Saturday, June 20th, 1992
Mobile Civic Center
Mobile, Alabama
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Off The Grid, Volume 12:
Tony Schiavone and Eric Bischoff kick off the show and introduce Bill Watts, who isn't very good at getting a show started. They then kick it down to ringside with Jim Ross, who then introduces Jesse Ventura who is on the beach-themed stage with women in bikinis. Could this intro be any longer?
WCW Light Heavyweight Championship
Scotty Flamingo vs. Brian Pillman
We get some mat wrestling to start, which gives me some time to look at how old both men were here and I didn't realize that Flamingo was already 27 here. Although he isn't as effective as he was with Gorilla Monsoon, it always makes the show feel more legitimate when Ventura is out there. Flamingo does a cool spot where he gets knocked out of the ring and on his way out, his feet get caught on the top rope and Pillman knocks him from there to the floor. They are doing a nice job of building this one up slowly, but sprinkling in little bursts to keep it entertaining. Pillman goes up to the top, which is against the rules and Raven throws him off. The rules in this era of WCW are just so stupid. Flamingo throws Pillman through the ropes and then hits a dive outside. After a rest hold by Flamingo, Pillman attempts a comeback, but again Flamingo goes to the chinlock. We are at the 15 minute mark, which is another quirk that I'm not very keen on in a 30 minute time limit match. They start duking it out on their knees and Flamingo uses a rake to the eyes to slow down Flamingo. Pillman hits a second rope suplex and almost gets the victory, but Flamingo gets his foot on the bottom rope. Pillman knocks Flamingo over and onto the elevated ramp and then goes for a dive, but Flamingo moves and Pillman lands hard. Flamingo hits a second rope knee and Flamingo is your new champion. That still surprises me 29 years later. This wasn't a phenomenal match, but it was quite good because they did a nice job of pacing it and keeping it interesting. They also did a good job of Flamingo looking like he belonged and really all I would finish was the actual finish, but that's very common from WCW.
Match Rating: ***1/4
Johnny B. Badd is here to judge the bikini contest, which then brings out the bad side of Ventura. I guess the first rounds is the evening gown contest. This is between Madusa and Missy Hyatt. Madusa comes out with a wedding veil for some reason.
Terry Taylor vs. Ron Simmons
Taylor is only a couple of months off from returning to WWF to be a jobber again. Simmons starts off hot and hits an atomic drop into a military press. Simmons locks in my favorite hold, the bear hug. Taylor gets out of the hold and hits a backbreaker for a 2 count. Simmons hits a modified spinebuster and then a powerslam and picks up the fairly easy victory here. There really wasn't much to this one and it felt a lot more like something that should be on Saturday Night instead.
Match Rating: *1/2
Marcus Bagwell vs. Greg Valentine
It's time for the most anticipated match on the card. Bagwell is the young up and comer against the crotchety old veteran. Valentine starts using his elbows, but Bagwell blocks the piledriver attempt and hits a back body drop. Bagwell hits an atomic drop and a couple of dropkicks and Valentine isn't too happy about it. Valentine is able to regain control until he misses a second rope elbow, but shortly after Bagwell misses a knee drop. Valentine naturally goes to work on the knee, but Bagwell gets a few nearfalls to show of how gutsy he is. Bagwell leapfrogs Valentine, but his knee is hurting, which allows Valentine to lock in the Figure Four and gain the victory. Again, this did not feel like something that needed to be on a pay-per-view, especially since the veteran won.
Match Rating: *
Falls Count Anywhere Match
Cactus Jack vs. Sting
Jack is out first and he kneels in front of the ring and they meet on the elevated entrance ramp. For whatever reason this match is not for Sting's championship. Sting goes for the Stinger Splash, but misses and falls to the floor. Jack follows up with an elbow drop and gets a 2 count. Jack does a leaping sunset flip off the ring and gets another nearfall. They start brawling on the guardrail and the one family in the front row looks mortified. Sting hits a back body drop and it sends Jack over the rail and into the audience. Sting then hits a suplex on the concrete. It's kind of cool that Bill Alfonso is the referee for this one. They finally get into the ring and Jack is able to knock Sting out with a clothesline. Jack then clotheslines Sting over the top rope and both men fall to the floor. Jack gets a few shots in with a chair to the back of Sting. Sting is able to hit a back suplex and on the way down Jack's head hit the guardrail. Sting leaps at Jack, but he's caught and dropped on the guardrail. Jack goes for a piledriver and he kind of hits it, but the announcers are saying he didn't. Jack goes up to the second turnbuckle, but Sting avoids the elbow drop. They're back on the ramp and Sting starts wailing away with a chair. Sting goes for the Scorpion Deathlock, but Jack rolls out of it and they fall to the floor. Sting is able to fight back with a running clothesline and then goes to the top rope and hits a clothesline from there and gets the victory. This match was all out action with a quick pace. There were a few spots that were a little sloppy and I would have liked a better finish, but there's no way you wouldn't be entertained by this one.
Match Rating: ***3/4
30 Minute Iron Man Match
Rick Rude vs. Ricky Steamboat
Paul E. Dangerously and Madusa are banned from ringside for the bout. Steamboat comes out with his wife and son. They start things off before Steamboat can remove his robe. Steamboat hit a gutbuster and is all over the ribs of Rude. Ventura calling out Steamboat for keeping his son in the ring so that Rude wouldn't attack him is classic Ventura. Steamboat gets Rude into the Boston Crab at about the 4 minute mark. After about a minute and a half in the hold, Rude is able to get to the rope. Steamboat immediately hits a splash and then some knees to the ribs. Rude finally gets in some offense and hits a knee to the face of Steamboat and that is all it takes to make this one 1-0. Rude immediately continues the attack and hits the Rude Awakening to go up 2-0. Rude goes up to the top rope and hits a knee drop, which disqualifies Rude. Honestly, how did that ever become a thing that was approved? Rude then gets an inside cradle and gets a third pinfall. I understand they're selling that the top rope disqualification was worth it, but it just makes no sense that it should even be illegal. Anyway, it's 3-1in favor of Rude. Rude now has the Camel Clutch locked in with under 19 minutes remaining. Steamboat gets to the ropes after over a minute in the hold. Rude tries to do his taunt, but he is still selling the ribs. Steamboat is able to lift Rude up on his shoulders and hits an electric chair. Steamboat goes for a splash, but Rude is able to get both knees up. Rude then follows up with a swinging neckbreaker and a few 2 counts. Rude goes for a "Tombstone" piledriver, but Steamboat reverses it and gets a pinfall to make it 3-2. I was surprised to hear Ross call it a Tombstone here. Steamboat hits a superplex, which Ross has to explain to us is a legal move. If you have to spend every match explaining what is legal and what isn't, it really is a stupid rule. They hit a double clothesline and both men are down with 10 minutes remaining. Steamboat gets a backslide and he ties it up. The pace has quickened and Steamboat tries a few pin attempts. Steamboat hits the Rude Awakening and gets a nearfall. We are now down to 5 minutes left in the match. Rude locks in the sleeper hold, but Steamboat is able to drop him into the turnbuckle. Rude still hangs on and now has him in the middle of the ring. Steamboat is dazed and trying to reach for the ropes, but Rude keeps kicking his arm away. Steamboat battles back to his feet and pushes off the ropes and gets a pinfall to take the lead. Rude frantically tries everything he can but it's not enough and Steamboat is victorious. The final 10 minutes were very good and I enjoyed the role reversal to start out the match as well. The middle was a little less inspired, but good enough. I don't like this one as much as most, but it certainly was very entertaining.
Match Rating: ***1/2
It's time for the bathing suit portion of the bikini contest. Missy actually wears a bikini, but the third round is a bikini round.
Arn Anderson, Steve Austin & Bobby Eaton vs. Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff & Dustin Rhodes
My old pal Ole Anderson is the special guest referee. Windham and Austin kick the match off. Austin goes up to the second rope, but Windham slows him down and hits him with an arm drag. He tags in Rhodes and he delivers two dropkicks on Austin. Arn and Koloff get in there and Arn teases going up to the top rope. Ross says that there are sportswriters that have criticized the new rule. You think? Koloff clotheslines Arn over the top rope and since the rules are so great, we have to listen to Ross and Ventura argue about whether or not it should be a DQ. Koloff cleans out all three members of the opposition and Paul E Dangerously has them regroup outside. The heels single out Rhodes and go to work in their corner. Ross claims that Madusa is beating Hyatt 51% to 49% just to get more people to pay to call in. Austin hits a real nice leaping clothesline on Rhodes and gets a 2 count. Austin hits the Stun Gun, but his momentum carries hi across the ring and he's able to make a tag. All six men are in there now and Windham hits a superplex. Arn comes off the top rope, but Ole turns around and sees it and we get a DQ finish. All of that for this finish? Stupid booking and an underwhelming match considering all of the talent in there.
Match Rating: **
We go to Bischoff and Steamboat. Out comes Dangerously and then Cactus Jack attacks him from behind. We get a brawl and security attempts to try and break it up.
We go to Badd and Ventura for the bikini competition. Missy claims someone stole her bikini and she magically turns Ventura's scarves into a bikini. Badd claims Missy should be the winner and then Madusa starts slapping Badd. This is so terrible.
WCW Tag Team Championship Match
Steve Williams & Terry Gordy vs. Steiner Brothers
Well, if you didn't know this was a Bill Watts/Jim Ross era show, now you do. We get a slow build to start, as if you didn't expect this one to be a little longer. I'm still not really sure why they couldn't have main evented this show with Sting and Cactus. Rick finally hits the first real impact move of the match with a belly-to-belly overhead suplex on Doc. Doc rebounds and takes out the knee of Rick, but then gets hit with a clothesline. We're 10 minutes in here and essentially nothing has happened. Make that 15 minutes. The challengers work on Scott for what feels like forever. With four guys of their size and ability, I don't want to see this style of match. Rick finally comes in with the hot tag. Scott magically is ok and goes up to the second rope, but gets clotheslined off by Gordy. Gordy hits a powerslam off the second rope for a 2 count. We're down to 4 minutes left in the match. I've never seen less happen in 26 minutes. Doc hits a gutwrench sitdown powerbomb and gets a 2 count. Rick hits a clothesline and both men are down. The crowd is starting to get into this as the pace picks up. Hot tag to Scott and he hits back body drops on both men. Scott just basically ignores the countdown from the ring announcer and doesn't even hit the Frankensteiner before the countdown was done. Let me make it clear, I like all four of these guys and I really wanted to see this match. However, this was terrible. Bad booking, boring story told and no action. What a terrible way to end this show with a draw. Not to mention that it came right after a disqualification finish.
Match Rating: *
This show was a roller coaster ride and unfortunately it ended on some real lows. If they would have split up the Iron Man match and Falls Count Anywhere match, this would have left me with a much better taste in my mouth. I don't know what they were really going for in the main event, but it didn't work for me. There are better WCW shows, but the two aforementioned matches are definitely worth checking out if you love this era.
Overall Rating: 60%
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