grapply time

There is a decent selection of stuff here to start off with. Starting this project with some territory wrestling some have referred to as "the forgotten territory" was quite the challenge. Partly because it's a fair way away from my comfort zone, and partly because my usual process of scanning cards via cagematch to find out what I'm interested in watching was a tougher task than usual. For one, the tape is quite sparse and unreliable - what's online is not comprehensive or anything - and also it's difficult to parse what was on a show that I can watch and what was for arena fans only. 

To expand on that forgotten territory; there was a Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling from 1954-1978 that had many household names such as Andre, Hogan & Lawler among its alumni. This later morphed into or was merged into Southeastern Championship Wrestling/Continental Championship Wrestling/Continental Wrestling Federation, which seemed to split its time fairly evenly between Alabama and Tennessee. Either way; when looking for pointers for specific material to watch from this stuff, it was difficult for me to find much. I perused Pro Wrestling Only for any mentions, but just found some guy's esoteric and era-specific e-fed. I just tried to make sure I covered every era, attempted to get at least one show per year and hoped for the best. 

So, I'll cover some of those territory years until it takes a sharp turn into internationally syndicated shows, with WCW visiting much more often in the early 1990s because Vince McMahon is an insecure freak. For this first part (of four, probably), because I had to force myself to limit myself to at least a vaguely reasonable number of shows per post, I'll go up until just before the WCW Nitro/Monday Night Wars era starts. It'll mostly be a journey through the Dusty, Herd and Watts eras, with the sole PPV Beach Blast 1992 being the main attraction. There will be a sprinkling of Vince's clown show too, but since all these episodes of Superstars and Wrestling Challenge seem to be 95% squash matches, there's not too many cards that seemed worth singling out. If anything, some of their shows are included just to break up the WCW and see what Vincey land is up to. I've tried to provide links when stuff is readily available on YouTube, and I tried to make sure that all the dates listed are broadcast dates rather than taping dates.

Oh, and I use DD/MM/YYYY because days are shorter than months and so it makes an incredible amount of sense to write the date that way, as I was taught since the age of five - there are some things I'll never be American for. I can accept YYYY/MM/DD for formatting and archiving files, but MM/DD/YYYY is a fucking disgrace. A fucking disgrace. You should be ashamed.

This is a big start to a big project, but far from comprehensive; I tried to just pick out stuff that had something good or at least very interesting on the card in terms of matches. If I missed something you think is definitively good, let me know!

Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling

Gulf Coast Vol. 1: compilation of matches from "Cowboy" Bob Kelly

I've always appreciated watching territory wrestling when I see it, never regretted watching it at least, but it's admittedly a tiny percentage of what I watch under normal circumstances. I've seen some of the big classics, but there's still so many gaps and I've never really deep dived a period of TV from anywhere. It's funny, then, that I'm jumping into what's gotta be considered a pretty deep cut, and I'm doing it pretty much blind too. I can find matter-of-fact info about this stuff, but not a person saying to watch this, this and this.

First, to GCCW - I found a couple of playlists on YouTube and opened up four tabs fairly indiscriminately. The first of which appears to be a compilation of matches from "Cowboy" Bob Kelly. Not somebody I knew anything about. He's a Kentucky lad, at least by birth, but was apparently a hero here. He was also a race car driver and Paul Bearer's mate. In this first match from 1970 he's wrestling against "the nationally famous" The Intern - a masked guy in all white attire. There was a tag team named The Interns consisting of Intern #1 & Intern #2, and this could be either of them... or a different guy! I just hope that he was paid since the name provides some doubt about this.

Immediately in this match, despite the VHS static being engaged in a perpetual lap of the screen, and the audio quality barely making itself heard over my table fan, the intimate appeal of this show is evident. You can't really go majorly wrong with studio wrestling. The ring is barely raised up off the floor, and one woman in particularly absolutely shrieks her throat out at the slightest hint of peril for Kelly. I went on to learn that this match is 2 out of 3 falls. The first fall is just built around tie-ups and takedowns which works in this cosy atmosphere. Bob Kelly isolates the left arm and starts knee dropping the fuck out of it, leading to a verbal submission. For the second fall, there are a few more jabs thrown in there while the announcer boasts that this episode will be aired in colour. The most exciting bits are Kelly's comebacks getting the crowd hyped, but Intern wins this fall with a damn knee to the gut. There's a promo shown before the third fall advertising a future event - Bob says "uhh" a lot, he's less comfortable talking than I'd imagined. Third fall, well it was building up nice enough and then Intern throws Kelly out over the second rope, Kelly lands on the floor on the right side of the hard cam where there's nothing but floor and wall. Intern then vertical suplexes Kelly back into the ring and goes for a cover, but the referee had counted to five while they were in the ropes... Kelly wins via DQ. Hmm. Moving on, then.

1972. First there's a pull apart brawl between a bruised up looking Kelly and Donnie Fargo. It's a nice, intense angle the crowd is really up for it. Never mind that though, I'm seeing Kelly face one half of the NWA United States Tag Champions; Rip Tyler, again in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Rip is a big guy with a bleached blonde mullet. Rip barks things at the four rows of possibly 80-90% female fans and they bark back. Even when there isn't any outward heeling on display, these fans yelp out of indignation for something or other. Donnie Fargo, clearly the major rival of Kelly at the time, attempts to run into this match but is backhanded off the apron by Kelly and then apprehended by another wrestler - that's the last we'll see of him. No it isn't because he just comes back out and smacks Kelly, so the match is thrown out. Kelly's like "how'm ah sposed to have a match?" and goes to the back looking for Fargo while Tyler twiddles his thumbs in the ring. More punchy ensues between Fargo and Kelly. Kelly has a previously applied plaster that's now peeling off his head and there's a small drip of blood trickling down his cheek. The announcer tells us that Fargo and Kelly have both been fined... $25! Awesome.

1976. It's now Bob Kelly teaming alongside Rip Tyler to take on the Bass brothers; Dutch and Ron. I will have seen Ron on Survivor Series 1987 ages ago, but I couldn't tell you anything else about him other than that apparently his son has worked the Effy's Big Gay Brunch shows. I did not expect to find a familial link between 1970s Alabama wrestling and the Big Gay Brunch, but wrestling is cool like that sometimes. This one is a no DQ submission match for the NWA Gulf Coast tag titles. Slightly different setting here with what seems like a much larger capacity venue.
This match has a 60 minute time limit, and the commentator says we may NOT bring you the finish if it goes over our allotted TV time, which is good to know. This is a cool match. The submissions attempted are mostly basic stuff like wristlocks but they really get wrenched the fuck out of. It feels like Kelly shines well in this tag format, he's able to show fire in his comebacks really well, going bulldog crazy and wrenching the fuck out of a camel clutch to win after some classic tag heeling techniques from the Bass boys had Tyler in peril for a moment.

One week later, it's Bob Kelly vs. Frank Stanley. Stanley is a guy with Flair-esque hair, and he's got a brother out there named Gene who has similar hair but more grandma-coded. This match is a FARCE! After 3 minutes, Gene just comes in but Kelly murks them both, but pins Gene! Referee, that was not the sanctioned match!! But as the bell goes, I can hear once audience member go "ohohoho" so I guess it's actually fine and I was just not the target audience for this knee-slapper. So I may never see Bob Kelly again... he was a nice enough wrestler! From what I saw, he could go in a brawl, wrench some holds and get studio crowds fired up.

GCCW TV ??/11/1976 (WTVY Studios, Dothan)

Here's the second GCCW tab I opened, an episode of TV probably from November 1976. First, we hear a message from NWA president Eddie Graham - he's excited about the future of professional wrestling, so that's why he's banning piledrivers and jumping off the top rope. Now onto a match; Bobo Brazil vs. Pete McKay - immediately a very familiar voice enters my ears from the commentary booth, I thought surely it can't be, but it is actually Vince McMahon Jr. calling a very basic squash. McKay doesn't get a move in and takes turnbuckle bumps very oddly.

Don Carson hypes his feud with Bobo as well as an upcoming match with Haystacks Calhoun. Fuuuck, I wish Haystacks Calhoun was on this episode. Instead it's probably 400 and something pounds lighter Greg Peterson. No Vince anymore, and they are back in a studio setting. It's another basic match, but Don looks quite fun. He submits Peterson with a chickenwing, wanders over to the studio background and says "that's the chickenwing!". I know :)

It turns out it's actually quite hard to follow just a random TV show where I barely know a thing about anybody at all. A dude named Ric Draisin is really into woodworking. There's a fookin' Brit talking! His name is Lord John Raven, I know nothing about him despite the fact he is from the same country as me. "The woodworker" Ric Draisin vs. Randy Hall now - IT WAS A MATCH!!

Now hopefully something more substantial - 2 out of 3 falls between The Raiders and the team of "Dick Dunn" and "Sweet Daddy Banks". The Raiders are accompanied by that John Raven guy, and upon doing some research one of these guys is Wayne Ferris aka the future Honky Tonk Man! This is the third time this year I've accidentally encountered pre-WWF Honky Tonk this year and it's weird to have that happen twice - "if I had a penny", etc. - one of those was seeing Bruiser Brody kill him in literal seconds in 1981 AJPW. That may have been better than this. "Dynamite" Dick Dunn appears to be the hot tag guy here and the studio crowd rise for him. Banks mostly gets whooped. Dunn & Banks have the crowd but go down to two straight falls. There's controversy because the wrong one pinned them or whatever. I kind of assumed the decision would be reversed, because there was time left on the video and I could see by scanning the progress bar that it was The Raiders wrestling in the ring, but it turns out there's one match off a different episode which is The Raiders vs. Alabama boys Ricky & Bobby Fields. This one's a tad better, pretty physical. The Fields boys have nice snug grappling. That dastardly Brit John Raven eventually just interferes and gets the thing thrown out.

GCCW TV 19/02/1977 (WTVY Studios, Dothan)

I've tried to be quite detailed about this stuff in order to paint a picture more than would be required for an episode of WWE Raw, for example. Writing about wrestling I know basically nothing about (and that most others don't know a whole lot more about) is fairly challenging, especially when a lot of it has been quite bare bones and pretty outside of my comfort zone. The novelty of this challenge was starting to wear somewhat thin with me, but after looking into what appears with this third video, I have a renewed excitement to proceed. This link features two episodes of GCCW TV. The first from 19/02/1977. The first person introduced is Matt Rivera from "Puerta Ricah". He faces Dick Dunn in what I can definitely describe as a wrestling match. We're back in an intimate studio setting, but the crowd are just observing and not really helping this one along. It ends in a ten-minute time-limit draw and about six people clap three times each. There's a brief interview with "Wrestling Pro", a masked lad with a delightful southern accent who, like many of his colleagues of the time, ums and ahhs his way through his promos.

Never mind everything spoken about before, though, because now it's time for some... FEMALE MIDGETS!!! The 3'8" Diamond Lil vs. 3'5" Princess Little Dove. Diamond Lil reportedly had a mother/daughter type relationship with The Fabulous Moolah, which is sad. She also retired due to a lack of midgets on the independent scene, which is much sadder. She's either still alive at 81 years old or nobody reported that she died. I can find even less info on Little Dove, but she appears to be the fan favourite here. Her living status is also uncertain. If you are Diamond Lil or Princess Little Dove and you are either dead or alive, please do get in touch. Into the match now and holy shit dude, Diamond Lil is fucking intense - she jumps Dove before she can get her ring jacket off and wrecks her for a good few minutes. Dove's comebacks aren't half bad either. They're both just going at each other like crazy and making that prior regular-sized men's match look incredibly limp-dicked. Dove wins after a bulldog in a sick fight - WATCH THIS MATCH! Like, it's obviously got that surface-level novelty factor going for it, but both women are seriously intense and feel like they had a lot to prove - I legitimately loved it and will never forget it. It starts at about 13:17 in the above link. When I started researching these lesser-known Alabama territories, I really hoped I could unearth a hidden gem. That was feeling somewhat unlikely until I found this, which is nothing like what I expected to find. So good. My crazy project is vindicated.

Sadly, a regular wrestling show must continue after this glorious match. We resume with a look at The Islanders; Afa & Sika. They are interviewed using plain speaking voices, which is weird. Their opponents are Ricky Fields & Georgia Sweets. The Islanders do wrestle barefoot, but the wrestling trope of the impenetrable Samoan with concrete skulls is definitely wholly developed yet, as this is wrestled quite normally. I look forward to those inadvisable and frankly bizarre ethnic stereotypes gracing our screens, because The Headshrinkers do kinda murk these guys. The Islanders win. It was meant to be 2 out of 3 falls, but a no-nonsense fat guy in a wifebeater called Big Bad John tries to get involved and The Islanders scatter. The ref just awards them the match after this for some reason. It was alright. It was fine! I really need to find more midget ladies...

The main event of this one is the Gulf Coast Heavyweight champion The Wrasslin' Pro vs. the Alabama State champion Rip Tyler. It's a non-title match though. This one features the commentators being distracted enough to bring us the news that Harley Race has defeated Terry Funk for NWA World Heavyweight title, a match they hope to bring to you some time soon. This result then slides across the bottom of the screen in large 'VHS font' text. Another time limit draw politely observed by the crowd. The bell they're ringing just sounds like somebody is hitting a tin bucket with a stick. I found this match to be less inspiring than midget women's wrestling.

GCCW TV 09/07/1977 (WTVY Studios, Dothan)

My final episode of Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling before moving on to the rebranded Southeastern Championship Wrestling is from the 9th of July 1977, and is in the same video as the above episode. Hello John Gause and Al Roberts. I hope you are here to introduce me to 45 minutes of wrestling in a very matter-of-fact manner. You are?? Great!!! An English man named Johnny Eagles plainly states that he hasn't found a hold that he doesn't have a counter-hold to - he might find one today but as of today he has yet to find one. The first match features Carl Fergie vs. Ricky Gibson - Robert Morton was nowhere to be found, but okay after further research he is actually Robert Gibson's brother, trainer and first tag partner, so fair enough (Edit from future me who's now seen Ricky Gibson with Robert in Memphis: Yeah, DUH!!! Fuckin noob!!!). It looks to be a packed studio crowd this time and they have a fair amount more to say than in the prior episode. They react nicely to Ricky Gibson's tricky offense in an enjoyable opener!

Another surprise hits me next. The current Gulf Coast heavyweight champion - a guy named Kurt Von Hess cuts a promo in a fucked up gravelly voice. He sounds cool. His opponent is somebody named Michael Seitz. The YouTube uploader did not include this in the description, so I looked up who this Michael guy is - it's only fucking Michael Hayes. The future Hayes is just out there in his blue wrestling trunks, not yet irreparably transformed by the 1980s. It's what seems like a fairly straightforward heel veteran deals with babyface up-and-comer match, but Von Hess seemingly has a few supporters of his own. Could this 1977 Alabama studio crowd have... a smark contingent? Von Hess ends up just toying with not-yet Pretty Boy, pulling him up from two pins before eventually finishing him off.

Next is Billy Spears & Larry Booker vs. Johnny Eagles & Ken Lucas. Eagles is the main character in this one - a Mancunian who worked Joint Promotions throughout the 1960s, though sadly none of it seems to have been preserved on video, maybe deeply buried in the ITV archives. I heard him brag about his adeptness with counter-holds previously, and that World of Sport escapology style is on display here, well received by the crowd. It's cool to see the Alabama announcers be like wowee when seeing counters that Kent Walton could accurately call in his sleep. Ken Lucas doesn't have nearly the same skillset, but it's not needed when Johnny Eagles is able to essentially choke out his opponent with his arse, in a move called the Towers of London, despite London being 200 miles away from Eagles' birthplace. This isn't the first time I've wrote out a match as though it's finished, only to be confronted with the information that it's 2 out of 3 falls. Only this time, Billy Spears has a hurty hand, so the other "ragin' cajun" Carl Fergie steps in, and that's when I realise oh yeah Fergie and Booker look identical to one another, like two singlet clad Bobby Heenans. Spears is on commentary now and says that he has been negotiating with the champion of All Japan - I guess he means Baba - to accompany him in GCCW. I can't tell if this happened or not, but Spears says that this will cost him because those Japanese people are shrewd businessmen. Eagles lets Lucas finish off one of the Cajuns with a sleeper hold this time to wrap it up. Another cool match!

Four minutes remain on the video as we approach the main event of Kurt Von Hess and the Russian Stomper against Ricky Gibson and Wrestling Pro, which will not make the cagematch matchguide. Or will it? Because the feed just cuts out, cuts to an announcer in the ring for half a second and that's the end of the video. Alright then. That was Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling - the last episode I watched was probably the strongest overall, but female midget wrestling was still what I'll remember it most fondly by. If you ever do your own experimentation with this territory, then be prepared to not see the most astonishing wrestling on offer at the time, but I would say that it's quite nice and cosy. It didn't always thrill me, but I learned what Michael Hayes' government name is,  I learned about Robert Gibson's forgotten brother, and I learned about Moolah's surrogate midget daughter. Time well spent.

Southeastern Championship Wrestling

SECW TV 21/10/1980 (WTVY Studios, Dothan)

SECW TV 18/07/1981 (WTVY Studios, Dothan)

We start off with some words from Tommy Wright (no relation to the man responsible for the 1998 Memphis classic 'Feel Me Before They Kill Me'). Tommy is another extremely uneasy public speaker, to a degree that just does not get exposed even on the smallest of shows nowadays. And that's a bad thing! Our host is excited to bring to us "the Freebird" Michael Hayes, long removed from "the job-boy" Michael Seitz.

The first match is Bob Owens vs. "the Candyman" Ray Candy. It looks a fairly familiar studio type setting here, but definitely with an increased capacity. There's not a whole lot to it - there's a "yayyy" from the crowd when the Candyman wins, but not much vocality displayed before that moment and Owens does not antagonize in any memorable way. Mr. Olympia vs. The Raider, two masked men, have a match with a similar dynamic. You got any midget ladies, SECW??

Dennis Condrey tags with Randy Rose to take on Tommy Wright & Mr. Olympia. Olympia is a replacement for ...somebody, who is missing for ...some reason. This replacement pleases the fans who are finally able to make the noise that displays there's another side of seats occupied in the building. Condrey has a gimmick in his kneepads but Bob Armstrong in jeans rushes down to thwart him and the studio goes crazy. I assumed this was the main event but no, Michael Hayes is in that but the video is gonna cut off after this.

SECW TV 20/02/1982 (WTVY Studios, Dothan)

Comming! LOL!!! What's comming is The Sheepherders, with Ox Baker! There's the future Bushwacker Luke, and of course there's ...a guy called Jonathan Boyd, who I'm not familiar with. He's an Aussie, not even a Kiwi! Anyway, the World of Sport portion of this broadcast is emphatically done with now.

SECW TV 01/10/1983 (WTVY Studios, Dothan)

SECW TV 09/06/1984 (WTVY Studios, Dothan)

When setting up for this project and collecting links, one thing I didn't double check was whether the video quality was remotely watchable. But hey, this is a largely forgotten territory - surviving footage is sparse and the odds are that this is as good as it will ever get for this particular night's work in Alabama. I picked this episode out and so perhaps it's fitting if I stare into these flickering colours and shapes for 45 minutes to see if any words can come out.

To start off, some blobs are brawling, one of those may be Arn Anderson because I saw him on the card and the top of the blob is the same colour as the rest of the blob. Now that's over, I was able to parse that the opening match is containing a tag team named "the R.A.T. Patrol" and uhh, unless there is sincerely another meaning to that name, I think that they think they are being really clever there. They are Scott Armstrong and Tonga Kid a.k.a. Tama from The Islanders - not seen much of Tonga but really rated the Armstrongs as mid-1990s WCW C-show guys. They are facing the team of Rip Rogers (twitter genius) and Greg Koswald (no cagematch profile). It's tough to do any wrestling analysis because every four or so seconds, the screen will flicker dramatically, sometimes turning all blue or black & white. What I can just about make out is the audio. They are asking where's this Tonga Kid from? You'll never fucking guess... NOT TONGA, IDIOT! It's Samoa. Ron Fuller, a heel guest at commentary, says that he looks like he's from SOME stupid part of the world! The female body inspectors win with a double team sunset flip pin thingy. Okay, so any doubt I had about the Rat Patrol name was dispelled when in a promo they say they want all the pretty ladies to come down to Birmingham and see them every Monday night. I BET YA FUCKIN DO!

Not much else to say. There are some nice promos. Main event of Arn/Boris Zhukov/Jerry Stubbs vs. Jacques Rougeau/Sonny King/Greg Cooley seemed a fun enough little thing from what I could make out while squinting.

SECW TV 08/06/1985 (WTVY Studios, Dothan)

The final episode under the Southeastern branding! And it just wouldn't be right to say goodbye without more from The RAT Patrol before they go off and meet with some sexual ladies. They have a long and not particularly interesting match with some enhancement talents to build to a match with the Nightmares.

There's quite a funny squash for the big Boomer H. Lynch, whose nickname according to cagematch is "terrible". This guy Al Scott antagonizes him a bit and pays the price, though it feels as though Al is still trying to look the best he can in the circumstances. Boomer's finish is a bearhug into a belly-to-belly, which he executes but then pulls Al up out of the pin, does two running splashes, then does his finish again. It looks weird that Al doesn't submit to the bearhug and then he still lifts his leg as though he could almost kick out of the eventual pin. Well, that was mildly entertaining, but now it's time for our most major Racial Moment so far, I'm surprised it took this long for a big one, honestly. Boomer says "Why does the promotion insist on putting me in the ring with black men? Don't they know what country I'm from?". Damn, he really is terrible.

Baby Tony Schiavone is here as an interviewer! He is just 28 years old and so he is basically in pre-school. This is the earliest I've seen him, so it was quite novel for me to see him pop up here. Since he is young, he has to be locked up in this cage here, but we can see he has a wee moustache and shouts a little bit loudly - yes, even by his standards. Flair & Ron Fuller vs. Lord Humongous & Bob Armstrong is the big match being promoted. I've mentioned this before, but Flair is a good promo. Ron Fuller is not miles behind either!

It's now time for some more broadcaster-endorsed racism as Boomer Lynch is at it again, he compares Pork Chop Cash to a chimp. Damn, this is really not good viewing! I'm well used to stuff in wrestling that makes one think "ah, it was a different time", but I find this more depressing than normal. I'm checked out of this one now, this episode was quite shitty - bring on the rebrand! Hopefully I don't see this prick again.

Continental Championship Wrestling / Continental Wrestling Federation

CCW TV 10/06/1985 (Boutwell Auditorium, Birmingham)

Into another name change for Alabama wrestling then as we approach the latter years of this territory's existence. It is the first edition of what is now Continental Championship Wrestling - a brand change made in order to try to widen the appeal into something more than just a regional territory. They've also completely abandoned the studio in favour of a seemingly pretty well attended arena. The video quality is sketchy again, but definitely further along the watchability spectrum than that 1984 episode of SECW. This one begins with 'the man who needs no introduction anywhere in the world' Ric Flair taking on a man who needs lots of introduction everywhere in the world; Josh Stroud - he's a fairly strong looking black dude, but Flair makes pretty easy work of him. It's not an instantaneous win, but it never looks at all competitive as Stroud gets next to nothing in and eventually is finished off by the figure four.

There's a squash match for a round guy in a red bodysuit with a rudimentary yellow mask and he's called The Flame. Yep. Austin Idol defeats Jimmy Golden for the Southeastern Heavyweight Championship in a nice match. One that I might gain a greater appreciation for when I watch more old Memphis, but I do think Jimmy Golden should wear a white shirt, rub shite on it and befriend Meng immediately. This match is the main thing here that justifies the switch from studio to arena as the sizeable crowd are red hot for Idol, instead of just milling about seeing pedestrian squash matches like they do for the rest of the episode. The latter case is where the intimacy of studio wrestling helps so much. In fairness, there is a studio type backdrop where Gordon Solie interviews The Nightmares, and there's an awesome promo from Tommy Rich. It seems like we're now in the era where the vast majority of people who cut promos are actually good at them.

CCW TV 16/09/1985 (Boutwell Auditorium, Birmingham)

CCW TV 07/10/1985 (Boutwell Auditorium, Birmingham)

CCW TV 02/06/1986 (Boutwell Auditorium, Birmingham)

First though, a recipe sent in from Peggy Fuller for "wrestling stew". "Mix 1 wildcat, 1 wildfire, 1 white lightning, 1 loaded bullet, 1 crash. Stir well with Stud Stable. When all the nuts and bad seeds of the stable are tossed out, you'll have a delicious dish - be proud. Serve any time, anywhere". My reaction to this is "aye, thanks for that..." and it seems as though Gordon Solie reading it out feels the same way. The puns aren't even- ... okay, I'm not gonna get into this about a piece of 40 year old fan mail. Although, the surname's Fuller, so...

CCW TV 09/08/1986 (Boutwell Auditorium, Birmingham)

WWF Wrestling Challenge #126 29/01/1989 (Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, Birmingham)

I'm jump-scaring you with the fucking FED!!! You might have heard of it. I've not really dived into TV from this year and have only really had quick glimpses at any of the pre-Raw shows, so this could be interesting. Heenan and Monsoon in the booth - Monsoon drops an instant "will you stop!" to a Heenan comment I didn't hear because of the sound quality on YouTube. Akeem is in the opening title screen, wiggling about like a twat. This is certainly a wrestling company.

Bret opens the show against Barry Horowitz. I've mostly seen Horowitz circa 1995 where he's just beaten Chris Candido, is mates with Hakushi, doing toy adverts and is generally the best treated job-boy ever. Here, he's just another warm body who gets no entrance. Although I have seen some earlier Bret, it's still quite odd to see him in a landscape where he's not the fucking man. A box with a Jimmy Hart promo inside it instantly rises up the screen upon the lock-up, which gave me flashbacks to that same thing happening in the Naked Women's Wrestling League. Bret rolls through out of a sunset flip and has Horowitz's legs prone in prime position for the Sharpshooter. But he kicks him in the lower gut instead. I guess Bret hasn't yet learned the sharpshooter from...was it fucking Konnan?? Surely there's no way Bret would pass up that as a finish if it was already in his repertoire. Either way, Bret wins with a piledriver here. Man, a sharpshooter would've gone hard though.

Next, Alfred Hayes introduces us to footage from the recent Royal Rumble PPV, in which Rick Rude & Ultimate Warrior had a nice oily pose-off. Man, Vince could do like... a whole World Bodybuilding Federation or something. And I bet redoing this segment with a newly signed Big Poppa Pump and Triple H would do terrific business fourteen years from now. In this one, Heenan squirts something in Warrior's eyes while he's mid-flex and Rude goes to work on him. It's a pretty good angle but it DIDN'T HAPPEN IN ALABAMA so FUCK OFF!

The Barbarian & The Warlord are a little too nice to their designated jobbers, considering that they're named The Barbarian & The Warlord, I'd say. The pinned one even gets a little pat on the cheek as if to say "nice job, buddy. I'm a kind Barbarian".

This YouTube video features a few 1989 ads - Ice-T wants us to phone into the Rap It Up Hotline ! Why? To do what? To what end? I don't really know. Anyway, it's time for The Red Rooster now. He doesn't appear to have the red bit of hair properly spiked up - I don't know if that came later or if that was just a thing for promo shots. He faces Danny Davis dressed like a humbug sweet.

Just two normal dudes. 
Rooster beats Davis with an inside cradle, but his major feud right now is with Bobby Heenan's The Brooklyn Brawler. We are all salivating in anticipation for that.

Now it's time for the Québécois Dino Bravo to have a squashy. As an American, I have many thoughts on the Québécois people and how they make my blood boil, they uhhh... hmmm... well, they're not from Alabama, I'll tell you that!! His manager is called Frenchy Martin and boy I am just so mad at that. When Gorilla said "get outta the ring, Frenchy" I thought that was just him being xenophobic - which I would support - but no, that's his actual legal birthname, and I hate him for it.

There's a Koko B. Ware promo where he's just yelling with the parrot on his shoulder. Is it normal for a parrot to stay in place, only flapping its wings sometimes, while on the shoulder of a sweaty yelling man? They probably took turns feeding it somas, the dirty fucking wrestling scum.

Okay so, you know what I was saying earlier about Dino Bravo and the Québécois? Well, forget that, because here's Rick Martel, also from Québéc, and oh wow oh boy I just want to cheer him so much! He beats Dale Veasey who would go on to become Lt. James Earl Wright in WCW, but here he looks like "Job Boy" Billy Graham.

Great, Akeem is here - a wrestler may have never looked dumber. Slick is adamant that his Twin Towers are gonna beat the Megapowers in their match that takes place at "The Main Event II" in a few days, but sadly I'll have to wait until I get to Wisconsin in this project to find out who won that, so maybe when I'm eighty years old. I just look at Boss Man, Slick & Akeem and wonder what they even talk about in their downtime. 

We'll be right back with The Bushwhackers! Never mind what I said about Akeem being the dumbest looking wrestler. It's actually The Bushwhackers' WWF TV debut, though, so maybe some of that Sheepherders goodness from Jim Crockett and Puerto Rico is still present? I will unpause video now in order to find out........................ Not really! :-) It looks like their first feud will be with the Rougeaus, who pop up in the promo square to say that these foreigners need to stop invading THEIR United States! Wow, as an American I of course agree with the sentiment, but THEY shouldn't be saying it! I AM SO MAD NOW!!!

KING Haku now, coming out to the WWF Jerry Lawler music! Haku feels like an odd fit for the whole crown and royal mantle shtick, I have to say. His assigned jobber is called Josh Stroud, who looks fairly well put together, but doesn't even have a cagematch page. Hold on a second, I just realised it's the same guy who faced Flair in a previous CCW show I wrote about. That makes sense obviously, it's just a funny realisation that I've seen the same forgotten regional job guy twice in short succession. When Haku came out, my taking-liberties-with-jobbers senses began tingling, but nah he's quite nice as well. I know it's not right to absolutely slaughter these barely paid enhancement guys, but being braced for the possibility of it as a viewer and it not happening just brings a feeling of "...oh."

So, no matches are really worth recommending here, but it's a fine TV show. Easy to watch and a solid amount of charm.

CWF TV 18/11/1989 (Civic Center, Montgomery)

Alabama territories documentary

I was actually linked to this YouTube documentary on the Alabama territories history by a pal on our discord server. Before I get into it properly, I learned that Hogan had a pretty significant run in Alabama and I did search for full episodes which may have featured Hogan and/or Andre, but I didn't have much luck. I did find a Hogan squash of a guy called The Outlaw, as well as Hogan facing Andre in an exhibition of arm-wrestling. In the match he is called Terry Boulder, just like Horace in FMW, and his finisher is a bearhug just as it was in what I've seen of his 1980 WWF run. In the arm-wrestling segment, both Hogan and Andre appear to be wearing black flares. Hogan has a pair of sandals and Andre has some light brown what looks like but obviously can't be ugg boots. It's an even tussle until Andre starts to gain the upper hand, with the crowd chanting "go Andre, go", but Hogan's manager Billy Spears comes in and distracts Andre, which leads to Hogan picking up the entire arm wrestling table and smacking Andre with it. Andre is bleeding and Hogan works the cut for a bit. Eventually Andre is able to cut Hogan off, they have a bit of a brawl before Hogan legs it. The brawling part did look awesome, I'd love to see them have a match in that style.

I won't write out all the beats of the documentary, which outlines the history of the territory and the Fullers better than I can or want to do, but needless to say it's worth watching if you're interested. I think the most startling bit of information that was new to me is that Boris Malenko, Bob Orton Jr., Ronnie Garvin and Bob Roop recorded a video or series of videos, intended to be seen by the general public, that would've absolutely well and truly shattered kayfabe in a much more dramatic manner than the gradual seeping of information that ended up happening. They go over gimmicks, blood, etc. and I think that if it had been released to the general public, at least one of those four guys is possibly killed. Pretty fascinating stuff.

RIP Da Territories

WWF Superstars #170 30/12/1989 (Von Braun Civic Center, Huntsville)

WCW Power Hour 23/02/1990 (Civic Center, Rainsville)

WCW Power Hour 11/05/1990 (Civic Center, Rainsville)

WCW Power Hour 08/06/1990 (Civic Center, Montgomery)

WCW Main Event 04/11/1990 (Civic Center, Montgomery)

WWF Superstars #227 02/02/1991 (Von Braun Civic Center, Huntsville)

WWF Superstars #228 09/02/1991 (Von Braun Civic Center, Huntsville)

WCW World Wide 02/03/1991 (Civic Center, Dothan)

Now what I'm here for: Sid vs. Luger for the US title in the main event. It certainly promises a lot on paper! And yes, this is fucking fantastic. It's not a long match, but it carries the gravity of a great PPV match, which so many of these TV main events don't manage to do. Luger is the face and really popular. Sid is perfect, perfect foil - showing his vulnerability and weak spots in a really cathartic way, while never losing his legitimacy or intimidation factor. At one point they do some sequency shit even; Sid kips out of a headscissors and throws a big lariat. It's really novel and eye-popping for the time period we're in, yet obviously refreshingly simple compared to what's on offer today. Lex is really drawing a great reaction in this match, constant support and genuine sympathy.

WCW World Wide 06/04/1991 (Civic Center, Dothan)

WCW World Wide 04/05/1991 (Civic Center, Montgomery)

WCW World Wide 02/11/1991 (Von Braun Civic Center, Huntsville)

WCW Main Event 10/11/1991 (Civic Center, Montgomery)

WCW Main Event 17/11/1991 (Civic Center, Montgomery)

WCW Main Event 02/02/1992 (W. F. Bill Harris State Fair Arena, Birmingham)

WWF Superstars #289 11/04/1992 (Civic Center, Mobile)

WCW Power Hour 06/06/1992 (W. F. Bill Harris State Fair Arena, Birmingham)

I was promised Steve Austin vs. Larry Zbyszko here, but it's a repeat airing from fucking Tennessee. Fuck! In fact, I'd already seen it as part of the Beach Blast build. It's good! But enough about that until I get to T in the project.

Sometimes you've just got to crop a freaky JR smile when you see one in order to be able to move on with your life.

As far as the actual wrestling goes here, Big Josh and Steve Austin have nice enough squashes, but the competitive matches feature Jimmy Garvin and Michael Hayes both in singles action, so fuck. Fuck!!! Even good wrestlers like Terry Taylor and Greg Valentine respectively aren't getting shit out of this. Episode status: FAIL!! BURN IT!!

WCW Beach Blast 20/06/1992 (Civic Center, Mobile)

Fuck yeah, I've been looking forward to this one since I first mapped out this project. We are in the Civic Center in Mobile for Alabama's first ever PPV, as far as I have any awareness of. I have actually cherry-picked this one before, for Rude/Steamboat, Foley/Sting and Steiners/Williams & Gordy, but all are very much due a rewatch. I remember loving all of those matches and I'm sure the extra context of watching not just this full card for the first time, but also having watched a bunch of prior episodes of Worldwide and Saturday Night will make this a much more complete experience. The TV is absolutely wonderful, especially Saturday Night which has this bizarre but uniquely inviting talk show type setting for the out of ring stuff. Commentary is done by primarily Smiley Jim Ross and a guest on Saturday Night, and the team of Schiavone & Ventura on Worldwide. It's so easy to watch and you get a good amount of great matches there too. 

We are overseeing the handing-over of creative control to Bill Watts, and truth be told, I watched the build here not entirely realising that. I mean, I saw numerous squash matches for The Super Invader who wears an imperial Japan flag mask but is billed from Bangkok, Thailand. And I saw random masked bozos come out to fill a tag space on Clash Of The Champions - yep, that feels like Jim Herdism. Even when Bill Watts himself comes out on an episode of Saturday Night and proclaims that his WCW is not going to be anything like that other macabre cartoon wrestling show, soon afterwards The Super Invader comes out for another match and I'm just thinking like "wow, what a hypocrite", not really clocking that it was him with his new power, speaking his manifesto. It does start to feel a bit more apparent a new era has started now.

So I guess the bulk of what I saw was under the interim control of Kip Allen Frey, who I've not really heard anybody talk about, but if he gave us the Dangerous Alliance vs. Sting's Squadron, which most of this great television is in the direct aftermath of, perhaps we should all be sucking his fucking dick and balls right now? And slipping a finger in if he's down? He's still alive. I googled it. Let's do this for him.

We have four matches that were all very well built to - the last four matches - the three openers didn't get much of a build that I saw and could just be Saturday Night main events, but that's cool too.

JR has got to be the funniest guy to get to dress up like that.

Jesse is a bit more in his element.

Flyin' Brian defends the light heavyweight title against Scotty Flamingo, the future Raven, first. I always had it in my head that Raven didn't really do anything of much worth until ECW, but I've seen him have a nice one against Scorpio in 1993, so this could easily be good too.
Pillman is largely comfortable in control of the arm early on, Scotty has some nice counters but Pillman is able to counter those counters. It gets into more of a standard heel heat section after Scotty forces Brian to take a tumble face first from the top rope. Pillman is really good at brief comebacks in this bit.
Pillman is just starting to regain control, looking one flurry away from victory, but then attempts a plancha to the outside and takes a brutal landing face first on the rampway. That looked fucking awesome. One dodgy second rope knee drop in the ring later and Flamingo is the new light heavyweight champion. I liked that a lot - a match that underlined the different skill sets of both guys well with some memorable moments. Great opener. Scotty wasn't much of a factor on the TV - I believe he only featured in a losing effort to Johnny B. Badd, who's doing nothing substantial except hosting a bikini contest on this show, so the build could definitely have been improved on, but it was still an effective surprise victory.

Okay. Aforementioned bikini contest, hosted by Johnny B. Badd. Missy Hyatt or Madusa. This stuff had been getting a build that included a surprisingly raunchy cat fight on Saturday Night. I guess they're staggering it out into three parts, so all that happens here is that they come out in dresses and go away again. Just be sure to phone into the WCW Hotline to pick your favourite!

Now it's The Taylor Made Man vs. Ron Simmons. The title push of Simmons is underway and will culminate in him winning the title on Main Event, no less, in a month and a half. The last thing I saw Simmons do on the TV was a pretty charged segment with Harley Race (and The Super Invader who's there too I guess), with Harley saying that people like Ron used to have to carry Harley's bags, before Ron whoops them both in a cathartic manner. I wonder if a young Terra Ryzing was watching and thinking it would be good without the whole comeuppance aspect.
Hey, I'm not accusing anyone of anything, but the reactions for Ron on the television were a bit better than they are here in Alabama. So, not that heated and the chemistry between Simmons and Taylor isn't what it could be. Yeah, a little underwhelming but Simmons does display some of his power stuff nicely, especially the lightning quick powerslam that was the decisive factor. I don't want to advocate for someone as good as Taylor being destroyed, but given what's going to happen, it may well have been better if Ron just ran through him here, especially since Terry's heat segments are the weakest part of the match. It doesn't look like The York Foundation, who I was very fond of in 1991, is really a thing anymore, so it's possible Taylor is a bit listless at this time, or maybe that's just my tourist's perspective from dipping in. I'm trying to work out what one old lass in the front row was doing after the finish, at first I thought she was giving a big thumbs down, but it looks maybe just like a straight-forward wave? I can't help but be on racism watch. Simmons cuts a nice post-match promo, which JR says gave him "chill-bumps" - apparently an accepted term? But I've never heard that one before.

Greg Valentine vs. Marcus Bagwell. It could be good. Hey, I did think it was pretty good! It's a measured veteran vs. peppy youngster dynamic and it works well enough for me. Love the swift lariat from Valentine to counter Bagwell's hip toss attempt. Bagwell doesn't do badly here, but he's definitely not all there with the fans yet. A minimal number of boos can be heard for his comebacks, and there's a big "we miss Flair" type pop for Valentine's decisive figure four.

Into the business end of the show now. Cactus Jack vs. Sting - pinfalls count anywhere in the Gulf Coast!
https://x.com/c4nnsaw/status/2061537634048966822
This clip from the build really is up there as one of the top five most needlessly reckless things I've seen Mick Foley do. So awesome, and apparently, he got chewed out by Harley Race for this.

Their eyes meet on the ramp, like two passing dogs, and they get right into it. Sting pretty much immediately back drops Cactus onto the ramp, before delivering, uh, a fuckin Fameasser! crashing his own hip and tailbone on the ramp. Sting wants to do a fucked up Stinger splash with Foley on the apron by the corner post, but he is dodged and goes flying into the ring. Foley does his insane sunset flip off the apron onto the concrete, smacking his foot against the guard rail and startling the pensioners in the front row. I learn that bopping your opponent's head on the guard rail would normally be a DQ in 1992 WCW, then they go over the rail into the fans' area for a bit, and the fans are all going apeshit for it. It's amazing how little brawling wrestling in arenas in the US has changed since the likes of Foley drew up the modern blueprint for it, and I don't think I'll ever need it to change.
It goes back in the ring for a bit, but the tempo does not relent. Cactus works on Sting's ribs, broken previously by Big Van Vader, with a bodyscissors and slaps Stings face from behind for extra insult to injury, but this causes Sting to start fucking Stinging up. Cactus' reckless leaping over the rope clothesline that I noted from CWF cuts off this bit of momentum though. It's just relentless energy, the crowd are enthralled throughout. The wrestling pins on the outside are great without taking too much away from the raw brawling energy - a balance that many fail at now. Sting's top rope clothesline on the ramp is a good finish.
It's a basically perfect match, you can make an argument that blood could make it even greater, and I wouldn't disagree, but I would say it's perfect anyway because as alluded to earlier, Foley really just re-made the blueprints with these big early '90s fights, and Sting's gas tank is insane - just go go go in the best way, giving us an entirely believable depiction of hatred and no dull moments. Beautiful match.

Time for a cool-off match then? Nah, it's Rude vs. Steamboat - 30 minute iron man match. Rude's out first to do his sweathog routine. Steamboat comes out with his family - presumably that's Richie looking overawed in the ring. Great start as the Steamboat son is exiting the ring, Rude just makes the slightest little movement towards him which makes Steamboat go right over and fire some punches at him. Rude quickly takes damage to the ribs, and I'm surprised just how long Steamboat is in charge and working him over here. I shit you not - I think over seven and a half minutes have passed on the clock before Rude gets the slightest lick in. That lick is him getting his knees up in the corner with Steamboat charging at him, and that just ...gets the first pin. That's a weird first fall, I don't know how I feel about it. There is no rest period, so Rude just continues his momentum and one minute later hits his Rude Awakening going 2-0 up after a slow cover, no less!
Then Rude goes up top and hits a devastating knee drop, and I did already know about the top rope rule, but it totally did not occur to me at all that this means a DQ and Rude gives up a fall. But Rude picks Steamboat up, immediate inside cradle and it's 3-1. This period with 20 minutes left on the clock is where I start loving it, and the opening seven or eight minutes makes a bit more sense. I have a, not strict, but general rule for iron man/2 out of 3 falls matches where the first fall should be a satisfying match in itself if you chose to isolate it, since many are cut short or eyebrow-raising. This did raise an eyebrow, but you see the predicament an exhausted Steamboat is in now, scrapping from underneath, and it justifies it. He is just one of the true comeback kings, so easy to will on to recovery. Rude attempts a tombstone but Steamboat does the flip-over reversal, hitting his own tombstone to bring it back to 3-2.
It just feels like such a gruelling affair, both men significantly damaged, glistening with layers of sweat. Whatever fatigue had to be faked, if any, is done so well, and that makes Steamboat's second and third winds all the more special. Steamboat getting the equalizing fall after bridging out of Rude's pin attempt and executing his own backslide. A sequence I've almost always seen as something flashy to do in the first five minutes, but it works really well as an actual finish.
With just over four minutes remaining, Rude wrenches in a sleeper hold, and it feels like every warm body in the arena is yelling at Steamboat to stay in it. This sleeper stays in until there are just fourty seconds left - never losing its effect, never becoming dull. Steamboat climbs the turnbuckles, still in the sleeper and 180s over into a pin, the ref's hand hitting the mat for the three count with thirty-five seconds remaining. This final thirty seconds is perfect - a desperate Rude frantically throwing every last thing he has to try and save the match. Every pin variation he can think of, quick snappy clotheslines and bodyslams. Anything. But Steamboat survives, just.
If it's not a masterpiece, it's close. People have a tendency to talk about wrestling matches and list off "great selling" so matter-of-factly, as if their analysis was done via some strict rulebook that a robot could tick off. But this shit fucking resonates. It's remarkable how quickly they were able to make it feel like a battle for the ages, even before it had gotten longer than the median PPV match length. Two absolutely perfect performances, I just do still have reservations about that first fall. Steamboat methodically dealing with Rude for such a long time and going down after the first hit he took was an odd call. It was more than justified by the rest of the match but I think they could get there a different way. It doesn't really matter, I'm still gushing about this classic match, but it's not beaten Cactus/Sting for MOTN for me. It's damn close, though.

Okay now FUCK that last forty-five or so minutes of incredible wrestling, because it's time for Madusa vs. Missy SWIMSUIT EDITION!!!!!!!!!!
So, uh, yeah...they come out in their swimsuits! Both are smokin' obviously. Personally, I am phoning into the WCW hotline for Madusa, but Johnny B. Badd has surveyed the audience and that is the unpopular choice. Jim Ross allows himself to be outwardly horny, but DON'T CLIMAX YET, JIM!! BIKINI ROUND STILL TO "CUM"!!!!!!!!

Time for a nice Dangerous Alliance vs. babyfaces six man tag match now, the type of which has been main eventing most of the Saturday Nights I've been watching, but this time with Ole Anderson refereeing. Austin, Arn & Eaton vs. Dustin, Windham & Koloff. 
So wow, Arn is about to do a top rope move but of course Ole is like no no no, and then commentary lets me know that the top rope move ban is brand new of June 1992, and everyone's still adjusting to it. I guess I saw Watts' final month in charge of WCW, having seen a bunch of January 1993's Saturday Night episodes, and I was very fond of what I saw, but this might be where I begin to comprehend why exactly his vision for WCW was so panned, even if I'm still having a great time myself. Gotta say in hindsight; big credit to the opener where I didn't even notice that rule change - Pillman still had a borderline great light-heavyweight title match even though he's one of the most adversely effected by this and most likely is livid. He's fucking called Flying Brian. But yeah, you don't take something that dazzles fans away just because it's not your preferred aesthetic - at least when say WWE bans blading there's the obvious boring financial incentive behind the decision, and not just someone trying to be the party pooper.
The rule obviously had a factor in one of the falls in Rude/Steamboat, but this is the match where it seems to be the most disruptive. It's Arn again - hardly a fucking spot monkey, though who knows what the old heads of 1992 thought - who has to manoeuvre himself to the second rope after being on the apron, to do an underwhelming axe-handle. So yeah, the flow of this match feels damaged somewhat and I definitely preferred most of those aforementioned Saturday Night mains. There also aren't really any extra stakes to separate it from those TV matches, and, oh yeah, they already had that high stakes match-up the prior month and it was basically the best match ever. Due to all of this, the crowd feels a little indifferent early on as a result. Things definitely pick up though, as it just takes a wee bit of Dustin being the face-in-peril for a rumble of support to begin to build, and then something of an explosion when Dustin manages to tag Windham against the momentum of the match, Windham starts decking everyone, everyone else comes in and Ole loses control. It ends with Windham superplexing Austin, and then it's Arn again coming off the top rope to break up Windham's pin. So Ole disqualifies his kayfabe brother just as the match was threatening to be great. Ah well. Cool match but I'd recommend various Saturday Night mains featuring two or more of these guys from May or June over this.

After the end of this one, Bischoff interviews Steamboat but Heyman gets Cactus Jack to attack Steamboat to build to some non-Alabama wrestling (thumbs down) (thumbs down) (match probably rules) (thumbs down).

Okay, we've been edging for two hours but now it's time to BUST as the Bikini Contest reaches the....BIKINI STAGE!!!! :O :O :O B================D- - - - - ---
Jesse Ventura has been seething the whole night that Johnny B. Badd was chosen to host the contest, so Jesse goes over to the stage area too. Madusa comes out and Jesse is just straight up making Kris Kloss noises here. Jumping off the top rope is too unlike traditional, old-school rasslin', but this shit is fine. Despite the clear face/heel divide, there hasn't really been much of an attempt from Madusa to disrupt the show until now. Madusa comes out in a US flag themed outfit, but it turns out Missy's outfit has gone missing. Johnny B. Badd snatches a bandana off of Jesse's big bald head and Missy comes out in a makeshift bikini made of Ventura's scarves. Johnny B. Badd declares Missy the winner without even considering my WCW hotline Madusa vote count, but then Johnny is shoved behind one of the curtains by Madusa and implied sex takes place! Badd comes out holding bikini top! Ventura goes in for a look too! THIS SUCKS!!! Why can't they just fight? It was good when they were fighting in the build. You don't even need to book them in a sanctioned match, you could just do a titillating segment such as this, but instead of Marc Mero getting laid, the women fight at the end. Because there was bad blood! But I am supposed to forget that. Yeah, crap segments. Ventura's natural campiness provides a crumb of amusement, but the content is beyond saving. And then everybody ejaculated.

Alright, all of the semen has now been projected out of our urethras, everything has been thoroughly wiped up, and we are in a serotonin-induced daze - what better for this state of mind than BIG BEEFY JACKED UP MEATHEAD HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM WRESTLING!?!? These two teams - The Steiners and Williams/Gordy - met four nights prior at Clash Of The Champions #19 in WCW's big NWA tag title tournament, though it won't actually air for another two days. I watched that match because I mistakenly thought it was building to this show as I didn't notice the air date being different, but I thought that one was pretty great! Williams & Gordy are a great pair of mean, hyper-competitive, angry heel bozos. Whereas Scott & Rick are a great pair of mean, hyper-competitive, angry babyface bozos. It's a match made in mean, hyper-competitive, angry bozo heaven.
This is an interesting rewatch. The first time around, I think I had this roughly up there with Cactus/Sting and Rude/Steamboat, but definitely not this time. Not that it's not good, maybe it's cos I've watched a solid amount of Steiners in the build to this recently and have seen them in better paced matches, including that aforementioned Clash Of The Champions one. With these two teams, I would prefer a match structure that lets them just pummel each other like freaks. I'm not sure it's quite suited to being a PPV main event, a quite drawn-out one. There's still a ton to like, though. Gordy & Dr. Death have great tag chemistry, showing off good underhanded tactics. The Steiners are gritty, intense. So I don't want to downplay the quality of the match too much. Everyone hits fucking hard. Gordy's probably my MVP here, what a brute.
The announcer starts informing everybody that there's five minutes remaining. Four minutes. Three minutes. This all gets the fans the most worked up they have been for the match, with real excitement building and then, ah, unfortunately Scott wastes valuable seconds when there's less than fifteen remaining. He pauses for a moment before doing his tiger bomb and then gestures to the crowd that he'd like to attempt his Frankensteiner now. So it ends in a time-limit draw. The fans don't seem too upset? But the lack of urgency at the end there took me out of it, and so it's "just" a very good match. I would definitely more enthusiastically recommend their Clash Of The Champions match from either the past or the future, depending on whether you'd go by taping date or airing date, but these four have a very high floor together.

Overall, I've gotta say Alabama got a great show! The imminent Wattsism is more just a sense of ominous things to come than anything that damages this show. The only real issue is that it could be better. But Cactus/Sting and Rude/Steamboat is one of the most wonderful back-to-backs in PPV history, and I think they will be near the very top of my Alabama match list for the rest of the project. Those alone would make it a worthy show, but I think it's worth seeing as a whole rather than cherry-picking. There's nothing outright bad in-ring, and I put every match except Simmons/Taylor on my recommended list, so obviously I think it's good.

WWF Superstars #309 29/08/1992 (Von Braun Civic Center, Huntsville)

WCW Worldwide 06/03/1993 (Civic Center, Dothan)

WCW Worldwide 13/03/1993 (Civic Center, Dothan)

WCW Worldwide 15/05/1993 (Civic Center, Montgomery)

WCW Worldwide 29/05/1993 (Civic Center, Montgomery)

Are they both just in their pants? That's not what they wear to the ring! So, after last week's farcical finish, the US title is vacated and the two will have a Proper Match down the line.

The Blackhearts are a tag team who come out with ghostly/phantom masks and then take them off to reveal they're wearing plain black masks with no eye or breathing holes. Their other main defining feature is that they do short, high-pitched yelps. Oh, and one of them is Gangrel. Nothing but top of the barrel ideas coming out of the WCW tag division right now.

A Flair for the Gold is an odd segment/show. I'm sure that a babyface Flair chat show is just something to bide the time until the next turn, but the vibes are odd. This one ends with Sting doing jumping jacks with a group of children. I watched it but I couldn't tell you why.

I am here for the very nice Vader vs. Steamboat main event, in which Vader starts working Ricky's teeth at one point. Imagine getting a taste of one of those gloves though. You'd never eat stilton again. You look at Vader vs. Steamboat on paper and that sounds like the greatest match to ever be wrestled - it isn't quite that, but I am not disappointed at all. The best heel and the best babyface in the country at the time probably? Harley Race is so good at stooging at ringside and taking a couple of knocks. Love the countout finish with Vader dishing the punishment on the outside and then sprinting back inside the ring to beat the count. Great TV main.

top matches so far (bold = 4+ stars/must see | caps = all-time favs)

1. CACTUS JACK VS. STING, WCW BEACH BLAST 20/06/1992
2. LEX LUGER VS. SID VICIOUS, WCW WORLD WIDE 02/03/1991
3. Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat, WCW Beach Blast 20/06/1992
4. Barry Windham/Ric Flair vs. El Gigante/Ricky Morton/Tommy Rich, WCW World Wide 06/04/1991
5. Diamond Lil vs. Princess Little Dove, GCCW 19/02/1977 (top women's match)
6. Big Van Vader vs. Ricky Steamboat, WCW Worldwide 29/05/1993
7. Kevin Sullivan vs. Tim Horner, CCW 09/08/1986
8. Ron Simmons/Butch Reed vs. Animal/Hawk, WCW Power Hour 23/02/1990
9. Les Thornton vs. Tony Charles, SECW 20/02/1982
10. Flyin' Brian vs. Scotty Flamingo, WCW Beach Blast 20/06/1992
11. 2 Cold Scorpio/Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Flyin' Brian/Steve Austin, WCW Worldwide 06/03/1993
12. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Steve Williams/Terry Gordy, WCW Beach Blast 20/06/1992
13. Lex Luger vs. Rick Steiner, WCW World Wide 02/11/1991
14. Austin Idol vs. Jimmy Golden, CCW 10/06/1986
15. Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane vs. Flyin' Brian/The Z-Man, WCW Power Hour 08/06/1990
16. Jimmy Golden/Robert Fuller vs. Steve Armstrong/Tommy Rich, CCW 02/06/1986
17. Big Josh/Dustin Rhodes/The Z-Man vs. Richard Morton/Terrance Taylor/Thomas Rich, WCW Main Event 10/11/1991
18. Arn Anderson/Beautiful Bobby/Steve Austin vs. Barry Windham/Dustin Rhodes/Nikita Koloff, WCW Beach Blast 20/06/1992
19. Adrian Street vs. Wendell Cooley, CCW 02/06/1986
20. Johnny Eagles/Ken Lucas vs. Larry Booker/Carl Fergie/Billy Spears, GCCW 09/07/1977
21. Adrian Street vs. Randy Savage, CCW 09/08/1986
22. Greg Valentine vs. Marcus Alexander Bagwell, WCW Beach Blast 20/06/1992
23. Keith Hart/Lou Fabiano vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner, WCW World Wide 02/03/1991
24. Abdullah The Butcher/Mike Rotunda/Norman The Lunatic vs. Bam Bam Bigelow/Cactus Jack Manson/Kevin Sullivan, WCW Power Hour 11/05/1990
25. David Isley/Keith Hart vs. Sid Vicious/Stan Hansen, WCW World Wide 06/04/1991
26. Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker vs. Steve Regal, WCW Worldwide 13/03/1993
27. Barry Windham vs. Larry Zbyszko, WCW World Wide 02/11/1991
28. Johnny Gunn vs. Scott Norton, WCW Worldwide 15/05/1993
29. Abdullah The Butcher/Ron Simmons vs. Cactus Jack/Larry Zbyszko, WCW Main Event 02/02/1992
30. Andre The Giant/Haku vs. Ax/Smash, WWF Superstars 30/12/1989
31. Adrian Street vs. Brickhouse Brown, CCW 07/10/1985
32. Carl Fergie vs. Ricky Gibson, GCCW 09/07/1977
33. Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane vs. Steve Armstrong/Tracy Smothers, WCW Power Hour 04/11/1990
34. Bob Kelly/Rip Tyler vs. Dutch Bass/Ron Bass, GCCW 18/05/1976

verdict so far