The 1996 Project - February 15-21
(Shitlist might not be for 1996 but given one particular event of this week of Pillman in ECW - felt appropriate!)
We begin this week with some New Japan tag action as Jushin Liger and his nemesis Black Tiger II (Eddie Guerrero) team up versus Koji Kanemoto and Shinjiro Ohtani in a rare ‘can they coexist?!’ match for Japan and thankfully that bullshit gets left at home within minutes as it is pretty clear that the crowd care for Koji and Ohtani making Liger and Tiger the defacto heels (at first) in a ‘let’s show these young ones where their place is.’ way.
Liger and Koji start – the veteran knowing exactly where and how Kanemoto’s going to attack leading to a staredown followed by a series of counter and reversals of submissions by both men until a tag to Ohtani gives Koji the advantage leading to a quick beatdown of Liger by both faces – mostly with kicks in the corner.
They continue to work on Liger’s right leg with Ohtani putting it into a single leg crab while Koji presses down on the neck of Liger which given how the crowd were before the bell rang is a very heelish thing to do from the supposed babyfaces. Tiger keeps getting foiled in his attempts to save Liger by the ref so Koji and Shinjiro point at him implying what’s happening to Liger will happen to him too should he get tagged in.
The beatdown and taunting continues for a bit longer (Ohtani clapping his hands in front of BT is pretty great!) including a great Tree of Woe spot by Koji and Ohtani.
A missed dropkick however finally gives Liger the chance to tag out and Tiger decides to take it out on Ohtani by dropping him near on his head then a flying forearm into our first pin attempt for 2 and then Tiger with Liger do a double team beatdown of their own on Ohtani.
BT and Koji square off with Kanemoto getting the advantage briefly before Liger tags in and does work on koji’s right leg then hitting the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, him and Tiger then carry on working the leg with BT jumping to the outside with an elbow at one point.
Liger then hits the surfboard before Ohtani breaks it up, Tiger’s tagged in and tries his titlt-a-whirl but Koji counters into one of his own, Kanemoto then hits a middle rope senton and preps Ohtani for a missile dropkick which backfires as Koji gets hit instead.
Bt and Liger then hit both their versions of powerbombs but only get 2, Ohtani and Koji then set Tiger up for a dropkick/chair drop combo followed by Koji hitting a Tiger Suplex but Liger makes the save just in time! Ohtani and Kanemoto then try and beatdown Liger in the corner again but this time Liger outsmarts them but only briefly as Koji hits a dragon suplex with BT making the just in time save.
Koji can’t help Ohtani avoid the double powerbomb/rana/frog splash combo until the last second but a brainbuster from Black Tiger on Ohtani gets the 3-count. Koji gets one after the bell too just for fun.
Not a bad tag match at all even if the alignments seemed to switch multiple times based on the crowd’s reaction, was refreshing to see Tiger and Liger team up in all honesty!
Next up is GAEA’s War Is A Friday Night!
Sadly we don’t get one of Meiko Satomura’s first matches as Champ Forum focuses on the final 3 matches – including a part of Combat Toyoda’s retirement tour that she recently announced taking on KAORU.
As an aside – Shampoo’s Girl Power being the theme throughout is a very nice (and niche) surprise!
Team Chigusa vs Team Eagle is a very fun brawl that brings the violence while Toyoda vs KAORU is a decent stop on Combat’s retirement tour (and when we get to the finale in June believe me when I say it’ll be one of the best matches of 1996 full stop.)
We begin the 17th with some great USWA action – a very fun match with PG13 vs Smothers and Armstrong plus a very fun post match angle. Check that out plus some interesting (if weird) WWF crossover.
All Japan ran Korakuen Hall and the only match really of note is Super Generation Army (Kobashi/Misawa) and Tamon Honda vs the great Gary Albright/Stan Hansen and ROB VAN DAM. Two of the Four Pillars facing off against a pre Mr Monday Night RVD is a fun surprise I didn’t know happened until doing research for this week and I’m very glad it made TV.
Superstars aside from revealing that Vader has been reinstated, Bret Hart quoting BULLET WITH BUTTERFLY WINGS and that Billy Gunn is injured we have quite the generic go-home show for In Your house 6: Rage In The Cage the following night.
Now when it comes to ECW Cyberslam – the majority pf events we’ll talk about on the relevant Hardcore TV’s but I’m going to switch it up for one segment – the surprise arrival of Brian Pillman who had been ‘fired’ from WCW (the quote marks are there for a reason…) after the Superbrawl ‘fiasco’.
First of all – the POP he gets is probably one of the biggest you’ll see all year, Philly being Philly then decide to do a very explicit version of Camptown Races regarding Bischoff that I won’t repeat here that would probably give the Ogdens a run for their money!
Pillman then of course sets the stall for why he’s here – to run down Eric and then in quite a genius move compares him to all the ‘smart marks’ in the arena and proclaims he’s going to piss in this hellhole (I’m surprised no one asked him to say pee in this heckhole.) Tod and Heyman then come out to stop any more chaos from the Loki of wrestling (at this time) along with Shane Douglas (him saying he’s shooting gave me a chuckle given 1994.) Security attempt to escort Pillman out as some fans shout let him piss but that’s cut short when a ‘fan’ takes a swing at him leading to Pillman dragging him into the ring and stabbing him with a pair of scissors (little 1993 reference) until Douglas chases him off.
A strong start here as the chaos merchant runs wild but sadly that’s the only big moment of his run for reasons that will sadly become clear in a few weeks.
WCW Saturday Night continues the DDP saga by Dallas having his coat and vest repossessed after not paying for it in nearly a year, a decent technical tag team title match between Sting/Luger and Blue Bloods (Eaton/Taylor version)
The next night brings us In Your House: Rage In The Cage – when it comes to this show the only matches you need to see are Diesel vs Bret and Shawn vs Owen and avoid the mess that is the Crybaby match at all costs! (It says it all that Scott Hall and Sean Waltman HATED doing this match…)
When it comes to this week’s battle for Monday – Raw comes out the strongest with the final appearance of Razor Ramon on Raw (due to Scott Hall getting suspended right after putting in his 90 day notice – what a coincidence.) in a fun match against Goldust despite the count out finish and good segments featuring Diesel and Undertaker. Sadly we still have to deal with Larry Fling making his WWF debut in another shite Billionaire Ted skit – thankfully Larry would redeem himself many years later in the build to HBK vs Hogan oh and the Ultimate Homophobe I mean Warrior coming back. It’s also notable for McMahon calling The Ringmaster during his match as a ‘stone cold man’…
Nitro however is still going through the swamp that’s Hogan being Hogan and not only do we have to deal with Giant Haystacks we also have to put up with one of the worst gimmicks ever made – the Booty Man as it turns out Zodiac was working for Hogan the entire time?! Roll on May… PLEASE. The fans are catching on too how shite Hogan’s booking is.
Hardcore TV closing this week with not only the aforementioned Pillman deal from earlier but an appearance by the Great Sasuke’s least favourite UK wrestler the Dirt Bike Kid who then gets caned by Sandman along with 5 other jobbers after making the crowd watch a shite match, a Headhunters vs Harris Brothers match that is skippable naturally, Tommy Dreamer announcing a hiatus due to a separated shoulder (caused by Raven in kayfabe) then getting betrayed by the Harris brothers who joined Raven’s Nest and a quite fun 6 person dog collar match between Pitbulls and Francine vs Eliminators and Stevie Richards.
Next week we’ll see how WCW make their March event get WORSE main event wise, more from Cyberslam 1996, FMW WAR GAMES, more USWA action, and finally some build to the Wrestlemania main event.