cobra

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! This week, I have a huge “Wait, THAT happened?” match, as the BRITISH BULLDOGS face the ROCK ‘N’ ROLL EXPRESS! In the AWA. And it goes… well, let’s see why this isn’t a tape trading legend, why don’t we?

Next up, I continue my look at Manabu Nakanishi in WCW, as “Kurasawa” takes his martial arts to the “Macho Man” Randy Savage in a pair of matches set six months apart- the latter of which when Kurasawa had definitely entered the job squad!

And finally, remember last week when I subjected y’all to Sgt. Craig Pittman vs. The Cobra? Well now they’re TAG PARTNERS, and their opponents are the freakin’ Faces of Fear! This one actually ends up great… if you want to see how the mechanics of wrestling work, because Pittman here is SO BAD that he actually throws off all three other wrestlers, none of whom seem to know what to do with him flailing around all weird. It’s one of the greatest examples of a wrestler being such a stiff that nobody can do anything with him.

THE BRITISH BULLDOGS (Davey-Boy Smith & Dynamite Kid) vs. THE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL EXPRESS (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson):
(AWA When Worlds Collide, 1989)
* This is a completely wild Dream Match I had no idea existed, as the Bulldogs typically existed in the WWF & Japan while the Express were mostly in the Southern companies/NWA. The Bulldogs are shredded to the gills here, just on ALL the steroids (especially Smith), while the Express are the same doughy guys they always were, absolutely dwarfed by their opponents (neither of whom were that big in the WWF). Makes you realize why they never did a run in the WWF around this time, ya know? The Express are in black & blue tights, and the Bulldogs are in their white & blue ones with the Union Jacks on the asses. Luscious Johnny Valiant is doing commentary, putting over the Bulldogs but mentioning that the Express match their experience. Legend Pat O’Connor is the ref here.

The “Two-Colored Mullet” look is really, uh, something.

Welcome back to more Dream Matches! And this time, I get to torture you all with the illustrious Cobra/Sgt. Craig Pittman feud! But first! A very odd one-off (considering they shared a company for years), as it’s “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. the future Fit Finlay- back when he was the mullet-wearing Belfast Bruiser! This was back when Macho Man was still a regular wrestler on Monday Nitro and not just doing promos and beatdowns.

Also a co-headliner of sorts as the Road Warriors take on the Powers of Pain in 1988, shortly before the Warriors’ non-union Mexican equivalents bail for the WWF! And then it’s the WWF Jobber hell-zone that is Skinner vs. “Pump It Up!” Jim Powers in 1992!

But yeah, this is also the time I take a look at Sgt. Craig Pittman, who interested me a bit from the Kurasawa match I reviewed weeks ago. And turns out he sucked! Really bad! Come see HOW bad as he gets to fill tons of TV time on the D-shows with the “CIA Agent” Cobra, aka Jeff “nWo Sting” Farmer!

“THE MACHO MAN” RANDY SAVAGE vs. THE BELFAST BRUISER:
(WCW Nitro, March 25th 1996)
* Yes, it’s MACHO MAN vs. FIT FINLAY! But it’s jobber-ish Bruiser with a brown mullet/buzzcut combo and a hideous mustache in addition to his goofy Mad Max one-shoulderpad leather jacket. They put over him using European uppercuts & smashing up Steven Regal’s face and OH MY GOD Heenan namedrops that it made Steven Regal’s face “look worse than Princess Di’s car that she smashed up” which is a reference that now reads COMPLETELY different (it was some other car accident, don’t worry!). Bruiser’s in a black singlet with “Ireland” across the front. Macho Man’s in white tights and is on the roids big-time.

NXT UK
Date: August 27, 2020
Host: Andy Shepard

It’s time to crack open the vault again and that’s a very nice thing to hear. Granted it won’t be that way for long as the regular shows are back on September 17 but I’ll take what I can get while it lasts. The previous show was a lot of fun and I’m curious to see what we get here a second time around. Let’s get to it.

–Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes in the booth and they are taped from Atlanta, Georgia.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, these matches took place on November 29 and 30.

–Schiavone announces that Hulk Hogan has been suspended from WCW because of his actions on Monday Nitro.

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

–Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan handle studio duties for today’s show.

–Okerlund talks about a “dark cloud” that lingers over Randy Savage’s world title win at World War 3.  Since the company is not building to a Savage-Hulk Hogan match, continually casting Savage’s title win in this fashion is not doing him any favors.

–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.

WCW Prime featured a few new bouts, with Chris Cruise and Dusty Rhodes calling the action.  Cruise is dressed as a Puritan woman, while Dusty has male Pilgrim garb.  A turkey mascot, also in Pilgrim costume, dances behind them throughout the show.

–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.

WCW Prime for November 13 featured a new match, with Chris Cruise and Dusty Rhodes doing commentary.

Remaining footage of this show is incomplete, so the matches below were reverse engineered from the November 12 edition of WCW Main Event that featured them.  Based on last week’s previous, though, one can assume that Paul Orndorff (23-8) won a squash match.

–Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, and Steve McMichael are doing commentary and they are live from Jacksonville, Florida.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the show drew 9,500 fans, with 3,500 paying for entry.

–Tonight’s show is an interactive telecast where fans can call 1-900-370-3WCW and pay 99 cents to pick a wrestler from the “red locker room” that has Ric Flair, Meng, Diamond Dallas Page, the Blue Bloods, Big Bubba Rogers, the Shark, and Scott Norton to face a wrestler from the “blue locker room” that has Sting, Johnny B. Badd, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Dave Sullivan, Alex Wright, the Nasty Boys, and Mr. J.L.  The Shark and Norton must have patched up their differences since they were fighting each other on the last Nitro.

–Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes are in the booth and they are taped from Atlanta, Georgia.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the matches on this show were taped on October 11.

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

WCW Prime for October 30 featured some new matches so we will recap those before moving on to WCW Pro.  Chris Cruise and Dusty Rhodes called the action on Prime.

WCW Prime for October 16 featured one new match, footage of which was non-existent.  However, house show reports indicate that the following was the result:

*The State Patrol (0-5) defeated the Gambler & Chris Kanyon in the Prime “MOOO” Match of the Week.

WCW Pro for October 21 featured Chris Cruise, Dusty Rhodes, and Larry Zbyszko on commentary.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are calling the action and they are taped from Atlanta, Georgia.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, these tapings took place on September 20.

–Dusty Rhodes comes out to take on his new role as a color commentator.  Heenan demands that Dusty leave and when Dusty refuses, Heenan takes a hike, doing a funny bit of giving Schiavone and Dusty a bunch of chances to take him back.

–Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan are in the studio for today’s broadcast.  They focus their attention on the Giant using a monster truck to destroy WCW Champion Hulk Hogan’s Harley Davidson motorcycle.

–Okerlund and Heenan recap the Cobra-Sergeant Craig Pittman feud and how they love sneaking up on each other.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are doing commentary and they are taped from Atlanta, Georgia.  These tapings were done on August 21.  The Atlanta Braves are playing the Montreal Expos so this is a one-hour episode.

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