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WCW Prime: October 7, 1996

Friends, we approach the end of an era. This is the second to last edition of WCW Prime. Syndication cancellation is all the buzz. In response, WCW has done the unthinkable; THEY EDITED JOHNNY B BADD OUT OF THE OPENING CREDITS.

Our hosts are DUSTY RHODES, and MIKE TENAY replacing a vacationing Chris Cruise who can stay wherever he is as far as I’m concerned.


GOLDBERG PAT TANAKA vs. REY MISTERIO JR. (for the WCW world cruiserweight title)

Rey has undergone a spelling change on his last name tonight, a staple of WCW programming. He doesn’t carry his title, as per the rules of shows that were taped years ago, but I like to assume this is for the belt, because the idea of Pat Tanaka as a Cruiserweight delights me. Rey takes Tanaka to the floor, and hits a springboard plancha. Dusty declares “Juniah!” one of his favorites. Back in, Rey tries to snap off a quick rana, but Tanaka powerbombs him and that just irritates the canned heat to no end. A clothesline sets up a superkick for 2. Rey is put up top, but he fights Tanaka off and finishes with the West Coast Pop at 2:21. ** Rey remains red hot with the ever necessary Twin African American Female demographic.


ROUGH & READY vs. HARLEM HEAT (with Sista Sherri and Colonel Robert Parker)

Holy crap, can Rough & Ready fight ANYONE ELSE? This feud has been taking place on the G-level shows for, and this is an estimate, 470 years, and I’d really like to get this settled once and for all. Granted, I thought it WAS settled considering Rough & Ready have been doing their finest impression of the Washington Generals, but maybe … just maybe … The quality of this recording goes into a fuzzy haze, and I almost start to wonder if the nWo are taking over THIS show now too, but let’s not kid ourselves. Booker hits a shoulderblock on Slater that sends him to the floor, and he walks around the ring holding his head. Slater comes back and hits Stevie with the Flip Flop and Fly, which excites Dusty and makes the picture even fuzzier and more unbearable. Enos tags in and elbows Booker in the face. Booker comes back with a flying jalapeno, and he starts slamming the crackas. Harlem sidekick is delivered for Enos! All hell breaks loose, and the Rough and Ready boys start double teaming Booker on their side of the ring. Back in, Enos hits a piledriver for 2. They work together for a double Russian legsweep which is kinda sweet, but Booker won’t stay down. A diving headbutt misses, but Enos doesn’t lose control, and comes right back with a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Parker gets involved, but he gets decked. The distraction lets Sherri wallop Enos with the cane, and Booker steals the pin at 7:33. So that was long. *1/2

At this point I completely lose the signal all together, and I assume I miss a match in here somewhere. We return in progress with …

VK WALLSTREET vs. ICE TRAIN

NICK PATRICK is refereeing without his neck brace. Dusty is doing some sort of analogy cartoon trains being turned off their track by an evil villain in an effort to make Ice Train more relatable. Then he wins with the Train Wreck out of nowhere at 1:16 of what aired (and honestly, was probably most of it).

SUPER CALO vs. BRAD ARMSTRONG

Calo has been out for about 3 weeks with an injury, so you can expect him to continue making appearances on Prime and Worldwide through the end of the year. Calo uses a waistlock takedown, but Armstrong reverses the hold. Calo kicks him off, and butt butts him in the face. A triple jump crossbody takes down Armstrong, and a springboard armdrag sends Armstrong to the floor. Calo stalks him, hitting a swinging dropkick, and follows with a slingshot senton to the floor. Back in, a tilt-a-whirl slam sets up a missile dropkick – but Armstrong dodges and Calo hits canvas. A running clothesline levels Calo, and a Russian legsweep finishes at 2:20. The positive news for Calo is that his hat did not fall off. *

THE NASTY BOYS vs. HUGH MORRUS and MAXX (with Jimmy Hart) (in the Prime Cuts Moo Match of the Week)

NICK PATRICK is once again assigned to this, which should favor the Nastys since they are clearly in the nWo. Of course, no Dungeon match is complete without a rabid RON THE LEPRECHAUN running around at ringside, threatening to eat everyone. Drool runs down his face as he chases a camera man around, before retreating to his hole. Morrus tees off on the skull of Knobbs, and follows with an avalanche while the fans chant “NASTY!” A bulldog from Knobbs brings control back his way. Sags enters, and we have CLUBBERIN’! Dusty loses all self-control, and his excitement starts pouring down his leg! Maxx winds up pulling Knobbs to the floor, and sends him face first to the ringpost. He gets rolled in, and Morrus kicks him in the face. No Laughing Matter connects, but Sags makes the save. Maxx tells him to do it again, and you don’t have to ask Morrus twice. This one misses, and Sags gets the hot tag. Elbows are delivered with a little mustard to the face of Maxx, and a powerslam gets 2. Pier 6 breaks out, leaving the Nastys alone to hit their lazy clothesline version of Total Elimination at 6:02. **

Dusty wraps up the show, with a hard sell of Halloween Havoc – calling it the “final chapter” in the war between WCW and the nWo.

Dusty Rhodes wouldn’t lie.

Comments

  1. I'm not a Booker fan at all or prone to defending his ring work but how in the hell was he going to catch him?

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  2. Usually people at the upper echelon of their industry can negotiate a long vacation prior to coming in. It doesn't even make any sense in wrestling to bring him in right away since usually the bulk of storylines and shows are written several weeks in advance. I completely understand bringing him in, I don't understand that they brought him in to do complete reboots and dump everything they had written not once but TWICE.

    Ultimately I think Russo understood the words of a turnaround but not the music. Ideas like Tank Abbott as WCW champion...so, Tank Abbott the UFC heel who mocked his convulsing opponents after they were knocked out? That would be a spectacular heel world champion. Too bad WCW audiences were never introduced to that guy and he never displayed a shred of that character in a wrestling environment.

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  3. WWE's handling of Dean Ambrose is a little bit similar to WCW's handling of Goldberg in 99.

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  4. Hogan vs. Hart on Nitro on the same night as the Austin zamboni Raw. Even with Hogan vs. Hart being a five minute screwjob we will probably never see that much historical importance in a week of wrestling ever again.

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  5. Flair had his formula but he still took a ton of bumps. Think about how many times he got press-slammed and superplexed by huge dudes like Nikita, The Road Warriors, Luger, Sting, Vader, etc. Like you said, crazy that he never really had any major injuries.

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  6. Just a note to say I really enjoy these recaps. Always a good few chuckles in each one. Good stuff, especially with how little you have to work with on shows like this one!

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  7. Austin was never charged and Benoit killed his wife and kid. Yeah, pretty similar

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  8. Intelligence changes over time. Teddy Roosevelt was brilliant in his time.

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  9. What? Austin was absolutely charged.

    http://0.tqn.com/y/prowrestling/1/S/p/H/-/-/austinmug.jpg

    Austin had left the house and was asked by police not to return. On August 14, 2002, Austin was arrested and charged with domestic abuse. He pled no contest on November 25, 2002 and was given a year's probation, a $1,000 fine, and ordered to carry out eighty hours of community service.

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  10. If Bockwinkel were ten years younger, Vince would have grabbed him, re-teamed him with Heenan, and made kajillions with Bockwinkel (essentially working as a Flair proxy) and the Heenan Family against Hogan. He also would have been amazing in Harley's "King" gimmick, but was too far past it by that point.

    Amazingly gifted across the board performer who was as good as any of his peers: Race, Flair, Backlund, etc.; completely worthy heavyweight champion when your champion was YOUR GUY.

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  11. Well, one of them went onto murder their family, and the other one got his shit together and pulled himself out of the shitty situation he created.

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  12. Yeah, it's definitely a mindfuck to consider that we might not have even uncovered a fraction of how much brain damage the things that entertain us cause.

    I played four years of high school football, and as a WR/DB I didn't take the constant little subconcussive hits than linemen take, nor did I ever have a concussion I know of. But I still wonder sometimes if I have any loss of brain function because of playing football.

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  13. Yeah. Jericho even said himself he took some aspects of Bockwinkle for his character in '08

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  14. Yeah, but he got it over because of him, not the move. Edge was awesome. He would've gotten any move over. It was a shitty idea for him to use it because he didn't have the technique or the neck strength to protect himself.

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  15. I stand corrected -- thank you. I still don't think we should ever equate the two crimes.

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  16. Here you go. Enjoy.

    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1nwwgy_nick-bockwinkel-vs-curt-hennig-awa-part-1_sport

    As an aside, there are actually a lot of old Bockwinkel matches on youtube, including some Japan matches. Can get lost for hours in there.

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  17. Go to youtube. There's tons of his old matches there. Awesome stuff.

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  18. Cool. Thanks. Hope it still holds up today as it did when I saw it as a kid on espn.

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  19. Saw him wrestle at an ESPN taping in '86 or thereabouts, when he was AWA champion (after Stan Hansen was stripped of the belt). He was just so...smooth, especially for being over 50. I always thought he should have been a bigger deal in wrestling, though the truth is he was World Champion for 5 years, when the AWA belt was considered a legit world title. I do think he hit his peak at a time when there were still older guys around with a similar look, and was too old when the boom period of the 80's hit. If WWE ever did a disc set for him it'd go on my shelf in a heartbeat.

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  20. I thought Phil Spector was completely railroaded by very poor evidence.

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  21. No, it is about the human spirit and a microcosm for life itself. Life throw obstacles at you daily. And there are few obstacles as immediate as a guy punching you in the face. And that is when you dig deep and ask yourself "Do I have what it takes? Do I fight or do I lay down and hope nothing too bad happens?" And maybe the answer will be "No. There is nothing you can throw at me that I cannot take and overcome. There is nothing you have that will deviate me from my plan and
    Overcome me. Give me your worst."
    Its nice to see the story play out in wrestling and all...its even better in real life. When you see a guy with his jaw hanging off and he's still going, giving everything he's got? You start asking yourself real existential questions. Clearly it is dumb, right?

    You should check out a documentary call When We Were Kings and then come tell me how dumb it is.

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