WWE Vintage Collection Report: November 1st 2012
By Shaun Best-Rajah.com Reporter
Hosted by: Mean Gene Okerlund
This week we continue to mix the best of sports and entertainment. Baseballers, race car drivers, Olympians, skaters and a man “perfect” at all are on hand.
WWF Superstars: October 1st 1994
Abe Knuckleball Schwartz vs Ron Cumberledge
Let’s play ball! Hey it’s the Brooklyn Brawler painted up like a baseball. We see a quick introductory vignette of Abe batting some balls to open the show. Abe slides under Cumberledge, surprising him with a slam. Abe does some jumping jacks – a reoccurring theme during the match. Cumberledge gets in a couple of armdrags. Abe slides out of the ring, pulling Cumberledge out and slamming him on the floor. Back inside, Abe argues with referee Mike Chioda, before rolling his knuckles into a ball to deck Cumberledge. A superplex is enough for the 1-2-3. Winner: ABE KNUCKLEBALL SCHWARTZ. Sadly for Abe, the former MVP wouldn’t gain many major league wins during his short lived tenure.
NWA/WCW Clash of the Champions IX – New York Knockout: November 15th 1989
The Midnight Express vs The Dynamic Dudes
Express manager Jim Cornette is in a neutral corner. He had taken the Dudes under his tutelage after they came to his aid following an attack by Paul E. Dangerously. As the strain of managing two teams began to show, the Midnights gave him an ultimatum and bada-bing we get this match. Sadly, we don’t get to see Shane Douglas or Johnny Ace come out on their skateboards. Douglas gets the better of both Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane during some early mat wrestling exchanges. Ace ducks an enziguiri to give the Midnight Express a pair of dropkicks each. Ace holds down the ropes for a Douglas plancha. Douglas shows off some more, skinning the cat back into the ring. I bet he couldn’t do that now. Douglas continues to control the Express with armdrags. Eaton sets up for a superplex, but Douglas slips down to hook a rollup and land a blind cross body for two. Ace hiptosses Eaton and monkey flips him out of the corner. As Ace goes to hook a headscissors, Lane blindsides him in mid- air. Lane kicks away in the corner, before delivering a side Russian legsweep. Ace gets his knees up on Eaton to thwart a Rocket launcher splash. Douglas gets the hot tag and cleans house. All four wind up going at it. Eaton wraps a chain around his wrist. Douglas backbodydrops Eaton and Cornette tosses the chain into the crowd. Cornette then cracks Douglas with his tennis racket behind the referee’s back. It was a setup all along! Eaton covers for the 1-2-3. Good stuff. Winners: THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS.
WWF Superstars: April 2nd 1994
Thurman Sparky Plugg vs Double J Jeff Jarrett
Before the in-ring action commences, we get to see Bob Holly rocking a brown mullet talking about racing cars and putting pedal to the metal in the WWF. We join the match in progress. Jarrett misses a corner charge. Sparky dishes out some slams. Jarrett telegraphs a clothesline with one of his own and pins Sparky after a dropkick. Earl Hebner spots Plugg had his foot under the bottom rope and restarts the match, much to Jarrett’s chagrin. Plugg softens Jarrett up and gets nearfalls from a sunset flip and backslide. Jarrett reverses an irish whip, but runs into a clothesline. Plugg covers for the 1-2-3 and knocks Jarrett’s foot off the rope. Hebner doesn’t see any of this and lets the victory stand. Doink would come out after the match and help Sparky pin Jarrett again, but that’s been edited off. The terrible ring name was eventually modified into the slightly better Bob “Spark Plugg” Holly. Winner: THURMAN SPARKY PLUGG.
Kurt Angle runs through all of his Olympic and amateur accolades ahead of his in-ring debut in the fall of 1999. The 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist was being championed as the “most celebrated real athlete in WWF history.”
WWF Survivor Series: November 14th 1999
Kurt Angle vs Shawn Stasiak
Angle comes out to the Patriot’s old music which he would soon make his own. Angle employs some Greco-Roman freestyle wrestling and the crowd start chanting boring. Jim Ross tries to cover by saying it’s a style that the fans aren’t used to seeing. Angle tosses Stasiak with a belly-to-belly. Stasiak levels Angle with a clothesline and works him over. Angle goes outside to tell the fans not to boo an Olympic Gold Medalist. Angle survives some more Stasiak offense before catching him with a powerslam. Stasiak hits a TKO drop, but misses a flying crossbody. A fallaway slam gives Angle his first victory. Kind of boring, but Angle would blow up and get really good, really quickly. Winner: KURT ANGLE.
The perfect video package airs of Curt Hennig showing why he’s a master of all sports. When the Doctor handed him over as a newborn to his Mum, her first words were “perfect.” Arn Anderson weighs in by saying Hennig pigeonholed himself into a pretty tough act to follow, but the S.O.B was pretty damn close to being perfect in every way.
Monday Night Raw: March 8th 1993
Mr Perfect vs The Model Rick Martel
Martel has come to the party dressed as a sailor. Both go back-and-forth, exchanging holds, shots and kick me downs. Martel cowers from a closed fist. Martel cartwheels away from a clothesline and does some jumping jacks. Perfect avoids a monkey flip and shows Martel a “perfect” cartwheel. Martel cheap shots in the corner, then knees the face to get the advantage. Martel takes Perfect down by the arm. Both fight over a hammerlock until Perfect runs to the ropes to send Martel tumbling outside. Back from commercials, Martel is focusing on Perfect’s back with a gutwrench suplex and camel clutch. Martel delivers a backbreaker. Perfect gets his knees up to thwart a catapult splash from the apron. Perfect meets Martel coming off the middle rope with a gut punch. Perfect builds momentum with a couple of atomic drops and backbodydrop as we inexplicably cut away for another commercial break. When we return, Perfect has already won the match. We see a replay of Martel getting pinned with a Perfect-plex during the break. A rare case of poor production values from the normally slick WWF TV crew. Winner: MR PERFECT.
More from the WWE vault on Sunday.
END
Follow me on Twitter @Shaun_Best.