The View Never Changes, but WarGames Sure Does
This match has a reputation for being "the last great classic WarGames." Classic in this case, of course, referring more to the lineage of the match as opposed to any indicator of quality. As far as the traditional WarGames as first conceived by Dusty Rhodes and utilized under the JCP promotional banner and into the WCW era, this might be the final stand for the stipulation.
That reputation is bolstered by all the Rhodes drama surrounding it as well. As far as a last stand for WarGames goes, it's no small thing that Dusty Rhodes plays a pivotal role in the build and match. Perhaps most importantly to pro wrestling history, it's through this feud that Dusty Rhodes reminds us that the view never changes for walk behinders while making a sincere, touching apology to his son for years of neglect. It's a promo so great WCW utilizes it as a hype package all on its own to promote Dustin and Dusty tagging together at Clash of the Champions XXVIII.
It's an all-time great moment, filled with the special, true emotion that only pro wrestling ever seems to access in this unique way. Through this promo, Dusty Rhodes promises to compensate for years of neglect with partnership and familial camaraderie against a common enemy: Col. Parker's Stud Stable and the traitorous Arn Anderson.
And that's about where we start to run into some problems.
When Dusty tells us in his promo that Bunkhouse Buck and Col. Parker are "nothing more than chicken feeds," he's sort of telling on himself here. The heel lineup here lacks some serious credibility and firepower in a way that really damages the emotional stakes that the father/son drama aspires to. And on that front, WCW shoots themselves in the foot a bit as well. Throughout the build, Meng has been established as the most dangerous member of the Stud Stable, and yet the WCW office--both in kayfabe and out--remove him from the match so that Col. Parker is forced to go in to get his comeuppance instead. The function of this move is clear, it's a karmic evening of the playing field that eliminates the barriers Parker has put in front of himself. But when a big part of the build is Dusty Rhodes breaking a wooden chair over Meng's head and the latter no selling it completely, one can't help but feel a little robbed of a potential pay off here.
As much as there is to love about Terry Funk too, his energies throughout this feud and match feel woefully misused. The Funker we get in this rivalry has a lot more in common with the neutered stooge of the mid-80s WWF than the righteous wildman of 89 or even the burgeoning hardcore legend that he's creating contemporaneously with this middle of the road TV run. Funk might still be charismatic and unpredictable in his motions, but paired together with Buck, what we get is a team that's heavy on the stooging and low on the threat. They're little more than cartoon goons for the babyfaces to run through with only Arn Anderson and the numbers advantage really giving much for the heroes to push up against.
What results from these myriad issues is a WarGames match that's still functional but heavily handicapped.
On the surface, it has all the classic hallmarks of WarGames. Dustin and Arn kicking off the action is a wise choice as the central conflict that really drove the feud forward, and also perhaps the two performers best equipped to make the most of the full runtime of the match. They even gift us a few notable uses of the setting with my favorite being Dustin driving Arn into the gap between the rings like a jackhammer. Just awesome WarGames-style bullshit that helps make the stipulation feel bigger than itself.
The heels obviously get the advantage, and the babyfaces make their big comebacks each time. To this point, The Nasty Boys impressed far more than expected with these big bursts of action once they come in. There's genuine pops for their big slams and I especially love Jerry Sags here with great moments like powerslamming Buck right into the cage wall or piledriving Funk into the gap between the two rings. And Dusty? My god! When he's throwing those elbows around, those BOOMS feel a lot closer to the peak 80s moments of this match up as compared to the now dwindling steam of a company yet to find the identity that will carry it through the mid 90s and into its demise.
There's a lot going on here, but the biggest issues come from the lack of stakes here.
When the greatest conflict on offer is between a veteran legend and his own abilities as a father, there's little left to display in the ring itself. As mentioned earlier, the most menacing part of the Stud Stable doesn't even get to join this match, and what's left is clearly a midcard act that doesn't offer much in the way of danger to our heroes. Funk and Buck bumble into each other as is the way of their tag team act, Col. Parker's entire point in the match is to be impotent and useless (to the extreme of selling his hand when trying to punch Dustin, a wonderful touch), and Arn's left trying to lay the hurting on but not quite getting far on that front either. Hell, even with Arn trying to harken back to the arm work that signaled his turn on Dustin at Bash at the Beach, that's an offensive thread that essentially disappears by match end.
And then there's the fact that the match is entirely bloodless. That can't help but stand out against the history of this match stipulation (Sting's Squadron vs. Dangerous Alliance was just two years before this!), and one can't help but see all the missed opportunities. So much great bumping and ramming into the cage without any visual marker to note it. Even Col. Parker, the designated patsy of the match, enters in a full white suit and leaves with nothing staining it but nervous sweat. Shameful.
Perhaps worst of all is that Dustin himself ends up taking a back seat in this. His initial stretch against Arn is great and it's fun seeing him just swing a leather belt around to lash at the heels, but once his dad enters the cage, the elder Dusty absorbs the entirety of the spotlight and catharsis. Hell, even that's not even quite right. Somehow, Dusty's able to share that spotlight...with the Nasties! When Dusty gets Col. Parker in the deciding Figure Four, it's the Nasty Boys wailing on the man on the ground while Dustin holds off the numbers out of sight of the cameras. Weird choice, given it was Dustin's fight to begin with.
Oh well.
It's really not bad at all as far as WarGames matches go. Still, it feels stripped bare to all its most superficial elements--the pop for each babyface, the heels taking control--without any of the spirit and fire that made it so rich in years prior. Got to wait on Cage of Death or NWA Anarchy to get back to all that.
Rating: ***1/2