83 Weeks - Fall Brawl 1994: War Games [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Fall Brawl 1994: War Games

Fall Brawl 1994: War Games took place on September 18, 1994 from the Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke, Virginia. The event drew about 6,500 fans in a building holding 10,000 with 5,200 paying $61,000. It was the second Fall Brawl pay-per-view. Six matches were held on the card with a seventh, a dark match, happening before the show began broadcasting.

The show, unlike many pay per views, did not feature the company’s headline acts in a match. Hulk Hogan, the world champion, was reportedly limited by dates on his contract. The storyline was that Hogan had his knee taken out by a masked man and was out of action. He appeared in a video segment with Ric Flair, his soon-to-be challenger at the company’s next big show, Halloween Havoc. Thus, expectations were low for the event. Meltzer said no one expected it to do better than about half of the buyrate of Bash at the Beach that year. 

But it’s an event with a lot of history, even though it’s probably not the most famous WCW show. This show featured Cactus Jack leaving WCW, Steve Austin winning and losing a championship in controversial fashion, Ric Flair being brought out of “retirement” and best of all, Col. Robert Parker shitting his pants. 

Now, if that doesn’t make you want to listen to this episode, just turn it off now because we’re done. 

With that in mind, let’s load up on some news from this time period before we get to the show itself!

NEWS

MSG cancels WCW

Earlier in September, news broke that Madison Square Garden had canceled a WCW show scheduled for November 26 - and instead, the WWF would get the date. Reports were that WCW expected to draw its biggest house of the year with Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair as the headline match. 

Observer:After the Garden, which is in the midst of an ownership change, initially gave WCW the date, apparently the WWF got wind of it and produced a contract which stated they had a right of first refusal on any wrestling dates in the main arena, and were exercising that right. While this may be premature, there was a lot of speculation within WCW that they would attempt to book the Meadowlands and run head-to-head on that date in the New York market against Titan since it was one of the three weekends that Hogan had agreed to work U.S. arena dates. There was talk of a lawsuit resulting from this but we've heard about threatened legal action by WCW over unequal access to major arenas going back to the beginning of the company and nothing has transpired. 

Starrcade moves

The reported plans for Starrcade were changed with it being moved from San Antonio due to WWE running Survivor Series 94 there, too. Starrcade was moved to Nashville. Meltzer speculated that, although there were rumors of returning to Charlotte, Hulk Hogan would probably veto that idea since he would get booed out of the building. 

Was Hulk worried about his reaction in Flair country?

Pro-wrestling hurting

The business was in a trouble spot here, Meltzer reports, as the new fall season started up negatively for pro wrestling. Local syndication reports showed WWF and WCW shows moving from favorable timeslots to times that were much harder to thrive in. 

Meltzer reported, “WCW lost its San Jose [market] and was moved from 10 a.m. to past midnight in San Francisco, which eliminates the kids audience just before they were to start promoting the Hulk Hogan-Ric Flair match for 10/15 in Oakland (tickets went on sale 9/19 and they had a strong first day).”

Other moves in other markets were reported as well. Meltzer would describe it as a confluence of factors that included scandals, legal problems, bad houses, and bad ratings. 

Do you remember trouble during this time with syndication?

UFC III makes a strong showing

Early buy rates for UFC III showed a 0.65 buyrate, or about 150,000 buys, which was more buys than all WCW shows that year except Hogan/Flair Bash at the Beach. But this was with no big stars headlining the show and no major promotion. The event had Ken Shamrock and Royce (Hoy-Sss) Gracie. At the time, Meltzer speculated on if it was a shoot or a work. 

Was there any feeling back then that this UFC thing might someday take off?

Missy on Sally

Missy Hyatt appeared on the 9/14 Sally Jesse Rafael show in what appeared to be a worked role playing a woman mistreated by her boyfriend, the Observer reported.

Did you hear about this at the time? If so, what were your thoughts?

WCW in demand in Japan?

Observer: UWFI attempted to sign an exclusive talent agreement with WCW, and when New Japan got wind of it, they offered more money for a similar deal. From what I've been told, even though there is nobody in WCW that means a great deal in New Japan (Sting may work one or two shows a year, Nasty Boys, Steve Regal and Brad Armstrong have gone lately but none are that big a deal), New Japan doesn't want UWFI elevated to a serious level with traditional fans by signing a deal with the company that has Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair and it's more of a pride thing rather than a business thing where New Japan doesn't want to lose its status that it has in Japan of being the No. 1 group in the world.

WCW in Europe

In the weeks before this PPV, the Observer reported on a European tour by WCW that included Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair headlining the shows. 

Observer: Hulk Hogan, not selling an injury (since the Clash has yet to air), continues to legdrop Ric Flair (not suspended) every night in the main events. Live reports have been that the shows have been good with all the matches except the Jim Duggan vs. Dallas Page matches being at least average. The Hogan-Flair matches have been reported as being in the ***1/4 range with the only complaint that they've been too short. Although Hogan is loudly cheered, there are strong contingents in most cities booing him heavily with about a 75-25 breakdown.

Time for our Pay Per View!

Johnny B. Badd captured the WCW TV title from Steve Regal in 11:08. 

Observer: Some good wrestling early with a lot of different from the usual variety of spots. Badd even used an airplane spin early. He did a tope which the camera missed completely, which really bodes well for the AAA PPV show. Badd missed a crossbody and caught his throat on the ropes. Sir William choked him with a cane. It slowed down at 7:30 with Regal riding Badd and Badd making intermittent comebacks. They did two near falls based around Sir William's interference backfiring before Badd got the pin with a backslide. Regal is said to be leaving to go to New Japan and his planned feud with Jim Duggan has been dropped. **1/2

Stan Notes: This was our era for Johnny B. Badd to open the show. Badd opened Spring Stampede, Slamboree, and Bash at the Beach - the last three shows. Fall Brawl is the fourth in a row. Halloween Havoc next month opens with Badd, too, before the streak is broken at Starrcade (where he is in the second match). 

Kevin Sullivan pinned Cactus Jack in the loser leaves town match in 6:08. 

Observer: Although Cactus turned heel on television, he got a tremendous face reaction live and played to the crowd in his last night in. Sullivan got the heel reaction. Jack took several great bumps, the most memorable of which was him being on the middle rope ready to do the elbow to the floor (after picking up the protective mats). Dave Sullivan stopped him and Kevin got up and bodyslammed Jack off the middle rope to the concrete floor. Dave stopped Cactus from using a chair but also stopped Kevin from using one. Sullivan attacked Jack's ear and Tony Schiavone got this over great by explaining beforehand how the nerves in the ear were exposed so it would be more painful. Finally Cactus charged at Kevin, who moved, and he hit Dave, and Kevin pinned him. **¼

Any memories on why Foley/Jack decided to leave during this time?

The next match was supposed to be Ricky Steamboat vs. Steve Austin for the U.S. title - but Steamboat came out to announce he had a legitimate back injury and couldn’t wrestle. So Nick Bockwinkel awarded the U.S. title to Austin.

Bockwinkel then told Austin he had to defend the title that night as Austin tried to leave.

Observer: Figuring that since on paper the best match of the show was canned and they didn't have enough to fill the show unless they had a decent-length match here, I figured they'd throw in a guy like Brian Pillman so they'd have a kick-ass match. Instead they decided to get the pop by putting Jim Duggan out and as Austin wanted to leave, Bockwinkel pushed him, Duggan backdropped him and splashed him in 35 seconds to win the title. After the match Duggan did an interview and got a big pop until he knocked Ric Flair, at which point people started booing him and he left with a flat reaction. DUD

Voted Worst Match on the Card in a LANDSLIDE

Also, Steve Austin’s house flooded the day before, the Observer reported.

Was it a mistake to job Steve Austin out to Jim Duggan in less than a minute?

Paul Orndorff & Paul Roma retained the WCW tag titles beating Marcus Bagwell & The Patriot in 12:54. 

Observer: It was kind of weird to follow Duggan with these guys as they pretty well do the same gimmick. Blacktop Bully (Barry Darsow) was at ringside arguing with the faces as they came to the ring and then got booted out by security. Match was okay. Highlights were Orndorff dumping the contents of an ice cooler onto Bagwell, making him Too Cold Bagwell; and Roma doing a great elbow drop off the top rope. Bagwell got worked on most of the way and made the tag but the ref didn't see it. Bagwell was on the floor while Patriot cleaned house in the ring. Orndorff piledrove Bagwell on the floor while Patriot gave the fullnelson drop to Roma, but Roma covered Bagwell for the pin. **1/4

Loud boos when Hulk Hogan is mentioned. 

The Triangle Match is next and it’s not what we all know as a triangle match. Two participants begin and wrestle. The third, who ends up being Sting, gets a by. 

Vader pinned Guardian Angel in 7:04 to win the first triangular match. 

Observer: The dreaded coinflip gave Sting a bye (what a shock). They did a lot of big man spots. This was pretty slow for a Vader match, but in hindsight one could see why with him having to work 30:00. One weird spot was Angel coming off the top rope and clotheslining himself on the top rope which looked really stupid. Finish saw Angel do an enzuigiri and bodyslam. Vader then clotheslined the ref and Angel did the Bubba-slam but no ref to count the pin. Harley Race then interfered and head-butted Angel and Vader splashed him with a Vader bomb off the middle rope. *¾

Stan Note: Guardian Angel is heavily referred to as a man of law and order. Vader does the thing where he whistles extremely loud out of his mouth with no fingers. Heenan calls GA “Donut Breath.” When Angel goes to slam Vader, it takes a few times to get the timing right, but he does do a legitimate bodyslam. Horley, looking very handsome, headbutts Angel and Vader wins.

Then...Vader beat Sting in 23:18 to earn the title shot at Hulk Hogan at Starrcade. 

Observer: This was weird because they first went to a 15:00 draw that lasted 16:43. Then they did a five-minute overtime period that lasted 4:42. Finally they had a second overtime period in which the match would end when the first man was knocked off his feet. Vader destroyed Sting with punches and clotheslines but Sting wouldn't go off his feet. Sting made a comeback and then Angel ran to ringside and attacked Race. Vader went down but the ref was occupied with Angel and Race. A masked man who was supposed to be the same masked man from the Clash (who obviously was much smaller than Arn Anderson and may have been Bill Dundee or Brad Armstrong, who appeared in the dark match teaming with Brian Armstrong to beat Steve Keirn & Bobby Eaton) ran from the back and knocked Sting's knee with an object and Sting went down and the ref saw it at 1:53 and awarded the match to Vader. The first 16:43 segment was excellent with the two doing all kinds of good spots with great drama although Vader totally carried the segment which, considering he had already worked and weighs 400 pounds, says something. Sting had the scorpion on at the bell. Both guys looked really tired during the second segment which was too obvious was going the distance by the way they were working. Vader used the power bomb just before the bell, to give him the advantage when they started the third period. ***3/4

Notes: 

• Sting just lets Vader keep kicking his ass while no selling until he finally shoves him. Then pokes his eye. 
• The match looks full of potato’s and Sting getting hot over it, including a clothesline. Sting suplexes both Harley and Vader. 
• Sting goes for a top rope splash that he expects Vader to get knees up on - but Vader doesn’t. So Sting calls a spot to Vader, bounces off the ropes, and THEN Vader gets his knees up on a regular splash. 
• Sting does a very impressive German suplex to Vader. 
• On his way out after winning, Vader gets popcorn dumped on him.

Was the goal of the booking here to keep Sting unphased by a loss while giving Vader a strong build to be a monster heel against Hogan?

Ric Flair is partying while Hulk Hogan is working out as the two do a segment where they talk on the phone to each other “live” from separate locations. Meltzer said the segment was taped weeks earlier. The mere mention of Ric Flair caused cheers and when they said Hulk Hogan’s name...brother...those fans booed him out of the building, or gym. 

Observer: At this point they did a long segment with Hogan and Flair, supposedly live via satellite from Bel Air, FL or Venice Beach, CA (both sites were mentioned as to Hogan's whereabouts during the broadcast) and Las Vegas. Actually this segment was taped a few weeks earlier and wound up being a phone conversation with Flair and Hogan after the introduction by Gene who mistimed several questions to the tape although no doubt trying to talk to a tape and get over that it's life can't be the easiest thing to pull off. They had to cut the arena mics during this segment because the fans were rabidly cheering Flair and booing Hogan. The segment got over that Hogan said he'd retire if Flair could beat him and Flair accepted, which didn't exactly explain how this could be done since Flair was suspended. Nick Bockwinkel then had to explain that he already knew what was happening and had a contract signed and had the usual non-explanation as to why Flair is no longer suspended and announced it for 10/23 in Detroit in a cage match.

Notes: 

• Hulk and Flair have an awkward moment where Flair can’t hear him and Hogan keeps talking to him in promo voice like two people on a bad phone call.
• With Hogan putting his career on the line for Flair to return, the fans are cheering when we come back to the arena.
• After Bockwinkel makes the match official, and puts it in a steel cage, Gene asks what he’s smoking.

Question: Any reservations about announcing a steel cage match in a show where the main event is a steel cage match?

Main Event Build:

“The View Never Changes” 

Dustin Rhodes was locked in a feud with Bunkhouse Buck and Col. Parker’s Stud Stable. Dustin fared well, until Terry Funk returned to WCW and got involved. Dustin needed a tag partner and convinced Arn Anderson to join him. They teamed up - and Arn double crossed Dustin at Bash at the Beach. 

A few weeks later, on July 25, 1994, Big Dust had seen enough. Dusty returned and rained elbows on everyone. He took the microphone and cut one of wrestling’s most fondly remembered promos. He dropped the Duthy voice and just spoke as himself. He starts the promo telling Dustin that he neglected him, as a father. He tells him the heels are chicken feed, and other fun terms. Dusty, tearing up, tells Dustin he needs a hug and a kiss to seal the deal. The two embrace. They went on to team up at Clash of the Champions XXVIII to face Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Bunk. Dusty and Dustin won by DQ. And the rivalry raged on. Memorably, Dusty hit Meng with a chair that broke - and didn’t even phase Meng. It also became too much for the Rhodes family to handle on their own, with Parker’s stable growing in strength.

Following the Clash, it was announced that War Games would include the Stud Stable, including Col Parker, who almost crapped his pants at the news. The Rhodes family would be their opponents but they still needed two partners. So on August 27 on WCW Saturday Night, Dusty went to a bar in search of some nasty help. He found it. Brian Knobbs and Jerry Saggs. They were heels at the time but that didn’t last long after being asked by Dusty to join War Games. 

Now, the match was set. 

Dusty & Dustin Rhodes & Nasty Boys beat Terry Funk & Arn Anderson & Bunkhouse Buck & Rob Parker in the War Games in 19:05. 

Observer: Dustin and Arn started out for 6:00 instead of 5:00 (the show was running way short at this point which is the opposite of most PPV's and the 2:00 periods were actually 2:15 to 2:30 per segment). Buck came in next and they did the double-team. Then Sags cleaned house. Then Funk came in with his cowboy boot off and clobbered everyone with his boot. Then Knobs cleaned house throwing everyone into the cage and Sags got Funk's boot and started hitting the heels with it. At one point Funk fell into the crack between the two rings. Parker tagged in doing the angle he was afraid and had never been in a fight, but ended up with a belt whipping Dustin and Sags. Dustin got the belt back and started whipping the heels. Finally Dusty tagged in and immediately went to the finish catching Parker in the figure four while the Nasty Boys kept dropping elbows on him for the submission. It was a good match by normal standards but nowhere close to previous War Games. There was a lot more standing around and doing nothing, and a lot more posturing as opposed to action. Several times the Nasty Boys seemed like they didn't know what they were doing. They also used the cage far too much like grinding the heads into the cage which doesn't make sense since blood wasn't allowed. The show ended nearly nine minutes early which left Bobby Heenan, Gene Okerlund and Tony Schiavone to do an painful time filling ad lib. ***1/4

Notes: 

• Randy Anderson forgets how to flip a coin. He flips it and then appears to throw it at the back of his hand, then drops it. Fortunately, it doesn’t matter because the heels always win that coin toss. 
• Interesting Math: What are the odds of the same side winning a coin toss every year? We can represent calling multiple coin tosses in a row as 1/2^n (half to the power of n) where n is the number of times we flip the coin. So the odds of flipping a coin 5 times and getting 5 heads are 1/2 ^5 (half to the power of 5). Which gives us 1/32 or just over a 3% chance.
• Terry Funk runs in, swings his boot and falls over the top rope in between the rings. The crowd laughs but it’s still totally within his character. 
• When it’s Col. Parker’s turn to get in, next to referee Nick Patrick, we can see Klondike Bill.
• Arn hits his spine buster but the director misses it. 
• Dusty comes in and cleans house with elbows. Almost too quickly, Dusty gets a submission from Parker.
• One of the all-time great angles in wrestling, in my opinion

Pooping of the Pants

Around the end of the match, something special happened. It wasn’t so much special to the event in 1994 but was perfect for a podcast in 2020. According to Dusty Rhodes on the War Games DVD, Parker suffered diarrhea during the final moments of the War Games match. Yes. He shit his pants. He was wearing white pants, of all colors, too. 

Parker stays seated for an unusual amount of time after the end of the match. He doesn’t get up and leave the ring until after the director cuts to replays. And then, we get our first clue something has happened.

“Oh my..where did that happen from?” Heenan exclaims. “Look at the...look at the Colonel's pants. He’s had an accident.”

Despite the natural comedy of the white pants/brown accident combo, we never see anything on camera.

Would showing that on TV that have been too much for WCW at the time - or would it have been the funniest shit ever?

We hear that Meng is going nuts in the back but there’s no time for a camera crew to get to it. We’re promised footage on all the weekend shows and the PPV ends.

Meltzer said there wasn’t anything particularly great about the show - but no one expected there to be. “No surprises. Nothing particularly bad in the ring (some would argue Jim Duggan winding up as U.S. champion in a 35 second match was awful, but at least it was short). Nothing particularly great. No particular great interest, and nobody expected that there would be. This was the odd-man out PPV show, the show Hulk Hogan had to miss since is contract called for three PPV shows for the remainder of 1994 and for storyline purposes, Ric Flair was kept off the show as well. The attempt was to use one of Dusty Rhodes' best gimmick ideas ever in WarGames, and use Rhodes as the focal point, to carry the show since the main event everyone was waiting for wouldn't take place until Halloween Havoc.”

Observer readers mostly disliked the show, with 27.6-percent giving it thumbs up, 51-percent going with thumbs down, and 21.4-percent in the middle. The worst match was overwhelmingly Steve Austin vs. Jim Duggan. 

What did you think of Fall Brawl 94?

Now let’s let our fans ask the questions.

Nicholas asks...During this period of time Eric did you ever have any thoughts of leaving WCW because of the poor state the company was in? Did you have any other job opportunities available that you might have taken if things hadn't changed?

Wrestling Meme Hotline asks...Who would you book in a modern day Stud Stable? #AskEric

Andrew was in attendance and wanted to know...Did the Loser Leaves Town match end as planned? I ask because it was why I bought my ticket and Sullivan got the win opposite of me. I couldn’t see it live or on the screen. I was pissed! Lol

Mikey Messier asked...how close was Steve Austin to being booked in an angle against Hogan ...or was that never really going to happen no matter what Austin did (of if he stayed injury free)?

TJ asked...Did you enjoy the War Games match as a concept?  What were some of the production issues you’d have to overcome with an additional ring that is also covered by a cage? #AskEric

TJ also asked...As you’re watching Cactus and Kevin Sullivan, and you’re seeing the bumps Mick is taking, what is going through your mind backstage?

#AskEric

Ben asks...Nick Bockwinkel played the role of WCW commissioner in the mid 90s. Who lobbied for him to have that role and why did he leave? #AskEric

The Rosencoaster asks...Where did you see Ricky Steamboat’s trajectory in 1994 had he not gone down with the injury? #AskEric

Bran wants to know...How did pretty wonderful get along with each other outside the ring? #AskEric; How was Paul Roma to deal with during his WCW days? Was he hard to deal with? #AskEric

Dave asks...#AskEric who thought it would be a good idea to turn Ray Traylor into Dom Deluise for this show?

Jason asks….What was the reaction backstage to Parker shitting his pants while Dusty had him in the figure four? #AskEric

Moose says...Eric, what do you think about 2020 Bunkhouse Buck aka Mance Warner? #AskEric

Luke asks...Looking back on that War Games and all the talent involved, do you feel it should have been done differently? Less kid friendly perhaps?