WRESTLING 20 YEARS AGO PODCAST

Listen to our June 1995 WCW show reviewing the news of WCW's new Monday Night program (which will soon be known as Nitro) and a full review of the pay per view.

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With Hulk Hogan, in theory, absent for this pay per view the void at the top of the card was filled by the emerging feud between Ric Flair and Randy Savage. The pair had done some fine work on WCW TV in the weeks following Slamboree - including an angle where the pair brawled through the backstage area at Center Stage and were only stopped when Flair scarpered in his limo.

Elsewhere we saw the early days of the Dungeon Of Doom, Kevin Sullivan turning into "The Taskmaster" in the intervening weeks. The Flair/Savage brawl signified a double countout in their US Title tournament semi final match, so the other semi final was promoted to this show as the final itself between Sting and Meng. Oh, and DDP faced off against Dave Sullivan in an arm wrestling match. If Sullivan won, he would get a date with the Diamond Doll, if DDP won he would take ownership of Dave's pet rabbit - Ralph.

WCW's continued their run of providing a good pre-show in the hour prior. Vader came out and got physical with Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel, he was only stopped by Hulk Hogan (who despite clearly being there wasn't set for the PPV - as that would've cost the company a fortune). Despite knowing this, WCW did little to discourage people that Hogan vs Vader could happen on the show. Elsewhere, Sister Sherri and Col Robert Parker got into it - Parker kissed Sherri and she slapped him back.

"Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright vs Flyin Brian (Pillman)

Well... what a pleasant surprise this was. We're in Ohio (the state where Pillman played football) so he was getting a very good reaction. Pillman's plans to play a heel went awry quite quickly, but dare I say this added to the match as both men worked very hard towards with what was probably WCW's best PPV match of 1995 (up until about two hours later). The first genuinely good finishing sequence I’ve seen in a long, long time in WCW. Pillman kicks out of Wright’s top rope crossbody before succumbing to a quick pin. More of this, please.

Diamond Dallas Page (w/ Max Muscle and The Diamond Doll) vs Dave Sullivan (w/ Ralph) in an arm wrestling match

The implication from the commentators is that if Page wins the contest he’ll eat Ralph the rabbit. As good (or as bad) as any wrestling arm wrestling match you’ll see, in the end the Doll bumps into Max, who bumps into DDP, which costs him the match. Not awful, brief if nothing else. Sullivan wins a date with The Diamond Doll.

“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan vs Sergeant Craig “Pitbull” Pittmann

Pittman was originally due to face Marcus Alexander Bagwell in this match, but Bagwell missed out because of an infection after getting calf implants (yes, that would be a stupid thing to make up otherwise!). This was a pretty drab match, but (if it’s any compliment) I’ve seen far worse on WCW PPV in recent months. While the action wasn’t really there, I’ll give both credit for doing enough facially to keep me somewhat interested. Pittman eventually gets DQ’d after keeping his armbar locked in after Duggan grabs the ropes.

“Dirty” Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck (w/ Col. Robert Parker) vs Harlem Heat (Stevie Ray and Booker T w/ Sister Sherri).

This made for a genuinely decent angle before the show, but I get the sense the showdown people wanted to see was Sherri and Parker. The Heat are still effectively heels (although certainly not overtly in this case). After some lukewarm action, Booker T rolls up Buck, Parker comes in and flips the pin over, then Sherri comes in and flips the pin back over (all while the ref was distracted) and Booker T wins the match for the Heat.

The follow up to the Hogan/Vader pre-show angle is Bockwinkel saying that at Bash of the Beach next month (well, once he’s reminded what it’s called) Vader will face Hogan inside of a steel cage. That show will also be held on an actual beach.

The Renegade (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs Arn Anderson for the WCW Television Title

Yeah, I’d be very surprised if Arn Anderson had another match as bad as this in his career. Renegade is just awful, he’s legitimately a version of The Ultimate Warrior without any of the good stuff – i.e. he’s got no charisma and he’s not over. Arn Anderson’s spinebuster is the only highlight as Renegade wins clean with a splash from the top. Dave Meltzer described Anderson’s performance as “probably the best individual performance in a minus star match”.  We also get another sighting of Paul Wight at ringside.

The Blue Bloods (Lord Steven Regal and Earl Robert Eaton) vs The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) for the WCW World Tag Team Titles

For all of their negatives, The Nasty Boys know exactly what they’re good and they do it a lot. There’s a great spot early on where they do the “pit stop” (literally shoving their opponents face in Knobbs’ arm pit). Regal’s facial expression here makes the match on its own. A pretty good match all told, eventually Booker T interfers but it backfires when he crotches Eaton on the top rope. The Nasties retain their tag titles.

Meng (w/ Col. Robert Parker) vs Sting for the WCW United States Title

Sting is so used to this kind of match, working with the bigger, slower opponent. Like with his matches against Avalanche and Big Bubba while not great he worked hard to get a lot out of his opponent. Meng Is decent but quite limited, but this match worked well enough. Meng dominates the opening half with Parker running shotgun. Eventually Sting rallies and gets the win after the DDT. Perhaps significant was Meng fighting out of the Scorpion Deathlock.

Ric Flair vs Randy Savage (w/ Angelo Puffo)

Now we’re talking. This match was all action from the word go, Flair and Savage wrestled a first two or three minutes that might as well have been on fast forward, such was the pace and the intensity. This wasn’t a scientific match but the brawling was first class with the action equally at home outside the ring as in, and Flair regularly using Angelo sitting at ringside to maintain the upper hand. Eventually Flair gets a hold of Angelo’s cane and lamps Savage with it with the ref distracted. Good end to an excellent match.

Overall, perhaps WCW’s best PPV offering of 1995 so far. Although that’s two very good matches bringing up the batting average rather than a sign of any major consistency. Wright vs Pillman is a genuine surprise, and Savage vs Flair was excellent.

Score Rating: 6/10
Go Back And Watch: Wright vs Pillman, Savage vs Flair and maybe the Tag Title match for Regal’s facial expression.

Listen to our May 1995 show, reviewing the first In Your House PPV

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Of all of the events between the WWF and WCW that happened in the 1990s that seemed to have a significant connection, their foray into regular, near-monthly, pay per views is one that, on the surface, seems to be quite a significant one. Within the space of about six weeks between February and March 1995 it became clear that both companies would be shifting from their existing pay per view pattern into what would quickly become monthly outings for both. 

What's interesting is that prior to 1995, there seemed to be some form of truce, or at least an unspoken agreement that when it came to pay per view both companies would try and share the landscape. WWF had five shows a year in January, August, November, whenever Wrestlemania was and now in June with the 1993 edition of the King Of The Ring as a specialist pay per view. 

WCW had expanded themselves, to seven. You might notice that seven is exactly the number of months that WWF weren't running shows on. And as if to confirm the balance, in 1994 they ran the highly entertaining WCW Spring Stampede in April following Wrestlemania in mid March. In 1995, while Mania set for the very beginning of April, Spring Stampede disappeared from the calendar and it was replaced in March by a show called "WCW Uncensored".  

In both cases it seemed like the companies were happy with pay per views as part of their wider financial bracket, but knew their limitations. Where the WWF was concerned shows were holding fairly steady in the midst of a declining roster of over talent - a long way ahead of WCW, even in the early record breaking run of Hulk Hogan.  

So what changed? In the case of Hogan and WCW it seemed like WCW discovered that the volume didn't matter, and neither did the quality. It's hard to pin-point the beginning of WCW's horrible PPVs (and it certainly would be unfair to point the fingers at Hogan's first show or two), but pay per view quality quickly declined once Hogan had moved on from his feud with Ric Flair and lots of Hogan's cronies from the mid-80s WWF had taken over the undercard.  

But there’s a thing about pay per views, and this is something that someone like Dave Meltzer wrote a lot about at the time and writes a lot about now too – which is pay per views don’t necessarily work in the way you might think. If you have a hot product, if you have something that people want to see – the regularity and the cost of these things isn’t *that* important. In the case of WCW, for all of Hogan’s faults, WCW had a product that people wanted to see on pay per view. Hogan vs Flair broke WCW buyrate records, Hogan vs Vader broke revenue records (fewer buys at a higher price) – hell, even Hogan vs The Butcher on top held steady in what must be the worst Starrcade main event in history.  

So when WCW decided to move to (almost) monthly pay per views in 1995 the decision largely made sense. The increasing cost of the WCW Uncensored show did very little to stem the tide of interest and buys, it being secondary to Hogan vs Flair is no shame on Vader. The company did have Clash Of The Champions events in the five spare months, but 1995 was a catalyst for them dropping it to two a year, and by 97, none at all.  

The motivations for the WWF (who made the announcement of a switch a month later) seemed a little different. While their buyrates were higher than WCW in most cases, WCW’s biggest ever PPV buyrate was still just short of Wrestlemania XI – the WWF’s lowest for a Wrestlemania, the company was clearly sagging. In the wake of the departures of Hogan and Savage, and their inability to replace them, the company was struggling for drawing power. So why increase the shows? 

The answer may lie better in the idea of pay per views. There was a little known promotion around at the time called the Ultimate Fighting Championship. With very little reach, very little exposure, and a product that would take a good decade to gain mainstream acceptance, the UFC were running shows on pay per view, and they were doing quite well. Estimates suggest the first show did 86,000 buys, the second 300,000. Wrestlemania XI, despite all the hype, did just 340,000 buys.  

Even if the company were struggling, while pay per views remained profitable – they were always viable. And even if starting monthly shows like In Your House maybe wasn’t the greatest of idea, the point was less whether there was money for pay per view out there, and more whether the WWF wanted a slice of the action. Because if they didn’t, chances are WCW, the UFC, or maybe even ECW would’ve pounced on the action. 

In Your House certainly wasn’t all that comparable to what WCW were doing, mind. WCW were going all out, increasing the price of shows to $27.95 (and over $30 if you bought it on the day) to accommodate the cost of Hulk Hogan. The WWF however went for a budget option. In Your House was positioned as secondary to the company’s major PPV events, cheaper at less than $15 and shorter – at under two hours.  

Maybe that was a mistake. If people like Dave Meltzer are correct, if it’s less about the price point and more about the offering, maybe WWF were undercutting themselves. Also, perhaps it sent the wrong message? Perhaps presenting it as a cheaper, shorter event actually told their audience the event was missable. Like WCW or hate them, they presented every pay per view like it was the greatest thing ever, even if it often wasn’t. 

And history will show both companies to be absolutely correct. Both exploded partly on the back of monthly pay per views, and even 20 years on, with WCW long gone, pay per views still remain relevant. The WWE may have moved to their network, but are still doing a fair chunk of PPV buys at a much higher price, UFC are still holding firm despite probably oversaturating their market. And Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao proves that if you have a fight people want to see, they'll pay a lot of money to do it.  

Listen to our WCW Podcast from May 1995, reviewing Slamboree.

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APRIL 1995 <<< POWER RANKINGS >>> JUNE 1995

As 1995 approaches its mid-way point, we have another largely disappointing month, but not without its moments. ECW continue to gain ground on the two national companies, while both WWF & WCW still struggle finding a way out of third gear. May? Let's be having you! (Congratulations, Lacey)

Honourable Mentions:

Paul Heyman - An off-screen commodity who, with his continuing rise to power, almost outshines his on-screen persona. Could he be the new face of wrestling? Time will tell.

Regal/Eaton - These two erudite gentlemen have been granted an oncoming opportunity at those vulgar Nasty Boys. For all that is good and pure, long may they reign.

Bret Hart - A quiet month for the excellence of execution, but his in-ring prowess and ever-present professionalism continue to see him raise others to his high, high level of standards.

Entries new unless indicated. Worded number = months in the top ten, +/- indicates position change since last month

The Rankings:

10 - Bob Backlund - MISTER Bob Backlund is presented in this list for one reason and one reason only. He could well be... He WILL be the next President of the United States of America!

9 - Arn Anderson - The Enforcer got a win over the formerly-undefeated Das Wunderkid, Alex Wright in WCW this month. Double-A still has a lot to bring and demands respect wherever he is on a card.

8 - Kevin Sullivan - Much like a lot of his WCW contemporaries, Sullivan had genuine intrigue in the 1980's with his Satanic character. But, he still finds himself leading main event factions. Why?!

7 - Sandman (TWO: -5) - The former surfer still reigns in Philadelphia, despite the best efforts of Cactus Jack and Shane Douglas. With Woman at his side, this could be a sign of the months to come.

6 - Hakushi - One of May's best matches with the tried and tested Bret Hart. A little tweaking of the charicatured gimmick, and Hakushi could easily push on up the card.

5 - Public Enemy (TWO: +5) - A misfit of a tag team if ever there was one, but Johnny and Rocco continue to deliver genuine comedy with a lure of gold from their ECW Tag Team Championships.

4 - The Nasty Boys - A win over Sister Sherri's Harlem Heat sees Knobbs and Saggs regain the WCW Tag Team gold. Their run as good guys seems to be going better than a lot expected...

3 - Vader - Easily, one of 1995's most consistent performers thus far. The super-heavyweight has regained main event status with relevant ease and also now finds himself as a Horseman.

2 - Ric Flair (TWO: -1) - The Nature Boy continues to hold the Almighty pencil in Atlanta, and with his recent in-ring return looks to be spear-heading a revamped IV Horsemen. AA... Austin?

1 - Cactus Jack - A month of headlining performances with Sandman for the ECW Title, still as good as anyone with captivating promo's and he continues to defy mortality with alarming success.


Next month will see the Wrestling Twenty Years Ago half-year review. With a new King to be crowned in WWF, the evolution of two new factions in WCW and ECW continuing to steam-roll the competition for TV output; there's only one thing to say...

VOTE BACKLUND!!!