The Fan-Cam Files: WCW @ Meadowlands Arena – 07.03.1991 (WARGAMES)

Welcome to only the 2nd edition of the Fan-Cam Files dipping into WCW waters. With WWE Survivor Series featuring Wargames and AEW running Blood & Guts this month, it seemed like the best time to scratch this one off the list (not like I have a ton of WCW to select from, especially shows that have much of a draw). 1991 WCW seems to get a negative reputation, but I like it more than others probably because it was one of the few times in my childhood where I was paying decent attention to their weekly television and ordering their Pay-Per-View offerings.

This is the first show on the Great American Bash ‘91 Tour, with the tour running until stopping at the Omni in Atlanta, GA on August 25th. In the available results, the Wargames gimmick was trotted out 7-times, with other stops on the tour featuring standard cage match main events (often tag team, sometimes just 1 v 1) as the big attraction.

The Desperados vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (w/ Big Daddy Dink):
We’ve got a Six-Man Tag to open the card, with the Freebirds represented by Michael P.S. Hayes, Jimmy Jam Garvin, and the masked and mysterious Badstreet, taking on the upstart trio of Dirty Dutch Mantell, Black Bart, and Dead-Eye Dick (Randy Colley, formerly known as Moondog Rex and Original Smash). The Desperados were infamously introduced as a group on WCW TV in a series of vignettes where their ultimate goal was to find Stan Hansen, but Hansen left the company before they got around to resolving it, and the Desperados never worked a match for TV. Badstreet, the Freebirds new ally, is a masked Brad Armstrong, in another attempt in finding a character for him (we just gave up on “The Candyman”, and he’ll soon receive another gimmick, the even more infamous Arachniman). If this sounds like a lot of Wrestlecrap or BECAUSE WCW, then yeah, it’s pretty much hitting the nail on the head.

The Freebirds remind Gary Michael Cappetta that they are the U.S. AND Six-Man Tag Team Champions. Dutch and Hayes start, with Hayes doing his usual routine. Dutch teases a moonwalk of his own, but thinks twice. The Desperados take turns working Hayes until Dead-Eye Dick fumbles the bag, accidentally putting Dutch in a head-lock, then to Bart before they get his attention by smacking him around with their hats. The crowd doesn’t seem too amused. Garvin comes in and does his schtick, and then more schtick from the Desperados. Bart and Jimmy have about 15-seconds of an actual match before we get more bumbling from Dead-Eye. Loud chant of “DDT” for the heel Freebirds. It’s not like they deserve it here, but the Desperados are dying in front of my eyes. Badstreet actually does some stuff, and we get MORE comedy as the referee is randomly distracted by Dink, so DEAD-EYE COMES IN, COUNTING HIS OWN PARTNER DOWN. Bart makes a quick comeback, but Dutch quickly turns it back over after getting popped by a Michael Hayes jab. Badstreet goes high risk and is nailed on the way down, allowing Dead-Eye to get the hot tag. He runs wild with slams, including slams to his own partners. More shenanigans happen and Badstreet puts away Dead-Eye with the DDT at 8:38. If the Desperados were going for a loveable babyface prelim comedy act, it bombed and bombed hard. This was a poor match that was kept reasonably short (90% schtick and bad comedy), but still long enough to convince me that I never want to see the Desperados gimmick again. -*

Big Josh vs. Terrence Taylor (w/ Mr. Hughes):
It’s the “Computerized Man of the 90’s” vs. a guy introduced simply from “The Pacific North-West” with an unbelievably worked weight of 275 pounds. Taylor is the leading member of the York Foundation (though Alexandra York is not present today), having turned heel back in January. Josh is veteran Matt Borne (pre-Doink), who seems to fit the need of a mid-tier babyface you can stuff in tag matches and do jobs wherever needed. Big Josh’s most memorable moment is probably coming to the ring on a WCW PPV with TRAINED BEARS. Why? BECAUSE WCW.

Taylor expresses frustration with the presence of Josh’s BIG OL’ STICK. Lockup and Taylor snaps off an arm drag. He offers a handshake that Josh is willing to accept and does the “PSYCH!” routine. OK, we had enough comedy in the opener, let’s put that stuff to bed for a few matches. As I type that, there appears to be a “Rooster” chant. Josh chases Taylor to the floor and into the ring, with one shot sending Taylor crying to his head of security and teasing a walk out. Back inside, Josh shows off his strength, sending Taylor hiding behind the referee. Josh meets a boot in the corner, allowing Taylor to take control. He drops a series of knees, followed by a rolling snap mare, for a series of two-counts. Josh teases a comeback, but Taylor goes to the eyes and dumps Josh out, introducing him to the guardrail before returning to the ring. Now it’s Taylor meeting a boot in the corner, with Josh popping out with a series of clotheslines. Hughes hops on the apron to draw the referee’s attention, allowing Taylor to grab Josh’s BIG OL’ STICK, but Josh fights it from Taylor, whacks him with it, and covers for three at 7:30. Perfectly fine TV match. Nothing special, nothing offensive. **

“The Natural” Dustin Rhodes vs. Richard Morton (w/ Mr. Hughes):
Back-to-back matches with York Foundation representation! We have a bit of history here, as Dustin and Morton were teaming semi-regularly in the Spring, but Morton officially joined the York Foundation by turning on Dustin at Clash of the Champions XV, after weeks of York courting Dustin, only to be turned down (insert obvious tidbit about them becoming a real-life relationship). Morton, despite joining a more professionally attired group, is still rocking the ugly mullet and Rock ‘n’ Roll Express gear. I originally wrote that Morton turned on Dustin at the Omni on May 26th, but then they kept working tag matches for a couple of weeks before doing the turn on live TV.

Dustin and Morton waste little time, throwing hands in the aisle before we can get a proper introduction for Dusty’s kid (who gets a fair share of negative reactions from this smark-ish crowd). Dustin gets sent to the post, but once in the ring, turns things around and loads up for the big elbow, sending Morton for a powder. We have a cut in the action, with Dustin selling something potentially low. Whip to the ropes and Morton with an inverted atomic drop. Rhodes rolls to the outside, with Morton following and giving him a taste of the rail. Back inside, Morton with a BAAAAAACK body-drop for two. Whip to the corner and there seems to be a miscommunication as they bump into each other awkwardly and transition into a slug-fest. Rhodes gets the better of the exchange and traps Morton in the corner with a flurry of mounted elbows. Dustin with a whip and diving clothesline, and that brings Hughes into the ring for the cheap disqualification at 5:23 (shown). Hughes lays out Dustin with the sidewalk slam and here comes Big Josh to clear the ring with his BIG OL’ STICK. From the footage available, another quick TV match but with a lame finish. I doubt the full match is much longer.

The Z-Man vs. The Diamond Studd (w/ Diamond Dallas Page):
This card is forcing me to put in the work, since I’m not as familiar with their storylines as I am with WWF programming, but this looks like a “give them something to do” situation, as they’ve worked a few houses together, but don’t have any big heat angle on TV. The Studd only debuted for WCW about six weeks earlier at SuperBrawl, and Zenk has missed a decent chunk of the Spring due to a bicep injury. Tom Zenk is the ultimate example of figuring out when there’s a change behind the scenes in regard to who is in charge of pushing talent, because his pushes are either solid mid-card or ice cold jobber, and it happens overnight every time.

DDP does an intro for his man, looking for a lucky female audience member to remove Studd’s entrance gear. I don’t know, I guess they’re going for something along the lines of Rick Rude? Z-Man rushes the ring and hits the unsuspecting Diamond Studd AND DDP with a flying body press. Z-Man keeps a quick pace, utilizing arm drags and dropkicks, followed by a Super-Kick. DDP pulls down the ropes, causing Z-Man to lose his focus and get whacked from behind by the Studd. Whip into the guardrail, with Z-Man spilling over and into the front row. Back inside (in the ring they didn’t start in, but who cares, I guess), Studd counters a hip toss with his signature chokeslam. He makes an arrogant cover, allowing Z-Man to hook the legs for a near-fall. Studd quickly regains control, working the leg with a spinning toe-hold. Z-Man with several attempts to create separation, but Studd maintains control. An enzuigiri stuns Studd, opening the door for a Z-Man comeback. The referee gets bumped along the way, and Diamond Studd is knocked out of the ring. DDP gets in the ring for whatever reason and Z-Man cradles him… FOR THREE AT 5:34?! You’re telling me the referee is so blind, he’s counting without looking at the shoulders, not to mention DDP is fully attired compared to his protege who just wrestled for 5 minutes without a shirt on? Holy crap, what a stupid finish to what was an otherwise solid effort. Awful, awful, awful. I’m docking a full star just for that level of ridiculousness. *½

P.N. News & Missy Hyatt vs. Arn Anderson & Paul E. Dangerously:
OH MY GOD, I’M SUBJECTING MYSELF TO THE RAP MASTER HIMSELF, P.N. NEWS. Missy and Paul E. spent way too much time in 1991 squawking at each other in your typical male chauvinistic nonsense from Paul E. and Missy being Missy. I remember them hyping up a big Arm Wrestling Challenge for the Clash and Paul E. did the job because he was distracted by boobies in spandex. I’m not finding anything of substance to explain News and Anderson, other than “we need some bodies to make this a mixed tag”.

Paul E. gets on the house mic to call News fat and ugly and then calls Hyatt a slut before running for his life. Those were the days, I guess. Hyatt wants to start, and, honestly, is that any worse than the idea of watching PN News work? Paul E. doesn’t want to get in the ring, so it’s News and Double A. News shrugs off a wrist-lock and blocks a slam by being too fat. He grabs Anderson with a side headlock and runs him over with a shoulder block. Arn tries doing the same to miserable results. Whip to the ropes, News CARTWHEELS to avoid an attack and connects with a dropkick. OK, that was impressive. He misses an avalanche, taking a big bump over the top rope. Paul E. gets in a few kicks and Arn lays the rap master out with a clothesline. Back inside, Paul E. wants in, but News no-sells his strikes and Arn is forced back in. He goes low on News, bringing in Hyatt to unload with the dreaded SLAP ATTACK that Arn mostly ignores. Arn is nailed diving off the second rope and an atomic drop knocks him into Dangerously. That counts as a legal tag, so News pummels Paul E. and crushes him with an avalanche. Missy tags in and covers for three at 7:11. HA HA, PAUL E. LOST TO A WOMAN! Surprisingly not awful. Arn is a pro’s pro, News did a few things well, and Paul E. did the usual schtick. **

Gary Michael Cappetta makes the announcement to the live crowd that in the last 48 hours, Executive Vice President of WCW Jim Herd and the WCW Championship Committee have stripped Ric Flair of the World Heavyweight Championship over “contractual disputes”. The Great American Bash PPV in Baltimore will still feature a Steel Cage Match, where #1 contender Lex Luger and #2 contender Barry Windham will meet to crown a new Champion. This crowd did not care for almost any of this announcement. I guess WCW drew a smart-heavy crowd in East Rutherford.

WCW TV Championship Match:
“Stunning” Steve Austin (c) (w/ Lady Blossom) vs. “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton:
Probably the one match on paper I was looking forward to the most (other than the Main Event, but that’s more for perverse reasons). Steve Austin made his WCW debut just weeks earlier and won the TV Title from Bobby Eaton on Worldwide, taped at the start of June, but not featured on TV until just a few days before this show. Eaton’s run with the title was very brief, but the TV Championship always felt like the “heel holds it forever” belt, using the time limit gimmick to their advantage and pissing off the crowds.

Cappetta announces this as a 10-minute time limit, which might as well give away the finish right there. Lockup and Austin shoves Eaton back. He pauses to trash talk someone, who responds by throwing something in the ring, resulting in Cappetta issuing a WARNING over throwing things at the ring and not only risking ejection, but the matches to be canceled. IT’S STILL REAL TO THEM, DAMMIT! We settle down with some chain wrestling until Austin pops Eaton with an elbow. Austin yanks the hair for the unfair advantage. Whip to the ropes, Austin with a shoulder block, followed by a hip toss. They run the ropes again, and this time Eaton surprises Austin with a pair of clotheslines, followed by a back body drop that sends Austin to the floor.

Back inside, Austin goes for the arm as we get the announcement of the 5-minute mark. Eaton catches Austin off the ropes with a drop toe hold and punishes the arm with a series of short knee drops. The fans suddenly start singing the “Goodbye” song to someone, probably the fan that was causing trouble earlier. Blossom picks the ankle, allowing Austin to knock Eaton through the ropes with a high knee. Austin brings him back in the ring with a suplex and slaps on a chin-lock as we’re down to 3-minutes. The referee sees him using the ropes, forcing the hold to be broken. A seated splash misses and Austin bounces across the ring. Eaton unloads with rights and lefts and takes Austin over with a BAAAAACK body-drop. Austin with a handful of tights to send Eaton to the floor. He blocks a slap from Lady Blossom and nails Austin coming off the apron. Back inside, Eaton with the swinging neck breaker. He plants Austin with a slam and comes off the top with the Alabama Jam, but Austin kicks out at two and the clock expires soon after for a legit 10:00 time limit draw. Post-match, Austin tries jumping Eaton but is sent running. Solid match with a telegraphed finish before the opening bell. I’m sure someone is going to say they botched the finish, but they were getting the 10 second countdown. **½

Rick Steiner & The Z-Man vs. The Hardliners:
You read that right, we’re getting a double-helping of Tom Zenk. Rick Steiner is still co-holder of the WCW World Tag Team Championship, but his brother Scott tore his bicep in St. Louis on June 14th and haven’t come to terms yet on what to do with the Tag Team Titles (the belts would be held up and a tournament would determine the new title holders). The Hardliners (vets Dick Slater and Dick Murdoch) and Steiners was the intended feud for TV and a house show run, but that obviously changed with Rick and a series of subs taking on the Hardliners for a brief period until they were quickly out of the company as their short-term deal expired.

Interestingly, Dick ‘n’ Dick are introduced as both “Hardliners Collection Agency” and simply “Hardliners.” Steiner and Slater start. Steiner with the early advantage, unloading with rights and knocking Slater silly with a Steiner-Line. Captain Redneck tries his luck and gets popped as well. Z-Man and Rick take turns working the arm as we briefly lose the image. The guys recording are polite enough to apologize for the technical difficulties. Steiner gets caught in the corner, where Slater lays in a flurry of elbows. Rick gets dumped to the floor and has his arm wrapped around the over-worked guardrail. Back inside, it’s the Hardliners turn to show off how to work a limb. Slater with a swinging neck breaker, followed by a double elbow for a pair of near-falls. Rick blocks a suplex, taking Slater over with his own to set up the hot tag. Z-Man with a dropkick and spinning elbow to Murdoch. Slater cuts him off with a knee to the back and the Hardliners set Z-Man up for what looks like an attempt to injure his arm, but Rick saves. Heck breaks loose with action in and outside the ring. Z-Man with a twisting body press to Murdoch, but the referee misses the cover as he escorts Steiner out of the ring. Slater with a bombs away from the top rope, and Murdoch covers Z-Man for three at 9:38 (shown, with real time slightly over 10:00). Nothing too exciting here, just a second-gear effort from most of those involved, which would be OK for a filler match on TV (and yes, I’m aware I’ve made that reference several times to describe matches on this card). *½

WARGAMES: Lex Luger, Sting, El Gigante and The Yellow Dog vs. Nikita Koloff, Barry Windham, The One Man Gang, and Kevin Sullivan:
It’s time for the Main Event, and the final match of the card. There’s a lot to unpack here, but there also seems to be poor balancing. Sting and Nikita Koloff are the biggest active feud, at least as far as star power is concerned, with Koloff having transitioned from a feud with Luger over the US Championship that began at WrestleWar. Barry Windham recently retired Flyin’ Brian Pillman and is now being hounded by the masked Yellow Dog, who wrestles and sounds like a familiar name from Windham’s recent past. El Gigante transitioned from a feud with the departing Sid Vicious to the One Man Gang, who is claiming to be the only true Giant, and somewhere along the way, Gang and Sullivan have shaved Gigante’s head. That leaves Luger as the odd man out, who was recently positioned to dethrone Ric Flair, but we all heard the announcement earlier in the card, and according to advertisements, Ric Flair was meant to be part of this match, with Sullivan filling his spot, so that explains Luger not having a proper rival tonight.

We do the coin toss to determine who has the advantage throughout the match and Nikita Koloff’s team wins the toss. Shocked. SHOCKED I SAY. The Yellow Dog and Barry Windham start. Windham gets the jump on Dog entering his home ring, quickly planting him with a DDT! The move is nothing more than a simple transition spot, as Yellow Dog is back up and catches Windham coming off the ropes with a powerslam. Dog with a clothesline into the corner, followed by a jaw breaker. Windham responds with an uppercut and grabs a side headlock. Whip to the ropes and the Dog’s attempt to use the roof as part of a spot doesn’t go as planned. We get a loud “We Want Flair” chant as the Dog goes low, sweeps Windham off his feet, and drops a knee across the family jewels. They take the action into Yellow Dog’s team’s home ring, with the Dog grabbing the roof to avoid a back suplex and using it to assist himself on a hurricanrana. Windham with the cut off, sending Dog into the cage and connecting with a piledriver. Yellow Dog counters a second attempt and slaps on a Figure-Four, but Windham escapes by going to the eyes.

The One Man Gang enters for the first period of advantage for the heels. Dog cuts him off entering the ring, unloading with chops, but Windham sneaks up and hits him below the belt. Don’t turn low blows in this match into a drinking game, just as a warning. Gang and Windham with a double-team in the corner that’s our first slow-down of the match. Dog gets dumped across rings and repeatedly rammed into the cage. Sting enters to even the odds, quickly taking out Windham to help Yellow Dog fight off the Gang. Sting punishes both men with a flurry of strikes, uses the roof to pull himself up and land a double kick, and follows it up with a double clothesline. Gang/Sting and Yellow Dog/Windham pair up to finish up the period, crossing into each other on at least one planned spot.

Nikita Koloff goes right after Sting and wipes out both babyfaces with his signature RUSSIAN SICKLE. Gang goes for the mask of the Dog, but is unsuccessful in his attempts. Sting blocks being thrown into the cage and sends Koloff into the corner, but Windham is there to help out his partner and traps Sting in a Figure-Four. Lex Luger is our next babyface savior, hitting Windham low (DRINK!) and coming off the second turnbuckle to hit the Gang with a clothesline. Yellow Dog has Windham trapped with his head between the two rings, a classic Wargames spot. Luger slams the Gang and Yellow Dog seems to be whipping Windham with something. It’s all babyfaces, though Koloff does end up out of position for Sting’s dive across both sets of ropes.

Kevin Sullivan in last for the heels, and he is laying into all the babyfaces with a weapon that our hosts speculate being the timekeeper’s hammer. Whatever it is, it’s effective, including a shot to the Yellow Dog’s genitals. In the other ring, we get heel miscommunication as Luger avoids the Russian Sickle, causing the Gang to take the blow instead. Luger’s not out of the weeds yet, as Windham comes off the ropes with a diving lariat. El Gigante is our final entrant, which means it’s time for THE MATCH BEYOND! Gigante throws some god awful strikes, mostly focusing his attention on the Gang. Everyone splits off, with Sullivan creeping around El Gigante, but Gigante is too smart for the devil worshipping bastard, kicking his hands that sends power flying into his face, and Gigante’s GIANT CLAW OF DOOM forces Sullivan to surrender at 16:39 (just 1:25 after El Gigant entered the match). Wow, they took this baby home way faster than I expected, but when you promise El Gigante, less is better. As a Wargames match weighed against similar matches of the era, this one started off hot, with a PPV quality opening 5-minutes with the Yellow Dog and Barry Windham, and things started becoming hit and miss as we filled out the rest of the field, capped off with a rush job finish because someone is so bad, they can’t be trusted to do anything under normal circumstances, let alone much of interest in a gimmick of this kind. It’s not a must-see, but I think the opening period and some spots make it solid enough to give a look, and a reasonable run time makes it more forgiving when some of the action isn’t hitting the right notes. ***¼

Strength of Card: WarGames being stubbed with a decent chunk of top babyfaces will create some balance issues, but compared to other house show lineups, this looks like the best representation of talent you’re going to see, with all the Champions (well, all but the obvious one) featured somewhere on the card. I guess they could have tweaked the prelim stuff to feature more talent that were over or could deliver better matches (especially considering the area and the type of house WCW would draw), but that’s my only complaint. Grade: A-

Highs: WarGames is either a gimmick match you really love or hate with every fiber of your being… hello, Phrederic!). As someone who enjoys the gimmick enough under the “classic” formula (as in not 50 minutes long), I thought this one was satisfactory with some great action from Barry Windham and the Mysterious Yellow Dog especially. There’s nothing else that’s exceptionally strong; we’ve got a solid match between Beautiful Bobby and Stunning Steve, but limited to 10-minutes put a ceiling on what they were going to be able to execute while playing into the time limit gimmick.

Lows: The Desperados was some terrible, god awful stuff, and thankfully the team never debuted on TV. A solid match between the Z-Man and Diamond Studd was ruined with one of those “BECAUSE WCW” finishes that makes no sense and doesn’t make anyone look good, and poor Gary Michael Cappetta sent out there to deliver the news of Ric Flair’s departure from the company.

Final Thoughts: Compared to the last WCW Fan-Cam I’ve covered (an Asbury Park show a week before Halloween Havoc ‘90), this was an outstanding night of professional wrestling. You had a cool gimmick match on top that delivered with reasonable expectations and a handful of matches that would qualify as decent matches on your throwaway episode of weekend WCW programming. Even the worst matches were kept at a reasonable length, though the lows I mentioned were still low enough to factor against the final grade. We’ve got 90-minutes of action of mostly decent work and a surprisingly amusing bit of banter from the fellas recording the action, so while this isn’t a home run, it’s got enough going for it that I would give it enough of a recommendation to give it a look if you’re into the fan-cam scene. Final Grade: C+