WCW On Pay Per View in the 90's - Every event Reviewed

[The New F'n Show]

Great American Bash 1992

Best Match Koloff and Steamboat vs Liger and Pillman. Fantastic match. Started a bit slow, kind of a feeling out process, but then picked up to amazing lengths. Would have loved to seen a Steamboat-Liger singles match. Vader-Sting close second.

Worse Match Hiroshi Hase and Shinya Hashimoto VS. The Freebirds. Agree here but still think this match was above average.

Event Rating 7/10
Now I am a bit biased because I am a big fan of tag team wrestling but I thought this was an excellent show. Having a great title match didn't hurt either. Opening was amazing. Rhodes-Windham vs Austin-Rude was a good match with a nice finish, It went a little longer than it needed too but didn't hurt the quality. Japanese contingent vs Freebirds was alright but nothing special. Gordy and Williams vs Steamboat and Koloff had some good psychology in it. Rhodes-Windham vs Hase and Hashimoto was much like the freebird match not great but not bad. Sting-Vader was excellent and very well planned out. They had a title change without Sting looking weak. I also was always a big fan of Vader and thought Vince failed in not pushing him to the moon. Main event was solid but not main event material on this show. Overall very watchable.

 

[Keith]

Halloween Havoc 1992

Date October 25 1992

Setting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Attendance 5,000

Best Match Unified Tag Team Championship Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes VS. Dr Death Steve Williams and Stunning Steve Austin

Worse Match WCW World Title Ron Simmons VS. The Barbarian

Event Rating 6.5/10

Comments This was the best Havoc event since its debut in 89, sadly a very good undercard was let down by rotten semi-final and main event matches. In the headliner Sting defeated heel Jake Roberts in a poor coal miner's glove match [the feud between these two should have been much better], the finish came when Sting turned Jake's own cobra on him, and nicked the pinfall as the snake bit its owner in the throat. Roberts left WCW soon after following a contract despute with Bill Watts. WCW Champion Ron Simmons pinned The Barbarian in a boring match. Pushing Simmons as a main eventer was maybe Watt's biggest mistake in WCW, and The Barbarian a career midcarder in WWF was certainly a unworthy challenger for the company's top title. However things were saved by a fantastically gruelling 30 minute draw between Unified Tag Champions [WCW and NWA combined] Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham and Dr Death Steve Williams and his partner for the night Stunning Steve Austin. This match had a tremendous false finish, with two minutes to go ref Nick Patrick was knocked to the floor, Randy Anderson filled in and a counted a fall for Dr Death, it seemed like new champions had been crowned, however Patrick returned and declaired that the match go on as Doc was the illegal man, this was a first rate effort from all concerned. Other highlights included Ricky Steamboat's thrilling victory over recently turned heel Brian Pillman, Rick Rude's decent disqualification win over NWA Champion Masahiro Chono, and a very heated segment between Paul E. Dangerously and Mudasa, which ended with Mudasa giving the yuppie a kick to the head and the pair having a pull apart. Paul E. did an excellent job in putting the 'real' first Lady of WCW over.

 

[Deezy]

I'm glad I wasn't watching WCW during this time, I remember Simmons getting a fluke win over Vader, but I didn't know WCW was putting Barbarian as a world title challenger. Thats like putting Paul Roma in the Horsemen.

 

[The New F'n Show]

Halloween Havoc 1992

Best Match Unified Tag Team Championship Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes VS. Dr Death Steve Williams and Stunning Steve Austin. Agree this was a great match. Kinda stupid ending but match quality was fantastic.

Worse Match Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono NWA title. This match really sucked, at least the WCW title match was average.

Event Rating 6/10

Comments Sting-Roberts has a lousy and very lame finish and a horrible gimick but the little actually wrestling in between all that was decent. Simmons- Barbarian was an average midcard match. The title should have been nowhere near it. I had no problem with Simmons as champion as he is in the College Football Hall of Fame and really could have gotten over with the right push and opponents. Barbarian wasn't that. Tag match was phenomenal but unlike Keith I don't think the finish helped it. Steamboat was a bit past his prime and Pillman was a bit before his and they still had a really solid match, credit to both athletes.I thought Rude-Chono was terrible but after match action was OK. US title match between Vader subbing for Rude and Koloff was pretty standard but A back injury in this match coupled with outside interests ended Koloff's career.

 

[Keith]

US Title match felt rushed to me.

A couple of questions for you Scott. Firstly when you say Steamboat was a little past his prime do you just mean he is not what he was in say 1988/89, I hope this is the case because this is the same Steamboat who had the classic matches with Rude just months before this show.

Also do you think WCW were right to turn Pillman heel when they did. My feeling is that if they had stuck with the Light Heavyweight Division and kept him as the star of it, then it would have been best to keep him face, but that overall he did need more of a edge and a heel turn in the long run benefitted him.

 

[Keith]

Starrcade 1992

Date December 28 1992

Setting Atlanta, Georgia

Attendance 8,000

Best Match King of Cable Final Sting VS. Big Van Vader

Worse Match Van Hammer and Dan Spivey VS. Cactus Jack and Johnny B. Badd

Event Rating 6/10

Comments For the second Lethal Lottery/Battle Bowl WCW got a much better balance, as they staged just four LL Tag matches with the four winning teams advancing to the eight man Battle Bowl headliner. Van Hammer and Dan Spivey defeated Johnny B. Badd and Cactus Jack in a complete shambles of an opener when Hammer pinned Jack, Big Van Vader and Dustin Rhodes beat Kensuke Sasaki and The Barbarian in a average match to advance to Battle Bowl Rhodes pinned Sasaki, Barry Windham and The Great Muta went over Too Cold Scorpio and Brian Pillman in an enjoyable clash, and Sting and Dr Death Steve Williams bested Erik Watts and Jushin Liger in the final and the best of the Lethal Lottery matches, Williams pinned Watts. Later on in a unremarkable Battle Bowl the Great Muta became the second winner last elminating Windham with a drop Kick, Muta was very over with the Atlanta crowd. To none great suprise the stunning King of Cable final between Sting and Van Vader was the match of the night and for my money was even better than their Bash meeting. In more tag action Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas defeated Pillman and Windham in a superb contest to retain the Unified Tag Team Titles. Elsewhere there were two World Title matches, Masahiro Chono retained the NWA Title via submission against Muta in a match which was solid but should have been better, and Ron Simmons retained the WCW Title by DQ against Dr Death in a terrible match. This was Jim Ross' final WCW Pay Per View before leaving for the top broadcasting job in WWF.

 

[The New F'n Show]

A couple of questions for you Scott. Firstly when you say Steamboat was a little past his prime do you just mean he is not what he was in say 1988/89, I hope this is the case because this is the same Steamboat who had the classic matches with Rude just months before this show.

Yes. Couldn't agree more that his matches with Rude were Classics. What I mean is wrestling mind wise he was great but he wasn't in the same shape he was in, in 1986-1989. He had started to age. He was still an athletic marvel though. There was a reason he was mostly in tag teams in his last few WCW years though.

Also do you think WCW were right to turn Pillman heel when they did. My feeling is that if they had stuck with the Light Heavyweight Division and kept him as the star of it, then it would have been best to keep him face, but that overall he did need more of a edge and a heel turn in the long run benefitted him.

I am a huge fan of his run as a heel. He was over as a face but wasn't going to get pushed much, so well I think they could have held off a bit, I don't think it was a bad decision at all.

 

[The New F'n Show]

Starrcade 1992

Best Match Tag Titles: Shane Douglas and Ricky Steamboat vs Barry Windham and Brian Pillman. This is a five star tag match. Full on go for 19 minutes.

Worse Match Van Hammer and Dan Spivey VS. Cactus Jack and Johnny B. Badd. This was nothing better than an average tag match.

Event Rating 7/10

Comments Big Van Vader and Dustin Rhodes vs Kensuke Sasaki and The Barbarian was an average match but it was nice to see Rhodes get the pin. Barry Windham and The Great Muta went vs Too Cold Scorpio and Brian Pillman was an exciting match, I've always been a fan of all 4 of those guys though. Sting and Dr Death Steve Williams vs Erik Watts and Jushin Liger was a decent match but Watts sucked and ruined the flow. Battle Bowl battle Royal was a good battle royal with a surprise winner. Sting-Vader was excellent as expected but I prefer the Bash match. Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas vs Pillman and Windham is one of the best tag matches I've ever seen. Agree Masahiro Chonovs Muta was solid but could have been better, and Ron Simmons vs Dr Death Was average at best, weak for a title match.

 

[Keith]

Well nice that we mostly agree on that one LOL.

I guess that I consider the Sting-Vader meeting to be their best ever, so that is why it gets match of the night, but the tag title bout does push it close, it was excellent.

 

[Keith]

SuperBrawl III

Date February 21 1993

Setting Asheville, North Carolina

Attendance 6,500

Commentary Team Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura

Best Match Too Cold Scorpio VS. Chris Benoit

Worse Match U.S. Title match Dustin Rhodes VS. Maxx Payne

Event Rating 9/10

Comments So this is where Eric Bishoff started his reign in WCW, and as it turns it is one of the company's greatest ever PPV's. It should be noted though that Bill Watts had only quit the promotion about eleven days before hand, so most of the plans for the show were already in place at that time. The PPV debut of future star Chris Benoit was certainly memerble as he narrowerly lost in a blinding effort to Too Cold Scorpio. The pair traded engaging technical holds, crisp high flying moves and suplexes, and exciting near falls, in a match which went close to twenty minutes. The finish was perfect too, as Scorpio hit a rolling cradle catching Benoit off the ropes and scoring the pin with about a split second to spare before the time limit was up. The British Bulldog made his WCW debut in an effective squash match win over 'Wild Bill Irwin. Cactus Jack and Paul Orndorff had a very hard hitting and heated Falls count Anywhere contest, this really was a Tour De Force in effective stunt wrestling, highlights included Jack's sunset flip on the outside, his bump over two rails and Wonderful's suplex on Cactus across the rail. In the end Jack took the fall with a shovel shot to the head. This was the start of his first major push in WCW, and the match may have featured Wonderful's last truly great performance. One of the big draws of the evening was the return to WCW of Ric Flair, as you would expect he got the god treatment in his home state and provided commentry on the NWA Title match, in said bout Barry Windham won his first and only NWA World Title against the Great Muta in a good wrestling match, which might not be to everyone's taste. In the main event Vader beat Sting in a great Strap match, although it was a step down from their efforts at GAB and Starrcade 92. Elsewhere the Smoky Mountain/WCW partneship came to an end [and with it the final traces of Bill Watts and Jim Cornette in the promotion, see Cornette's shoot for more] with The Rock N' Roll Express' victory over The Heavenly Bodies. In the opener future Hollywood Blonds Brian Pillman and Steve Austin defeated the useless combo of Marcus Begwall and Erik Watts. It would be a big coming year for Austin and Pillman.

Right Scott if you don't give this one at least 8/10 then your going in the crippler crossface LOL:smokin:

 

[The New F'n Show]

SuperBrawl III

Best Match Too Cold Scorpio VS. Chris Benoit. Classic that went down to final second. Great pace, no dull moments.

Worse Match U.S. Title match Dustin Rhodes VS. Maxx Payne. Very bad, enough said.

Event Rating (average match quality 6/10) (overall show from a business prospective like Keith uses where bad matches don't carry as much weight 9/10).

Comments Enjoyable tag opener despite Watts being in it. Scorpio-Benoit was one of the best matches of the year. Davey Boy Squash not very good but what was expected. Falls count anywhere match was excellent. Some great spots in this. Tag title match was fairly solid but a bit chaotic. Rhodes and Payne was awful and hurt the overall rating. Windham-Muta was a good, not great, match that Flair added to nicely. Vader-Sting was good but finish was anticlimactic.

So Keith doesn't strangle me , match ratings below.
9+8+8+7+6+6+4+3=51/8=6.375

 

[Keith]

Well I would do it to deezy, but in a odd kind of way it might turn him on:tape2:

Way I see it, if a eight match card has only one bad match on it, and most of the others are good then it surely has to put the rating up there.

Just on the Bulldog-Irwin match, I don't really see your problem with it, sqaush matches still have a place in wrestling even today if they are done correctly. This was an effective squash just like Vader over Zenk at Bash 90, Wild Bill played his part well, there was some decent wrestling, no fuck ups and it served its purpose. Whats wrong with that.

 

[The New F'n Show]

Squash matches aren't good wrestling matches and I prefer them on TV not PPV. I don't have a problem with them, with new guys like Vader and Davey Boy they are very effective.

 

[Keith]

I didn't actually say it was a good wrestling match, just that it had good wrestling in it, and it certainly wasn't a bad match. Anyway I rate Superbrawl III as one of the greatest wrestling Pay Per View's ever, and everyone should check it out and thats that.

On the other hand LOL.

Slamboree 1993

Date May 23 1993

Setting Atlanta, Georgia

Attendance 7,008 [but less than half of those paid]

Commentary Team Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko

Best Match Davey Boy Smith VS. Big Van Vader

Worse Match Thunderbolt Patterson and Brad Armstrong VS. Baron Von Raschke and Ivan Koloff

Event Rating 4/10

Comments This was such a BAD IDEA! WCW decided to deacate a event to the legends of wrestling, this included the first ever WCW Hall of Fame cermory. Now if they had just left it at that then the idea would have been fine, but instead they decided to have not one, not two BUT THREE WTF MATCHES featuring said legends on the night itself as well as spending many non-wrestling segments of the show rambling on about the legends, this all at the expence of contracted talent. It was overkill and as result the show really dragged and felt like it was five hours long. The only legend who looked anywhere near his best was Jimmy Snuka. The slow, sloppy and dated wrestling in the tag bout Patterson/Armstrong VS. Von Raschke/Koloff was truly dire. It wasn't all bad though, things got off to a decent start with Scorpio and Bagwell's opening win against Chris Benoit and Bobby Eaton. The middle of the card took a big nose dive including Sid Vicious squash of Van Hammer, a disserpointing tag bout between Rick Rude/Paul Orndorff and Dustin Rhodes/Kensuke Sasaki and Sting's poor match with the Prisoner [the former Nailz in WWF], but things ended on a high with The Hollywood Blonds [Brian Pillman and Steve Austin] tight victory over Dos Hombres [Ricky Steamboat and Tom Zenk under masks] and Davey Boy Smith's strong DQ victory over Van Vader. But this was a night to forget.

 

[The New F'n Show]

Keith comment from a couple months ago

" Yes, but that kind of event should be judged on weather the big matches delivered, and with exception of Sting-Luger which we both agree didn't stink the other matches for me anyway all did. Plus there were not as many poor mid-card matches as you tended to get around that era, and there were some major devolpments and excellent crowd heat, these things also factor when judging a event. "

Your right

From now on because I see a flaw in my system I will have ratings for average match quality as I have as well as overall PPV quality. Average match quality is giving too much weight to the midcard.

Past ratings with both
WrestleWar 90 6 for match 7 for quality
Capitol Combant 6 and 6
Great American Bash 1990 7 and 7
Halloween Havoc 1990 7 and 5
Starrcade 1990 5 and 5
WrestleWar 1991 6 and 7
Superbrawl 6 and 6
Great American Bash 1991 3 and 1
Halloween Havoc 1991 7 and 6
Starrcade 1991 5 and 5
SuperBrawl II 6 and 7
WrestleWar 1992 5 and 7
Beach Blast 1992 6 and 8
Great American Bash 1992 7 and 7
Halloween Havoc 1992 6 and 6
Starrcade 1992 7 and 7
SuperBrawl III 6 and 9

On to the next one

Slamboree 1993

Best Match Hollywood Blondes vs Dos Hombres Cage Match for Tag Titles. This was a fantastic match. Fact that Zenk was supposed to be Douglas under a mask hurts it a little though.

Worse Match Thunderbolt Patterson and Brad Armstrong VS. Baron Von Raschke and Ivan Koloff. Really short and not close to good.

Average Match Rating 6/10 (4 matches at 7 or better)
Event Rating 4/10

Comments Agree concept was bad. Show did seem like it would never end and even the ceremony was boring as hell. Scorpio and Bagwell's opening win against Chris Benoit and Bobby Eaton was a very solid match and good call for the opener. Sid Vicious squash of Van Hammer was a solid aquash and served it's purpose but still a below average wrestling match. 6 man tag was pretty solid for Legends over the Hill. Funk-Bockwinkel was a bit slow but a good technical match. Give them credit for putting on a fairly solid match. Rick Rude/Paul Orndorff and Dustin Rhodes/Kensuke Sasaki was decent but nothing special. Sting and The Prisoner was terrible. Even Sting couldn't carry that guy. Windham vs AA wasn't as good as it should of been but was above average. Davey Boy Smith vs Vader was not a bad match. Not a huge fan of DQ's but thought it was the right decision here. Overall their were some very good matches. But some awful ones and the show will be remembered for the awful ones and the fact that Paul Roma was introduced as the newest Horseman.