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WCW Prime: October 14, 1996

It’s always hard to say goodbye, and tonight is no exception. Please stay tuned for a photographic ode to WCW Prime at the end of this recap.

Yes, that’s right. This is it. The end. The finale. We’ve been together for so long. But all amazing things must come to an end, and our never ending line of colorful jobbers, and the smiling face of Johnny B Badd months after his departure will never grace our screens again. It feels almost blasphemous that he was replaced with Lex Luger last week.

CHRIS CRUISE returns for his last hurrah. DUSTY RHODES may have one more moo left in his belly welly.


HUGH MORRUS (with Jimmy Hart and Maxx) vs. LEROY HOWARD

NICK PATRICK referees this one – but if you’re worried about shenanigans, it’s important to note that he is without an evil goatee and his neckbrace, so it’s likely this was taped at some point in mid ’93. I have no idea what WCW is going to do with its years of unaired syndication without this program, but if WCW Pro expands into a second hour, I wouldn’t argue with it. Leroy’s been on the receiving end of more than one Hugh Morrus assault in the past, but we’re going to the well one more time for old time’s sake. It’s a party here on the Prime, with all our old favorites! Morrus wins with No Laughing Matter into the splits for a pin at 2:40. 1/2*

JIM POWERS and THE RENEGADE (with Teddy Long) vs. HARLEM HEAT (with Colonel Robert Parker and Sista Sherri) (in a non-title match)

Dusty starts openly eating on the air, because he couldn’t give less of a crap about this show, or Chris Cruise. He’s usually incomprehensible either way, so it doesn’t change much. I wonder what it is that prompts the bookers of this company to put Harlem Heat on every single show. Did they conduct some sort of marketing study that found viewers were really into seeing Harlem Heat 5 times a week? Do Harlem Heat help with varying demographics? Are they just really fun to wrestle, and all the boys are lined up for matches with them? I’m trying to find a reasonable explanation for the 100+ matches I’ve recapped this year featuring them, without them breaking the *** barrier even one time. Booker hits the Harlem sidekick on Jim Powers, and Stevie locks on his move, the chinlock. Booker starts yelling about the sucka Powers, which really offends Cruise for some reason, and he sets out on a personal mission to defend the fact that he is not, in fact, a sucka. Renegade gets the hot tag in here, but Booker drops a leg across the back of his head quickly to stop any momentum. A double team powerbomb scores the easy pin for the Heat at 5:21. *

M. WALLSTREET vs. JOHNNY BOONE

Cruise asks what the M stands for, which is a GREAT question since he up and changed his name. Dusty goes with “mon-ay!” which is probably not a bad guess since this is WCW. Boone almost scores an upset with a schoolboy for 2. Wallstreet lives to bore, and works a chinlock. For god knows what reason, Dusty starts talking about dikes (and not dykes, which would have served as a quality reason why the show was cancelled), as Wallstreet scores the pin with the Stock Market Crash at 2:59. DUD

DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE vs. DISCO INFERNO

I was about to question what this was doing on the PRIME, but I have to sadly admit that Disco has been little more than a comedy jobber for nearly 8 months now. Page attacks before the bell, stomping Disco like he’s applying for the lead role in American History X. Disco blocks a kick, but takes a discus punch. He goes for a pancake slam, but Disco winds up sunset flipping him instead for 2. Page clotheslines him for daring to show a little offense. After a little more choking, cuz he’s kinky like that, Page drops an elbow right on the penis! He claims it was in the gut, but the camera showed otherwise. Disco finally decides cheating’s his only hope, with a poke to the eye and whips out the Flip Flop n Fly to Dusty’s delight. Swinging neckbreaker nearly gets the win, but Page gets a foot on the rope. Disco celebrates like he won, and starts celebrating … right into a Diamond Cutter at 4:21. *1/2

THE ROCK & ROLL EXPRESS vs. CHRIS BENOIT and ARN ANDERSON (in the Prime Cuts Moo Match of the Week)

These guys must be involved in some sort of polygamous relationship, because I can’t remember the last time the RnR fought anyone else. The fans, under strict military orders, give some love to the RnR. Morton snaps off a rana against Benoit, but that just makes Chris mad, and you DON’T want to make him mad. Morton recognizes, and gets out of Dodge. Gibson hits an enzuigiri, which translated into Dusty is called the “LouGehrig”. On the floor, Arn tries to take off Gibson’s head, but he punches the ring post. Gibson gives it a second shove, just for the hell of it. Back in, Morton dives in off the top, and Gibson drops a knee across the arm. Arn finals has enough of this crap and delivers a little snake eyes, before turning Benoit loose. Ricky is beaten in the corner, and given a back elbow right to the mush. A quick toss sends Morton into the waiting hands of Arn Anderson, who introduces him to the ring post. Arn then takes to distracting the referee for Benoit to slam him face first to the ring steps. Morton tries a sunset flip on his way back in, and after a long struggle and several Arn Anderson punches, it hits and gets 2. Anderson puts Morton in a front facelock to prevent a pin, but Morton fights, so Arn releases and punches Gibson in the face to knock him off the apron. Benoit enters with a quick backdrop suplex, but Morton still has a little life in him which is unusual against Chris. They trade blows, which Benoit wins, and we check back in with Arn. He tries an axehandle blow, but Morton blocks with a kick to the face, allowing Morton to tag in a red hot Gibson. Horsemen are laid out all over the ring! A double dropkick connects, but Morton won’t leave the ring fast enough while Gibson covers, and Benoit flies in with the swandive, Anderson is rolled on top, and the Horsemen win once again at 8:50. Good main event to close out the show’s history. **1/2

And it ends with a final plug for Halloween Havoc.

But I don’t want it to end on this note, oh no. Let’s take one last look back at the 1996 run of WCW Prime, in pictures.
























RIP WCW Prime.

Comments

  1. WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO NOW???!!!


    WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO NOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  2. Was this the end of Chris Cruise in WCW? Did he ever make an appearance on Nitro, Thunder, or Saturday Night?

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  3. You deserve to recap a better show.

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  4. I remember watching WCW Prime whenever I was home from school due to illness. The Moo Match of the Week was a great way to get to tha pay windah.

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  5. Cruise was on WCW Pro until late '96/early '97.

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  6. "I have no idea what WCW is going to do with its years of unaired syndication without this program..."

    That would be perfect for the Network!

    Buddy Valentine reminded me of local legend "Playboy" Buddy Rose. The Gambler looked like a 1995 WWF gimmick.

    I always like Cruise and Rhodes together.

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  7. I'd absolutely recap Pro and Main Event if I had 'em, cuz I'm sick like that.

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  8. Gunther the Nasty LoserOctober 23, 2014 at 12:01 PM

    TGGI

    ThatGDGI "Geronimoooooooooooooo"

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  9. The teammate idea where he doesn't tag them in is cool. I'd worry that this would make those guys look weak, but creative will make that happen either way so might as well have fun with it

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  10. Gunther the Nasty LoserOctober 23, 2014 at 12:02 PM

    Another thing about GamerGate: isn't it rooted in "OMG, gurlz totes can't play gamez, amiright?"

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  11. Yeah, because people actually watched 1999 WCW.

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  12. Has anyone watched a classic wrestling match and gotten so into the action that they got a bit of an erection?

    Because I...uh...totally haven't!

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  13. Gunther the Nasty LoserOctober 23, 2014 at 12:03 PM

    "how about some good news from the world for once?!"

    John Cena and Randy Orton are having their zillionth PPV meeting and #CenaWinsLOL

    /troll with the changes...

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  14. I will assume that Divas matches do not count?

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  15. On the bright side, Bad News Barrett has lots of material. Oh wait, I'M AFRAID I'VE GOT SOME BADDD NEEWWSS.... HE IS INJURED. :(

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  16. People who currently hate WWE with an unbridled passion clearly watch it.

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  17. Favourite old-school video game...Go!


    Mine is NES' TMNT 2: The Arcade Game.

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  18. A: You said "That was almost 3x what they've done on the other network PPVs." Demonstrably false.

    B: What is including 67k international?

    C: According to this (http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2014/0927/581433/wwe-announces-2014-summerslam-pay-per-view-buys/), Summerslam did 60k domestic and 80k international. Battleground did 31k domestic and 68k international. So even if the "almost 3x" was for domestic, false.



    D: In 2013, Summerslam did 300k buys compared to MITB's (the July PPV) 200k. Thus, 2014 Summerslam dropped by the same rate (roughly 50%) as did 2014 Battleground, even discounting the (likely) greater appeal of MITB than a generic PPV like Battleground.


    E: It's possible that the conference call will announce that WWE sold a large number of NEW (i.e. not just renewals) six-month subscriptions the week of Summerslam, which would be a "huge success." But that is speculation at this point.

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  19. I only played that a few times, but I did play the hell out of 1 and 3. I loved both, despite not being a fan of that cartoon.

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  20. Doesn't RAW still get better ratings than WCW did in it's death-throes?

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  21. That Disco Inferno match had to be taped well in advance given that he was pretty much gone from the roster by the end of October 1996 before he got hired back in October 1997.

    It's surprising he was never in the WWF, you'd think his cartoonish gimmick would have been a perfect fit for the WWF.

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  22. This conversation ends at Goldeneye.

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  23. That last sentence is just another reason why you and I will NEVER be friends, Vince Jordan.

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  24. Wasn't a huge gamer but Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was my favorite for PS1.

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  25. That's a good one.

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  26. FINE FINE FINE FINE FINE!!!! (note: Raphael and Michaelangelo were expendable in the 1st one, I always sacrificed them in Level 2, they were basically the human shields. )

    ReplyDelete
  27. Gunther the Nasty LoserOctober 23, 2014 at 12:10 PM

    Adventure

    YOU WERE A SQUARE AND THE EASTER EGG WAS A DOT

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  28. I know it was a joke, but Goldberg beat Jericho in WWE.

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  29. Nope. It's going out of business. We need to DEAL WITH IT. We will only be left with TNA.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Seriously...fuck that swimming level. I'd just let the damn dam blow up!

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  31. I'm not sure if it classifies as "old school" thought I suppose it could, I think they started in like '94: The Myst games were some of my favorite ever. The graphics for the time were extraordinary.

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  32. Gunther the Nasty LoserOctober 23, 2014 at 12:12 PM

    Relevant:

    Just saw something about Robin Williams' daughter, and her name is Zelda. This is one case where you can point, call the person Zelda, and be right

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  33. That's such a Zoe move.

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  34. Chris Jericho gives credit to The Gambler (I'm pretty sure it was The Gambler) for getting him on track in WCW. He said he was about to get released or something and he had a match with the guy and he let the guy lead the match and they had a solid showing and Jericho got his confidence back, etc.

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  35. Two predictions for the Rumble:


    1) If Bryan cannot make it, they'll have Bryan himself address that so the crowd won't be going apeshit for him the entire Rumble card.
    2) If Bryan isn't in the Rumble, Barrett will make his return and the Philly crowd will get behind him BIGTIME.

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  36. Jobbing to Bad News Barrett in the post-WM Raw?

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  37. Stranger in the AlpsOctober 23, 2014 at 12:18 PM

    Renegade!
    Third level boss is a fatty: "You giving up already?"

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  38. I don't think the format is the issue, just how they've handled it. As we've seen in other threads, they're not putting in enough relevant content for the people who would otherwise be willing to pick it up.

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  39. The Gambler and Dean Ambrose - separated at birth?

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  40. Even if Bryan addresses it, the crowd might think he's working them (it's Philly) and still cheer for him.

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  41. Adam "Colorado" CurryOctober 23, 2014 at 12:35 PM

    Link to the Past.

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  42. Yeah, I think at this point he's far enough out of mind that bringing him up at all is probably the wrong move. Then again, two of the last six Rumble winners were surprise returns- Cena '08, Edge '10- by guys whose injuries were perhaps slightly exaggerated for effect.

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  43. I'm not really sure what your argument here is. Rusev is also getting strong booking but no one would argue he's moving the needle, either.

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  44. How "old school" does it have to be? Does Sega Saturn count? If so, the Virtua Fighter series.

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  45. If we consider the 16-bit era "old school": Chrono Trigger.


    If we have to go back to 8-bit: Damn, that's actually a tough one. I'll agree with TMNT 2, over SMB 1 and 3, Legend of Zelda, and Final Fantasy.

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  46. Not old enough. But a damn great game.

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  47. Yeah, I cracked and spent 10 minutes or so reading its Wiki entry, and good lord. I hate being a "you know the problem with society today?" person, but too many people are letting things that should simply be things they enjoy instead define who they are as a person. I like video games. They're great. Don't play them a ton these days, but even when I did I wouldn't have let being a "gamer" define who I am as a person. Too many people who need to (metaphorically in most cases, very real in some though, to be sure) get the fuck out of mom's basement and be a human being.

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  48. Another way for idiots to be parted from their hard (or not)-earned gains.

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  49. Stranger in the AlpsOctober 23, 2014 at 12:55 PM

    Amen, playa!

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  50. Combat.


    Atari 2600.

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  51. Male privilege at it's worse.

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  52. Seriously, even before you get to their lack of talent and reliance on a broken-down, 36-year old shooting guard, Byron Scott's philosophies of "never shoot 3's and foul a lot" are so hilariously goddamn stupid.

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  53. 8-bit era: 3-way tie between Super Mario Bros. 3, Double Dragon (NES), and Mega Man 2.

    16-bit era: Turtles in Time, not close. Yes, I understand the vast library of quality games from this time period. Feel free to fight me about it.

    32/64-bit era: Toss-up between Resident Evil 2 and Super Mario 64. At least they were on different systems.

    Arcade: Final Fight was too good, and The Simpsons and X-Men beat 'em ups were amazing as well.

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  54. It's not good or bad (although it tends to be bad). It' just...(put on shades) evolution.

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  55. You pick Double Dragon I over II? I thought II was superior based on the co-op mode.

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  56. Whaaaaaat? River City Ransom was awesome.

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  57. My favorite arcade game of all time.


    Arkanoid,

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  58. I definitely enjoyed the first DD more. DD2 is good, but the platforming sections are total garbage, not to mention seemingly never-ending. It could just be sentimental, but yeah, I thought the first one was much better.

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  59. I don't stand up for anyone. I'm just saying that Meltzer made up the entire story. Again and again he is wrong about TNA. Dixie might be a little delusional, but at least she doesn't make stuff up like Dave does. Quit defending him.

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  60. Basically, GamerGate is the current fight between gamers vs. gaming critics.


    In a nut shell, a non-white, non-male reviewer gave a bad review to a game. The gamer community (white males of 10-50) decided that bitch isn't qualified to review X game because: 1, she is female, 2, that's it, that's the list.


    Gamers' response is to slut shame her and threaten her publicly and privately. Others speak up. They are accused of having no integrity or being bad people depending on their race, nationality, ethnicity, and what company they work for.


    This has grown so explosively that the world (1st world countries with gamers) are taking side. Most mature people are taking the side of the wronged and the gaming industry. But some famous/somewhat famous people are taking the of the gamers and attacking anybody and everybody who dares speak against gamers in any fashion.


    Certainly a 1st world problem, but it's an interesting reflection of how internet and group mentality has taken hold of possibly an entire generation of gamers (once again, by their own unofficial definition, white males 10-50) against the people who are making the games for them.

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  61. Adam "Colorado" CurryOctober 23, 2014 at 1:13 PM

    Wasn't that for Cena's WM shot, not the title?

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  62. "Cena and Orton can both easily take another loss."


    That's actually part of the problem, in my opinion. Why do I care about Cena or Orton at this point anymore?

    ReplyDelete
  63. Yup. I'm an idiot.

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  64. I think you hit the nail on the head...there's such a drastic gap between what they are trying to pull off booking-wise to how it comes across on TV.

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  65. When you hit somebody they said "barf."

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  66. No I think the Disco picture came from early 1996, as he "bought" DDP's rings when he went broke after losing to Badd at Superbrawl. As I remember, his explanation was that "DDP" stood for "Disco Dance Party."
    Topp Gunn I can see fading into obscurity. He'd never survive once the WWE Wellness Program was in place.

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  67. Oh I meant to reply to you in my post elsewhere. I think the match came from early 1996.
    I remember when Disco was fired, and over in the WWF, Honky Tonk Man was starting his search for a protégé. Almost all of RSPW was sure it would be Disco.

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  68. "Nightswimming" by REM came on the radio just as I was getting to the pictures...made for a great montage

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  69. The M stands for VK.

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  70. As a matter of fact, he is, making his appearance on WCW Saturday Night in July!

    http://shootingstar-press.blogspot.ca/2013/07/wcw-saturday-night-july-13-1996.html

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  71. Was Topp Gunn the younger brother of Billy, Bart and Johnny? Also, I'm glad to see someone else accepting the abject tedium of Mike Rotundo! How Scott had the nerve to once dub him "equally as good" as Ted DiBiase I'll never know! ANOTHER CHINLOCK, IRWIN?!

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  72. Chris, I just want to echo the sentiments of others and say that you do a really great job with these various recaps. Although there have been a few people already to recap WCW shows from this time period, I think your writing is among the most interesting in terms of these recaps.

    I actually went to your site and read every review beginning with January '96 until the present ones. Your sense of humor and wit come through in your writing, and it makes me feel like I'm right back watching these shows (especially your recaps of early NWO storyline).

    Just wanted to say great job again and thanks for taking the time to recap these shows. I truly think you do one of the best jobs of capturing the moment with your recaps.

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