By: Brian Hoops, Nostalgia Specialist

This week’s look back at wrestling nostalgia takes us back 15 years to the WCW PPV Slamboree 1993. The show was held on May 23, 1993. The show was subtitled “A Legend’s Reunion” and was built around wrestling legends appearing in short matches as well as the very first hall of fame induction. The show originated from Atlanta, Georgia and was held in the Omni. The show drew just over 7,000 fans, which was a big improvement over previous house shows that were held in the Omni.

Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbysko are the announce team. The wrestling legends were introduced to the crowd prior to the wrestling. Legends that were introduced were Ole Anderson, The Assassian, Ox Baker, Red Bastein, James Blears, The Crusher, Fabulous Moolah, Greg Gagne, Verne Gagne, Bob Geigle, Stu Hart, Magnum TA, Bugsy McGraw, Don Owen, Dusty Rhodes, Grizzly Smith, Lou Thesz, John Tolos, Mad Dog Vachon, Johnny Valentine, and Mr. Wrestling II. I thought it was interesting to note that the WCW crossed over promotional lines to include wrestlers from different territories and not just the NWA,WCW or Mid-Atlantic areas.

1. Too Cold Scorpio & Marcus Bagwell defeated Bobby Eaton and Chris Benoit in 9:22. Very good opening match with Bagwell and Scorpio starting to show some real charisma as a team. Finish came when Scorpio pinned Benoit.

2. Sid Vicious pinned Van Hammer in 35 seconds. Vicious made a surprise return and this match was a quick squash win. Vicious power bombed Hammer and pinned him.

3. Wahoo McDaniel, Jim Brunzell, and Blackjack Mulligan fought Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco and Dick Murdoch to a no contest in 9:06. Brunzell, who was still working small independents and for the WWF at the time, took most of the bumps in the match. Brunzell could still do a great drop kick in 1993. Finish came when Snuka accidentally hit Muraco and the match broke down into a brawl and the referee Randy Anderson threw the match out.

4. Thunderbolt Patterson and Brad Armstrong defeated Baron Von Raschke and Ivan Koloff in 4:39. Bob Armstrong was originally supposed to team with Patterson, but Brad took his father’s place in the match, which improved match quality 100%.

5. Nick Bockwinkle with Verne Gagne went to a 15 minute draw with Dory Funk Jr. with Gene Kiniski. In 1975, this match would have sold out every arena in the country when the AWA World Champion and the NWA World Champion wrestled. Given the respective ages of each, this match was very well done. They worked in several mat wrestling holds as well as some light bump taking spots. A very good match given their limitations.

6. Rick Rude and Paul Orndorff defeated Dustin Rhodes and Kensuke Sasaki in 9:25 when Rude pinned Sasaki. Rude got tremendous heal heat from the crowd when he did his spiel on the mike. Rude was the U.S. champion at the time with Rhodes and Sasaki both chasing him. Guess who the booker was at the time? Exactly, Rhodes eventually ended up with the belt. Rhodes and Sasaki controlled the early portions of the match, but Orndorff and Rude dominated the rest of the match. Finish came when Sasaki went to the top rope, but Orndorff knocked him of the top and Rude gave Sasaki a “rude awakening”. Sasaki screwed up the finish as he tried to kick out of the pin attempt instead of lying there being pinned. It really hurt the finish.

Next came the WCW Hall of Fame Inductions. Lou Thesz, Mr. Wrestling II, Verne Gagne, and Eddie Graham were inducted by Gordon Solie.

7. Sting defeated the Prisoner in 5:16. The match was supposed to be Sting vs. Scott Norton, but Norton refused to due the job to Sting the day of the match, so Kevin Walcholz was flown in to face Sting. The Prisoner wore the exact same attire as when he wrestled in WWF as Nailz. He also wrestled in the AWA for a short time under the name of Kevin Kelly. The Prisoner dominated early in the match, allowing Sting to make the babyface comeback. A terrible match.

8. The Hollywood Blondes, Brian Pillman and Steve Austin defeated Dos Hombres, Ricky Steamboat and Tom Zenk in 16:08 in a steel cage for the WCW World Tag Team Titles. The Blondes had defeated Steamboat and Shane Douglas for the titles and Douglas and Steamboat were chasing the Blondes in an effort to regain the titles. However, Douglas blew out his knee, so WCW put Tom Zenk under a mask and had Steamboat and Zenk wrestle as masked Mexican wrestlers in an effort to confuse the Blondes. It was never acknowledged that Douglas was actually Zenk. Steamboat would take his mask off during the match, but Zenk never spoke and gave it away. This was a very good match, with the Blondes bumping like crazy for Steamboat and Zenk. Steamboat did a cross body off the top of the cage onto Pillman and Austin for a great near fall. Lots of near falls into the finish when Zenk went for a splash on Austin and Austin grabbed him and reversed it into a stun gun and Austin pinned Zenk for the win. An excellent tag team match.

9. Barry Windham pinned Arn Anderson to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Title in 10:55. Very few actually believed that Anderson had a chance to defeat Barry Windham for the title as it was obvious that WCW was positioning for a Windham and Ric Flair showdown for the NWA Championship. Still, they had a sound match, nothing spectacular but very good. Windham was bleeding like crazy from early in the match. Windham tried to leave with the belt and get a countout finish, but Anderson threw him back in the ring. Referee Pee Wee Anderson tried to pull Arn Anderson off of Windham, but Arn threw the ref down. As Arn was checking on Pee Wee, Windham hit Arn with the belt and covered him for the pin.

10. Big Van Vader defeated Davey Boy Smith in 16:16 by disqualification. This match was for the WCW World Heavyweight Title and Vader kept the title by dq. Vader and Smith traded power moves early and it was a good hard hitting contest. Vader went for a splash on Smith in the corner, but Smith caught Vader and slammed him for an impressive near fall. Race interfered and Smith went outside after Race. Vader hit Smith with a chair for the dq. Vader destroyed everyone that came in to help Smith until Sting made the save.

Schiavone and Zbyszko interviewed Verne Gagne as the show went off the air.

Summary: This was an interesting show as the appearance of all the legends make it a must see event. From match standpoint, the cage match for the title is a must see match and the Vader-Smith and Anderson-Windham matches are also good.

I hoped you enjoyed this week’s look back at wrestling nostalgia. Feel free to contact me at bhoops@iw.net if you have any questions or comments.I also post blogs at www.myspace.com/midwestwrestlinginsider.

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