bunkhouse buck

Bunkhouse Buck legit looks like some Western Movie stock character named “Pa” who doesn’t like the young protagonist hanging around his daughter. Straight up wrestles in an undershirt! 

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This time I have a whopper of a WCW Pro match for you, as “Lifeguard” Steve Collins, my new favorite jobber ever, has to face WCW luminary Bunkhouse Buck! In the most hilariously cheating-filled squash ever! With maybe wrestle’s all-time worst ever finishing move! Also it’s some Nitro goodness as Booker T defends the TV Title in a hot match against Psychosis, where Booker shows the fire that rocketed him to… well the main event of a dying company! But still, he was awesome!

Then I spoil you all as I found TWO Scotty Riggs vs. Scott Putski matches to review! I knew I had to get to these ever since I saw Scott or someone (Dave? Mike?) review it a month or so ago! And finally, it’s more lucha, as I found a really long, solid Octagon vs. Fuerza Guerrera match! More of Juventud’s dad! And a hilariously violent old lady in the front row that both pros make a show out of!

BUNKHOUSE BUCK (w/ Col. Tom Parker & Dick Slater) vs. “LIFEGUARD” STEVE COLLINS:
(WCW Pro, March 30th 1996)
* MORE LIFEGUARD!! And against one of the most inexplicable JTTS guys of the age in Buck. Collins has his little floatation device and slaps hands with the fans on the way to the ring. This is LONG after the other Collins stuff I have, meaning this dude was around longer than I thought. Tragically, though, checking Cagematch reveals he was only in a tiny handful of matches per year unless they’re missing a ton.

Truly a main event in any arena in the country!

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This one is a pretty wild assortment of mostly tag team matches, but I start off with a request, as the eternally underrated Mike Enos spends the last of his WWF career doing jobs as a solo act, as he’s one of the few “name” guys send to job to the new 1-2-3 Kid! Come see good ol’ Blake Beverly pull out some very unique offense for 1993 WWF against the hot young star!

Then we hit another 1993 oddity, as the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express invade the WWF to take on Well Dunn! They wrestle a pretty classic example of a “Southern Tag Match”, probably owing to the heels being part of Smoky Mountain Wrestling at the time as well. We get the second match in a week of Terry & Dory Funk vs. Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody from All Japan as well- a sequel to a match from last week’s column! And finally, it’s another request: “Dirty” Dick Slater & Bunkhouse Buck vs. Men At Work! A jobber duo of Chris Kanyon (pre-Mortis) and Mark Starr doing their duties on the D-shows against a heel team just about to be done.

THE 1-2-3 KID vs. BLAKE BEVERLY:
(WWF RAW, July 5th 1993)
* A request! And a great “wow, that happened?” match, as the 1-2-3 Kid’s run was just starting, and I do NOT remember his career crossing over with that of the Beverlies. This was when Blake (Mike Enos) was kicking around for a couple months as a solo act, in that “Kato” role as “a guy we’re pretending is an actual star so you can be tricked into thinking this is a real Featured Match between stars instead of a jobber match”. A big dude, Blake looked merely average-sized in the monstrous WWF, and had no charisma, so he was sunk, no matter how surprisingly good he was. The Kid has MASSIVELY cheap gear on, a blue singlet covered in numbers and “KID” in giant ’90s yellow writing.

Boy, I hope you guys like Well Dunn, because I went on a tear of YouTube clips featuring the lowest-tier heel team in WWF history! My god, they faced the Blus, Headshrinkers, and did all sorts of trios matches! This column will be a veritable “Best of Well Dunn”! I bet you can’t WAIT!

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! I fill this one with a handful of oddities today, as we get an ever-rare “Bret & Owen Hart in a tag team” match, as they dress like a real tag team and take on an actual team in the bottom-tier Well Dunn shortly before the “Hart Brothers vs. Not-Jerry Lawler and His Knights” Survivor Series match!

After that, it’s a follow-up to last week’s column, as Terry Funk & Stan Hansen meet each other again, this time with Dory Funk Jr. backing up his brother and Terry Gordy backing up Stan! Then it’s something that’s apparently an old tape-trader classic, as the “Gotta get all the Sabu matches we can find!” days saw a lot of Sabu vs. Chris Candido matches on fancams! Oh, and I didn’t want this to be only three matches long, so I stick in a WCW Prime jobber match- “Dirty” Dick Slater & Bunkhouse Buck vs. Los Especialistas! I was hoping they’d be some interesting Luchadores… but no.

BRET & OWEN HART vs. WELL DUNN (Timothy Well & Steven Dunn, w/ Harvey Whippleman):
(WWF Wrestling Challenge, Nov 14th 1993)
* Hahahaha HELL YES, couldn’t find Harts vs. Steiners on YouTube, but I have THIS! Well Dunn were two indie tag guys just slapped in singlets with goofy thongs over top and thrown out there to die as a “Fake Featured” tag team that just jobbed to all the top ones. I didn’t realize they’d been fed to the Harts. They’re in black singlets & purple thongs this week, and hey, wasn’t Well in better shape? He looks pasty and with no physique here. Of more interest is the Hart Brothers’ matching outfits- Bret’s in all pink (his regular look temporarily) and Owen’s in all BLUE, dropping his parachute pants and lacking the black singlet he’d later wear for the rest of his life. For “Gear Nerds” like me, that’s a very unique look, especially as a duo.

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This time I have a pretty spectacular bout from Mexico to lead off with, as all you nay-sayers shucking on El Dandy all the time will have to eat crow as he has an amazing, bloody Hair vs. Hair Match against El Satanico! I also take a look at a random WCW match, as the Road Warriors take on Dick Slater & Bunkhouse Buck in 1996. Also, my nightmare is your nightmare, as I subject you all to a SEVENTEEN MINUTE Ted DiBiase vs. Tatanka match, as the Million Dollar Man faces a green-ass Chris Chavis in a 1991 house show match that’s either a giant rib or a big test of what this kid can do (translation: nothing).

HAIR vs. HAIR MATCH:
EL DANDY vs. EL SATANICO:
(Empresa Mexicana De La Lucha Libre, Mexico, Dec. 16th 1990)
* This match is rated ****1/2 by the WON, so it seems to be El Dandy’s most jam-up match ever! I am completely unfamiliar with Satanico, but he’s been wrestling for a billion years and was about 37 here. His list of titles is as long as your arm, but I don’t know if any of these belts mean much- he’s the founder of the “Los Infernales” stable and Fandom says he’s one of the best trainers in Mexico. Dandy’s actually pretty muscular here (though he has a bad steroid belly), wearing long white tights, while Satanico has the same doughy pregnant physique El Dandy had in WCW seven years later, and he’s in a black singlet with flame designs on the legs. Satanico attacks El Dandy as soon as he hits the ring, smashing him into the post- he’s already busted open!

–Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes are calling tonight’s action and they are taped from Atlanta, Georgia.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, these matches took place on November 29.

–Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan handle today’s studio duties.  Okerlund implies that Heenan’s new suit came from Sonny Onoo.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are doing commentary and they are taped from Orlando, Florida.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are calling the matches and they are live from Norfolk, Virginia.

–Gene Okerlund interviews Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Sting.  The crowd gives Hogan a mixed reaction as he talks about how he has not fully embraced the dark side and is going back to his babyface persona.  He sheds his black gear, which Sting tosses into a black container that explodes.  The problem is that the fire gets to be too much, so Sting has to keep going back to the container to pour water on it or keep down the smoke.  WCW technicians are eventually forced to put it out.  Savage tells Sting that he is cool with him again as Sting acts like a star-struck teenager.  Hogan says that Savage’s arm is not actually hurt and goes into a crazy rant about a “rag sheet” that said the Giant was going to win – the rag sheet in question being a copy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer – and how the Internet has the “real scoops.”  The Observer copy is burned as regular fans at home have no idea what Hogan is talking about.

–Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan are in the studio for today’s broadcast.  Heenan says that he is rooting for Sting on Monday Nitro because he cannot stand Hulk Hogan.  Due to Heenan’s WWF career, that is an awesome piece of character continuity.

–Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes call this evening’s action, taped from Atlanta, Georgia.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, these matches took place on October 18 and 25.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are doing commentary and they are taped from Orlando, Florida.  WCW Pro got a great new set but Worldwide must be the neglected child because their presentation looks incredibly outdated relative to the other shows.

–Colonel Robert Parker hypes his new tag team:  the Super Assassins.  He puts over the fact that they weigh over three hundred pounds.

–With no pay-per-view afterward, Main Event is back as a studio show with Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.

–WCW Prime featured one new bout, which aired on October 9.  Chris Cruise and Dusty Rhodes did commentary.

–Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan handle the studio duties for today’s broadcast.  They open the show by hyping the Giant and recapping the Dungeon of Doom shaving WCW Champion Hulk Hogan’s mustache on Monday Nitro.

–As part of the Halloween Havoc Control Center, Kurasawa and Colonel Robert Parker rant about how Road Warrior Hawk is going down.  Hawk promises to do some intensive surgery on Kurasawa in Detroit.

–Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes are calling tonight’s action, which is taped from Atlanta, Georgia.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, matches at this taping took place on August 30 and September 27.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are calling today’s action and they are taped from Orlando, Florida.

WCW Prime for September 18 included a bevy of new matches, which will be recapped before we get to WCW Pro for September 23.  Chris Cruise and Dusty Rhodes did commentary for these matches.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are in the booth and they are live from Asheville, North Carolina.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are in the booth and they are taped from Orlando, Florida.

WCW Prime for September 11 featured a new match.