Gancarski Jan 9 1999, 3:00 am show options
Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling.moderated
From: gancar...@aol.comFatTony (Gancarski) - Find messages by this author
Date: 1999/01/09
Subject: WCWSN Workrate Report for 1.9.1999
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Hey, this WCWSN was the one that was allegedly planned to kill business in
Gainesville, Georgia where it was taped! This was like a five hour Worldwide,
but it wasn't necessarily bad so much as devoid of star-power.

What Worked

The Armstrongs get some mike time and go all SMW heel in bitching about being
overlooked for the tag team tournament. Then they do a superb job of pacing a
match against Music City firebrand Nick Dinsmore and Mike "The Nepotist"
Sullivan. Good heel heat, suave doubleteams, good working of the Gainesville
crowd. I'd love to see them feud with the Villanos.

WCW will likely throw ~EDDY! away as unceremoniously as they did Austin. But
damned if the LWO fiesta skit wasn't going out with a bang. This was, dare I
say, better than Mark Henry's date with the gargoylesque Chyna. Hell, I'd put
this on a par with Flair's date with Precious, and wish this were a pilot for a
weekly show.

Ray Lloyd and Lash LeRoux was solid, with nice execution and stiff kicks -- for
the most part -- from Glacier. But LeRoux's got some skills. He did a neat
powerdrop thingie out of a fireman's carry, the Steamboatesque reentry into the
ring after being thrown over the top rope, and other spots that suggest that
LeRoux could stand some time in M.Pro or even Omega, rather than in the ring
with the well-intentioned but ultimately unsuited to wrestle cruiser-style
Glacier.

It's good to see the Gambler back, with his cards and everything. He does one
of them Luke Perry jobs to Chase "Candy Raver" Tatum, but Chase looked good in
performing his little powermove finisher thingy.

Barry "Nightmare on Wheels" Windham gives a drunken redneck heel interview,
evocative of his daddy's heel shtick or that of the Masked Superstar, in which
he talks about how Flair gets jittery and starts dancing and how Dave should
book himself into the nearest hospital -- in advance. This was some good shit,
kinda like a Waylon Mercy interview. Barry needs to do that Great Sasuke thing
next, drinkin' beers and sittin' on a portable weight bench, talkin' about life
and beatin' his woman and regaining the Western Heritage Belt.

Disorderly Conduct against Fit and Dave Taylor. This is like the finals of The
Worldwide Tag Tourney that shoulda happened way back when. Fit and Dave go
ultra-smashmouth on Mean Mike. Dave works a neat Euro-surfboard mover. All the
usual stiff shots from Fit, but some equally nice stuff from Taylor (Fit and
Dave seem to genuinely energize each other as a team, something I didn't notice
as much when they wrestled each other on Nitros past). Reminds me of what the
Jaguars' RB Fred Taylor said after Jacksonville beat the Patriots last week:
"Today we saw who was smashmouth and who was soft". Yea fucking verily.

Norm Smiley answers the Putt-Putt challenge and gets a mad face pop. Then
Chavito truncates said challenge by ambushing Smiley and gets booed out of the
building. And they want to kill this town? Lousy crumbs.

Mongo wisely lets Buddy Lee Parker handle most of the offense in their singles
match before entering into some particularly candyassed powermoves (a back
suplex, a belly-to-belly -- not a Spinebuster, as Hudson called it -- and his
finisher). I like Mongo in spite of myself. He has good charisma and works the
crowd in that 80s face way. Maybe he can jump to the WWF and be Steve 'The
Bear' McMichael, a burly older gentleman who spends his leisure time looking
for other burly older gentlemen to sexually consort with. Whaddaya think, Jim?

Silver King and La Parka are such badasses, and magicians as well, as they made
the superannuated Eaton and the ordinary Kaos worth watching. We get a decent
Eaton history lesson, which ignores his partnerships with Norvell Austin and
Koko B Ware. Good lucha doubleteams, but Kenny no-sells a double elbow. Is he
Taz now? Kenny and Bobby do some sloppy offense, highlighted by the
Vincent/Horace collaborative stuff piledriver thing. Some more neat stuff by SK
and Parka, but Eaton evades a missile dropkick that he was being set up for.
Kenny does some Lugeresque offense for a bit and goes back on defense for a bit
until La Parka predictably misses a chair shot and hits SK instead. Eaton
finishes with a leaden Alabama Jam.

What Didn't Work

Crusher Yurkof squashing Al "Juicer" Green fits right here. A by-the-numbers
squash, marginally redeemed by a nifty vertical suplex on the Crusher's part.

So Kaos from High Voltage, playing the part of Joey Maggs here, goes to Bobby
Eaton and axes him to be his sensei or something. "Bobby, your career should've
ended five years ago, but you have all this knowledge I'm seeking to learn". Or
some shit. Kenny knows where to stick the needle -- what other knowledge does
he need for his bigass wrestling career? You're a rassler if you're big, right?
4 LIFE!!!

Dave Burkhead? On my TV screen? Against Bobby Blaze? WCW just doesn't care, do
they. A Bobby Blaze squash? Where he works as a Finlay-lite heel? Couldn't they
have just gone to the blank screen and let the shills talk about Ric Flair and
the NWO for two hours? Nice snap suplex from Burkhead, though, who's Texas
Tough. Bobby Blaze uses about eight snapmares on the way to a passable German
suplex finisher. Wasn't awful, but I feel for the people who paid to see this.
Really, I do.

Bull Payne/Bob Duncum: Bull needs to take that Gaye Biker on Acid schtick back
to 1984 where it belongs. A decent, if cliched, sequence outside the ring and a
couple of passable flying lariats from Bobby Duncum nullified by some of the
weakest fisticuffs I've ever seen.

David and Ric Flair give a curiously bloodless interview with Mean Gene. Flair
stumbled over the last line, trying to sound emphatic when saying "And David
will ride in the saddle all night long," but ultimately sounded flat. David's
words in the spot were entirely forgettable, and I really think the obvious
choice to tag with Flair would've been Benoit, who got jobbed to Windham on
Thunder. Benoit, who wasn't at Starrcade, and who coulda carried the match to
three stars on chops alone. Benoit, the best worker in the world, who WCW
booking avoids as assiduously as the Giant does steamed vegetables. Just piss
away what sand remains in the hourglass, Ric, by propping up workrate corpses
Windham and Hennig.

Boy, the NWO beating up the LWO is even better in recap form. Though I like the
subtle brilliance of Wight admonishing Hogan for not sending him a memo re: the
NWO reformation.