Sunday, July 18th, 1993
Mississippi Coast Coliseum
Biloxi, Mississippi
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Off The Grid, Volume 59:
Eric Bischoff and Missy Hyatt welcome us to the show and then immediately pass it off to Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura. Jesse is of course at the bar with a group of young ladies before getting escorted to the announce table. Jesse having goggles on his head is a nice touch. This just feels like stalling for the sake of stalling.
WCW Television Championship Match
Ron Simmons vs. Paul Orndorff
If Orndorff is disqualified, he loses his title. Within 2 minutes of the match, I have no clue why they chose this to open the show. Simmons puts on a Figure Four but Orndorff is right by the ropes. Orndorff pulls Simmons out of the ring and risks DQ by slamming his head on a TV monitor. For a title that has a time limit on it, it feels like we passed it 5 minutes ago. I still have to sit through Maxx Payne and Erik Watts on this show. Simmons hits a powerslam out of nowhere and gets a 2 count. Simmons hits a flurry of moves and goes for the cover after a vertical suplex but Orndorff grabs the bottom rope. Orndorff goes for a piledriver and Simmons blocks it. He goes for it again and Simmons hits a back body drop that sends Orndroff over the top rope and to the floor. The ref rings the bell for a disqualification because WCW has terrible rules. This was a terrible opening match.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Missy Hyatt is with Paul Orndorff and Equalizer. Do we really need more of this? Equalizer has to be one of the worst wrestlers to ever be employed by WCW. Missy is so bad in this role too.
Erik Watts vs. Lord Steven Regal
The announcers come out and tell us that "Hey, maybe Watts will learn something here". I'm not sure what they are going for so far, but it's not working. Regal finally turns up the intensity but then misses a knee drop. Watts puts on the STF but Sir William slaps him. The distraction works and Regal rolls him up for the win. This was awful and had no business on pay per view.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Too Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Tex Slazenger & Shanghai Pierce
Don't go messin' with a country boy. This one at least is waking up the crowd and probably would have been a much better choice for the opener. We'll see if they can keep up this pace. I think Scorpio may have more success in WWF if he would have been on the roster during this time rather than 1996. The faces get a longer advantage than expected before the heels use traditional heel tag team wrestling. Pierce hits a really nice gutwrench powerbomb for a 2 count. This has really just been a solid match. Scorpio gets a hot tag and hits a superkick. He hits a big splash off the top rope, but Tex breaks up the pin attempt. All four men are in the ring and they throw the two big Texans into each other. Bagwell hits a back suplex and Scorpio hits the 450 splash for the win. Nice match.
Match Rating: ***
Jesse interviews Regal after the match. He tells Orndorff that he's on a mission to win the TV title back. He kicks it to Bischoff and they talk about this big grudge match coming up between Maxx Payne and Johnny B. Badd by showing us one thing that happened.
Maxx Payne vs. Johnny B. Badd
Payne comes out playing guitar and Badd is wearing a pink mask. Badd goes right for him and starts throwing right hands. Payne takes control and slows the match down. He gets his finisher locked in but Badd is right by the ropes. Badd hits a dive over the top and they brawl outside. Back in the ring, Badd hits a crossbody off the top rope and gets the win? I mean, I didn't need to see any more of this, but I am surprised it was that quick.
Match Rating: 3/4*
WCW Tag Team Championship Match
Arn Anderson & Paul Roma vs. Hollywood Blonds
This is obviously a master class in how to start a match when you have the crowd invested. We also get lots of Jesse complaining about closed fists and Tony having to agree. With that being said, not a whole lot of note happens here in the first 10 minutes of the match, but I am invested. Roma finally gets Arn in for the hot tag and he hits a big DDT. The ref is distracted and Austin breaks up the pin attempt. Roma makes a few mistakes of accidentally distracting the referee when Arn has pin attempts and Jesse is all over him. Arn and Pillman collide and only Pillman can make the tag. Arn sort of half suplexes Austin over the top and to the floor and this leads to my favorite argument as to why it isn't a disqualification. Arn finally makes the tag to Roma and they get a nearfall after Arn hits an illegal spinebuster. We get another ref distraction that hurts their team and Austin rolls up Roma for the victory. This was a fine match, but it never really got beyond that. They could have easily shaved 5 minutes off and no one would have noticed.
Match Rating: ***
Bischoff and Missy try to hype up the Iron Man match, but fail.
Iron Man Challenge For The United States Championship
Rick Rude vs. Dustin Rhodes
I'm glad that Jesse feels the same way about Rhodes' music as I do. They do have a timer here for the match. We get a real slow burn here to start and the timer goes away until the 25 minute mark. To say that they are starting slow would be an understatement. We are at the 10 minute mark and Jesse lets us know that there have been no pinfalls. There has hardly been any action, let alone pinfall attempts. Rude finally hits a Rude Awakening and finally gives us a pin. I would write about this match, but something would actually have to be happening in order to do so. Rude has him in the sleeper hold and looks to be out. Miraculously, his hand doesn't hit the third time and he starts to battle out of it. Things finally pick up with about 4 minutes left. Rhodes hits a bulldog and ties it up at 1-1. Rhodes is giving it all he can, but Rude is able to kick out each time. Rhodes slaps on the sleeper hold with a little over 30 seconds left. Rude uses a jawbreaker to release the hold. Rhodes hits a DDT and the time runs out when the ref gets to the 1 count. I mean the last few minutes were fine, but having to watch 20+ minutes of nothing to get to that finish felt like torture.
Match Rating: 3/4*
NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match
Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham
There already has been more action in the first 90 seconds than there was in the first 25 minutes of the last match. The crowd is a little flat for a Flair match here though. Things slow down a bit and it's really quiet. I honestly don't think Flair can believe it. Windham hits a superplex and even that doesn't really get a response. Flair does his usual spin over the top turnbuckle and runs up to the top. He actually hits a dive of some sort, but Windham rolls him over and gets a 2 count. Flair slaps on the Figure Four and then the referee counts 3 with Windham's shoulders on the mat and that is one of the uglier finishes you will see, but that's WCW for you. This show has sucked.
Match Rating: **
Even Flair's post-match interview with Jesse is flat. He can't be happy with that finish.
We go to Bischoff and Missy again just in case this didn't show suck enough yet.
Sid & Vader vs. Davey Boy Smith & Sting
It should come as no surprise, but after some really flat matches, Sting understood the assignment. His energetic offense doesn't last long, as Sid isn't having it. Sting and Davey Boy wake up the crowd with a double clothesline off the top rope. Davey Boy hits a delayed vertical suplex on Vader to a good reaction. We do get a small but audible "Vader" chant going even though the majority of the crowd are behind the faces. Sting gets a hot tag and he unloads on both big men. It doesn't last long and we're back to the big men dominating. The match breaks down and Sid takes Sting to the entrance ramp. Vader hits a moonsault on Davey Boy. Sting runs in and dives on Vader to prevent a pin attempt. Davey goes for a crucifix pin attempt and gets Vader down and pulls off the victory. This was everything it needed to be and while it wasn't good enough to be a show saver, it saved it from being a complete turd of a show. Great work by all four men.
Match Rating: ***1/4
This was not a good show at all. 1993 WWF is always destroyed for its quality, but it really was just American wrestling in general. Like in WWF, there are some good things happening, but on some nights it just isn't enough.
Overall Rating: 38%