The Sunday Afternoon Hangover 10.21.07: WWE 24/7 - One Dope Night
Posted by MSD on 10.21.2007
C's/76ers in CT, Red Sox skin the Indians, UFC 77 and Sting blows his knee. More inside!
C4 detonations in Fenway Park last night. Big weekend for New England all around. The Celtics B-Team lost to the 76s in Uncasville CT by a pretty wide margin. Connecticut is Ray Allen territory and Doc pretty much let him have run of the team. Peezy and Garnett were absent in an effort to show the league the Celtics bench is not the glaring weakness everybody says it will be. But it was. And it will be.
But on a lighter note, the Red Sox rallied big to blow open the Indians defense like Happy Meal boxes in wind tunnel. We had a late night bash on Sat but the Sox game was a sidebar after the 3rd inning. The real main event was UFC 77 – Hostile Territory, a card eagerly anticipated by everybody in the house. Belcher and Starnes started the night off proper with a slobberknocker brawl that energized the entire room. That split Starnes wound up with on his forehead is bigger, meaner and nastier then any man-made bladejob could ever be. The night started to slow down with the Bonnar/Schafer scrap, which carried over into the brutally boring Gurgel/Robinson match and culminated with Tim Sylvia's underwhelming victory over Brandon Vera by decision. A few people even left after this. But any ill will built up in the belly of the casual fan immediately evaporated during the main event. Everybody it seemed picked Franklin for the upset – even after Silva was portrayed as an unbeatable monster. Hey, he's the All-American guy in his hometown going against a guy who doesn't even speak English. But Anderson Silva had him beat within minutes of the first round. Franklin was clearly knocked retarded and fought the rest of the match on instinct and at half speed. The dancing bob-and-weave dodging exhibition from Silva late in the 1st put an exclamation point on the match. Franklin was no contest and ate enough razor knees to turn a hardrock into a vegetable. Anderson Silva is an animal, and he saved the night in the drunken eyes of my fair-weather fan friends. Good show. But as I always feel after a big night of UFC – pro wrestling will never die.
Speaking of which – the biggest announcement all night. BROCK LESNAR HAS OFFICALLY SIGNED WITH THE UFC!!! I'm buying whatever has his name on it. Strangely, during the initial introduction Joe Rogan (purposely?) mispronounced Lesnars last name. A dig at his former profession? To go along with that theme, Lesnar than joyfully announced that he "finally made the bigtime". That's coming from a guy who headlined WRESTLEMANIA. A little bitter, maybe? Anywayz – this a wrestling gig – so here's what you asked for. Pass the blunt to the right and press play. Roll cameras!
"Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer with Great Muta and the Dragon Master
VERSUS Ric Flair, Ole & Arn Anderson of the 4 Horsemen
Steel Cage Match
NWA Clash of the Champions X
2/6/1990
Black-n-white Snitsky promo to open. "My name is Snitsky. Most people think what I like to do is wrong… but I like to hurt people. Buzz Sawyer… ahh yes. He liked to hurt people too…" demented chuckle
We cut to a quick backstage promo from the Great Muta that is oddly devoid of any sound or commentary. Obviously muted for some reason. He pulls off his scary mask and flashes his green mouth towards the camera. Same silent treatment for Dragon Master, who pops up next in some kind of African tribal war mask. Finally sound hits the speakers for Buzz Sawyers backstage lineup. "BOOM! HA HA HA HA! This is sure hot!" he squeals. "The mad dog is ready!"
Cut to a dramatic shot of horses stampeding in slow motion. "4 Horsemen" logo and Ric Flair is live and direct to cut a quick (yet fiery) promo for the upcoming match. "You've got to face the worst nightmare of your wrestling careers!"
Cut to ringside as the 3 Horsemen enter the arena and cage to voracious boos from the audience. The announcer tells us Sting was originally scheduled to be part of this match, but is no longer down with the 4 Horsemen. Inside the cage Sawyer, Muta and Dragon Master wait. Ole & Arn Anderson are announced together and get a heated reaction. But Ric Flair gets the most boos, as he brandishes the big gold belt (but is only a 6x champ at this point in his career). Cut to the audience with a dozen kids holding up magazine covers with Stings face on it. "We Want STING!" chants from the crowd. "They don't know WHAT they want!" Jim Cornette exclaims on commentary.
Match starts with Arn Anderson and Buzz Sawyer duking it out center ring. Sawyer forces him into the ring rope and unloads with three unrestrained chops to Arns exposed chest piece. He follows that up with a bite to the throat followed by another hard chop. Arn is still hung up on the ropes, so Sawyer charges. Anderson quickly dodges and Buzz propels himself face and body first into the hard steel cage. But the pain doesn't last long, and the two men continue to brawl. Arn reverses an Irish whip and the Mad Dog winds up backfirst in the buckles. But Arn Anderson eats a big boot on the charge, which allows Sawyer to grab him up and hurl him into the cage (much to the crowds enjoyment). The crowd continues to cheer the perpetually heelish Mad Dog so much, Cornette remarks that it must be "for one night only".
Flair rushes the ring to attack Buzz but he no sells that too. Ole finally kicks him square in the back and Buzz charges the cage face first. Arn grabs him by his bald head and sends his nose into Flairs knee on the apron. Flair's legal in the ring, but Sawyer quickly fights him off – so Flair retaliates with an eye rake. Sawyer tags in Dragon Master who bounds into the ring a house afire. He overwhelms Flair and drives him into the corner turnbuckle. Hard chops. Irish whips Flair into the opposite ropes and floors him with a back elbow. Ole winds up tagging in and he clowns the spindly Dragon Master with his powerful offense. They continue to brawl until Dragon Master claws him with his own eye rake! Ole Anderson begs off! Dragon Master is on him, utterly relentless with his kicks and slaps. But one hard kick to the gut from Ole is enough to end that assault. Ole grabs him by the head and calls for a knee. His nephew Arn gleefully obliges, and Ole hurls Dragon Master face first into it. Arns in the ring but Dragon Master maneuvers for a tag and the Great Muta makes his debut! Crowd pops huge, so Arn pauses to soak it in. Muta plays to the audience before locking up.
Out of the clinch, Muta Irish whips Arn into the turnbuckle, and stings him with his patented handspring flying elbow (ala Tajari or Chyna). Arn is down, the crowd is wild and Muta snares him in his reverse STF. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose. Sting is running to ringside where he scales the outside cage in an effort to attack the Horsemen! Flair scales the inside walls to meet him at the top! Crowd is bananas! Referees are out trying to peel Sting off the cage. Brian Pillman comes out to try and harness the Stinger, but it's to no avail! He wants Flair! Tom Zenk is down now too! Inside the ring, the match continues with Buzz Sawyer pounding out Arn as the crowd keeps chanting "we want STING!" He's successfully been restrained and the officials (and his babyface friends) have drawn him back to the locker room.
Ole in control amidst the chaos. Whips Sawyer into the ropes and executes a SICK back body drop on the Mad Dog! Sawyer comes down halfway on the cage, causing his head and neck to bounce unnaturally off the mat at a vicious angle. Botched! But Sawyer survives and no sells the ensuing elbow drop from Ole. Sawyer is getting hulked up so Ole wisely begs off – then answers with more stick kicks and punches. Sawyer shrugs them off and tags in Muta. Meanwhile, STING is back! Huge cheers! He tries to scale the cage again, but Flair meets him at top to cut him off. Inside the ring, Buzz Sawyer is suplexing Arn hard to the mat. Mad Dog climbs the ropes, and strikes the Superfly cliff diving pose atop the top turnbuckle. Crowd pops but Sawyer misses the big splash, his body ricocheting off the mat. Now – history is made.
We don't actually SEE the injury occur, but when we cut back to ringside, Sting is surrounded by officials (as well as the Steiner Brothers) and he is visibly limping. He just completely blew out his knee on the cage walls, requiring complete reconstructive surgery. This blew a lot of plans the NWA had for their world title picture and Sting was laid up for a while.
Back in the ring, Dragon Master catches a stiff Arn Anderson spinebuster that causes another wild donnybrook to break out. The three horsemen briefly triple team the Dragon Master, before Arn spikes him with a DDT. Quick cover and the match is over. 3 Horsemen are the victors. Snitsky outro.
