WCW Fall Brawl 1993 (Version II)

Original Airdate: September 19, 1993

From Houston, Texas; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura

Opening WCW Television Title Match: Ricky Steamboat v Lord Steven Regal: Ricky comes in hot, attacking Regal in the corner right at the bell, but his taped up ribs slow him down. Regal quickly capitalizes by pounding on them, but Ricky fires back with chops, and tosses Steven over the top onto the ramp! Ricky follows him out there for some more chops, and then it's back over the top into the ring for the challenger - Steamboat following in with a flying tomahawk chop, but aggravating the ribs again. He manages a savate kick, and there he goes with more choppage, before taking Regal down with a drop-toehold into a hammerlock. Nice takedown there. Steamboat hangs onto that for a while, and turns it into a few cradles for two, before Regal escapes, and forces a criss cross - only to get nailed with a bodypress for two from the champion. Steamboat goes back to the arm with short-armscissors, but Regal counters into a cradle for two, then powers all the way to his feet in the hold, and dumps Steamboat to the outside. Ricky comes right back in, so Steven backdrops him, and starts whacking the ribs to put the Dragon down. Regal dives onto the ribs with a somersault senton splash, then wrenches back on them with a crossface, but Steamboat powers out with an electric chair - only for a splash to hit knees, right on the ribs! Regal takes him to school with an overhead backbreaker, but Steamboat manages to escape, and pop off a tomahawk chop, so Steven thinks fast with a takedown into a surfboard! Regal with a butterfly suplex for two, but Steamboat manages to sweep him down, and deliver a catapult into the corner to buy time. Steamboat tries following up with a bodyslam, but the ribs act up, and Regal topples him for two, then grounds the champion in a mat-based abdominal stretch. Up for a bodyslam for two, but Ricky reverses a tombstone for two - the ribs slowing the cover attempt down. Regal shoves him ribs-first into the corner and tries a side suplex, but Steamboat counters with a rollup for two, and a series of chops sets up a small package for two. Vertical suplex gets two, and a flying bodypress hits, but he hurts the ribs, and can't stay on top for the pin - only getting two by the time he crawls back over. Phenomenal selling here. Shoulderblock gets two, but Regal dodges another, and Steamboat goes over the top. He manages to skin the cat, but Sir William bops him with the umbrella in the process, and Regal capitalizes with a German suplex for the title at 17:05! A little on the long side, but good, old fashioned style wrestling. Lots of great psychology and selling here, though it's probably not the best fit as an opener. *** ¼ (Original rating: * ¾)

Charlie Norris v Big Sky: Really bad lighting here all of a sudden, coupled with what looks like consumer grade home video camcorder footage. Today's iPhone cameras are probably higher quality than the ones they were using here. Feeling out process to start, until Norris takes him down, working an armbar. Charge in the corner hits boot, however, and Sky chokeslams him, then hits a bodyslam to setup a legdrop. Another bodyslam sets up a 2^nd rope flying fistdrop, but Charlie dodges, and starts going wild with the choppage, before finishing with an awkward looking bicycle kick at 4:35. This had no place on pay per view. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell v Paul Orndorff and Equalizer: Bagwell starts with Equalizer, and quickly flusters him by sticking and moving. Over to Scorpio for a tandem dropkick that puts Equalizer on the outside, but 2 Cold gets blasted with a headbutt when Equalizer comes back in, and Orndorff gets the tag for a tandem backdrop. Paul beats Scorpio in the corner like he owes him money, so Scorpio tries a flying twisting bodypress - Paul rolling through, but ending up trapped in an armbar anyway. Back to Bagwell for a tandem hiptoss/elbowdrop combo for two, and he keeps on the arm as well. Floatover suplex gets two, but Equalizer pulls down the top rope as Marcus runs them, and he takes a spill out of the ring! Equalizer hops down to add a bodyslam on the floor, and back inside, the heels cut the ring in half on Bagwell. He manages to side suplex Orndorff for the hot tag to Scorpio, and Roseanne Barr the door! Scorpio gets taken out following a miscommunication, and the heels gang up on Marcus again, but they cut into their own miscommunication, and Scorpio finishes Equalizer with a 450 splash at 10:46. I wasn't feeling this one, but I've certainly seen worse. ¾* (Original rating: ¼*)

Shanghai Pierce v Ice Train: The parade of shitty 1993 WCW characters continues! Ice Train has the same build/look as Big E today, but with none of the talent. Bit of feeling out to start, and this shit match manages to be boring less than a minute in. That's gotta be some kind of record. The crowd seems to agree, walking around the building, or engaging each other in conversation the whole time, barely even looking at the ring. Pierce pounds him down and drops a knee, but a cheap shot with the bull rope backfires, and Train powerslams him at 3:28. Terrible. –½* (Original rating: DUD)

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Arn Anderson and Paul Roma v The Nasty Boys: Missy Hyatt debuts as the Nasty's manager here. Her time with the team was probably her at her most attractive. How much of that is just because of the contrast to the Nasty's themselves is debatable, though. Roma starts with Brian Knobbs, and Paul suckers him into trying a sneak attack, and then clobbers his challenger when he takes the bait. That pisses Brian off, however, and he beats the piss out of Roma in the corner, but walks into a powerslam. That brings Jerry Sags in without a tag, but Roma is ready with another powerslam, and the champs clean house. Dust settles on Anderson and Sags, and Arn sweeps him down to smash Sags' leg into the post a couple of times, then over to Roma to dive onto the leg with a seated senton splash. Paul continues to work the part, and he slaps on a toehold, as fans in the crowd taunt Missy by waving dollar bills in front of her face. I know that the (lowbrow) joke there was that they're calling her a hooker because of how she's dressed, but given that she's Jewish, well, I HOPE that they're simply calling her a whore, and not implying something else. It's kind of weird hoping that the poor woman is being called a whore because the alternative intention is much worse, but there you go. Thankfully, this train of thought occupies my mind for a few minutes, thus getting me away from focusing on this horrible match. Roma ends up trapped in the wrong corner, and the challengers pound him down, then cut the ring in half. Arn gets the tag, and takes Sags down with a sleeper, but a 2^nd rope pump-splash hits knees, and Knobbs clotheslines Anderson over the top. Back inside, the Nasties cut the ring in half on their new victim, as the announcers discuss whether or not it's politically correct to call someone a 'nasty woman.' This show feels so ahead of its time. The Nasties work Arn over in dull fashion, but a tandem backdrop is countered with a double facebuster, and Roma gets the tag. He comes in hot, and throws a missile dropkick at Knobbs for two. They badly mess up a victory roll spot, and Arn comes in to hit Brian with a rotating spinebuster for Roma to punctuate with a flying splash, but Sags breaks the count at two - Knobbs able to capitalize with the pin at 23:58. I feel like, had they not cut the Hollywood Blonds run short, they could have probably gotten a good match/feud out of the Nasties. Literally nothing they were doing here warranted twenty five minutes of pay per view time. This would have been, not 'good,' but at least tolerable at ten minutes. But twenty five mind numbing minutes of bearhugs and chinlocks? Are you kidding me? ¼* (Original rating: ¼*)

Cactus Jack v Yoshi Kwan: And speaking of offensive, here's Chris Champion as Yoshi Kwan, complete with makeup to make him look Asian! And, the funny (sad?) thing is, that's not even the most offensive part about this whole angle! Harley Race tries to distract Jack at the bell, but Kwan's attempted sneak attack backfires. Jack hits him with a straddling ropechoke, and the Cactus Clothesline sends them both over the top. Race gets involved again, allowing Yoshi a successful sneak attack, and he whips Jack into the ropes for an enzuigiri on the ramp. Kwan adds a headbutt drop out there, and back in, Yoshi throws some ugly kicks. The makeup job here is so bad, it would actually be funny, if it wasn't so offensive. Jack comes back with an inverted atomic drop and a clothesline, so Harley trips him from the floor, and Kwan goes back to his terrible attempts at kicks. Race tries another attack, but Jack gets away this time, and ends Kwan's night with a double-arm DDT at 3:39. Hot mess. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

WCW International World Title Match: Ric Flair v Rick Rude: It's cute that the NWA actually thought anyone would give a shit who they would want as champion in 1993. Rude's tights that look like a Disney Valentines Day card to Fifi are pretty amazing. Also, whose genius idea was it to put a large trash bin right in the eye line of the camera the whole night? It's the little shit like this that always made WCW feel inferior to the WWF, no matter what. Feeling out process to start. Rude misses a flying kneedrop, so Flair capitalizes with the Figure Four, but Rick has the ropes. He wastes time playing to Fifi, however, and Ric comes off the top with a flying axehandle to put the challenger down for a wristlock. Ric works on that for a while, as Jesse makes sexist jokes on commentary, resulting in him getting his microphone cut off for a bit. You can guess how he takes that. This show seems to be trying to constantly top itself in ways to offend the audience. So far, we've got women, Jews, Asians, wrestling fans. No demographic left out! I don't think that's what they mean when they say 'inclusiveness,' guys. Though, in all fairness, Jesse is playing a heel, so being offense kinda goes with the territory. I prefer a little offensiveness to today’s bland commentary robots, anyway. Meanwhile, Flair is still holding onto that wristlock, until Rude finally escapes, but Ric hooks a backslide for two. Bodypress sends both tumbling over the top (and SMOOTHLY, for once), but Rick is up first out there, and he drills the champion with a clothesline. Back in with a vertical suplex for two, and a bodyslam gets two. Rude rides him with a reverse chinlock, but Ric escapes (and not with an electric chair, shockingly), but a criss cross ends in Ric getting press-dropped throat-first across the top rope. Cross corner whip sends Flair flipping over the top to the outside, and back in, Rick keeping hammering him. Bearhug wears Ric down into a pinning predicament for a few two counts, but Flair manages to get on top in the hold, so Rick lets off. He hits Flair with a hotshot, and adds a pair of flying forearm smashes, but a third one ends badly, and Flair side suplexes him. Ric with a kneedrop, followed by a butterfly suplex for two. Chops in the corner rattle Rude, but he still manages to block a corner charge, and the challenger delivers a DDT for two. Rude Awakening, but Flair actually manages a reversal, but Rick has the ropes at two! He tries a sleeper, but Flair escapes with a pair of kneebreakers, and he hammers the leg. Figure Four, but Rude blocks, so Flair pounds the leg some more. Back to the hold, but this time Rude counters with an inside cradle for two, so Flair tosses him to the outside to punish with a drop across the guardrail. Ric goes to the top for a flying axehandle on the outside, and he cracks the challenger with chops on the way back inside, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, and Rude nails him with a flying fistdrop for two. He dumps Flair to the outside, and starts hitting on Fifi, but she slaps him! That infuriates Rude, but with his eye off of the ball, Flair recovers. Chops and an inverted atomic drop lead to a flapjack, and Ric slaps on the Figure Four! He has it well applied, but Rude pulls an object out of his tights, and bashes Ric with it to escape, and score the pin at 30:49. Another match that was much longer than it needed to be. Unlike the tag title, I think most would expect a good match between these two, so at least booking a half hour makes sense. Unfortunately, the match fell well short of expectations, dragging a lot, despite some legitimately interesting creative choices from both guys. ¾* (Original rating: ½*)

Main Event: WarGames Match: Big Van Vader, Sid Vicious, and Harlem Heat v Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes, and Shockmaster: Vader starts with Rhodes, and it's a slugfest right off the bat. Rhodes holds his own with the monster, and manages to beat him down in the corner, then takes off his cowboy boot to wallop on the world champion with. Charge in the corner ends badly, however, and Vader murders him with a clothesline, before dumping him into the corner to go to work. Vaderbomb hits, but Dustin catches a second wind, and connects with a DDT, then goes back to beating on Vader with his boot. Vader goes up for a 2^nd rope flying bodyblock, but gets powerslammed on the way down, just as the opening period ends, and Kane joins the fray. Harlem Heat were originally known as Kane (Stevie Ray) and Kole (Booker T), for those who have forgotten. Kane grabs Dustin's boot and helps Vader beat him down, and Rhodes is busted open! Sting is next into the match (wearing black tights with red trim, which look weird on him in the pre-Wolfpac days), and he quickly hits Vader with a Stinger Splash, followed by a Samoan drop into the side of the cage. Sting pounds Vader in the corner as Dustin hits Kane with a jumping clothesline, but the period ends, and Sid is in to give the heels an advantage again. He drops Sting with a chokeslam, and now it's the Stinger's turn to get beat on with the boot. Man, that thing is getting passed around more than Miss... whoops, sorry, my mic got cut off. Vader and Vicious give Sting a tandem press-drop, but here comes Davey Boy to even the score! Sid is waiting for him as he enters the cage, but Bulldog wins a criss cross with a clothesline, then powerslams an incoming Vader! Sid selling a simple clothesline by screaming in horror for thirty seconds seems like a bit of overkill. Sting and Bulldog pay Vicious back with their own tandem press-drop, but Smith ends up in a bearhug from Vader, and Dustin is a bloody mess in the corner with Sid. I'm surprised no one else has joined in on blading yet, though if I recall correctly, blood was a no-no at this point. Kole is next into the fray, and things are not looking good for the face team here. And it's not like they've got a great closer, either. Dustin manages to get Sid down in a figure four as Shockmaster comes in to round out the field, and everyone gets the honor of bumping around for him, with poor Harlem Heat getting the worst of it. Kole gets trapped in a bearhug (with Kane exposing things by just standing around and watching), and he submits at 16:39. And that's that. There would be worse ones later (I'm looking at you, 1998), but this was definitely the weakest televised WarGames to that point, and certainly a big letdown after the blisteringly intense 1991 and 1992 versions. * (Original rating: *)

BUExperience: The opener is good. Something of an acquired taste, but good. Everything else is uniformly terrible.  Any questions?

DUD