Month: June 2011

Big Van Vader vs. Dustin Rhodes – Clash of the Champions XXIX 16/11/1994

Vader lives on Bad Street, in Vaderville (which he owns). Never knew that!

Hmmm… wonder if these two had any other singles matches in between this and their 1992 match I just watched.

Vader begins to trash talk Dustin, and dishes out some of those awesome punches to the face, but Dustin is a couple of years older now and no doubt tougher, allowing him to take those shots and fire right back at the big man and take the fight to him like never before!

Night and day seems to be an appropriate way to describe this match compared to the 1992 one; Vader dominated the 1992 match, and this time around Dustin is getting the better of Vader and even controlling the match for a while! Quite a sight to see Vader hurt and against the guardrail after taking a beating from Dustin, with Race also laid out after taking a big clothesline! 1994 Dustin ain’t taking NO SHIT!

Ok, he takes a little, but he’s against VADER, so he kinda has to at some point . More great selling, and some nice little hope spots from Dustin too, and he takes a real nice bump when he goes for the Bulldog (his finisher at this time I assume), and Vader just dumps him on the outside. When Vader follows it up with a Splash of the second rope, and Dustin kicks out, he starts screaming at the ref to count him, all the while just palm thrusting the shit out of Dustin’s face for having the balls to kick out lol.

Overall, another really good bout between these two. Don’t think this one was as good as the match from 92, but still a tremendous match!

Rating: ***

Big Van Vader vs. Dustin Rhodes – Saturday Night 21/11/1992

Before the match Sting levels Vader with a 2×4… I think. Don’t actually see it on the beginning of this match lol, which kinda sucks. Bill Watts shows up and tells Race that the match is still happening, and Race is banned from ringside!

Vader gets in Dustin’s face at the start, and Dustin shows no fear. Vader pie faces the young kid and Dustin responds with a right hand and a flurry of rights and clotheslines! As fun as that is though, it’s got nothing on Vader’s control segment. As usual, his offence is awesomesauce, but Dustin is such a great FIP that he makes Vader’s offence look even better than normal.

Oh man, I don’t know what else to say about this match other than the awesomeness of Vader’s offence and the awesomeness of Dustin’s selling of it. It really is fucking amazing. Dustin is young, he’s about what, 6ft 6? And here he is getting punched in the face repeatedly and selling it like fucking death. There are guys way smaller than Dustin that can’t take beatings from big men like Vader nearly this good. I remember reading Dustin’s book and him saying how he tried to pattern himself after Barry Windham, and watching him sell the way he does despite his size, essentially making him seem like a small guy, you really can see how he does his best to be like Windham. Think I might dig out some Windham matches later actually…

Oh man (again lol), Dustin takes one of those clotheslines where he flips over (as we see from many people, not just Dustin of course lol)… ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR. That HAD to fucking hurt. Looked amazing though, and led to the finish as well so it wasn’t some random wasted spot, which makes it even better.

Loved this, gonna have to watch their match from 1994 that I have on hand now. Oh, and I’m fairly certain this is making my list.

Rating: ***1/2

Vader & Sid Vs Sting & Davey Boy Smith – Beach Blast 18/07/1993

Starts with your typical babyface shine period, blah blah blah. Then Vader gets in and starts to cave Bulldog’s face in and the heels take control of the match. Sid and Vader make plenty of quick tags, constantly keeping a fresh man in and doing a few double team shit too.

Sting gets pretty pissed with Vader and gets in his face on the apron, so Vader throws his mask off and the two get into a punching contest before the ref gets Sting to calm down and Bulldog tackles Vader to the floor, but unfortunately that moves Bulldog out of his own corner and is unable to make the tag.

Turns out the Bulldog stuff was just FALSE HEAT~! (watched a Cornette video recently where he explains it all lol), and once Sting comes in with the hot tag and goes crazy on the heels, he ends up becoming the FIP for the match as we get some more awesome Vader punches. Sid on the other hand… ummm… doesn’t really do much lol. He gets the tag every so often, hits some hits and whatnot and tags out so Vader can do the real work .

Fuck me, after Sting does his work as FIP, Bulldog gets back in and AGAIN gets his arse kicked lol. Double false heat?!?!

In the end, Bulldog gets the pin on Vader with a crucifix rollup thingy. So much awesomeness from Vader as usual, Sid kept his involvement to a minimum, and everything turned out good. Not as epic as I was expecting though.

Rating: ***

Sting & Ric Flair vs Vader & Rick Rude – Clash of the Champions XXVI 27/01/1994

Flair, Rude and Vader all in one match? Oh yeah. Too much Sting for my liking though… needs less Sting and more… Steamboat? Yeah, Steamboat would have been awesome for this.

Nice opening shizzle between Sting and Rude, with Sting coming out on top of every exchange, so Rude tags in Vader to kill the Stinger. And Vader wastes no time doing his best with that .

Sting blocks a sunset flip attempt from Vader (off the ropes too!), so Vader rips his own mask of in anger and proceeds to pummel the shit out of Sting’s face until he gets absolutely launched in the air by Sting and a German suplex, and that gives Sting a change to tag in the Nature Boy who is on motherfucking FIRE as he starts to pummel the shit out of VADER’S face. Plenty of awesomeness… and its interrupted by a fucking commercial break. Bastards.

We come back and… it’s Sting and Rude again. Kinda boring for a while, with a pretty shitty “hot” tag, which was about as hot as me naked…

Thankfully that does lead to Flair coming in off the “hot” tag and then Vader getting back in the ring to try to kill Flair. Nobody takes the World Title from Vader and gets away with it! Flair gets crushed with a splash, and we hear him screaming in pain, which just spurs Vader on to dish out MOAR punishment, including 2 massive superplexes; one of which is off the top rope rather than the second like most are. Vader is literally out to KILL Flair. Sting realises this and gets in the ring and pulls Flair out of the way and gets in Vader’s face, so Rude gets in Sting’s way and drops him on his head. LOL STING. You just got STUNG, bitch.

Some announcement is made… and I think Flair and Vader have been removed from the match. Flair because he’s dead, and Vader because… I dunno, he killed Flair. Bah. Couldn’t they have sent Sting away instead?

So we’re left with Rude and Sting, which could be worse I guess, because Rude’s pretty awesome. And hey, at least when Sting is taking a beating he’s pretty alright too, it’s just when he’s on the offence that I really can’t stand him.

Rude goes for the Rude Awakening at one point, but Sting counters into one of his own! Rude gets his foot on the ropes so he isn’t beaten, then goes for a Stinger Splash on Sting for revenge, but he misses and this leads to his downfall just moments later.

Really great shit, just wish Vader and Flair didn’t get taken out of the match, but the Rude Vs Sting portion at the end was still really good anyway. Making my list I reckon.

Rating: ***3/4

Slamboree Title Match Announcement

Bockwinkle, the WCW commish, would like to “take and have Sting come out here”. Eh?

Guessing this takes place after Rude’s last match, due to Sting getting Rude’s title or something, and Sting not wanting to win it in a boardroom or something, so he challenges Vader to a match for the belt tonight!

 

Sting vs Vader – Slamboree 22/05/1994

The take things slow at the start, circling each other and just waiting for the right moment to strike. Vader throws some punches, but Sting dodges and ducks, until he gets trapped in a corner and holy shit does Vader unload on him. He hits him so hard the ref has to check on him a couple of times, especially after a clothesline from Vader than looks vicious as fuck.

Sting gets his bearings together and comes back with some shots of his own, sending Vader out of the ring to recover!

Huge suplex from Sting to Vader, as even though it hurts Sting, you get the sense that Sting will do just about anything to put Vader down, knowing exactly what he is capable of. We then go into an exchange of running splashes, which is pretty fucking awesome. They just keep running into each other and neither of them move, so Sting ducks one and thinks he’s outsmarted the big man… until he turns around and walks right into a running splash and goes crashing to the mat.

From here it’s all Vader for a while, as he crushes Sting in a couple of different ways, and even goes down to the mat and puts in a leg hold, just to punish the guy. Vader is fucking awesome.

ASK HIM~!

Jericho stole that from Vader. Thieving cunt. Take THAT Jericho fans who think he’s the most awesome thing ever!!!

Sting gets a pretty great hope spot in after Vader punches him in the face in the corner again. The punches only seem to manage to fire up Sting, who comes out of the corner swinging, and manages to take Vader down again, but he’s still way too hurt to capitalise on it, so when Vader goes down, so does he, and it’s Vader that gets up while Sting stays down.

REF BUMP~!

Actually a pretty well done ref bump, with Sting diving at Vader in another hope spot attempt, only he levels the ref instead, and then walks into a chokeslam that should have broken Sting in fucking half. With the ref down Race gets involved, and goes to hit Sting with a chair, only to have Sting move and deck Vader instead! The ref gets back up, and it looks like the end of the match… BUT NO! Kick out! Fuck me this match is AWESOME.

Vader drops to the outside, then kinda falls back in, and props himself up in the corner. Stinger Splash! No! Vader catches him and sends him crashing to the floor! Race signals to Vader to go for a moonsault, but Vader mises! Race goes to the top for a headbutt, but hits Vader by mistake! Sting then hits a splash off the ropes and gets the 3 count!

THIS is without a doubt the best Sting Vs Vader match I’ve seen so far. Gonna do really well on my list. Top 10 atm, don’t see it dropping much at all.

Rating: ****1/2

 

Big Van Vader vs. The Guardian Angel – Fall Brawl 09/18/94

Huh, this is a triangle match… where 2 people start the match and the other ummm… I guess gets in the match when someone loses? Whatever. It gives us another Vader/GA match anyway, so whatever. Sting is the third man for anyone who cares.

After 2 matches with each other already, seems to me that they decide to start off a little slower here, knowing that the winner has to wrestle one more time after this, and going full force against a Vader or a GA from the get go would be stupid.

Meh, nothing that good here, another step down from previous matches. Shame. I guess with Vader having to work another match against Sting later (at least, I’m assuming this is how it works lol), they didn’t want to give too much time to this one, and both men involved didn’t want to wear themselves out, but still… could have been better than this lol.

Rating: **

 

Big Van Vader vs. Sting – Fall Brawl 09/18/94

Could have sworn I’d seen this match, but I don’t appear to be able to find my review on it…

Vader tries to intimidate Sting with his power, but Sting just gets in Vader’s face basically telling him he isn’t afraid of him. So Vader punches him in the face. And Sting shrugs it off and goes to work on Vader.

A somewhat sloppy exchange using the ropes, which is odd from these 2 because I honestly don’t recall anything they did together being botched or looking sloppy before… but in the end Vader smashes into Sting with a running splash and this allows Vader to go in the attack, which is ALWAYS a good thing and makes up for any sloppiness.

Sting regains control, and goes to work on Vader and even Race on the outside. Big suplex from Sting followed by the same splash that beat Vader at Slamboree… but Sting doesn’t go for a cover, and it costs him.

It’s not only Sting making the mistakes though, Vader goes for the moonsault that he missed at Slamboree… and he misses it again here allowing Sting to get back in the driver’s seat and hit a fucking superplex on the 450lb monster! Race looks worried on the outside, and he has reason to be. Sting just hit a superplex, and now he’s throwing out the big bombs to try and put Vader away. Big elbow drops, huge right hands, a Samoan Drop, and a Stinger Splash in the corner! But not even THAT can put Vader away.

Huge German suplex from Sting, and when that doesn’t get the win, Sting just looks confused. Perhaps nothing on this night is going to stop Big Van Vader.

Both men are hurting now, and it couldn’t get any worse for Sting… until Vader gets back up and starts throwing those awesome punches. But now it’s Vader’s time to look confused, as Sting takes Vader’s shots and tells him to give him more! Seems that perhaps Sting won’t be beat on this night either!

Both guys have been going back and forth the entire match, but neither man can get the win. We see big bombs from both men, and you get the feeling that this is the end. The end of their feud. The end of their matches, and given the fact this is the last match between them on this set (disc 4 is basically extras like handheld matches), it most likely is. I just love how it’s done. They’ve fought each other over and over again, beaten each other, won and lost titles to each other. This match is simply for the #1 contendership; with one man moving on to someone else to fight for the belt, leaving the other behind. And having the match end in a time limit seems perfect too, especially when they give them more time.

With the match in overtime, both men are more desperate than ever to get the match over with. Vader tries for a superplex… and Sting actually BITES the fucker in the face! Vader falls back, but Sting is too hurt to do anything, and he ends up falling off the ropes and going for a cover instead. Great to see both men really showing the effects of their lengthy bomb filled match.

Time is running out again, and Vader lands a powerbomb! Time runs out! Now it’s time for SUDDEN DEATH, with the first person to be knocked off their feet loses!

Again, this really does feel like the final match between the two. Don’t know if it was planned like this, but its working fucking beautifully, and having the match run out of time AGAIN just seems perfect. Both men get back up, and Vader drops the strap and gets his second win! Huge blows to the face, massive clothesline, and STILL Sting won’t go down! Amazing drama. Now Sting fires back and Vader is reeling! Vader goes down! But the referee is busy kicking Race out of the match! Someone in a mask (looks like Flair as the Black Scorpion lol) shows up and takes down Sting… and Vader gets the win!

Man, I HOPE this was the last match between these two because it was a fucking awesome ending to a near 3 year rivalry between them. I’m guessing it IS the last match since no more matches made the set after this point. Got a place on my list for this one too, but won’t have it as high as the Slamboree match.

Rating: ****1/4

Sting & Dustin Rhodes vs Vader, Barry Windham & Paul Orndorff – Clash of the Champions XXII 13/01/1993

THUNDERCAGE~!

Starts off with Windham and Rhodes going at it, and we get some ok stuff from them, but it’s just there to start the match off really. Sting tags in and starts Press Slamming Windham, so Vader tags himself in and almost dares Sting to come at him and try to press slam HIM.

Some nice stuff between Sting and Vader, which is obviously the focal point of the match anyway, with Vader being champ and hating Sting and all. Some nice face caving blows from Vader, and Sting even goes nuts in the corner beating the shit out of Vader.

Wait… did Vader just… yeah, he did. Vader just did that turnbuckle bump that Flair does. And he landed on the apron and when Sting came charging towards him, levelled him with a belly splash thing. And then does the belly splash thing off the ropes. DIE STING!!!

With Sting down and hurting, the heels go to work on him to try and win the match. Sting takes the beating very well, but I’m basically expecting him to superman up any time now…

More awesomeness from Vader, setting Sting up for a press slam, but instead of dropping him down like normal, Vader launches the Stinger in the air and catching him with a shot to the ribs! Take THAT, you press slamming cunt!

Dustin gets the hot tag, and while he’s all fired up and taking out everyone, Cactus Jack shows up and gets in the cage to gain revenge for something I probably should already know about but never did get around to watching that Orndorff/Cactus match…

Apparently Cactus is now legally part of Sting and Dustin’s team… because he gets the win lol.

This, was fun. And good. Pointless being in a cage because it didn’t come into play once… it was just a small obstacle for Cactus to overcome to get into the match lol. But anyway, yeah, this was good, and I was VERY surprised that Sting didn’t superman up at any time! He took a great beating, sold it well, made the tag finally and didn’t jump back into the action like nothing happened. Vader was awesome too, and Dustin/Windham were solid too. Orndorff was… well he was there for the finish.

Rating: ***1/4

Sting Interview Saturday Night – 23/01/1993

Lol, thought this was a repeat of an interview on disc 1, as he was making his excuses again as to why he was a retard at the end of GAB. But then they talk about the rematch at Starrcade so it’s obviously not a repeat lol.

 

Sting & Dustin Rhodes vs Vader & Barry Windham – Saturday Night 30/01/1993

This has potential to be pretty awesome.

Sting and Windham lock up, and Sting backs Windham into a corner and breaks nice and clean. They lock up again, and Windham backs Sting into a corner and breaks nice and cle… PUNCHES HIM IN THE FACE. Lol. He gets his though, when Sting fires back and tags in Dustin too, and both men beat the hell out of Windham until the World Champ gets in and KILLS Dustin DEAD.

Nice tag work from Vader and Windham as they totally destroy poor Dustin. All of his little comeback attempts are nicely done and not all superman like Sting tends to do (man, I should leave Sting alone for a change lol…).

Sting gets the hot tag and all hell breaks loose! Dustin and Race end up getting into it on the outside while Vader charges in and helps Windham take down Sting, then goes to save his manager from that evil Dustin Rhodes who no doubt attacked him for no reason!

Vader and Windham don’t care about the win though, as they end up getting DQ’d when Windham and Race hold Sting for Vader to whip him with the leather strap that will be used in their upcoming PPV bout!

Awesome stuff, just a great tag match. Sure, the end is a DQ but nobody NEEDED the win here as it was mainly about further building the Sting/Vader feud, so I liked the finish. Yet another match I could easily add to my list if I don’t manage to find 100 matches lol.

Rating: ***1/4

 

Sting & Ron Simmons vs Vader & Paul Orndorff – Worldwide 07/02/1993

Vader and Orndorff want to take out Sting and Simmons before they can get in the ring, but Simmons ain’t having none of it, and picks up the steel steps ready to level anyone who gets in his way.

Basic power stuff from Simmons in the beginning, but the crowd are behind him anyway. He makes Orndorff look like a little bitch, then tags in Sting as Vader gets tagged in, but not before hitting a huge Spinebuster on Vader, just because he can lol.

Sting shows his power on Vader too, hitting a suplex, then tags Simmons back in, and the match takes a turn for the worst for the babyfaces as Simmons runs shoulder first into the turnbuckle and the heels behind to pick it apart.

With the match not having all that much time, Simmons doesn’t play the FIP for long before Sting gets the hot tag and goes back to powering Vader around. Unfortunately while this is happening, Simmons gets a piledriver on the floor, and the match ends in a DQ once again when the leather stap comes into play! This time though, Sting is ready for it and uses it himself on Race before Vader makes the save and proceeds to hang Sting with the strap.

Another nice tag match, shorter than the previous one and not nearly as good, but a fun and solid match nonetheless.

Rating: **1/4

 

White Castle of Fear Mini-Movie

LMFAO, how could I NOT talk about this? Probably not as well known as the Beach Blast movie, but it’s just as hilarious… and unbelievably WEIRD. A bunch of women in a cave, a midget with an eye patch… and Sting still wearing his sunglasses. Vader brought him to “play the game”… which is a tug of war with a leather strap over some fire… which eventually just breaks the strap just as Sting is about to DIE. I’m not making this up either. IT EXISTED DAMMIT!

 

Sting vs Vader – SuperBrawl III 21/02/1993

Lights Out Non Sanctioned Strap Match. Not sure what the “lights out” part is though. Oh, and its NON TITLE as well.

Vader comes out with a fucking barbarian robe thing (barbarian robe…. “playing the game” at White Castle… hmmm…) and he truly looks the MAN.

Match starts off really well, with Vader getting into Sting’s head by easily controlling Sting with the strap, all the while Sting is unable to do anything to Vader. But then it’s way too early imo when Sting fires back and just starts to run through Vader likes he’s nothing for about 5 minutes straight, and even attempts to touch all 4 corners… from the OUTSIDE which is even more retarded than Sting not being able to hit his finishing move right at GAB.

Thankfully though Vader DOES get another chance to pummel the shit out of Sting, and the match takes a turn for the better. I know I don’t like Sting, and I TRY to be unbiased in his matches so I don’t hate on them for simply having him in them, but good god Sting is awful on offence half the time, and the other half he’s just downright retarded with what he does lol. Makes it even worse when the formula against a guy like Vader is so easy; let him pummel the shit out of you, sell as well as you can, get in some hope spots, and then make the big comeback and go into the finish. Hell, it’s a basic match formula for anyone. And while I love when people change shit up, Sting’s just horrible at it because what he changes ends up sucking.

Ok, enough ranting on Sting, back to the match. Luckily things are sticking to a nice basic formula, and with Vader’s offence it can make a match against anyone at the very least GOOD. Sting sells, gets in the hope spots… so yeah, god knows why he had to go on a retard spree 5 or so minutes ago…

Vader keeps wearing down Sting, going for the win a few times but the Stinger is always managing to break it, and so Vader goes back to pummelling him. After a while, Sting sees an opportunity to use Vader’s momentum against him, so when Vader pulls Sting towards him, Sting makes sure to fly towards the champ with his foot colliding with Vader’s face!

Sting uses this chance to fire back one more time, and gets the big man up onto his shoulders, and hits 3 turnbuckles! The ref is knocked down at some point though, and Sting trips over him on his way to the 4th turnbuckle! LOL, no win for you Stinger!

In the end, Vader’s size and power get him the win.

Aside from Sting’s pure retardedness at points in the match, this was really good. Probably on par with their GAB match, and definitely a step below their Starrcade match that remains their best match together so far.

Rating: ***1/4

 

Masters of the Powerbomb Press Conference

Another cheesy movie like segment WCW put together during this time, showing the union of Sid and Vader as the Masters of the Powerbomb, and giving Sting and Bulldog the chance to retire before the Powerbomb them to hell or something.

 

Sting, Bulldog & Dustin Rhodes Interview – 12/06/1993

Basically just these 3 men not wanting to retire at the request of Sid and Vader.

Big Van Vader, Sid Vicious, & Rick Rude Vs Dustin Rhodes, Sting, & Davey Boy Smith – Clash of the Champions XXIII 16/06/1993

Sting goes all “babyface shine” at the start of the match, taking it to Rude. He picks him up and throws him into Vader and Sid who catch him and throw him back, but Sting moves! Rude is launched back onto the mat, and about 20 seconds later ends up accidentally getting splashed by Vader too!

Sid then comes in to take a turn at looking foolish, taking a shot to the groin and a couple of clotheslines lol.

He quickly takes out and Vader ends up in the ring with Dustin… and Dustin pummels VADER in the corner! Holy shit! Holy shit again at a suplex to Vader!

Awesome seeing the babyfaces this fired up and hitting some great offence too. The heels, especially Vader and Sid, do a wonderful job of taking it all despite being much bigger.

One massive clothesline from the world champ turns the tide though, and Dustin finds himself on the worse end of a beating. With Dustin down and hurt, Rude wants a tag so he can get him some of his current nemesis.

Dustin continues to take a beating from all 3 of his opponents, but gets a great hope spot with a powerslam on Vader who was coming off the top rope! He keeps the momentum going by countering a Tombstone attempt from Rude, and makes the tag to Sting but the referee doesn’t see it!

Sting and Davey Boy decide “fuck it” and come into the ring anyway to go after the Masters of the Powerbomb, but it doesn’t go well. Sting splashes himself into the guardrail, Sid takes care of Davey, and Vader knocks Dustin out with Rude’s briefcase for the win!

Mega fun 6 man that seems way shorter than it actually is. Won’t throw a vote its way, but it was great to watch.

Rating: ***

 

Masters of the Powerbomb Interview – Saturday Night 19/06/1993

They are begging for Sting and Bulldog to retire once again before they hurt them.

 

Beach Blast Mini-Movie

Some pretty terrific acting here, especially from Bulldog. Him running through the water was top notch too, but not as great as the reaction from the people on the beach who think Sting and Bulldog have been blown up. Awful, truly awful all the way, but funny as FUCK. Why WCW thought this was a good idea I will never know.

 

Vader & Sid vs Larry Santo & Todd Zane – Saturday Night – 03/07/1993

Masters of the Powerbomb in a squash match? Awesome .

Wow, definitely didn’t expect THIS. Santo and Zane find an opening and just go to town on Vader, and then turn their attention to Sid, forcing the Masters of the Powerbomb to back away and lose via countout!

as if. Santo and Zane get destroyed. Fun.

Rating: *

 

Sting & British Bulldog vs. Rip Rogers & Gary Nations – Saturday Night 10/07/1993

Well, the heels got their chance for a squash, best gives the faces their chance to shine too.

Lol, Nations and Rogers both look fucking HUGE (tall)! Guess the heels get two small guys to look more evil and bully-ish, while the babyfaces get to look more impressive by beating 2 guys bigger than them. Not fair! Vader and Sid should Powerbomb whoever booked this shit!

Not as good or as fun at the MOTP squash.

Rating: 1/4*

 

Sid Interview – 17/07/1993

Just some build up to the Beach Blast tag match.

At the beginning of the year, I posted a list of my Top 100 WWF/E Matches Ever. I was able to come up with that list after a little over a year of watching, reviewing and talking about as many WWF/E matches as I possibly could. Now I’m doing it all over again… but for WCW! I’ve already watched a LOT of stuff and got a small list together, and figured I’d start posting some of the reviews on here for everyone to see, so you can understand my top 100 list a little better when I post it, unlike my WWF/E list which was pretty much finished up before I opened this site lol. So, to get things rolling… here are my reviews for a bunch of matches relating to the epic Sting Vs Vader feud from the early 90’s!