GWF Vol 8

Well, we are now at the finals of the Light Heavyweight tournament, and this of course means two men in the ring together: Lightning Kid and Jerry Lynn. I’m looking forward to reviewing their match, as their series in the GWF is critically acclaimed as making them the stars they are today. But of course there’s the playoff before that.

Of course, there is the coin toss to decide who gets the bye into the final, and who will face off in the playoff match. Following two tosses, Jerry Lynn get lucky, meaning it’s Lightning Kid vs Steve Simpson.

Lightning Kid vs. Steve Simpson (Playoff)
Lightning Kid jumped Simpson before the bell, and this match started at a quick pace, with both men wanting to get to the final with minimal fatigue. Simpson tried to keep the match on the mat, at one point putting a Rolling Cradle to use. Meanwhile, Lightning Kid again used a strategy of high flying moves mixed with kicks, and also cheated on a couple of occasions and begged off of his opponent. Kid missed a Flipping Leg Drop off the top, and Simpson used this opportunity to work on his back. Simpson went to the top himself, hat a Cross Body, but Lightning Kid rolled through, grabbed his trunks and got three. Good stuff here again- **1/2

Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn (Finals)
The match I bought this set for (well, to be honest I bought the set to see their entire feud, not just this match), and it was great: just like watching a WCW Cruiserweight match from the mid-late 90′s, which at this time was extremely innovative, and it holds up very well today. Lynn worked more of a mat based style, countering Lightning Kid’s kicks and fast paced moves into submission holds to work on the arm or leg. The match picks up steam when Lynn hits a Dropkick on Lightning Kid off the top rope, where they moved at a fast pace, hitting big dives and getting close near falls as well as locking in some innovative submission holds. Lightning Kid hit a Spinning Wheel Kick off the top, but nails the referee in the process, and Lightning Kid hits him with a foreign object for three. Good match, although not all the moves were crisp: they would proceed to have even better matches as the feud went on- ***1/4

As in the fourth volume, there wasn’t a lot on this, but what there was good. The finals is the match of the tournament, as Lynn and Lightning Kid had a great match with innovative moves and fast action. The Playoff match was also good, and worth watching.

So, as before, since the show wasn’t very long, I’m going to look at the good and bad points of this tournament-

Good Points-
Lightning Kid and Jerry Lynn- I would have listed these two separately, but them and their finals match would have taken up the entire good points section. They had a great tournament ending match in the final, and throughout the tournament, barring one bad match from each that wasn’t their fault, they did a lot for this tournament.
Adrian Street- I said it before, and I’ll say it again, but Street did a great job in this tournament as he did in the Television Title tournament. His gimmick is over the top, but unlike say Rico, it doesn’t stop him doing some great mat wrestling and busting out innovative offense. A shame he was injured in the semi final though
Terry Garvin- He got a bigger chance in this tournament than he got in the Television title one, and he was pretty solid in all of his matches. he would be a good first contender to the belt in my view.

Bad Points-
Handsome Stranger vs Lightning Kid- The match itself wasn’t too bad, but this finish was just awful, one of the worst I have ever seen, and it actually put me off watching the rest of the tournament for the rest of the day due to how much it annoyed me. And what a surprise: it involved Rasta The Voodoo man, the very man I ranted about in the last tournament.
Randy Rhodes- Just why, why was he even in this tournament when he was not a Light Heavyweight. Yes, I know the whole point here was that he was pretending to be a light heavyweight and it was ridiculous for him to do so, but there shouldn’t have even been a match in the first place, period. Don’t use stuff like this to cover the fact you couldn’t find another light heavyweight to put in the tournament.
Too many squashes- Having squashes and one sided matches ail over the first round wasn’t a good idea, as it makes many of the supposed contenders seem worthless. If they couldn’t find enough lightweights, why not shorten the tournament and give more time to the other matches. It reminds me of the WWF’s Light Heavyweight tournament in 1997.

I thought that this was around the same level as the Television Title Tournament overall, as there was a better finals match, but many of the earlier rounds have average matches and squashes in them. Overall it was solid though and makes me look forward to seeing more Light Heavyweight action, in particular the Lynn/Lightning Kid feud

7/10 for the show
7/10 for the tournament

Coming up next, some WCW reviews from my archive.

GWF TV Vol 7

Terry Garvin vs. John Tatum (2nd Round)
The announcers play up these two being friends at one point: I’m not sure where that comes from exactly. Tatum essentially used this to play mind games, showing signs of friendship to Garvin who was having none of it. This was essentially an old school style match with lots of stalling and cheating by Tatum, and Garvin having the fans behind him and firing up with their support, while trying to take Tatum to the mat. Tatum also put some power moves to use. Tatum used a steel chain assisted punch to get three. Solid bout- **

Jerry Lynn vs. Terry Daniels (2nd Round)
So this is the first proper time we will see Jerry Lynn in action. This was a really solid match, other than a few sloppy spots, and Lynn looked good here. The problem was however that the crowd weren’t very into it, as both men were considered faces and thus the crowd didn’t know who to cheer and who to boo. But the match itself was solid with lots of good mat wrestling and counters. Lynn got the fall with a Cross Body- **1/4

Adrian Street vs. Steve Simpson (2nd Round)
Again, two faces going at it here, but the crowd were a bit more into this one. And much like the last match, this was a mainly mat based bout, with lots of quick holds and counter holds, and it was a fairly even match. Simpson continually tried to apply a Boston Crab, but Street had the ability to stop Simpson applying the hold almost every time. Adrian Street seriously injured his hand on a Bulldog, and couldn’t continue, so Simpson advanced- **1/4

Lightning Kid vs. Handsome Stranger  (Semi Finals)
A battle of two future NWO members. Following a pre-match posedown (I’m sure Bagwell got those muscles “naturally”), the match turned into a battle of power against speed, with Handsome Stranger overpowering Lightning Kid, and Lightning Kid stalled a lot but when he wrestled he used high flying and kicks. Rasta The Voodoo Man showed up at ringside for some reason. The finish was arguably one of the worst I’ve ever seen: Rasta was clearly supposed to push Handsome Stranger off the top, but he was nowhere near where he should have been, so he just sort of fell off the turnbuckle. Even the announcers couldn’t explain it. This allowed Lightning Kid to get three with a Spinning Kick. Solid until that god awful finish, which cut 1/2* off the match at least- *1/2

Steve Simpson vs. Mike Davis (Semi Finals)
A solid, average bout here, with Davis essentially wrestling his old school style again here, with lots of cheating, stalling, punches and playing to the crowd. Simpson was the underdog and had the crowd on his side, and used them to fire back at Davis, before getting three with a Top Rope Splash- *3/4

Jerry Lynn vs. John Tatum (Semi Finals)
Tatum made fun of Lynn’s smaller size, trying to play mind games, but Lynn was completely unintimidated, and had the advantage early (despite Tatum’s claims of cheating), with Tatum having to cheat to get himself into the match. Tatum also used a lot of strikes here, but he would get too cocky, which allowed a Lynn fightback. Tatum them almost deliberately Superkicks the referee, and gets DQ’ed- **

A solid Volume of GWF action overall. The only real down point here was that horrendously bad finish to the Lightning Kid/Handsome Stranger match, which made zero sense to begin with and was completely botched. Other than that, pretty much all of the match were solid, but there were no standout matches to go out of your way to see. Still, a slightly above average volume overall.

6/10

GWF TV Vol 6

Jerry Lynn vs. Randy Rhodes (1st Round)
Rhodes is so not within the weight limit that’s it’s embarrassing, and his new manager continues to claim that he is within the weight limit. Within about two seconds of the match beginning Rhodes is rolled up for three. Utter stupidity- DUD

Terry Daniels vs. Rick Garren (1st Round)
Garren is an indy wrestler who competed in Texas during the 90′s. There’s some quick and crisp holds and reversals in the opening minutes, with both men evenly matched. Daniels spent the match working on the legs of Garren, to slow his quicker opponent, while Garren used his speed to escape the holds he was put into. Daniels managed to get a Small package out of nowhere for three. That was pretty solid for such a short match- **

Terry Garvin vs. Kenny the Stinger (1st Round)
As before, I know little about Kenny the Stinger outside of the GWF. He jumped Garvin to begin the match, but Garvin soon made a fightback forcing Kenny to the outside. Following this the match slowed down, with lots of playing to the fans and basic wrestling holds. Kenny hat a few power moves (and to be honest I question if he made the weight limit), but missed a Top Rope Diving Splash, and got the fall with a Spinning DDT- *3/4

John Tatum vs. Khris Germany (1st Round)
Tatum is another former WCCW star as well as spending time in the UWF. Germany is from a similar background, wrestling for WCCW late on, as well as appearing on tons of major indy shows of the 90′s, and is still wrestling today. Tatum was fairly dominant in this match though, using a mix of strikes and basic wrestling moves. The match finish is missing though, but thanks to recaps I was able to see it. Tatum got the fall with a Splash after a Superkick. Average stuff- *1/4

Lightning Kid vs. Chaz (2nd Round)
A battle of two future WWF stars in the Attitude era. In the early going they had some quick mat exchanges, with Kid stalling for time a little. Chaz began to gain control with a few quick moves, but Lightning Kid got him to the outside and pulled out a Tope which was amazing for the time period. He then worked on him with some submissions and high impact moves, but could not put Chaz away, and because of this he made a brief fightback. Kid and Chaz exchanged a few near falls, with Lightning Kid foolishly pulling Chaz up after a Backdrop Driver. He would pin Chaz after a Tombstone Piledriver. Another good match- **3/4

Handsome Stranger vs. Rip Rogers (2nd Round)
I bet at least 50% of this match is posing. It was a decent match, which was mainly based around basic wrestling holds and strikes, and nothing much more than that. Rasta The Voodoo Man was at ringside due to forming an alliance with Rip Rodgers and Makhan Singh. It did however entertain the crowd, and that was the most important thing. Handsome Stranger pulled out somewhat of an upset when he pinned Rodgers with the Fishermans Suplex- *1/2

Mike Davis vs. Brian Adias (2nd Round)
I’m not sure who exactly is heel and who is face: Davis to me is clearly the heel, but he offers a handshake and Adias refuses, which is surely a heelish act, then he starts acting like a face. I’m confused. Davis kind of reminds me of Jake Roberts, only not as talented. There was a lot of stalling here, but they did some mat wrestling as well, but much of this match was both men cheating. Davis won it with a pinfall using the ropes. Really not a good match, they didn’t click, it was sloppy and I had no idea who was heel and who was face- 1/2*

A mixed bag once again. On the one hand, there was a good match with Chaz vs Lightning Kid: two young stars who would go reasonably far in the business, and a solid match with Terry Daniels and Rick Garren. On the other hand most of the rest of the matches were very average, the final match was a complete waste of time and the Lynn/Rhodes match was barely a match at all. So I’ll meet in the middle on this one I guess, and that’s probably being a little generous.

5/10

GWF TV Vol 5- Light-Heavyweight Title Tournament

Chaz vs. Ed Robinson (1st Round)
Chaz is considerably thinner than he was when he joined the WWF, almost to the point where he looks like a different person. I don’t know a lot about Ed Robinson, other than he’d been a jobber in the WWF. Chaz had control in the early going with some basic holds. Robinson didn’t get in all that much offense here, but when he did he tended to cheat. Chaz came back with some sloppy looking moves, before winning with an RVD style Missile Dropkick. Chaz was a bit green and the match was fairly average as a result- *1/2

Lightning Kid vs. Bubba Fangman (1st Round)
Lightning Kid was playing heel here, but he didn’t maintain that status when he started the feud with Jerry Lynn. I haven’t seen Fangman wrestle and again I know little about him. After Fangman had the early advantage, they started to exchange some holds and counters, and Lightning Kid began to show his skill by chaining some holds together and throwing some kicks. Kid hits a Spinning Wheel Kick, which looks like it wasn’t supposed to be the finish as the ref counts three, and the Kid didn’t look happy. Great stuff while it lasted though, The Lightning Kid could really go- **1/2

Handsome Stranger vs. Butch Blackheart (1st Round)
The Handsome Stranger is, in case you didn’t know, Marcus ‘Buff’ Bagwell, and he was essentially a masked ladies man. Butch Blackheart’s another wrestler I know nothing about outside of the GWF: he looks a little like Nasty Ned Brady. The Stranger worked some basic stuff on the mat, while Blackheart went for strikes and cheated on a few occasions. After the Stranger dominated most of this bout, he pinned Blackheart with a Fishermans Suplex- *3/4

Rip Rogers vs. Ray Evans (1st Round)
Am I the only one who thinks Steve Corino based his look on Rip Rogers? You’ve probably guessed that again I know next to nothing about Evans. The opening exchanges were fairly even, with the two exchanging a few holds, and whenever Evans got anywhere close to having an advantage Rogers would stall for time or claim Evans had cheated. Rogers managed to take control of the match after slowing the pace down, and barring a couple of smashes into the turnbuckle, he pinned him after a DDT- **

Steve Simpson vs. Mike Stetson (1st Round)
Simpson is a South African wrestler who used to wrestle for WCCW. Mike Stetson has been nothing more than a jobber in most promotions, and he really doesn’t look like a lightweight at all. Stetson didn’t do a lot here either other than get locked in a lot of submission holds. So in this showcase for Simpson, he got the fall with a Cross Body. Essentially an extended squash, with Simpson looking strong- *3/4

Adrian Street vs. Iceman King Parsons (1st Round)
Street and Parsons are billed as two wrestlers not used to light heavyweight competition. Parsons has a Rotty Poot stick with him: surely The Rock gained some inspiration from that. Street’s mind games don’t seem to work on Parsons, so they exchange a couple of holds before Parsons gets aggressive. He goes for a countout win after beating Street on the floor, but this doesn’t work so he cheats a bit, as well as using several strikes and power moves. Street turns the match when he reverses a Piledriver on the floor. The finish was a bizarre: Parsons backdropped Street over the top rope, and the ref said that Street was the winner: I thought the GWF allowed people to go over the top. Because of that, a stupid finish to a good match- **1/4

Brian Adias vs. El Bandelero (1st Round)
I don’t know if Bandelero is even a Mexican wrestler, but is rather an American wrestler under a mask. Early on they go to the mat and exchange some holds, with Adias generally being in control, working on the arm. The match got a bit more aggressive, with both wrestlers using some strikes in addition to the mat holds. Adias generally controlled the action, and in the end this was basically an extended squash. He got the fall with a Russian Leg Sweep- *1/2

Mike Davis vs. Victor Gonzalez (1st Round)
I believe this is the same Mike Davis who did some jobs for WCW in the mid 1990′s, but he has a slightly different look here with blond hair and a moustache. Once again, Gonzalez is a wrestler I know little about. Davis does a lot of stalling, and he wrestles totally heelish by cheating, shouting at the ref and arguing with people in the crowd. This in the end was nothing more than a squash, with Davis getting three with a Superkick- SQ

Overall this was a good start to the tournament. Lightning Kid’s match with Bubba Fangman was the best of the bunch, and he really looked impressive. Street and Parsons had an equally good match that was hurt by an awful finish. Most of the other matches, barring Rodgers/Evans were really nothing more than extended squashes. But still, there was some good stuff here and all the signs that the tournament would be a good one.

6/10

GWF TV Vol 4

Patriot vs. Chris Walker (Playoff match)
Landell is out to watch this match, obviously to view his future opponents. This ended up being a decent match, but there wasn’t a whole lot of heat here due to the fact that both were fan favourites, and the fans didn’t know who to boo. It was more of a scientific style of match in the early going, with both exchanging basic holds and counter holds. Following their wrestling exchanges, Patriot went for the Diving Shoulder Block, but missed, then Walker went for the Cross Body, but Landell shoved him off. This let Patriot cover him for three- **1/2

Patriot vs. Buddy Landell (Finals)
Landell had injured Patriot’s shoulder post match previously, and this gave him an instant target to work on here, which was the basis of this title match. Landell basically worked on that injury, and also cheated a fair bit to ensure he had the advantage. Despite all his work on the injury, he could not get three on The Patriot. The Patriot fires up thanks to the fans, and takes the match to him here. The Patriot then sneaks a rollup in out of nowhere to get three. Overall a good match to end the tournament with, but not a great match- **3/4

So not a lot in this fourth volume, but what we do get is worth watching. Both matches are good, and are a fitting end to the Television Title Tournament. So a good Volume of TV here.

Now since this review didn’t take up much space, I guess I can use this space to write about my overall thoughts on the tournament. It had it’s good points and bad point: I’ll list three of each-

Good Points-
Buddy Landell’s matches- All of his matches were old school style, and they were all solid to good: he’s a great addition to the GWF roster and in many ways deserved to win the belt, but he didn’t.
Stan Lane vs The Patriot- Match of the tournament and a good, old school bout. I kind of wish it had been in a later round as it could have meant much more, plus Stan Lane is far too good a wrestler to go out at this stage.
Adrian Street- I’m not a fan of his gimmick, but this man could go in the ring, and busted out some great technical stuff that you rarely saw at this point in time. He had a solid run in this tournament

Bad Points
Rasta The Voodoo Man- He’s was clearly very green, and didn’t add a lot to any of his matches than any average generic big man wouldn’t do.
Billy Black- He was being hyped as the tournament favourite in the first round, but this was forgotten about by the time he made it to the third. He had a good opening round bout but that was about it: not a bad wrestler but too overhyped by the announcers
Makhah Singh- I’m not a fan of this guy: an average wrestler, yet he was given two squash wins that were 100% exactly the same (including one that Terry Garvin didn’t deserve following his first round hype). He then proceeds to have the worst match of the tournament against Chris Walker, and they couldn’t put Walker over clean.

It was a good tournament overall, and I think the right man went over. Walker and Landell looked strong in defeat and were clearly stars as well as future contenders. However in future shows I hope Stan Lane is given a bigger push along with Adrian Street, they can be viable title challengers.

6/10 for the show
7/10 for the tournament

GWF Vol 3

Adrian Street vs. Rasta the Voodoo Mon (2nd Round)
Again, as in Street’s first round match this is a bizarre clash of styles. The announcers wonder if Street will pull off his usual antics against the voodoo master, and he seems to have zero problems doing so. Street however struggles to get him off his feet to lock in some submissions, and Rasta uses his size advantage to control Street. Street again wins via DQ after Rasta uses his cane to attack Street. It was a decent match, Street did a good carry job here- *3/4

Buddy Landell vs. Big Bully Busick (2nd Round)
Landell plays lots of mind games early on, but his attempts to use the ref to his advantage don’t work as he shoves over Landell for his lies. Busick uses strikes and some mat wrestling holds, while Landell cheats at every opportunity as well as using a few holds of his own. Landell wins in the exact same fashion he won the previous match: he pins Busick with his feet on the ropes. Solid bout overall, but a bit too short- **

Patriot vs. Billy Black (Semi Finals)
The Patriot has the early advantage, locking some mat wrestling holds and uses a few high impact moves and Black not being able to hit any moves at all. Black’s offense was limited quite a bit, only being able to get some brief attacks in. The Patriot managed to win this one sided match with the Flying Shoulder Block- *1/2

Makhan Singh vs. Chris Walker (Semi Finals)
Essentially this is a battle of two powerful wrestlers: one very fat and the other probably on steroids. Walker managed to frustrate his larger opponent earlier on, forcing him off his feet on a few occasions, but following a fake-out handshake, Singh took control, wrestling a fairly slow and lumbering style that wasn’t very exciting. Singh misses the Corner Splash, so Singh snaps and hangs Walker from the ropes for the DQ. Poor match to be honest- 3/4*

Buddy Landell vs. Adrian Street (Semi Finals)
Street tries his usual comedic mindgames, but Landell seems unworried, so Street just focuses on putting some holds on Landell. Street does some very impressive mat wrestling, working on Landell’s knee and also on his arm. Landell meanwhile tried to work his way back into it by blatantly cheating, knowing he couldn’t match Street hold for hold. Landell then once again used the ropes to get the three count. Great wrestling while it lasted, but it just felt like the beginning of an even better match- **1/2

Oh, and in the coin flip to determine who gets a bye, the winner was eventually Buddy Landell after about ten minutes of stalling.

Kind of a mixed bag this week again. The main event was really good, but was too short, and Landell’s match was Big Bully Busick was also pretty solid. The rest was average and the Singh/Walker match was poor. So I can’t really give this a good recommendation

4/10

GWF TV Vol 2

Commentary is from Craig Johnson and Scott Hudson

Adrian Street vs. Axl Rotten (1st Round)
This is certainly a unique match: the flamboyant Adrian Street against the tough brawler Axl Rotten. Street does all of his usual comedy stuff, as well as using some mat wrestling holds, which frustrated Rotten early on. Axl fought back, using a number of strikes, and then hitting Street with an object to get three. However the ref spotted it and awarded the match to Street. Pretty bland opener- *

Rasta the Voodoo Mon vs. Jeff Gaylord (1st Round)
Rasta is 100% obviously the template that the WWF would borrow for Papa Shango (who ironically had a pre-WWF stop in the GWF). Jeff is most famous for his long stint with the USWA. Rasta’s powerful style was being put over huge by the announcer here, and he was fairly dominant by using a lot of power moves. Jeff managed to hit some dropkicks and other moves on Rasta, but each time he went for the cover he was thrown off. Jeff missed a charge in the corner, hitting his shoulder, and Rasta rolled him up for three. It was a fairly average match, just there to showcase Rasta- *1/4

Big Bull Busick vs. Jimmy James (1st Round)
Busick is most well remembered for his short heel run in the WWF. I don’t know a lot about James outside of this spell in the GWF. Again, it was a fairly average match here, mainly used to put over Busick, who wasn’t really all that impressive. Busick used the Heart Punch followed by an American Dragon style rollup for three- *

Buddy Landell vs. Gary Young (1st Round)
Landell faked out Young time and time again early on, making the ref believe he was cheating when he wasn’t. Young soon got his revenge and frustrated Landell who went to the outside. Landell was just a master of the old school heel style wrestling, taking shortcuts and in many ways outclassing Young here. Young got one or two near falls towards the end, but Landell got the pinfall using the ropes for leverage- **1/2

Billy Black vs. Randy Rhodes (2nd Round)
Again, the announcers hype Billy Black as the tournament favourite. This match was nothing special, and it didn’t have all that much heat to it due to both being viewed as bad guys by the crowd. It was essentially a back and forth brawl, with a lot of strikes, and a couple of basic wrestling moves. Black used an impressive finishing combo, with a backflip over Rhodes, then a Superkick followed by a Moonsault for three. The finishing combo bettered anything else in the match- *

Patriot vs. Bill Irwin (2nd Round)
Lots of stalling by Irwin early on in the match, and the wrestling they did was essentially some lockups and strikes. However when they did begin to wrestle they did some good mat based stuff. Irwin managed to gain control by cheating a fair bit, but when Irwin tried to use his whip, it allowed the Patriot to go up to the top rope for a Shoulder Black, which got three. Solid match when it got going- **

Makhan Singh vs. Terry Garvin (2nd Round)
Garvin is in trouble early in the match as Singh uses his power and size advantage to his advantage. Again, Singh hits a Slam on Garvin on the outside of the ring, and throwing him into the ring post, but he makes it back in. Singh then pins him following the Running Splash in the corner. Surprisingly a total squash- SQ

Chris Walker vs. Rip Rogers (2nd Round)
I don’t think they locked up for about two minutes because they were too busy posing and getting the fans behind them. Walker is in control of the early portion, using his power mixed with a few basic wrestling holds. Most of Rodgers strategies didn’t work against Walker, and he took a lot of punishment. Walker would get the fall following a Cross Body- *1/2

Not as good as Vol 1, but I found this show entertaining. The best match was Landell/Young, mainly because Landell is such a great wrestler and made Young look good in defeat. There wasn’t much else of note other than a solid Patriot/Irwin match, as the rest of the matches were either average or squashes.

5/10

Global Wrestling Federation TV Vol 1

Commentary is from Craig Johnson and Scott Hudson (the same man who would commentate in WCW, NWA Wildside and TNA).

Billy Black vs. Brian Adias (1st Round)
Adias wrestled a lot for WCCW where he had major success. I don’t have a lot of info on Billy Black but he wrestled in SMW in the 90′s. There was some good mat wrestling early, with the commentators putting Black over as the tournament favourite. Adias would end up gaining the advantage, but Black would cheat his way back into it. Adias made a brief fightback, but when attempting a Top Rope Splash he hat the knees of Black, who rolled him up using the trunks for three. A solid opening match-**

Randy Rhodes vs. Sweet Daddy Falcone (1st Round)
I don’t know a lot about either of these two, but Rhodes looks a lot like his namesake Dusty. Fairly basic stuff here, with Rhodes using mostly punches and elbows, while Falcone wrestled in a similar fashion but cheating a bit in addition. The action also tended to be too slow at times and there were several rest holds. Rhodes got the fall with a Bulldog- *

Patriot vs. Stan Lane (1st Round)
A battle of power against speed, with The Patriot trying to overpower the smaller opponent while Lane looked to move quickly and outwrestle The Patriot. Patriot had no trouble matching holds with Lane though, and Lane begged off and claimed cheating whenever Patriot took him down. Jim Cornette tried to interfere on the outside but Patriot knocked he and Lane’s heads together. Lane cheated at every opportunity, but could not keep Patriot down for three, and Patriot was eventually able to fightback to roll up Lane for three. Great match, I really enjoyed this- ***

Bill Irwin vs. Fantasma (1st Round)
Irwin had much success across the indy scene and in WCCW during the 80′s and 90′s, but may be best remembered for playing The Goon in the WWF. I know little about Fantasma, but he is billed as being from Mexico. Irwin dominated much of this match, overpowering Fantasma and using a lot of strikes. Despite the punishment Fantasma wouldn’t stay down. Yet despite his dominance Irwin struggled to get three. Fantasma made a fightback with several high flying moves, but Irwin hit him with a weapon and used a Gutwrench Suplex for three. Solid match- **1/4

Terry Garvin vs. Zebra Kid (1st Round)
This is not the same Terry Garvin who was Ronnie Garvin’s brother. Zebra Kid is not the British wrestler, but a generic masked man from parts Unknown, and it may have been Al Perez under the mask (he is billed as using the gimmick in Texas). The wrestling in this was solid but Garvin tended to be a little sloppy and I got the feeling these two didn’t click all that well. Garvin got the fall with a DDT- *1/2

Makhan Singh vs. Terry Daniels (1st Round)
Makhan Singh is Mike Shaw, the man who would become Bastion Booger in the WWF. Daniels is little more than a jobber here. Shaw uses his big size advantage to dominate Daniels. Shaw slams him on the floor, but Daniels was able to make it back in. He toyed with Daniels and eventually got the fall with a Running Splash in the corner- SQ

Chris Walker vs. Doug Somers (1st Round)
Walker actually signed with the WWF late in 1991 but only wrestled a few matches before quietly being released by mid 1992. Doug Somers is a veteran from the AWA, most notable for his team with Buddy Rose. They exchanged a few wrestling holds in the opening minutes, with Walker also putting his power to use. Somers cheated a bit in addition to using power. It would be Walker who advanced, getting the fall with a Cross Body. The match was decent with some good wrestling, but went far too slow at times (if you listen closely you can hear a few “Boring” chants on occasions, which I felt was harsh)- **

Rip Rogers vs. The Hitman (1st Round)
I know nothing about The Hitman, but he’s a powerful masked wrestler. The Hitman controlled the match early, working on the arm of Rodgers and also putting his power to use. Rodgers was at a size disadvantage, so had to take some chances, as well as cheating. Hudson makes a big mistake on commentary by calling a Headbutt by Rodgers “a great technical wrestling move”. After The Hitman made a brief fightback, Rodgers got the fall with a DDT. That was pretty solid as well.- **1/2

I didn’t have high expectations coming in, and to be honest I was pleasantly surprised by how solid almost everything was. The Lane/Patriot match is a really good old school match. Rodgers/Hitman and Irwin/Fantasma are also solid bouts, and there was nothing that bad other than the squash and the Rhodes match. Solid recommendation here

7/10