WCW Slamboree 1993- Review

May 23, 1993
The Omni, Atlanta, Georgia
Attendance: 7,008

If you thought WWE was the only wrestling company that trotted out old-timers for a nostalgia pop, this WCW Slamboree 1993 review will prove otherwise.

Tonight’s show was ae special ‘Legends Reunion’ featuring special appearances from the stars of yesteryear.

Elsewhere, we had Davey Boy Smith challenging The Big Van Vader for the WCW title and a hotly anticipated tag team match between rivals The Hollywood Blondes and the duo of Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas, or, as my autocorrect likes to call him, Shame Doubles.

Anyway, how’s that for a brief introduction? Let’s get on with the show, shall we?

Slamboree 19943: A Legend’s Reunion

Tonight’s opening video featured headshots of some of the many legends from the glory days of pro wrestling.

Jimmy Snuka, Verne Gagne, Lou Thesz, Dusty Rhodes, and a whole lot more were flashed on the screen before the whole video was rudely cut off by Tony Schiavone.

Our commentator for tonight’s show shouted his greeting over the top of the introduction as the camera panned across the audience and finally honed in on the ring.

There, the likes of Magnum TA, Dory Funk Junior, Verne Gagne and others mulled around, waiving to the fans.

True to form, WCW dragged out the start of the show for as long as possible by giving us a brief performance by Maxx Payne.

To be fair, I have no problem with Maxx Payne. The dude could shred, and if he was faking it, it was pretty good faking.

After a little bit of a solo, Payne went into a single riff as a bunch of enhancement talents came out in their underwear carrying an elaborate sedan chair on their shoulders.

Don’t get too excited. It was only Fabulous Moolah in the box.

We weren’t done yet. Next, we went up to Eric Bischoff and Missy Hyatt.

In true WCW fashion, things started going wrong immediately as the power cut off while the duo ran down tonight’s card. It eventually came back on just in time to see the legends leaving to make way for our opening contest.

Beautiful Bobby Eaton & Chris Benoit vs. Too Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexandar Bagwell

As Marcus Alexander Bagwell danced around the ring like a goofy Vanilla Ice cosplayer, the cameras cut to a sign supporting the superstar. They then quickly moved away again when they noticed it said “MARUS Is Great.”

That aside, this was a very good opening contest which began in a flash of fire as Too Cold Scorpio exchanged holds with Chris Benoit. The good guys took control in the early going, but the momentum soon shifted in favor of Benoit and Beautiful Bobby Eaton.

The makeshift duo cut Bagwell off from his corner and began systematically wearing down. It was a strategy that worked well.

Until it didn’t.

Benoit attempted to wrap things up with a flying headhunt, only for Bagwell to get his knees up at the last possible second.

It was just the break he needed to make the white-hot tag to Scorpio, who stormed in with a flurry of offense.

The match -as all tag team matches eventually do- broke down into a four-man chaos and, in the resulting fracas, the heels both ran into one another.

As Eaton tumbled to the outside, Benoit collapsed on the mat. Scorpio scaled the top rope and connected with a twisting somersault leg drop. Bagwell held a desperate Eaton at bay, Too Cold made the cover, and one three count later, this very enjoyable opener was over.
Your Winners: Too Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell

As the victors took their leave, Tony and Larry discussed the recent arrival of a man they had never seen before, Colonel Robert Parker.

Parker had arrived on the scene looking for a wrestler to manage and had apparently given Van Hammer some unsolicited advice that the wrestler hadn’t taken too kindly.

Now, Parker had recruited someone else and would turn them loose on Van Hammer in our second match of the evening.

Van Hammer vs. Sid Vicious (w/ Colonel Robert Parker)

By now, Van Hammer had pretty much dropped his heavy metal gimmick, ditching the Flying V and sparkly glam rock pants in favor of a boring black single.

It made sense, I suppose.

World Championship Wrestling was clearly all-in on Maxx Payne around this time, and he was clearly much better suited to a metal gimmick, not least because Payne could actually shred for real.

Hammer’s opponent on this night was none other than the returning Sid Vicious.

That would make this the first Sid match I’ve watched since the great man himself passed away in mid-2004. So, let me go on record -as I have many times in the past- in saying that Sid was THE MAN.

I get that there are certain segments of the wrestling fandom who don’t see the appeal, and I’ll be the first to admit that he wasn’t exactly spectacular from a pure wrestling standpoint, but he didn’t have to be.

Sid had something that I’m not sure could be taught in any pro wrestling school. He had presence; an undeniable, unmatched presence that was naturally captivating.

Sure, he’d flub a promo or two, and sure, he may have only had half the brain that Kevin Nash had, but my goodness, when Sid was on, there was no other character like him in pro wrestling.

That’s why I’ll argue that Sid was never a heel in his entire run with the then-big two wrestling companies.

Even when he was booked as such, the fans loved him because of that aura that surrounded him wherever he went.

Tonight was no exception.

Col. Parker arrived first, scalding Van Hammer for turning him down and -for reasons this fan doesn’t really understand- wheeling a stretcher down to the ring.

Then, he introduced ‘The Man Who Ruled the World’ and, sure enough, the fans in the CCC ARENA (WHICH ARENA) went loco.

Hammer lunged at Sid. Sid cut him off with a big ol’ boot to the bread basket, followed up with a powerbomb and that was all she wrote.

It was the shortest of squash matches, but as a fan who was genuinely sad when the late Sidney Eudy passed this year, I was just happy to have him on my screen again.
Your Winner: Sid Vicious

Up in the stands, Eric Bischoff stood by with former three-time WWWF US tag team champion Red Bastein and former NWA American Heavyweight Champion Bugsy McGraw.

The two legends were asked for their thoughts on the returning Sid. Bastein didn’t have all that much to say. McGraw, on the other hand, didn’t miss a beat, launching into a charismatic promo in which he put over Sid and made fun of Bischoff for wearing too much make-up.

Seriously, watch that interview clip and tell me it doesn’t make you want to go check out more from McGraw.

That interview segment was exactly the right segue into our third match of the evening.

Legends Six-Man Tag
‘Dirty’ Dick Murdoch, ‘Magnificent’ Don Murraco, and Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka vs. Chief Wahoo McDaniel, Black Jack Mulligan, ‘Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell

There was a moment in this match when Dirty Dick Murdoch surprised Jim Brunzell with a flying head scissors and Brunzell retaliated by hitting an arm drag.

It was the most exciting part of a match that this fan otherwise had very little expectations for.

Jimmy Snuka had been a long-time fan favorite but was embracing the dark side. In fact, 1993 was the year Snuka had a run in EasterN Championship Wrestling as a heel who had super boring matches. That explains why he was able to team up with his former nemesis Don Murraco and Dirty Dick to form the heel team.

On the face side of things, we had Blackjack Mulligan, who looked delighted to be there but could hardly move.

We had Cheif Wahoo McDaniel, who came in, threw a couple of chops, and spent the rest of the time on the apron.

And finally, we had the aforementioned Jim Brunzell, who was in far better shape than anyone else in the match.

It was Brunzell who took on the ‘face-in-peril’ role here, getting slowly mauled by the heels until he finally managed to break out of Murraco’s grip as Superfly came chanting toward him.

The old rivals collided and cursed each other out which, of course, led to that part in every tag match when everyone just stops following the rules and dives into the ring for a fight.

The six-man melee had barely begun when referee Randy Anderson clearly decided that he wasn’t getting paid enough for this s**t and threw out the whole match.

The whole thing was….yeah. It happened. I don’t think anybody was expecting too much from this match and, in that regard, the match met expectations.
No Contest

Out on the arena floor, Missy Hyatt stood by with The Assassin and Mad Dog Vachon.

Both men clearly wanted back in the ring.

Vachon outright admitted that he wished he was competing while The Assassin took the time to challenge Dusty Rhodes to a match ‘any time, anywhere.’

There would be no Dusty tonight, but there would be this:

Legends Tag Team Match
Ivan Koloff & Barron Von Rashke vs. Thunderbolt Patterson & Brad Armstrong

This was supposed to be Thunderbolt Patterson teaming up with Bullet Bob Armstrong.

The latter had been advertised for the match but failed to appear. At first, the announcers were confused.

Where in the world was Bullet Bob?

It turned out he was out dealing with a knee injury, a fact Patterson eventually revealed to us on the microphone.

Surely if he was that injured, somebody would have known enough ahead of time to scrub him from the match and remove his photo/name from the ring introductions.

Then again, maybe not.

I seem to recall another time when Brad Armstrong was supposed to compete but his injury wasn’t revealed until the last possible moment.

Was there something going on in that family that they didn’t understand the concept of calling in sick?

Not too surprisingly, Brad himself came down in street clothes and volunteered to take his dad’s place.

“Great!” Patterson exclaimed. “Now take your shirt off, baby, and let’s whoop some ass!”

And whoop some ass they did. At least at first.

Armstrong and Patterson unleashed fire, sending their opponents fleeing to the outside.

When the match got started proper, Patterson bewildered Baron Von Rashke by slipping out of two headlocks and walloping him before tagging out.

As Schiavone and his broadcast colleague, Larry Zybysko, recapped the career highlights of the three legends, the heels seized control and isolated Armstrong from his corner. Patterson eventually got the hot tag, slapped Rashke in the throat, and got the three count.

The match was…Well, it was exactly what it sounded like:

Three venerable legends who were now past their prime and one highly underrated wrestler doing their best to entertain the fans in a few short minutes.

It wasn’t exactly gold, but taken in context, it wasn’t offensively bad or anything either.
Your Winners: Thunderbolt Patterson and Brad Armstrong

Up next, this:

A Flair For The Gold

In the build-up to tonight’s event, we had been promised that the original Four Horsemen would be reuniting on a very special edition of Nature Boy Ric Flair‘s Flair For The Gold interview segment.

Of course, things didn’t exactly pan out like that, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

To begin tonight’s proceedings, Naitch’ styled and profiled his way onto the Flair for The Gold set which, if the pictures in this review don’t make it clear, was supposed to look like a lavish penthouse, but which actually looked more like a cheap vacation apartment.

He then introduced Fifi The Maid. If you’re unfamiliar with that character, she was, yes, an attractive woman in a maid costume who would strut out onto the set to provide a bit of eye candy and then strut away.

The woman behind the character, Wendy Barlow, would go on to marry Flair in real-life. In true Nature Boy fashion, they’re now divorced.

Anyway, the first original Horseman to arrive on the scene was Arn Anderson, who scalded NWA Champion Barry Windham for avoiding him, Flair, and WCW as a whole. Anderson would be challenging Windham for that title later on in tonight’s show.

Sticking with the NWA Champion, Flair revealed that Barry had gotten up in Tully Blanchard‘s head, and, thus, the last original Horseman would not be rejoining the group tonight. Before he revealed Blanchard’s replacement, Flair next introduced the one and only Ole Anderson.

The elder Anderson looked really happy to be there but said little of note, making way for Flair to finally reveal the final member of the newly reformed Four Horsemen:

None other than Pretty Paul Roma.

The jeers from the audience echoed through the arena as the man history has decided was the worst Horseman ever strutted out onto the set.

“I don’t think these people really realize the thousands of wrestlers you had to choose from and you chose me to be part of the most supreme, elite group in pro wrestling,” declared Roma, grinning from ear to ear as he flashed that famous Horseman hand signal.

Finally, Flair wrapped things up with a warning for The Hollywood Blondes and we went back to the announce table.

There, Schiavone and Zybysko were joined by the legendary Johnny Valentine, who refused to look at the camera the whole time he ws on screen.

Killing some more time before the next match, Schiavone plugged the company’s next PPV, Beach Blast 1993, and with that, it was back to the ring.

Dory Funk Jr. (w/ Gene Kiniski) vs. Nick Bockwinkel (w/ Verne Gagne)

Yep, the Legends Reunion was certainly living up to its name as we got a 15-minute old-school battle between the NWA vs. the AWA.

If you judge the quality of a match by the quantity and variety of moves it involves or by the number of high spots, this isn’t the match for you.

If you appreciate the history and evolution of pro wrestling and enjoy a classic catch-as-catch-can match from a time when it looked more like a real sport than choreographed entertainment, you might enjoy Nick Bockwinkel vs. Dory Funk Jr. as much as I did.

There was something oddly comforting about watching two legends just taking their time as they locked up and began trading hold after hold after counterhold.

Was it exciting?

That’s not really the word I’d use for it, but it was certainly captivating, and by the time the bell rang to signal a time-limit draw, Bockwinkel and Funk got a standing ovation.
Time Limit Draw

The two earned a respectful standing ovation for their efforts, and well-earned adulation for a job well done. Honestly, it says something when an old-school match between two veterans is the most refreshing thing on the card, but we can unpack that more later on.

For now, we went up to Eric Bischoff, who stood by with former NWA president Bob Giegel and the legendary Lou Thesz.

Neither man offered anything worth diving into, just a general ‘it’s great to be here tonight!’ kind of promo, and back we went to the ring.

WCW US Champion Rick Rude & WCW TV Champion Paul Orndorff vs. Dustin Rhodes & Kensuke Sasaki

Returning to what was then WCW’s current crop of stars, United States Champion Ravishing Rick Rude demanded that all the fat, out-of-shape, inner-city sweat hogs in XX shut their damn mouths while and TV champion Paul Orndorff took their robes off.

Before they could complete this manliest of strip teases, however, they were interrupted by their opponents –Dustin Rhodes, who had been unsuccessfully challenging for Rude’s US title, and Kensuke Sasaki– who was taking time out from his run with Road Warrior Hawk as The Hellraisers.

The match got off to a solid start, the good guys taking control by systematically working over the arm, first Rude’s, then Orndorffs.

Naturally, the heels regained the advantage, cutting Rhodes off from his corner for a solid beat down until Sasake finally came to the rescue, picking Rude up over his head and hurling him to the mat.

Cue the inevitable part of any good tag match where all four men got involved and the referee gave up on even pretending to maintain order.

Orndorff and Rhodes slipped to the outside, Rude caught Sasaki with a Rude Awakening, and that was all she wrote for a match that was good without being overly spectacular.
Your Winners: Rick Rude and Paul Orndorff

Up next, the first-ever World Championship Wrestling Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

WCW Hall of Fame

Watching this show in an age where we’ve all become accustomed to the glitz, glamor, and 2-hour acceptance speeches of the WWE Hall of Fame, it was nice to see WCW treat their proceedings with dignity and humility.

Standing alone beneath a single spotlight, the Hall of Fame host, Gordon Solie seemed genuinely moved to be there, especially when the fans greeted the legendary announcer with the huge ovation he truly deserved.

“May I proceed, please?’ he asked nicely, a polite way of getting the audience to hush and treat the occasion with the reverence it deserved.

After a brief moment of silence for departed heroes like Andre The Giant, Gene Anderson, and Patt O’Conner, Solie introduced tonight’s four inductees one by one.

First came Lou Thesz, accepting his Hall of Fame plaque after we heard all about his illustrious 29 years as world champion over five runs, including an impressive eight-year concurrent run with the title.

Up next, Sollie put over the one and only Verne Gagne, noting that while the AWA star claimed to have 9 AWA title runs, Sollie himself thought it was more like 14.

Sollie then told a great story about Mr. Wrestling II being invited to US President Jimmy Carter’s inauguration. When the Secret Service told him he wouldn’t be able to go with his mask on, Mr. Wrestling II declined the offer.

That’s how committed folks were to kayfabe back then.

Our final inductee was the late Eddie Graham, praised by Sollie for his philanthropic efforts and represented by his son, Mike Graham.

There’s no denying it, this was a classy, respectful affair that was well done. Say what you want about WCW, but they got this spot on.

When it was all over, we went back up onto the stage for some time with Missy Hyatt. WCW’s intrepid reporter gushed over her guests ‘Mr. Hawaii’ Lord James Blears and John Tolos.

If you’re only familiar with Tolos from his breif run as Mr. Perfect’s manager, Coach, he may be unrecognizable in this segment where he praised the growth of World Championship Wrestling while Missy fawned all over him.

He was certainly more charismatic than Mr. Hawaii, who humbly agreed with everything Tolos said and wrapped things up by presenting Missy with a monocle.

“Well, tallyho!” she declared as she placed the eyewear to her face. “Let’s get back to the ring!“

Bounty Match
Sting vs. The Prisoner

Alright, let’s unpack this one.

We were originally supposed to get Sting vs. Scott Norton, but Norton had walked out of WCW two days earlier because he didn’t want to put Sting over. In hindsight, that seems dumb, but not as dumb as what WCW decided to do about it.

On the May 22nd, 1993 episode of WCW Saturday Night, the company announced that Nailz would be taking Norton’s place. However, in the 24 hours that had since passed, somebody at Titan Towers must have gotten on the phone with the threat of legal action over that name.

Instead, they had Kevin Wacholz appear as The Prisoner: Same gimmick, same attire, same terrible, terrible wrestling, just with a different name.

The audience even shouted “Boss Man! Boss Man!” at him as he lumbered to the ring for what must surely be one of Sting’s worst matches ever.

Storyline-wise, the whole thing made sense.

Some mysterious person had put a bounty on Sting’s head and The Prisoner was here to collect, not by beating Sting, but simply by mauling and hurting him. So, it was perfectly fitting that The Prisoner’s move set consisted of just one move:

Grabbing his opponent by the throat and choking him out.

It wasn’t the most exciting thing you’d ever seen, but it wouldn’t have been too bad if The Prisoner had been capable of selling the Stinger’s inevitable comeback.

First, he no-sold a couple of Sting punches, leading Zbyszko to question whether the prisoner was wearing -and I quote- “a fist-proof vest.”

Then, he took some of the worst bumps you’ve ever seen – so bad that they made Sting look just as bad a wrestler as Nailz himself.

Seriously, there was one point when Sting ran at his opponent and The Prisoner just stood there, then dropped to the mat like a sack of potatoes. There was no wrestling move on display here. No attempt to make Sting’s offense look good, just a painfully awkward-looking spot that was embarrassing to watch.

In the end, The Prisoner grabbed referee Nick Patrick by the throat. Sting jumped off the top, hit a clothesline, and put us all out of our misery.
Your Winner: Sting

Poor Sting, that was tough to watch.

Moving on, we had some time to kill while WCW set up the cage for our next contest. So, we went to Eric Bischoff for an interview with The Crusher and Ox Baker.

Sunglasses on, cigar in hand, The Crusher began bragging about his biceps but quickly went into a tangent and began shouting out his kids and grandkids), clearly confusing Bischoff who looked at him as if to say “What on earth are you talking about?”

For his part, Baker bragged about kicking his opponents while they were down, then grabbed Bischoff in a big tight hug and gave a shout-out to his friends in Atlanta.

That was kind of hilarious in a weird sort of way.

Cage Match for the World Championship Wrestling World Tag Team Championship
WCW Tag Team Champions The Hollywood Blondes (Flyin’ Brian Pillman & Stunning Steve Austin) vs. Dos Hombres (Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat & Shane Douglas Tom Zenk)

If you want a classic example of WCW being WCW, look no further than the team of Dos Hombres, who came to the ring in full masked luchador attire to hide their identities yet still had on-screen title graphics announcing them as Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas.

You see, Douglas and Steamboat had held the tag straps for a while before losing them to Steve Austin and Brian Pillman.

The new champions then set off on a campaign where they would only defend the title against no-name enhancement talents they could easily beat. Hence, Steamboat and Douglas had dressed up as a team of jobber luchadors (think WCW’s answer to Los Conquistadors, except with blatantly stereotypical Mexican sombreros) to get into the match.

So far, so standard pro wrestling storyline.

The problem, however, was that had it already been revealed that Steamboat and Douglas were behind the masks.

So it made little sense to still use them in this match, at least until you realize that Douglas wasn’t even involved.

He’d recently departed to join WCW, so Tom Zenk took his place under the mask. Of course, every mention of Zenk on Retro Pro Wrestling necessitates me sharing this video of Zenk and Tom Brandi starting an orgy in a clothing store:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1FoFnqtTP4&t=2s

Of course, it was easier to just keep the masks on and pretend it was Douglas the whole time than come up with a story for Zenk to replace Douglas.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you World Championship Wrestling.

Anyway, the bell sounded, the match began and the crowd didn’t really seem to care.

Maybe they were still traumatized by The Prisoner’s god-awful wrestling (or lack thereof) in the previous match. Perhaps -and I suspect this is most likely the case- having the baby faces wear masks hurt their ability to make the crowd care,

Whatever it was, as hard as all four men worked to deliver an otherwise solid display of pro wrestling, the audience barely reacted to anything outside of the occasional moment when the wrestlers would remember they were in a cage and threw their opponent into it.

Beyond that, the crowd didn’t truly get excited until ‘Douglas’ finished playing face-in-peril and made the hit tag to Steamboat,

The Dragon cleaned house, then scaled the top of the cage and took his mask off. The crowd roared, Steamboat flew through the air and flattened the Hollywood Blondes for what looked to be the match-winning fall.

Even the timekeeper thought it was over and rang the bell, but, alas, the match continued. Dos Hombres stayed on the offensive, only for Austin to pull off a stun gun from out of nowhere and win the match.
Your Winners and still WCW Tag Team Champions: The Hollywood Blondes

Up in the stands, Eric Bischoff grabbed a few words from Dusty Rhodes, Mr. Wrestling II, and Hart Family patriarch, Your Winners and still WCW Tag Team Champions: The Hollywood Blondes.

Dusty jabbered incoherently for a moment before responding to The Assasin’s earlier challenge, letting his old nemesis know that ‘my big ass is right here, you know where to find me.’

Mr. Wrestling II simply thanked WCW for his Hall of Fame nod before Stu Hart began slowwwwly talking about all his kids, only for Bischoff to politely nudge him in the right direction and get him to put over his son-in-law, Davey Boy Smith and The Bulldog’s upcoming world title fight against Vader.

National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Barry Windham vs. Arn Anderson

You have to like this match.

I mean, you don’t have to, obviously, but at a time when pro wrestling was becoming increasingly more cartoonish, it was refreshing to see two good ol’ southern wrasslers eschewing all the outlandish gimmicks and over-the-top pageantry, instead coming to the ring in plain trunks to have a scrap.

OK, so the contest was slow-paced and rarely exciting. If anything, it seemed completely out of place on a 1993 card, but that’s precisely why it was good – this was WCW at its roots, pro wrestling stripped back and masterfully performed by two seasoned and skilled performers.

After a hard-hitting seesaw contest that saw The Enforcer bust his opponent’s face wide open, Windham decided he’d had enough, grabbing his belt and heading to the back, only to be stopped by Anderson.

The challenger hurled his foe back into the ring and resumed the offensive. The official interjected, attempting to get Arn to back up out of his attack in the corner.

Frustrated, Double A grabbed the official and launched him across the ring.

His face flush with shock and his body language perfectly telling the story of a man who immediately realizes the consequences of his actions, Anderson went to check on the ref, knowing he was about to get disqualified.

The good news for Arn was that he wasn’t about to be DQ’d.

The bad news was that he was going to lose anyway when the chap brought his world title belt into the ring and smashed Anderson with it while the ref was down.

One three count later, we were done here.
Your Winner and Still NWA World Heavyweight Champion: Barry Windham

Following a quick chat with Schiavone and Zybysko, it was on to our main event.

World Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship
WCW Champion Big Van Vader (w/ Harley Race) vs. The British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith

Even if you ignore the fact that I’m always a little biased in favor of my hometown guy, Davey Boy Smith, this was still a very entertaining battle between two huge powerhouses that was built around a simple yet compelling story:

Big Van Vader’s usual strategy of using his immense size to overwhelm his opponents was simply ineffective against The Bulldog’s enormous strength and speed, making him increasingly more desperate as the match went on.

Early on, Vader made several attempts to simply run over Davey Boy, but the challenger remained unmovable. The champion then resorted to more primitive tactics, battering him to the outside and attempting to charge at Smith as he caught his breath by the guardrail.

At the last moment, Davey moved and Vader crashed over the railing, almost killing an old lady in the front row.

After bodyslamming his opponent on the mat, Bulldog took the fight back inside the ring where he continued to show off his strength with a delayed vertical duplex, and again when he caught Vader in mid-air as the champ leaped from the buckles and power slammed him to the ground.

It was only when he bounced off the ropes and went for his signature crucifix that Davey Boy wound up in trouble.

The champion dropped backward, squashing Davey underneath him and going on the attack.

It was a hard, brutal attack too, but still not enough to defeat the Englishman.

The more he failed to get the victory, the more Vader and his manager Harley Race grew frustrated. The more frustrated they became, the more they relied on Race’s interference and general shady heel tactics to gain the advantage.

This all culminated in Vader dominating his opponent, hurling him into the corner and charging after him.

At the last possible second, Bulldog caught Vader in mid-air as he leaped up for a corner splash and slammed him to the canvas.

He got the one.

He got the two.

But before he could get the three, however, Harley pulled his man to safety.

Fed up, Davey Boy left the ring to beat up Mr. Race. At that point, Vader grabbed a chair and whacked his opponent with it, leading to a disqualification.

Now, I’ve seen other reviewers say the DQ finish ruined an otherwise strong match, but it didn’t ruin it all.

It was absolutely the perfect finish for this match.

Vader had thrown everything at The British Bulldog and still couldn’t beat him, so he had to resort to using a chair to keep his title.

This kept Davey Boy looking good. It gave a compelling reason for a return match should the company ever decide to run one, and it showed that as dominant as Vader was, he wasn’t totally indestructible and could be beaten, meaning fans were more likely to rally behind his future opponents as they tried to dethrone him.

My Bulldog fandom aside, this was a stellar match with absolutely the right finish.
Your Winner Via DQ: The British Bulldog (Big Van Vader retains)

After the bell, Marcus Bagwell and Too Cold Scorpio ran down to try and save Davey from further abuse. The World Champion swatted them away like flies but was eventually taken down and out by the one, the only, the WCW franchise player himself, Sting.

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