August 19, 2007
Matt Peddycord

WCW Worldwide
January 18, 1992
Atlanta, GA
Center Stage Theatre

The current WCW Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Lex Luger (7/14/1991)
U.S. Champion: Rick Rude (11/19/1991)
World Television Champion: Steve Austin (6/3/1991)
World Light Heavyweight Champion: Jushin Liger (12/25/1991)
World Tag Team Champions: Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton (1/16/1992)
U.S. Tag Team Champions: Ron Simmons & Big Josh (1/14/1992)

Your host is Tony Schiavone!

Ron Simmons vs. Chris Sullivan

All throughout the program, Schiavone mentions Anderson and Eaton’s tag title win at a recent house show. The usual from Simmons leads to the SPINEBUSTER for the win. (0:50) Power to the people.

Eric Bischoff stands by with Cactus Jack & Abdullah the Butcher. Cactus says he doesn’t fear the Steiners. BANG BANG!

Sting vs. Chuck Coats

No wonder this crowd is hot – there’s no Van Hammer or Big Josh squashes. The coolest spot in the match comes when Coats stomps Sting down in the corner and then walks away into the opposite corner to pose, Sting explodes to his feet and gives him a Stinger Splash. SCORPION DEATHLOCK gets the submission win. (1:33) Yeah, that was cool.

Rick & Scott Steiner vs. Cactus Jack & Abdullah the Butcher

Besides being insane on their own, Cactus & Abdullah have been having some real miscommunication problems in the ring for those of you who haven’t been following along. Rick gives Cactus a belly-to-belly suplex on his head and tags in Scott who slams Abdullah to pop the crowd. Scott follows that up with a suplex for 1-2-NO! Abdullah fights back and hooks on a nerve hold and then tags in Cactus. Scott battles back with another head-dropping belly-to-belly suplex and tags in Rick. Cactus hits the running straddle before Abdullah jabs his voodoo cane in Rick’s throat. He tries it a second time as Cactus tries to straddle Rick again, but he moves and Abdullah dips his cane into Jack’s nether regions. Steinerline gets the 1-2-3! (4:59) Nice little match to further the Steiners’ dominance and the Cactus/Abdullah angle. As usual, the psychos brawl to the back. Maybe I’ve just been watching a lot of Seinfeld lately, but these two remind me of Kramer and Newman for some very odd reason. Or is it Kramer and Mickey? Yeah? **

Let’s check in with Gordon Solie for some WNN! We’ve got new World tag team champions in Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton! The DA now have FOUR WCW titles. Also, Lex Luger is WCW Magazine’s Wrestler of the Year for 1991. Luger is too busy to comment, so Race will have to do. He says Luger has just returned from a GLORIOUS title defense in Japan in front of 65,000 people. Next Tuesday at the Clash, he will announce his next opponent and only because he wants to. Next up, they show the clip of Vader and El Gigante from the WCW/New Japan Supershow where Gigante was blinded by the steam that shoots out of Vader’s helmet. Before we go, Superbrawl II goes down on February 29!

WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude (w/Paul E. Dangerously) vs. Marcus Alexander Bagwell

You see, Bagwell is Sting’s rookie buddy and Sting and Rude hate each other, which means Rude doesn’t like Bagwell. Therefore, Bagwell hates Rude because he’s always beating him up and now he gets a one-on-one match with Rude. Make sense? Don’t be fooled because this isn’t really a major push for Bagwell because he’s being sold as a glorified jobber. The DA could put him away; they’re just not. Rude works the lower back to start with forearms and bearhugs. Bagwell fights out, but he’s stopped with a sleeper hold. Bagwell comes out with a jawbreaker and catches Rude coming down off the top. He attempts a ten-count corner punch, but Rude stops that with an inverted atomic drop and finishes off Bagwell with the RUDE AWAKENING. (5:24) Rude gives him one more Rude Awakening for good measure as Sting runs in for the save and pounds Rude out of the ring. The crowd is just going nuts for everything Sting does. **

WCW World Television Champion Steve Austin (w/Madusa) vs. Ricky Steamboat

As far as I know, this is the earliest one-on-one meeting for these two. They would go on to have some GREAT matches in the next two years. Steamboat blocks a cheapshot blow from Austin to start and then treats him like Randy Savage with a TON of near-falls. He stops that with a kick out to the floor and follows Austin out with a pescado! Back in, Steamboat hits a crossbody for two. Austin flips out of a slam attempt, but Steamboat flips out a back suplex attempt and hooks on a sleeper! Nice. Austin escapes, but then gets nailed with a Flying Judo Chop that sends him falling back into the corner. Madusa tries to kick Steamboat from the apron, but he grabs her foot and forgets about Austin, who levels him with a clothesline. Austin delivers a snake-eyes with four minutes remaining. Austin pounds away, but then Steamboat shoves him off into the corner. They go to the floor where Austin delivers some guardrail punishment and tries to get the countout win. Steamboat makes it back onto the apron, so Austin gives him a suplex to help him back in. Awesome sell-job from Steamboat, as always. That gets two. Austin gets a gutwrench suplex, but Steamboat delivers a desperate back suplex. Double-KO spot ensues. They’re up at eight. Austin falls back on a slam with fifteen seconds remaining. He misses an elbow drop, so Steamboat gives him a swinging neckbreaker as the ten-minute time-limit expires. (10:00) They showed good chemistry in there and that same chemistry would only improve as time moves on. Madusa wants to hit Steamboat with that chick kick that failed earlier, but ends up nailing Austin by accident. Whoops. ***¼

Let’s go to Eric Bischoff who’s standing by with the Stinger. He’s pissed off at the DA because they won’t leave poor rookie sensation Marcus Bagwell alone. He’s rambles on and on about Rick Rude and Paul E. He even admits he’s rambling, but that’s okay because he’s the STINGER.

Final Thoughts: Definitely the best Worldwide episode I’ve seen since I’ve been recapping these shows. I mean, nothing sucked. Also, I’m really looking forward to the Clash. From top to bottom, it looks to be the best Clash since the first one back in ’88. I am EXCITED.