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Dark Pegasus Video Review: Greatest Superstars of the 90s: Disc Two

April 22, 2009 | Posted by J.D. Dunn
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Dark Pegasus Video Review: Greatest Superstars of the 90s: Disc Two  

Greatest Superstars of the 90s: Disc Two

By J.D. Dunn
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  • Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan (11.30.91).
    This is just after Flair had cost Hogan the WWF Title at Survivor Series, so neither man is champion, although Flair is still claiming to be the “Real World’s Champion.” Pretty large “We want Flair” chant, considering he’s a heel. Flair runs to start, forcing Hogan to chase him. He nails Hogan coming into the ring, but Hogan reverses a whip and hits a corner clothesline. FLAIR FLOP! Hogan takes him to the floor for a suplex. We take a commercial and come back to Hogan slamming Flair off the top. Hogan hits the big boot and legdrop. ONE, TWO, THREE! Well, that was quick. Oh, but Hebner sees that Flair had his foot on the ropes. Hogan argues, allowing Flair to clip him. A late-arriving Mr. Perfect runs down. Flair and Perfect take turns distracting the ref while the other one works the knee. Flair gets the figure-four. Hogan reverses it, but Perfect slips Flair some brass knuckles. WHAM! Down goes Hogan! Down goes Hogan! Flair’s on top! ONE, TWO, THREE! Flair picks up the win at 8:00 (shown). Tony Garea and Dave Hebner come down to tell Earl what happened, and Earl reverses his decision to give Hogan the win by DQ. **3/4

  • WWF Heavyweight Title: Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels (Survivor Series — 11.25.92).
    How much foresight did Vince have making this Bret’s first big title defense? Shawn was the Intercontinental Champion at this point, but it’s not on the line. Shawn gets pissed off early and plays red light/green light with the ref over a hairpull. Bret dominates the early portion, hitting a crossbody and armdragging Shawn down. Shawn blocks a hiptoss but gets clotheslined out of his boots. The tide finally turns when Shawn gives Bret a hotshot on the top rope. Bret misses a charge and posts himself. He also takes the “Bret Bump” to the buckle, and Shawn stays on top with a chinlock. Too many meaningless restholds in lieu of actual conflict here. Bret stages a mini-comeback with a bulldog but misses an elbowdrop. He gets a small package. Bret catches Shawn in mid-air and slingshots him into the buckle. BAAAAACK BODYDROP! Bret hits a superplex, and they tease a double KO spot. The ref gets bumped but no-sells it. Shawn catches Bret with the superkick and hits the Teardrop Suplex, but it only gets two. Shawn goes up and comes off the second-rope, but Bret catches him coming down and locks in the Sharpshooter for the win at 26:00. Shawn was good but was too intent on playing the character instead of having a good match. Also, it was too slow in the early going with many holds not paid off down the stretch. Still, once they got it going, it was Shawn & Bret, and despite their differences, they always had great chemistry when they started trying. Great stuff down the stretch. ***3/4

  • WWF Heavyweight Title: Hulk Hogan (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji — 06.13.93).
    Hogan was scheduled to put Bret over at Summerslam, but he decided he didn’t want to do that. Vince decided he’d just put Yokozuna over and find a new Hogan. That’s why we got the Lex Express debacle. Yoko takes over pretty quickly and squashes Hogan for a while. Hulk comes back but can’t slam the big guy. Yoko clubs him down with a clothesline but misses a splash. Hogan slugs his way out of a bearhug but runs into a back elbow. Yoko hits a belly-to-belly suplex. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Hogan hulks up. It’s over, right? WRONG! Hogan hits the Usual and drops the leg. ONE – No way! Yoko kicks out. Hogan is confused, and so are half the fans. A cameraman jumps up on the apron for a closer look, so Hogan goes over to him like an idiot. The flash goes off in Hogan’s face, disorienting him long enough for Yoko to finish with a legdrop at 13:10. New champ. And the fan in the front row dressed as Hogan will never love again. Yoko adds a Banzai Drop to send Hogan packing for nearly a decade. And with that, Hulkamania was dead in the WWF. *

  • Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart (WrestleMania X — 03.20.94).
    Eh. Time for a rewrite. Owen Hart lived in the shadows of Bret’s success for years until he finally snapped and challenged his brother to a match. Bret said he would not wrestle his brother under *any* circumstances, and the two made up. That team didn’t last long as both men’s egos wouldn’t allow them to take a backseat to the other. At The Royal Rumble, Bret refused to tag out when he could have, and it cost them the match. That led to Owen attacking his brother and seemingly costing him a chance at the WWF Title. Bret would be the co-winner of the Rumble that year, though, and earn a title shot for the main event at WrestleMania – but first, he had to deal with Owen. This is widely considered one of the greatest openers in history, and it holds up well today. Owen establishes himself as an absolute stinker off the bat by taunting his brother off something as simple as a stalemate lockup. He also gets a ton of heat for slapping Bret in the face, and now THE KID GLOVES ARE OFF! Bret clotheslines Owen over the top and slaps him right back. Bret is pretty casual in his outwrestling of Owen, so much so that he gets cocky and falls victim to a leg lariat. Owen works the back with a surfboard chinlock. This is a great revamp of the routine they had been doing – one that elicited more sympathy for Owen because Bret was essentially beating up his younger brother. Bret keeps things interesting by getting a reversal here and there. Owen MURDERS him with a tilt-o-whirl piledriver. The flying headbutt misses, though. Bret makes the comeback with The Usual but messes up his knee on a pescado. Back in, Owen begs off but then stomps Bret’s kneecap. SADISTIC~! Then, just to be a dick, Owen mocks Bret’s limping. Owen continues on the knee with an Indian Deathlock and then a figure-four leglock. Bret rolls to the ropes, but he can barely stand. He still manages to fight his way back and gets two off a piledriver. SUPERPLEX! Bret is slow to cover. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Bret grabs a sleeper, but Owen grabs the ropes and goes low… HARD. That sets up the Sharpshooter from Owen. Bret powers up and reverses, but Owen is in the ropes. Owen sends Bret to the corner, but Bret blocks a charge. Victory Roll by Bret, but Owen blocks in mid-move for the win at 20:22. Pretty big pop for Owen. Tremendous opener with tons of character and wrestling psychology. Owen garnered face heat, not because he didn’t play a good heel, but because he played such a good heel that the New York fans loved it. The markish fans hated his guts, though. Oh, btw, the wrestling was outstanding, but you probably knew that. Just a fantastic match. ****3/4

  • Intercontinental Title: Razor Ramon vs. Diesel (w/Shawn Michaels — 04.13.94).
    This is from a Superstars taping. Rule of thumb: Clique vs. Clique > Clique vs. Anyone Else. This is no different. The Deez sells like crazy for Razor as the champ storms the ring and peppers him with rights. Razor goes for the Razor’s Edge too early and gets backdropped. Diesel takes over after snapping Razor’s throat on the top rope. We take a break and come back to Diesel trying to twist Razor’s head off like a syrup bottle. Razor powers up into an Electric Chair and hits a flying bulldog for two. Shawn hops up on the second rope and gets pasted. Shawn recovers and goes up, but Razor reverses a whip and sends Diesel into Shawn. Oh, but Shawn takes the turnbuckle with him as he falls. Diesel whips Razor into the exposed buckle and hits the Jackknife for the win at 5:37. Big Daddy Cool wins his first singles title on his way to becoming the first Triple Crown winner to do so inside of a year. Both guys worked hard to get the match over, and it’s kind of sad when you see their nWo meltdown match just a few years later. **1/2

  • Vacant WCW International World Title: Vader (w/Harley Race) vs. Sting (05.22.94).
    I don’t think these two ever had a bad match. We’re in Philly, so there are a smattering of “Sting must die!” chants. Great slugfest early as Vader mauls Sting with lefts and rights. Sting gets pissed and roars back with punches of his own, knocking the big guy down. Sting hits an impressive suplex, but Vader wins a battle of avalanches and slaps him around. Vaderbomb gets two because Vader doesn’t bother to cover properly. A second Vaderbomb gets two because Sting is in the ropes. Sting is a greasespot. Vader continues to work him over clubbing forearms until Sting hulks up and fires back! HUGE POP for that. The ref gets bumped near the end as Sting misses a flying shoulderblock. Harley grabs a chair but takes out Vader (with one of the weakest shots you’ll see). Vader catches Sting and squashes him with a powerslam as the ref recovers, but Harley tells him to go up for the moonsault. Oh, Harley. It misses, of course, and Harley doesn’t help matters by accidentally hitting him with the diving headbutt. That allows Sting to hit a splash for the win and the title at 13:52! Another great match between these two. Harley was starting to look his age, which made his interference pretty woeful. Other than those minor complaints, this was the usual fantastic example of selling, pacing and psychology from these two. ****

  • WWF Heavyweight Title: Diesel vs. Bret Hart (Royal Rumble — 01.22.95).
    Time for another redo. Bret lost the title to Bob Backlund only to have Diesel sneak in the next night and squash Bob for the title. This would be Bret’s second match back after losing the title. Hey, he deserves a rematch with the champ. Bret goes above and beyond, trying to drag Diesel to a great match, and fortunately Diesel is at the point in his career where he can do just that. Bret smartly targets Diesel’s legs by clipping him and putting him in the figure-four. Diesel escapes to the floor, but Bret follows him out with the suicida! The great thing about Bret is that he knows how to make Diesel look sympathetic by being just dickish enough to look like a bad guy without actually doing anything wrong. Shawn Michaels didn’t do that a few months later, and that’s why the WrestleMania main event didn’t come off as well as they were hoping. Example: Bret yanks Diesel to the corner and ties his bootlaces around the post. Diesel finally turns the tide by catching Bret on a pescado and ramming him into the post. Back in the ring, Diesel hits the Jackknife, but Shawn Michaels runs in and attacks Diesel’s knee. Earl Hebner rules that the match will continue despite the interference. Bret gets EXTRA DICKISH by going after Diesel’s knee. He even grabs a chair and smashes Diesel’s knee with it on the outside. Sharpshooter, but now Owen Hart runs in and attacks Bret. He tosses him into the exposed buckle and runs off. The ref rules that the match still has to continue. Bret fires away once they recover, but Diesel grabs him by the straps and SLUGS him silly. Bret slips over his shoulder and goes for an O’Connor Roll. The ref is in the way, though, and gets bumped. That brings in Shawn Michaels, Owen Hart, Jeff Jarrett, the Roadie and Bob Backlund to attack both men. Finally, the ref has no choice but to disqualify both men at 27:22. Excellent psychology and storytelling in this one as Bret does things because they are appropriate for the match, not because he has a set repertoire to run through – something that seems to permeate today’s wrestlers at all levels. Nash was all about trying to improve and become a good champion, something that didn’t happen because the WWF fumbled the ball with him immediately following this. Still, as usual with these two, this was a great match marred only by shenanigans. ****1/4

  • WWF Women’s Title: Bull Nakano vs. Alundra Blayze (04.03.95).
    From my Raw Hits review. Nakano attacks during intros and tosses Blayze around by the hair. She locks in an anklelock/single leg crab, but Blayze makes the ropes. Bull bulldogs Nakano off the second rope. Blayze comes back with a series of clotheslines. She hits a pair of missile dropkicks and dropkicks Bull off the top rope to the floor. Blayze follows her out with a crossbody to the floor. Blayze gets two off a Bridging German Suplex. She tries it again and gets two more. Bull pushes her off the top rope to the floor. Blayze avoids a tope and hits a GERMAN SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR! She gets whipped into the steel steps. Back in, Nakano goes up for a moonsault. Blayze rolls out of the way and finishes her with a Bridging German Suplex at 6:47. Alundra reclaims the title. She would trade it back and forth with Bertha Faye before infamously jumping to WCW and dumping the title in the trash where it remained until the scrounged it up for the Sable/Jacqueline feud. Outside of a few exceptions, though, WWE women’s wrestling hasn’t returned to the level it was at here. Better than most Raw men’s matches these days. The fans didn’t care at the beginning, but they got progressively into it the harder the ladies worked. ***1/4
  • The 411: Sure, the match selection is very WWE heavy, but it's hard to pick anything from WCW that would be a good representation of a 90s superstar. Late 1990s to come.
     
    Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]  legend

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