January

[managermike99]

January 1993
Roster

Faces

Jerry Lynn

Baron von Raschke

Vendetta
Ben Bassarab
Bob Orton Jr
Mike Lozansky

Lightning Kid
Harley Tragger
Archangel

Shark Bait
Brad Rheinghans (New)
Ross Greenburg (New)


Heels
Rogue
Manny Silva
Dirty White Boy
Dirty Barry Horowitz
Brett Como
Kid Gallahad
Sebastien Rikard
Lenny Thompson
Alleycat Anderson
Vlad Petrov (New)
Ken Kendall (New)

Ladies
April Cummings
Beverlee Hills
Dottie Bittle

[managermike99]

River City Wrestling #511
(in conjunction with the South African Wrestling Federation)
January 1, 1993
Sun City, South Africa

Opening Bout
Jerry Love defeated Harley Tragger by disqualification for outside interference at 4:17
The opening bout for the second straight year featured the veteran heel Jerry Love from the SAWF who last year defeated Troy Galveston of the RCW. This year he was cheating his way to victory by holding onto hair, tights the ropes, etc. This brought out Ben Bassarab to complain to the ref, and Bassarab ended up getting into a fight with Love. This caused the DQ, and then brought out Gama Singh from the SAWF, then out came Mike Lozansky from RCW...and suddenly both dressing rooms emptied. However, instead of it being good guys vs villains it was SAWF versus RCW. The brawl continued until cooler heads (Brad Rheinghans, Jim Brunzell, Baron von Raschke, Danie Voges, Danie Brits) managed to separate the two factions. 

Following this brawl the houselights came on for a short intermission. Following that the South African figurehead Dale Kuentz got on the mic and said that due to what just transpired, the police and security details have decided that the matchups for tonight will need to be shuffled. 

Bout #2
Jan & Michael Reimer defeated Dusty Wolfe & Mr. Wrestling by pinfall at 6:26
The young good guys were too much for the mismatched veteran villains. 

Bout #3
Mike Lozansky & Lightning Kid defeated Sebastien Rikard & Archangel by pinfall when Lozansky pinned Archangel at 9:40
[Lozansky & Kid retained the RCW Tag Team Titles]
The rematch was not going so well for the former champions so Rikard turned on his partner, kicking him in the back of the head and allowing the champs to get the win.

Bout #4
Michel Dubois defeated Chi Chi Cruz by pinfall at 5:13
What would have been a familiar face to RCW fans if they had access to watch this card, Chi Chi Cruz fell to the diabolical tricks of the veteran Dubois. After the bout though Cruz extracted his pound of flesh.

Bout #5
Brad Rheinghans & Jim Brunzell defeated Dirty White Boy & Dirty Barry Horowitz by pinfall when Rheinghans pinned Horowitz after the Olympic Suplex at 11:52
Best bout of the night so far with the first match in a while for Rheinghans and for Brunzell as well. Horowitz was, as could be expected, the weak link.

Bout #6
Mr. India defeated Gama Singh by pinfall after a powerslam at 8:08
The big man overcame the treachery and grappling ability with pure size and little skill to give the fans what they wanted to see.

Bout #7
Manny Silva defeated Ben Bassarab by pinfall after a wheelbarrow suplex at 10:52
Another great match from the RCW guys with both men getting busted wide open. 

Bout #8
Big Mike Zuma defeated Butch Masters by countout at 10:15
This very intense brawl ended with both men exchanging chair shots but Zuma being the only one who could beat the 10 count back into the ring.

Bout #9
Baron von Raschke defeated Rogue by submission to the clawhold at 6:36
[Baron von Raschke retained the RCW Heritage Title]
Rogue dominated the match but it only took Raschke about a minute of dominance to get his finisher on and get Rogue to cry uncle.

Bout #10
Danie Voges & Danie Brits defeated Steve Wright, Carrion, & Adze by pinfall in a handi-cap match at 17:02
The two Danie's who are also the two biggest stars in South African wrestling teamed up against the veteran Wright and his two monsters in a handi-cap match. The monsters would do the damage and then Wright would come in and try and stretch them for a submission. However the two Danie's were just too much for the gutless Wright and without him leading the charge the other two were easy pickings.

Bout #11
Big Mike Zuma won a 20-man battle royale by last eliminating Mr. India at 21:40
other participants were Butch Masters, Gama Singh, Brad Rheinghans, Michel Dubois, Chi Chi Cruz, Jan Reimer, Michael Reimer, Dusty Wolfe, Mr. Wrestling, Jerry Love, Harley Tragger, Greg Bragg, Carrion, Adze, Black Spider, The Great Krank, Tarzan Jacobs, Mr. Big

Bout #12
Shaun Koen defeated Hercules Ayala by pinfall after a spinning DDT at 12:24
[Koen retained the All-African Heavyweight Title]
The smaller Koen won the David vs Goliath battle with speed and skill. However, immediately after the victory Blackjack Mulligan hit the ring and attacked Koen, busting him open with a boot spur. The two Danie's made the save.

Main Event
Jerry Lynn defeated Linley Tolbert by disqualification for using a foreign object (brass knuckles) at 15:11
[Jerry Lynn retained the RCW Heavyweight Title]
Tolbert is an impressive, young, up and coming performer who's cockiness and style reminds many of a young Nick Bockwinkel or Ric Flair. Physically he also resembles Magnum T.A. He and Lynn battled back and forth in and out of the ring. The bout was a total saw off, in fact as the match progressed it seemed that Tolbert's size advantage was wearing down Lynn. However, Tolbert grew frustrated with Lynn's ability to kick out of pins and tried to take a short cut with a pair of brass knux but was caught and disqualified. Following the bout he tried to hit Lynn again but Lynn blocked it, and tried to nail Tolbert with a cradle piledriver but he squirmed out of it. The South African star slid out of the ring and the two just stared at each other.


Breaking kayfabe;
For the second straight year the RCW rewarded its guys with the tax break of a working vacation away from the snow and cold of the mid-west with a trip to South Africa. Unlike last year's sense of sportsmanship and goodwill, this year the two dressing rooms were filled with tension. There was some altercations at the big joint New Year's Eve party the night before which was held at the mansion of owner Dale Kuentz. Some say it was a fight between Manny Silva and Big Mike Zuma that then dragged in other people; others said it was Ben Bassarab hooking up with Dale Kuent's daughter Selita; while others said it was the RCW guys bragging about their payouts for the card (that one seems hard to believe). 
It was determined the next day between Kuentz and Brunzell that it would be unwise to have the type of card that was held last year which saw a mix of the two companies in many of the matches. So the announced card would have to be scrapped and a new one pieced together. The storyline was then set with the opening brawl to explain the changes to the card. Jerry Love and Harley Tragger was deemed to be a safe first match because Tragger has worked in South Africa before and was trusted by Love and the other Africans. Likewise there was enough mutual respect for Lynn and Tolbert (especially Lynn) to keep the main event together. Many of the other bouts were scrapped and reconfigured. However, a 20 man battle royale had been promised, originally with 10 South Africans and 10 RCW wrestlers. Instead the RCW men were all replaced except for Tragger and Brad Rheinghans who were trusted. Tarzan Jacobs was a retired South African wrestler and bodybuilder (huge dude) who was there as a VIP guest, but was then pressed into service for the battle royale. Mr. Big was an unknown, obese, stagehand who was also pressed into service and was thrown out of the ring first (in about 30 seconds). Black Spider and the Great Crank were likewise local second tier wrestlers who had originally showed up as fans but were pressed into service under masks. I'm not really sure why I came up with this story but my notes were pretty clear that something had happened along these lines and I have had to surmise and fill in the blanks with some details.

[managermike99]

River City Wrestling #512
January 16, 1993
Winnipeg, Manitoba

1992 Annual Awards Edition
Wrestler of the Year:  Baron von Raschke

Tag Team of the Year:  Bob Orton Jr & Mike Lozansky

Manager/Valet of the Year:  Nick Bockwinkel

Feud of the Year:  Vendetta vs Rogue

Match of the Year:  Feb 29: Jerry Lynn drew Ben Bassarab

Opening Bout
Brad Rheingans defeated Dirty Barry Horowitz by pinfall after an Olympic Suplex (Bridging Cradle Suplex) at 5:33
-Rheingans return to the RCW goes over well with the fans and he had very little problem with Horowitz

Bout #2
Harley Tragger defeated Ken Kendall by pinfall after a powerbomb at 4:20
-another short match. Kendall's premiere in RCW, he is a curtain jerker from other territories

Bout #3
Rogue defeated Ross Greenburg by pinfall after an inverted DDT at 2:11
-yet another squash match. Greenburgh is another curtain jerker making his unremarkable debut in an RCW ring. 
After the bout Rogue "called out" Vendetta, but when the Haitian legend came down to the ring Rogue made like the wind.

Bout #4
Lenny Thompson and Shark Bait battled to a no-contest at 2:49
-this match was barely underway when Brett Como & Kid Gallahad came down to the ring and attacked Thompson. One can only presume that it was for tarnishing their match at the anniversary show when Thompson turned on his partner Shark Bait, setting up this blow off match. However, the beanpole Thompson absorbed some punishment and then landed some big boots to both Como and Gallahad, knocking them out of the ring, and sending them scrambling. The crowd wasn't sure how to react to this as the villain was trashing other villains, but they cheered Thompson. However, when Sebastien Rikard came down early for his next match and intercepted Thompson in the walkway, the cheers turned to jeers as the two men exchanged greetings, and Rikard offered a handshake to Thompson which was accepted.

Bout #5
Sebastien Rikard defeated Archangel by pinfall after outside interference at 9:47
-former partners who after losing the titles at the anniversary show had a showdown and a pushing match causing this match to happen. Archangel seemed to hold more of the match advantage, but Rikard was biding his time until a ref bump, and then Lenny Thompson came down and devastated Archangel with a running clothesline from behind and then a powerbomb. Rikard woke up the ref and made the pin.

Bout #6
Nick Bockwinkel & Vlad Petrov defeated Ben Bassarab & Bob Orton Jr by pinfall when Bassarab submitted to the Bockwinkel sleeper at 10:52
-originally this match was announced as Bockwinkel and Soultaker. However, Soultaker has left the territory but the Bockwinkel Talent Agency never sleeps so he went out and found a massive (6'3 285 lb) barrel chested Russian as a replacement. Between Bockwinkel's experience and cheating and Petrov's power they battled back and forth with Bassarab and Orton. Orton seemed winded during much of the match and was as close to a weak link as there was in this match. However the match finale came when Petrov made the blind tag and came off the second buckle with a thundering Russian Sickle (flying clothesline). He then tagged out to Bockwinkel who put the sleeperhold on an already knocked out Bassarab, while Petrov knocked Orton off the ring apron with another massive clothesline. Bassarab's arm was raised three times, and it fell three times to end the match.

Bout #7
RCW Heritage Title Match
Baron von Raschke defeated Alleycat Anderson by submission to the clawhold at 5:13
[Baron von Raschke retained the RCW Heritage Title]
-Anderson had done nothing to deserve a title shot and was overwhelmed by the big veteran. In fact Anderson tried to leave the premises, throwing up his hands in loss and walking out. However Raschke got a huge ovation from the crowd when he chased the challenger down, applied the clawhold, and used it to walk him back to the ring. Back inside the ring he reapplied the hold and got the submission.

Bout #8
RCW Heavyweight Title Match
Jerry Lynn defeated Dirty White Boy by pinfall after a cradle piledriver at 8:57
[Jerry Lynn retained the RCW Heavyweight Title]
-Nice clean win for the champion's first defence in this rematch of his title win at the anniversary show, also showing off his new finishing move. 

Main Event
CAGE MATCH 
Manny Silva defeated Vendetta by pinfall after a bulldog at 12:41
This has to be seen as a bit of an upset. The Haitian Warrior Vendetta started strong and basically beat Silva from pillar to post, and opened up his head by raking it across the cage wall. When Silva did get in some offence it seemed like the adrenaline running through Vendetta allowed him to shake it off. However, finally at around the 7 minute mark he made a mistake coming off the side cage wall with a flying crossbody block that Mad Dog countered into a powerslam. Silva then took over the match choking Vendetta first with his boot then with the ring ropes, then with his bare hands using turnbuckle elevation for leverage. Silva then nailed Vendetta with a pileriver for a 1 count, another piledriver for a 2 count..then a wheelbarrow suplex, for the 1, 2, Kickout! Frustrated Silva threw Vendetta chest first into the buckle, and then tried to follow up on the rebound with a belly to back suplex, but Vendetta countered by spinning around and nailing a DDT. Both men were down but Vendetta got up first at the count of 8. Then Rogue came down to ringside. At first Vendetta didn't notice him and he punished Silva with some stomps, then whipped him into the ropes...and lost his concentration as he now saw Rogue who was hanging half way up the sidewall on the outside of the cage..which caused Silva to collide viciously with Vendetta and both men went down. This time Silva was up first at the count of 6. Rogue grabbed a steel chair and held it against the cage wall while standing on a table he set up, and Silva threw Vendetta head first into the cage wall which now had less give as the pressure on the chair held it in place. Rogue went flying off the table from the impact and Vendetta looked done and was now also busted open. Silva nailed a bulldog to put the punctuation mark on it, and covered him for the 1, 2, 3 !!

[managermike99]

River City Wrestling #513

January 30, 1993

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Opening Bout
Brad Rheingans defeated Alleycat Anderson by pinfall after an Olympic suplex at 6:03
-Second straight glorified squash match for Rheingans

Bout #2
North American Women's Title Match
April Cummings and Beverlee Hills battled to a double countout at 8:46
[April Cummings retained the North American Women's Title]
-The villain champ Cummings controlled early, Hills took over later, and then they made sure they would get another go at it by taking the action outside in a hair pulling, nail raking affair. And that rematch we find out is the next show in two weeks which will be another all women's "Heartbreakers" show.

Bout #3
Lenny Thompson & Sebastien Rikard defeated Archangel & Shark Bait by pinfall when Rikard pinned Shark Bait after a facedriver at 9:40
-Shark Bait was the weak link here. This match firmly set up Thompson & Rikard as a top tag team, and also set up Archangel now as a fan favourite.

Bout #4
Ben Bassarab defeated Nick Bockwinkel by countout at 7:58
-Bockwinkel looked like a manager trying to wrestle. After trying some short cuts that did not succeed he finally decided to feign entering the ring at the 8 count, but instead just backing away and taking the countout loss. 

Bout #5

Vlad Petrov (/w Nick Bockwinkel) defeated Bob Orton Jr by pinfall after a Russian Sickle at 12:12

-Bockwinkel was a couple minutes late joining this match, and then Bassarab came out to confront him causing a 4 man brawl outside the ring. Up to that point the match had been controlled by the monstrous Petrov but this gave Orton a bit of comeback push. However, as Orton pounded away on the Russian he just kept coming back at the Cowboy. Finally Petrov began to again take apart the tired veteran. He seemed to toy with him for the final couple minutes, following Bockwinkel's instructions before finishing him off with the sickle. After the bout Orton lay motionless in the ring, and after being attended to by the ringside doctor he was removed carefully on a stretcher.

Pre-Match: It was announced that the tag team of Kid Gallahad & Brett Como who were supposed to get a tag team title shot tonight would not get that opportunity as Gallahad did not show up for the card. They would be replaced by Dirty White Boy & Dirty Barry Horowitz. Brett Como though came out to complain that he should have been allowed to pick another partner and he was being screwed out of a title bout. This brought out Baron von Raschke who was still very upset about what happened to Orton in the previous match. Raschke said he was supposed to have the night off but now he had some anger to get out so he told Como he would get his title shot tonight; at the Heritage title.

Bout #6

RCW Heritage Title Match

Baron von Raschke defeated Brett Como by submission to the clawhold at 4:20

[Baron von Raschke retained the RCW Heritage Title]

-Easy and fast title defense for the Baron as he dominated the smaller and less experienced foe.

Post-Match: As the Baron celebrated he was attacked by Vlad Petrov with Nick Bockwinkel watching on. Petrov nailed a running clothesline from behind, and then a Russian Sickle from the front. They left the Baron laying when Ben Bassarab and Jim Brunzell came out to make the save.

Bout #7

RCW Tag Team Title Match

Dirty White Boy & Dirty Barry Horowitz defeated Mike Lozansky & Lightning Kid by submission when Horowitz submitted Kid with the figure-four leglock at 10:35

[Dirty White Boy & Barry Horowitz won the RCW Tag Team Titles]

-It became obvious right away, although he was trying to hide it, there was something wrong with the leg of Lightning Kid which restricted his mobility and ability jump and put weight on it. This of course took away the diminutive champ's biggest advantage and Lozansky had to try and carry the load. The champs hung in there for a while but soon the veteran challengers figured it out and managed to isolate and damage Kid's leg further.

Main Event

Jerry Lynn & Vendetta defeated Rogue & Manny Silva by pinfall when Lynn pinned Rogue after a cradle piledriver at 15:09

-While Lynn and Vendetta started the match strong, Rogue and Silva took over and actually controlled most of the match. Lynn really took a beating and was isolated for a long stretch. He managed to reach out and grab the ropes after receiving an inverted DDT finisher from Rogue, and managed to get a shoulder up to beat the count after a wheelbarrow suplex finisher from Silva. After Vendetta got the hot tag the match swung in his favour but he was soon attacked by both opponents and the match spilled outside the ring. Rogue tried to nail Vendetta with a running kneesmash from the announce table but Vendetta moved out of the way and Rogue nailed Silva hard. This caused Silva to attack Rogue from behind before rolling him back inside the ring. Vendetta punished Rogue then tagged out to Lynn who needed some retribution and got it, nailing his finisher and picking up the win. Silva had already left the ring area by the time the pin was made.