The shadowy figures behind the WWE Network got pretty expansive this month, offering Hidden Gems ranging from 3-hours on the Lex Express to an hour of TV from the day Vince McMahon took over the WCW timeslot in 1984. Also featured is a tryout match by a young fella who became The Rock and rarely seen footage of Macho Man Randy Savage’s family in action.
The basic format here is this: I will start with some history, then review the match. The star rating at the bottom has little bearing on how awesome or weird the thing was. Read the review for that.
All Aboard the Lex Express – WWF Stars & Stripes Challenge and Lex Luger on the Lex Express
I can’t believe that I watched this entire thing, and at the same time I loved that I watched this entire thing.
In the summer of 1993, Lex Luger was returning to the WWF after a brief introduction as a heel in January and a motorcycle accident that sidelined him soon after. Hulk Hogan had just left the company. Bret Hart wasn’t fully given the ball yet. And Vince McMahon, soon to be federally indicted, was feeling patriotic.
Japanese giant (actually, he was Samoan) Yokozuna was the WWF Champion, having beaten Hogan at King of the Ring 1993, and the WWF decided to try and create a new American Hero.
Their method of doing this was to run a show on the USS Intrepid on the 4th of July called the Stars and Stripes Challenge that would see a bunch of athletes try to bodyslam big Yokozuna, all before Luger would arrive in a helicopter and be the only guy who could do it. Luger would then embark on a multiple-city bus tour on his “Lex Express” en route to SummerSlam 1993 in Auburn, Michigan, where he would challenge Yokozuna for the WWF Championship.
This is a three-hour long piece that features the full one-hour Stars and Stripes Challenge, an hour-and-a-half of footage from the Lex Express press tour, and the SummerSlam 1993 main event.
Within these three hours of footage there is some insane stuff: A Michael Bolton ripoff song “I’ll Be Your Hero” playing over an image of JFK, MLK, etc. Yokozuna eating a big bowl of rice in the middle of the ring on the USS Intrepid. Macho Man Randy Savage honking the horn of a red, white and blue Chevy Silverado. Legitimately 10 minutes of The Lex Express tour bus just driving on the highway. A 60-second shot of Lex Luger sleeping on the bus. Close-up footage of Lex Luger just being a person. Vince McMahon calling Lex Luger a big boy.
It’s a bit of a treatise on why the WWF didn’t go all the way with Lex Luger too. He is being given an unthinkable push as WWF’s sudden new top guy after HULK HOGAN but for the hour-and-a-half they show of him touring the country, he’s kind of a drag. He’s this boring, stiff, straightforward ripped guy who seems like he is either trying to remain composed and professional or is just bored by this tour bus gimmick. His sense of humor will occasionally shine through but otherwise nothing jumps off the screen, even if he has big oily muscles and waves an American flag.
I vividly remember the Stars & Stripes Challenge as a child, though viewing was limited to only clips on some WWF syndicated show. I always wanted to know what else happened on the show, but that was clearly the simplicity of youth, because the full hour-long thing isn’t all that good. It’s mostly retired or about-to-be-cut NFL guys coming out one after another and failing to lift Yoko.
The highlight is undoubtedly Macho Man Randy Savage decked head to toe in USA gear and shouting soundbites on the mic (“This is not the 50 yard line but it’s close!” “KEEP THE SPIRIT!” “That was a wake-up call!”). Todd Pettengill is in jean shorts and knee-high socks doing ring announcing. Both guys trying to keep this thing flowing is kind of fascinating to see.
22 men try to slam Yokozuna – 11 NFL players, 2 NHL, 1 NBA, 7 wrestlers, and 1 horse jockey. Some do charisma-less interviews. Some barely even try. And some have got jokes: “Yokozuna? I thought this was Yoko Ono” says former New York Giant George Martin, before he tries to bribe Yoko $5. Bob Backlund shows up. 5’2″ jockey Julio Pezua cracks a whip on Yokozuna and runs away. Bobby Heenan occasionally riles the crowd up with promos. The crowd plays their part, going NUTS when Bill Fralic gets Yoko off his feet.
Scott Steiner slaps Yoko and Rick Steiner tries a belly-to-belly suplex. Tatanka gets a MONSTER pop and even some offense before taking a legdrop. Crush is there too. Even Macho Man tries to no avail and Pettingill begins to wrap up before a helicopter approaches and everybody starts freaking out…
…with Hogan chants! The Lex Luger announcement gets a fine pop though. Luger pushes Heenan, Savage starts a LEX chant, and Fuji says the challenge is over. Luger cuts a promo on bloodsucking leeches like Yoko and Fuji and throws Fuji outside, then tears off his shirt. Yoko charges and Luger side-steps then slams him – the sound is DEAFENING and everyone rushes the ring to celebrate. The National Anthem plays as Luger is hoisted on the Steiners’ shoulders carrying two American flags. All is well.
Overall, even if it didn’t work out in the end this thing was kind of brilliant – they spend forty-five minutes cementing Yokozuna as un-slammable, only for new hero Luger to come in and do it.
What follows is extended (very, VERY extended) footage of Luger touring America on the Lex Express. There are a lot better ways to spend life than watching some of this, but when you are a wrestling-obsessive it is the greatest thing. There’s candid footage of Luger filming SummerSlam promos, Luger mixing ICOPRO, and a public access interview done by Captain Algae who asks Luger if they could wrestle a little bit.
There’s Luger at some media party going over all the stuff he can’t eat at the buffet, a radio host asking Luger “What’s with the Kid 1-2-3?,” long stretches of the tour bus just being a tour bus, footage of bugs being cleaned off the windshield, and footage of Lex on top of the bus posing in front of Mt. Rushmore.
At two-hours-and-twenty minutes in, we end up at SummerSlam 1993, with an epic pre-match Jim Cornette promo (complete with an incredible Yokozuna death stare into the camera). The match: Lex Luger challenging for Yokozuna’s WWF World Heavyweight Title.
I love the intro of this, where Fink announces “would you please rise…” as if he’s under gunpoint and annoyed about it. He pauses as the crowd stands before revealing that he has just asked them to stand for the Japanese National Anthem. Aaron Neville then sings the U.S. National Anthem with Macho Man Randy Savage in big loud America gear behind him.
The match is kind of crap. Yokozuna is awesome, popping the crowd with his selling and wobbling around, while Luger is just awkward with punches so bad they kill the crowd. All the big Luger spots get pops, but everything in between is eerily quiet. The crowd of course chants U-S-A here and there, prompting Vince to state, “I’ve never known an athlete to have this much support!” to which Heenan replies “WHAT?”
Luger sells for a bit and his timing on all his big kickouts is so bad. A missed Banzai Drop leads to a bodyslam much worse than the Stars & Stripes one. Yoko rolls outside after it and gets COUNTED OUT.
There is no mention whatsoever of Luger not winning the tile – his win prompts a full over-the-top victory celebration with Vince going nuts about him being an American hero and Savage, The Steiners and Tatanka carrying him on their shoulders once again.
The crowd popped because it was a WWF main event designed to get pops (and Yoko was amazing at points), but man have their been a billion better versions of a choreographed WWE main event. **
All in all, this is a wild slice of life from both the early 1990s and the WWF in a transition period, and it’s interesting to see Luger in the midst of his Big Run as the guy about to displace Hulk Hogan… until he didn’t.
Black Saturday – WCW TV 7/14/84
This is an infamous date in wrestling history, for three primary reasons: 1) it exemplifies the WWF’s attempts at gobbling up the wrestling industry in the mid-80s, 2) Vince McMahon appeared on WCW TV 16 years before he did it again on a much bigger stage, and 3) It kind of all fucking sucked.
Georgia Championship Wrestling had been running on Ted Turner’s WTBS on Saturday nights since the early 70s. In the early 80s, they renamed their weekly program World Championship Wrestling. The WWF already had their All-American Wrestling, Championship Wrestling, and All-Star Wrestling TV shows airing in syndication, as well as Tuesday Night Titans on USA.
McMahon, eager at more distribution, approached Turner to buy the timeslot but was turned down, so he convinced Jim Barnett and the Brisco Brothers to sell their stake in the territory, which got him the timeslot. This didn’t make Turner very happy.
On July 14, 1984, the familiar music, intro, and backdrop of the WCW program came on, but Vince McMahon appeared in front of the WCW logo and introduced himself. What he presented though was not the studio show with a hot crowd, fun squash matches, and fire promos that regular viewers had come to expect. This was the WWF just airing old matches from their arena shows and dark, drab promos.
The WWF aired programming in this timeslot for just eight months before McMahon, busy with the first WrestleMania and losing in the ratings to Mid-South (which Turner put on his station at a different time), sold the timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions, which went on to become WCW proper.
The first 5 minutes of this are wild: a full WCW intro, studio backdrop with WCW logo, and Freddie Miller introducing Vince McMahon. In between commercials, WWF live event ads air over the familiar WCW music, with the WWF traveling to Minnesota, Florida, Memphis, and THE OMNI with all the big stars.
Otherwise, this is a bad wrestling show and a real weird way to introduce the WWF to a new audience. The WWF has always been a conservative promotion, but this was REALLY holding back. Vince hosts and throws to live event squashes and promos taped in advance, and nothing is all that good. There’s no studio show charm, no real stories being told. It sucks.
Adonis & Murdoch take on S.D. Jones & Nick DeCarlo and do their shtick where they bump around for the good guys while the crowd pops before wiping the floor with them. DeCarlo takes a brutal bump on the finish.
Jesse “The Body” Ventura squashes a guy in his hometown of Minnesota while he screams at Vikings linebacker Scott Studwell, who is in the crowd.
Iron Sheik squashes the very nondescript Ron Hutchison (who went to train Edge, Christian and Trish Stratus) as the crowd chants IRAN SUCKS and WE WANT SARGE.
Finally, Bobo Brazil vs. Big John Studd at the Philadelphia Spectrum FEELS like a big match, but it is no good. There’s an uncomfortably long bearhug, Bobo takes the worst bump off a shoulder tackle, and Studd wins with a garbage elbow drop. Crowd popped for Bobo though.
Mean Gene interviews a few guys in between it all in front of a black backdrop with the WWF logo. Mr. Fuji introduces his new guy George “The Animal” Steele, Alexis Smirnoff does an all-time bad Russian accent (must have been a trip to go from THOSE Russians to this Russian), and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff says the divorce rate goes up every time he takes off his shirt.
Finally, Hulk Hogan is advertised for the next show: “Never has 300 pounds looked as good as it looks on the six foot, eight inch frame of Hulk Hogan.”
This is nothing worth watching but what a fascinating piece of history.
A Rocky Start – Chris Candido vs. Dwayne Johnson (WWF Dark Match 3/11/96)
God damn, what a Hidden Gem this is.
Dwayne Johnson actually made his first appearance in the WWF as a 12-year-old (with a mustache), sitting front row for one of his dad’s matches on Championship Wrestling. After his NFL career got cut short, he got into the family business. This was one of his first tryouts, and he’d soon head to WWF’s then developmental territory the USWA and become Flex Kavana, then the WWF as Rocky Maivia and The Rock, then the WORLD as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
The vet chosen to work with him, Chris Candido, had come to the WWF the previous year as Skip along with his girl Sunny, and they had recently brought in Tom Prichard as Zip to form the Bodydonnas tag team.
This was before a RAW just a couple weeks before WrestleMania 12. In the main event was The Undertaker & Yokozuna vs. Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith.
There isn’t much here bell-to-bell but it’s a trip. I love the feel of a mid-90s WWF dark match – half empty seats in a big arena, loud sounds from the mat, the people at ringside very audible.
Sunny cuts a promo to rile the folks up pre-match and out comes this young unknown introduced as Dwayne Johnson, entering to THE YOUNG STALLIONS’ theme music.
Dwayne is doing kip-ups, armdrags, and even does his dad’s double leapfrog spot. He is awkward and lanky but athletic, while Candido is being a pro’s pro – bumping for the kid and doing basic stuff to stay in control. Highlight of the match is him missing a top rope move, standing up, and taking a big flat back bump. Dwayne gets a brief comeback, goes up top, and gets brought down with a Frankensteiner for 3.
Nothing special at all but what an awesome bit of history, to see The Rock before even Rocky Maivia in a WWF environment. *3/4
Patterson Battles a Patriarch – Pat Patterson vs. Angelo Poffo (CWF 1/11/77)
OK, holy shit. This is a trip. It’s reel footage during Pat Patterson’s brief stay in Championship Wrestling from Florida and he is facing the dad of Macho Man Randy Savage and Leaping Lanny, Angelo Poffo.
Poffo had been wrestling since the late-40s and eventually ran the ICW promotion out of Kentucky in the early 80s, where he pushed his sons as the top guys and earned a reputation as an “outlaw” – competing with promoters who were supposed to own the area. Pat Patterson had been wrestling since the late-50s, earning his most fame up to this point as The Blonde Brothers tag team with Ray Stevens. He would head to the WWF a couple years later for a brief stay as a wrestler before becoming one of Vince McMahon’s most trusted confidants.
This CWF show also featured Dusty Rhodes, Superstar Billy Graham, The Brisco Brothers, Kevin Sullivan, Bob Orton Jr, and Tully Blanchard.
This is the first Angelo Poffo match I have ever seen. It’s clipped in places, but enough to get a feel for what they were going for. He is very much Randy Savage in the face. He is a HEEL. He is feeding and bumping for Patterson like crazy. He is bailing, slapping, and begging off when Patterson gets fired up. Patterson meanwhile is somehow both a stoic old man and young and spunky at the same time. He does a lot of clenching of his fist and it is awesome. ***
<
h2>A Savage Alliance – $50,000 Thanksgiving Tag Team Tournament – Round 1: Randy Savage & Magnum T.A. vs. The Mongolians (GCW 11/24/83)
I had NO idea Savage ever worked GCW, so this was wild to see. It was only a one-night stop in the territory for the Macho Man.
Savage had debuted in the early 70s and had been headlining his pop’s company before heading to Memphis and finally the WWF. Magnum T.A. had debuted in the early 70s and had been working Mid-South – he’d join JCP just a few months after this. I have no idea why they are teaming here. The Mongols had formed in Stampede Wrestling in the late-60s and worked in all the big territories (including the WWWF) before one of them became Nikolai Volkoff.
This took place just a month after another Hidden Gem, the Last Battle of Atlanta, and was a part of a one-night Thanksgiving Day Tag Team Tournament, a yearly event ran by GCW at The Omni (this was the last one). King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart, Butch Reed & Pez Whatley, and Ron Garvin & Jim Duggan were other teams in the tournament.
Though it’s a trip to see Randy Savage teaming with Magnum T.A. at The Omni before both guys went on to superstardom, this match is aggressively unspectacular. The Mongolians are just clubbing away and the good guys are just applying hot tags. Savage has still got the spark he’s known for but there is just nothing here. There are a couple brief beatings and a couple cold tags. *1/2
Savage and T.A. would end up losing to Reed and Whatley in the finals.
Leaping into Action – Nick Bockwinkel vs. Lanny Poffo (Pro Wrestling USA 9/21/84)
Pro Wrestling USA was an odd venture that doesn’t get talked about much. While the WWF was expanding, all the other top companies – the AWA, JCP, and some NWA territories – began co-promoting shows. Their first show took place in Memphis, TN and had this match on it and they eventually ran the first SuperClash in September 1985 at Comiskey Park. As will happen, egos and politics eventually caused JCP to drop out, and Pro Wrestling USA eventually became the rotting corpse of the AWA.
This match, at 7 minutes long, was the longest on their debut show, which also featured The Rock & Roll Express, Butch Reed & Tony Atlas, The Road Warriors, Jerry Lawler, Tommy Rich, Mr. Saito, and Rick Martel in squash matches (some of the enhancement talent is notable – Tracy Smothers and Eddie Gilbert among them).
Nick Bockwinkel is the walking epitome of “they don’t make ’em like they used to.” He was at the end of his career here after being THE guy in the AWA since the 70s. His opponent Leaping Lanny began working in the early 70s before he, like Randy, became an attraction in ICW. He’d eventually follow Randy to Memphis and finally the WWF in the mid-80s, first as poetry-reading Leaping Lanny Poffo and perhaps most infamously as The Genius.
This match is listed on the WWE Network as 9/21/84, though online results show 9/18/84 – I assume the latter is the taping date. It’s real basic stuff but cool to see, and these two match up well with Poffo’s impressive and slightly creepy swan-esque athleticism vs. Bockwinkel’s old man technical wrestler shtick. Bock working headlocks and armbars with a young pup is always fun to see.
Bock sends Poffo over the top rope with a right hand towards the end and commentary is INCENSED: “You saw it wrestling fans – it was no elbow, it was a right hand, solid to the jaw!”
Actually this match may be more notable than anything for the presentation. It’s Pro Wrestling USA’s first show and Sheik Adnan al-Kassie is getting The Push, mentioned as being at ringside earlier in the night checking out The Road Warriors and briefly joining commentary here, saying he’s looking for talent.
The commentary is cringe bad too – Bock gets his knees up on a Poffo moonsault, which commentary calls a flip. He ends Poffo with a piledriver, which commentary calls a suplex (and Sheik deadpan corrects). The clip ends as Bockwinkel is called the “former NWA Heavyweight Wrestling Champion.” **1/2
