Welcome to the second post in this edition of UnWrest Focus as we take a look at the WarGames matches available on WWE Network. This post will take us to another Great American Bash WarGames match. This is one year after the birth of the concept. While there have been multiple other WarGames matches at house shows (according to Wikipedia, at least), this is the third one that was televised or at least made available on WWE Network for us to watch 30 years later. Dusty Rhodes is still at war with The Four Horsemen here, but now, he's got a unique ally in former Horsemen Lex Luger. So, this will be definitely a new wrinkle on the match itself.
Let's do this!
7/16/1988
WarGames Match
The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, and JJ Dillon) vs. Dusty's Team (Dusty Rhodes, Lex Luger, Paul Ellering, Dr. Death Steve Williams, and Nikita Koloff)
The Horsemen decide that Arn Anderson will start the match for their team. Meanwhile, Dusty Rhodes is going to once again start this off for his team. (WWE reminds us that this match was recorded without Television Announcer Commentary. That's fine. That's what I'm here for. :) One day, maybe I'll do an audio track for this.) Arn tells the fans that they're "Number 1" if you get what I mean.
The bell rings. The first 5 minute period is underway. arn tells Dusty to come into his ring. He attacks Dusty as soon as he gets into the ring, but Dusty fires back with shots of his own. The crowd is absolutely nuts for this already. Arn plays mind games with Dusty by going into another ring and asking Dusty to follow him. Dusty is again attacked when he gets in the ring. Dusty catches Arn trying a sunset flip and nails him with some punches. Arn gets caught with a DDT. Tony tells us 3 minutes are left as ARN MEETS THE UNFORGIVING STEEL FACE FIRST! Dusty rams Arn's face into the cage as Arn already dons "The Crimson Mask." Kick to the back of Dusty's leg gets Arn a break. He continues to go to work on Dusty's leg. Stomps now to The American Dream. Dusty rolls into the other ring. Dusty is now bleeding as well. That escalated quickly. Arn punches Dusty and goes on the attack. But Dusty fires back. 1 minute left as Arn gets Dusty on the mat. But Dusty catches him with a big lariat as he comes off the ropes. FIGURE FOUR TO ARN! Dusty lets go as time expires.
The coin toss is going on outside. THE HORSEMEN WIN! (Imagine that: The heels get the win in the coin toss.)
Barry Windham comes in and gets assaulted by Dusty. Dusty throws him into the other ring to separate him from Arn and corners him. Dusty now attacks both Windham and Arn with a multitude for punches and elbows. The crowd is making noises for every attack Dusty makes as the heels fall to the ground. (This never gets old.) Arn catches Dusty as he attacks Windham with a kick to the back of the leg. Arn and Barry continue to attack Dusty. THE CLAW is on DUSTY now. (Windham has his family's trademark black glove on his right hand as he applies The Claw. The Claw, a move that makes me think of Liar Liar.) He continues to apply the hold for a long time on a laying Dusty as Arn lays in the boots. Time expires....
AND HERE COMES DR. DEATH STEVE WILLIAMS! Williams explodes with attacks on both men. A double team throw into the corner is met with a double clothesline to a THUNDEROUS POP from the crowd. Dr. Death uses his football attacks to send Arn and Barry flying back down to the mat. Dusty and Barry are going at it while Dr. Death works on Arn. All four men are paired off in the same ring. Arn tries to introduce Dr. Death to the cage, but Williams doesn't want that date. Arn gets flung into the cage instead. Arn finally gets Williams down and gets a knee drop in.
HERE COMES RIC FLAIR!!! Flair goes after Williams with chops, but Williams no sells it! Flair backs up in fear. He suckers him into the corner. More strikes and chops do nothing, but A LOW BLOW ALWAYS GETS THE JOB DONE! Williams is down. Flair introduces Williams to the cage. It looks like Dr. Death is bleeding. Yep, he is. Arn and Flair now team up on Williams. DDT by Arn. While that's going on, Barry works on Dusty. Flair comes in to help and mocks Luger who can only watch outside the cage....
UNTIL LUGER OFFICIALLY COMES IN THE MATCH! He goes right for Windham. Then he double clotheslines Windham and Flair to another thunderous pop from the crowd. BIG POWERSLAM by Luger on Flair and another to Windham. THE HUMAN TORTURE RACK IS ON FLAIR, but Windham gets Luger with a low blow. Double attack by The Horsemen now on Luger. Luger hulks up! Windham goes to the other ring to help out Arn, but Flair is left alone with Luger who refuses to go face to face with the cage. Dusty is firing off on Windham. Luger is now assaulting Flair with the punches in the corner. Flair gets thrown into the cage, screaming in pain as he comes back down on the mat. Arn gets clotheslined. Punches are unloaded on Arn. The count is on...
And here comes Tully Blanchard! Tully throws Dr. Death into the cage. There's a STEEL CHAIR IN THE CAGE. He whacks Luger over the back with the chair. More chair shots by Blanchard. He uses the chair to choke Luger. Luger kicks him off, and Blanchard smartly slides the chair underneath the cage back out to the floor. Apparently, the chair got slid in by The Horsemen (probably Dillon), and they used it to get the advantage. Smart heel tactic here. The Horsemen continue the assault on Dusty's team. Dusty gets an elbow in on Windham. Dr. Death is brawling with Tully. Meanwhile, Arn and Flair are doubling up on Luger. DDT on Luger by Arn. All of these guys are either busted open or selling the pain and exhaustion from a match like this. Then here comes the fresh new man....
NIKITA KOLOFF!!!! Flair and Windham go after Nikita who attacks all the Horsemen he can find. Dusty works on Tully in the other ring. FIGURE FOUR by Koloff on Flair! Dusty Elbows Tully. Powerslam by Dr. Death on Arn. Luger is keeping Windham away from helping Flair get out of the hold. It looks like Flair raked the eyes of Koloff. Flair tries to throw Koloff into the cage, but Koloff blocks it. Flair begs off. Tony: "1... Little bit more than 1." Lol. Koloff unloads with punches in the corner on Flair. Arn comes in to help Flair. So much carnage going on in this match. Arn and Tully double-team Dr. Death.
Here comes JJ Dillon. Dillon and Windham double clothesline Luger. Tully just fell to the mat for some reason. So much going on that TV can't capture it all without a split screen. Dusty double strikes Arn and Flair sending both to the mat. Koloff is working on JJ in the corner. 10 punches for the manager. Flair is getting raked into the cage by Dr. Death. Dr. Death continues the attack. Dusty makes Tully and JJ meet face to face. Dusty walks by as we see Flair get the upperhand on Dr. Death. But Dr. Death is going after Flair as he begs off again. It looks like Arn has a Figure Four on Luger...
As Paul Ellering enters the cage. All the combatants are in. LET THE WAR GAMES BEGIN! SURVIVAL OR SURRENDER! Dr. Death is choking the life out of JJ in the corner as Windham comes in to save him. Windham sends Luger and Dr. Death's heads into a collision. Dillon and Ellering are going at it in the other ring seperately. Dillon misses a dropkick. Atomic Drop to Dillon. Figure Four by Dusty. You can hear Dillon scream "I GIVE. I SURRENDER!" The bell rings! Huge pop from the crowd!
Winners: Dusty's Team
Match Grade: A+. This was absolutely tremendous here. You can tell they had started to work out the problems from the earlier War Games matches, especially the second one, and had found a winning formula. There were hardly any rests during this match as something was always going on in the cage. The TV coverage is still problematic as you can only focus on a limited number of things. While WWE tends to isolate things that happen in its match to allow for the camera focus, you can tell this was done for the house with no rest periods for athletes to lay low while a spot is being highlighted. It's truly the type of match you need to see live to appreciate. Anyways, this was the best WarGames match of these first three.
WarGames Ranked (Thus Far)
1. WarGames 1988- Horsemen vs. Dusty's Team
2. WarGames I (1987)- The Four Horsemen vs. The Dream Team
3. WarGames II (1987)- The Four Horsemen vs. The Superpowers
Next time, we'll be looking at the 1989 WarGames which featured tag teams teaming up into teams to fight another team of tag teams teaming up. Sounds confusing? That's how I felt when I saw the description.
Until then, take care of yourselves. Spread some awesomeness.
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