WCW Wrestle War 1989

On this week's bonus episode, join Gus as he reviews Wrestle War 1989 featuring Ricky Steamboat defending the NWA World Title against Ric Flair in a classic, followed by one of the most famous angles of the late 80s.  Also on the show is Lex Luger defending his US Title against Michael PS Hayes and Sting defends the TV Title against the Iron Sheik.  Also, find out what participant on this show ended up arrested for a string of armed robberies and became known as the 'Motorcycle Bandit'

To watch along:

WWE Network https://watch.wwe.com/episode/WCW-WrestleWar-1989-10143
Peacock https://www.peacocktv.com/watch/playback/vod/GMO_00000000378698_01/887fe9eb-6b5d-3586-a0e8-c236ec3e67d2

To get in touch with Gus:

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/retrowrestling4
Email retroreviews@hotmail.com

Transcript

Hello everyone, I’m Gus Edwards and welcome to the Retro Wrestling Reviews podcast.  On today’s show we will be reviewing Wrestle War 1989, featuring Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair for the NWA World’s Championship and one of the most famous angles of the late 80s.  If you are new to the podcast, then welcome to the show, on Tuesday’s we review a show which has been requested by a listener and on Sundays we review Mid Atlantic Wrestling from 1981.  So make sure to catch up in the archives.  This week’s show was requested by Aaron from Bitters Arkansas.  I think Aaron may be kayfabing his hometown there!  Thanks for the request though Aaron, I hope you enjoy the show.

Wrestle War 1989 – Music City Showdown

This is another show that I don’t actually think I have saw before, or if I have then it was 20+ years ago.  I have seen the Steamboat v Flair match multiple times, but I don’t recognise anything else on the show.  

Jim Ross and Bob Caudle introduce the show, 9 matches with 5 title matches.  They head to the ring where the Oak Ridge Boys sing the National Anthem 

First order of business is to announce that the hair v hair stipulation in the US tag title match is off.  

The opening match is Doug Gilbert v The Great Muta.  So during the introduction of the show that just happened, they announced this match as the Junkyard Dog v the Great Muta but JYD is a no show.  I couldn’t find any reason why he missed the show.  Unfortunately for Gilbert, his brother Eddie got the look and charisma.  Caudle claims that Muta is an expert in 7 martial arts.  Muta is such a big upgrade on guys like Ninja and the Great Kabuki.  Eddie Gilbert comes out to cheer on his brother.  But that doesn’t help and Muta gets the easy win with a crisp moonsault from the top rope.

Lance Russell interview’s Ric Flair backstage about this being Flair’s last chance at the World Title.

Next match is Hacksaw Butch Reed, this is pre Doom so we don’t get the awesome entrance theme and he is against Ranger Ross.  I was looking over Ranger Ross’ Wikipedia to double check if he was a legit veteran and his military career is a shoot.  I also read that he was arrested in 1996 for armed robbery.  He was referred to as the ‘Motorcycle Bandit’ as he made his escape on a Honda motorcycle.  The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC). Wrote “Ross, 36, was arrested last week at his home in Acworth, Ga., near Atlanta, and has been charged with being the notorious "motorcycle bandit" who roared away on a Honda after hitting local banks. Ross, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, surrendered to the FBI after the robbery Feb. 9 at a bank in downtown Acworth. Ross, at the time of his arrest, was a private investigator. He had also been a part-time probation officer for the city of Acworth, responsible for collecting fines and probation fees for the city”.  Teddy Long comes out to scout the match, Long has been recently fired as a referee and is trying to get into management.  This is a very basic match with little heat.  Ross is really green here.  Reed gets the win here with a shoulderblock off the top rope.

Lance Russell is backstage with Lex Luger talking about the US title match tonight against Michael Hayes.  

Back to the ring and it’s a bullrope match between Capt Redneck Dick Murdoch and Cowboy Bob Orton.  This is a good brawl, the crowd don’t really get into it until Murdoch takes his cowboy boot off and hits Orton with it.  Murdoch gets the win by hog typing Orton and dropping a couple of elbows.  Hart and Orton attack Murdoch after the match and chokes out Murdoch with the bullrope.  

Back to Lance Russell and he is with Michael PS Hayes, who claims he is going to win the US title by himself.  

Tag team matchup next as the Samoan Swat team, Samu and Fatu w/Paul E Dangerously against the Dynamic Dudes, Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace.  The Dudes come out carrying their skateboards, they are not exactly Darby Allin.  The Samoan Swat Team are probably better known as the Headshrinkers and of course Fatu is more commonly known as Rikishi, who is the father of the Usos.  Johnny Ace of course is John Lauranitits, the brother of Road Warrior Animal, the step father of the Bella Twins and in turn is the father in law of Daniel Bryan.  Lauranitis is also now a high ranking official in WWE involved with talent relations.  Shane Douglas of course really found his feet in ECW in the mid 90s, becoming one of the best heels in wrestling.  Seeing him here as a firey babyface on the outside is strange.  Paul E Dangerously randomly gets on the mic to try and get some heel heat going.  Douglas gets the hot tag and tries to run wild but gets caught with a clothesline by Samu and then Fatu hits a top rope splash.  Fatu tries to slam Douglas but Ace comes off the top rope with a dropkick and the Dudes get the upset win which gets a pretty big pop.

Back to Lance Russell and he is with the three judges for tonight’s main event – Lou Thesz, Pat O’Connor and Terry Funk.  

Next up is the first title match of the night, Michael PS Hayes challenging Lex Luger for the US title.  Hayes out first to Badstreet USA, which is one of the best wrestling theme tunes of all time.  Luger comes out to a huge pop.  Hayes is dressed like Bananaman with the long blue tights and yellow boots.  A very kick/punch match, with the occasional no sell by Luger.  Hayes eventually gets the heat after Luger misses a crossbody block and goes flying over the top rope.  Luger makes his comeback which is really just 3 press slams and then goes for the torture rack.  Hayes slips out the back and hits a DDT.  Hayes and Luger collide head to head which also knocks down the referee.  Terry Gordy comes down and puts Hayes on top of Luger and Hayes gets the three count and is the new US Champion.  

Lance Russell interviews Sting about his TV title defence against the Iron Sheik which could be a very interesting match.

Back to the ring and the Sheik is already there and Sting comes out.  Rip Morgan is out there with the Iron Sheik.  Sheik makes sure that Gary Cappetta announces him as a former World’s Champion.  Sting has his bleached blonde hair, but for some reason his rat tail is black.  I’ve never seen that look for Sting before.  Sheik jumps Sting before the bell with the flag and starts beating on Sting until Stinger decides to just no sell it.  The match doesn’t go long thankfully, and Sting finishes off Sheik with a Stronger Splash and then gets the submission win with the Scorpion Death Lock.  

Lance Russell is backstage with the NWA World Champion Ricky Steamboat.

World title match is on early, but I like the idea of it.  They have had some long matches and the judges are there anticipating a 60 minute draw, so putting the match on when there is plenty of time for that to happen.  Ric Flair comes out with 40 women on no bras between them.  Looks like the arena is cold tonight.  Steamboat comes out with his wife and kid, with his kid riding a horse down to the ring.  What a match this is.  It goes 30+ minutes at a heck of a pace.  Mixing holds and high spots together, just masterful.  Even when Steamboat was working over Flair’s arm for most of the first 15 minutes, they crowd stays with them the whole way.  The match starts off with a big chop battle back and forth.  The first 10 minutes or so is Steamboat dominating Flair, working over his arm.  Probably one of the few blown spots by either guy in their matches as Steamboat comes up a bit short on a dropkick but Flair still takes the bump over the top rope.  After 15 minutes, the commentators are given what the judges think so far and all three of Thesz, O’Connor and Funk have Steamboat ahead.  Thankfully the NWA didn’t hire Cecil Peoples for this job.  It takes about 20 minutes, but Flair finally gets an advantage.  Flair works the figure four.  Steamboat is out the figure four but his leg is gone.  He goes to slam Flair, but his knee gives out and he cradles Steamboat for the three count and for the 6th time Flair is the world’s heavyweight champion.  Steamboat raises Ric Flair’s hand after the match as he said he would before the match.  I know most people who are listening to this have probably watched this match before, but if you haven’t, please watch it as soon as possible.  And for those who have seen it, give it another watch, just to go back and appreciate it all over again.  

Jim Ross comes into the ring to interview Flair.  Terry Funk interrupts and says he wants to be the first to congratulate Flair.  He says if it went 60 minutes he would have voted for him.  He also wants to be the first one to challenge Flair for the title.  Flair turns him down and says he has to defend the title against the top ten first.  Flair says Funk has been spending too much time in Hollywood.  Funk says he was kidding Flair about challenging him.  They shake hands and Funk sucker punches him.  He attacks Flair on the outside.  Nobody plays the wild man better than Funk.  Funk slams Flair on a table and then piledrives him on it.  The table doesn’t break which just adds to the visual.  This gets huge heat.  This is a perfect example on how to do an angle like this.  The crowd get their big pop for the title change, but the attack doesn’t come straight away.  Flair and Steamboat shake hands first and then Jim Ross comes in to do the interview.  That gives everyone a chance to take in the title change.  Even the attack on Flair doesn’t come straight away, they let it build, including Flair doing a babyface interview first.  Giving the fans a chance to breathe first really added to the scene.  Too many times its booked so the turn comes far too quickly while the babyface and fans are still celebrating.  This way, the fans don’t feel ripped off at not getting the chance to enjoy the title win.

Joe Pediciono interviews Nikita Koloff backstage about being the special referee in the tag title match.

Back to the ring and the tag champions the Varsity Club are in the ring.  They are Mike Rotunda and Dr Death Steve Williams with Kevin Sullivan.  The challengers are the Road Warriors who come out to Iron Man which hasn’t been dubbed on the Network.  Koloff is the referee.  Koloff gets the pop for throwing Kevin Sullivan to the back.  This is just a fast paced hard hitting match.  The match starts with about 20 minutes left in the show, so I’m assuming they have had their time cut, as we still have the US tag title match to come.  Warriors hit the doomsday device on Williams, but when Koloff goes to make the count, Dan Spivey and Kevin Sullivan pull Koloff out of the ring and beat him down.  The match breaks down and it ends in a DQ for the Road Warriors.  This could have been an excellent match given more time and an actual finish.

Main event, or at least the final match is for the US tag team titles.  Its Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner w/ Missy Hyatt, defending against Kevin Sullivan and Dan Spivey.  This was supposed to be hair v hair, but at the start of the show they announced that the NWA had deleted that stipulation because of how heated the Gilbert and Sullivan feud had gotten, which is one of the worst reasons ever.  Steiner is taken out early by Spivey ramming his shoulder into the ring post.  I’m assuming this is a real injury because as soon as Steiner gets up on the apron, Sullivan pulls him off.  The match is full heat on Gilbert.  Steiner does one move, which is hitting a Steinerline on Sullivan as he is trying to piledrive Gilbert and Gilbert gets the pin.  Varsity Club beat down both guys after the match.

At the end of the show, Jim Ross announces that Dr Death and Mike Rotunda have been stripped of their world tag team titles due to attacking an official during their match tonight.  Why they couldn’t just had the Road Warriors win the titles is beyond me, but those types of decisions is what WCW ended up synonymous with.

I hope you have enjoyed today’s show, next Tuesday we will be reviewing Summerslam 1994, featuring Undertaker v Undertaker, Bret Hart v Owen Hart in a steel cage and Diesel v Razor Ramon for the intercontinental title.  This coming Sunday we will be reviewing Mid Atlantic Wrestling from 5 December 1981 featuring Ole Anderson, Ray the Crippler Stevens and Big John Studd, so please check those episodes out.  If you are enjoying the podcast then please subscribe, leave a review and tell a friend.  Take care of yourself and I’ll talk to you again soon.