Open: Tony Schiavone & Eric Bischoff are in the arena laying out the goal of Sting’s Squadron and that is destroying The Dangerous Alliance. Sting has a rib injury so he may be a marked man tonight in War Games.

Match #1 for the WCW United States Tag Team Championships: WCW United States Tag Team Champions ‘The Taylor Made Man’ Terrance Taylor & Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael ‘P.S.’ Hayes & Jimmy ‘Jam’ Garvin) w/Precious
The fans are behind The Freebirds with their voices and clapping. Hayes and Taylor at the start. The crowd hates Taylor’s strutting but loves Hayes’. The two lock up, side headlock by Hayes and a shoulder tackle. Taylor backs into his corner and slows it down. Collar and elbow but Taylor can’t catch Hayes in the headlock. Another tie up, this time Taylor makes the tag to Valentine, Hayes avoids contact and the champs accidentally collide, a schoolboy by Hayes earns him a two count. Collar and elbow tie up, Hayes counters a hip block with one of his own.

Side headlock by Hayes, they hit the ropes and Valentine pounds Hayes to mat. Elbow to the skull and a few big chops land on Hayes. He’s sent for the ride, Hayes blocks the kick and lifts his opponent for an atomic drop, following it with some clotheslines. Lateral press for two. Hayes is fired up, but Valentine gets the first shot. Hayes fires back with chops and tags in Garvin. Irish whip by Valentine but he meets the ring post. Garvin goes to the wristlock, they run, Garvin can’t bring him over with a victory roll. Valentine misses an elbow drop and it’s back to work on his arm. Garvin draws Taylor into the ring so the Birds can pull off the double team.

Hayes is back in the ring and he hangs onto that arm. The crowd chants DDT, but Valentine breaks the hold with a shot to the midsection. Snapmare and Taylor is tagged in. He misses the elbow drop and the Birds go crazy with quick tags, abusing Taylor’s arm. Garvin finally stays in the ring for more than a few seconds, they run the ropes and a cross body gets two. Tag is made to Hayes, Taylor tries breaking the arm bar with head butts but they are unsuccessful. Hayes drags him down to the mat using a handful of hair. Taylor is reeling on the mat, he’s slow to a vertical base with his arm held. A shot to the midsection breaks the hold and Hayes is dumped to the ramp. Big right hand from the Taylor Made Man, but he’s dumped in the ring with a back body drop on the next attempt.

Big elbows from Hayes, and he gets a two count. Tag is made to Garvin and the fans still want the DDT. Taylor escapes the submission by dumping Garvin through the middle rope and onto the floor. Valentine takes advantage with some cheap shots. Garvin is pulled back in and receives a chin buster, tag is made to Valentine. Big chops from Valentine, Irish whip but Garvin catches him with the big boot. He pulls himself toward Hayes but Valentine prevents the tag. Valentine sets up a suplex – it’s countered by Garvin. Valentine is up first, but Garvin gets his knees up on the splash. Jimmy Jam can’t make his tag first and here comes Taylor with a high impact clothesline in the corner.

The Taylor Made Man latches on a reverse chin lock, Garvin is up to his feet, he breaks the hold, hits the ropes and they both go down after a clothesline from the Freebird. Taylor makes his tag first, but Garvin gets there just in the knick of time. Valentine is not interested in Michael Hayes who goes to work on both his opponents. The champs’ heads are knocked together, Hayes sets up the DDT on Valentine but he’s blindsided by Taylor’s five-arm. Valentine covers him and Hayes gets the shoulder up. Scoop slam by Valentine followed by the back breaker. Hayes kicks out of the lateral press as the fans chant for the Birds. Valentine goes downstairs on Hayes but it’s not enough for a successful cover.

Hayes’ arms are held to the mat, Valentine goes for a leaping knee but he meets Michael’s. Taylor is tagged in, Hayes tries to fight from his knees and Taylor rakes the eyes. Gut wrench powerbomb by Taylor and another kick out by Hayes. Valentine receives the tag, and he goes for the figure four. He locks it in, and Jimmy Jam makes the save. The Hammer locks in the arm bar with Hayes supine on the mat. Up to a vertical base, Valentine lays in some chops and forearms. Irish whip and Hayes just flops down to the mat off the turnbuckle. Tag is made to Taylor, he tries to send Hayes into the turnbuckle but it’s blocked and his head meets it instead. This happens in the other corner twice and Hayes lands a huge left. Tag is made to Garvin and he’s on fire.

Taylor is elevated for the back body drop, Valentine rushes in and he’s hit with a clothesline. Taylor is hit with an atomic drop and a victory roll. Taylor pushes out of it at two which shoves Garvin into Valentine for another lariat. The champs try a double teamed clothesline off the ropes, Garvin ducks and delivers his own to both of them. Valentine rolls out of the ring, Taylor and Garvin hit the ropes and Jimmy Jam is blindsided from the outside. Taylor lands a knee drop on the back of Garvins head and Hayes makes the save. Garvin sets up the DDT, Valentine rushes in for the save and he’s dropped on his back. Jimmy Jam hits the signature move and we have new champions!
Winners & NEW WCW US Tag Team Champions: The Fabulous Freebirds (Garvin/DDT)

• EA’s Take: Once again, The Freebirds are used as tone setters for the crowd and they accomplished what they were sent out to do. I’m not a big fan of having multiple tag team title belts anyway, so I could do without these ones, as I’ve stated before. During this time, the tag division was fairly thin, especially evidenced by the fact that they and The Steiners are the only two pure tag teams who work for WCW full-time used on this card, as opposed to all the recent random-pairing tag teams in previous PPVs. If you tune into the early days of WCW Saturday Night, Taylor and Valentine were frequently featured.

Match #2: Johnny B. Badd vs. ‘Young Pistol’ Tracy Smothers
Collar and elbow tie up, some chain wrestling and Badd goes for a quick schoolboy pin. Smothers complains that he pulled the trunks. Reversal on the waistlock and they hit the ropes, big hip toss and a deep arm drag by the flamboyant one. Collar and elbow, Smothers grabs a side headlock, Badd gets an arm drag and flies onto Smothers with the cross body and a two count. A dropkick and another quick arm drag by Badd and he hangs onto the armbar on the mat. Smothers gets position in the corner and he buries the shoulder into the midsection. Badd turns it around and delivers shots to the torso, Irish whip but he meets Smothers’ boot. Big kick to the face from the Young Pistol but he can’t even get a two count.

Smothers with a back rake and he drags his face on the top rope. Smothers to the top rope and he catches him with a flying back elbow, he hooks the legs but cannot get three. He goes back to the top, he lands a flying cross body but the momentum pulls Badd on top of him and the match almost ends like that. Double axe handle by Smothers followed by a karate kick to the back of Badd’s head, but Johnny won’t accept a pin. Tracy locks in a reverse chin lock, Badd gets vertical and breaks the hold, they hit the ropes and Johnny leaps over Smothers for a sunset flip but he can’t get it over. Smothers sits on his chest and gets a two count, Badd rolls him over and earns the same.

Badd surprises him with an inside cradle and it’s a close one. Smothers jumps back into the chin lock, Badd uses the crowd’s energy to get up. The hold is broken, they hit the ropes and Badd lands a high knee. Badd ducks a few strikes and hits some body shots. Irish whip to the ropes and Badd lands a powerslam. He signals to the crowd and climbs to the top turnbuckle, he lands a leaping sunset flip for two and a half. Smothers sends him for the ride, Badd ducks a clothesline and lands the big left hook for the win.
Winner: Johnny B. Badd (Left Hook)

• EA’s Take: Not a whole lot to see here, the crowd is digging Johnny B. Badd right now and it’s an opportunity to put him over. That was my only takeaway. The Young Pistols were no more by this time, as Steve Armstrong would head to the WWF for a brief stint as Lance Cassidy, putting Smothers in the undercard. They’d reunite later in Smoky Mountain, however.

Backstage: Missy Hyatt is standing by with The Fabulous Freebirds & Precious. They did what they said they were going to do, despite having their work cut out for them. Michael Hayes dedicated the match to Ronnie Van Zandt and this is only the first step. They intend to win the upcoming tournament for the WCW World Tag Team Championships.

Match #3: Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Scotty Flamingo
Collar and elbow tie up, and a tough break. Another high energy tie up and they fight for positioning before another break. A third tie up, Bagwell gets positioning but they break it off and exchange slaps to the face. Scotty tackles him to the mat and dumps Bagwell to the floor. Bagwell is quick to his feet and nails him from behind. They exchange more slaps before hitting the ropes, a huge right sends Flamingo reeling. Two Irish whips are followed by a belly to back suplex from Bagwell. A lateral press gets a two count, Flamingo with a front face lock, Bagwell counters with a vertical suplex and he gets another two count.

Scotty is able to toss Bagwell through the middle rope to the floor, Flamingo rolls him back in. Scotty goes for a knee to the gut but it’s countered into a roll up. Flamingo ducks a clothesline and he drops Bagwell with a suplex. Snapmare take down by Scotty, he drops a fist from the second rope and gets a two count. Bagwell is caught in a reverse chin lock, he works to his feet but Flamingo uses the hair to pull him right down to the mat. Scotty blatantly chokes Bagwell on the mat, he hooks the leg but can’t hold him down for the win. Flamingo goes back to the reverse chin lock as Bagwell hulks up. The hold is broken with some elbows, they hit the ropes and exchange shoulder blocks. Flamingo dives for a cross body and both men go over the top rope and down to the floor.

Referee Randy Anderson goes for the count, but Bagwell is rolled back in. Marcus blocks the face buster on the mat and hits Scotty with the same move. Flamingo blocks a right and fires one of his own. Bagwell blocks the hip toss and throws his opponent with force. High impact clothesline by Bagwell followed by straight rights. Flamingo reverses the Irish whip but eats Bagwells elbow, Marcus climbs to the second turnbuckle and comes down with the double axe handle. He lands the fisherman’s suplex but Flamingo gets his leg on the ropes. Irish whip to the ropes, Bagwell goes for the victory roll. Flamingo pushes out at two and rolls Bagwell over the same way with a handful of trunks to sneak out the win.
Winner: Scotty Flamingo (Victory Roll)

• EA’s Take: In a few years, Flamingo would become one of my all-time favorite ring and promo psychologists, Raven. That was always such a complex and grungy character, it was funny seeing him so clean cut here. Bagwell seemed to be getting such a young, up-and-comer push that I’m surprised he takes the loss here, but the illegal holding of the trunks tells the “good guy got cheated” story. Plus, we know he’s going to go back into tags.

Pages: 1 2 3 4