The SmarK Rant for World Championship Wrestling – 07.08.89

The SmarK Rant for World Championship Wrestling – 07.08.89

And so we come to the end of the line for World Championship Wrestling on the WWE Network. Not sure where I go from here to be honest.

Brought to you, one last time, by A&W ROOT BEER!

Taped from Atlanta, GA, although not at Center Stage this week, as they go back to an actual arena.

The Steiner Brothers v. Mark Smith & John Brewer

Missy is ALL BOOB this week and the camera makes sure to shoot her cleavage from the apron. And Scott immediately debuts the FRANKENSTEINER out of nowhere, although he does it as a standing rana instead of the running version that came later. Rick comes in and clobbers the jobber with a clothesline and then takes him to the top for a powerslam, just throwing the poor guy down with it. Scott runs him into the turnbuckles and drops an elbow for two, and Brewer tags out to Smith again. So Rick catches him with a powerslam to block a leapfrog and slugs away on the mat. Back to Scott with a dropkick as JR hypes up a cage match between the Road Warriors and SST that main events the next episode of Power Hour. That was the infamous beating delivered by the Freebirds that set up the Wargames at Bash 89. Back to Brewer and Scott finishes him off with a fallaway slam at 4:20. 1 for 1.

The Steiners join JR to talk about Rick’s impending street fight with Kevin Sullivan at the Boston Garden, and Scott veers the subject into Rick taking Robin Green to play basketball in the park. He beat her 21-0!

This week’s A&W CREAM SODA TAG TEAM KING OF THE SLAMS: The Road Warriors! But did they win a tournament to claim that crown?

Ricky Steamboat joins JR in the dressing room, as apparently Jim is the only announcer and interviewer they have under contract at this point. Ricky points out that he’s had a lot of commitments doing other stuff, so he hasn’t been on TV lately. But now he wants Luger to sign a contract for the US title at Bash 89, with no disqualifications! He claims that since he started in wrestling, he’s never had anyone blindside him and take him down like that. I think Muraco, Savage and Roberts would all beg to differ.

Brian Pillman v. Cruel Connection #1

So this marks the TBS debut of Flyin’ Brian, as Connection attacks him to start and Pillman quickly dropkicks him to the floor. Back in, Pillman works the arm and drops a knee on him, but Cruel Connection works him over in the corner. Pillman goes back to the arm, but misses a charge. Connection goes to the top and Pillman slams him off and puts him in a headscissors this time. Connection escapes that and tries a bulldog, but Pillman throws him off and hits his own, and then goes up with a flying splash to finish at 3:48. Not a great debut for Pillman, although the women were shrieking so that was good. 1 for 2. For me, it took me a while to warm up to him as a featured guy in NWA/WCW because I was coming from the perspective of literally watching his entire career in Stampede to that point and mostly just seeing him as Bruce Hart’s tag team partner rather than a potential singles star.

Lex Luger joins JR to respond to Steamboat’s challenge. What makes him the greatest wrestler today? INTELLIGENCE. Steamboat is in no position to dictate terms to him, and it will NOT be a no-disqualification match. That ended up being such a clever bit of a booking when they got to the title match.

The Freebirds v. Steve Casey & Randy Rose

Say what you will about the quality of the time, but sticking Jimmy Garvin in there as a Freebird was an inspired character choice and he slid into the role perfectly. He understood the assignment, as the kids say on the TikToks. Hayes does some strutting and arguing with the crowd to start, but Casey takes him down with armdrags and cradles for two. Rollup gets two. Bodypress gets two. Hayes lets Garvin have a shot at it, and Jimmy takes Casey down and drops knees on him. Casey gets another cradle on Garvin for one, so Garvin hauls him back to the Freebird corner and they double-team him. Casey makes a comeback and Garvin yanks him down by the hair from the apron, then throws him to the floor for a beating from Terry Gordy. Just in case you forget he’s out there. Back in, Hayes gets two off that. Freebirds put him down with a double elbow, but Casey manages to fight back on Garvin again and makes a legit hot tag to Randy Rose. Randy runs wild with lariats on the Freebirds, but he puts his head down and Garvin quickly puts him away with a DDT at 6:12. This match kinda ruled and I’m again shocked that they brought Rose back and never did anything with him. Ditto with Casey, who had a great Dollarama Stan Lane look to him and could have been packaged into something. 2 for 3.

The Danger Zone with special guest Terry Funk. Paul is wearing a classic 89 Batman t-shirt under his white Miami Vice jacket for the most 1989 look you can get. Funk admits he can’t run fast any more and his arms aren’t as strong as they used to be, but he’s going to be the World champion at the Bash because he’s got the heart that Flair doesn’t have. Flair has NO GUTS in his body! So the fans can holler “We Want Flair”, but no one wants Flair more than him!

The Midnight Express v. The New Zealand Militia

The Express works on Rip Morgan in their corner to start while Cornette joins JR on commentary and makes fun of him and his “foo pas”. Jim also compares the cage match on Power Hour to “walking down the street of Harlem at midnight” because it’s so dangerous. You can understand why someone like him would feel that way. Eaton comes in and drops an elbow on Rip, but Victory gets a cheapshot from the apron to take over. Morgan with a bearhug slam and he puts the furry boots to Eaton, and Victory comes in with a clothesline. Morgan with a legdrop for two. Eaton slugs back but walks into a boot, and then regroups and slugs Victory down. Rip chokes him out in the corner, but Eaton gets a sunset flip for two. Victory cuts him off again with a bearhug while JR does the hardest of hard sells for the Bash 89 show and the cage match on Power Hour, which apparently airs whenever the Braves finish losing the baseball game on Friday night. Bobby finally escapes and makes the hot tag to Stan , and a bodypress on Victory gets two. It’s ALL CATTYWAMPUS and the heels double-team Lane in the corner, but Bobby goes up with the flying elbow on Victory and switches off for the pin at 8:14. Well that’s a miscarriage of justice, he wasn’t even the legal man! Decent TV main at least. 3 for 4.

And finally, Ric Flair joins us and promises that they’re gonna carry Terry Funk out of Baltimore on a stretcher, and that’s how we wrap up the run of World Championship Wrestling on the Network. Too bad there’s no more, this got me all hyped for the Bash again. I might circle back and fill in the stuff from Jan-May 89 that I haven’t done yet just to complete it though, because I’ve really been enjoying my Saturdays on the Superstation. Hopefully you have been as well!