until Andre literally hurt himself by missing headbutts), hits one AWESOME move that brings the people to life and looks great, and then his best efforts fail- the Giant is teetering and hurt, but shrugs off a chairshot and kills him with the big finish. Yeah it drags a bit in the middle but any fan the next day will be like “Holy shit, did you see that suplex?” and “oh man, this guy is UNSTOPPABLE”. Giant is incredible for a rookie at this point, as he knows better than to no-sell COMPLETELY- look at him slowly blinking himself to awareness after the suplex or teetering yet still slowly making his feet- that’s Monster-like selling. Make it look like Scott just has a tiny bit of a chance before shrugging off an even bigger move and killing him.

The worst thing possible for Giant-type guys, though, is weekly TV- fans likely won’t accept these 80-20 matches weekly and they’re “too slow” for channel-changers, so you end up with “Giant overselling to put over the babyfaces and bouncing around” quickie matches, which are exactly how NOT to use legit monsters. Proper thing to do is probably sparingly use him- if he’s not squashing guys in seconds don’t put him in competitive matches multiple times a month. But of course a 7-foot guy with charisma who can work is TERRIFYING if you’re a wrestler who wants their spot so a lot of guys seemed to conspire to label him a “bad attitude” guy and that was that, lol. But for this, Scott put him over like gangbusters and still got to be awesome. That’s how ya do it.

Rating: **3/4 (very good for what it was- mostly non-competitive but terrific spots and the Giant can already act the believable monster)

NWA U.S. TITLE:
LEX LUGER vs. MEAN MARK (w/ Paul E. Dangerously):
(WCW Great American Bash 1990)
* Here’s a WWE/WCW Vault upload! This one has Luger defending his US Title against a Heel of the Month-type “Mean Mark”, who would quickly be known as the Undertaker in the WWF. Here Mark is making kind of a “boo-hoo” face in black trunks and cowboy chaps while a skinny Paul E. leads him to ringside. Luger’s in bad-ass pink trunks & boots. Luger’s got a 0/10 in charisma judging by his intro, coming down with a blank look on his face and just doing half-flexes and points at the fans.

Mark does a good job being a “giant rookie” by hitting a wristlock and immediately asking Paul E for advice, but JR on commentary is just all about what they took in college (Mark took Sports Management?) as Luger puts on weak arm stuff. Mark whines about a hairpull and throws some right hands, and Mark calls a spot (… after Luger openly gabs while hunched over) and misses an elbow to the top turnbuckle. Luger wins a fast criss-cross with a crossbody and does armdrags, but keeps going back to this shitty, loose pithold. The surest sign of “yeah I don’t fucking know how to fill time right now”. Man, who agented this shit? Why is the 6’8″ guy eating all the early match offense? They do an international and Mark accidentally donks him with a high clothesline and Luger has to awkwardly turn around into some brawling, openly calling spots covered with the punches. A big boot and more slugs put him down, then hits the Fujiwara armbar (hey! He didn’t learn all his mat wrestling from UFC!).

THIS MOVE! THIS GODDAMN MOVE! This move is the surest sign that they’re “just fillin’ time lol” to pad out the match. It doesn’t look good, actively looks like they’re taking a rest, and is too simple to be a credible bit of offense. I see this move, I instantly know the guys are being lazybones.

He hits his big Ropewalk Strike, Luger barely selling it, and immediately making the comeback until he sails over the top rope on a wild move. Mark works him over outside with basic stuff, then wins a slugfest in the ring, but Luger pops up from a vertical suplex and no-sells, hitting a big clothesline as Mark does a good “dope” sell. Two more set up the Torture Rack, but the ref gets wiped out by Mark’s long legs and in comes Paul E. with his cellphone foreign object, cracking Luger in the ribs. Mark finally gets two when the ref recovers (lol how is even a 1980s cellphone so destructive to take?). Mark gets a bad short clothesline (they’re either blown up or not communicating well) and goes for the Heart Punch (his finish at the time), but Luger gets his foot up and a total weaksauce “clothesline” (just whacks him with his wrist!) gets the pin at (12:08).

A very “filler” match, extended a lot and given some pretty weak, plodding offense. Not well agented or built. Luger always had an issue looking soft, and the huge Mark being such a generic heel wasn’t great, either. The natural flow shoulda been Hot Luger Start, Lots of Mark Brutality/Dominance, then Luger’s Hot Comeback, Then Hot Finish. Mark was clearly still green- he had some athleticism (good foot movements and his leapfrog was good, never mind the rope-walk, but the super-fake “throws a high move that was obviously intended to miss” looked bad (never mind that it DIDN’T miss and so they had an awkward pause), he had some soft clotheslines, and Luger’s stuff was it’s typical “lazybones/but also looks like it doesn’t hurt” stuff. Luger had zero compelling babyface offense and no connection with the crowd, made worse by the match’s plodding nature and the poor match construction. And this was on *PPV*! Someone presumably was very interested in this being good! At least the fans were kinda into it.

Rating: ** (not actively the worst thing ever, but barely passable- weak finish and neither guy looked good)

… Yup. He was always doing this.

BRYAN DANIELSON vs. JON MOXLEY:
(Dragon Gate USA, Way of the Ronin, Sept. 26th 2010)
* Hey, why not? This isn’t their first match, but it’s shortly before Moxley got hired by WWE, back when he was a tall, kinda gangly guy with a mop of hair and Bryan was still an indie darling. Moxley gets on the mic and denies he’ll be getting his fucking head kicked in, but the crowd chants a counterpoint. Not exactly rolling off the tongue, there.

Moxley is apparently already a goofy-wrestling cartoon character as he goes googly-eyed skipping across the ring and obviously goes to miss a clothesline so Danielson can take him down into Cattle Mutiliation (back-bridging double-chickenwing)- Mox rolls out but takes Hammer & Anvil elbows into a dive, then beats on him outside the ring until Mox does his old stand-by- “arbitrarily stops selling and makes a comeback”. She shoves a woman to the floor and she’s seen being openly attracted to him, and he hits short elbows to a bleeding Bryan’s forehead. oh god why is the camera in so close when he obviously whiffs those knees to the head by like a foot each? Bryan does a good “flop-sell” and collapses off of impacts as Mox works him over, then starts working the arm for his Crossface Chickenwing. Man his technical stuff is bad, too- just loosens his grip on the arm at several points to reposition himself. He works the cut a bit but Bryan comes back on the floor and in-ring does his backflip spot into a running lariat, Mox getting up with his specialty- the “goofy gnarled-up face” so Bryan can do his chest-kicks spot. Both guys hit corner charging attacks into a double-down.

Pictured- Moxley selling at this point in his career.

Moxley gets a back elbow to stop a charge, then escapes a cradle piledriver to work the arm some more. Bryan does a SUPER phony counter into a triangle choke (very clearly deliberately moving a static Moxley into place). Mox doesn’t sell much beyond “shakes his hand a bit then casually puts it down” and avoids getting his hand dropped three times, arbitrarily getting up to lift Danielson out of the move and put him up top, where a fight sees him whipped off and missile kicked. Bryan gets fired up, but walks right into an Ace Crusher for two, then snaps on the Crossface Chickenwing (with a choke instead of… you know… crossing the face) and now it’s Danielson’s turn to keep his hand up before “3” and fight out- he manages to counter a sleeper to the hammer & anvil into a Cattle Mutilation, Moxley making the ropes. Mox eats some European uppercuts but reverses to a good backslide, then his King Kong Lariat for two. They slug it out with kicks after another double-down, but this time Danielson stops him with a headbutt, takes him down into the Head Kicks, an enzuigiri, and the LeBell Lock for the tap-out at (14:56), Moxley not really making a show of selling till the very end. Post-match, Bryan offers the hand but gets beaten down by Kamikaze USA (Mox and a partner- Gran Akuma) until Jimmy Jacobs chases them away with a chair.

Man, so Moxley was a noodly, goofy seller even 15 years ago? That was always his instinct? Well it’s unique, I’ll give it that- everyone else doing “Best of New Japan AND All Japan” indie kickpad offense and here he is making like a wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube-man off of every spot, making silly asymettrical faces when struck, etc. The match was a very indieriffic “greatest hits” of Danielson spots threaded around random Moxley brawling- obviously Bryan was the bigger star with more established offense, so they worked around that. Some decent comeback when Mox went for his own finishes, but this felt very much like those “Bryan murders the Dark Order” matches in context, where it’s just a matter of time and Danielson generally gives up offense to the opponent until it’s time to hit his shit and go home. Fine mostly for Bryan’s stuff, especially considering it’s a small indie show in a shoebox of a hall, with Moxley already into all of his annoying traits- if anything, they were almost worse and he’s calmed them down a tad. At least when he was a shitass cheating heel dweeb it made more sense.

Rating: **1/4 (good mostly for Bryan’s offense, which is always tight and credible)

PSYCHOSIS vs. JUVENTUD GUERRERA:
(WCW Monday Nitro, Jan. 18th 1999)
* It’s more Juvi! This time against Psychosis! They probably fought a lot, but never in a major program. Juvi’s in red and I think a babyface at this point, while Psychosis is in his LWO-ish gear, with the black outfit and red/green pads/trim.

Psychosis gets a quick neckbreaker to start, Juvi headscissoring him as they promptly go to break. Back in with Psychosis nailing a release spinebuster that has Juvi spinning and thrashing about on the ground, then spends time taunting and chinlocking him. He stops a comeback and dropkicks him to the floor, then does the Kanyon suplex off the first rope back in. Very soft pace thus far. haha did Psychosis just say “C’mon gimme that fucking pin!”? He misses a corkscrew senton as commentary gets distracted with ref Scott Dickinson getting suspended after a Dress Match from last night’s Souled Out, but Juvi flies into a dropkick. Man, only WCW did those wicked anti-air moves at that point. Juvi finally lands his wheelbarrow bulldog for two, jaws with the ref, then does 12 punches way up top instead of a super rana, getting whipped off and landing on his knee instead of his nuts on the top rope, getting tossed to the floor for Psychosis to hit his insane suicide dive OVER the top rope. Missile dropkick to the back of the head gets two, but Juvi lands on his feet from a release German, but the Juvi Driver is reversed to an inverted suplex! Juvi gets a Kidman counter on a powerbomb but both miss corner moves until Psychosis flips himself upside-down but crotches Juvi on the top rope, only to eat the same thing himself. But Juvi climbs up, both guys stand on the top rope, and Psychosis brings him down with a SUPERDUPER SIT-OUT GOURDBUSTER (jesus) and finishes with the Guillotine Legdrop at (8:44). Yeah, THAT’LL do it. Juvi typically outranked him by a lot among Cruisers, so this is a bit of an upset.

They did good! Though it’s funny because this was 2-3 minutes longer than the typical “Cruiserweight Match” on Nitro tended to be, AND they’d just wrestled the night before, so this was a much slower pace than normal, hitting the huge moves but having a long stretch in the middle padded with Psychosis slapping his ass at the fans, arguing with the ref, dumping Juvi and doing a simple move back in to kill time, etc. But then you got stuff like his crazy tope suicida then the Juvi Driver counter and all the other flying (that WWF really wasn’t doing at this point), then an inverted gourdbuster off the very top rope into the finish. A bit too slow overall and it made the fans pretty quiet when taking off a couple minutes would have been better, but some impressive stuff.

Rating: **3/4 (people online would have gone nuts for this in 1999, but you can tell the slowed pace was neutralizing a lot of the impact for the fans)

“THE NATURAL” BUTCH REED (w/ The Master of Style, Slick) vs. OUTBACK JACK:
* Outback Jack gets the dreaded “in the ring to my right” while Butch, a relatively new act at this point, comes down with Slick, who hasn’t quite earned his Doctorate in Style. Jesse Ventura marks out for his theme music, declaring it the equal of Prince & James Brown.

Outback gets distracted by Slick like a dumbass and gets merked immediately, Butch kneeing him down and elbowing him across the ring. Some decent bumps by Outback, but his comes back with simply terrible punches and Butch largely just ignores them and goes to work again. Vince, disgusted at Reed for putting Superstar Billy Graham out of wrestling with a dastardly attack (“more like out of his misery”- Jess), shoots to a promo by “The Rock” (aka Don Muraco), who, instead of incensed like you’d expect, is just all cocainey as he giggles to himself and goes wide-eyed with a silly rhyme. Outhouse comes back with a clothesline, but gets whipped into the corner and a Flying Clothesline finishes at (2:07) while Vince reacts with annoyance that Reed claims his bleach-blond hair is “natural”, which he allegedly thought would draw TREMENDOUS heat (Ventura just goes “yeah, it’s sun-bleached”). Not a bad squash, as Jack is a big dude and it looks pretty good to just mash him up in two minutes. Reed didn’t really show a lot of effort or nastiness, though.

Rating: 1/2* (typical squash)