SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 27:00 Min.
Recorded live on July 10, 1988, for the NWA’s Great American Bash ’88 – “The Price for Freedom” Pay-Per-View (PPV), from Baltimore, MD, this Tower of Doom showdown features these five-man squads:
- The Road Warriors: Hawk & Animal (with “Precious” Paul Ellering); “Dr. Death” Steve Williams; Ron Garvin; & “Gorgeous” Jimmy Garvin (with his real-life wife/valet, Precious),
vs.
- Kevin Sullivan & Mike Rotunda of ‘The Varsity Club;’ Al Perez (with Gary Hart); & The Russians: Ivan Koloff & the masked Russian Assassin –Vladimir Petrov (with Paul Jones).
Lifting this high-concept gimmick from the Von Erichs’ World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), this 40-foot high, triple stacked-cage match requires the ten combatants to first climb a ladder to the top. The much-smaller top two cages means close-quarters combat above a standard-size bottom ring. Participants must enter through a trap door atop the highest cage before then fighting their way down. At two-minute intervals, the trapdoors between cages open.
The first complete team to exit the ground-level cage through the door wins. Enigmatically ‘torn’ between husband Garvin and psychotic stalker Sullivan, Precious holds the keys unlocking the last cage. The ringside commentators are Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone.
In 2013, the WWE released this match as part of a collection of War Games matches (in DVD and Blu-ray formats) entitled WWE War Games: WCW’s Most Notorious Matches.
Notes: Ronnie Garvin’s heel turn on this same PPV was so ill-received that he finished up the 80’s in the AWA and later the WWE. In another Tower of Doom showdown, WCW’s 1996 Uncensored pitting the legendary Mega-Powers (Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage) vs. eight villains (including Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, and even the WWE’s ex-Zeus) is an unintended, anything-goes camp classic.
REVIEW:
Judging by the lengthy pre-match footage, it’s no wonder how convoluted this Tower of Doom is — especially as referee Tommy Young is shown forty feet up methodically cinching the trap door pulley. It comes down to the wrestlers entrusted to make such a gimmicky concept work.
Considering this particular cast, it’s hard to say if anybody could overcome its reality game show-style logistics — short of some trusted WWF main-eventers (Randy Savage, Curt Hennig, Bret Hart, Rick Rude, Haku, etc.), if there had been a Tower of Doom had in a late-80’s Survivor Series.
Shocking no one, this wonky bout struggles to impress from the get-go. While the Jimmy Garvin & Precious vs. Kevin Sullivan feud is well-played (aside from a cheap ‘damsel-in-distress’ post-match angle), everyone else merely hop aboard for an awkward ride. Even the Road Warriors’ magic only extends so far – particularly when opponents must clumsily pass through trap doors. It’s akin to watching wobbly wrestlers struggling to maintain their balance during a scaffold match.
While the makeshift action is decent, its sheer lack of impact is attributable to a quintet of sluggish bad guys. Aside from Mike Rotunda’s knack for making ‘dull’ seem nefariously cool, these particular heels exude the least amount of charisma imaginable. Had Rick Steiner and/or virtually anybody else been substituted in for the sleep-inducing ‘Russians,’ this match’s watch-a-meter might have soared (i.e. some worthy opposition for the Road Warriors). For instance, one could imagine the Powers of Pain (Warlord & The Barbarian) would have participated, had they not previously left for the WWF.
If anything, this Tower of Doom’s best asset is possibly settling the Garvin vs. Sullivan feud.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 4 Stars
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