SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 19:00 Min.
Recorded live on September 17, 1995, for WCWs Fall Brawl ’95 PPV in Asheville, NC, this showdown pits these four-man squads against one another:
- The Hulk-A-Maniacs: The Mega-Powers (WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan & “Macho Man” Randy Savage); Sting; & “The Total Package” Lex Luger, with Jimmy Hart.
vs.
- The Dungeon of Doom: Zodiac (aka WWE’s Brutus Beefcake); Kamala; Meng (aka WWE’s Haku); & Shark (aka WWE’s Earthquake), with manager “Taskmaster” Kevin Sullivan.
Back in 1987, Dusty Rhodes is generally credited with devising the War Games gimmick: a two-ring, roofed double-steel cage street fight. The teams pit their initial two combatants in a five-minute one-on-one brawl. Occurring off-screen, a coin toss then determines a handicap advantage, as the other participants enter at two-minute intervals. Hence, one side maintains a repetitive handicap advantage until all eight combatants are in.
In the “Match Beyond” (featuring all eight wrestlers), there’s no escape, as the losing squad is forced to either submit or surrender. Supposedly, Hogan will get a solo skirmish with Sullivan, should the Hulk-A-Maniacs prevail –even if they do, that footage is excluded. The commentators are Tony Schiavone & Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.
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.
Note: For more fun-and-games, there’s the 1996 WCW Uncensored’s Tower of Doom stacked triple-cage camp classic. The legendary Mega-Powers go two-on-eight vs. the so-called ‘Alliance to End Hulk-A-Mania:’ Meng/Haku, The Barbarian, “Taskmaster” Kevin Sullivan, “The Enforcer” Arn Anderson, Z-Gangsta (aka WWE’s Zeus), “The Total Package” Lex Luger, WCW World Champion “Nature Boy” Ric Flair; & The Ultimate Solution (aka “Jeep” Swenson). A newly corrupted Miss Elizabeth, Woman (aka Nancy Benoit), and Jimmy Hart accompany the villains. Long derided as a mid-90’s WCW low, its comic strip choreography is still worth some laughs.
REVIEW:
This underwhelming sluggish-fest falls short of fan expectations. In Saturday morning cartoon fashion, WCW devises its low-grade mayhem as a live-action rip-off of G.I. Joe-Meets-Challenge of the Super-Friends. Had this match occurred in 1988 against worthy opposition (i.e. The Four Horsemen), WCW would have scored the mega-coup of the industry’s Top Four ‘super-heroes’ in their prime teaming up.
Come September 1995, the rare Hogan-Savage-Luger-Sting quartet still exuded considerable star power, presuming all the players involved were on their game. The only detriment would then be the eye-rolling ‘forces of evil’ scraped together to face them. Sadly, only Savage & Luger’s brewing mistrust is what keeps this War Games from utterly stinking up the cliché factory. Sting, undeservedly demoted to semi-main events due to the Hulkster’s presence, gets stuck taking the most lumps.
Yet, what inevitably sinks Team Hulk-A-Mania is the it’s-all-about-me WCW World Champ himself. The Hulkster, per his WCW norm, lazily contributes the least amount of work in exchange for the most self-entitled glory. Considering the non-existent audience pop, wary fans are clearly resisting WCW’s ham-fisted efforts programming them to worship Hogan, as if it were still the mid-80’s.
Rescued from unemployment, the buffoonish ex-WWE villains-for-hire (no surprise) phone this one in. Even efforts from Heenan and Schiavone trying to bolster the one-dimensional script doesn’t help much. For instance, pushing another of his all-too-stupid WCW personas, the ex-Brutus Beefcake contributes a putrid performance. Other than showing up surprisingly svelte (at least, for them), Kamala and The Shark merely play sinister C-list henchmen. It’s left to Meng/Haku to be a formidable threat – to his credit, consider it mission accomplished.
As for the dubious in-ring work, the sole highlight is Sting and Shark amusingly trading ‘can you top this?’ between-ring leaps. Otherwise, this reviewer has witnessed far better choreography from his six-year-old playing with action figures. It’s no wonder why the 1995 War Games presents a prime example of Hogan’s WCW consistently pitching crummy main events for a fast buck.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 2 Stars
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