WCW From the Beginning

CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS XXXII (November 16, 1994)

Alex Wright pinned Jean-Paul Levesque with the Reverse Neckbreaker in 10:31.
Rating: *** ¾

“Das Wunderkid” Alex Wright has been tearing things up on Saturday Night, becoming one of the hottest rookies WCW has seen in quite some time. Wright made the most of his first time on a major event, picking up a win over another impressive rookie in his own right, Jean-Paul Levesque.

Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Steve Austin defeated Bobby Eaton and Brian Pillman when Austin pinned B. Eaton with the Stun Gun in 12:55.
Rating: ***

Bobby Eaton, still upset by his offer to join the Horsemen being turned down a few months ago, offered to team up with Brian Pillman to battle the Horsemen. Eaton gave everything he had, but it wasn't enough to help Pillman get revenge.

Davey Boy Smith pinned Dustin Rhodes with the Running Powerslam in 13:21.
Rating: *** ¾

Davey Boy Smith might've finally got past his arch rival Dustin Rhodes, thanks to Sting being at ringside to negate Rhodes' advantage of having Terry Funk around. With it being a true 1-on-1 match, Smith picked up a win. 

Afterwards, Rhodes made a quick comment to Gene Okerlund that Sting needed to mind his own business.

The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner), The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) and The Boss defeated Harlem Heat (Stevie Ray and Booker T), Pretty Wonderful (Paul Orndorff and Paul Roma) and Greg Valentine when Knobbs pinned Stevie Ray in 16:51.
Rating: **

Pretty much the entire tag team scene in WCW came together in a wild 10-man tag. The ref lost control of the match at various times throughout with a lot of brawling sprawled out around ringside. 

A lot of illegal moves went on behind the ref’s back as he couldn’t keep an eye on everyone. Stevie Ray took advantage of a distracted ref and knocked out Brian Knobbs by hitting him with a motorcycle helmet the Nastys actually wore to the ring. 

But the ref didn’t turn around fast enough to count the pin, enabling Jerry Sags to pick up the helmet and hit Stevie with it, then rolling Knobbs on top. 

This time the ref did turn around to count the pin.

INTERVIEW WITH THE HORSEMEN AND BARRY WINDHAM

All four horsemen, including world champ Ric Flair were in the ring giving an interview about the upcoming rematch between Flair and Hulk Hogan, inside a steel cage set for Starrcade. 

Flair said WCW’s future is at stake in this one and any self-respecting member of the roster should be invested in Flair’s success. In such, he called out Barry Windham who came to the ring with Woman draped by his side. 

Flair told Windham they’ve had a lot of success working together and asked for Windham’s support at Starrcade. Windham countered saying the years serving Flair got him absolutely nothing. 

Windham admitted he was no fan of Hogan but the only person he cares about helping be world champion is himself. And said whether it was Flair or Hogan coming out of Starrcade with the belt, he was coming for them.

Diamond Dallas Page pinned Brad Armstrong with the Diamond Cutter in 5:48.
Rating: ** ¼

Diamond Dallas Page beat Brad Armstrong tonight but wasn't satisfied. He spoke after the match saying he deserves to be in the ring with a much higher caliber of wrestler. He mentioned his countout win over Ricky Steamboat but said he wanted more.

He wants to pin Ricky Steamboat, not get a fluke win cause Steamboat threw himself into a barricade. He laid down a challenge for Starrcade.

Iron Man Match:
Johnny B. Badd beat Lord Steven Regal 3 falls to 1:
        x Badd beat Regal via the Tutti Frutti in 20:09
        x Regal beat Regal via an inside cradle in 26:41
        x Badd beat Regal via a flying sunset flip in 28:11
        x Badd beat Regal via the Tutti Frutti in 29:55
Rating: **** 1/2
(Johnny B. Badd won the WCW UNITED STATES TITLE.)

In what was billed as the final battle in this ongoing feud, the other way to give proper closure and to truly find out who was the better man was a 30-minute Iron Man Match. Most falls in the time limit wins the match and the U.S. title. 

It took a while for the first fall to even transpire, but two-thirds of the way through the match, Badd finally caught Regal with his vicious left hook out of nowhere for the first fall. But only a few minutes later, Regal evened the match, rolling up Badd and grabbing a handful of tights.

As the clock kept ticking, everyone wondered if this would even settle things or if a draw was in the fates. Regal placed Badd on the top turnbuckle in an attempt at a superplex, only to have Badd fight him off. Regal dropped back to the canvas then tried to come back to the corner, only to have Badd catch him with a sunset flip for a 2-1 lead. 

Less than two minutes were left at this point and Regal was desperate to do anything that would get him back in the match. But in his frustrations, he dropped his guard and got caught with another Tutti Frutti as Badd iced the match.

Card rating: *** 1/4

STARRCADE '94 (December 27, 1994)

Alex Wright pinned Brad Armstrong with the Reverse Neckbreaker in 6:47.
Rating: ** ½

Das Wunderkid closed out a successful 1994 with a victory on WCW’s flagship PPV event.

The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) defeated
Pretty Wonderful (Paul Orndorff and Paul Roma) when R. Steiner pinned Orndorff after a belly-to-back suplex in 10:39.
Rating: *** ¼

The Steiners made a huge jump up the tag team ladder with a decisive win over pretty wonderful. They let it be known after the match, whether it will be Harlem Heat or the Nasty Boys as champions, the Steiners were coming for the belts.

Davey Boy Smith pinned Lord Steven Regal with the Running Powerslam in 14:30.
Rating: *** ¾

Smith has been saying it’s taken a long time to get rid of Dustin Rhodes, but he’s anxious now to move on to bigger and better things. 

He owes Steven Regal some payback after Regal took his US title earlier in the year and Smith got that tonight scoring an impressive win.

Randy Savage and Marcus Alexander Bagwell battled to a draw in 20:00.
Rating: *** 1/4
(Marcus Alexander Bagwell retained the WCW TELEVISION TITLE.)

Not too long after emerging on the scene in WCW, Randy Savage got his first opportunity to win a WCW Title, challenging Marcus Bagwell of the Horsemen for the TV Title. 

Savage left without the gold, but it was mostly due to Horsemen chicanery. Savage was able to hit his patented flying elbow drop on Bagwell, but Arn Anderson, who was at ringside in Bagwell’s corner, grabbed his legs and pulled him outside before Savage could go for the pin. In response, the referee kicked Anderson out from ringside. 

Bagwell, though, held his own from there, even taking the advantage at various points. But when Savage got back in control as the time limit was ticking away, Bagwell did everything he could to avoid Savage, settling for the draw. 

Diamond Dallas Page pinned Ricky Steamboat after a Victory Roll in 11:49.
Rating: **

DDP wasn’t happy getting a countout win over Steamboat a while back, claiming he wanted Steamboat to know DDP was truly the better man. 

He got his shot tonight but it's questionable if he really did accomplish his claimed mention, relying on a roll up and a handful of tights to get the win.

Barry Windham pinned Brian Pillman with the Superplex in 11:18.
Rating: *** 1/4

After Barry Windham was asked to side with the Horsemen in their fight against Hulk Hogan, Windham kept saying the only side he was on was his own. This didn’t sit well with Brian Pillman, a Horsemen enemy, who said Windham needed to stand against them if he wasn’t joining them. 

Instead, Windham further emphasized he was his own man and was going to kick Pillman’s butt just for him. 

Pillman’s athleticism and high-flying moves caught Windham off guard numerous times. But the big man’s strength was too much. 

Johnny B. Badd pinned Ron Simmons with the Tutti Frutti in 12:44.
Rating: *** 3/4
(Johnny B. Badd retained the WCW UNITED STATES TITLE.)

Ron Simmons has been building a ton of momentum lately and tried to parlay that into winning the United States title off Johnny B. Badd.

But as Harley Race tried to get involved, giving Simmons an added boost, Vader made his first appearance since Fall Brawl, coming in, pulling Race off the apron and knocking him out on the floor. This all distracted Simmons, who was then knocked out himself by Badd's vicious Tutti Frutti left hook.

But as Badd was celebrating with the fans, Diamond Dallas Page emerged out of nowhere to hit Badd with a Diamond Cutter on the entrance way.

The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) defeated
Harlem Heat (Stevie Ray and Booker T) when Knobbs pinned S. Ray after
a side suplex in 17:40.
Rating: * 3/4
(The Nasty Boys won the WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES.)

Harlem Heat has had a fantastic reign as world tag champs, but that is all over now as the Nasty Boys reclaimed the gold. 

This match quickly devolved into a brawl, which played right into the Nasty Boys’ hands. They withstood everything Harlem Heat threw at them and dished it right back at them plus more. 

That added up to The Nasty Boys starting their second world title reign.

Sting pinned Dustin Rhodes after the Stinger Splash in 16:04.
Rating: ** 1/2

Dustin Rhodes, once a close ally of the Stinger, put the blame on him for turning the tide of his recent feud with Davey Boy Smith. He also added that he’s learned more in the last six months working with Terry Funk than he did being a friend of Sting’s, and he was going to prove it. 

But Sting countered saying every problem Dustin Rhodes has had he’s brought on himself and was going to shut him up once and for all tonight. 

Terry Funk tried to give Rhodes an edge, but Sting had enough of Funk’s attempted interference, bring him in the ring and locking him in the Scorpion. However, this let Rhodes come from behind and hit Sting with a bulldog. Rhodes thought he had the match won at that point, and couldn’t believe it when Sting kicked out. 

Sting took back control of the frustrated Rhodes and put him away with a Stinger Splash.

Cage Match:
Hulk Hogan defeated Ric Flair when Hogan pinned Flair after the Big Leg Drop in 24:12.
Rating: *** 1/4
(Hulk Hogan won the WCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE.)

The only true way to neutralize the Horsemen was to put this match inside a steel cage and let Hogan and Flair settle it 1 on 1. This of course didn’t stop them from trying to interfere, but the cage itself, plus Sting and Pillman coming to Hulk’s side, kept it fair. 

Barry Windham even came down with Woman on his side, each holding a chair. While the match raged inside the cage, everyone outside paused to see what Windham was going to do. However, he and Woman merely set up the chairs, sat down and watched the match. 

What they saw was Flair unable to rely on the Horsemen’s help, and Hogan get the win hitting the big leg drop on a bloody Flair. 

Sting and Pillman went in to congratulate Hogan after the match. By then, Hogan eyed Windham who simply picked up his chair and walked to the back. 

Card rating: ***