The SmarK Rant for GWF Supercard – 08.23.91

The SmarK Rant for GWF Supercard – 08.23.91

This is another really short episode so this works out fine for me.

Taped from the Globaldome!

Your hosts are Craig Johnson & Scott Hudson.

GWF Tag team title tournament finals coin toss:

So we’re got Simpson & Walker, Anthony & Rogers, and Cactus & Makhan, and they all flip coins to determine who gets a bye. Rogers and Anthony of course work some schtick into the routine, as Scotty flips a coin and Rip catches it, and the announcer points out that you have to catch your own coin. But then they win the coin toss anyway and advance to the final finals.

GWF Tag team title tournament finals part one: Steve Simpson & Chris Walker v. Makhan Singh & Cactus Jack

So since both heel teams left are in the same stable, they should book it so Cactus & Makhan lose, but then brutally beat down the babyfaces and leave them for dead so that Rip & Scott can have an easy win and get the titles. Simpson and Walker work on Cactus in the corner, but Jack quickly takes Walker back to the Cartel corner and they try to double-team him in return. So Walker clotheslines Makhan down and Simpson comes in with a headlock and takes Makhan down with that. Over to Jack and he puts Simpson down with a clothesline and goes to a chinlock while the announcers discuss Jack’s tag team history to date. Kind of funny to have a retrospective on Jack’s tag team title history back in 1991 when he was years away from having some of the most famous tag team title reigns in WWE history. Walker comes in and quickly gets bullied by the heels and sent to the floor, where Jack hits him with a suplex. Back in the ring, Singh drops a leg on him for two, but Jack misses a blind charge and Walker goes for the tag. Jack cuts him off easily and hits the bulldog, sort of, as Walker doesn’t know how to take the bump and it looks ridiculous. Jack misses another attempt and it’s hot tag Steve Simpson, but the Cartel quickly tosses both babyfaces to the floor and Jack drops the elbow on Simpson out there. Back in the ring, Makhan tries the Karachi Krunch, but it misses and Simpson gets another fluke rollup for the pin at 7:00 to advance to the finals. Decent as long as Walker wasn’t in there.

Rating: *1/2

GWF Tag team title tournament finals: Steve Simpson & Chris Walker v. Scott Anthony & Rip Rogers

OK, it’s nice that they’re doing the undercard run for Walker & Simpson but enough fucking around, it’s time to put the Cartel over. Walker puts Rip down with a shoulderblock for one and hits him with chops in the corner and a hiptoss, as Rip goes flying off that. Rip comes back with a headbutt and a suplex for two, and it’s over to Anthony, who holds a facelock on Simpson but gets rolled up for two. Rip whips Simpson into the corners, but Steve gets a crossbody for two and Rip backs off again. Simpson with a pair of small packages for two, but Rip hits him with a back suplex and sends him into the corner to take over. Anthony drops a fist for one and adds a double underhook suplex for one. The Cartel takes turns choking Simpson on the ropes, but Walker gets the hot tag to break it up and runs into his partner by mistake, landing on the floor. But Walker is legal and goes up with a crossbody on Rogers for the pin and the titles at 7:30. They pretty much picked the worst team in the tournament to win the first title, so that’s on brand for the GWF. Match was OK because Walker just stood on the apron for the entire match.

Rating: **

Verdict:
So a decent tournament overall, but the semi-final and final rounds were all basically the same formula tag team match over and over with nothing to break it up, and none of the matches were particularly good or compelling. And CHRIS WALKER as your first champion? I was thinking they’d do a quickie run and drop them to a better team, but NOPE, they actually hold those titles for FOUR MONTHS before Walker ghosted the promotion for a failed WWF run.

Anyway, whence we return to Global again, it’s the start of the North American title tournament!