Re-Making an iMPACT - #6 - The Naturals v Triple X (James & David Marston)

TNA Xplosion #85 Results (3rd July 2004) - Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling #105 Results (7th July 2004)

We called the last episode we looked at "The worst episode of iMPACT so far" and considering the show has hardly set the world a light in it's first five week's on the air, that's not a great sign for this fledgling product! Could TNA do any better for this 9th July 2004 edition of the show? 

The main event would see the first use of the time limit gimmick as a newly re-formed Triple X (Primetime & "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels) would come out victorious over new NWA World Tag Team Champions The Naturals (Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens) via judge's decision after Larry Zybszko awarded them the match. This was one of the strongest tag bouts that has featured on iMPACT over the last six weeks, with the two teams gelling well and producing a pacy contest that played to the strengths of the two teams. A sequence following the hot tag, where Daniels would hit both the Best Moonsault Ever and the Angel's Wings for near falls was extremely well put together. The one thing that majorly bugged me about the match was that the teams ended up swapping the sides of the ring they were in, which made the production feel a tad amateur. The time limit gimmick was used nicely, building up Primetime & Daniels, whilst not having to have the World Tag Team Champions get pinned. America's Most Wanted ran off Douglas & Stevens after the match, but the main beat at the very end was the tease of a potential rematch between the teams after they had two well-received bouts in 2003. 

In the show closer, Team Canada's Petey Williams would come out victorious over X Division Champion AJ Styles and Chris Sabin in a triple threat, after nailing Sabin with a Canadian Destroyer. Now, when you look at  the three names in this bout, you know you're going to get a good match and that's exactly what we got here. With a superb pace, the match was full of spots involving the three men, like Williams reversing a middle rope Styles Clash attempt into a rana sending Styles crashing on a grounded Sabin, a DDT combination by Styles and Sabin's funky enziguiri and DDT combination. There's also a great near fall thrown in, when Sabin hit Williams with a Gory bomb, only for Styles to break up the cover with springboard 450 splash. The timing of the spot makes the moment. The finish was put together nicely with Styles being more focused on hitting a tope conhilo onto rivals Michael Shane and Kazarian at ring-side,  before Scott D'Amore's distraction prevented Sabin from hitting the Cradle Shock and Williams to take advantage for the pinfall. A fun and clever match featuring three of the brightest talents for the first month and a half of the show. 

If two previous matches made this sound like a pretty good show, we also had The Elite Guard (Collyer, Hernandez & Onyx) going over 3 Live Kru (BJ James, Konnan & Ron "The Truth" Killings in a seriously shite match. Considering all three of The Elite Guard have a number of years of experience under their belts, they all look incredibly green, awkwardly taking 3LK's offence and barely being allowed any of their own. To be fair to them, when Konnan hits the ring for a hot tag, the 39 year old just stands still in the centre of the ring, whilst the Elite Guard bump around him, including a nasty hip toss to the outside. The finish is a load of bollocks also, as Jeff Jarrett turns up while Konnan has a Tequila Sunrise on Collyer, whack old Konnan 2012 on the head with a guitar, before Hernandez gets the pin. IF HERNANDEZ WAS THE LEGAL MAN, WHY HAD KONNAN GOT COLLYER IN THE TEQUILA SUNRISE? You fucking shitter, Konnan. The best thing about this entire debacle was when Elite Guard marched to ring in their berets! Then to make things just that little bit worse, Dusty Rhodes (58) & Larry Zybszko (52) meandered to the ring to scare off Jarrett & Elite Guard after the match. 

The rest of the show, featured a couple of squash matches as Kazarian & Michael Shane went over D-Ray 3000 & Shark Boy, whilst Abyss and the newly christened "Baby Bear" Alex Shelley (because he's managed by Goldylocks, geddit? Hawhaw) dispatched of Jerrelle Clark & Mikey Batts. We also got a rambling promo from Dusty Rhodes & Larry Zybszko following their run-in, to promote a ten man tag team GUITAR ON A POLE match for the PPV in five days time (wowza). 

Results 

Tag Team Match: Triple X - "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels & Primetime def. The Naturals - Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens in ten minutes

Tag Team Match: Kazarian & Michael Shane (with Traci) def. D-Ray 3000 & Shark Boy in 3 minutes, 15 seconds 

Tag Team Match: "The Monster" Abyss & "The Baby Bear" Alex Shelley (with Goldylocks) def. Jerrelle Clark & Mikey Batts in 2 minutes, 58 seconds 

Six Man Tag Team Match: The Elite Guard - Collyer, Hernandez & Onyx def. 3 Live Kru - BJ James, Konnan & Ron "The Truth" Killings in 3 minutes, 48 seconds

Three Way Match: Petey Williams (with Scott D'Amore) def. AJ Styles and Chris Sabin in 5 minutes, 47 seconds

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4/10 

The two top matches on this show are strong television bouts, both with different things to enjoy about that and both being very easy to watch. It's unsurprising that these matches feature those who have become the highlight of iMPACT in it's first 6 weeks, like AJ Styles and Chris Sabin, with Christopher Daniels being added to the mix this week and heavily impressing. Like previously, the storyline surrounding the NWA World Heavyweight title continue to hold the show back, as the weekly PPV's mean that TNA is having to try to promote ten man tag team bouts with a guitar on a pole. Over-looking the major talent on their roster, guys like Dusty Rhodes and Larry Zybszko, who are years past their prime are being presented as world beaters, for reasons that continue to escape me. That's before getting into the ridiculous Elite Guard or how much 3 Live Kru suck. 

Still, it was definitely better than last week's edition! 

Remaking An iMPACT - #1 - AMW vs. Kash & Dallas (James & David Marston)

Welcome to a new series of reviews looking at the history of TNA's iMPACT (later Impact Wrestling) television show. We'll be moving episode by episode, starting with three episodes a week, following the storylines and giving opinions on the matches and moments. This first episode was broadcast on 4th June 2004 and comes at an interesting time for TNA as they had been running weekly PPV's on Wednesdays since June 2002 and an hour-long show called Xplosion had been syndicated since November of that year. 

The company is also still affiliated to the NWA, using the NWA World Heavyweight Championship (held by Jeff Jarrett) and World Tag Team Championships (held by Dallas & Kid Kash) on their product, whilst they have re-branded the NWA X Championship as the TNA X Division Championship (held by Kazarian) just prior to the launch of iMPACT. In a questionable move, titles can change hands by disqualification and count-out. Vince Russo is the on-screen authority figure. When the show launched on FSN, time limits were used for all matches with title matches being allowed 30 minutes and non-title match 10 minutes. If the matches go to a draw then a judge will used to choose the winner, with Dusty Rhodes initially taking on that role. The show aired at 3pm on a Friday and held a TV PG rating. Mikey Tenay and Don West are our commentary team.

NWA TNA Xplosion #80 Results (29th May 2004) - NWA Total Non-Stop Action #100 Results (2nd June 2004)

The biggest match on the card see's "Wildcat" Chris Harris and "Cowboy" James Storm, known collectively as America's Most Wanted win their fourth NWA World Tag Team Championship, after sealing a victory over Dallas (Lance Archer, Lance Hoyt, Vance Archer) and "The Notorious K.I.D." Kid Kash. It's a great idea to have a title change on the first episode, as it gives the show some gravitas from the very start, telling us that despite the company still running weekly PPV's that they'll be taking their television product seriously as well. It's a fairly basically structure tag match with Dallas and Kash controlling the pace with a series of cool looking double teams. The heels look much better as a tag team than as they do as individuals, with Dallas especially looking very ropey in there on his own. The finish of the bout could have a been a little tighter as Harris rolls up Dallas after Dallas awkwardly gets back into ring after crotching himself on top rope. Special mention to Harris seemingly killing Kash with a spear in the closing stages. 

In a great opener, Hector Garza, Sonjay Dutt and The Amazing Red went over Team Canada trio Bobby Roode, Eric Young and Petey Williams in a six man tag contest that showcases the X Division style brilliantly. Following some good heel work from Team Canada that saw Red in the face in peril role, the match would come alive with a spectacular breakdown sequence that saw all six men bouncing around the ring. Despite a slight timing issue in the closing moment involving Garza being out of position, the closing two minutes see Young nailing Youngblood, Red hitting Code Red, Williams busting out the Canadian Destroyer, Dutt turning a Crucifix Powerbomb from Roode in a lovely hurricanrana before Garza got the pinfall with a Tornillo. It's exciting and ridiculously pacy and act as strong hook for the rest of the show, as there's another multi-man X Division bout advertised to close the show. 

iMPACT's first major talking segment is a bit of mess, as it begins with Mike Tenay interviewing Dusty Rhodes and some how segues to BJ James (Road Dogg) challenging Jeff Jarrett to a match with the entire 3 Live Kru (also including Ron Killings (R-Truth) and Konnan). Rhodes rambles on more than a little, but basically he was saying that Jeff Jarrett was disrespecting the history and tradition of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, with a cocky Jarrett then running Rhodes down for being old. By this point Rhodes is almost 60, so Jarrett does have a point! "Double J" then uses a weird ten paces and turn gimmick, only for "The American Dream" to hit with his hat a few times. It looks as ridiculous as it sounds. Killings would try to make the save, although ended up looking like a real chump as he takes a guitar shot to the head within minutes. I have no idea who this segment was supposed to get over, but we're left with Jarrett having to run a gauntlet of 3 Live Kru member on the next PPV. 

The closing match of the show is a Four Way match with AJ Styles coming out victorious over Chris Sabin, Primetime (Elix Skipper) and Michael Shane for a shot at Kazarian's X Division title, after pinning Shane with a Styles Clash. For the final match on the first episode, this is lacking a big match feel, as only Styles receives an entrance with it being made very clear that the story was "The Phenomenal One" had returned to the X Division. The match however is fast-paced and spots based and makes for very easy viewing. There's a smashing moment where Primetime walks along the top rope and delivers a rana to Shane sending both men crashing to the outside. Although the time gimmick means we couldn't have seen much more action, the bout does feel a tad too short (just over 6 minutes) and lacks the excitement that the six man tag bouts closing sequence had. 

In other action, Abyss would be victorious over Shark Boy in a squash match.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.81/10

As first episodes go, this was a good effort from TNA with the in-ring action all being of a high quality. Choosing to focus on the X-Division and Tag Team ranks was a wise decision as we get to see some exciting action, that feels different from the other products available at this point. Talent likes AJ Styles, Chris Sabin, James Storm, Bobby Roode and Amazing Red shine bright across the card, however it's interesting that no one who a mainstream audience would have been previously exposed to has a match. The non-wrestling segment is the only real drag on the show, as it doesn't seem to have been thought through. This might be a case of the weekly PPV's causing irregular storytelling, we've got those running simulataneously with iMPACT until another three months though, so we better used to it! 

Next time -  Team Canada vs. Team Mexico

Retro Review: NWA Bunkhouse Stampede

Get your retro hats and your old-school slippers on and settle in for Retro Review!


In this week's edition we travel back to 24th January 1988 for NWA's one and only Bunkhouse Stampede PPV. WWF just so happened to hold the inaugral Royal Rumble on the same day, Mats Wilander was defeating Pat Cash in the final's of the Australian Open Tennis and Belinda Carlise was rocking the UK charts with Heaven is Place on Earth. 


The PPV focused around the eponymous Bunkhouse Stampede match, an eight man battle royal with a Steel cage around the ring. Arn Anderson, Dusty Rhodes, Ivan Koloff, Lex Luger, Road Warrior Animal, The Barbarian, The Warlord and Tully Blanchard are all on hand to take part it that one, whilst Ric Flair, Road Warrior Hawk, Bobby Eaton, Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff and more appear on the undercard.


Before the show kicked off the Nassau Colliseam was treated to a dark match that saw Sting & Jimmy Garvin go over The Sheepherders by disqualification in 11 minutes and 45 seconds.

 Match 1 - NWA World Television Championship - 

Nikita Koloff (C)

 vs. 

Bobby Eaton with Jim Cornette

I can't get my head around the opening match of a PPV going to a 20 minute time limit draw. I mean, maybe if it's a balls to the wall kind of bout with loads of near falls, fought at a fast past that leaves both men exhausted, then perhaps it might just about work, lifting the crowd for the rest of the show. But this is completely the opposite. Despite the commentary team of Jim Ross and Bob Caudle putting over the idea that Eaton should be using his pace to get the better of the stronger Koloff, he decides to do the complete opposite and we get Eaton slapping on a hammerlock at every given opportunity. One of them lasts for four minutes. Four minutes of Nikita Koloff in a hammerlock. Take my monies, NWA. 


There's a few moments that manage to stop this one being a complete dud, like a sweet missile dropkick from Eaton and Jim Cornette running his mouth at ringside (although he's pretty redundant in the story of the bout), but that's maybe a minute worth of stuff in a 20 minute bout. I found myself willing the time to go quicker, with the ring announcer letting us know how long was left in the bout, and anyone with a brain knowing exactly what was going to happen when the pair refused to up the pace for the entirety of the bout. If someone offer you the opportunity of watching this match or placing your testicles in deep fat fryer, take up the latter option. 


Winner - NO ONE via time-limit draw in 20 minutes *STILL CHAMPION*


Next PPV - Koloff would be in action at NWA's next PPV The Great American Bash in July, teaming with Sting to challenge for Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard's WORLD tag team titles in ANOTHER time limit draw! Eaton would also be in tag team action, with Midnight Express partner Stan Lane, winning the UNITED STATES tag titles from The Fantastics.

Match 2 - UWF Western States Heritage Championship

Barry Windham (C)

vs.

Larry Zybszko with Baby Doll

There is absolutely no need for this one to go almost 20 minutes, after the previous bout had gone to a time limit draw. The three (including Baby Doll as she plays a big part in the bout, well it's conclusion, at least) clearly didn't have 20 minutes worth of ideas and therefore this bout is full of stalling and rest holds. Although, I'm not sure I'd call a heel hook a rest hold, but that's how it's treated here. I found it hard to suspend my disbelief that Windham would either be able to take the pain for the length of time he spent in the hold, or it the hold wasn't hurting that much that he would just quickly get out of it. Windham sold the leg well for a while, but quickly forgot about towards the end. The one big spot that the injury lead to, the looked like Zybszko was supposed to rotate out of a vertical suplex to get a cover, was completely botched and ended up in a some kind of weird brain buster situation. 


That being said, this a much better bout than the opening contest, with the duo at least trying to put together some decent sequences of action, with the pace really building in the last five minutes or so. I thought that the finish was perhaps trying to be a bit too clever, with the ref getting bumped and Windham believing he won the match with a small package because, according to Jim Ross, Baby Doll was counting the pinfall at ringside. Of course, the cameras completely missed this and Windham celebrated like the stupid babyface he is with the referee clearly down in the corner. Baby would hand Zybszko hear shoe, which would lead to "The Living Legend" winning the title when the ref miraculously recovered.


Winner - Zbyszko via pinfall in 19 minutes and 16 seconds


Next PPV - Barry Windham would defend his newly won United States Heavyweight Championship against Dusty Rhodes at The Great American Bash. Zybszko wouldn't be seen again on PPV until February 1991's WrestleWar where he'd team with Barry Windham, Ric Flair and Sid Vicious to defeat Flyin' Brian, Sting and The Steiner Brothers in the main event War Games match.

Match 3 - NWA World Heavyweight Championship - 

Ric Flair (C) with JJ Dillon

vs.

Road Warrior Hawk with Paul Ellering

With the majority of NWA's World title calibre talent in the main event, Road Warrior Hawk got World title shot, because why not? This is the strongest match on the card, but it featured Ric Flair so you should have known that already. Flair leads Hawk to an enjoyable 21 minutes (yes another, long ass match, but this one probably deserved the time most) that tells a solid story of Flair being unable to match Hawk's power, so resorting to a number of cheap tricks (low blows, eye rakes etc.) to take control of proceedings. The prototypical chicken shit heel, it was cool to see all the Flair trademarks present here, including working the leg after Hawk injures his knee doing a fist drop (Figure that one out!)

It's a real shame that this match has such a terrible finish. Flair just twats Hawk with a chair in front of the referee and get's disqualified. Like what the fuck Flair? You're more clever than that. Get Dillon to distract the ref then hit Hawk in the knee with the chair and slap on the Figure Four. Was it that hard? This is babyface levels of stupidity. This finish may have been acceptable if we'd gone less than ten mintues, but heading past the 21 minute mark and pulling this shit is not cool. I was invested in the action and wanted a conclusive finish. Damn you, Dusty Rhodes and you're stupid booking.

Winner - Hawk via disqualification in 21 minutes, 39 seconds. *STILL CHAMPION*

Next PPV - At The Great American Bash, Flair succesfully defended his title against Lex Luger in the main event. Road Warrior Hawk would slip down the card to compete in the Tower of Doom match, teaming with Jimmy Garvin, Ronnie Garvin, Steve Williams and Road Warrior Animal to defeat Al Perez, Ivan Koloff, Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda and The Russian Assassin

.

There's a lovely bit of stalling before the main event, as Ross and Caudle scramble to cover time as the steel cage is put up. Highlights include Caudle running down the behind the scenes staff who have put the show together, the pair trying to make sense of the finish of the Windham vs. Zbyszko bout and covering the previous Bunkhouse Stampede bouts. It's at a point like this that WWE would throw to a backstage segment today.

Match 4 - Steel Cage Bunkhouse Stampede

Arn Anderson

vs.

Dusty Rhodes

vs.

Ivan Koloff

vs.

Lex Luger

vs. 

Road Warrior Animal

vs.

The Barbarian

vs. 

The Warlord

vs. 

Tully Blanchard

This gimmick is just stupid. It really is. Think about it, it's a battle royal, so to be eliminated your feet need to touch the floor, but the ring is surrounded by a steel cage. So how on earth is someone going to make your feet touch the floor, if you don't want them to? Stay on the ground and stay away from the door and you'll perfectly fine, right? Nah, guys are climbing onto the top rope and rolling around by the open door and all sorts. This makes it ridiculously hard to suspend your disbelief for the entirety of the bout.  I get the idea that the cage is there to make things harder and to make a wrestler look stronger for eliminating everyone, but in practice it just doesn't work. 

The first elimination is Warlord and Barbarian getting Koloff over the top after SIXTEEN minutes. SIXTEEN minutes for the first elimination. What happened in those first sixteen minutes? Absolutely nothing. There's some brawling and some more brawling and then a little bit more brawling. With eight men in there, all going at for themselves, this is pretty boring. The other eliminations come through the door and involved multiple people falling out the door, with Warlord and Animal both tumbling out at around the 18 minutes mark, before Anderson, Luger and Blanchard awkwardly exit the cage about four minutes later. None of these eliminations make anyone look good and neither do they make me want to see a fight between any of the competitors in the near future.

In fact, no one comes out of this one looking like a star, because there is really no attempt to tell a story and what you get is eight guys wandering around hitting each other for 26 minutes. Even the winner Dusty Rhodes doesn't look as good as I'm sure he was hoping he would have when he booked himself to win his FOURTH Bunkhouse Stampede in a row, as despite being a little bloodied, he only manages to eliminate Barbarian and does very little else all match. On the strength of this shit alone, Rhodes deserved to get fired from his job as booker, if you look at the booking at the booking for the rest of the PPV it's surprising that he ever got given the book again.

Winner - Dusty Rhodes in 26 minutes, 21 seconds

Next PPV - At The Great American Bash, Dusty Rhodes would get a shot at Barry Windham's NWA United States Heavyweight Championship, Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard would team up to defend the NWA World Tag Team titles in a time limit draw with Nikita Koloff & Sting, Lex Luger would challenge for Ric Flair's NWA World Heavyweight championship and Road Warrior Animal and Ivan Koloff would be on opposite sides of a Tower of Doom match. The Barbarian and The Warlord would jump to the WWF, becoming the Powers of Pain, defeating The Bolsheviks at SummerSlam in August.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 3.5/10

This is a piss-poor PPV, avoid it in it's full form at all costs. Ric Flair, at least, manages to pull an entertaining bout out of Road Warrior Hawk, that is worth a watch if you get the chance, but even that is hampered with some stupid, stupid booking. The opener and the main event are just terrible, with the opener being one of the most boring bouts that I've ever seen. 

This PPV deserves it's place on the ATPW Scale (for the time being, at least) of dead last!

NEXT TIME - WCW Halloween Havoc 1998

Diamond Dallas Page challenges Goldberg for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. Chris Jericho, Bret Hart, Sting, Scott Hall and Raven are also on the card. Oh...and the infamous rematch between Hollywood Hogan and The (Ultimate) Warrior.

WWE United We Slam: The Best of The Great American Bash DVD Review

WWE's United We Slam: The Best of The Great American Bash is out now on DVD and Blu Ray, available from www.wwedvd.co.uk. The three disc set, features some of the biggest and best clashes to take place at NWA and WCW's versions of the PPV. WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes is on hand to present the set, which includes matches from WCW greats like Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, The Road Warriors and Terry Funk.

 

It would be rude to start this review, without talking about United We Slam's presenter, if you wheel, "The American Dream" himself, Dusty Rhodes. Dusty pops up every now again, much more regularly than we have seen on previous releases, to give the viewer some background information on some of the feuds and matches, as well as any changes in WCW that ocurred in between. What Dusty lacks in coherence, he more than makes up for in sheer hilariousness (That's a word now). Every single scene he's part of had me in absolute stiches. His introduction to Mike Awesome and "Diamond" Dallas Page's Ambulance Match is perhaps the best thing I've ever witnessed on a wrestling DVD. 

The setting of the NXT Arena at Full Sail University works much better than what we saw when Booker T presented WCW's Greatest PPV Matches from the cheap seats before a Raw taping, as the special set they've created gives the segments a unique feel. We're also treated to Dusty putting down some commentary (alongside Larry Zybyszko and others) on some of the earlier matches on the set, which once again is unintentionally hilarious and extremely entertaining. My only complaint here would be, that I wish these commentary tracks had been optional, as it would have been nice to view these matches as they had originally aired.

Kicking off the matches on the set, is 1985's NWA World Heavyweight title encounter between Ric Flair and Nikita Koloff. Ric Flair is made to look like an absolute star throughout the match, not only arriving by arriving in the helicopter, but clearly outwrestling Volkoff for the majority of the match. The match is crisp and technical as you'd expect, with a slow and old school (in both storyline and execution), that may not appeal to someone only exposed to what's on offer in 2014. A botched finish is perhaps the only thing that holds this match back. 

A tag team encounter between Rock N' Roll Express and The Minnesota Wrecking Crew from the 12th night of the 1986 tour, similarly to the previous match is very of it's time. The finish is very done, with lots of exciting near falls, but your reaction will depend on your opinion on the use of time limits.

From the same show, Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair put on a classic NWA World Heavyweight title bout. The storytelling is sublime, with Flair working Rhodes' leg and Rhodes' selling it for all it's worth. The crowd is completely into everything each man does, and by the time Rhodes launches into his comeback sequence, the crowd is red hot. A match that should be studied by any wrestler who wants to get a crowd invested in their matches. 

Flair and Rhodes face off again next, this time as part of a War Games Match from 1987, with Rhodes joined by The Road Warriors and Nikita Koloff, whilst Flair teams with Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Lex Luger & J.J. Dillon. A truly brutal encounter, that is put together superbly, the hatred between the men in the ring, emanates through the screen. It is a shame however that the footage is fairly poor, with a nasty buzz running throughout the footage. 

Sting and Lex Luger team up to take on The Road Warriors in 1988  (strangely not at The Great American Bash), in a match that really wasn't for me. As soon as Hawk no-sold at piledriver from Sting, who promptly no sold as suplex himself, I was instantly switched off. No selling can work extremely well, however I think that no selling a Piledriver is just plain stupid, pretty much ruining the move for anyone else who planned to use it later on in the show. 

Starting Disc 2, Sting puts in a much better performance against The Great Muta from 1989 "Glory Days". The two men put on a much flashier match than previously seen on the set, which is refreshing after a number of old-school style belt. But it quite simply isn't long enough for the men to tell the story they are attempting to tell, it could easily have gone another five or ten minutes, which would have made the finish make a lot more sense. 

However, all those problems seem to fade away fairly quickly during the next match. Of course, it's Terry Funk vs Ric Flair from the same show. It's everything you'd expect it to be and more, telling a great story in the ring, whilst being marvelously brutal at the same time. The crowd is red, red hot, building towards an electric finish. One of those matches that every wrestling fan should watch at least once. 

In the only repeat from WWE's WCW's Greatest PPV Matches DVD release from earlier in the year, Ric Flair is back again, this time against Sting from 1990 "New Revolution". I really wanted to like this match, but I didn't. It's not particularly a bad match, it's just not very good. The psychology of Flair working Sting's leg to build for the Figure Four Leg Lock is completely void as Sting barely sells the leg, in fact Sting barely sells anything. I counted about five no-sells from Sting in this match, including one when Flair irish whips him into the barricade, and after the second they became completely meaningless as the crowd stopped popping for them. The finish is the highlight of the bout, but again is undercut by Sting refusing to sell his injured knee. Perhaps this bout is harmed by coming straight after Flair v Funk.

That makes it even more confusing that WWE decided to put the Fabulous Freebirds vs The Steiner Brothers from earlier in the 1990 show, after that shows main event. It's a decent slice of tag team action, showcasing The Steiner Brothers superbly, as they pull of a number of good looking moves, including a Tiger Bomb and a Frakensteiner from Scott. The Freebird also have sparkly trousers on, everyone loves Sparkly trousers, right?

There's more tag team wrestling up next, from 1992 as Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes take on Steve Austin & Rick Rude. It's another old school tag team bout, with the crowd completely invested in the four guys in the ring. There's nothing particularly flashy, but the story told in the ring is a good one and by the time the hot tag hits I was on the edge of my seat. 

From the same show, Vader and Sting go to war in a belter of a bout over the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. These two character fit perfectly together, both working their specific role fantastically, creating a dramatic and entertaining bout. Sting has improved so much since his previous bout with Flair and looks every inch the star that WCW wanted him to be and despite some questionable headgear on his walk to the ring, Vader is right up there with him. The finish is clever and feels fresh and the crowd buys into every second of it. I'll definitely hunt out some more of their matches after this one. 

We head into the third disc, as The Great American Bash emerges from a three year absense with Ric Flair taking on "Macho Man" Randy Savage in 1995. It's a bout that brings a lot more of a "sports-entertainment" style than the previous matches, but still delivers, in buckets. The story telling is what you'd expect from these two, with Flair's offence looking even better because Savage bothers to sell it! I was completely drawn into the drama, involving Savage's Dad, Lanny Poffo, and Flair's dastardly actions made it easier to cheer on Savage, even from behind a TV Screen and nine years.

The only promo segment on the set is, the historically significant appearance of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash from the 1996. Just one month before the formation of the nWo, the pair talk about the upcoming bout at Bash at the Beach, with Hall in particular cutting a belter of a promo. It's always fun to see Eric Bischoff take a nasty bump through a table as well. A worthy inclusion.

1998's Falls Count Anywhere Main Event between Randy Savage and Diamond Dallas Page follows on, I was so so disapointed with this match, as it start really nice with Savage working over DDP's taped ribs, which DDP sells really nicely, however all of a sudden it just goes completely nuts. It's clear that ECW was begining to have an influence on WCW's style, as we get a brawl around the arena, a piledriver to the referee and then a brawl through a picnic based set. Yes, a picnic area that just happened to be at the top of the stage. It was actually a pretty good match, until one of the booking team lost their mind.

It's then onto a trifeca of Cruiserweight matches, kicking off with 1998's opening match pitting Psiscosis against "Ultimate" Dragon (Obviously Ultimo Dragon would have been too mental a name for WCW's fanbase to handle) This wasn't exactly what I had been expecting from two lucha based wrestlers, as it's slow and really quite dull for the first ten minutes. It does pick up towards the end, as we get the customary lucha flips and such, but it doesn't make up for those first ten minutes. 

The compulsory Eddie Guerrero match on WCW set see's the WWE Hall of Famer take on Chavo Guerrero, Jr, from 1998, in a match that is, to be brutally honest, a bit shit. Without any explanation of their feud, it is really difficult to work out who is the heel, as they both use under handed means throughout the match. The crowd couldn't give a rats arse either, as they alternatively chant "Boring" and "We Want Flair". It's neither mans best match, that's for sure.

A similarly compulsory Chris Jericho match features Jericho taking on Dean Malenko for the vacant Crusierweight Championship, also from 1998. This was probably my favourite out of three cruiserweight bouts, until the finish that is. The action is crisp and technical as you would expect, with a number of very nice reversals done at a decent pace. The match is let down by very little crowd reaction, apart from a tremendous roar for Malenko's Texas Cloverleaf and a dodgy finish, that really had no place on one of WCW's biggest PPVs. 

Another match from 1998, see's Two All-Star team square up in a truly terrible match. Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart taking on Randy Savage and Roddy Piper, on paper, at least, is a dream match. Then you remember this was WCW in 1998. Both teams work as heels, the action is sloppy and I was bored after about three minutes. 

It doesn't get much better as we jump to an Ambulance Match from 2000 as Diamond Dallas Page battles Mike Awesome. The crowd are so so dead, with run ins from Miss Hancock and Kimberly getting the biggest reaction of the night, because legs and tits. The finish is a completely pointless swerve, that makes absoutuely no sense at all. Just awful. 

The final match on the set is the Main Event from 2000, as Kevin Nash challenges Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight title. The match is over booked to shite, with all of The Filthy Animals knocking around ringside for some reason or another. Jarrett spends the entire match working the leg, even having Nash in the Figure Four Leg Lock for what felt like an age, due to Nash's piss poor selling, only for Nash to jump up a few minutes later and decide he didn't need to sell the leg at all. The finish is another over-booked, swervy mess. 

Finally...

If this set had only been the first two discs, it would have been infinitely improved. With the exception of Savage vs Flair, the rest of the third disc either doesn't match expectations or is complete bilge. I certainly struggled to watch the rest of the set. 

First two discs are the complete opposite, presenting a series of classic and enjoyable matches, most notably Dusty Rhodes vs Ric Flair, Flair vs Terry Funk and Sting vs Vader. Which were really a pleasure to sit through, with the added bonus of Dusty Rhodes' hilarious introductions and commentary.

Perhaps, the best selling point for this DVD is that there isn't a single Lex Luger match in sight. If you like WCW, but hate Lex Luger, this could be the set for you.