WCW at El Paso (July 14, 1994)

Original Airdate: July 14, 1994

From El Paso, Texas

Opening Match: Lord Steven Regal v Johnny B. Badd: Regal’s WCW Television title is not on the line. The venue is embarrassingly empty here, though the embarrassment is kept to a minimum because this isn’t televised, I suppose. Regal stalls in the early going, of course. For a long time. They finally make contact some four minutes in, and Regal gets a takedown by using the hair. Reversal sequence is won by Badd, and he holds Steven in a wristlock. Regal goes to the hair again to free himself, and he hides in the ropes to give us some more stalling. Regal gets him in a standing side-headlock, but Badd forces a criss cross, and wins it with a hiptoss. Dropkick sends Regal to the outside, and he regroups out there. See also: more stalling. Inside, Regal manages a takedown out of a lockup, and he works a double knucklelock, trying to maneuver it into a pin. Badd with a monkeyflip, and they do a pinfall reversal sequence that ends with them in the ropes. To a vertical base, Johnny grabs a headlock of his own, but Regal nails him during the rope break. Regal with a corner whip, and he unloads on Johnny with uppercuts and forearms. Regal works a chinlock, and a gutwrench powerbomb gets him two. Side suplex leads to a bootrake, and he hammers Johnny with fists, but telegraphs a backdrop, and eats a kneelift for two. Regal is right on him with more forearms to set up a butterfly suplex for two, Regal wants to slug it out again, but Badd makes a comeback, and delivers a backdrop. Headscissors takedown follows, and a dropkick finds the mark, so Regal bails. He suckers Johnny when Badd is trying to drag him back in, however, and hooks a leveraged pin at 15:02. But Badd argues it, and the referee apparently restarts the bout (though no one bothers to tell Regal), allowing Johnny to sneak up with a schoolboy at 15:22. I really thought they were building to a time limit draw (since they kept inaccurately noting the remaining time), but nope. *

Brian Pillman v Diamond Dallas Page: Well, this is interesting, as these two never crossed paths on TV. Pillman going back to just being Flyin’ Brian again after the run with the Hollywood Blonds feels like such a regression. Luckily he was able to reinvent himself soon after. Brian dominates him with basic stuff early on, wristlocks and such. Pillman with a dropkick, but Page blocks a suplex, and hammers Brian on the ropes. Page rattles him with a turnbuckle smash, and he takes Brian down for a chinlock. Apparently they’re counting down the time limit on every match tonight, so at least they’re being consistent. Brian fights out of the hold, so Page clobbers him with a clothesline for two. Brian gets fired up with chops, and wins a slugfest, but Page fights him off by going to the eyes. Dallas boots him down for two, but Pillman dives with a bodypress for two, leaving Page scrambling to try and keep control. He manages a corner whip for two, but Pillman comes back with a backdrop, and it’s a full on flurry of offense now. Brian goes up with a flying bodypress at 9:30. Page still hadn’t developed into a good worker yet at this point, and sadly by the time he would, Pillman was well past the point of even being a decent one. ½*

Stars & Stripes v Pretty Wonderful: Patriot and Paul Orndorff start, and they feel each other out. Paul Roma comes in for a double team, and the heels manage to dominate Patriot for a bit, but Orndorff gets caught with a shoulderblock, and Patriot covers for two. Tag to Roma, but he gets slapped around, before turning it around, as the match drags. The heels double up on Patriot in the corner, and we’re almost seven minutes into this and Marcus Alexander Bagwell hasn’t even tagged in yet. He finally does, and works Orndorff’s arm. Orndorff throws a knee and tags out, but Roma ends up in trouble when Bagwell takes him to the mat in a side-headlock. The babyfaces work Roma’s arm, until Paul manages to take a cheap shot at Patriot to turn the tide. The heels cut the ring in half on Patriot, until Orndorff misses a dive, and Bagwell gets the hot tag - Roseanne Barr the door! Bagwell hooks Roma in a small package, so Orndorff rolls them over, but Patriot rolls it back to give the babyfaces the win at 16:05. A basic and downright boring match, but they didn’t lose the crowd, shockingly. ¼*

Ron Simmons v Guardian Angel: This was towards the tail end of Ron’s run, and I honestly forgot he was still around by this point. Slugfest to start, won by Ron. Criss cross ends in Angel backdropping him, so Ron bails, but Angel gives chase. He knocks Simmons silly on the floor, and leaves him out there to take the count, with Simmons stalling to try and break the momentum. Angel ends up dragging him in with a rope-hung facebuster, and he works a wristlock from there. Ron tries a corner splash, but Angel dodges, and Simmons bashes his shoulder into the turnbuckle. That allows Angel to work the part, but Ron blocks a charge with a mulekick, and he hammers Angel down. That ring seems so unstable, like it’s going to collapse at any moment. Simmons tries a 2nd rope headbutt drop, but Angel rolls out of the way, and makes a comeback. Bodypress gets him two, and an inside cradle puts it away at 5:54 shown. This seemed to have maybe a minute or so clipped out of it, but I can safely call it at ¼*

Arn Anderson and Dustin Rhodes v Bunkhouse Buck and Amarillo Slim: Slim is Erik Watts, doing a cowboy gimmick that never made it to TV. Rhodes and Buck start, and Dustin outmoves him. Atomic drop rattles Buck, and another one ends him clear over the top. That draws Slim in, but Dustin gives him the same treatment, cleaning house. He and Anderson continue dominating, but Rhodes gets into trouble, and the heels work him over. Hot tag to Anderson, and Roseanne Barr the door! Everyone brawls, but the ending is clipped away at 5:49 shown. This was clipped all over the place, so I really can’t rate it, but what was left was certainly nothing unique. 

Main Event: Steve Austin v Sting: Austin’s WCW United States title is not on the line. No wonder they couldn’t draw flies. Posturing to start, with Austin doing a fair bit of stalling. Steve hammers him into the corner, and he manages to dump him to the outside from there, but Sting fights him off. Inside, Sting delivers a nice backdrop, and a right hands sends Austin back to the outside to regroup. More stalling, and Steve tries a wristlock as he comes back in. Sting looks to reverse, but Steve grabs the hair to force it to the mat, and he has control of the contest now. Austin with a kneedrop for two, and he takes Sting up for a superplex, but the Stinger blocks. That allows Sting to dive with a flying axehandle, but Austin gutpunches him to block, and makes a lateral press for two. Vertical suplex sets up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two, but a cross corner whip backfires when Sting comes barreling out of the corner with a pair of clotheslines. Slingshot sunset flip gets him two, and a schoolboy puts it away at 14:47. This was nothing special at all. ½*

BUExperience: A pretty underwhelming house show. Nothing of note whatsoever.

DUD