Road Warrior Hawk

The LOD vs. the RnRs! And not in FirePro! But don’t get too excited, because it’s short!

It’s time for another Dream Matches column! I was really surprised by how much of a reaction my 1995 KOTR one got, so I’ll have a 1996 version next week. This one features the one-time-only tag team match between the Road Warriors and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express… except it’s given 4 minutes on a WWF D-Show and the Express are heels! Life is weird.

Also up is a DOUBLE-SHOT of Ahmed Johnson vs. Al Snow, as Ahmed takes on Shinobi in an infamous squash match, and then the next year faces the New Rockers’ “Leif Cassidy”. Then we get the Bruiser Brody Memorial Show weirdo match of Abdullah the Butcher & Jimmy Snuka against Stan Hansen & Tom Zenk of all people. And we end it with a WCW Lucha Libre show match starring Psychosis, Felino & El Mosco vs. Blitzkrieg, Venum & Super Calo!

THE LEGION OF DOOM vs. THE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL EXPRESS (w/ Jim Cornette, Jeff Jarrett & Barry Windham):
(WWF Shotgun Saturday Night, Jan. 24th, 1998)
* Yes, this is apparently the one and only time the friggin’ Road Warriors & R’n’Rs EVER FOUGHT, despite the vast amount of years both teams had been around, often in the same company. This seems impossible given how today’s wrestling is, but back then, I guess they just never wanted to run it. On this very blog, someone suggested it and Scott pointed out the Roadies weren’t gonna lose and the Express was better off getting the rub for teams who could play ball with them: https://blogofdoom.com/index.php/2020/05/19/road-warriors-vs-rnr/. All there ever was was a 4-way match I guess. So instead we get a four-minute bullshit match on a WWF D-show, and this is the only time these two legendary squads ever faced each other in a tag match… with Jim Cornette backing up the HEEL RnRs, who are advertised as the NWA Tag Team Champions. Life is weird.

The Express are in red tights with white tassels (coming down to the ROCKERS’ theme music of all things) while the LOD are sorta in their “LOD 2000” gear, with grey shoulderpads- an unusual look for the WWF. The Express are 40 and 42, yet both look nearly fifty- they did NOT age well.

–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.

–Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael, and Bobby Heenan are in the booth and they are live from Macon, Georgia.  The venue gives away how WCW’s decision to do Hulk Hogan-Sting was last minute.  This is also our go home episode for World War 3.

–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.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are in the booth and they are live from Detroit, Michigan.  Schiavone says that Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman attacked Ric Flair before the show went on the air and Flair’s ability to compete later tonight is uncertain.

–A video package recaps the Diamond Dallas Page-Johnny B. Badd feud.

–Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes are calling the action and they are taped from Atlanta, Georgia.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the matches on this show were taped on September 27, October 11, and October 25.

–Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes are in the booth and they are taped from Atlanta, Georgia.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the matches on this telecast were taped on September 27 and October 18 at Center Stage.

–Tony Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes are in the booth and they are taped from Atlanta, Georgia.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, the matches on this telecast were taped on September 20 and 27 at Center Stage.

–Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, and Steve McMichael are doing commentary and they are live from Chicago, Illinois.  All of the announcers are sporting custom Chicago Bears jerseys, with Bischoff shockingly not wearing an old McMahon jersey to send another shot across the WWF’s bow.  According to thehistoryofwwe.com, 8,500 fans showed up to the Rosemont Horizon, with 4,458 paying for tickets.

–Heenan says that the Giant has been issued a restraining order and is outside of the arena, barred from coming in this evening.

–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 Bobby Heenan are tasked with commentary and they are taped from Orlando, Florida.  They recap the events surrounding Hulk Hogan and the Giant at Fall Brawl.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are in the booth and they are live from Daytona Beach, Florida.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are in the booth and they are live from Huntington Beach, California.  Schiavone says that the crowd is the biggest ever to see a WCW event.  This passes the eye test but there was no accurate way to verify how many people were there to see the show since WCW did not sell tickets to the event.

–A video package hypes Meng.

–United States Champion Sting is interviewed by Gene Okerlund.  Sting says that he has home field advantage and the fans – including his mother and father who are at ringside – will give him the energy to defend the U.S. title.

–Eric Bischoff and Dusty Rhodes are doing commentary for today’s Bash at the Beach pre-show broadcast that is originating live from Huntington Beach, California.  The camera shot of fans on the beach surrounding the ring makes for a great visual.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan call the action to kick off a new set of tapings at Center Stage in Atlanta that were filmed on June 25.  Tonight’s show is a one-hour episode.

–Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan do their usual studio duties.  They hype Bash at the Beach, namely the Hulk Hogan-Vader main event.

–Okerlund says that Diamond Dallas Page was recently looking for a house in Malibu.  Heenan refutes the rumor floating around WCW that the Diamond Doll won the money that Page is spending as his own.

–Heenan openly wonders why the Nasty Boys are so popular when they do a move like the Pit Stop.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are in the booth and they are still taped from Atlanta, Georgia as of June 7.  Atlanta Braves baseball limits tonight’s broadcast to one hour.

–Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are doing commentary and they are taped from Atlanta, Georgia.  This broadcast included matches that were taped on May 11 and June 7 from the usual Center Stage venue.

WCW Prime on June 5 featured a new match so we will get to that before heading to WCW Pro.

–The promo poster for this show is odd as it makes it seem like Ric Flair is the babyface since he is “seeking revenge.”

–Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan are doing commentary and they are live from St. Petersburg, Florida.  Bischoff is substituting for Tony Schiavone who is on the shelf with neck surgery.

–A video package hypes Harlem Heat, spliced with a generic promo of how they are going to beat the Nasty Boys tonight.