From: cg@cbnewsf.cb.att.com (charles.gavinelli)
Subject: Match Report: WWF House Show from Phoenix, 12/10/92
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 21:50:38 GMT

	As I mentioned, I was away on buisness from 
12/08/92-12/12/92. I was in Phoenix and I caught the 12/11/92
WWF show at the America West Arena. I went alone which
was kind of boring, but better than being in my hotel...
Here goes!

	I arrived an hour early. I had a Mazda Miada for
the week, so I wanted to park it amongst other sportscars
so it would not stand out. I saw cars with Illinois and
Colorado license plates and I thought that they may be
wrestler's cars. I looked in and found no distinguishing items
(i.e: no discarded steroid syringes, etc...). At first, I was
afraid to look in - I half expected Mel Phillips being in one
of the cars giving a new definition to "carjacking".

	I approached the ticket booth which was located in
front of this huge pillar. Then the pillar started moving
foward and I realized that it wasn't a pillar but some fat
lady. I figured that I'd better get in front of her because
if there were only three seats left, she'd buy them all up. I think
that the WWF should hire her to help paper the house at TV tapings.

	Even though I bought a middle-of-the-road ticket, I managed to
get about 30 feet from ringside.

1) "Tom Boric/Paul Diamond/Kato/Rocketeer/Max Moon" vs. "Barry 'Smash' Repo Man"

The first thing I noticed was that there were about 3999 people cheering
for the face and one cheering for the heel. I had never witnessed this
ratio in New York. There were more marks there than on Ivan Koloff's
forehead. I yelled "Smash him Repo"..."Kick his stinkin' teeth in,
wooaaahhhh!!" (yeah, I was the 'one'...). You then here stuff like "[grumble grumble] 
Smash...  [grumble grumble] Demolition...". Thus far, I've avoided talking about
any wrestling because there wasn't any. I've seen Somolians who could
work better that Repo - the human intermission. This was worthy of a 
"Boring, Boring" (or "Boric, Boric") chant. Moon ended the misery with
a reverse flying body press out of the corner. By the way, "Max Moon"
would have been a better name for the "Yokozuna" character when one considers
his sumo garb...

Rating: DUD

2. Sean Michaels vs. Janetty for the IC Belt

They go at it before the bell rings. Sean takes a killer bump to the
floor and he "can't recover". Janetty is in the ring trying to get heat
as Michaels is escorted to the back. 

Rating: No Match

3. Papa Shango vs. Bob Backlund

Shango cames in with the skull shaped ash tray and Backlund comes
in with no music. Dice Clay would have gotten a better response at a 
NOW rallay compared to the reaction for Backlund. I'm now convinced 
that Vince will need lots of canned heat to get Backlund over. Opened 
with the "Backlund is agile" spot where Shango charges Bob and Bob 
moves out of the way and starts to hop on the balls of his feet.
Now I remember why I was so thrilled the night my brother came home
from MSG in New York and told me that the Iron Sheik had beaten Backlund.
Bob tried to get heat by playing "hurt" and making comebacks. This was 
a bad match. I felt like buying Backlund a hammer and nails and telling
him to go back to his day job. Ending was Shango missing a splash in the
corner and Backlund wrapping him up with the schoolboy...


Rating: 1/2*

{So far, I would have been better off sitting in the hotel room watching CNN
Headline News...}

4. The Headsphincters vs. Typhatt and Girthquake, The Naturally Fatsters

Girthquake really moves well for a fat pig. He took some impressive
bumps for a guy his size. He took a bump where he was left leaning 
against the ropes - he looked like the Hindenburg - "oh the humanity"!
They did the ol' Pat Patterson Penis Pileup: Headshrinker #1 whipped into
corner, Headshrinker #2 whipped into same corner, the Girthster whips
Typhatt into the two of them and Typhatt comes in to complete the
penil linked list. Typhatt did the job when one of the Shrinkers
connected with his hair follicles on a top rope head butt.

Rating: * (Because of Earthquake Tenta)

2. (Yeah, I know "5" comes after "4", but they 'demanded' that
    Michaels restart his match with Janetty).

Great action from the get-go. Bumps galore and few restholds for the first
five minutes. Michaels is great! The action was so fast, it was impossible
to keep up and write it all down. Their rest spot was one where Sean had
Marty in a leverage hold and when the ref turned his back, Sean would
grab the rope for more leverage. When Sherri returns (presumably as a
face manager for Marty) a great comedy spot would be to have Sherri
stand on the apron while the same leverage hold is being applied.
When Sean goes to grab the rope for leverage, he gets a handful of
cleverage. Sean, realizing that a top rope is not made of meat, turns
around and gets slapped by Sherri. {we now return to the regularly scheduled
match report}. Sean pulls off a F.F.F.F. - A Face First Flair Flop. A
beauty! Janetty had a number of two counts. I yell "Hey Marty - do any
window shopping lately?" Finish: Marty comes into the corner knee first, 
Sean moves and Marty injures his knee. Sean rolls him up for the three.
The best live match I've seen since Flair vs Steamboat in New Jersey in the
early 1980's.

Rating: ****

[Second Intermisson: First one was the first match]

5. $$ Incorporated vs Nasties for the Tag Straps

I remember reading a match report from Boston (?) where they did a 
spot in a match where the Nasties pin $$ Inc, they ring the bell and
are awarded the belts. The ref then reverses his decision (illegal Nasty
in ring) and the match restarts. So I yell out the following when the match
is one minute old and there is a break of silence in the crowd:

"NO! Don't do it! Not again! Don't have that phony ending where the Nasty
Boys win the belt and the match is restarted - don't do it!!!"

Two minutes later, the Nasties pin $$ Inc. The crowd pops and the match is
restarted. At the next quiet moment I yell "I told you, don't do it". That
got a big reaction around me.

This was an OK match. There was nothing that really stood out wrestling-
wise. My notes here are sketchy. I remember DiBiase being a bump machine.
$ Inc won by DQ. The ring announcer then informed the crowd that $ Inc
are still champions and the Nasties act pissed off as if they didn't know
that the belt changes hands on submission or pinfall. How can the Nasties
act that way with a straight face?

Rating: **

6. Undertaker vs. Razor Ramon

A slight digression. One of my favorite movies of all time was "Scarface"
with Al Pacino. There is no doubt that Ramon is more a Scarface-based
character than anything else. If Scott Hall could play Razor Ramon like
Al Pacino played Tony Montana, the Razor character would have been one of
the best gimmicks in wrestling.

Undertaker and Bearer got a ton of heat. People were holding up foam
toombstones with "Undertaker" on them. If aliens were looking in from
outer space, they would have planned for an invasion of Earth. Again,
I wait for a quiet moment and interject some commentary:

"No, Not again! Please, change the script!! Don't have the Undertaker
pin Ramon with a throat slam! Don't do it!!" (I think this was also
the Boston ending).

Ramon is nailing the 'taker with everything and the 'taker keeps
coming back. The 'taker would be laid out after having a nuclear
bomb explode on his chest, Ramon would turn around and gloat and
the Undertaker would do his impersonation of an erection and sit
up. The crowd went *wild* when they saw this. I could not believe
it! The ending was the Undertaker catching Ramon off the ropes
and pinning him with a throat slam. (Two for two...). People
began looking at me right after the ending, so I left my seat
and went to the front for the Flair match. As I was leaving,
I told two guys in front of me "Last match - Hart pins Flair in
about 25 minutes"

Rating: *

7. Flair vs. Hart

I urge every wrestling fan to go out and see a WWF show with
Ric Flair on the card before the man decides to retire. He is
great in every facet of the wrestling buisness. Nobody works
a crowd like Flair. You can't get a feel of that watching on TV.
I ran up to the guard rail and gave the Four Horseman sign. He
saw it, raised his eyebrows and flashed back the Four Horseman
sign.

The match started slow - a good sign that this would go a while.
Like in Boston, he did the F.F.F.F. but not the over the turnbuckle
to the ring apron flop. Lots of WWOOOOooo's. He was perfect for the
mark crowd - getting tons of heat for Hart by begging off. At one point,
someone charged the ring and got to the apron trying to get to Flair.
Flair held him down with his shin and security got to the guy. Then some
fat hilbilly went nuts and security surrounded him. Flair later went
right to him and WOOOOOooood him in his face. The guy went wild and
pushed the guard rails away. Security made the save again. Lots of
two counts on Flair. When he'd be counted for two, he'd charge the
ref and give him serious lip for a fast count, getting right into
the ref's face. The F.F.F.F. that he did was classic. Hart was pounding
him. I knew it was coming up. He was too close to the corner, so he
staggers four steps back, takes one step foward, stops, hops and flops
face foward. When his face/arms hit the mat, his back feet were
3 feet in the air. Flair was on his way to school with the figure four, but
Hart detoured the school bus and rolled him up for the pin in 20-25
minutes. Ric Flair would never work well as a face. He is a God!


Rating: ***1/2


Overall, it was worth my while because of the two good matches and
the interaction of the heels with this overly mark-like crowd.



Charlie