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  • 4 weeks later...

Last few minutes. The returning Ric Flair is doing commentary with Tony and Jesse, but not saying as much. Not a good match. WIndham wins the NWA title. Anyone who thinks Flair would be a great color guy should watch this match to see why he wouldn't be. After the match, Flair straps the NWA title on Windham when he's not looking. Windham turns around surprised, then Flair struts away. Good stuff. I was always puzzled about why they didn't heavily promote Flair's return in the buildup. It probably would have helped the buyrate for an already loaded show that probably didn't do well, but really should have.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 1 year later...

One of the infamous Lazy Muto performance, up there with fucking up with Takada as far as Muto being an unprofessional prick just sending the match down the drain. It's infuriating because Muto could of course have a very good match with Windham, but there he's going long and doing the job, so he just doesn't show up. Windham try to Hansen his way into a good match by being really active on offense, but there's no way to get heat on Muto, who also does some comical face at awkward times. Then comes the finish, Muto just doesn't go with it (seriously, he took a great bump earlier on on a regular DDT, you know he could make Windham's Emplant DDT look like a killer) and gets up right away. I like Muto more than most, but this is an infamous terrible fuck you performance. Sad for Windham. The perspective of Flair vs Windham for the NWA title is kinda neat, although there's a feeling of unfrehsness about this to me, it's going back to past history instead of going forward. And year, Flair was not good on color.

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  • 9 months later...

Crowd seems quieter than previous matches. Flair on commentary but not adding much. Muta keeps going for moonsaults and missing. Barry wins with the elevated DDT. Muta didn’t sell that as good as other guys do. Windham finally wins the NWA Title and Flair puts the belt around Barry’s waist. Didn't look like much of a match and Barry deserved better with winning the title.

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  • 3 months later...

Flair is another in a long series of great talkers who didn't translate into great commentary. The closing stetch of this isn't great but it's a bit better than I remembered--my memories were of a terrific show absolutely slowed to a fucking crawl by the deadly combo of Muta and Maxx Payne. Cutting to the finish doesn't make it quite as bad. Muta hits the handspring, very slowly follows up with a backbreaker, then very slowly follows up with a moonsault attempt that misses. A second attempt hits the knees, and Windham implants him with the DDT for the NWA World title. Big heat for the staredown with Windham and Flair afterward--Ric shoots Windham a great, subtle grin and struts away.

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  • 1 year later...

Has anyone ever been DQ'd for using the toe of the boot? Flair on commentary and it really doesn't add much like you'd expect. Handspring elbow and backbreaker but Muta misses the moonsault. Windham gets his knees up on another moonsault attempt and follows with the DDT to win NWA Title. Flair in the ring presenting the belt to Windham to set up their run.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 6 months later...
  • 1 month later...

This was a match that I always had high hopes for, as both can be great workers when they want to be. This match though, was not very good. I'd say it's pretty average, as it is worked at a deliberate pace and Windham is just having a hard time trying to get heat. Muta keeps him in a headlock for what seems like half the match. The finish picks up quite a bit, with Muta twice attempting the moonsault, and missing the first time and hitting Windham's knees the second time. Windham then hits the implant DDT and wins the belt. Flair then comes in the ring and straps the belt on Windham, thus foreshadowing their upcoming feud. Flair had just returned from his stint in WWE and was doing commentary for the match, and wasn't good at it for the record. **1/2

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  • 1 month later...

Disappointing match, and it really brought down what was an otherwise very good show. I haven't watched this match in a few years, but I remember thinking Windham was dogging it in this match too. Was this purely Muta bringing it down?

 

Hard to say, but Muto never really seemed inspired working in the US after his 1989 run.

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  • 6 months later...

If I was made to look as dumb as Muta did here, with my finisher missing not once but twice, I'd tell WCW to go screw itself too. Muta didn't need the U.S. by now; he was big enough in New Japan to stay there for good. I liked Jesse covering for Muta's apparent laziness by talking about his long trip from Japan.

 

Barry looked decent, but the NWA belt simply wasn't a big deal in WCW anymore. I get that they probably wanted to make it worth something again, so that's why they sent Flair after it, but they probably should have just had a unification match between Muta and the Vader-Sting winner, then let Flair go after the WCW title instead (which, of course, they eventually did).

 

Flair did all right on commentary from what little I heard, but they didn't need him and Jesse in the same booth. Use Flair and either give Jesse the match off or send him over to the Hotline to call it with Gordon and Lance.

 

Tony doesn't call Barry's DDT the Implant (which is a cool name, by the way). Did Barry himself call it that or did JR invent the name? If it's the latter, that would explain why Tony didn't use it.

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  • 1 month later...

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Great Muta vs Barry Windham - WCW SuperBrawl III

 

Boring as all hell! I have been curious about this match for years, but yeah this was a snoozefest. Didn't help that it was basically heel vs heel. I didn't mind the Muta headlock stuff early thought it was a fine start and they worked in and out of it well. However, once Muta missed a dropkick and Windham hit a DDT, the match never got out of first ear. There was no struggle and no urgency. Muta was worse than Windham, but it didn't look like Barry gave much of a fuck either. Some nice isolated spots, but pretty ho-hum and pedestrian. The finish run was not bad with Muta waking up to hit his back handspring elbow and miss a couple moonsaults before eating DDT. Very disappointing.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1993-02-21-WCW-Superbrawl III] Great Muta vs Barry Windham

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