WCW Pro 11/17/1991
El Gigante vs Doug Summers
Pretty Boy Doug Summers is here and JR calls him a grizzled vet. Doug hits some chest slaps and gets nowhere. Doug arm-wringers him and is clotheslined. Gigante boots him in the chest and hiptosses him. Gigante double arm chokeslams him and the ref warns him. Gigante hits a big slam then a big suplex.
Gigante clubs his back then puts him in the claw. Gigante then lays on him with it and wins it.
It was quick. Gigante could kind of move but it wasn't very impressive otherwise.
WCW This Week
Eric Bischoff interviews Big Josh, Dustin Rhodes and Z-Man. Josh says it's a few minutes until they get in the cage and said the way they lost the 6-man titles was disgusting. Josh says there is someone watching over him, a higher spirit. Josh says it's not the first time he has to go into the cage. Dustin said the York Foundation took the title from them with the use of a computer.
Dustin says the computer will be nowhere to be found and says they will walk out victorious. Zenk says Ms. York can't interfere as she will be outside of the cage.
Cactus Jack vs Scott Sandlin
Jack pushes Scott over then Scott grabs a waistlock. Jack pulls him down and they hype up Clash of the Champions on Tuesday. Jack hits Scott with a knee then stomps him and Ross says he thinks Jack attended a Charles Manson Special School. Jack drops his body over the top rope and Scott hits some punches. Scott's head is banged off the buckle then Jack rakes his eyes.
Jack running knees Scott in the corner then backbreakers him. Jack does a baseball sliding headbutt and a fan asks Scott, "did that hurt?". Jack running elbows Scott on the floor and Scott goes into the rail. Jack forearms Scott then hits a stroke variation for 2.
Jack boots him in the corner and is told to get off the ropes. Jack then hits a double arm ddt and wins this.
This was all squash here and not super special.
Van Hammer vs Greg Sawyer
Van swings the guitar around his neck and headbangs during his entrance. Van pushes Greg over and we are told that Van's fans are called "Hammerheads" and Ross says there's "Hammer Hysteria". Van shoulders him over, boots him in the gut then hits a shake, rattle and roll. Van russian legsweeps him then elbow drops him. Van hits a powerslam then flying shoulders him.
Greg rolls out and Van throws him back in. Greg gets a kick and a euro in. Greg swings wildly and takes a backdrop. Van then legdrops him. Van slingshot suplexes him and grabs the win. Catcus Jack is seen at ringside in the background. The two point at each other and have words.
This was a completely one sided squash. Van hit his moves clean and did them completely by the book like you would at wrestling school. Greg looked like one of the Steiner Brothers uncles.
Wrestling News Network with Gordon Solie
Solie said Barry Windham's hand was injured during Halloween Havoc when the Enforcers slammed his hand in the car door. They said he will be out indefinitely. Solie talks about the WCW Phantom being Rick Rude. We see Rude taking a dropkick then hitting a rude awakening for the win. We then see Paul E. Dangerously talk about the man behind the WCW Phantom mask. The mask is then taken off and it's Rick Rude.
Rude does a promo. He said he never got the chance to go one on one with Sting. He said he wonders if he's as small as he looks on television. He wonders if he's the low-life garbage collecting scumbag that he portrays on TV. He says he will tear apart the WCW and take his United States Title.
The Danger Zone with Paul E. Dangerously
Paul has a Lex Luger toy. He then clotheslines the toy and punches it. He says not even he can believe how much fan he is having playing with his WCW Galoob doll. We then see him slam the phone on the figure and we cut to Lex putting him in a headlock. Paul then wakes up from dreaming and Lex stares him down. Paul says he will never do it again. This was a weird way to shill toys.
Rick Steiner vs John Faulkner
They say Rick may be the next champion of the world. The match starts and they go to split screen, showing Rick beating Lex Luger.
Back to the match and Rick is backed up. John hits a chest club then Rick knees him in the body. Rick grabs him by the chin and punches him then Rick hits a Steiner line. Rick elbow drops him then starts randomly elbow dropping the mat. Rick hits another elbow on John then gutwrench suplexes him. Rick elbow drops the mat again then puts John up top. Rick 2nd rope belly to belly suplexes him and waves goodbye before he does. Ross says we all should say goodbye to John. Rick then gets the win.
This was a bizarre squash with Rick elbow dropping the mat and waving goodbye to his opponent before hitting a belly to belly suplex.
Jim Ross interviews Rick Steiner. Ross asks if he wants to be the next heavyweight champ. He says he does. He said he thought Luger was going to show him a new secret move then he jumped him. Rick says he's a gladiator and is paid to come out here and beat people up. Rick says he's ready to beat Luger and says Scott Steiner to go for it as he can do it.
Thundercage '91 - The York Foundation vs Z-Man, Dustin Rhodes and Big Josh
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| The finish |
Going into this, The York Foundaion were having issues as Taylor was about to leave. There was a promo on another show where Ms. York had to confirm that Taylor would be here.
As longtime readers may know, there is no bigger mark for The York Foundation than yours truly. The York Foundation will rise again if I ever get my hands on a wrestling company. The York's debate their strategy and are hesistant to get in the cage. Ms. York tries to stop the cage from being shut. I mean the cage is only 2-3 feet taller than they are in the ring so it's not that hard to escape it.
Morton is backing off from Josh just to start thing. Morton hits a punch flurry on Josh then Josh fights out of the corner and punches Morton. Morton climbs over top the cage and is grabbed by the hari. Josh punches him up top and Morton goes back into the ring. Taylor gets in and hits punches on Josh. Taylor tries to bang Josh's head off the cage but Josh hits back elbows.
Rhodes hits a nice punch on Taylor then clotheslines him for 2. Z-Man gets in and arm wringers Taylor. Z armlocks him then Josh gets in. Josh is put in the corner and takes a 3v1. Thomas Rich pounds on Josh then Rich misses an elbow drop. Josh lariats Rich then stands on his body and stomps it. Rich climbs up top and gets crotched with Ross saying, "that's self-explanatory right there". Taylor boots Josh out of the corner then hits a slam. Taylor goes up top and hits a top rope splash for 2.
Taylor back breakers Josh. Rich hits a nice clothesline on Josh and drops a knee on his head. Morton hits punches on Josh then corner lariats him. He says, "get on down big boy". Rich kicks Josh in the gut then Josh hits a nice belly to belly suplex on Rich. Dustin gets in and hits a punch and elbow flurry. He elbows all three York Foundation members. Rich goes up top and Dustin hits him in the crotch then slams him down. Morton takes a gorilla press slam and is backing off in the corner. Ms. York is trying to grab the key to the cage off of Gordon Nelson of the WCW ring crew.
Taylor elbows Dustin then fujiwara armbars him. Taylor is thrown into the buckles and avoids Dustin's charge, sending Dustin into the buckles. Rich wraps Dustin's arm around the ropes and pulls. Dustin hits punches on Taylor and both go up top. Josh and Rich also go up top. They trade punches and elbows up there. Morton goes down after getting his head banged off the cage then Taylor is pushed down.
Taylor eye rakes Z-Man then Z-Man superkicks him out of nowhere. Taylow jawbreakers him then Rich hits a neckbreaker. Rich elbow drops Z-Man and hits him in the throat. Z-Man sunset flips Morton but the ref Nick Patrick is arguing with Taylor and misses it. Morton clotheslines Z-Man then Taylor abdominal stretches Z-Man. Rich takes over the abdominal stretch, as does Morton. They don't tag in though the ref allows it despite not seeing it. York is still trying to get the cage key off of Gordon outside.
Z-Man crossbodies Taylor then step up enzugiri's him after Taylor asks, "What are you gonna do?". Z-Man goes between the legs then gets Josh in. Josh hits a big back body drop on Taylor then throws Morton into the cage. Rich gets forearmed. Taylor tries to suplex Josh but Dustin dropkicks Taylor during it. Josh falls onto Taylor and gets the win.
The fight continues after with The York Foundation beating up the faces. Josh is triple teamed and thrown into the cage. Josh is bleeding and Morton is too. The York Foundation run out of the cage and Ross says they may have lost the match, but may have won the war.
The work was good but the logic was odd. It was no disqualification yet they still made tags and treated as almost a normal match minus Dustin low blowing Rich. Why they wouldn't just all be in and fighting all throughout is beyond me. It was a longer match and a bit slower than you would think. The action really got started in the last minute when this ended which was unfortunate.
WCW This Week
Mike's look is straight out of the 80's here and he looks like a math teacher.
The show then ends.
Overall thoughts: Everything but the main was a squash match. The main had the time and while the work was good, the no disqualification cage match clearly had some rules to it, which didn't make much sense. The Paul E. segment where he played with toys then woke up from a dream was weird and Rick Steiner's promo wasn't good. They built up Van Hammer vs Cactus Jack some and also pushed Rick Steiner vs Lex Luger. The show had a much different feel to it than modern wrestling does. There were a lot less camera cuts and they used the hard cam more which made this a lot easier to watch. The announcers took this a lot more seriously and it felt like the news was covering a wrestling event whereas with modern wrestling, you can't really buy into the commentators, interviewers and announcers as much. I wouldn't really recommend going out of your way to see this, but I enjoyed it.
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