WCW Slamboree 1995: A Legends Reunion
May 21, 1995
St. Petersburg, FL
Bayfront Center

The current WCW Champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Hulk Hogan (7/17/1994)
WCW U.S. Champion: vacant (3/25/1995)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Harlem Heat (1/15/1995)
WCW World Television Champion: Arn Anderson (1/8/1995)

Your hosts are Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan. Tony’s neck be hurting.

Random notes: 1) First WCW pay per view with entrance pyro. 2) Last WCW pay per view for ring announcer Gary Michael Capetta.

Road Warrior Hawk returns to WCW! He came in and beat up Meng on the Main Event before the show. Now they instantly have a match signed for the PPV. Hope nobody would have paid to see him otherwise, because nobody watches that show.

• WCW World Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat (w/Sister Sherri) vs. The Nasty Boys
  

Alright! Who’s ready to laugh? Sags fights alone because Knobbs was injured before the show on the Main Event by Regal and Eaton. Either that, or he was left with the tab at the Golden Corral. Oh ho ho. Burn. But seriously though, both he and Sags were beaten down. This is part four in the less-than-compelling Nasties/Heat series that plagues us here in 1995. The first minute is nothing but stalling. Not even working the crowd stalling, just the Heat and Sherri talking to each other. Finally, Sags turns Booker inside out with a clothesline. Stevie Ray tries to pearl harbor Sags, but gets cut off. Sags delivers a double-DDT to the Heat and pummels Sherri off the apron. While Stevie Ray checks on Sherri, Sags gives Booker a Pumphandle Slam for 1-2-NO! The Heat take over when Sherri leads Sags around the ring and back in for a stomping from Stevie Ray. Booker misses an elbow drop, hits the SPINAROONIE, and catches Sags with a Jumping Hook Kick. Next up, Stevie Ray tries a legdrop from the first rope, doesn’t get enough air on it, and has to land on his feet to save himself from tripping. Once he’s back on his feet, THEN he delivers the leg drop. Now that’s tenacity if I’ve ever seen it. Sags gets a desperation Piledriver to block a backdrop. That cues Brian Knobbs as he comes wobbling and hobbling down to ringside with his ribs taped. How did the Blue Bloods even reach his ribs? Those must have been some HARD stomps. Sags spies his partner and makes the hot tag. He goes slam crazy on the Heat and dumps out Stevie Ray. Sherri dives on him from the top and gets caught for a slam. We see some more Sherri abuse as Knobbs throws her out on top of Stevie Ray. Knobbs can barely hold Booker T up long enough for a running powerslam to set up a FLYING ELBOW DROP from Sags gets the 1-2-3. (10:53) So the Nasties become three-time WCW world tag team champions. Only a smidgen better than their Uncensored match because that one was just so terrible. And hey, at least it didn’t go 15 minutes plus! While the Nasties celebrate, the Blue Bloods look disgusted from the aisle way. *½

• Kevin Sullivan vs. The Man With No Name (formerly known as the Butcher)

This whole feud started at Superbrawl V when Sullivan smashed his brother Dave’s face into Butcher’s STEEL PLATED ROBOTIC face. For the sake of typing The Man With No Name or TMWNN every time he makes a move, I’m just going to call him Butcher. Sullivan takes a High Knee to the floor for some guardrail action. Back in, Butcher chokes and punches Sullivan to set up the SLEEPER. The always successful jawbreaker helps get Sullivan loose as they head back to the floor to trade chops. Back in the ring, Butcher maintains the offense with more of the same until we see a Piledriver. Butcher covers, 1-2-NO! Back on the floor they go. Now back in the ring they go. Blah blah blah. Butcher misses a corner charge and hits his forehead on the ringpost. Sullivan seizes the moment and puts Butcher up in the Tree of Woe and runs into him with his knee. DOUBLE-STOMP! Sullivan picks up the win. (5:26) Since this gimmick didn’t work too well for The Man With No Name (formerly known as the Butcher), he decided to go with the much better gimmick to become Sullivan’s lackey as the Zodiac! Sullivan’s “father” King Curtis Iaukea, or known here as The Master of the Dungeon of Doom, shows up on the TurnerTron to tell his son to come here. He’s ready for his sponge bath! ¼*

• Wahoo McDaniel vs. Dick Murdoch
  

They show this legends match in black & white to give it more of a nostalgic feel. It’s a nice touch. As per tradition, Gordon Solie calls the match instead of Bischoff. Oddly enough, both Solie and Heenan would suffer from throat cancer later in life. Thankfully for Heenan, his bout with throat cancer wouldn’t take his life away like it did Gordon Solie. Funny how these two can work better in their FIFTIES (if you want to get technical, Murdoch’s 48 years old) than the last two matches combined. Murdoch sells an armdrag and then buries a knee on Wahoo so he can start up delivering some elbows. A chop from Wahoo stops all that. Murdoch sticks to the same game plan with the elbows, but Wahoo chops him on the forehead to drive him back. Overhead wristlock from Wahoo. Murdoch backs Wahoo into the corner and cheapshots him with a closed fist behind the ref’s back. They trade blows, but once again the chops prevail. Murdoch buries another knee and delivers some elbows on the apron. Back in, Murdoch goes for the kill with the Murdoch Knee Drop Bulldog out of the corner. CRAZY! And just like that, Wahoo reverses a whip and catches Murdoch with the TOMAHAWK CHOP. That gets three. (6:19) This would prove to be Murdoch’s final match on PPV, but he would continue wrestling in the independents until he passed away in June of 1996 of a heart attack. **

• IWGP Heavyweight Champion Great Muta vs. Paul Orndorff
  

Not sure what the reason behind Orndorff getting the chance to face Muta. Not saying that Orndorff’s not talented, but it’s a complete clash of styles. Is there a Japanese section in the Bayfront Center? I thought Reagan took care of this! Feeling out process to start. Muta picks up the pace by putting Orndorff on the floor with a jumping back kick. Back in, they go to the mat where Orndorff escapes a headlock into a hammerlock. Muta controls again with a headscissors, but Orndorff counters that and drills Muta with a back suplex. They go to the floor where Orndorff chokes Muta with a cable. Back in, Orndorff grabs a chinlock. Muta punches out, but whiffs on a dropkick. Now Muta comes out of a front headlock with an atomic drop. He was supposed to miss a middle rope elbow drop, but Orndorff didn’t move. Orndorff takes over anyway with forearms. Muta backdrops out of the PILEDRIVER to kickstart his comeback. Handspring Elbow connects, as does a running face slam for two. And now to finish him off, Muta hits the backbreaker to set up the MOONSAULT. That’ll do. (14:11) Just a drag of a match. *¾

• WCW World Television Champion Arn Anderson vs. Alex Wright
  

Here comes old reliable Arn Anderson to make Alex Wright look good. Wright controls Arn with a headlock to start. Arn escapes once into an enziguri, and twice as Arn catches a kick and flips Wright over so he can take him down with a dropkick. Wright grounds Arn for an STF and then baseball slides Arn out to the floor for a sloppy looking pescado. Back in, Wright works a hammerlock, but runs into a Spinebuster! I love it. Arn puts the boots to Wright, but gets kicked off into the corner during a figure-four attempt. Wright makes his comeback with a spinning heel kick and a suplex to set up a Missile Dropkick for 1-2-NO! They trade inside cradles for a few nearfalls. Wright catches Arn charging at him in the corner, but Arn fakes a left jab which causes Wright to duck and take an ugly DDT. Cover, 1-2-3. (11:36) The replay shows how ugly that DDT was. Match was okay with a finish was oh-so satisfying. Thus ends Alex Wright’s winning streak on TV and his rise to stardom until he becomes more interesting as a heel in 1997. Best match on the card so far. **½

• Road Warrior Hawk vs. Meng (w/Col. Robert Parker)
  

That’s right. Hawk is back in WCW. Meng kicks Hawk around to start. PILEDRIVER to Hawk! Oh no, he refuses to sell that. If Hawk can no-sell, so can Meng and he does so with a Reverse Neckbreaker. Next up, Hawk misses a charge into the corner and runs shoulder-first into the ringpost. Yes, you will sell that. Parker puts the boots to him on the floor. Back in, Meng delivers a backbreaker for two. Hawk fires back, but a throat thrust from Meng puts him down. Hawk catches a kick and drills him with a clothesline. Jumping shoulderblock and a jumping fist drop gets two. Hawk misses a top-rope splash and rolls out to the floor where Meng follows him out so they can brawl until we get a double countout. (4:41) Some jobbers break up the fight. About as good as you would expect. *

WCW Hall of Fame Inductions Ceremony hosted by Gordon Solie: Chief Wahoo McDaniel, Terry Funk, Angelo Poffo, Antonio Inoki, Big John Studd (award accepted by his son Robert – Studd passed away two months earlier), Dusty Rhodes, and Gordon Solie. This would turn out to be the final class of the WCW Hall of Fame. Tradition bites!

• Sting vs. Big Bubba Rogers – Lights Out Match
  

Sting brings a table to the ring, so you know he means business. Lights out is just a fancier phrase that means “anything goes”. Early on, Bubba takes a dropkick to the floor. Back in, he goes to the eyes and clotheslines Sting in the corner. Bubba chokes Sting with his tie. Sting powers out and dropkicks Bubba down. Bubba takes Sting to the floor where the table gets involved. Bubba sets it up to smash Sting’s face on it, but Sting puts on the brakes and sends Bubba onto it instead. Sting tilts up the table and pays for it with powder in the eyes! Bubba finally smashes Sting’s face on the table as they head back in the ring taking the table with them. Sting backdrops out of a piledriver and whips Bubba into the table propped up in the corner for a Stinger Splash, but Bubba moves and Sting splats on the table. Off comes the belt for Bubba to whip Sting like a five year old child. Whoops. BOSSMAN SLAM! Cover, 1-2-NO! Sting slams Bubba off the top and hits a Flying Splash himself for 1-2-NO! Sting manages to punch Bubba down and places the table on top of him for a double stomp! SCORPION DEATHLOCK! Sting gets the submission victory. (9:31) Some fun spots, but not much else. **¼

• Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage (w/The Renegade) vs. Ric Flair & Vader (w/Arn Anderson)
  

This match is probably best known for the debut of Paul Wight, who comes out the curtain every once in a while and glares at Hogan through his uber cool sunglasses cracking his knuckles. My question is, how did Hogan and Savage miss passing him by when they made their entrance? By the way, this is Ric Flair’s first TV match since his retirement match at Halloween Havoc. For future information, Angelo Poffo is sitting in the front row. Vader overpowers Hogan to start in the tie-up. Hogan fights out of the corner and clotheslines Vader out for a flying double ax handle from Savage. Back in, Vader double-clotheslines the Maniacs. ITS VADER TIME! Vader tosses Savage out for a beating from Flair. In the ring, Flair chops away in the corner. Savage punches out and unloads on Flair, setting up a Flair Flip onto the apron into a Big Boot from Hogan. Flair hightails it down the aisle for the Flair Flop. Back in, Flair wants a test of strength and thumbs the eyes instead. Ha! Savage punches back again, grabs Flair, and tags Hogan. He NO-SELLS chops, so Flair begs off. He goes to the eyes once more, but makes the perennial mistake of going to the top rope only to be slammed to the canvas. Figure-Four by Hogan. While Vader protests to ref Randy Anderson, Arn runs in and gets caught with a small package. Good gosh this is ridiculous. As Arn gets out of the ring, Hogan grabs at him and takes a chopblock by Flair. Now he goes to school. Vader tags in and wrenches the knee real good. Paul Wight walks out again and then disappears behind the curtain. In the ring, Hogan NO-SELLS a suplex from Vader, but telegraphs a backdrop and receives a Body Attack for it. Vader gets into a tiff with Savage and shrugs the ref away. Vader avalanches Hogan and sets him up for not one, but two Vader Bombs! Too bad Vader misses on the second one. Hot tag to Savage, he pounds away on Flair. Savage slams Flair from the top and hits the MACHO ELBOW! Arn pulls Savage out, only to lead him into a Body Attack from Vader. Meanwhile, Renegade scares Arn away. Vader tags in for a VADERSAULT on Savage! AWESOME. Cover, 1-2-NO! Hogan makes the save. The heels control Savage in the corner until he fights his way out. HOT TAG TO HOGAN! He goes SLAM CRAZY and gets rid of Vader. That leads to a Big Boot, but Arn trips up Hogan when he attempts the Legdrop. With Hogan down, Vader comes over and splashes him! Flair covers and Hogan kicks out at two. He Hulks Up and points the finger, but then Arn gets up on the apron to distract him. Flair grabs Hogan from behind as Arn ascends to the top. When he comes down, Hogan moves and Flair gets nailed. Arn is pulled out by either Savage or Renegade as Hogan delivers the LEGDROP for the 1-2-3. (18:58) More jobbing for Flair. Angelo Poffo tries to save his son Randy from a triple-team beatdown and receives the Figure-Four for his troubles. The babyfaces storm the ring to break it up, but it’s too late! OH THE HORROR! And now you have the Great American Bash
’95 main event. **¾

Final Thoughts: Sadly, this is only a smidgen better than Uncensored which isn’t saying anything at all. Nothing breaks the *** territory, but at least I didn’t feel as offended by the sheer stupidity of the last borefest WCW called a pay per view. Thumbs down – just not all the way to hell like last time.