Adam Bomb

The Brain Buster’s finish is the piledriver but Koko’s theme is Piledriver and his finisher the Brainbuster.
-YouTube comment.

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This week, I found a very odd one-off, as it’s the Brain Busters versus the makeshift team of… High Energy? Yes, it’s OWEN HART AND KOKO B. WARE, but several years early, as Owen’s the Blue Blazer and neither is in gigantic parachute pants, and they’re taking on the NWA-styled Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard!

Then it’s over to New Japan, as the IWGP Tag Team Champions, Rick & Scott Steiner, defend against the monster squad of Scott Norton & Tony “Ludvig Borga” Halme! Come see some real Hoss Style wrestling… at least until their cardio wears out! Then it’s a classic 1994 WWF match, with The 1-2-3 Kid & Thurmann “Sparky” Plugg vs. Adam Bomb & Kwang! Sting vs. Lt. James Earl Wright in 1995 WCW! And we cap things off with a jobber squash featuring Don Muraco in 1980s Florida dismantling a green rookie Barry Windham!

THE BRAIN BUSTERS (Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard, w/ Bobby Heenan) vs. KOKO B. WARE & THE BLUE BLAZER:
* !!!!!! This was mentioned in a daily thread as a fascinating unknown match, and look at it! The Brain Busters vs. High Energy… three years early! Owen Hart at this point was a masked undercard guy in light blue gear for some reason, and Koko was on the JTTS train already. The Busters, in black trunks, are so NWA they look bizarre in late ’80s WWF, but they kinda fit because of that- two guys in regular gear with regular dad-bods like good NWA stars should look. Like, WWF was so full of weird characters that this actually STOOD OUT… and thus kind of worked? I mean the whole company was guys trying to stand out so “NWA Guys” was ironically a good fit. The jobber team is listed as 70 lbs. heavier than the Busters- that doesn’t sound right.

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This week, I have a hell of a find- a Mirror Match between Bruiser Brody and the guy who lifted all his stuff- Nord the Barbarian! Turns out they were old tag partners and occasional opponents, making that less of a theft and more of a “trainee” thing! But come see a mega-roided future Berzerker take on his elder self in Windy City Wrestling in 1988!

Next up, I have the most “1994” match ever, as Adam Bomb and the Smoking Gunns take on Kwang & Well Dunn- the Wippleman Dream Team. Next up is “Texas Tornado” Kerry Von Erich in his final televised WWF match against the Repo Man! Finally, I knock out a lucha match I reviewed ages ago as El Hijo Del Santo, Latin Lover & Heavy Metal face La Parka, Fuerza Guerrera & Blue Panther!

KING KONG BRUISER BRODY vs. NORD THE BARBARIAN:
(Windy City Wrestling, 1988?)
* !!!!!!!!!!! Completely wild! Bruiser Brody, shortly before he died, and he’s up against the guy who lifted nearly all his shit in John Nord (aka The Berzerker). They were actually tag partners in 1986 AWA, mentioned here, so it’s actually somewhat natural that Nord became one of the “Brody Clones”. The video quality here is NOT good, but Brody has black trunks and longer hair, and is less toned than a 25-ish Nord, who has short curly hair and brown trunks.

Mabel vs. Savio Vega ending a PPV. This was so bad it feels like a hard-boiled noir detective should be doing narration over it.

KING OF THE RING QUALIFYING MATCHES (1995):
* Back for more King of the Ring Qualifiers- technically still part of my “Dream Matches” column, haha. And with a special edition of everyone’s favorite wrestling standby: FANTASY REBOOKING!!

This year’s King of the Ring was very well-represented on YouTube. This is the most infamously bad tournament in history, which is hilarious, as “on paper” it looks to be the biggest one ever- while most tourneys are foregone conclusions or are full of mid-level guys, this one had Lex, Owen, Razor, Shawn and even the UNDERTAKER wrestling, with a ton of matches having equal stars. So the disaster that was the ’95 KOTR is a true epic. Come watch as the long national nightmare of Savio Vega in a prominent role begins, plus how NOT to create a new Monster Heel.

Previous tournaments re-legitimized ex-champion Bret Hart and gave credibility to Owen for his feud with Bret. A third tournament could either legitimize another would-be champion (Shawn Michaels, in this case), or set up a challenger for Diesel, who’s coming out of a feud with Psycho Sid. It looks like Bob Holly beating Mantaur is not on YouTube, but I found the rest.

MABEL (w/ Mo) vs. ADAM BOMB:
(WWF In Your House, May 14th)
* This was a strange decision- putting the first KOTR Qualifier on the first-ever In Your House PPV as a throwaway bout. Mabel had just recently turned heel, while Bomb was spinning his wheels as a directionless babyface after splitting with Harvey Whippleman last year. Bomb’s in the red & yellow gear as usual (he only briefly wore other colors), while Mabel’s in black & purple.

Taped from New York, NY

Airdate: May 24, 1993 (taped 5/17)

Attendance: 1,000

Hosted by Vince McMahon, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan

Will either Doink or Perfect qualify for the tournament? What does Ramon have up his sleeve? Could he be calling for a strike? Let’s find out!

–Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Jim Ross are calling today’s action, which is still unfolding in the confines of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

–Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Jim Ross are calling today’s action and they are still in Valparaiso, Indiana and on the campus of Valparaiso University.

–Vince McMahon recaps how Henry Godwinn has been on a “slopping spree” in recent weeks and chronicles his battles with the Million Dollar Corporation.

–McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Jim Ross are in the booth and concluding the tapings in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Since Monday Night RAW was pre-empted for the U.S. Open on USA Network, there were some matches that aired on the Saturday morning WWF Mania show.  Those contests were taped in Worcester, Massachusetts in mid-August.  Here were the results of those bouts:

–Jim Ross and Todd Pettengill are in the booth and they are taped from Portland, Maine.  This was the same site as the recent Superstars tapings as the company was reducing television tapings due to budget cuts.

–Jim Ross and Todd Pettengill are the announce team and they are concluding the tapings in St. Louis, Missouri.

–The usual broadcast team of Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix are calling the action and they are concluding the tapings in Evansville, Indiana.

–Jim Ross recaps how Shawn Michaels defeated Jeff Jarrett at In Your House 2 to win the Intercontinental title for the third time.

–Ross and Todd Pettengill are in the booth and they are taped from St. Louis, Missouri.  According to the historyofwwe.com, the taping drew 10,500 fans.

–A poor knock off of the Monday Night Football theme plays us in with a chorus of “In Your House, In Your House, tonight!”

–Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are in the booth, both dressed in country music-like attire, and they are live from Nashville, Tennessee.

–Vince McMahon and Dok Hendrix are our commentary team and they are wrapping up the tapings in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

–Irwin R. Schyster and Shawn Michaels cut dueling promos against each other for tonight’s main event, with Michaels saying that he is going to do what lots of Americans want to do in slapping around the tax man.

–Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are doing commentary and they are concluding the tapings in Danville, Pennsylvania.

–Waylon Mercy’s vignettes are spliced together to hype his Action Zone debut.

–Jim Ross and Todd Pettengill are doing commentary and they are taped from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

–Vince McMahon recaps Men on a Mission beating down the Smoking Gunns back in March because both teams are facing each other in today’s feature match.

–McMahon and Dok Hendrix are doing commentary and they are taped from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

–Vince McMahon narrates footage of Diesel participating in a celebrity softball tournament last weekend that was meant to raise money for kids who lost parents in the Oklahoma City terrorist attack.

–McMahon and Dok Hendrix are in charge of commentary and they are taped from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  The tapings were held on June 27 and according to historyofwwe.com they drew 2,000 fans.  Hendrix is wearing patriotic clothing this week and is having a mock July 4 cookout at the announce table.

–Jim Ross and Todd Pettengill narrate a video package for why Bret Hart and Henry Godwinn are facing each other in a rematch of their Superstars encounter, which occurred two weeks ago, on today’s show.  Godwinn says that he will give Bret the beating of his life.

–Ross and Pettengill are in charge of commentary and they are taped from Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

–Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler are on commentary and are broadcasting from Struthers, Ohio as we conclude the tapings and prepare for this weekend’s King of the Ring pay-per-view.  McMahon says that the stench coming from our television set is due to Lawler’s feet.