Fall Brawl '93

Legacy Review

Fall Brawl '93

September 19, 1993 from the Astro Arena in Houston, TX

Commentary: Tony Schaivone and Jesse Ventura

The Fall Brawl name that had been used as the subtitle for the first few Clashes that took place in the fall now stands alone as the first of two completely new PPVs for WCW in '93. It's also the latest home for War Games, and would stay that way for most of the rest of WCW's existence.

WCW World Television Championship: Lord Steven Regal (w/Sir William) def Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat (c) in 17:05- Regal is not impressed with his pyro. Steamboat's ribs have some tape on them due to an attack by Regal the "night before" on TV. Steamboat goes full revenge fury and jumps Regal before the bell. Being Steamboat, he's very good about selling the hurt ribs early and often. Chopfest. Regal gets some European uppercuts in the corner. Chop off the top rope. Steamboat can't follow up because of the ribs. Regal sticks an elbow in them. Steamboat hook kick counter. More chops. Regal's shoulder gets run into the top turnbuckle and now both guys have a sore spot. Steamboat works it with a hammerlock. A smarky section in the crowd chants "Steamboat sucks" as Regal targets the ribs again. Steamboat pulls a page out of the Bret Hart playbook by playing dead, then flipping Regal over by the hurt arm. He tries to use the hurt shoulder for a leverage pin. Speed run. Steamboat crossbody for 2. After some more arm work Regal lifts Steamboat up by one arm! That's the Shawn Michaels/British Bulldog spot. Steamboat rolls it over into a short armscissors. Regal counters with a backdrop and the ribs are flaring up again. Regal senton on the ribs. Steamboat lifts him up into an electric chair and drops him. Regal gets his knees up on a splash and hooks in a Canadian backbreaker. Steamboat slips out and hits chops. Regal drop toe hold into a surfboard. The tape finally gets ripped off. Regal double underhook suplex for 2. Steamboat slingshots Regal into the corner. He tries a slam, but the ribs give out and Regal falls on top for 2. Tombstone reversal and Steamboat hits it. Someone in the WCW offices loved that spot, they worked it in at least once a show during this period. Steamboat flips out of a back suplex and rolls Regal up for 2. He hits the crossbody off the top but Regal pushes off as he's landing to keep Steamboat from covering right away. Sneaky smart. By the time Steamboat can cover Regal kicks out. Regal pushes Steamboat over the top. While Steamboat's skinning the cat William hits him with the umbrella! Regal hits a German suplex, gets the pin and the title! Pretty good opener, just wish the hurt ribs played more into the finish instead of having the generic heel manager interference finish. ***1/4

The Nasty Boys promise a surprise for tonight. Knobbs calls his shot, saying they will win the match with a bulldog off the top rope.

 

Charlie Norris def Big Sky in 4:34- So who the hell are these guys? Norris came to WCW in August and was getting a mini-push after working his first few years in a short lived Minneapolis (old AWA territory) promotion called Pro Wrestling America. He's taken over the mandatory one per company Indian gimmick. Sky is actor Tyler Mane. He was Doom's bodyguard Nitron for about 5 minutes and had been partnering with Vinnie Vegas (Kevin Nash) before Nash left for the WWF. Lockup standoffs. Arm wringer tradeoff. Sky: "Shishishitshitshit!". Not PG. The smarky section starts a "We want Flair" chant. More Norris arm work. Now they're chanting "boring". Sky gets a boot up in the corner and hits a chokeslam. Norris dodges a kneedrop off the second rope and goes into full Tatanka dancing comeback mode. Bicycle kick, pin. Next. 1/4*

 

2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell def The Equalizer and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in 10:46- Lots of stalling at the start with the "Paula" chants in full force. Bagwell and Equalizer start. Equalizer's crazy gets the edge. Then he flat outsmarts Bagwell with counters. Well, as we'd learn in later years Bagwell was a meathead. The faces double team and a double dropkick sends Equalizer to the floor. Scorpio gets double backdropped. He hits a reverse crossbody off the top but Orndorff rolls through it for 2. More face double teams. Bagwell floatover suplex for 2. Equalizer pulls the top rope down and Bagwell crashes to the floor. He gets slammed on the floor. Orndorff blocks a sunset flip. More unexpected Equalizer intelligence as he suckers Scorpio in for double teams. Bagwell crucifix on Equalizer for only 1. Scorpio breaks up an Equalizer pin. Orndorff with a bear hug. Bagwell hits a back suplex. Tags. Scorpio comes in all fists of fury. Crossbody off the top. Orndorff breaks the pin up. Everyone in the pool! Scorpio gets clotheslined to the floor and the heels work isolated Bagwell. Bagwell dodges and Orndorff high knees Equalizer. Scorpio goes up top, hits the 450 splash, and it's over. *3/4

 

Ice Train def Shanghai Pierce (w/Tex Slazenger) in 3:27- So who the hell are these guys, part two. Pierce is the future Henry Godwinn, he teamed with Slazenger (the future Phineas Godwinn) on the last PPV. Ice Train is a green 1993 version of Powerhouse Hobbs, best known for teaming up with Scott Norton as Fire and Ice in '96. He shouts "CHOO CHOO" a lot. I'd call that Jim Herd gimmick territory if it wasn't a couple of years after he left. Train powers out of a headlock and shoulderblocks Pierce down. Pierce suckers Train in with a test of strength. The heels try a double team clothesline with their rope. Train powers through it, hits an ugly powerslam and gets the pin. Next. 1/4*

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Nasty Boys (w/Missy Hyatt) def Arn Anderson and Paul Roma (c) in 23:58- The Nastys had returned to WCW in the summer after floating around WWF's midcard hell for a couple of years. Hyatt is their big surprise. The whole "nastiest lady in wrestling" thing is a bit too on the nose. Roma and Knobbs start with a lot of playing to the crowd. Roma anticipates a Knobbs ambush and takes him out. Knobbs knocks him down with some shoulderblocks and a lot of trash talk. It's the only thing the Nastys were halfway decent at. Roma powerslams both Nastys and they go out to regroup. Reset with Saggs and Arn. Corner pounding tradeoff. Arn drags Saggs and posts his knee. The Horsemen go to work on it. The smark section is waving one dollar bills at Hyatt like she's a cheap stripper and are chanting "take it off" at her. She looks legit not pleased. Behind the "action" such as it is you can see a couple of arena security guys go over and tell some of them to cool it. The Nastys swap, but the Horsemen just continue the knee work on Knobbs like they didn't even notice. The way they're on autopilot this match maybe they didn't. Knobbs pushes out of a Roma figure four attempt and Roma ends up in the wrong part of town. Tony says "What does Missy know about the sport anyway? The holds?". Ventura responds "I bet she can get you in a few holds". Tony quickly moves on. The Nastys quick tag Roma and start working their usual array of dazzling rest holds. Roma lifts and drops Knobbs, and gets a tag. Arn puts a sleeper on Saggs. While the ref's distracted Knobbs comes in and clotheslines Arn 360 to the floor. Arn gets slammed on the floor. Saggs gives him a chairshot. Knobbs covers for 2. The Nastys play the abdominal stretch illegal leverage game with the ref. "Ref didn't see the tag" spot and more heel double teaming. Chinlocks, abdominal stretches, and now a bear hug. More tag cutoffs. Arn double faceplants both Nastys and tags. Roma cleans house. Dropkick off the top. The pin is broken up. The Nastys set up for the top rope bulldog. Arn pushes Saggs off and Roma victory rolls Knobbs for 2. World's Greatest Spinebuster! Roma covers but while the ref's getting Arn out Saggs hits Roma in the back of the head with an elbow off the top. Knobbs covers, gets the pin and the titles! Well, it was the basic Midnights/RNR playbook. As interpreted by two junior varsity high school teams that might have practiced together once. Arn was the one guy in this match you could count on to provide some quality but he completely phoned it in, probably because of all the Disney tapings pretaping and everyone knowing the result months ago. 3/4*

Recap of the Vader/Cactus Jack feud, including clips from the infamous Lost in Cleveland spots. Jack cuts a pretty good promo after, showing he's learning what would be one of his greatest strengths during his WWF run.

 

Cactus Jack def Yoshi Kwan (w/Harley Race) in 3:38- Kwan is Chris Champion made up to make it look like he's Asian. Race has the bag he stole from Jack early in the feud that has some kind of huge meaning to Jack. We never find out why. Jack goes straight for Race and keeps Kwan from ambushing him. Cactus clothesline! Jack stalks Race again and Kwan kicks him in the back. Kwan hits a running enzuguri on the ramp. Back in he rolls through some martial artsy type stuff. Spinning heel kick. Jack catches a kick and pounds away. Inverted atomic drop. Kwan's selling is....something. Race trips Jack and hooks him in for a double team. Kwan takes Race out. Double underhook DDT and it's done. Jack gets his bag back. Yay? After the match he challenges Vader for Halloween Havoc. *1/2

Recap of the Rude/Flair feud. Rude breached every workplace sexual harassment law known to man by forcibly kissing Fifi on A Flair for the Gold. Fifi slaps him. After she and Flair turn their backs Rude hits Flair with the title belt and gives him a Rude Awakening.

 

Before getting to the match, I've been teasing this for a long time, and at last the day is here. It's time to talk about the WCW International World title. Get a notebook or some scratch paper ready, you're probably going to need it. WCW reunited with the NWA in mid-'92 under the Bill Watts regime, bringing back the Big Gold Belt at the same time to represent the NWA World title, which was separate from the WCW World title that was still represented by the (underrated) '91 "globe and stars" belt. Unlike the tag titles, which were unified. Not long before this show, the Eric Bischoff regime and the NWA fully dissolved the partnership. Done. Finished. But, WCW kept possession of Big Gold (side note to all of this, this is when the NWA brought back the 10 Pounds of Gold to represent their world title). The solution? They created a completely made up, fictitious, as real as the four headed man eating fish beast haddock of Aberdeen, "WCW International" branch and said Big Gold represented that branch's champion, which was still completely separate from the WCW World title. I think part of the logic behind that, assuming there was any, was that Big Gold had spent a good amount of time around the waist of New Japan wrestlers since coming back. They would continue as two completely separate titles before sanity finally returned and they were unified in the summer of '94.

And if you've got all that down, might be time to start working on a degree in quantum mechanics or nuclear engineering.

WCW International World Heavyweight Championship: "Ravishing" Rick Rude def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) (w/Fifi) in 30:47- Classic Rude tights mind games as he has Fifi on them. Cautious start. Rude works a headlock. After a shoulderblock he misses a knee off the top rope. Flair goes right for the figure four! Rude quickly gets to the ropes. Flair struts a bit as Rude rolls out. When he gets back in he clotheslines Flair 360 to the floor. Rude starts barking at Fifi. Flair goes up top and drops an ax handle on him. Then for some reason, even though Rude's already damaged his knee earlier in the match, Flair spends the next 10 minutes picking apart Rude's arm. There's a funny moment where Ventura's mic gets temporarily cut off by the truck because he's made one too many overtly sexist comments about Fifi. Rude eye rakes and hits some chops of his own. He runs his shoulder into the corner and Flair's back on it. Rude tries to slam but his arm gives out. Punch/chop exchange. Flair blocks a hiptoss and backslides Rude for 2. A Flair crossbody sends both guys tumbling to the floor. Rude suplexes Flair back in for 2. Now it's Rude's turn to kill the match with restholds, specifically his double chinlock. After 5 or so minutes of that they go speed, ending with Rude pressing Flair and dropping him on the top rope. Flair Flip to the floor! Rude bear hug. Flair goes down and Rude gets near falls with it. Finally Flair rolls them over and eye gouges out. Flair charges. Rude grabs him and hits a hot shot. Flair Flop! Rude hits ax handles off the top. On the third one Flair counters and rolls through some of his usuals. Rude gets a knee up in the corner and hits a DDT for 2. He sets up the Rude Awakening. Flair bites Rude's hand to get out! Flair hits a Rude Awakening! Rude just gets a foot on the rope. Rude puts on a sleeper. Flair kneebreakers out. He goes for the figure four. Rude small package counter for 2. Flair tosses Rude out and drops him on the guardrail. Flair ax handle off the top to the floor! Rude reverses a corner whip and Flair Flop 2! Flair runs over, climbs up, but Rude catches him on the way down. Rude kneedrop off the top rope. Flair kicks out! Flair gets tossed out. Rude calls Fifi up to the ramp. Fifi slaps him. He kisses her and lifts her into the ring. Flair comes from behind and punches Rude. Backdrop. Inverted atomic drop. Figure four! For some reason Fifi distracts the ref. Rude gets brass knucks out, nails Flair with them, and covers for the pin and the title! We go 3 for 3 on title changes tonight. As I've mentioned before, this was Rude's consolation prize after his scheduled WCW World title win in '92 was scrubbed due to his injury. Now, I didn't hate this match as much as a lot of other reviewers did, but it's still miles below the all time classic we all know these two were capable of. They certainly got the time for it. The work was fine but there were a lot of psychology hiccups, and why in the hell would Fifi distract the ref at the end if she wasn't turning on Flair? **

 

War Games: Sting, WCW United States Heavyweight Champion "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes, "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith and The Shockmaster def WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader, Sid Vicious and Harlem Heat in 16:39- Commentary gets blown up by the pyro coming off the cage. I think Ventura had 'Nam flashbacks. After his disastrous intro Shockmaster's gimmick has been changed from....whatever it was to construction worker. With all the craziness around his debut I forgot to mention Shockmaster is Fred Ottman, AKA Tugboat/Typhoon in WWF. Dustin's coming in with hurt ribs. His teammates want him to wait for the end, but he pushes past them to get in first.

P1. Dustin & Vader: As if it wasn't bad enough Dustin went in first hurt, look who he's in there with. Vader goes right to the ribs. Dustin taped fist punches beat Vader down in the corner. He takes his boot off and whacks Vader with it. Huge Vader clothesline. Corner potatoes. Dustin kicks him with his bare foot. Vader bomb! The mask is already off. Dustin DDT. More boot shots. Dustin hits a powerslam as the clock hits zero.

P2. Kane (Stevie Ray): Kane hits Dustin with his own boot, but he goes for the head instead of the ribs. That's great strategery if you're trying to take out Thanos, but in a wrestling match go for the hurt body part! Dustin gets run into the cage and is bleeding. As the clock counts down the heels move over to cut off the next entrant.

P3. Sting: Double clothesline on the heels. Kane goes into the cage. Sting lifts Vader and backs him into the cage. They pair off in each ring, Sting & Vader, Dustin & Kane. Vader goes face first into the cage.

P4. Sid: He whips Sting into Vader and chokeslams him. Triple team on Sting. The boot is still being used as a weapon. Sting faceplants Sid. Vader and Sid press Sting into the cage ceiling.

P5. Bulldog: Sid tries to cut him off but Bulldog clotheslines him. Powerslam on Vader. Sting and Bulldog press Sid up into the ceiling. The heels slowly take over again before Sid gets whipped into the cage.

P6. Kole (Booker T): Tony says Shockmaster will be last. Ventura: "Who knows what kind of entrance he's gonna make". The heels mostly stay in control with nothing much interesting happening. Booker dives over both ropes but apparently misses his target. They go wide shot and it's hard to tell.

P7. Shockmaster: He tosses Harlem Heat aside and goes for Vader. Dustin boots Sid. Shockmaster bear hugs Kole, and after a minute Kole gives it up. What a lame ending. The heels bitch and moan in the ring a few minutes to close the show. All that setup with Dustin being hurt and going in first went nowhere. The whole thing was built around trying to salvage Shockmaster after his epic disaster of a debut and make him look like an unbeatable monster. You'd be hard pressed to find a worse War Games match. *3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Once again, taping months worth of shows in advance does nothing but de-motivate your wrestlers and kill any momentum. On top of that, a lot of the guys getting put over are ones that no one cares about and have little long term prospects. Outside the opener this is a pretty big train wreck. Not GAB '91 level, but not too far behind.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D