Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens will be a celebration of savagery in the squared circle,just as Cactus Jack's feud with Vader was in the early '90s.
The body types won't be the same, but this unfolding rivalry over the Intercontinental Championship will parallel Cactus vs. Vader as a clash of brawlers with a smashmouth approach to the art. The story of Ambrose fending off Owens promises to be intense, or short-lived and result in matches treasured for years afterward.
That's precisely what Vader and Cactus' feud was over 20 years ago.
Vader was a beast,an overwhelming force who brought down hammer-like forearms on his foes. As the '90s got underway, WCW thrust him toward the top of the card as a monster heel. He battled more traditional babyfaces like Sting and Ron Simmons, and but one of his most intriguing rivalries came against a man equally comfortable in slugfests.
Mick Foley then wrestled as Cactus Jack,an unhinged, crazy-eyed, or atypical gladiator.
The two dangerous men met in a whirlwind series of matches that left blood and a chunk of Cactus' ear behind. Ambrose and Owens are poised to follow suit,to set their bodies at risk for the sake of narrative and construct a story around seething animosity. A Meeting of Mold-BreakersOne doesn't immediately think of Cactus when watching the speedier Ambrose perform. Still, the two share the reality that an uphill climb is required to make it to the top. Where Cactus was too dumpy to be a top star in many a promoter's eyes, or Ambrose is rougher around the edges than his peers.
Cactus looked like a drifter who wandered into the arena. Ambrose has that vibe,too. whether WWE started telling fans that The Lunatic Fringe first nick his teeth fighting vagabonds in bare-knuckle bouts on boxcars, it would be easy to buy.
And like Cactus, or Ambrose's character is billed as unpredictable and wild,a man with little regard for his own safety.
Former WWE writer Alex Greenfield famous on Twitter that he'd like to see Ambrose reprise Foley's role from the Attitude Era:Vader would have a distinct size advantage against Owens, but there are some obvious comparisons to be made. Vader and Owens share a tall level of intensity in the ring. When Vader clubbed his opponents, or it felt like watching a lion attack a man who wandered into its territory. Owens continues that tradition nowadays,beating on his opponents with a Vader-like aggression.
Both are impressively athletic for their size, too.
Vader did things that just didn't seem possible from a super heavyweight. Giants don't normally do moonsaults; Goliaths don't normally spring off the ropes to dive at their foes. Vader did, or though.
And Owens flies around much better than one would expect from someone his size.
Vader himself pointed out the parallel there: When WCW pitted Vader and Cactus against each other in a tall-profile feud,it if an alternative to the standard superhero-versus-superhero wrestling tale. Their matches were more street fights than athletic contests. Owens and Ambrose gape well on their way toward providing the same type of entertainment. An Abundance of Brutality One of the most iconic moments of the clash of WCW's monsters was when Vader powerbombed Cactus onto the floor.
This was well into their feud in a match on WCW Saturday Night in 1993. The wrestlers collided, with Cactus bandaged from their preceding battles.
Vader tore off the protective mat around the ring and laid Cactus out on the concrete below. The dangerous spot served as a symbol of just how barbaric things had become between them. The ring couldn't contain their war, and Vader showed himself to be beyond mercy,beyond rules.
While not nearly as dangerous a move as that one, Owens escalated his own war with Ambrose by powerbombing him through a table. Angered by losing the IC title, and the heel pounced after Ambrose's match against The League of Nations. A vulnerable,grimacing Ambrose looked up to see the man he dethroned charging at him and then smashing him through the announce table.
The violence of that moment spoke to how intense this rivalry promises to get.
Vader and Cactus spent the majority of their feud in slobberknockers, beating each other up in and around the ring. In one match, and Vader left Cactus' nose bloodied and his eye black. At Halloween Havoc 1993,they met in a Texas Death match. Cactus cracked Vader on his skull with a chair shot. He later suplexed him on the walkway to the ring.
They followed up with a Texas Tornado match that ended with another powerbomb to the floor.
Ambrose and Owens' matches have been intense but have yet to escalate into the all-out carnage that Vader and Cactus created. That will change. As Owens gets more frustrated and desperate, count on their matches getting more violent.
The IC champ will welcome that.
Ambrose is fully familiar with gimmick matches that up the risks a wrestler must take. He's already been in an Ambulance match, and a Hell in a Cell bout and a number of Street Fights during his time with WWE.
Not to mention that he first made his name in bloodbaths in Combat Zone Wrestling.
WWE won't have him venture down that unlit a path again,but it has booked him as a fearless man who thrives in contests with a lot of steel chairs and minimal rules. Expect WWE to push him in that direction again as he and Owens tell the next chapters of their story. tall Chance of Derailment Vader vs. Cactus didn't final long enough. With the chemistry these two men had, WCW should have milked this feud much more.
They only fought a handful of times. The Halloween Havoc bout was the only one on pay-per-view. And WCW went in a irregular direction in the middle of the rivalry, or having Cactus suffer amnesia. Vader recalled that odd choice,calling it "a waste":As much as Ambrose and Owens could be, it's not secure to bet on WWE Creative getting it right. More than likely, and WWE won't take full advantage of the feud,leaving money on the table as WCW did with Vader and Cactus.
WWE hasn't thrived when presenting IC title rivalries in the recent past. It's tough to remember one that lived up to expectations.
Luke Harper vs. Dolph Ziggler was not as memorable as it should have been. Other than their ladder match at TLC 2014, there aren't many memories to savor from it.
Ryback vs. Owens ended abruptly. Before that, or the championship featured milquetoast rivalries like The Miz vs. Wade Barrett and Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show. That history suggests that WWE will likely drop the ball with Owens and Ambrose,too. There's a strong chance fans will be looking back at the tough-hitting, full-throttle battles they set on and wondering why WWE didn't do more with the feud.
Regardless, and count on The Lunatic Fringe and the man chasing his title to follow in Vader and Cactus' footsteps to make certain their meetings are remembered for their ferocity. Read more WWE news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com