Saturday, February 21st, 1993
Asheville Civic Center
Asheville, North Carolina
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Off The Grid, Volume 19:
Eric Bischoff and Missy Hyatt are here to welcome us to the show. They bring out Johnny B. Badd in his sailor outfit. That just brings us to them introducing Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura. No one takes longer to start a pay-per-view than WCW. Now Maxx Payne is playing the "Star Spangled Banner" on his guitar.
Brian Pillman & Steve Austin vs. Erik Watts & Marcus Alexander Bagwell
I spot a young Matt Hardy in the crowd during Austin and Pillman's entrance. Bagwell gets the better of Austin in the very early stages of the match. Bagwell hits a nice crossbody, but then a not as nice dropkick to the midsection. Watts gets booed when he gets tagged in, which is pretty crazy in 1993. He slaps on the abdominal stretch and tags in Bagwell so that he can put one on? That's a pretty pointless tag. Austin gets out of it and tags in Pillman, who proceeds to get clotheslined. Both men tag out and Watts puts Austin in a Boston Crab, which doesn't looks like it hurts. Pillman comes in and kicks Watts in the face to break the hold. Watts catches Pillman's leg and tries to put him in the STF, but Pillman grabs the bottom rope. Austin and Pillman hit a double back elbow and knock Watts to the floor, much to the approval of the crowd. Watts gets a sunset flip for a close call, but thanks to the distraction from Austin, the ref didn't get there right away. Pillman and Austin were very good at what they did and are doing everything in their power to make Watts and Bagwell good here. Austin launches Pillman off the top rope, but Watts gets his knees up. He tries to make the hot tag, but Austin is there to hit a back suplex. Austin misses the splash on the ropes and now Watts makes the tag to Pillman. Bagwell's hot tag is all punches and a scoop slam. All four men are in the ring and Watts gets knocked out of the ring. Bagwell hits the fisherman suplex, but Austin hits an elbow drop off the top rope to break it up behind the referee's back and Pillman gets the pin. It was a blast watching Pillman and Austin here, but Watts was pretty horrible and Bagwell was very green.
Match Rating: ***
Eric Bischoff is going to be here. Missy tries to get an interview with him coming out of the limo, but is searched by the police and he comes out and walks away. This was kind of weird, but Flair got a huge response when Bischoff announced him.
Chris Benoit vs. 2 Cold Scorpio
This is one of those matches you just throw on the card because you know it will be good. They bring up Stu Hart, which is kind of interesting with Bret Hart being the man to beat Ric Flair for the WWF Championship. They show off some of their wrestling skills and athleticism and get a round of applause from the crowd. Some of this stuff is just as good 19 years later as it was then. Scorpio 100% should have been a bigger star than he was. Scorpio misses a missile dropkick and Benoit gets a 2 count. Benoit slaps on a Boston Crab and then hits a super back suplex off the second rope. Scorpio comes back with a big clothesline and a 360 splash in the corner. Scorpio hits a cartwheel splash off the top rope, but Benoit kicks out. Scorpio goes for a victory roll, but Benoit slams him face-first and then hits a second rope leg drop for another nearfall. The countdown is on for the time limit, Scorpio rolls him up and gets the 3 count 1 second before the timer goes off. That was a very well executed finish. Both guys looked very good and everything was extremely crisp. This wasn't a common type of match in 1993 and the crowd appreciated it.
Match Rating: ***3/4
Eric Bischoff is with Maxx Payne, who is subbing for Ron Simmons against Dustin Rhodes tonight. He cuts a lame heel promo and plays his guitar.
Bill Irwin vs. British Bulldog
It's kind of weird seeing Bulldog in WCW at this time. Irwin looks like a total jobber here, who apparently is making his return here. Irwin does get a little bit offense in here for whatever reason. Bulldog comes back and hits his always impressive vertical suplex. He catches Irwin, puts him up on his shoulder and hits the running powerslam for the victory. This was just to introduce Bulldog to the WCW audience and for the most part, they liked what they saw.
Match Rating: *1/4
Tony Schiavone interviews Bulldog after his match and he says that the only reason he came to WCW is to become the World Championship World Heavyweight Champion.
We go back to Johnny B. Badd and Missy Hyatt. All they do is tell us what the next match is and then have us go to Eric Bischoff with Paul Orndorff. He says something, but it sounds like loud noises. Cactus Jack comes at him with a shovel and we are underway.
Falls Count Anywhere Match
Paul Orndorff vs. Cactus Jack
This is such a weird pairing to me. Cactus body slams him on the exposed concrete and hits a follow up elbow drop. Cactus goes up to the second rope and goes for a sunset flip onto the concrete and we get a huge splat before he can even get him into a pin. Ouch. They keep brawling towards the entrance now and Orndorff suplexes Cactus on the safety rail. He then slams his unprotected head into the rail. Foley really could have given himself such a longer career had he just avoided a few of these spots. Back in the ring, Orndorff pulls off the knee brace of Cactus and puts him in the Figure Four. Orndorff seems out of his element here, not really knowing what to do next. He goes back outside and drills the knee of Cactus into the concrete. Orndorff grabs a chair and attacks the knee. Orndorff signals for the piledriver and does the Hulk Hogan ear thing. Cactus grabs the shovel, hits him in the head and gets the victory. This was pretty dull despite the sickening bumps that Cactus was taking. It just felt like it lacked energy overall.
Match Rating: **1/4
Heavenly Bodies vs. Rock 'n' Roll Express
This is the Tom Prichard/Stan Lane version. Bobby Eaton is out there, but instantly gets sent to the back. Ironically this match would almost exactly be run 9 months later at Survivor Series, with the only difference being Jimmy Del Ray instead of Stan Lane. Lane of course would go on to be my favorite (not really) announcer in WWF. RnR get the best of the Bodies early on, outsmarting them at every turn. They do the cheesy crisscross spot where Morton exits the ring and Cornette runs in and bumps into Lane. Cornette gets in a cheap shot on Morton with the tennis racket and they finally shift the momentum. Prichard hits a sit down powerbomb for a 2 count. Morton is able to hit a double DDT (almost according to Ventura). Gibson gets the hot tag and it leads to a double dropkick. Gibson flips Cornette in the ring, but Prichard hits Gibson with a bulldog. We get shenanigans now with distractions and Cornette. Out comes Eaton up the top rope. Morton moves out of the way and he hits Prichard, allowing RnR to get the victory. After the match, Eaton and Prichard start to get into it, but they are pulled apart. This was solid, but it felt like it was missing something to make more than just that.
Match Rating: ***1/4
United States Championship Match
Maxx Payne vs. Dustin Rhodes
Dustin comes out swinging, causing Payne to go outside the ring to regroup. Payne's ring attire is really dorky and doesn't fit the gimmick. Rhodes surprisingly gets a lot of the offense here. They kind of just have an aimless match here, with nothing really happening other than Rhodes bringing some fire. Payne gets in some offense for a little bit, but then Rhodes hits a suplex. He slaps on the abdominal stretch, but Payne grabs the ref and pulls him into Rhodes, causing the disqualification. After the match they continue brawling until Rhodes dropkicks him out of the ring. This really made Payne look weak, but honestly he wasn't ready for this type of match anyways.
Match Rating: *
They now trot out Ric Flair to a big pop.
NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match
Barry Windham vs. Great Muta
Flair joins the announce team and the crowd chants for him as they go through the opening spiel. After a nice first minute or two, we get a lot of rest holds with little spurts in between. Windham hits a DDT, but doesn't go for the cover. The action goes outside and Windham hits a back suplex on the floor. Windham puts on a sleeper hold and then starts to use the ropes for leverage. The ref finally catches him and he has to break the hold. If you like rest holds, this match is right up your alley. Muta dominates for a little bit until Windham is able to roll out of the way of Muta's moonsault. Muta ends up going for it again, but Windham gets the knees up. Windham hits the DDT and we have a new champion. There was just too much stalling in there for this to be a good match, but it wasn't terrible. After the match, Flair goes to put the belt around Windham's waist. Windham sees who it is and Flair struts his way to the back.
Match Rating: **
White Castle Of Fear Strap Match
Big Van Vader vs. Sting
Schiavone does a nice job of recapping their lengthy feud and then we get a graphic that this is non-sanctioned by WCW. This is also not for the WCW Championship. Vader pulls Sting towards him and hits a big clothesline. He follows it up with a big splash from the second rope. I really would have loved to have seen Vader in this era of WWF. Sting uses the strap to hit him below the belt and explodes for some explosive offense and hits him with a second rope clothesline. He heads up top and hits a big splash. He tries a second time and he hits it. Sting starts whipping the back of Vader and then gets Harley Race when he jumps on the apron. Vader rolls out of the ring and Race attends to him. Sting slides out the other side of the ring post and pulls Vader into it. Vader's back is all bloody already. Sting then hits a body slam outside and then starts dragging Vader on the outside of the ring. Vader is able to pull him into the ring post and end the victory attempt. It really didn't look like Sting was hitting Vader hard enough to make him bleed. Back in the ring, Sting hits a Samoan drop, but then runs into a wall in Vader. Vader goes for the powerbomb, but Sting counters it with a back body drop. The older I get, the more I like surfer Sting over Crow Sting. Vader hits a Samoan drop of his own and slows the pace down. He hits the Vader Bomb splash and starts whipping Sting with the strap. Vader goes for another Vader Bomb, but this time Sting moves. Vader is still the first one up and this time he goes up to the top rope. Sting pulls the strap and crotches him on the top. He pulls again and Vader goes flying. Sting starts to make his comeback and hits a German suplex and a DDT. Sting puts Vader on his back, but the referee gets knocked down. Sting doesn't notice it and carries him around to touch 3 corners, but then trips up before the 4th. Vader then squashes him and then starts dragging him around the ring. Sting holds onto the ropes before the 4th corner, but kicks him into the corner and Vader is declared the winner. After the match, Sting unleashes more strap shots out of frustration. This was a brutal match and both guys brought it. They beat the snot out of each other and kept up a good pace. It was nice to see them not focus the whole match around touching the corners as well.
Match Rating: ****
After the match, they go to Eric Bischoff with Barry Windham and he says he's going after all championships. WCW never really knew how to end their shows.
This was a pretty good show that the main event saved from being completely forgettable. There were a few good matches on the card, but nothing really memorable until it got to Sting and Vader. I know that's a match that has a lot of nostalgia and it's easy to see why. The roster was pretty weak at this time, but they were able to overcome it here on this show.
Overall Rating: 68%
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