Customer Reviews

WCW Wrestle War 1991 - War Games [VHS]

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WCW Wrestle War the 1st true WCW Pay Per View which featured War Games. After Starrcade like I said Ole Anderson was fired so they brought back Dusty Rhodes fresh off his time with The WWF. Now I did bash Ole hard but he did a good job as a booker in Georgia Championship Wrestling. But in the late 80's early 90's he didn't understand where Pro Wrestling was going as far as what The WCW fan base wanted. Dusty didn't understand where the world was going in 1991 he wasn't a good booker either. But anyway on January 11th in East Rutherford NJ Ric Flair defeated Sting to win The NWA World Heavyweight Championship & at this point all NWA branded champions would WCW Champions only the with The NWA only recongising The World title & World Tag Team titles. So on The January 20th episode of The Main Event there was an 8 man tag team match with Sting Brian Pillman & The Steiner Brothers taking on The 4 Horsemen nothing was solved so at Wrestle War it Would be Sting Brian Pillman & The Steiner Brother facing Ric Flair Sid Vicious Arn Anderson & Barry Windham. Around this time Scott Stiner got a shot at The WCW World Championship at Clash Of Champions 14 I know Scott Steiner has b i t c h ed that Flair has ruined his singles push. There wasn't a whole lot wrong with that match & Ric Flair has worked with a lot people Harley Race Dusty Rhodes Sting Barry Windham Ricky Steamboat Randy Savage Lex Luger Hulk Hogan Steve Austin Paul
Wright you you know these people never said anything bad about the matches they had Ric. Steiner said that he got Steve Austin fired from WCW. No it was Hulk Hogan who you praise that got Steve Austin fired. Good lord get off the steroids. Anyway that match ended in a time limit. Then a brawl broke out with Scott Steiner Rick Steiner Brian Pillamn Sting & all of The Horsemen. On The Febuary 2nd episode of World Championship Wrestling El Giante kept saying that I want the belt. Then on the following episode of WCW Pro El Giante he said that I want the belt.Flair smacked him which that just made him mad El Giate tried to tried to crush Ric Flair's throat. I mention this cause his feud with The Horsemen fits with what happens at the end of the show. On The Febuary 23rd episode of World Championship Wrestling Flyin Brian was attacked by The 4 Horsemen everybody was at Phenoix & they hurt Brian Pillman so he would be going into the event hurt. Sid Vicious started a gimmick where he would hurt other wrestlers & have his own ambulance crew cart them out. So that also carried over to The War Games. Problems with Doom started as Butch Reed & Thedore Long were not focusing on wrestling Ron Simmons wasn't excessively hurting wrestlers & Diamond Dallas Page caught them off guard when he began to manage The Freebirds they defeated Doom & they got a shot at The WCW World Tag Team Championship. As well at Clash Of Champions 14 Sting & Lex Luger were wresting Doom for The WCW World Tag Team titles during the match Dan Spivey came & attacked Lex Luger which Spivey got a shot at The WCW US Championship. Dustin Rhodes debuted for WCW. Terry Taylor was growing more & more frustrated that he wasn't winning The TV title & that Tome Zenk won it on The December 29th episode of World Championship Wrestling defeating Arn Anderson which Arn regained it later. At Clash Of Champions 14 Terry Taylor joined The York Foundation & was now called Terrance Taylor. Stan Hansen & Big Van Vader had a brutal match in Japan which a rematch was made for Wrestle War. That's about it for the backstory going into this event. The buyrate for this event was a 1.20 that is down from the 1.60 of last years Wrestle War.

Date February 24, 1991
Attendance 6,800
Venue Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
City Phoenix, Arizona

WCW 6 Man Tag Team Championship
Champions Ricky Morton, Tommy Rich & The Junkyard Dog Def The State Patrol James Earl Wright Buddy Lee Parker & Big Cat **
An ok match for titles that you never see.
Tony Schavonie interviewed Alexandra York & Terrance Taylor who has the nickname The Computerized Man Of The 1990's. Alexandra York said that her computer says that Terrance Taylor will defeat Tom Zenk in 15 minutes & 25 seconds.
Bobby Eaton Def Bran Armstrong ** & half stars
Mimi Kitimara & Itsuki Yamaski Def Miss A & Mika Handa ** & 3 of a quarter stars

Dustin Rhodes Def Buddy Landell * & half stars
Missy Hyatt attempts her locker room interview this was too funny where Stan Hansen has a mouth full of chewing tobacco yelling at Missy Hyatt you have to see it.
The Young Pistols Tracey Smothers & Steve Armstrong Def Jacko Victory & Rip Morgan * 3 of a quarter stars
This was ok so now The Southern Boys are called The Young Pistols.
Tony Schavonie interviewed Diamond Dallas Page he & Thedore Long got in an argument Page said that Doom will be dropped like a bad habit.

NO DQ
Terrance Taylor with Alexandra York Def The Z Man Tom Zenk *& 3 of a quarter stars
This match was ok it was NO DQ yet you had the refeere enforicing the rules.then why make it a a NO DQ match.
A Danger Zone with Paul E Dangerously his guest was El Giante & his music sounds like 70's p o r n music, A
s h it t y segment where Paul E Dangerously threw a Sumbaro at El Giante & he was bodyslamed by The Giant
Tony Schavonie interviewed The Great Muta & Hiro Matsuda.
Stan Hansen vs Big Van Vader both men were disqualified **
After the match both men continued fighting up the ramp.

WCW United States Championship
Champion Lex Luger Def Dan Spivey ***& half stars
This was a very good match they were going to present Luger with a new US title cause they were still using The NWA version of The US Championship Nikita Koloff was thanking Luger then he hits him with the belt. Best heel turn in WCW since Terry Funk. I also saw a sign that said "Hey Flair who cut your hair."
WCW World Tag Team Championship
The Freebirds Michael PS Hayes & Jimmy "Jam" Garvin with Diamond Dallas Page Big Daddy Dink & The Diamond Dolls Def Champions Doom Ron Simmons & Butch Reed with Thedore Long * & quarter of a star to win the titles
Big Daddy Dink is Sir Oliver Humperdink which he hated this gimmick Jim Ross said international object. The only downside to this match was The Freebirds were already filmed losing losing The World Tag Team Championship to The Steiner Brothers. Butch Reed & Thedore Long turned on Ron Simmons & to me it was to soon to split Doom up it's almost like it is an omen to The Hollywood Blonds a few years later.
Jim Ross talked to the winner of The Wrestle War Sweep Stakes his favorite team is Doom although they just split up.

WAR GAMES THE MATCH BEYOND

Ric Flair
Barry Windham
Sid Vicious
& Larry Zybsko
with Arn Anderson

Def

Sting
Rick Steiner
Scott Steiner
& Brian Pillman
*****
Barry Windham started out for The 4 Horsemen
Brian Pillman started out for Sting's team
Ric Flair went in 2nd for The 4 Horsemen
Sting was the 2nd guy for his team
The 4 Horsemen sent in Larry Zybsko for their 3rd man
Rick Steiner was the 3rd man for Sting's team
Sid Vicious was the last man for The Horsemen
Scott Steiner was the last guy for Sting's team

Arn Anderson was hurt so Larry Zybsko took his place The Horsemen's music was awful. This match was very very solid well & well booked Sid Vicious his 2 evil looking botched power bombs on Brian Pillman El Giante came down carried Pillman out. The Refeere ended the match Nick Patrick was interviewed he said that stopped the match Brian Pillman couldn't speak for himself he said that he didn't want to be responsible for Brian Pillman being injured. He said that I don't regret stopping the match.

This was a great show you had an awesome main event a very good US title match. The undercard is more than decent I gave this show the same raiting as last years Wrestle War With Capital Combat I was like it's a fun show but it's not great same with The Great American Bash 1990 I said it's good but not great it does have Flair vs Sting which is a great match but it had some week matches & matches that felt like TV matches. Halloween Havoc was a good watch but it had too many Herd era flaws. It is a lot better than Starrcade 90. So I can say check this show out.

Another event that I found and was able to get my hands on. Wrestle War '91 was the first event that was considered as a WCW event that had nothing about the NWA surrounding it. The story surrounding this event was that for the main event, which was the War Games match had a couple of changes added to it. First of all, Arn Anderson was injured so Larry Zybszcho was added into the match as a replacement. Along with that, Brian Pillman was attacked by the Horsemen to try to have the odds even but unlike Anderson, Pillman went through with his injury. One more thing is that I have the original PPV copy of this event so I don't know what has been edited off the tape since plenty of these old WCW events were edited down to two hours.

WCW Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Junkyard Dog, Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich vs The State Patrol & Big Cat. This was during WCW's attempt at having another championship that really didn't go over too well that it was removed & forgotten about within in the next couple of months. This opener did exactly what an opener was supposed to do & that was get the crowd pumped up so under that basis, this match succeeded in doing just that.

"Beautiful" Bobby Eaton vs Brad Armstrong. Eaton was going through a unique transition as he was more of a "tweener" as the crowd was just heavily behind him throughout the match, even when he showed signs of heel tactics. Both men worked over each other's arm in the early stages with Eaton stalling or even resorting to tactics like using the ropes & ranking the face to try to keep the advantage over Armstrong. Things certainly picked up from there with both men picking up the pace as the match went on in a back & forth struggle as this was without question the "sleeper" match of the night.

Itsuki Yamazaki & Mami Kitamura vs Miki Handa & Miss A. A rare match in WCW's history as Jim Ross mentioned that this was the first time that the women from New Japan Pro Wrestling were competing in a tag team match during a WCW PPV. This was the surprise of the night as this match didn't have build to it but it certainly delivered whether it came to the action in the ring or the commentary as each woman put on a good performance while Dusty Rhodes was a riot at ringside when he was comparing this match & the Japan Supershow coming up in a month.

Dustin Rhodes vs Buddy Landel. This was Dustin's WCW debut while for those that don't know or remember, Landel was actually trying to work the "Nature Boy" gimmick (robe & hair in all) that really feel flat in the eyes of everyone. This wasn't that good of a match as Dustin tried but just couldn't carry Landel to a good performance. It's watchable but it really didn't do much for me.

The Southern Boys vs The Royal Family. Just another match that was nothing more than a filler contest & nothing special past that.

No Disqualification Match: Terry Taylor vs Z-Man. Due to how their previous matches ended up, this match was turned into a No Disqualification match in order to determine a true winner. With that being said, this wasn't a weapons match at all as this stayed a wrestling match between both men that went back & forth with Miss York (who for those fans, was actually a young Terri Runnels) getting involved at certain points of the match. It was very tame for a "No Disqualification" match but it was a solid wrestling match for what it was.

Stan Hansen vs Big Van Vader. These two had an ongoing feud during this time whether it was in WCW or in Japan & this match followed that previous pattern in that it was just a stiff contest that looked more like a "No DQ" match than the previous one. They brawled right at the entrance way, in the ring, around the ring including using a crate that was at ringside & chair. It got so out of control that they brawled all over Jim Ross & Dusty Rhodes at ringside before both men shoved the referee down resulting in the end of the match but not the fight as they continued to battle up the ramp with Vader pulling Hansen by his bullrope.

United States Champion Lex Luger vs Dan Spivey. For two men that don't have the best reputation for being anything good in the ring & just being big men with muscles (although Luger had a nice run from 88-92), this was definitely another "sleeper" match of the night as this match was better than expected. Spivey tried to ground Lex in the early stages with his power & used a series of moves that weren't used by him in the past like a tombstone piledriver & an elbow drop from the top before Luger came back with his speed & power. A solid contest & without question the best performance of Dan Spivey's career but pay attention to the aftermath with Nikita Koloff & Lex Luger that lead to a new heel turn.

WCW Tag Team Champions Doom vs The Fabulous Freebirds. This was one of those matches that was more about pushing both team's storylines as Diamond Dallas Page brought out a new manager for the Freebirds in "Big Daddy Dink" in Sir. Oliver Humperdink. The match itself was short but the bigger story was the aftermath that lead to Butch Reed & Ron Simmons going their separate ways with Teddy Long showing he REALLY was with the entire time.

War Games: Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Sid Vicious & Larry Zbyszko vs Sting, "Flying" Brain Pillman & The Steiner Brothers. The classic War Games so a little history about this match. The rules are that there are two rings within a steel cage with a roof on top & two men start the match for the first five minutes. After a coin toss (which the heels seemed to win all of the time strangely enough), another member enters the match & the two sides rotate team members after the two minutes expire. Once all of the members are in the cage, the match can only end by submission or surrender. As what has been the case with this match in the past, this was a wild encounter with various highlights like Flair & Windham wearing the "crimson mask" along with Sting bleeding at one point as well, all four members of the Horsemen team being in the figure four leglock at the same time, the interaction between Sting & Flair that brought the fans to their feet that including Sting doing a gorilla press while bouncing Flair off the top of the cage, & Pillman's injury that became the focal point of the match that lead to Sid Vicious delivering the sickest powerbomb that I have seen from him that lead to Pillman receiving a neck injury causing the match to end.

Overall, this was one of those events that had more filler material as opposed to delivering quality matches along with some matches being used to push storylines. There were a few matches that were stand outs such as Eaton/Armstrong, Luger/Spivey, Vader/Hansen & the War Games match so unless you can see this event online or get it cheap, then you can skip this event & get the Horsemen DVD or Pillman's DVD set if you just want to see the main event.

WCW WrestleWar 1991
2/24/1991
Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum,Phoenix Arizona

NWA World 6 Man Tag Team Champs Match;
Junkyard Dog,Ricky Morton,and Tommy Rich defeated James Earl Wright,Buddy Lee Parker,and Big Cat

Bobby Eaton defeated Brad Armstrong

Stan Hansen fought Vader to a double disqualification(Good ***** match).

W.C.W US Title Match;
Lex Luger defeated Dan Spivey w/Nikolita Koloff as guest referee to retain the WCW US Title.(After the match guest referee Nikolita Koloff attacked Lex Luger).

W.C.W Tag Team Title Match;
The Fabulous Freebirds w/DDP and Big Daddy Dink defeated Doom w/Theodore Long to win the WCW Tag Team Titles.

Ric Flair,Barry Windham,Sid Vicious and Larry Zbyszko(w/Arn Anderson)defeated Sting,Brian Pillman,Rick Steiner,and Scott Steiner(w/El Gigante)in an "War Games Match".(Excellent ***** match the best on the p.p.v).

this is a great event. maybe its due to nostalgia, but i thought it was awesome. Brad Armstrong was always the best Armstrong in my opinion. The Vader, Stan Hansen match was decent. Freebirids vs. Doom was cool ending. War Games was excellent. One of the top 10 WCW events ever. GET IT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!