Just a month before he would debut on WWF Raw, Sean Waltman had one last banger on an NWA show in Minnesota with Sabu. Before Syxx and X-Pac, Waltman was remarkably good as the sympathetic young underdog and this match is a great prelude for what was to come, albeit just a little more violent.

The opening exchanges quickly get things setup as Kid’s speed and quickness is met with a leg sweep and a blatant goozle choke. The match ticks along and one particularly nasty spill by Waltman makes me wince given the neck issues that were to come for him. From there we soon leave the ring with Sabu doing his usual somersault senton and moonsault. Oliver Humperdink, approaching his first retirement, was Sabu’s manager on the night and gets involved by smashing Kid’s head into the ring post.

The blood begins to flow and it’s a gusher, beginning to drip from Kid’s forehead all over the floor beside the ring. I was surprised just how much blood there was, it’s up there with some of bloodiest crimson masks of the era, or any era really.

Sabu always has that element of danger that something is invariably going to go wrong somewhere, it’s a huge part of why we watch him. Well, I can now add attempt a sunset flip from the ring to the bare floor to the things I’ve seen him try to pull off. I was up, out my seat and then rewinding it back. We’ve seen this kind of thing attempted in modern wrestling, but in 1993? C’mon man.

Things breakdown further from there and I won’t spoil the finish and aftermath, but it harks back to NWA finishes of old. A really satisfying match that gets real violent real quick. And a cool historical footnote given where the Kid goes from here. You can check out the match here: