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Eaton/Havoc 91

I have a feeling I've asked about this before - and forgive me if I have - but your Halloween Havoc 91 rant reminded me about this.

What was up with the Bobby Eaton heel turn in '91? They had just turned him face a few months prior with the York Foundation angle, gave him the TV title for a bit before he lost it to Austin, and then out of the blue, he's introduced as a member of the Dangerous Alliance alongside both Austin and Arn Anderson (whom he beat for the title in the first place). Any insight into this?

In a related question: during the Eaton face turn, I remember a TV match that started out as an Eaton vs. Buddy Landell singles match and switched into an Eaton/Zenk vs. Landell/Taylor tag match halfway through. Anyone else remember that or know where to find it? It's the first time I remember seeing a singles match changed to a tag match partway through.

I definitely remember the tag match for some strange reason, possibly because 1991 was the first time we were able to get TBS and I was all excited to be watching WCW at the time or something.  However, I have no specific insight on the Eaton turn.  I would suspect it was just that Eaton likes working as a heel better, plus he wasn't particularly over in that babyface role anyway.  And wouldn't you want to be tag champions with Anderson rather than facing him for the TV Title?  I know which way I'd vote.

Comments

  1. Well, going by the original promo, Paul said Bobby was his "inside man," but you're right, that's about it.


    As far as the tag match, is this the one you're referring to?

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  2. " And wouldn't you want to be tag champions with Anderson rather than facing him for the TV Title? I know which way I'd vote."

    Storylinewise I wouldn't trust Double A as far as I could throw him (unless I was Ric) so I'd actually rather know he was against me than with me (because I know he'd not be with me for long...)

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  3. When he joined the Dangerous Alliance wasn't it initially Zbyszko that teamed up with Arn? I didn't think Bobby and Arn started tagging until Larry got kicked out.

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  4. Right, then Larry got moved into the Enforcer role while Arn and Bobby became the regular tag-team.

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  5. I thought Eaton's face TV champ run was awesome. He may have been my favorite TV champion. Just had awesome matches every week and showed a toughness that didn't always come through in Midnight Express matches where they primarily out-finessed their opponents.

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  6. Was there ever a more underrated wrestler than Bobby Eaton? Guy could work as a tough heel (MX, Dangerous Alliance), semi-comedy heel (Bluebloods) or as a meat-and-potatoes no-nonsense face, and deliver terrific work all around. Christian's brief face runs since his WWE return have reminded me of Eaton's work as a face --- just a respected, veteran worker who is still capable of beating anyone on any given night.

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  7. Bobby eaton is unbelievably underrated.

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  8. Well he was only champion for a week, but yeah, it was a really good week.

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  9. That explanation just smacks of retcon to me. Eaton, "close friend of Sting?" That would work if they pulled the trigger on the Pillman heel turn here, but that was about a year away. Eaton was a babyface less than six months before turning back heel.

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  10. And no, that's not the tag match. This happened that same weekend (in TV terms). I think the Eaton-Landell match that turned into a tag match was on a morning show (Saturday morning), and then this match aired on Sunday night.

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  11. I guess in my memory I lumped his entire time in that scene as him being the champ.

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  12. In fact it might have even been less, as he won the belt at whatever PPV (Superbrawl, I think) and then dropped it to Steve Austin at the very first TV taping after that.

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