Welcome to the seventh, Tybo Talks 1995. We are continuing from WWF SummerSlam and shifting gears from WWF to WCW with Fall Brawl: WarGames. We have officially rolled into the ‘Monday Night Wars’ Era…
With the ease of access to pretty much all of WWE’s back catalogue on the WWE Network I thought it would be cool to change it up a bit and do some classic reviews (with a twist). As some of you may know I have already done this with WWE in 2002 and 2003, but this time I’m doing it a little different.
In the past, I have reviewed all the PPV (from the year) but watched all Raw and Smackdown episodes too. This time as it’s 1995 I’m watching all PPV but in between, I’m watching WWE Raw, ECW’s Hardcore TV and WCW Nitro (when it starts in September)… Wish me luck!
It’s worth noting that this will be the first WCW PPV I have watched from start to finish.
The opening vignette is so ’90s wrestling’ it’s unreal, but it’s good that all the matches on the card get a mention. Tony Shivani and Bobby Heenan are on commentary, and Michael ‘Let’s Get Ready to Rumble’ Buffer is ring announcing.
As it’s WarGames, there are going to be two rings for the duration of the show.
FunFact: Fall Brawl 1995 was the first WCW PPV of the ‘Monday Night Wars‘ era.
Flyin’ Brian (Pillman) vs Johnny B Badd
Michael Buffer makes this one feel important with his trademark announcing, and even mention of the trunk colours. The match is for a future United States Championship match against Sting on an upcoming WCW Superstars.
Brian and Badd are former friends, but this has only been touched on in the last two episodes of Nitro. Although the match starts off slower than you would expect, you can see the story they are trying to tell while knowing each other’s moves.
The match seems to lose its way towards the middle and with Buffer mentioning the time left it seems early on that they are going to do a time-limit draw. After this happens the match really picks up, with a lot of back and forth, a lot of high-risk moves and more pin attempts than I can count. In the end, it’s Badd who gets the win.
This is a bold move to have the opening match go so long (29+ minutes) but this shows not only the trust in Badd and Brian but shows the importance of the United States Championship.
Winner – Johnny B. Badd
Backstage: ‘Mean’ Gean is interviewing Ric Flair. Flair is talking about how close he and Arn Anderson were, closer than brothers, but tonight one is going to show the other is better.
Cobra vs Sgt. ‘Pitbull’ Pittman
FunFact: Craig ‘Pitbull’ Pittman is a former US Marine. He served in the Marine Corp until the early 90s.
Pitbull sends out a ‘private’ to distract Cobra, while he repels drown from the roof, which was pretty cool for 1995. This is beardly a match as it’s over before it begins. Cobra taps the ‘Code Red’.
This is not great, but at least it’s on point with the PPV, WarGames… get it?
Backstage: There is a pre-taped segment with Paul Orndorff (Mr Wonderful losing it backstage when the TV physic Gary Spivey comes in (with what looks like a white sponge on his head) Spivey gives out some words of encouragement and Orndorff is back to being ‘Wonderful’
Honestly, this has to be seen to be believed it’s terrible and amazing and weird and entertaining all rolled into one. I highly recommend checking it out.
Television Championship
Renegade (C) (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs DDP (w/ Diamond Doll & Max Muscle)
DDP tried to start the match quickly but Renegade started quicker. The opening was very fast-paced. I think this is to add to Renegade’s gimmick, as he is a clear ‘Ultimate Warrior’ rip-off. Saying that it feels like DDP’s gimmick might be to look out of his depth, with some terrible pink tights. Although it’s an interesting dynamic to have DDP as a heel and Diamond Doll as a face.
This match isn’t great, but you can see that DDP is really trying to make the best of it as Renegade is clearly still green in the ring. DDP takes a beating, but Max Muscle gets involved and DDP steals the win and the Television Championship.
Winner – DDP
Tag Team Championship
Harlem Heat (w/ Sister Sherri) vs Bunkhouse Buck & Dirty Dick Slater (w/ Col. Robert Parker)
This starts as a standard slow-paced tag match, there are a lot of tags between Harlem Heat, but even when it starts to pick up it always seems to return to that slow methodical pace. The commentary is making a lot of mentions of a previous storyline with Sherri and Parker. In the end, the Nasty Boyz are the deciding factor after they interfere. Harlem Heat gets the win and the titles.
After the match, Parker cut a great promo declaring his love for Sherri and they share a kiss. The post-match antics were more fun than the match.
Winners – Harlem Heat
FunFact: Buck and Slater won the Tag Titles on WCW Saturday Night, but the way the tapings were scheduled that match was before the Nasty Boys won the Titles. This means The Nasty Boyz have a double negative title reign… what?
Backstage: ‘Mean’ Gene is interviewing Arn Anderson. After the video of Flair and Anderson being so close in the Four Horsemen, Anderson says that he has a lot of love for Flair but this match needs to happen.
FunFact: Arn Anderson has said that he was so nervous and emotional during his promo on Ric Flair that after the promo he immediately vomited in a trash can when the cameras stopped rolling.
Arn Anderson vs Ric Flair
‘The Match We Never Thought We Would See’
This match is being built like it’s a huge deal before it even starts. The commentary team talking about it being built for years, and the number of wrestlers now in the crowd to watch the match (Eddie Guererro, Big Bubba, Flyin’ Brian etc). The match hasn’t started and it already feels like it could be Match of the Night.
There is a lot of feeling out in this match, but the crowd are 100% into everything they are both doing. Flair is selling like a champ, while Arn is all about the mat wrestling, and constantly working the arm. They are telling a simple story but executing it expertly. Anderson is out to prove he is just as good as Flair and he should have gotten all the championship opportunities Flair got.
Why was Arn Anderson never WCW World Champion?
The match could go either way back and forth, and when you think it’s over just keep going. Flair is showing why he is called the dirtiest player in the game and Anderson is showing why he is the wrestling purist.
Unfortunately, the match ends because of interference from Flyin’ Brian. I understand the logic of it, to add to the feud but when a match is that great I always want a clean finish. Great match, a great journey, and a frustrating finish, but still Match of the Night so far.
Winner – Arn Anderson
WarGames
If Hogan wins gets five minutes with the Taskmaster in the cage
Hulkamaniacs (Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Lex Luger, Sting) w/ Jimmy Hart vs Dungeon of Doom (Zodiac, Shark, Kamala, Ming) W/ Taskmaster
WarGames: Rules
– There are two rings, side by side, enclosed by a cage with a roof, where two teams of four face each other.
– The only way to win is to make a member of the other team submit, (tap out or verbally submit) or surrender, (give up/quit).
– No pinfalls, no disqualifications, no escaping the cage, no time limit. But you cannot win the match until all members of each team have entered the match.
– Each team starts with one man in the match who fights for five minutes. After five minutes, a coin toss is held to decide which team can send their next man, gaining the advantage by making the match 2 on 1. The teams then alternate sending a man in every two minutes.
– Once all men from each team are in the match, ‘The Match Beyond’ begins where a team can then win by making a member of the other team submit or surrender.
There are some crazy 80s style vignettes for this match. Shows what happens at Bash at the Beach when Giant ran over Hogan’s new motorbike with a monster truck. Both teams come out as a collective, all of the Hulkamaniacs are in the same army gear and war paint, this is a pretty cool touch.
FunFact: Big Van Vader was supposed to be on Team Hogan, but was fired for a backstage fight with Paul Orndorff. He was replaced by Lex Luger, but Vader is still on the VHS box art.
Michael Buffer hits his signature ‘Let’s get Ready to Rumble!’ and we are underway. First in the ring is Sting and Shark, This is just five minutes of back and forth between the two. Nothing really happens of note, this is because all eight participants need to be in the rings before there can be a winner. There is a coin toss to determine who gets the advantage, Dungeon of Doom win this.
So, sting and Shark start, Zodiac enters, followed by Randy Savage, then Kamala, Luger and finally Ming.
It’s basically just a mass of humanity in the two rings all waiting on Hogan to enter so ‘The Match Beyond’ can begin.
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting a lot from this match but once everyone was in the ring I thought there would be more big moves and more entertaining spots, but the whole thing seemed to end a little too quick. Not only that but the match finish was a pretty poor looking camel clutch from Hogan on Zodiac.
Winners: Hulkamaniacs
FunFact: On the Episode of 83Weeks dedicated to this PPV, Eric Bischoff suggested that you would enjoy this match a lot more if you were high… if you partake in such things.
Per the pre-match stipulation If Hogan wins he gets five minutes in the ring with Taskmaster. This is just Hogan beating the life out of Taskmaster until Giant comes down for the save.
Now, Giant looked absolutely unstoppable. He is in great shape, he is obviously huge, and he just malls Hogan making it look like he could easily break him in half. This is a top-notch representation of Giant as a legitimate threat to Hogan and his championship. Giant ‘snaps’ Hogan’s neck and leaves him lying. This was a solid ending to a PPV with the heel on top.
Overall
This is the first WCW PPV I have ever watched from start to finish and I was really surprised at how I enjoyed watching it. This could be down to the number of familiar faces on the show, WCW really did go after WWF’s top stars.
The main downfall of the PPV (which is actually not the fault of the PPV or WCW) is that I have not watched anything before WCW Nitro, which only started two weeks earlier. So, any storylines not picked up in that time were a little lost on me.
As I have said this is an enjoyable show, although the main event was not the best, although this seems the norm in 1995 no matter what company you are watching. Even though the WarGames match was lacking, the close of the show with Giant was perfect. WCW as a whole seem to have all the pomp there and they are great at making things feel like they are must-see, but the execution seems lacking most of the time, which is a huge shame.
Match of the Night: There is no contest for this, Arn Anderson vs Ric Flair was the best on the card. Although I didn’t care for the finish I understand why it was done. The match is well worth a watch. Possibly a Match of the Year Candidate.
WCW Fall Brawl: WarGames – 2.75/5
Tybometer ’95
(1995 PPV’s scored out of a possible five)
WWF Royal Rumble – 4
WWF Wrestlemania – 2
WWF In Your House – 2.5
WWF King of the Ring – 0.5
WWF In Your House 2 – 3.5
WWF SummerSlam – 2
WCW Fall Brawl: WarGames – 2.75
Look out for the next Tybo Talks 1995, where I shift back to WWF and review In Your House 3
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