The SmarK Rant for NWA Power Hour – 11.10.90

The SmarK Rant for NWA Power Hour – 11.10.90

Taped from Anderson, SC, on 10.29.90 as we finally get an actual Power Hour taping for once! And RUNNING THE GAUNTLET returns as a result! On this episode, Steve Armstrong is the runner and Stan Lane is the blocker. Yeah he’s a blocker all right.

Your hosts are Jim Ross & Paul E. Dangerously

The Junkyard Dog v. Barry Horowitz

Apparently Barry’s brother Murray Horowitz is Paul’s CPA. Huge if true. Barry accuses JYD of pulling the tights off the lockup, but his charges go unanswered and Dog clotheslines him out of the ring. Dog “slingshots” him back into the ring, which was Dog slightly pulling on the rope with as little effort as possible, and Barry flying into the ring with a dramatic bump, and then Dog chases him to the floor again. Back in, JR hypes up the debut of the NIGHT STALKER on World Championship Wrestling tonight and I’m gonna have to give that one a review while I’m doing the second part of the Gauntlet. Dog slugs Barry to the floor again as poor Barry is just working this entire match by himself and bouncing off the immobile Dog while taking all of the bumps. And finally Dog just headbutts and rolls him up for the pin at 3:21. “Probably one of the only two wrestling holds he knows” notes JR. I love shoot comments that aren’t supposed to be shoot comments.

JW Storm v. John Peterson

Storm tosses Peterson and adds a suplex on the floor while Paul E. advocates for a midget tournament on the Power Hour. No wonder he pushed Taz so hard. Back in the ring, Storm with a lariat/choke takedown deal to finish at 1:07. Sadly, Paul never gets to tell his midget joke because the match was so fast.

WRESTLING NEWS NETWORK! WITH GORDON SOLIE!

Let us take you back to Halloween Havoc once again, in case you had forgotten that the evil Black Scorpion was still performing his BLACK MAGIC on Sting. So we’re joined via EVIL pre-tape as Scorpion now offers Sting the chance to meet face to face, but he demands to be in a cage so that Sting can’t attack him. But now instead of Starrcade, we’re clarifying that it’s at the Clash of Champions, and it’s not a match, it’s a face to face meeting. So Gordon talks with Sting, and even he sounds like he’s over this stupid shit. You and me both buddy.

Meanwhile, we learn that Ric Flair and Teddy Long have struck a deal, and one of Doom will face one of the Horsemen at the Clash. And if Doom wins, Teddy Long wins Flair’s yacht.

Ric Flair & Arn Anderson v. Joe Barrett & The Italian Stallion

Ric decides to just stand on the apron with his robe on and let AA handle these goobers. Arn takes Barrett down and puts the boots to him while Flair watches from the floor, and then he decides to haul the jobber out and chops him into the railing. Back in, Arn hits Barrett in the gut while Flair takes off the robe and decides to participate now, throwing more chops on the jobber before putting him down with a back elbow. Arn back in and he rams Joe’s head into the mat a bunch of times and slugs away on him, as these guys are just having a grand old time squashing this guy. Back to Flair for more chops as he just tortures this guy’s chest and drops the knee on him and then tells the Stallion to “GO AHEAD AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, FAT BOY!” before tossing Barrett to the floor for some more destruction from AA out there. Back in the ring, Arn with a standing powerslam and he drops knees on Barrett’s back, lets the guy crawl to his corner like a zombie, and then punches the Stallion in the face to cut off the tag in a hilarious troll. Back to the floor and Flair mauls him again, pounding on him with more chops for the front row’s benefit, and back in Arn puts the boots to him again and hits him with the spinebuster to finally finish the poor bastard at 6:30. INCREDIBLE squash.

Sid Vicious v. Dave Taylor

Sid quickly throws a knee and beats Taylor down with forearms and a sideslam before dropping a leg on him. Sid with a Stinger splash and he levels Taylor with a lariat out of the corner. Big boot and he snaps off a powerbomb with some mustard on it to finish at 2:42.

RUNNING THE GAUNTLET: Steve Armstrong v. Stan Lane

So for those who have forgotten the rules since it’s been a month since we had these things, Armstrong has to beat three guys across the weekend shows. If he can win all three matches, he gets $15,000, and if any of the guys beat him, they all split the $15,000 three ways. In this case, it’s Lane and then Buddy Landel and then the Juicer. JR completely ignores the Juicer as the third guy until he’s put over Buddy a few times, so it’s pretty clear how this Gauntlet is gonna go. Steve and Lane trade hammerlocks on the mat while JR advertises a Juicer v. JW Storm match on World Championship Wrestling, and Portland fans know why that’s a notable match. Lane escapes the arm work with a hairpull and then blames it on Armstrong, who puts him down with a hiptoss. Armstrong chases after Cornette and they do a comedy spot with Jim getting caught in the ropes as everyone is severely checked out here on Lane and Cornette’s final appearance on the way out. Back in the ring, Lane puts him down with a karate kick while JR and Paul go on these weird tangents about Oklahoma towns, and Lane runs him into the ringpost to take over. Cornette adds some racket shots and Lane chokes him out with wrist tape on the floor and it’s more shenanigans from Lane in the ring. That gets two for Stan. Armstrong with a sunset flip for two but Cornette has the ref distracted, which is probably the same way that those paternity tests got switched in the lab. The doctor was standing at the window yelling at Cornette while Stan snuck in and changed the sample. Armstrong with a missile dropkick, but Cornette pulls the ref out and wrestles with him, and Armstrong grabs the racket and knocks Lane out for the pin at 8:24. This was complete dogshit and they were OUTTA THERE and off to form Smoky Mountain Wrestling. *

The Juicer v. Todd Brewer

Juicer v. Brewer? Is someone ribbing me? Juicer brings a little kid into the ring and takes his shirt off, which is…uh…bad optics. Juicer sprays silly string at the ref because he’s FUN-LOVING and hits Brewer with a lariat off a springboard, and then superkicks him before finishing with a frog splash at 1:52. Man I know he was doomed from the start because of the rape conviction and drug charges that he lied about, but DAMN this dude was years ahead of his time here.

And Buddy Landel joins JR to promise that he’s collecting $5000 tonight, guaranteed. Apparently Steve “doesn’t stand a Chinaman’s chance” of winning. Well let’s find out.

RUNNING THE GAUNTLET ROUND 2: Steve Armstrong v. Buddy Landel

The third match has now been changed from the Juicer to Bobby Eaton so we know what the result here is gonna be. Armstrong chases Buddy to the floor to start, and back in for some dropkicks to send Buddy to the floor again. I should note that in the days before this taping, Buddy got fired one morning and re-hired by the afternoon, setting a new record for himself. Buddy works the arm, but Armstrong puts him down with a hiptoss and takes him out of the corner with a Boston crab, but Buddy quickly makes the ropes and drops a knee on him. Buddy works him over in the corner and applies a neck vice, but Steve fights back until Buddy chops him into the corner and puts him down with a back elbow. Buddy with the chinlock. Armstrong makes a comeback while Bobby joins us at ringside to make trouble, and Steve goes up, only for Bobby to slug him down and put Buddy on top for the pin at 6:00. So Eaton makes himself an easy $5000. So no Gauntlet finale to review this time. But I do want to review one notable debut from later in this show.

The NIGHT STALKER v. Gary Jackson

Later in the show, that hot new tag team, the Menendez Brothers! So yeah, this is the glorious entry of Bryan Clark into wrestling, who thankfully got somewhat better by the time he made it to the WWF as Adam Bomb. But seriously, Richard Ramirez was a pretty famous serial killer, did no one in Atlanta pick up a newspaper before vetting this gimmick? Night Stalker beats on Jackson in the corner and hits him with a hiptoss, and then he gets confused and forgets which way he needs to go, so poor Jackson has to lead him to the hard camera side and Stalker finishes him with a terrible powerslam and elbowdrop at 1:30. Well I got what I wanted out of this one.

Next time: Rick Steiner runs the Gauntlet!