Sunday, December 27, 2009

Steve Austin Legacy DVD Review

http://www.angrymarks.com/news/View.php?ArticleID=2946

Written by Stevie J.

EXTRACT ....

Steve Austin found his singles push derailed though when Dusty put him in a tag team with Brian Pillman, which Austin was not happy about at first. Austin says that as time went on and they drove down the road together working shows "things started to click" and that they enjoyed making each other laugh. Pillman eventually decided they should be called the Hollywood Blonds and the name stuck. This leads to our first wrestling match of the whole DVD set.

* Hollywood Blonds (C) vs. Dos Hombres (WCW Tag Team Championship steel cage match)

This match is from WCW's Slamboree PPV on May 23rd, 1993. I don't know if Dos Hombres always wrestled under a mask but it's to WCW's benefit here as they had to fool people into thinking Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas were the challengers. Douglas had been fired before the PPV though so Tom Zenk took his place under the mask. Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko even argue they don't know who is Douglas and who is Steamboat due to the masks during the match, and it's all a little absurd because Schiavone then contradicts this by saying he can tell Steamboat is the one wrestling Austin because of his knife-edge chops. The Blonds were a good team and the wrestling here is just fine but I'm not convinced this is the best example of Austin's tag team days they could have included. I do like some of the spots in the match, such as Austin being from the top of the cage like a tree of woe, but manages to escape just before his opponent rams into the fence. Another good spot is when Steamboat takes his mask off just before going to the top of the cage where he does a flying crossbody onto both Austin and Pillman. The Blonds retain when Austin pins Zenk off a Stun Gun and in the words of 'Super Chico' Bryan Alvarez, "This was fine." WINNERS AND STILL WCW TAG TEAM CHAMPS: THE HOLLYWOOD BLONDS.

Personally I think I would have preferred if they had put the career bio and the matches in seperate places, but I realize that probably would have been too much like other Austin releases such as "The Stone Cold Story." Austin talks about how much fun he and Pillman were having together and how over they got with their antics. Unfortunately in the whacky world of pro wrestling "getting over" is often the OPPOSITE of what a promoter wants you to do. Instead of being happy that you were successful in connecting with the crowd the promoter gets upset that a "mid-card act" or "filler team" is more popular than the established veterans or the guys at the top of the card. As a result WCW forced Austin and Pillman to split up, which meant they had to have a feud once the team ended.

Friday, November 13, 2009

11-11-2009,
TheDarkOne


I always wonder what Raw and the E would be like under different management. The great Tom Zenk used to talk at length about this and watching last night's episode made me think of this.
I don't think the program is unwatchable from week to week, but they suffer from using the same tired bits and turns. I wouldn't mind seeing some of the younger talent get wins over DX for example but under the current state of affairs I don't see it happening unless it's a build to another pay per view where the good guy eventually wins. I think the show suffers most from not having a consistent heel champion. Every time Orton gains moment the Champ shows up. It would be great to see Orton, Jericho, and possibly a few others create a stable that would be unstoppable by any of the faces but so many of the heels have been made to look so weak it would be a hard sell.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Vindictive booking.....

A Column by Derek K. for OWW on well regarded workers like SD Jones brought the following response from Harvey McCarthy. McCarthy's piece in turn raises the question - "If it's the job of the booker to fill arenas, why do some bookers downcard wrestlers with huge fan followings?" The answer, according to Dusty Rhodes - "vindictive booking."

"Harvey McCarthy wrote
: ......I don’t think wrestling fans today appreciate what we had in the 1980s. I remember when Jim Powers and Paul Roma were repackaged into winners. They had a reverse decision over the Harts with the help of Mr. T. It was the start of the Young Stallions. Unfortunately, those two men didn’t get along and Vince broke them up. How about when PJ Walker pinned Mike Rotundo on Raw? He became Aldo Montoya not long afterwards. The fact that the “upset” could happen kept us tuned in through out all the other squash matches. Eventually, wrestling switched from pure jobbers to guys that promotions, especially WCW, wanted to bury. Tom Zenk is the best example of someone who many fans consider a jobber because of the way his career ended. He was brought into WCW to be a star. According to online interviews, he was supposed to have been a top five babyface. In the end, he was used to make other guys look good. Ironically, like Lanny Poffo in the WWF, they both started at the top of the card, but ended at the bottom when the bookers changed. Zenk, like Poffo, made good money but their careers stalled when they became “Jobbers to the Stars.” Oddly enough, like SD Jones and Iron Mike Sharpe, they had huge fan followings. Now, wrestling seems to be the same guys recycled over and over again. Why would I care that John Cena is going to face Shawn Michaels at Summer Slam, for example, when they have wrestled 20 times on TV already this year?"

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Ric Flair and the WCW title Debut on WWE TV

September 09, 2009 By: Eric Gargiulo

Ric Flair WWFRic Flair and the WWE made pro wrestling history 18 years ago today. On September 9, 1991 Ric Flair debuted on WWE Prime Time Wrestling with the WCW title. Flair did the unthinkable, leaving WCW without dropping the title and bringing it to the rival. Now you know why Vince McMahon was so afraid of Bret Hart jumping to WCW with the belt?

This was truly a top ten moment in the history of pro wrestling. I remember thinking at the time that it was the greatest thing I had ever seen as a wrestling fan. For years, the Dream Match between Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair had been talked about. Finally, it would happen. On top of that, Flair never dropped the WCW belt and brought it with him. It didn’t get any better for a wrestling fan in 1990.

There was never and probably never will be another moment like this in my lifetime. For one, there is no WWE competition at the level of a Ric Flair in 1990 to steal. Secondly, there are so many legal ramifications in this generation that nobody is going to risk such an act. This was truly one of the last outlaw moments in pro wrestling.

Not everyone was excited about this moment. I talked to several WCW wrestlers at the time who were very angry. Tom Zenk who wrestled as the Z Man in WCW at the time was one of those wrestlers. A lot of the WCW wrestlers took it as a personal slap in the face by Ric Flair. Even one of Flair’s best friends, Barry Windham recently told me that he still hasn’t completely forgiven Flair for what he did in 1990 with the WCW belt. As a WCW wrestler, it didn’t get any more personal than this. Scott Steiner is another WCW wrestler at the time who continues to express bitterness over Flair’s jump.

The story has been told several times by Ric Flair. Flair’s side of the story is that he and WCW executive Jim Herd were constantly at odds. Both were in the middle of a contract negotiation. Herd demanded that Flair drop the belt to Barry Windham. Flair hung up on him and refused. Flair called Vince McMahon, made a deal, and took the belt with him.

It was expected that Flair and Hogan would break records. For whatever reason, Flair was a flop in New York. Former WWE office employee J.J. Dillon has written in his book about the fact that the match didn’t draw and bombed at the box office. In an unheard of move at the time, the WWE canceled their planned WrestleMania main-event of Hogan and Flair a few weeks before the show because of this. The buzz was there, but WWE fans weren’t buying the Nature Boy’s act.

Flair would leave the WWE only a few years after joining the company. Flair returned to WCW amidst controversy. In retrospect, it is quite shocking that Flair was allowed to come back to the company. Flair refused to drop the belt and brought it to the competition with intentions of putting WCW out of business. This wasn’t business for Flair, it was personal. Eric Bischoff was one of the few guys to recognize this and gets a lot of heat today for disrespecting Flair. In hindsight, did Flair deserve anything less?

It is funny to me in looking back on this story. Flair has done a lot of interviews criticizing guys like Hulk Hogan, Dusty Rhodes, and Bruno Sammartino. Flair is first to point out a guy like Lex Luger or Bret Hart for disrespecting the business he professes to love so much. At the same time, none of these guys ever performed such an egregious act in the business as Ric Flair.

Vince McMahon is another one who has dirty hands in this mess. The whole idea behind the screwing of Bret Hart was to prevent him from leaving as champion and taking the belt to WCW. Unlike Flair, Hart had too much class to do something like that. I truly believe him when he says he wouldn’t do it. Someone growing up in a wrestling family at that time in the business would never dream of such a thing. People wonder where Vince McMahon even got the idea of a screw job. It is easy, Vince was scared of retribution!

Happy Anniversary Ric Flair!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

RE-EVALUATING THE CHAMP PART II

Top 25 matches from .....

NWA/WCW Power Hour 1990

Three WCW fans provide their take on the top 25 matches shown on WCW Power Hour in 1990. Zenk's name appears 5 times in the top 10 - something of an achievement given the boys are neither independent thinkers nor Z-fans. Though begrudging in their praise, the numbers do not lie and the re- evaluation continues.....

Top 25
(1) Midnight Express v. Brian Pillman/ Tom Zenk (04/20)- 70 pts
(2) Sting, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson v. Great Muta, Buzz Sawyer, Dragon Master (01/26/)- 68 pts
(3) Arn Anderson v. Great Muta (01/12)- 64pts
(4) Steiner Brothers v. Doom (03/30)- 54 pts
(5) Ric Flair v. Tom Zenk (02/02)- 49 pts
(6) Road Warriors v. Doom (02/23)- 41 pts
(7) Doom v. Tom Zenk/ Brian Pillman (06/16)- 40 pts
(8) Brian Pillman/ Tom Zenk v. Samu/ Joel Deaton (05/04)- 39 pts
(9) Tom Zenk v. Galaxian II (01/05)- 34 pts
(10) Ric Flair v. Tommy Rich (03/09)- 33 pts
(11) Midnight Express v. Lightning Express (08/31)- 32 pts
(12) Cactus Jack v. Eddie Gilbert (03/23)- 29 pts
(13) Rock n' Roll Express v. Doom (07/01)- 28 pts
(14) Ric Flair/ Arn Anderson v. Tim Horner/ Mike Rotunda (10/26)- 25 pts
(15) Brian Pillman v. Tim Horner (09/14)- 24 pts
(16) Freebirds v. Southern Boys (06/23)- 19 pts
(17) Ric Flair v. Robert Gibson (04/06)- 18 pts
(18) Midnight Express v. Tom Zenk/ Brian Pillman (06/09)- 17 pts
(19) Scott Steiner v. Ron Simmons (04/27)- 17 pts
(20) Michael Hayes v. Tracey Smothers (07/14)- 17 pts
(21) Tommy Rich/ Tim Horner v. State Patrol (07/07)- 17 pts
(22) Midnight Express v. Tommy Rich/ Tim Horner (07/22)- 16 pts
(23) Ric Flair v. Eddie Gilbert (01/12)- 16 pts
(24) Arn Anderson v. Buzz Sawyer (01/19)- 15 pts
(25) Bobby Eaton v. Tracey Smothers (09/28)- 15 pts

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Tom Zenk and Lee Scott

Lee Scott is my older brother; amazed there is anything on Youtube for him - he mainly wrestled in the Independents. He said that Muta was the most pure athlete he ever worked with or seen in any capacity. Lee suffered a fractured rib in a match with Tom Zenk (ironically, in the short time that he was there, Tom was one of the people he socialised with most) Lee found his contract had been cancelled while he was on the sidelines.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Dos Hombres (Zenk and Steamboat) vs Pillman and Austin

The Dos Hombres Controversy

from Pier 6er from NY loves Mika Tan

I believe that WCW had released Shane Douglas, but I'm not sure why. It was so obvious to me that Brad Armstrong was under the hood during the Center Stage tapings. I had no idea that Zenk wore the mask at the blowoff cage match against Austin & Pillman until I read about it the following week in the WON. Having Armstrong and Zenk teaming with Steamboat was fine for me, as I found both men to be more talented than Shane Douglas!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

RE-EVALUATING THE CHAMP

WCW/NJPW Rumble In The Rising Sun 1991



Segment 2 - NJPW: (Team Shiny Jackets!) Shiro Koshinaka, Kuniaki Kobayashi, and Takayuki Iizuka vs. WCW: (Team Mullet Power!) Tim Horner, Brian Pillman, and Tom Zenk.

Vice: Vice needs to see more Brian Pillman and Z-Man. This much is obvious. Tim Horner and the Japanese folk.. not so much.

Fun opening match. Japan wins.

Cewsh: MULLETS!



Okay, so this is the 90s. All the Americans have huge, fluffy mullets, and all of the Japanese guys have ridiculously high pants and shiny jackets.
As the match unfolded, I actually found myself impressed, not with Pillman or the Japanese guys, and certainly not with Horner, but instead with Tom Zenk. What the shit happened to Tom Zenk? The guy had an amazing look for the early 90s, and his offense was actually really fun to watch. To say nothing of how fluid a team he and Pillman were. I was really getting into the guy, and it’s a good thing, because I just finished watching the match twelve seconds ago, and I couldn’t tell you anything about the Japanese guys, aside from the old one with the Harley Race sideburns. They were basically just there, and seemed like complete cannon fodder for the Americans.

Which, of course, made it even weirder when the young one (Kobayashi I think?) ran in and hit a Dragon Suplex on Horner to get the win. Seemed completely contrary to the match altogether, but it was probably booked by arrangement between the two companies anyway, so I guess I can see how it would work out that way.

Source

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Time to re-evaluate the champ ....

Readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter will be familiar with Meltzer’s Observer Star Ratings List applied to all major league matches. The following list shows matches scoring between 3 and 5 stars from the JCP/NWA/WCW leagues (i.e. excluding WWF/E)

Zenk features 8 times in match's with more than 3*'s over the period 1990 – 1992, placing him 3rd in the list of top babyfaces for the period, behind Pillman and Sting.

FACES number of matches in the top 92 of 1990 - 92
Pillman 20
Sting 12
Zenk - 8 ( 4 in singles and 4 in tag)
Rhodes - 8
Douglas - 3

HEELS
Eaton - 22
Steiner Bros - 16
Anderson - 14
Flair - 13 (moved to WWF in August 1991 returning early 1993)
Windham - 13
Luger - 10

The List

1990 (34 matches)

2/6/90 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Doom (Titles vs. Masks) ***
2/17/90 Rock & Roll Express vs. Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane ***1/2
2/17/90 Arn Anderson vs. Shane Douglas ***1/4
2/17/90 Ric Flair vs. Brian Pillman ****1/2
2/18/90 Ric Flair/Arn Anderson vs. Rock & Roll Express ****+
2/25/90 Rock & Roll Express vs. Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane ****1/4
2/25/90 Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger ****1/2
3/24/90 Ric Flair vs. Ricky Morton ***3/4
5/19/90 Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane vs. Brian Pillman/Tom Zenk ***3/4
5/19/90 Doom vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner ***1/4
5/19/90 Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger (Cage) ***1/2
6/13/90 Rock & Roll Express vs. Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane ***1/4
6/13/90 Barry Windham vs. Doug Furnas ***
6/13/90 Doom vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner ***3/4
6/13/90 Paul Orndorff vs. Arn Anderson ***
7/7/90 Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane vs. Southern Boys ****3/4
7/7/90 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Michael Hayes/Jimmy Garvin ***1/4
7/7/90 Lex Luger vs. Mean Mark ***
7/7/90 Sting vs. Ric Flair ***3/4
8/18/90 Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane vs. Brian Pillman/Tom Zenk ***1/2
9/5/90 Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair ***3/4
9/21/90 Scott Steiner vs. Bobby Eaton ***3/4
9/22/90 Scott Steiner vs. Ric Flair ***1/2
9/22/90 Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane vs. Southern Boys ***1/2
9/23/90 Scott Steiner vs. Arn Anderson ***
10/?/90 Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner ***3/4
10/27/90 Tommy Rich/Ricky Morton vs. Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane ***1/2
10/27/90 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Nasty Boys ***3/4
10/27/90 Doom vs. Arn Anderson/Ric Flair ***
11/20/90 Brian Pillman vs. Buddy Landel ***1/2
12/16/90 Bobby Eaton vs. Tom Zenk ***
12/16/90 Lex Luger vs. Stan Hansen ***1/4
12/16/90 Doom vs. Arn Anderson/Barry Windham (Street Fight) ****
12/16/90 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Masa Saito/Great Muta ***1/4

1991 (27 matches)

1/30/91 Tom Zenk vs. Bobby Eaton ***
1/30/91 Terry Taylor vs. Ricky Morton ***
2/24/91 Bobby Eaton vs. Brad Armstrong ***1/4
2/24/91 Itsuki Yamazaki/Mami Kitamura vs. Miss A/Miki Handa ***1/2
2/24/91 Terry Taylor vs. Tom Zenk ***1/2
2/24/91 Lex Luger vs. Dan Spivey ***3/4
2/24/91 Ric Flair/Arn Anderson/Larry Zbyszko/Barry Windham/Sid Vicious vs. Sting/Brian Pillman/ Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner (War Games) *****
4/13/91 Ric Flair vs. Brian Pillman ****
4/27/91 Barry Windham vs. Brian Pillman ****
5/19/91 Michael Hayes/Jimmy Garvin vs. Young Pistols ***1/2
5/19/91 Barry Windham vs. Brian Pillman ***1/2
5/19/91 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Sting/Lex Luger ****1/2
5/19/91 Bobby Eaton vs. Arn Anderson ***1/4
5/19/91 Ric Flair vs. Tatsumi Fujinami ***3/4
6/12/91 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Hiroshi Hase/Masahiro Chono ****
6/12/91 Ric Flair vs. Bobby Eaton (2/3 falls) ***1/2
7/14/91 Lex Luger vs. Barry Windham ***
9/5/91 Brian Pillman vs. Badstreet ***3/4
10/27/91 Bobby Eaton vs. Terrence Taylor ***1/2
10/27/91 Steve Austin vs. Dustin Rhodes ***1/2
10/27/91 Lex Luger vs. Ron Simmons (2/3 falls) ***1/2
11/?/91 Bobby Eaton vs. Johnny B. Badd ***1/4
11/?/91 Sting vs. Cactus Jack (Submission or Surrender) ****1/4
11/17/91 Ricky Steamboat/Dustin Rhodes vs. Arn Anderson/Larry Zbyszko ****1/4
11/17/91 Rick Rude vs. Sting ***
12/29/91 Lex Luger/Arn Anderson vs. Terrence Taylor/Tom Zenk ***1/4
12/29/91 Sting/Abdullah the Butcher vs. Bobby Eaton/Brian Pillman ***1/4

1992 (31 matches)

1/?/92 Steve Austin vs. Ricky Steamboat ***1/2
1/21/92 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Big Van Vader/Mr. Hughes ***1/4
1/21/92 Brian Pillman/Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Taylor Made Man/Tracy Smothers ***1/2
1/21/92 Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer (Falls Count Anywhere) ***1/2
1/21/92 Dustin Rhodes/Ron Simmons/Barry Windham vs. Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton/Larry Zbyszko ****
1/21/92 Sting/Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Rude/Steve Austin ***
2/29/92 Brian Pillman vs. Jushin Liger ****3/4
2/29/92 Barry Windham/Dustin Rhodes vs. Larry Zbyszko/Steve Austin ***3/4
2/29/92 Bobby Eaton/Arn Anderson vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner ***1/4
4/4/92 Brian Pillman vs. Brad Armstrong ***3/4
5/17/92 Brian Pillman vs. Tom Zenk ***3/4
5/17/92 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Tatsumi Fujinami/Takayuki Iizuka ***3/4
5/17/92 Sting/Nikita Koloff/Ricky Steamboat/Barry Windham/Dustin Rhodes vs. Rick Rude/Steve Austin/Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton/Larry Zbyszko (War Games) *****
5/?/92 Rick Rude vs. Dustin Rhodes ***3/4
6/16/92 Dustin Rhodes/Barry Windham vs. Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton ***1/4
6/16/92 Jushin Liger/Brian Pillman vs. Chris Benoit/Biff Wellington ****1/4
6/16/92 Terry Gordy/Steve Williams vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner ****
6/20/92 Sting vs. Cactus Jack (Falls Count Anywhere) ****1/2
6/20/92 Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Rude (30:00 Iron Man Challenge) ***1/2
6/20/92 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Terry Gordy/Steve Williams ***1/4
7/?/92 Brian Pillman vs. Steve Austin ***3/4
7/12/92 Ricky Steamboat/Nikita Koloff vs. Jushin Liger/Brian Pillman ***1/4
7/12/92 Big Van Vader vs. Sting ****
8/?/92 Tom Zenk/Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Terry Taylor/Scotty Flamingo ***1/4
9/2/92 Ricky Steamboat vs. Steve Austin ***1/4
9/2/92 Rick Rude/Jake Roberts/Big Van Vader/Super Invader vs. Sting/Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner/Nikita Koloff ***1/4
10/25/92 Ricky Steamboat vs. Brian Pillman ***1/4
10/25/92 Barry Windham/Dustin Rhodes vs. Steve Austin/Steve Williams ***
12/28/92 Barry Windham/Great Muta vs. Brian Pillman/Too Cold Scorpio ***1/4
12/28/92 Ricky Steamboat/Shane Douglas vs. Brian Pillman/Barry Windham ****1/4
12/28/92 Big Van Vader vs. Sting ****1/2

Does anyone have a DVD of this match?



AWF Pumpkin Brawl 1996 with Tom Zenk, Sgt. Slaughter, Santana, Nailz, Sheik

By Brian Hoops, PWTorch.com Specialist Contributor

PW Torch.com Nostalgia Review
"AWF Pumpkin Brawl 1996"
By Brian Hoops, PWTorch.com Specialist Contributor
October 19, 2007

This week's look at nostalgia takes us back to the American Wrestling Federation and the "Pumpkin Brawl 96." The AWF was a national professional wrestling
organization, founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1994 by promoter Paul Alperstein. The organization was short-lived, lasting only until December 1996 and enjoyed only limited success. The company ran several house shows and was building towards running a PPV event, but closed before a PPV card could be put together. The AWF did have syndicated television, however it was on a very limited basis. Sportschannel America, a satellite company carried the program in its weekly block of wrestling during 1995 and 1996. The AWF heavyweight champion was Tito Santana and the tag team champions were Greg Valentine and Tommy Rich.

One of the house shows the company ran occurred October 23, 1996 in Minneapolis, Minnesota called Pumpkin Brawl 1996. The reason this show makes our nostalgia review was the autograph session held prior to the wrestling card and the legends that appeared. As Minneapolis was the heart of AWA territory, several former AWA stars were on hand before the card in an autograph signing session. Stars that were signing autographs included; Rock & Roll Buck Zumhoff, Tito Santana, Sgt. Slaughter, Tom Zenk, Baron Von Raschke, Eddie Sharkey and Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie. The show was broadcast on local cable access with Mick Karsch handling the play-by-play duties.

First match of the evening was Wayne Bloom against the Joker. Wayne Bloom was a former AWA World Tag Team champion and former WWF World Tag Team champion, as one half of the Beverly Brothers. The Joker was a small, local guy in a mask. Bloom didn't work very hard and the match wasn't very good. Finish came when the Joker threw Bloom into the ropes and tried to follow up with a splash. Bloom moved and rolled up the Joker for the three count.



[photo by Wade Keller (c) PWTorch]

Next match is tag team action, featuring former AWA alumnus, former WCW World TV Champion and former WWF World Tag Team Title holder Tom Zenk teaming with local wrestler Billy Blaze against local wrestlers the Chi-Town Thug and The Hater. The Hater had a tryout match with WCW in the late 90's. This was a pretty-good match, considering local independent talent worked most of the match. Zenk worked early in the match, gaining the upper hand on the Thug before tagging in Blaze. Thug and Hater worked over Blaze most of the match, before Blaze made the hot tag to Zenk. Finish came when Blaze threw Thug into Hater's elbow and Blaze covered thug for the pin. Zenk gave Hater a superkick and threw him into the wall after the pin.

Lenny Lane vs. Horace the Psychopath is next. Both guys are local Minneapolis based wrestlers, but Lane would go on to wrestle for WCW in the late 90's, winning the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship. Being at the event live and seeing Lane for the first time, you could tell he had a ton of potential. Horace was doing the escaped inmate from the insane asylum gimmick, but he could hold his own in the ring with Lane. This was a very good match, that had ample time to build. In fact, it was a better match than the majority of what WCW or WWF would put on PPV in 1996. Finish came when Lane gave Horace a flip tope over the top rope to the floor and rolled Horace back into the ring. Lane tried to do a moonsault off the top rope, but Horace moved and did a senton onto Lane then covered him for the win.

Local wrestlers J.B. Trask and Dan Jesser were in the next match. Trask received a tryout match a few years later with WCW in a dark match prior to Nitro. Match itself was nothing special with Trask rolling Jesser up for the pinfall.

Next match is a tag team match; Tito Santana & Sgt. Slaughter vs. The Black Top Bully (Barry Darsow) & Nailz (Kevin Wacholz). Nailz and Bully were managed by Sheik Kaissey. From a nostalgia standpoint, the match was great as all four had wrestled previously in WWF and AWA and had numerous championships between them, however all the guys were past their primes and the match itself wasn't very good. All four guys were counted out of the ring for the finish.

Main event was an over the top battle royal, called "The Pumpkin Brawl." The guys used in the battle royal were the local, independent wrestlers. The in ring action was very good. Horace the psychopath was the Pumpkin Brawl battle royal when he eliminated Lenny Lane.

Summary: I was at this house show live and it was fun seeing some of the stars of the AWA that I grew up watching. The wrestling on the show was very good with the independent wrestlers putting on a strong effort and several showing potential. It was a fun evening of wrestling.

Next week we look go back 15 years and look at the WCW Halloween Havoc 1992 PPV.

I hope you enjoyed this week's column. As always your questions, comments and thoughts are always welcomed, and you can contact me at bhoops@iw.net.rrero vs. Jushin Liger (late '95) – 28 (3)