September 8, 2007
Matt Peddycord

WCW Worldwide
February 22, 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: Taylor Made Man & Greg Valentine (2/17/1992)

I know, I know. I’m missing two straight weeks of Worldwides, which hasn’t happened since I started recapping these back in July. Sorry though, can’t review what I don’t have. Looks like we missed a Sting/Vader match too. AHH!

Your host is the lonely Tony Schiavone.

Brian Pillman vs. Bart Batton

Batton attacks from behind to start, but then gets floored with a missile dropkick. They show a pre-taped promo with Pillman hyping his match with Liger at Superbrawl. Headscissors and a dropkick puts Batton on the floor. Back in, they trade wristlocks. Pillman delivers a monkey flip to escape, but then whiffs on a springboard crossbody. Batton then dumps Pillman and follows out with a flying double-sledge! Holy snap! Back in again, Batton heads up top, but this time he gets caught with a dropkick. Pillman snaps off a headscissors takedown and then finishes Batton off with AIR PILLMAN. (3:24) Good little back and forth squash. Pillman vs. Liger! Superbrawl! This Sunday!

Eric Bischoff meets up with the WCW Patriots and Van Hammer. These guys actually think they have a chance against the Dangerous Alliance. HA!

PN News & El Gigante vs. Bubba Howard & Karl Nelson

Oh my gosh, Gigante is trying to dance. As long as he doesn’t grab the mic and ask for a beat, I think I can handle it. News does most of the work on Karl Nelson and then Gigante comes in and pins Bubba Howard with the CLAW. (2:17) Thankfully, News & Gigante didn’t make it to the Superbrawl card.

Sting gets called out for an in-ring interview with Tony Schiavone. He’s had one month to think about his title match, so what’s running through your head, Stinger? Luger is all business, but Sting says wrestling is his business and business is pretty darn good right now. Well daggone, Sting is FIRED UP!

Evidently, Eric Bischoff must’ve beaten Gordon Solie in a “winner gets to do the WNN segment” match, because that guy has taken over. The first news item of the week is that Ron Simmons and Big Josh have defeated the Young Pistols for the WCW U.S. tag titles on the Main Event last week. Simmons delivered a SPINEBUSTER to Smothers to set up the NORTHERN EXPOSURE (running butt splash) from Big Josh for the 1-2-3. If you didn’t notice above, Simmons and Josh have already lost the belts according to the taping schedule. Superbrawl is this coming Sunday! Let’s recap the eight-match card.

- Marcus Bagwell vs. Taylor Made Man
- Ron Simmons vs. Cactus Jack
- El Gigante/Johnny B. Badd/Big Josh/Mike Graham vs. Young Pistols/Vinnie Vegas/DDP (match was changed to Van Hammer/Tom Zenk vs. Richard Morton/Vinnie Vegas)
- Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham vs. Larry Zbyszko & Steve Austin
- WCW World Light Heavyweight Champion Jushin Liger vs. Brian Pillman
- WCW World Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton vs. Rick & Scott Steiner
- WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat (Paul E is barred from ringside)
- WCW World Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger vs. Sting

Oh, it’s going to be a GREAT show. But before we go, Luger has some comments for the Stinger. He says he’s never been more prepared for a match and that he’s looking forward to walking out of wrestling, I mean – Superbrawl as the World Champion.

WCW U.S. Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude vs. Ian Weston

Rude plays around with this kid until he finishes him off with the RUDE AWAKENING. (1:30) Rude is…AWESOME.

Ricky Steamboat (w/his own personal ninja) vs. Cactus Jack

Don’t you wish you had your own personal ninja? Just think of the possibilities! Jack’s head is all bandaged up, but no explanation was given. I don’t remember medical head wraps being the style in 1992, so I’m sure Abdullah and Simmons had something to do with it since they’re all feuding and stuff. But then again, we’re talking about Mick Foley, so he could’ve just voluntarily smashed his head on the concrete for no good reason. Paul E Dangerously joins Tony for color commentary in this match, which is a nice change. Cactus comes from underneath the ring to get at Steamboat and the ninja does absolutely nothing to stop this. Cactus hits a backbreaker to set up the elbow drop off the apron! Meanwhile, Tony questions Paul E on the basis that Cactus Jack has been hired to take out Steamboat. Paul E says that Cactus is just here to test Steamboat’s neck for the Rude Awakening. If he wanted to injure Steamboat for good, he would’ve put “The Cruncher” Larry Zbyszko in this match instead. Such a good story being told here. Cactus now brings Steamboat in the ring to work on his neck. He’s wrenching on it with Steamboat’s karate belt! Jack follows up with a kick to the neck and then snapmares him over for a kneedrop! Steamboat of course sells it like a champ. Cactus hits the running legdrop and whips Steamboat across into the corner, but then he misses the big charge and flips out to the floor. SICK! Steamboat now has his karate belt and wraps it around Jack’s throat to bring him back in the ring. He chokes away and then climbs up in the corner for the ten-count punch, but then Cactus delivers a chokeslam out of nowhere. Cactus chokes some more, but Steamboat fires back. He slams Cactus, but it jars his hurting neck. Steamboat then comes off the top with a double-ax handle and covers for 1-2-NO! Cactus got his foot under the bottom rope. They get into a slugfest, which ends with Cactus giving Steamboat a backdrop over the top rope and to the floor for the DQ. (6:05) They continue fighting on the floor as Larry Zbyszko comes out, but the ninja pulls out his nun-chucks and Larry is DEATHLY AFRAID of nun-chucks. That told an awesome story and it makes the Rude/Steamboat match that much more intriguing, and Rude isn’t even at ringside! ***¼

Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton & Larry Zbyszko (w/Paul E. Dangerously) vs. Van Hammer, Firebreaker Chip & Todd Champion

Hammer runs down Zbyszko a couple times and then tags in Chip. He flips Larry Z over out of a wristlock, but he falls right into the DA corner for an easy tag to Arn. Chip runs circles around Arn and school-boys him for two. Eaton and Champion tag in for a bit. Champion surprises Eaton with a monkey-flip. Eaton tries the same thing, but Champion sees it coming and lifts Eaton up into a full-nelson. Not bad. Arn comes in for the save and then tags in to pound on Hammer, which has no effect. That is, until AA outsmarts Hammer (which shouldn’t take much) and trips him up from the floor for a good old-fashioned leg posting. Eaton thought that looked like fun, so he walks by and gives that a try. Hammer gets stuck in the DA corner, but he quickly fights out and makes the lukewarm tag to Chip. This turns into a pier-six brawl where Chip hits his finisher (airplane spin slam) and covers, but then he doesn’t see Bobby coming off the top for the big kibosh. Arn rolls over and covers for 1-2-3. (7:45) A little below average Dangerous Alliance six-man glorified squash. Man, that’s a mouthful. *½

Before we go, let’s go to Eric Bischoff for an interview with Vinnie Vegas and his manager Harley Race. Why has the Vinster been talking junk about Big Josh all of a sudden? Race says something about surrounding himself with people who know how to take care of business. Does that mean he hangs out with Bachman-Turner Overdrive? Now Vinnie has the mic and entertains us. I’ll transcribe it verbatim for you. Harley is doing his best not to bust out laughing. “First off, let me tell you something, Big Josh – you pancake-eating fat boy from the northwest. Nothing personal, but you got in my way, so something had to happen. But, let me tell you something about the Vinster, alright? When most of ya’s was worried about who you were going to take to the senior prom, I was down in Miami Beach with Johnny Vespuso, collecting $253,000 for the Tropicana Hotel! Yeah, when most of ya’s WCW ex-football stars was worried about who you was taking to the pre-game college mixer, yeah, I was organizing wildcats strikes, and busting the scabs in the head who had the audacity to break the line. Let me tell you real quick, baby. Don’t bet against Vinnie Vegas. It’s something that can cause your career to end.” I think I might just upload that to YouTube. Anyways, Harley Race wouldn’t remain as Vinnie Vegas’ manager for very much longer, as it just didn’t make any sense. DDP would become Vinnie’s manager by the spring.

Next week, the main event will be a huge eight-man tag with Brian Pillman, Tom Zenk, Big Josh and Ron Simmons taking on Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko and Bobby Eaton!

Final Thoughts: Well, this is it for now. No more regular episodes of Worldwide until I get some more. Such a sad day, but all good things must come to an end. Wait, what am I talking about? I’m not done reviewing shows, just the Worldwides. Anyways, everything seems to be looking good going into Superbrawl. Sting is pumped up, Steamboat is pissed off, Pillman is super confident, and the Dangerous Alliance are ready to break some bones. It’s going to be a fun time.