The SmarK Rant for WCW Power Hour – 12.08.90

The SmarK Rant for WCW Power Hour – 12.08.90

Yes, it’s the end of an era, as the NWA Power Hour rebrands as the WCW Power Hour, marking the official start of the WCW era.

Taped from Center Stage in Atlanta, GA and assembled from the leftover pieces of the other syndicated shows.

Your hosts are Jim Ross & Paul E. Dangerously

The Freebirds v. Todd Brewer & Paul Lee

Yes, a Freebirds match to kick off this new era. Lucky me. Garvin takes Lee down and works him over on the mat before adding a suplex and then escaping a headlock by dropping Lee on his goddamn head with a back suplex. Over to Brewer, but the Birds hit stereo DDTs on the jobbers and pin them at 2:00.

WRESTLING NEWS NETWORK! WITH GORDON SOLIE!

Yes, the days are dwindling until Starrcade, and we take you back to Worldwide Wrestling in November, as the Black Scorpion does another evil and mysterious promo while Sting is minding his own business in the ring. Also, we go back to Halloween Havoc yet again, but this time for the match where Stan Hansen wins the US title from Lex Luger, setting up their rematch. Man that title reign was so utterly pointless in retrospect.

Buddy Landel & Moondog Rex v. The Steiner Brothers

Buddy stalls for a while and shows off his physique before trading hammerlocks with Scott. Scott rolls him up for two and biels him out of the corner. Rick comes in and ties Buddy up with a submission hold on the mat and then puts him down with a clothesline. Over to Rex, but Rick just takes him down with a side headlock, cutting off whatever he was going to try, and Scott goes to a chinlock. Everyone slugs it out for a DONNYBROOK as this totally breaks down, and Scott steals the bone from Rex and Rick knocks him out for the pin at 3:50. What a fucking mess this match was. Were the Steiners in a bad mood or something?

Beautiful Bobby v. Keith Hart

Bobby is announced as “half of the Midnight Express” and the announcers bury him and talk about how Bobby is a singles wrestler now and the ring announcer is an idiot. Hart tries a couple of hammerlocks, but Bobby slugs him down and backdrops him to set up a backbreaker. Bobby tosses him and then slingshots him back in the ring before hitting a suplex and a slingshot backbreaker, and then he finishes with the Alabama Jam at 3:45. Rough start for Bobby’s singles push, as he didn’t really click as a heel and needed to work from underneath as a babyface to be more effective.

Meanwhile, Teddy Long has taken out Ric Flair via the LIMO RIDE OF DOOM and so Barry Windham & Arn Anderson are taking care of Horsemen business at Starrcade. Barry came off the ranch early and everything! Man, the Horsemen really ended with a complete whimper in 1991.

Ric Flair & Arn Anderson v. Greg Sawyer & Jeff Gambol

Yes, it’s the future GAMBLER, here to elevate any show he’s on. Flair beats on Sawyer with chops and tosses him as the announcers stress that the match was recorded on November 28, and the graphics show that fact repeatedly to stress that Ric Flair is incredibly injured after being attacked by Doom. In actual fact, the match was taped on October 30, a month earlier than claimed here. Gamble comes in and Arn puts the boots to him and finishes with the spinebuster at 2:30. Why would they bother digging up a random squash from a month and a half ago if Flair wasn’t even in the tag title match?

Tommy Rich & Ricky Morton v. Mike Samples & Jim Corbett

And this one was ALSO recorded ages ago. The Rock N Booze Express double-team Samples for a bit and Morton finishes with a bodypress at 2:40 in a pretty lethargic outing.

Sting hits the ring while the Black Scorpion takes over the PA and does his spooky promo, but some guy in a hoodie runs in and Sting disposes of him while the Scorpion drones on. Wow what an exciting angle to really sell that PPV with a week to go.

This was a complete dud of a show as they limp into Starrcade.