Varsity Club

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The Varsity Club
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Stable
Members Kevin Sullivan
Mike Rotunda
Rick Steiner
Steve Williams
Dan Spivey
Debut 1987
Disbanded 1989
Promotions NWA
WCW
AJPW

The Varsity Club was a professional wrestling heel stable in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions and World Championship Wrestling. The stable was formed in 1987 and lasted until 1989. The stable was briefly resurrected in 1999 – 2000.

Contents

[edit] History

The Varsity Club was formed in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions by Kevin Sullivan when he recruited the University of Michigan's Rick Steiner and Syracuse University's Mike Rotunda in late 1987. The group would wear the letterman jackets of their respective alma matters and brag about their superiority to everyone else due to their amateur wrestling background. In Rotunda and Steiner’s case their clams were legitimate, they both wrestled in college while Sullivan’s claims were more a matter of Kayfabe. Rotunda was the Florida Champion when the group was formed but when Rotunda defeated Nikita Koloff (with Kevin Sullivan’s help) to win the NWA World Television Championship he gave the Florida title to Rick Steiner[1]. In the beginning everything seemed to be great, everyone were on the same page under Sullivan’s leadership, but slowly dissension began to build as Rotunda and Steiner would start to bicker with each other over who was the “Captain” of the team[2]. In February 1988, the Varsity Club started a feud with Jimmy Garvin because Sullivan wanted Garvin’s valet Precious. Sullivan would stalk Precious and taunt her with papers in his robe, but it was never revealed why he was stalking her or what the papers were about. Garvin got help from his "brother" ”Rugged” Ron Garvin and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams in his fight with the Club. At the first Clash of the Champions Rotunda defeated Jimmy Garvin in a “College Rules” match[3]. Three months later Garvin got revenge as he and Ron defeated Mike Rotunda and Rick Steiner at Clash of the Champions II [4]. The fact that it was Rick Steiner who lost the match was further cause for friction between in the Club. Sullivan and Rotunda started to punish the “slow witted” Steiner (in character) and making fun of him. At The Great American Bash 1988 the Garvins/Varsity Club feud came to a violent clash as the Garvins teamed with the Road Warriors and Steve Williams to beat Sullivan, Rotunda, Al Perez, The Russian Assassin and Ivan Koloff in a Tower of Doom Match [5]. In September 1988 the Varsity Club attacks Jimmy Garvin and Kevin Sullivan uses a cinder block to “break” Garvin’s leg, ending the feud once and for all.

Rick Steiner finally had enough of Rotunda and Sullivan’s constant abuse near the end of 1988, one night he attacks Mike Rotunda, turning face as a sympathetic underdog that’s finally had enough. At Starrcade 1988 Rick Steiner finally got a chance to get revenge as he got a shot at Rotunda and the TV title. Despite being locked up in a little cage at ringside Sullivan has an ace up his sleeve, that ace is former opponent Steve Williams who had just joined the Varsity Club. Williams is unable to prevent Rick Steiner from winning the TV title though[1]. Earlier in the night Sullivan and Williams beat the Fantastics to win the United States Tag-Team titles. Steiner’s run with the TV title ended a few short months later as Rotundo beat Steiner at the Chi-Town Rumble on February 20, 1989. Rick got back up in the form of his brother Scott, a rookie pro-wrestler who was eager to help watch his brother’s back. At first Scott offered moral support as Rick and "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert won the US Tag-Team titles from Williams and Sullivan on February 28 [1]. On April 2, 1989 at Clash of the Champions VI the combination of Steve Williams and Mike Rotunda beat the Road Warriors through an extremely fast count by crooked referee Teddy Long [6]. The duo managed to keep the titles at they were disqualified in their title defense at Wrestle War 1989 [7]. Due to the controversial way the Club won and then defended the tag-team titles they were stripped of the gold that night[1]. The last “appearance” of the Varsity Club is when Steve Williams defeats Mike Rotunda at Clash of the Champions VIII [8] after which the concept was laid to rest

[edit] Reunion

The Varsity Club had a brief reformation in WCW in 1999 when Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda and Rick Steiner reformed at Starrcade on December 19, 1999. The three men were ”Hacksaw” Jim Duggan’s surprise partners, showing up in their old letterman jackets and accompanied by a cheerleader, Leia Meow, whom they made do pushups and to bounce on a trampoline at ringside. The Varsity Club turned on Jim Duggan at the end of the match leaving him easy prey for The Revolution [9]. The Varsity Club disbanded in late January 2000 after a brief freud with Don and Ron Harris.

In September 2000, Williams and Rotunda reformed their team, under the name Varsity Club 2000, in All Japan Pro Wrestling. Williams had been a regular in AJPW since the original stable's break up and Rotunda started touring after leaving WCW. Despite winning the promotion's annual World's Strongest Tag League tournament in December[10], they were never able to enjoy much success afterwards due to Rotundo's injuries and the phasing out of foreign talent left from the All Japan promotional system before the Pro Wrestling NOAH split.

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • World
  • National
  • Regional

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Royal Duncan & Gary Will (4th Edition 2006). Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4. 
  2. ^ RD Reynolds and Randy Baer (2003). Wrestlecrap – the very worst of pro wrestling. ECW Press. ISBN 1-55022-584-7. 
  3. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. NWA Clash of the Champions Results (I).
  4. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. NWA Clash of the Champions Results (II).
  5. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. NWA Great American Bash Results (1988).
  6. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. NWA Clash of the Champions Results (VI).
  7. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. NWA Wrestle War Results (1989).
  8. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. NWA Clash of the Champions Results (VIII).
  9. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. WCW Starrcade Results (1999).
  10. ^ Strong Style Wrestling. AJPW Strongest Tag League Results (2000). “Final: Steve Williams & Mike Rotundo beat Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi (21:27) when Williams used a backdrop suplex on Fuchi.”