Quite a WarGames line-up, yes... Even better than some WarGames that actually involved the genuine articles: The Four Horsemen!
+++
The Dangerous Alliance was palliating to the lack of a Horsemanesque elite in WCW at the time - in adding numbers on their side, they thought they could compensate for the absence of the one heel per excellence of all-time; Nature Boy Ric Flair, doing penance then over at McMahon's circus, up north... By extending their numbers - from 4 to 5, 6 or even 7 (if one counted Madusa Miceli, for the most part, but also manager Paul E. Dangerously, who did lend his "name" to the group after all...) they wound up, in fact, prefiguring the nWo, no less! Still, Arn was just being his old Horseman self - Rude was the replacement Flair - Eaton was an extra enforcer - Austin was very green and another wanna-be Flair - and Zbyszko was expendable (and, indeed, the first "sacrificed member", soon enough...) Seeing this, I too thought I could form my own group to pastiche the Horsemen greatness! After all, if Paul E could have his own group named after him, why not me, a true scribe, since I had an even BETTER NAME; The Luminous Seven! My team would have been the perfect result of a LUMINOUS EQUATION too, which went something like this: "Four Horsemen + Three Musketeers = The Magnificent Luminous Seven!" (I just know that Noah Schiavone would have loved saying that equation on the air - much more so than some of the crap Bischoff fed him on WCW telecasts sometimes...!) In brief, my Luminous 7 concept... Well, IT WAS PERFECT!!! Mr. Perfect needed not apply though! ;) Mr. Hughes was the one on my list - as were Norman The Lunatic (the perfect OPPOSITE to Luminous me!) and Lanny "The Genius" Poffo (shares my initials - beat Hogan - so, he's in!) Also "contenders" for MY GROUP were: the late Boston Bad Boy, Shark Boy, Blue Boy (a FLQ stalwart), Atlantis, New Jack (Boston's Baddest! I am not alone in thinking that he is a great ally to have - but an enemy you don't want to have!), A-Train (or simply Albert!), Ro-Z - the Zee-Ro? (see his profile! He is a great loveable loser/underdog hero type!), the hardcore legend himself Terry Funk, Kurrgan, One Man Gang, Man O'War (a.k.a. Aldo Montoya), Man O'Taur (a.k.a. Bull Buchanan - not to be confused with buddy Mantaur), "Rocky-Rambo-Sniper" Luc Poirier (an in-joke, for it is a penname of mine AND a real-life wrestler's actual name!) and Lizzi Borden. (Truth be told, Lizzi is there just because of the ties with Boston "legend" shall we say... I don't really want her or her hubby around - just like I never even considered her once-nemesis, Tylene Buck, as a prospective ally (the fact that she was considered an asset for Team Canada or the "Misfits In Action" still puzzles me to this day...!) I'd much rather have Helena Heavenly on my team! And I wanted an all-new Man O'War - not Montoya but a true Lusitanian who'd use the name Jose Amergura... Plus, I also had an innovative new "character-concept" for a big guy wrestler; 'Shockmeister' - he would be equal parts Vader, Typhoon, Avalanche, Shark, Earthquake, P.N. News, Viscera, Abdullah The Butcher and... Will Sasso! But no second coming of WCW's Shockmaster - no! Also, while we're reminiscing here, I might add that, instead of the unlikely Boston connection -Boston Bad Boy & Lizzi B- I would probably opt today for the crazy tandem of Crowbar & Daffney! And, subject to his "availability", I would hire Sam Houston - and probably his ex, "Baby Doll", as well!) I may have even demanded to be adjoigned Renegade - if he hadn't killed himself that is. :( Evidently, my group would have been the "revenge of the mid-carder" in a more proper manner than Raven's Flock was - and I would have been their luminous and maybe, quite paradoxically too, devious rallying-the-troops-in-a-cohesive-revolutionary-act coordinator...! Sort of what Vince Russo tried to do many years later on WCW with his focus on the "new blood"... That still lost to Ric Flair! ;) My group wouldn't have targeted Ric, I don't think - although it would have been an honor for me and my cronies to get slapped by Flair's patented chops! *lol* Now THAT would have prefigured the humiliations incurred by the Dungeon of Doom at Flair's hands when he, alone, saved Chris Benoit's hide from their clutches on more than one occasion too...! No, my "clique" would have feuded with stumbling blocks especially put on our path to impede us from getting answers from the upper echelon - or quite simply management! The D.O.A. (or the half of it once known as "Creative Control") would have been great "stumbling blocks"...! Maybe a "friendly feud" with "Big Stevie Cool" and either his bWo buddies or his old RTC angle group would have also been nice...? Finally, a natural enemy for my team would have been creepy types such as the Vampire Warrior or a new version of the Army of Darkness... Anyhow... To get back to 1992 now; the Flairless years were terrible for WCW... 1991 and 1992 were bad... 1993 saw some attempt at raising the bar upon Flair's return... It is not coincidence that the worst times for WCW were horseman-less years or Flair-less years - no coincidence at all! When WCW hit the absolute pits on the year that led to their sale to McMahon, Flair was, ironically, leading a group of MAGNIFICENT SEVEN himself... Alas, it was a group of tired old veterans all out of steam, of ideas and of creativity - as well as being without any kind of wind in their sails left, at the time! (Most never regained their former form - the lone exceptions being Flair and, maybe Double J - in NWA TNA.) The Steiners, Lex Luger and Road Warrior Animal were all extremely boring by then. Jeff Jarrett was a refugee from the new blood led by Russo, and his silly routine of being "the chosen one" was getting not only tiresome but downright annoying. For the life of me, I cannot recall who the hell their seventh "magnificent" guy was anymore!!! Not all that important right now, I guess... The opposition was, as usual, "Sting and his buddies" - which included the once-immensely popular Goldberg and DDP (both were getting staler than a stack of decade-old spices by that time though!) And then there was the remains of the new blood - repackaged as the NATURAL BORN THRILLERS! That was supposed to be the future of the company... Where are any of them NOW?!? Mike Sanders, Chuck Palumbo (sheesh), Mark Jindrak (before he beefed up for the WWE - and got himself stale too, in the process) and Sean O'Haire... Who else? Who CARES!? (The execrable and ultimately pathetic Shawn Stasiak was among them, I do believe - unbelievably, a true talent for the future was NOT a member; "Sugar Shane" Helms, since then forced to change his name to Gregory Helms, not to take the boss' son's name -that must be a commandment too; 'thou shalt not take thy boss' son's monopoly over his name away'!- since Helms was never a "NBT" but, instead, a part of the inane "3 Count" boy band send-up act...) I remember, at the time, that someone deemed an expert actually said that those no-name Sanders, O'Haire, Jindrak and maybe Lance Storm would have to be the company's new Four Horsemen if they were to put a new team together in those depleted days... What, Flair is there and he would have NOT been a part of it? I am glad, for once, that WCW didn't do something... Note though that Lance Storm was the one very commendable choice of that lot - he was a great talent in WCW. He only became a joke in the lousy WWE, post-merger of WCW/ECW/WWE... Storm had his TEAM CANADA though - he couldn't be a Horseman! Today though, new Horsemen should be formed - with Flair as their mentor. These should be the "most likely suspects" once again - as back in the sad last days of the WCW... Instead of Sanders, the next best thing to a Tully Blanchard wanna-be; Mr. Kennedy! Instead of O'Haire, a second coming of Sid Vicious AND his old quarry, El Gigante; The Great Khali! Instead of jolly Jindrak, a second coming of Barry Windham; Lance Cade! And instead of Lance Storm, another taciturn enforcer and obvious heir apparent to Arn Anderson; Extremist C.W. Anderson! Note the complete absence of any Flair-like wrestler - and those are plentiful too (Jarrett, Jericho, Extreme Horseman leader figure Steve Corino, the late Curt Hennig, Nature Boy Buddy Landell - I guess even the lame-a$$ Rico was one of those!!!) Arn might object to the selection of C.W. Anderson though (who is not Arn's kin at all - just like Lance Cade's current tag-team partner, Trevor Murdoch, is NOT a relative of the late Dick Murdoch for instance...) - and so would Flair. I don't see why though! C.W. is a natural in the role, a proven Extreme Horseman member and he belongs on the Smackdown show on the... CW (formerly the WB - the once creative multi-mediatic conglomerate that housed AOL, Time-Warner, Turner Broadcasting, Looney Tunes/Hanna-Barbera/MGMtoon properties and... WCW! Now just another big merger company; too big for its own good... But that is another story...) C.W. Anderson on the CW Smackdown show reeks of Spike Dudley on the Spike TV RAW show, alas - and that might be a very bad omen in and by itself! Still, if anyone belongs in that part, it's him. And it can easily be done. (Former tag partner Simon Diamond would only be second best - besides, wasn't he the second-rate replacement Tully B for the Extreme Horsemen? A bit of a mix between Tully and Mongo, really - wow, two eras of REAL Horsemen, blended! If Simon was still married to Dawn Marie, he would be a shoo-in; Dawn would be replacing Woman so very well...! She is all *woman*, you know! But I'm digressing again here...)
So, to make a long story short, once again, IT'S PERFECT!!! But, once again, it won't likely happen. Ever. Damn you for not listening to me, WCW/WWE/ECW/NWA/nWo/TNA/etc!!!
I know - I haven't got a prayer of influencing them - not even if I have pastors and preachers from the squared circle (Koloff, Dibiase, Blanchard) praying for me ardently and fervently! *LOL*
Imitation sure is the sincerest form of flattery - but not of flair! ;)
The McMahon Circus found that the House That Flair Built had a Fall Brawl (usually headlined by Wargames: The Match Beyond) and a Spring Stampede... So, they decided to add a "Winter Combat" to go with their Summerslam! Two out of three aren't bad...
However, anything with the sicko Goldust in it (and it should be spelled "Gold-Dust" anyway, damnable illiterate-spawning WWE!) has to be credited as BAD in my book though...
Sicko Sycho Sid was a choirboy in comparison...
And even a role-model.
...
"WCW Bash At The Beach"
Kevin Nash puts the Heavyweight title on the line in a truly titanic Tag-Team match! He enlists the aid of Sting to battle two of wrestling's most unpredictable brawlers, Sid Vicious and the "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Savage has his eye on more than just the belt; he must win Gorgeous George back from Nash's corner! And WCW's most extreme fighters take it outside for the junkyard hardcore invitational match where anything goes!
Also includes: Diamond Dallas Page, Bam Bam Bigelow & Kanyon vs. Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn.
Konnan, Rey Mysterio Jr. & The No Limit Soldiers vs. The West Texas Rednecks.
Buff Bagwell vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper with guest ref -
Judge Mills Lane!
(What - Judge Judy wasn't available?!?)
And there were three more brutal bashes on that card!
Quickly now: does anybody remember who made up the ranks of those "No-Limit Soldiers" AND the "West Texas Rednecks" too...?
...
(W)WE didn't know any better back then...
(proof is: WWE was calling itself WWF - and we were letting them!)
Better say your act of contrition indeed...
Here's the line-up: Disco Inferno & Alex Wright vs British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart, Norman Smiley vs The Cat, Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner, Silver King vs Juventud Guerrera *Cruiserweight Title, Saturn vs Raven, Dean Malenko vs Curt Hennig, Konnan vs Scott Hall,
WAR GAMES *Participants include: DDP, Bret Hart, Sting, Stevie Ray, Roddy Piper, Lex Luger, Kevin Nash, Hollywood Hogan, & Ultimate Warrior.
And, uh... Goldberg?!?
With so much talent at their disposal, it is unbelievable to realize that 1998 was really the beginning of the END for the WCW empire... :(
Wanna know why?
Look no further than this: NO HORSEMEN WERE ACTIVELY INVOLVED ON THAT CARD!
(Malenko was not one yet - and, like Paul Roma, he was never Horsemen material!)
1993
Rare out of print VHS of Starrcade '93 - 10th Anniversary. This WCW event featured WCW Champion Big Van Vader vs Ric Flair, Ravishing Rick Rude vs Sting for the World Title, Lord Steven Regal, Ricky Steamboat, Nasty Boys, Dustin Rhodes, and more.
Those were the days...
When I used to watch this with dear dad sitting by my side...
1994
WCW Spring Stampede 1994 VHS Video. Video plays great, cover has normal shelf wear. If your a wrestling collector, you know how rare these WCW videos are!
Event includes a classic battle between WCW Champion Ric Flair and Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat. The International World Title is on the line when Ravishing Rick Rude battles Sting. Dustin Rhodes battles with Bunkhouse Buck in a Bunkhouse Match. You'll also see Vader, The Nasty Boys, Lord Steven Regal, Cactus Jack, and many more.
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