Week 1, February 1993
Reitz Arena (Baltimore, Maryland)
ATT: 3,122
TV RATING: 0.01
Announce Team: Tony Schiavone & Jesse Ventura
The month of February has rolled around - WCW Worldwide is on the air - and that means that as Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura open the show, it must be time to start the hype towards SuperBrawl III - and the White Castle of Fear Match between Big Van Vader and Sting, which Tony Schiavone tells us (in some breaking news) will now also be for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship -
Schiavone turns to Ventura, half expecting The Body to lament the decision, but surprisingly, Ventura is in complete agreement with the decision -
”- it was the Champion, Big Van Vader that issued the challenge for the White Castle of Fear match Schiavone - both he and Harley Race know that the title has to be defended at least once every 30 days - obviously they were confident enough to call for the match stipulation to begin with, so they should be confident enough to put the title on the line too -“Schiavone says that Vader is a huge beast of a man, who should be confident in facing just about anyone - but no one can argue that Sting has had the champions number as of late - he beat him in the King of Cable finals at Starrcade - his team beat Vader’s team in the Thundercage Match at January’s Clash of the Champions event -
”- if you ask me Jesse, I think you could argue that Sting has the Champions number, and it could be third times the charm for the Stinger -“Jesse agrees, saying that you COULD say that - but he says that very few men beat Vader once - even fewer beat him twice - but beating him three times in succession? He doesn’t know that even Sting is up to that task -
I guess we’ll find out at SuperBrawl - but for now, let’s get to the action -
Rating: N/A
Action which sees two relative newcomers to WCW, as well as two tremendously gifted high flying athletes -
It’s 2 Cold Scorpio facing off against Robbie V, and while nether man is particularly well known at this stage of their career, it’s only a matter of time before the world sits up and takes notice of their ability -
Tony Schiavone says that had these two gentlemen been here in WCW six months prior to this, they would undoubtedly been a part of the then Light Heavyweight division - while Ventura says never say never, reminding his colleague that Bill Watts promised that a tournament would be held in the future to crown a new champion of that division -
that ever actually comes to fruition remains to be seen, but for tonight it’s Scorpio that picks up the victory, defeating his opponent with a spectacular 360 Splash from the top -
Rating: D+
Winner: 2 Cold Scorpio
With the match over (and in a great display of sportsmanship) Scorpio helps young Robbie V to his feet, before raising his arm in respect and offering a handshake -
Apparently young Mr. V doesn’t have that same respect for Scorpio, because not only does he snatch his arm away and then bat away the hand of friendship, he actually shoves 2 Cold to one side and storms out of the ring and to the back -
Talk about a sore loser - let’s get on with the show -
Rating: D-
If our first match was a battle of the preliminary guys, this one was just an out and out squash match - its the combination of Bob Cook, Larry Santos and Mike Thor, competing (and I use that term loosely here) against the trio of Diamond Dallas Page, Vinnie Vegas and Scotty Flamingo - collectively known as The Vegas Connection -
It was complete dominance from the flamboyant trio - Vegas with his size and strength, Flamingo with the speed, Page with his brawling - they started off strong and never let up, with Page eventually picking up the pinfall with one foot on the chest if Bob Cook following a Snake Eyes from Vinnie Vegas -
Rating: D
Winner(s): The Vegas Connection
Jesse Ventura is particularly impressed by the performance of the Vegas Connection - so much so that he leaves his position at the announce table to try and get word from the trio -
Ventura says that what he sees before him is the perfect combination of size and brute strength with Vinnie Vegas, the speed and agility of (former Light Heavyweight Champion) Scotty Flamingo, and the brains and driving force of Dallas Page -
”- so the question is, what’s next gentlemen? -“Dallas says that what’s next is very simple - the world - and everything in it -
”- it goes like this Jesse, the Vegas Connection is here to take care of business - just a few good men looking for a LOT of gold - and we ain’t gonna stop till we get what we want - ain’t that right Vinnie -“
“- you got that right Dally - ya know Jesse, you’re a smart cat right - look at me - I’m 6’10 - 325lbs of mean, sexy mass - all wrapped up in a real bad attitude - I got Dallas by my side, Scotty watching my back - I’d say the world is my oyster, but I think you already know that right? -“Ventura indeed does know that - saying that there are a lot of options for the Vegas three - are they going to start small and work up? (The TV title is currently vacant after all) or are they going to go all in and bet the house on capturing the World Title? -
Dallas says that if there’s one thing you should know with the Vegas Connection, it’s that they don’t show all their cards at once - and the house always wins - so whether it’s the TV Title - the US Title - those shiny Tag Team Titles - or even the World Title - whatever title they want, they’re gonna get -
”- and you can go all in on that Jesse -“Let’s take a quick commercial break -
It’s back to the ring for another (squash) match, as the massively built Chris Walker tries his luck against The Barbarian -
Walker is a huge specimen, but it takes more than a good physique to defeat the Barbarian, who has a particularly nasty streak in him this evening -
The two men have a few test of strength spots, with Walker even managing to rock the big man on a number of occasions, but it’s eventually for naught -
The Barbarian finally sends his opponent into the ropes, only to almost take his head off with a massive big boot on his way back, giving the big Tongan an easy victory -
Rating: D+
Winner: The Barbarian
From there we head over to the WCW Magazine, where Eric Bischoff runs down the matches already signed for SuperBrawl III, including reiterating what we heard earlier in the show - that being that the White Castle of Fear match that was scheduled between Big Van Vader and Sting, WILL be for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship - and not only that, in breaking news, Eric tells us that the “White Castle” aspect of the match will in fact be a fully enclosed Thundercage match, with the walls of the cage lined with weapons -
”- that’s right fans, we recently saw Sting, Dustin Rhodes and Cactus Jack defeat Big Van Vader, Paul Orndorff and Barry Windham in a standard Thundercage match - but the White Castle of Fear match takes that one step further -
For one, the top of the cage will not just be angled inwards, but will in fact be fully enclosed - that’s right, this Castle has a roof - AND it’s own defences - because attached to the walls of the cage will be a number of weapons (from steel chair’s to baseball bats to lead pipes) all of which will be perfectly legal within the confines of the match -Bischoff tells us that we will also see the debut of the British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith - who will face off against Bobby Eaton - Dustin Rhodes put his United States Heavyweight Championship on the line against former partner Barry Windham - while Shane Douglas and Ricky Steamboat will defend the Unified Tag Team Titles against the combination of Flyin Brian and Stunning Steve Austin -
Before sending us to comments from a number of those competitors -
Starting with the US Champion, Dustin Rhodes -
The Natural says that for too long now, Barry Windham has been a thorn in his side, but all that’s going to come to a head at SuperBrawl -
”- I know a lot of people questioned the way that I won this United States Title, and that’s because of you Barry -“(Dustin actually won the vacant title on an episode of WCW Saturday Night in early January 1993 - this was after Rick Rude had been forced to give up the title due to injury - originally there was a number one contender tournament taking place, but when it was ruled that Rude wouldn’t be back for a while the tournament was changed to a tournament to crown a new champion - Dustin Rhodes defeated Ricky Steamboat by countout of all ways, after Barry Windham interfered - unbeknownst to an oblivious Rhodes - and DDT’d the Dragon on the outside)
Dustin says that he may have won this title under a cloud, but that’s all going to be lifted at SuperBrawl - because he’s damn proud to be the United States Championship, and he’s going to show everyone that he’s a worthy champion when he beats Windham one, two, three in the middle of the ring -
From there we go over to comments from the Lone Wolf himself, who tells Rhodes that the only thing he’s going to show anyone, is that all his success in WCW - is down to someone else -
”- see Dustin, let’s face it - every success you’ve ever had has been from riding on the coat tails of someone else - you held the WCW Tag Team titles with Ricky Steamboat - now I dislike Steamboat just as much as I dislike you, but when you’re teaming with a former World Champion, I think it’s safe to say who carried the weight in that team -
“- as for your last tag title win, everybody knows that it was me that lead us to the gold - that lead the team - it was ME that was responsible for all our success - all you did Dustin was cost us the titles with your Mr. Nice Guy act -
“- and now, now you’re the WCW United States Champion - (ha) - and everyone knows that it’s another title that you only have because of me -
“- the difference this time Dustin, is that you won’t be costing yourself that title like you cost us the tag titles - because I will be costing you that title - everything you’ve got recently, you’ve got because of me - and now, I’m going to take it all away again -“ 
And finally we head over to Steve Austin and Brian Pillman - two men that have only been teaming up a few weeks, but have already managed to bag themselves a shot at the Unified WCW/NWA Tag Team Titles - and this cocky duo tell us that one shot is all that they will need -
Austin says that what you have here right now, are two of the greatest singles wrestlers the world has ever seen, teaming up together -
”- so do you think for one second that we won’t be the greatest TAG TEAM the world has ever seen? - Ricky Steamboat, I’ve been in the ring with you many times, I know what you can do and I know how good you are - difference is, I was always better - and while your partner is some no name, never done nothing scrub like Shane Douglas, my partner is the great Brian Pillman - and I know I can trust him to do whatever it takes to win -“Pillman says that right - long gone is the Brian Pillman that had to hold back for the sake of the cheers of the idiots in the crowd - long gone is the Brian Pillman that would come up short because his opponent was willing to do something that he wasn’t -
”- because there is NOTHING that I won’t do to wrench those titles away from you two idiots - because what you are looking at here, is the team of the 90’s - what you are looking at here, is the greatest team ever to step between those ropes - and what you’re looking at right here, are the next tag team champions of the world -“We go back to Eric Bischoff, who says that those are confident words from a team that only has a handful of matches together under their belts - will they be able to back those claims up? I guess we will find out in a few weeks time -
But for now, let’s go back down to ringside -
Rating: C+
Where the man who will face Vader in the White Castle of Fear at SuperBrawl is in action, as Sting faces off against the big man from Hells Kitchen, Maxx Payne -
The commentators state that Sting requested this match personally, looking to face some of the biggest and baddest that WCW has to offer, in preparation for his clash with Vader - and if it’s big and bad that he wants, it’s big and bad that he gets here, in the form of the 6’6, 350lb Maxx Payne -
This neo-noir rock and roller might be a foreboding powerhouse, but there’s a lot more to Payne than just power and size - he also has an impressive amateur background and can definitely wrestle when he needs too - he just doesn’t need to often given his massive bulk -
This is a more open match than a lot of the bouts we have seen tonight, with Sting giving this newcomer to WCW a lot of offence and time to display his offence - Payne might be a relative unknown, but if he keeps up displays like this then he won’t be an unknown for long -
Sting wasn’t even able to get the Scorpion Deathlock on the big man (who kicked free at every attempt) and so was forced to dig deeper for the victory, reversing a Maxx Payne Superplex attempt to crash down on top of his opponent for the one, two, three -
Rating: B-
Winner: Sting
Tony Schiavone meets the Stinger at ringside to congratulate him on a hard fought win, as well as get some words ahead of his World Title opportunity at SuperBrawl -
Sting briefly puts over Payne, saying he gave him a hell of a match, before telling Schiavone that a hell of a match was exactly what he was looking for -
”- so sign them all up Tony - line them up, the big and the bad - because the Stinger is going to knock them all down one by one, until I get to the biggest and the baddest, in the biggest and the baddest match going - and that’s Big Van Vader in the White Castle of Fear match at SuperBrawl -“Schiavone says that Sting is clearly confident ahead of this first of a kind match up - but does he run the risk of over stretching himself before he even makes it to SuperBrawl? Is there going to be anything left for Vader when that bell rings -
”- Tony, you don’t become a World Champion without having confidence in your ability - and you don’t STAY champion by resting on your laurels - am I confident I can beat Big Van Vader? You’re damn right I am because I did it at Starrcade - am I confident that I can beat Big Van Vader inside the White Castle of Fear? You’re damn right I am, because I walked out with my hand raised in the Thundercage match at the Clash -“Sting says he’s not going into this with rose coloured glasses - he knows how tough Big Van Vader is - he knows (by god he knows) that Big Van Vader can beat him (after all, it was Vader that ended the Stingers last World Title reign) but this time it’s going to be Sting ending the reign of the big man -
”- because for six months now Tony, I’ve sat back and watched other people compete for that world title - I’ve had my hands full with madmen and Snakes (Cactus Jack and Jake Roberts) and I’ve been getting further and further away from where I want to be - because where I want to be is out here, week after week, with the WCW Title around my waist - so Big Van Vader, if I’ve got to enter your White Castle of Fear to do that, then that’s exactly what I’ll do - so buckle up big man, it’s going to be a bumpy ride -“Sting gives a big Owwwww for the crowd, before wandering off to the back as Tony and Jesse close out the show -
Worldwide is in the books - it’ll be 6:05 before you know it - we’ll see you on WCW Saturday Night fans -
Rating: C+
Final Rating: C
