WCW WrestleWar 89'

WCW WrestleWar 89': Music City Showdown
Nashville, Tennessee - May 1989

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, Ricky Steamboat is the NWA World Champion, Lex Luger is the United States Champion, and Sting is the Television Champion. On the duo side of things, The Varsity Club's Steve Williams and Mike Rotunda are the NWA World Tag Team Champions while Rick Steiner and Eddie Gilbert hold the United States Tag Team Championships.

COMMENTATORS: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

After we hear the National Anthem from the Oak Ridge Boys, we have our opening contest - The Great Muta taking on Doug Gilbert (who is replacing Junkyard Dog). To be honest, the replacement actually had me more excited for this match - JYD was a decent worker, but its much funner to see Muta take on someone that will actually leave their feet and try to keep up with the lightning quick Muta. Doug's older brother shows up to try to rally his sibling, but Muta is unfazed - nailing a dropkick and then a huge splash to the outside. Another good performance out of Muta, but I could've stood to see even more out of the martial artist, especially considering how much more worthwhile it is to watch his appearance at Clash VI. A half-point for each high spot that Muta nails. (1.5/5)

Classic Ric Flair promo next. Concise but still electric. (+1)

Butch Reed makes his way down the aisle next with some slick music. His opponent, accompanied to the ring by a color guard, is Ranger Ross, a relative newcomer to WCW at this point. Having watched a decent amount of Butch Reed work from the 80s at this point, I'm willing to stay he's a tad underrated - only because for so long I've heard and read how much he was the drizzling shits. Still, after 10 years in the business, Reed being just serviceable isn't a big compliment. Reed does a handful of good little things, but the best thing about this match is that they keep it relatively short. (1/5)

Dick Murdoch and "Cowboy" Bob Orton square off in a Bullrope Match. A fairly one-sided brawl with Murdoch dominating and (surprisingly) no color, the striking out of Murdoch looks pretty stiff and Orton is a good seller, but this is just too short to be worth seeking out. The post-match angle is hardcore and arguably more violent than most anything we see today, but considering the rivalry and the stipulation, I was expecting more. (1.5/5)

The Dynamic Dudes debut next, taking on Paul E. Dangerously's Samoan SWAT Team (aka the Headshrinkers). A solid 10-minutes of action with the Samoans doing the heavy lifting and Shane Douglas definitely looking like the more "dynamic" of the dudes. Johnny Laurenaitis' mullet is funny, but you can pretty much stop watching this after their entrance and not feel like you missed much. At one point, Dangerously grabs a microphone and starts berating the crowd, correctly surmising that, with the heat dwindling, he needed to step in to regain the crowd's interest. Another not to special match on this "supershow." (1/5)


Finally a legitimate match between stars - Lex Luger defending his United States Championship against Freebird Michael Hayes. Hayes is in great shape here and, as I haven't seen him work singles too many times, I'm genuinely surprised how natural he looks doing it - reminding me of that one Nasty Boys match from WCW where Jerry Sags has to essentially ward off Harlem Heat (I think) on his own and its actually pretty great. Luger was incredibly over here and, if Hayes in the best shape of his life, Luger is the best shape of anyone's life ever. Every big spot gets a huge pop (even the ones he repeats) and his poses get even bigger responses. Luger attempts a Torture Rack but ends up eating a DDT in a particularly great sequence, the referee getting knocked out soon after. This leads to a hot finish that I regretfully learned didn't make for a notable rematch when WCW really had the makings of a great months-long story on their hands. (3/5)

The Man Called Sting is backstage and he has some words of warning for his opponent tonight - The Iron Sheik. Man, Sting's original WCW theme was so damn excellent (maybe even better than Luger's ZZ Top rip-off song). The former WWF World Champion isn't even given an entrance, but is accompanied by Rip Morgan, so there's that. I didn't have too high of hopes for this match and nothing they do has me revise those thoughts. A total squash that makes the Sheik look like a complete jobber. Awful match with a half-point rewarded for simply including Sting's original theme. (0.5/5)

Main event time? For whatever reason, the next contest is not the final of the night - Ric Flair challenging Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat for his WCW World Championship. Flair's entrance is more glorious than anything Bobby Roode can imagine, while Steamboat's is less flashy but still manages to capture the essence of his character. Some have called this the greatest match of all time and most every 5-star match list one can consult (including the Wrestling Observer) and I hold the match in the same high regard. A masterpiece of intense, physical wrestling, Steamboat and Flair manage to take what was great about their Clash of the Champions VI 2-out-of-3 falls match and streamline it into a neater package. In my review of their previous bout, I wrote about how the first fall needed to be slower and almost less exciting in order to get over the urgency and suspense of the second and third falls. This match, being fought under traditional one fall-to-a-winner rules, is fast-paced and exciting from the very start, the "feeling out" grappling condensed to 6-7 minutes before the chest chops and armdrags come out. Steamboat dominates the opening stretch, taking the fight to Flair, but the Nature Boy shows his brilliance throughout - taking breathers outside of the ring, trying to slow the pace down, catching the Dragon with chops and kicks to the midsection, and working the ref to take unfair advantages (there's a brief moment in the ropes where Flair does the best heel business I've seen in years). By the time we get to minute 20, the drama has been built so well that each blow, whether it be a superplex, an elbow to the throat, or just another knife-edged chop hits with enough impact that the viewer feels it at home. Wrapped up with a finish that nods to Steamboat's most famous match without beating the audience over the head with it, there isn't a single minute in this match that isn't executed flawlessly, their chemistry just astronomical. The post-match is almost equally legendary, but I don't see enough credit going to Jim Ross's work on the audio side of things. Like the Austin/Hart double-turn at WrestleMania 13, through Flair's post-match comments and (more prominently) Jim Ross's commentary, the Nature Boy really comes off as a changed man following the match, having gone toe-to-toe, 1-on-1 in fair athletic competition without the aid of the Horsemen or using dirty tactics. The crowd may not be 100% on his side when the bell rings, but by the end of the post-match segment, he'd drawn enough sympathy to transition to his next historic feud. (5/5)

The Road Warriors vs. Varsity Club (Mike Rotunda and Steve Williams) for the NWA World Tag Team Championships followed and, as one might expect, the match is nowhere near as good as the previous bout. I'm not sure why Flair/Steamboat didn't close the show or why this match didn't wrap things up (rather than the bout that comes after), but the purpose of this one seems to be simply to progress a storyline rather than deliver a satisfying match. The Road Warriors had a reputation to no-sell during their heyday, but they treat their opponents as something at least resembling equals here. Still, this is a nothing match without a real ending. (0.5/5)

Last Match Time - I can't bear to call a Dan Spivey bout a "main event" - Kevin Sullivan and Dan Spivey (again of the Varsity Club) challenging Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner for their United States Tag Team Championships. Much more of a "match" than the Warriors/Varsity Club bout, what's interesting here is how much Gilbert and Sullivan get out in a sub-10 minute outing. Two of the best minds in the business, Hot Stuff and the Taskmaster obviously developed a gameplan that would allow each man to shine a bit - Spivey comes off as a monster, Gilbert is the sympathetic babyface, Sullivan is a bulldog barking outdoors but not afraid to get physical himself, and the Dog-faced Gremlin gets in enough stiff clothesline to make sure his toughness registers with the crowd. While not a "great" match (or even a good one), had this match occurred in the first half of the show, I may have even tacked on an extra half-point. Unfortunately, as the closing act of a 3-hour show, its actually below average. (2/5)


WrestleWar 89's Kwang Score of 1.89-out-of-5 is a bit misleading. Only a handful of shows have earned lower scores (WWE Rebellion 2002, Clash of the Champions XXXII, SuperBrawl V), but like Badd Blood 97' (which earned a slightly lower score of 1.83), it is salvaged by not just a great match, but maybe one of the top 10 matches of all-time, an absolute "must watch" masterpiece of a match. Unlike Badd Blood 97', though, which barely featured a single match aside from its main event worth watching, this show at least offers a fun Hayes/Luger title match and some cool promos along Flair/Steamboat. Still, as a whole, its a hard show to recommend, especially if you've seen the NWA World Title match on one of the pre-Network Flair DVDs.

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver