SPOTLIGHT: Hogan vs Savage - 1987

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan(c) vs Randy Savage

WWF June 3, 1987 Rochester, NY

Dark matches, for those not in the know, are matches not meant for broadcast that are held before or after an advertised card takes place. They are never really the best matches, but serve as more of a historical curiosity. For example, is anyone out there clamoring to see if Samoa Joe and Essa Rios could tear the house down if matched up? Not really, but if you wanted to see Joe's WWF dark match from fourteen years ago against Rios, it's out there and fairly easy to find. This match today looks short, but it should be a treat to watch the preview of WrestleMania V's main event a year and a half before the Mega Powers explode. Hulk Hogan, a man who over the years has gone from a national icon to one of the most polarizing men around, is defending his WWF Championship against Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Savage is another who needs no introduction as his garish outfits, Miss Liz, Slim Jim, and generally being crazy as all fuck catapulted him into uber-legend status. If anyone is wondering why I would bother with Hogan in light of things he should've left unsaid, well, Michael Hayes still has fucking job right?

WWF even informs us that this is a dark match, which for the time, seems bizarre.

This was released by Coliseum Video at some point, because we have Heenan, Jimmy Valiant (noooo), and someone I can't place at all in a tiny box shilling old videos during introductions. The nameless guy botches his very first sentence as he states that Hogan won the belt January 24, 1984, when it was the 23rd. No big deal, I never expect a whole lot from these Coliseum broadcast teams anyway. Hogan is coming off the biggest win in wrestling history by way of pinning Andre, but if you asked him, he would swear he gorilla pressed him and hit the powerslam off the top rope. Macho is also hotter than pissed off lava, having the match of the year against Ricky Steamboat.

Hindsight says your lips are WAY too close to touching here.

Immediately, Hogan fails to redeem himself to me by stalling at levels that would make Tetsuya Naito proud. No bullshit, I finished half my cup of coffee between Rick Derringer's "Real American" cueing up and the bell ringing. Savage suddenly transformed into my spirit animal and unleashed some wicked shots as Hulk was handing Earl Hebner the belt. Whereas Hogan came out lollygagging and looking like he was going through the motions, Macho Man is hauling balls, throwing around some really intense offense. If you need a visual aid, think about WMV when Savage took over the match and click on the your video player's 3x button. I would be remiss in not mentioning that Savage beating on Hogan while still wearing the bandana and shades was badass. Hogan blocked a shot to the buckles and whipped Macho from pillar to post, even knocking off his glasses and putting them on. Oh shit, that means war.

Booker T! I'm comin' for YOU.....BROTHER!!!

Savage bailed and hid behind Liz for a bit, giving Hogan's Special Meter a chance to cool off. That strategy didn't pay off worth shit as Hulkster caught him coming in, hit the Axe Bomber, and sent him back out with an atomic drop. Sidenote: Never change the name of the atomic drop. It completely owns as is. Macho tried the Liz tactic again, but Hulk is wise and calmly moved Liz before taking the action back to the ring. AGAIN, the action went outside as Savage tricked Hogan and hit the top-rope double axe-handle to the floor that probably ate up his knees over the years. Inside once more as Macho nailed an impressive body slam before coming off the top with his trademark elbow. If you don't know how that went, you've never seen a Hulk Hogan match. If that's the case, he kicks out and uses the power of Hulkamania to shrug off punches, kicks, bullets, tanks, fire, and missiles until he wagged his magic finger, hit the body slam, and threw a oversized yellow boot into Savage's face. Randy wisely bailed after the boot and sent the oncoming champion into the guardrail. Right as Hogan is fixing to have his bald spot caved in by a chair, Liz yanked it away, sending the crowd into hysterics. Macho Man decided that the time was nigh to hit the elbow and take this home, but Hogan moved and caught Savage in a school boy for the pin at 6:43. Savage berated Liz, Hogan posed presumably until curfew, the crowd is molten and all is well in Rochester tonight.

For no reason at all, here is a Macho Stare.

WWF Championship: Hulk Hogan(c) d. Randy Savage by pinfall (6:43)

VERDICT:
Meh. Too much stalling and not enough action to call this even a CliffsNotes version of WrestleMania V. Macho teased a great match in the beginning, however, the power of Hulkamania cooled it off after the first awesome Savage flurry. The fans were into it, but these two were so over that they could've both come out with two toilets and taken a shit and the crowd would've found a reason to go wild. If you are a completionist and need to see every battle these two had, have at it, but they would follow this up with much more motivated work and far better matches.

MEL PHILLIPS!!! HIDE YOUR FEET!!! (You're on your own here. Google it.)

SPOTLIGHT: Ric Flair Part V - Flair & Austin vs. Sting & Steamboat

Ric Flair & Steve Austin vs. Sting & Ricky Steamboat

WCW July 30, 1994 Omni Atlanta, GA

There is no way the wrestling gods will allow this match to suck. The future Stone Cold is the WCW United States Champion here, a title that spun into the WWE version that is held by Mr. Beatsthefuckouttame and he is embroiled in a feud with Steamboat that will unfortunately be the end of Dragon's career about a month from here. Ric Flair and Sting are sworn into a bloodfeud for all eternity, so I'm unfamiliar with their exact issue here right off the bat. Nature Boy is fairly fresh into another heel turn as Hogan was signed. Sherri is out there with the limo riding, jet flying gazillion time champion, which is always good backup if you're a heel as the Scary One didn't mess around. This being a dream match in today's light is a teensie bit of an understatement on top of it possibly being the final time Flair and Steamboat locked up. The announcers even play it up in 1994 as such, so this should be tremendous.

...Tom Servo! Croooooow!

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 style set they used for WCW Saturday Night needs to make a comeback yesterday. The heroes don't have time for any of that breathing fire or showtime shit and clear the ring to show they mean business. Order is reached and we begin with Flair taunting Sting just to tag in Austin and immediately piss the fans off. Sting counters Flair's antics by tagging Dragon and Steve wants none of that, tagging in Flair before he bails. The referee is sneakily put into a position to distract Ricky, giving Flair the first attack bonus points. Nature Boy styles and profiles in the corner, but runs into a hiptoss. The overhead body slam that was a staple of their matches gets the crowd going and Flair begs off. This leads to a funny spot as Sting stands over Flair in the corner and delivers nine punches and the tenth to a charging Austin. The action heads outside and Flair uses Sherri as the shield until he reveals it was part of his master plan to rake some eyes. Nature Boy takes a moment to scream at a few kids at ringside and after a chop, sends Sting back into the ring and tags Stunning Steve. It's hard as root against Stinger here as he endears himself to me with a Houston Astros orange and blue motif. Austin is an offensive house of fire for a moment until he takes a backdrop so high that I seriously ponder why his neck went first. Steamboat is tagged and comes in wild, which is a mistake as Austin focuses and shoots him to the outside. Some stiff shots outside and once the match is brought back in, Steamboat unleashes with a neckbreaker and a leaping chop. Before Dragon can attempt a pin, Flair breaks it up and it's time to brawl! That ends with Steamboat hitting an inverted atomic drop that sends Austin outside. As Ricky is literally trying to drag Steve in by his ass, we go to a commercial.

Seriously. By his ass.

1-900-909-9900! We signed Hulk Fuckin' Hogan! We're fixing to hit the reset button on every single storyline we have! We're going to fire this Austin guy you see here over FedEx soon! Get your parent's permission, kids!

And don't forget to visit Mean Gene's Burgers!

The match continues with Tony Schiavone mentioning the upcoming (now a classic) AAA Worlds Collide PPV while Heenan calls it "Lucha Libra" and Ricky has Austin in a chinlock. A jawbreaker from Lord of What connects and they fight over a backslide. Steamboat smartly takes the battle to the corner, flips out of it, and lands a second rope suplex for two. Only the pretty ones like that earn the Gordon Solie "Soo-Play" name. Sting somes in and takes Austin too lightly, hitting nothing but knees on a jumping splash. The Nature Boy is tagged and is in all his glory, stalking his prey while strutting and mouthing off. As usual, he takes too long popping off at Steamboat and Sting is able to mount a comeback. A series of clotheslines sends Flair into the ropes and as Sting is going to hit the big one that sends Flair over, he totally whiffs and it's time for The WCW Improv Show! Sting grabs Flair and Austin saves the awkwardness of it by walking over and making shit happen. Of course, men of this caliber won't stay lost for long and they are back on track before we know it. Sting goes into Robocop mode (his version of "Hulking Up" that he learned in 1990) and the crowd senses with every consecutive nip up that Flair should run like hell. Being the dastardly villain that he is, Flair does just that and even stops to berate a few more kids in the process. The heels have a strategic conference that apparently had them both being clotheslined by Sting. Flair has enough in him to hit the top and go for WCW's first shooting star press, but fate cries again as he is slammed off. Good God, Sting really launched him on that one. Austin is tagged and they trade holds, which is more Austin's game and he gets a few quick roll up attempts for two. Sting isn't having this technical crap, so turns around with a sneer and destroys our favorite rattlesnake with Power Moves 101. Steve's JUST WIN BABY trunks are like something out of the early 80s and, for reasons unknown to me, I find them awesome. Sensing defeat being snatched from the jaws of victory, Team Heel distracts the ref and sends Sting outside and into the loving arms of Sherri, who clocks him with her shoe. Tape machines are rolling and we will be right back!

After his career was said and done, I'd damned sure say he won.

1-900-909-9900. Did we really hire The Honky Tonk Man and what the hell for? Glacier is coming! A certain hardcore wrestler will never "put asses in seats" and shall receive his pink slip soon. Find out who! Get your parent's permission, kids! *sign falls* Fuck it!

That's MEAN GENE'S, located at...

We pick up at the exact moment we left off as Sherri rolls a battered Sting into the ring. The heel team now cuts the ring in half, utilizing quick tags and ring awareness. Austin hits a beauty of a flying knee, but is countered on the second attempt. Both men make the crawling tag and Steamboat flies in and goes apeshit on anything that moves with chops and back body drops. The crowd is on their feet for their heroes, but again, Austin counters and takes over. Tag to Flair and this time, no strutting, only ass kicking. Nice bit as Dragon backslides Flair, but is too close to the corner and takes a sneaky boot by Austin. Both men collide and they are down and out. Austin gets the tag and he and Sherri combine to make Ricky's life miserable. Back in comes Flair and he makes sure to fuck with Sting before every move he does, getting the crowd even more fired up. There is one particular row of women at ringside who are just giving Sherri the business. Steamboat starts to return the vicious chops of Nature Boy and dives for Sting's hand, only to miss by about an inch. You're playing with my emotions and I love it. Austin wants some of this action and works over Steamboat for awhile longer, complete with trademark selling from the master himself. Another barely missed tag and now Steamboat is over it. The immediate radius is chopped half to death and Sting's angry hand is finally met. Rushing the ring like a man who remembered every bit of venom that Flair spewed, Stinger goes bonkers and hits Nature Boy with the Stinger Splash. Scorpion Deathlock is applied but that pesky Sherri hits the top to break it up. This was a horrible idea, because Sting catches her and sends her over the top rope with an overhand slam. Holy shit, Flair barely caught her on that one! Amid all the chaos, Austin catches Steamboat in a roll up assisted by a pull of the tights for the win at 24:28. Wow. 

A testament to how great this was. Austin has a freaking abdominal stretch on and the crowd on standing with no signs on sitting down. That's badass.

Ric Flair & Steve Austin d. Sting & Ricky Steamboat when Austin pinned Steamboat (24:28)

VERDICT:

Further research tells me that this gem was included on the Stone Cold - And That's The Bottom Line DVD set, turning that into this weekend's hunt and must buy. This was a class in old school tag wrestling and we had four professors to demonstrate what an amazing match was. Sure, there were hiccups like Sting striking out on a dive and Sherri almost dying during the finish at the end, but who gives a damn? This was fun, energetic, and told a great story. Some could make a case that it wasn't the mot well structured match, but they did things differently then and called most of it on the fly. Also, the crowd hopping and screaming like lunatics seemed to strongly disagree. Flair's antics and Steamboat's selling are always top notch together, but with the additional dynamics of a motivated Sting and a sneaky as hell Austin making trouble, this could've gone an hour and I wouldn't have complained. One of the greatest televised tag team matches in the history and if you haven't seen this, make the time, because you won't be disappointed. 

SPOTLIGHT: Ric Flair Part IV - Flair vs. Tsuruta

NWA World Championship: Ric Flair(c) vs. Jumbo Tsuruta
AJPW March 10, 1987 City Gymnasium Fukushima, Japan 


Here we have another NWA World Championship match for The Nature Boy and this contest is against The Terror of Yamanishi and former AWA World Champion, Jumbo Tsuruta. I am just giddy thinking of the chops, lariats, and backdrops that are about to meet my eager eyeballs. Tsuruta was a mountain of a man who is primarily known for a series of matches with Tiger Mask II/Mitsuharu Misawa that showed how making new talent was supposed to be done. Gone too soon, but never forgotten.

"Before we begin, let us stand and recite Vince McMahon's shortlist of announcing do's and don't's..."

Jumbo matches Flair's powder blue robe with his own pimpin' Superman-style red and blue one. Weird coincidence that in every match but Brody, Ric has come out with this attire. The flowers are presented and the championship proclamation read as per the usual tradition. I forgot exactly what the official says, but they've translated a few in English at ROH shows for bouts such as KENTA vs. Low Ki. The flower girls are like some terrfying horror movie shit for me, as I can't find one shred of info as to why a bouqet is presented and it's honestly more entertaining for me personally to keep it that way. More than likely out of respect, honor, or for good luck, pick one and let's roll on. In contrast to the Tenryu match, where both men received a fair trade from the fans, Jumbo is slightly the crowd favorite here.

How my mind sees the flower girls when they leave ringside.

The bell rings and I am instantly reminded of a conversation with a friend yesterday where he used the "Bret Hart Defense" that Flair had the same match every night. Ric opens up by working right into a hammerlock, which in the last three Spotlights, he never once yanked out of his rolodex, so I'm thrilled to know I'm not insane and Flair fuckin' rules. Daddy Charlotte cranks the arm for a bit, bringing down the big man with another hammerlock, perhaps trying to neutralize the power of the lariat. Into the corner with a chop, but that seemed to make Jumbo's day as they exchange hard shots. A wild swing by the champion whiffs and is met by an early lariat for two. Flair wisely bails and sends a stalking Tsuruta to the guardrail. Back in, Flair refuses to allow Jumbo back in until a 6'6" sunset flip for two doesn't give him a choice. The fans are ready to lose it for any little thing their hometown hero is doing, which is always fantastic to hear. Bait is offered up to Jumbo in the form of a test of strength, but here is a man who has actually researched his opponent and declines by way taking over on Flair's leg. Tsuruta almost gets a Sharpshooter locked in, but Flair freaks out and rakes the eyes. Up to the top goes the champ, but Jumbo robs us of what may have been the first ever 630 splash in wrestling history by way of body slam. A Jumbo sleeper is countered into a knee breaker and class is now in session! Sensing the desperation of the crowd, Flair isn't just laying there but cranking the daylights out of that shit. Heelus Maximus. Jumbo reverses the move into the ropes as Flair's mane during his maniacal selling reminds me of a white Tribble having a seizure. Flar begs off, but Jumbo says, "Sure thing, right after this ass beating and I send you over the top". Flair runs back in and his anger is negated by Jumbo's trademark knee to the facial regions. If you've never seen this man throw a knee, it's magically brutal. That felt nice and only got two, so Jumbo made it a double for another close two count. A nice bridge into a backslide gets two as Jumbo signals that this wrestling crap has gotten old by pulling down his elbow pad with a sneer. Some hard chops and right when it looks like we are about to get down and boogie for real, Jumbo hits the sleeper again. That was amazingly out of place.

...you got me fired up for WHAT?

Flair slips out of that and nails one hell of a delayed vertical suplex considering Jumbo's size. Both men trade abdominal stretches and after a botched hiptoss, Flair gets cocky and whiffs with the high knee. Professor Jumbo has gone to Figure Four College and earned his own degree, which he more than happily demonstrates. Flair get that hold broken, only to fall prey to Jumbo's second Sharpshooter attempt. Ric makes the ropes and after a few pin attempts, ducks a lariat which takes out the referee. I lack the confidence in my own personal opinions to give the matches stars and garters, but that was a -*** as far as ref bumps go. Two backdrop drivers are unloaded by Jumbo, but the champion is able to recover in time. The referee staggers back into the ring and as Tsuruta rolls up Flair in a small package, gives Nature Boy the DQ victory at 17:29. Oh, bull-fucking-shit! Feeling my pain, Jumbo tosses the worthless little bastard across the ring and continues his assault on Flair until he slithers off to fight another day.

Goddamn! That ref sure made up for his previous bump!

NWA World Champion Ric Flair d. Jumbo Tsuruta by DQ (17:29)


VERDICT:
That ending was weaker than salad farts. Not suprisingly, most inter-promotional title matches ended in this fashion due to promotions being super protective of their company as a whole looking weak, which is easily understandable. This felt like the first half of a 45 minute match to be honest and only approached the level of hype for it in short spurts. Not every match can be a war of attrition, but I expected more of a hard hitting affair as even the backdrop drivers were pretty low impact for Jumbo. If you love both guys, get a fork and dig in, but I'd skip this as it started out super hot, but went downhill from the moment Jumbo pulled down the armpad to hit the sleeper.

SPOTLIGHT: Ric Flair Part III - Flair vs. Michaels

Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels
WWF November 12, 1991 Springfield Civic Center Springfield, MA

This little gem comes to us via an episode of WWF Primetime Wrestling and Flair is sporting the same robe he wore in the Tenryu bout. Ric's "Real World Championship" is distorted here as this would be when he was carrying around a WWF tag title due to WCW sending lawyers after Titan for the NWA World Championship. The story there was that Ric Flair hated everything Jim Herd stood for and jumped ship to New York. Citing that he was never paid back a deposit he made involving the belt, Flair had no issues bringing the main title of the NWA over to McMahonLand with him and parading it on television. Obviously, WCW had a minor issue with their bread and butter being on the television of their mortal enemies, so courtroom hilarity ensued. In the end, Flair did the right thing and sent the belt back so the boys down in Atlanta could continue to eat. Shawn runs down still in Rocker-mode, but Jannety is nowhere to be seen.

No one would care past a week if the TNA Champion showed up on RAW, so the only way to compare Flair in WWF with the NWA belt in today's terms would be if John Cena left and formed a new federation with the WWE Championship a la Misawa in 2000.

Feeling out process as both men trade hip tosses and shoulder blocks, ending with Michaels getting caught in the corner. Nature Boy fulfills his quota of making me cringe with the very first chop but misses a blind charge that the future Mr. Wrestlemania turns into a wacky corkscrew sunset flip for two. Flair tries to back Michaels into the buckles again, but this time, it ends up with Ric eating a strong pimpslap, forcing him to bail to the safety of the outside. No joke, all that was missing on that spot was Michaels pouring powder onto his hands. Shawn's tights appear half finished here, as if halfway through the process, he had to tell the seamstress to forget it and go on the hunt for hearts and mirrors instead. Flair collects himself and heads back to the corner to slug it out but Shawn fires up and unloads on him with fistacuffs and neon flying all over creation. Michaels falls for the old Flair beg off, eye-poke combo and back to the corner we go. By now, you'd think Ric has learned his lesson about going blow for blow and sure enough, Michaels wakes up after a few chops and explodes, sending him Flair Flipping to the outside as we take a commercial break. If memory serves me correctly, I had an old Coliseum Video with this exact match unedited as well as an epic Flair-Bret war now that I think about it.

Sadly, this match wasn't the last time HBK sported something half-finished and hideous.

The match returns with Flair countering a sunset flip with a greco roman punch and both men are down. After a sweet Michaels dropkick, Team Flair is noticing a trend here and thus turns the tide when Perfect trips Shawn from the outside, giving Flair the chance to drop his trademark jumping knee to his noggin. Another pillar to post slugfest ends with Michaels charging into a boot, but Ric gets cocky and heads to the top. Before we are given the chance to see The Nature Boy hit Red Arrow decades before Adrian Neville, he is slammed off, effectively killing what could've been a major moment in wrestling history. Michaels hits the superkick a few years before it reached a Level 99 finisher and follows up with a DiBiase style fistdrop off the top. Flair is clotheslined to the outside and Michaels makes a crucial mistake, completely wiping out on a plancha into the guardrails. Michaels looks legally dead and nowhere near making the ten count before Marty Jannetty arrives and hoists him back into the ring. Even though Shawn hasn't moved a muscle, Flair still pins him with his foot on the ropes like a dick at 7:31 shown. That's a true fuckin' heel, folks. Speaking of heels, Shawn is livid when he comes to and pushes away Marty's attempts at explaining himself. A rather strange build to the HBK heel turn when you think about it, because I'd be right steamed at Marty as well.

His reign as Digital Champion is safe for now!

Ric Flair pinned Shawn Michaels (7:31 shown)

VERDICT:

18 years before Shawn Michaels superkicked Ric Flair into retirement (sort of), this was a nice bang-bang-bang affair that foreshadowed things to come. Flair gave Michaels, at the time an unproven youngster in the singles department, a ton of offense and bumped like a superball. That was one of the things that truly made Flair great was his unselfishness in the ring. Say what you will about his backstage shenanigans, but the man was The Man in the ring. Nowhere near as polished as their later meeting in 2003, but well worth checking out for history's sake as this lead into the heel turn of one of the greatest heels to ever lace them up as well as Ric Flair winning his first WWF Championship two months later at the Royal Rumble. A fun seven minutes for sure.