FEBRUARY 6
1990
WCW’s Clash of the Champions X: Texas Shoot Out aired live on TBS from Corpus Christi, TX, in front of a sellout 3,000 fans. The key angle of the show saw the Four Horsemen kick Sting out of the group and turn heel in the process. This was intended to set up Sting’s title win over Flair just 19 days later, but later in the show, Sting tore his left patella when climbing the cage that surrounded the ring for the main event of the show in an attempt to get to Flair. Flair had no idea Sting was injured and lunged for him, continuing to brawl as the show went off the air. Because of Sting’s injury, he would be sidelined for five months, which was terrible timing considering the momentum he had. Sting was not the only person affected, as Lex Luger had to be turned babyface to fill the void at a time that he was the hottest heel in all of pro wrestling. While Luger quickly became a cheered babyface and drew reasonably well against Flair on the road, neither he nor Sting were ever quite the same after this. The aforementioned cage match main event saw Flair team with Arn and Ole Anderson to face The Great Muta, Buzz Sawyer and the Dragon Master. This was J-Tex’s last appearance as a group, and Muta notably received a significant babyface pop for his offense as a direct result of the angle involving the Horsemen earlier in the night. Unfortunately, WCW was unable to capitalize on this, as he was soon headed back to New Japan Pro Wrestling full-time. Also on the show, Rick and Scott Steiner successfully defended the WCW World Tag Team Titles against Doom in a mask vs titles match. Doom revealed themselves as Ron Simmons and Butch Reed in the least surprising unmasking in wrestling history, as most fans knew who they were for months. While Doom was an average team under the masks, they gained confidence and quickly became one of the best tag teams in wrestling without the masks. Meanwhile, Cactus Jack faced Mil Mascaras, who was brought in for a few border shows, and took his patented Nestea Plunge bump for the first time on national television, an unprotected fall from the ring apron the floor. After the match, Cactus brawled with wrestler JT Southern, who was simply presented as a member of the WCW band, as they were performing a WCW theme song. Also, Kevin Sullivan faced Norman the Lunatic in WCW’s first-ever Falls Count Anywhere match, which ended when Norman pinned Sullivan off camera in the ladies’ room. Gordon Solie was dispatched to call the action. WWF-style production was sprinkled in the ring entrances, most notably when Steve “Dr. Death” Williams was seen treating a patient in a skit before he walked to the ring. The show drew a 4.5 rating, and you can watch it on the WWE Network.
1993
USWA television was centered around Doink the Clown wreaking havoc on all of the top babyfaces in the territory. He placed banana peels all around the ringside area, which caused Jerry Lawler to trip and leave him prone to an attack from Doink and Brian Christopher. He threw a pie in Miss Texas’ face, which left her prone to an attack from Bert Prentice too. Finally, when Brian Christopher tried to goad Jeff Jarrett into a fight, he poured vegetable oil all over the floor, which caused Christopher to trip and left an opening for Doink and Christopher to attack one again. An angry Lawler used this series of events as a chance to sound off on the WWF and really kick the WWF vs USWA feud into gear. Also on the show, Howard Finkel sent in an incredible heel promo directed toward Downtown Bruno.
WWF Superstars aired a show taped on January 5 in San Antonio, TX. The featured match was Yokozuna against “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan where Duggan’s goal was to knock Yokozuna off of his feet. After four attempts, Duggan was successful, which led to an enormous pop from the crowd. However, Yokozuna responded by blinding Duggan with manager Mr. Fuji’s salt and gave him three bansai drops before burying him under an American flag and doing yet another one. Duggan bled from his mouth and did a stretcher job.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hFGerfn8OM
WCW Saturday Night aired a show taped on January 25 from Atlanta’s Center Stage Theatre. The Heavenly Bodies and Jim Cornette made a surprise appearance on television to protest footage recently being shown on TBS of the Rock & Roll Express beating them. Cornette demanded an apology and threw some shoot comments toward WCW, pointing out that he hated Jim Herd with a passion and that he and the Midnight Express left the company before because they made them look like idiots. All of this led to an impromptu match between the two teams, with everyone wearing street clothes. The show drew a 2.6 rating.
1995
WWF Monday Night RAW aired taped January 23 from Palmetto, FL. We heard a statement from Lawrence Taylor’s lawyer, who emphatically said that his client was not interested in a match with Bam Bam Bigelow, and if the grandstand challenges did not stop, he would seek legal remedy. The serious presentation continued when Vince McMahon conducted a sit-down interview with Diesel. The interview was a radical departure from the normal WWF style, as he compared Bret and Owen Hart as athletes, discussed wrestling strategy and explained his history of knee surgeries. Vince even asked Diesel how he kept his marriage together and called him Kevin Nash in a passing moment. Also on the show, Shawn Michaels resigned as a color commentator, noting that he was too hot of a commodity to continue calling the matches. The show did a 2.8 rating, and you can watch it on the WWE Network.
AAA held a card in Jalisco which featured one of many uncle-nephew versus father-son tag matches at the time, when Rey Misterio Sr. and Rey Misterio Jr. faced Fuerza Guerrera and Juventud Guerrera in a ****1/4 match.
1997
CMLL Japan featured a match between El Hijo del Santo and Negro Casas. At ***3/4, it was probably their worst match against each other, which speaks volumes about the quality of that series.
1999
Michael Hayes returned to wrestling on Memphis Power Pro television, cutting his first bonafide Freebirds-like promo in years.
In The “To Watch” Queue:
Jushin Liger vs 2 Cold Scorpio (NJPW 02/06/94)
