Glass Hand Dissolving: The Enforcers

vs The Young Pistols (WCW 8/3/1991)

This is an interesting structure for a match. The Young Pistols take an early advantage, and then do a double switch, sort of twin magic, sort of deal, and the procede to work a pretty heavy and vicious segment working Arn's arm. Arn gets to his corner eventually, and tags in Larry. Larry doesn't have much success, and the Young Pistols work over his arm too. The camera occasionally cuts to Arn, still selling the arm on the apron, but Arn still has enough fire and smarts to overcome the bum arm. He gets to work on Smothers' leg. He and Larry get to work on the leg, and it is really some of the best limbwork we've seen up across the 30-some teams we've watched so far. Arn gets Smothers to tap to a half-crab and a pretty good match ends with what feels like a well-earned conclusion. 

vs Robert Gibson & Tom Zenk (WCW 8/10/1991)

This is a piece of business right here. Larry and Robert start things off, but the match quickly devolves, and all four men are in the ring. They all brawl to the outside, and while they're out there, Arn cheapshots Gibson in the leg with a chair. Larry, and then Arn, and then Larry, and then Arn work over Gibson's leg. Zenk comes in to break up a few spots, but the Enforcers thoroughly and effectively cut off the ring and isolate a body part. Arn applies a half-crab; Gibson refuses to give up, but the referee calls for the bell to save Gibson from himself. Man, this is the kind of stuff I love about wrestling. Gibson, without Morton, is not worth investing in, and so Arn and Larry, underhandedly but decisively, take him out. It's not about having a good match; it's about getting over who is the better team, how dangerous The Enforcers are, how much winning means. That's what this shit is all about. 

vs Barry Windham & Ron Simmons (WCW 11/9/1991)

This is a match where, because of the people involved and in the context it is in, it has to look a certain sort of way. In a just world, maybe Arn would come out and obliterate Windham's leg and make him submit in a few minutes like he did with Robert Gibson, but this match really can't be that. It has to look competitive, has to leave each one of these guys looking good enough to come back next week with credibility, and so it takes a certain shape. There isn't much to hold on to here, both teams get an advantage, lose an advantage, tag in, tag out, and that's it. At one point, all four guys are in the ring, and the referee has to sort out who belongs and who doesn't. In all of that, the referee gets wrapped up trying to get Simmons out of the ring. While that's happening, Arn rolls out, grabs a title belt, and nails Windham with it. Larry gets the pin, and this is over. Not a bad match, but it is very much a TV Wrestling Match. 

vs Barry Windham & Ricky Steamboat (WCW 2/15/1992)

So, I've reached a bit of a conclusion on the Dangerous Alliance. As a device for filling out TV cards with meaningful matches with stakes and built-in intrigue, it may be one of the better angles of all time. There are so many permutations, in match type and in combination of wrestlers, that it entirely enveloped seven months of television. For that, it is incredible. Some of the matches end up being really good. The culmination of the angle in the War Games match is an all-time match in the promotion. At the same time, a lot of those matches, with stakes and intrigue, and wrestlers you want to see, well, they all can't end in satisfactory finishes. A lot of times that's just how the matches end. In this case, I can't say that the match was really getting somewhere when it ended; it really wasn't much of anything, but the finish matters so much. I don't have much to say outside of those more macro thoughts; Arn and Larry sell a lot here, then come back for the second half of the match. That's about it.  

vs Sting & Marcus Alexander Bagwell (WCW 2/22/1992)

Sting in this era is essentially superhuman. In this match, Arn and Larry can't even match him two-on-one. So the portions where Sting is in the ring, he's in total control. In what is pretty much a factor to the crowd, because they cheer when he suggests it, he tags in Bagwell. Bagwell is game, but for the most part Arn and Larry get the better of him. Out of desperation, Bagwell goes for a pin, and Larry has to come in and break it up. In the confusion that follows, chiefly the referee trying to get Larry out of the ring, Bagwell tags out. The ref doesn't see it, and while Sting and the ref are sorting all of that out, Paul E. Dangerously nails Bagwell with the cell phone, and it is over. This is a fine match; it's got a better finish than the last one, but in the same vein. It's got a ceiling; it doesn't hit it, but it doesn't fail either. 

Verdict

This is a pretty good team hampered by the constraints of their angle, and the constraints of the context they exist in. That being said, I don't see these guys as flourishing outside of a TV context anyway. We can see in the Gibon/Zenk match that they can do the TV Tag match very well, and in the other matches they carry their own. I don't know if I'd want to see 30-minute epics anyway.