August 19, 2007
Matt Peddycord

WCW Worldwide
January 25, 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!

We open the show with a clip of Rick Rude’s extra Rude Awakening after his match with Bagwell last week with Sting making the big save.

Ricky Steamboat vs. Larry Zbyszko (w/Paul E. Dangerously & Madusa)

They trade a TON of inside cradles and sunset flips and rollups to start, but one chop to the throat and Larry Z is out regrouping on the floor. Back in, Madusa causes a distraction just so Zbyszko can pull the hair to gain the advantage in an overhead wristlock. That’s classic stuff and it’s just not done anymore. They run the ropes a bit, but then Zbyszko catches Steamboat off a leapfrog for an atomic drop, then gives him a mule kick, and puts Steamboat down on the mat with a swinging neckbreaker for 1-2-NO! Nice. Larry rips at Steamboat’s face , but he fights back with chops. Steamboat clothesline gets two. Jackknife rollup gets two. Flying double-chop gets two, but then Steamboat gets dumped thanks to Madusa pulling down the rope. Zbyszko hammers Steamer on the apron and tries a suplex, but Steamboat blocks and chops Larry away for a slingshot crossbody for 1-2-3. (6:23) Wow, that was REALLY good! All of the DA attack after the bell, but the usual good guys make the save. The crowd is just going insane over everything and I love it. ***

Brian Pillman and Tom Zenk are reunited and it feels so good, as they are standing by with Eric Bischoff. They vent their disapproval of the Young Pistols heel turn after all the times they spent riding up and down the roads together and kissing the babies, and now to find out they were phony all along? It makes them plum sick to their stomachs!

Bobby Eaton (w/Paul E. Dangerously & Madusa) vs. Marcus Alexander Bagwell

Poor Bagwell is just being set up for DA beatdowns at this point. Eaton works over Bagwell with wristlocks and headlocks while Paul E does the psyche-job on the floor, calling Bagwell a LOSER! Ohhhh. Anyways, Bagwell tries to make the big comeback and attempts a superplex, but Eaton shoves him off and delivers the ALABAMA JAM for the win. (3:48) Didn’t really go anywhere. *

Tony Schiavone interviews Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham. They say they’re sick and tired of the Dangerous Alliance garbage and they’re going to start breaking limbs to show just how sick and tired they are of those guys.

Cactus Jack & Mr. Hughes vs. Ron Simmons & Abdullah the Butcher

Simmons apparently agreed to help out Abdullah against Cactus, but why? Abdullah isn’t exactly the most trustworthy guy on the planet. Onto the match, Hughes and Simmons start things off. Simmons quickly hits a powerslam. Abdullah tags in and chokes Hughes with his own tie. Simmons and Jack tag in and they go for a bit. Jack hits a knee drop for two. Simmons catches Jack with a sunset flip, but Hughes comes in for the save, which draws in Abdullah. During the chaos, Simmons nails Cactus with a running shoulderblock for the 1-2-3. (3:14) Cactus and Simmons show some promise for their upcoming match at Superbrawl, but nobody knows about that yet. Abdullah gets double-teamed afterwards before Simmons gets back in for the save. *½

Let’s check in with Gordon Solie in the WNN newsroom. He reminds us of the main event scheduled for Superbrawl II is WCW World Champion Lex Luger (shown with him wearing the US belt) taking on his biggest challenge to date in the Stinger. They finally show a little video montage of Luger working out, which is what they’ve been telling us that he’s been doing instead of, you know, defending his title. In other news, let’s hear some comments from the new WCW World tag team champs Bobby Eaton and Arn Anderson. Arn says there was no surprise that they won the belts, because they are the best. Solie runs down the top challengers in Steamboat and Rhodes as well as the Steiner brothers. Thanks Gordon, that’ll be all.

WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude (w/Paul E. Dangerously) vs. PN News

Rude interrupts PN’s stupid little rap and drops him with a clothesline. He hits the chinlock, but News gets to his feet and breaks the hold using his fatness. News splashes Rude and goes for the BROKEN RECORD, but Rude avoids that and delivers the RUDE AWAKENING for the win. (3:05) I love how Capetta adds the RRR in RRRavishing. ½*

WCW U.S. Tag Team Champions The Young Pistols vs. Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk

According to the taping schedule, the Pistols are still the US tag champs. No reason this match can’t be good. There’s still ten minutes left in the show! Smothers and Pillman begin things. Pillman quickly does the spot where he grabs a headlock and does bad things to the other guy, which ends with Zenk coming off the top on both Pistols with a crossbody block to pop the crowd. Zenk hiptosses the Pistols around and delivers a double noggin-knocker to setup a slingshot clothesline from Pillman to put the Pistols out on the floor. They talk to the crowd, so P&Z shut them up with STEREO BASEBALL SLIDES! Back in, Pillman & Zenk deliver a Hart Attack to Smothers and then a slingshot splash from the apron by Zenk. Now all four men pair off and Pillman gets posted down on the floor. Back in, the Pistols give Pillman a double-jumping shoulderblock and draws Zenk in for more double-teaming. Next up, Smothers knocks Pillman off the apron for his chest-first guardrail bump. But then out of nowhere, Pillman shoots back in the ring with AIR PILLMAN! That leads to a false tag spot, but Nick Patrick doesn’t really do anything about it. Zenk hits a superkick on Smothers, but while the ref is with Pillman, Armstrong sneaks in and nails Zenk with one of the title belts. Smothers covers for 1-2-3. (5:59) A little disappointing because I think it should’ve gone a little longer, but they really busted their tails in there. **¾

Before we go, we check in with Eric Bischoff who is standing by with Ron Simmons. He’s wearing an NC State Wolfpack sweatshirt! On the subject of Abdullah being trustworthy, so far so good. Also, Ron Simmons will be involved in a six-man tag along with Van Hammer and El Gigante who will be taking on the Taylor Made Man, Cactus Jack and Big Van Vader. Ugh. Yeah, that’s next week’s main event.

Final Thoughts: Another strong episode of Worldwide this week. They’ve replaced no-name squashes with glorified squashes, which makes it all the more fun. How long can Worldwide keep this up? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.