Written By: Matt Peddycord
WCW Fall Brawl 1993
September 19, 1993
Houston, TX
Astro Arena
The current WCW Champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Big Van Vader (3/17/1993)
WCW International World Champion: Ric Flair (7/18/1993)
WCW U.S. Champion: Dustin Rhodes (8/30/1993)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Arn Anderson & Paul Roma (8/18/1993)
WCW World Television Champion: Ricky Steamboat (8/18/1993)
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura.
WCW World Television Champion Ricky Steamboat vs. Lord Steven Regal (w/Sir William)
I’m not really anti-Buffer or anything, but does he have to do the ring announcing for every title match now? Regal beat the crap out of Steamboat on Saturday Night with Sir William’s umbrella which explains why Steamboat’s ribs are taped. Steamboat tries to chop Regal away every time he forearms the ribs. Steamboat hits the FLYING JUDO CHOP, but that hurts his ribs. Steamboat hits the arm twist crescent kick to temporarily stop Regal from elbowing him in the ribs. He works the arm and applies a hammerlock down on the mat. Steamboat’s moving slow anyway because of his awesome selling of his injured ribs, but actually Regal manages to elbow him off. Steamboat plays possum and surprises Regal into a short-arm scissors. Regal tries to power out (Schiavone being ridiculous ~ “I’ve never seen that that in this sport ever.”), but Steamboat uses his momentum to roll him back over into the hold. Regal comes back with a backdrop and reverts to working on the ribs. He delivers a somersault senton, causing Ventura to reference Edouard Carpentier like always. Regal applies a crossface and grinds his knee into the ribs. Steamboat’s selling is just tremendous here. Steamboat escapes into an electric chair drop and goes for a splash, but it hits knees. Silly Steamboat. Why would you go for that with injured ribs? Regal grabs a Canadian backbreaker and goes from there to a surfboard. Regal rips off the tape and delivers a butterfly suplex for two. Steamboat fires back and catapults Regal into the corner, but Regal falls back on a slam for two. Steamboat wins a tombstone reversal sequence, which must be done at least once on every WCW PPV in 1993. Steamboat gets two off that and rolls up Regal off the ropes for another two. Double chop gets another nearfall. Inside cradle gets two. Steamboat hits a suplex, but can’t cover quickly enough because of the ribs. He heads up top and delivers the FLYING BODYPRESS, but he rolls right off Regal! Ahh, the stupid ribs! Excellent psychology. Regal tries to dump him out and Steamboat skins-the-cat, but Sir William runs over and WHACKS Steamboat in the back of the head with that blasted umbrella as he tries to flip back into the ring. Steamboat stumbles back into a bridging German suplex for 1-2-3! We’ve got a brand new TV champ! (17:05) This is an amazing display of psychology from two of the masters. ***½
Charlie Norris vs. Big Sky
You may say to yourself – Chuck Norris? Really? Awesome! Well you couldn’t be more wrong. Charlie Norris was an Indian wrestler who eventually filed a lawsuit against WCW for racial discrimination regardless of the fact that his entire gimmick going into WCW was racial discrimination by itself. Big Sky is Nitron who used to be Woman’s bodyguard back when she managed Doom. Crowd chants “we want Flair” and “boring” all throughout. A nothing match wraps up when Norris kicks Big Sky down for the pin. (4:34) With kicks like that, Chuck Norris he ain’t .¼*
Too Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Paul Orndorff & The Equalizer
Since Equalizer sucked so much by himself, they tried to get him over by teaming him up with all the over heels until that plan failed miserably, became a goofy Hulkamaniac who suffered from dyslexia, and then realized he was related to Kevin Sullivan. Bagwell can’t take the Equalizer off his feet, so it takes both Scorpio and Bagwell with a double dropkick to put him down. Bagwell and Scorpio control the match until Equalizer pulls the top rope down to send Bagwell flying out to the floor. Back in, Bagwell gets double-teamed. He escapes a bearhug and delivers a back suplex to Orndorff to set up the HOT TAG TO SCORPIO! The action breaks loose! Well, as loose as it can get in this match. Orndorff nails Equalizer by accident, setting up the DISS THAT DON’T MISS (450 splash) from Scorpio for the win. (10:46) Pretty much your standard tag match with no real heat until the finish. Afterwards, Orndorff and Equalizer leave the faces laying. *
Ice Train vs. Shanghai Pierce (w/Tex Slazenger)
As you probably know, Pierce and Slazenger are the future Godwinns in the WWF. Ice Train was the black Scott Norton with a dash of charisma. He would actually go on to team with Scott Norton in ’96. Pierce suckers Train into a test of strength and kicks him in the gut to take over. Slazenger grabs Train’s ankle to piss him off and give Pierce the opening to nail him from behind. You know, some of the old cheap heat tricks. The Texans try and double-clothesline Train with a bullrope, but he runs right through them and powerslams Pierce for the 1-2-3. (3:27) Just a waste of time. ½*
WCW World Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Paul Roma vs. The Nasty Boys (w/Missy Hyatt)
Yep, Missy Hyatt is the Nasty Boys’ big surprise. Can’t get much nastier than her, so in that case it’s not such a bad combination. Roma and Knobbs start the match. The Horsemen clean house on the Nasties as someone tosses Missy a buck. They switch and now we have Anderson and Sags. Arn posts the leg and tags Roma in for some leg work. Knobbs gets the tag and the Horsemen work over his leg as well. After several minutes of legbars, Roma gets stuck in the Nasties corner. Knobbs and Sags take turns sitting down on a chinlock, which is just riveting stuff. Roma tries to electric chair drop out of the hold on Sags, but can’t lift the fattie. He tries it on Knobbs and pulls it off. Arn gets the hot tag, but when the ref turns his back, Knobbs clotheslines AA over the top to the floor. While the ref is with Roma, Sags clocks AA in the back with Jesse’s chair. The Nasties trade off on an ab stretch now. False tag spot occurs and the Nasties start CLUBBERIN’ on Arn. AA bites out of a bearhug, but can’t suplex Sags and takes one instead. Anderson avoids a double clothesline and face slams both Nasties. Hot tag to Roma, he goes nuts on the Nasties. Double Noggin Knocker! Missile Dropkick to Knobbs! Cover, 1-2-NO! Knobbs stops a ten-count corner punch on Roma and hoists him up on his shoulders for the Steiner Bulldog. Arn keeps that from happening by shoving Sags off the top rope while Roma fails trying to do a victory roll. AA hits the Spinebuster on Knobbs to set up the Flying Splash from Roma! The ref tries to get AA out of the ring while Sags lowers the boom on Roma. Knobbs covers him for 1-2-3. More new champs. (23:58) Who really wants to see a 25-minute long Nasty Boys match? Honestly. Anyways, for what its worth, I liked the Spinebuster/Splash combo for a finisher. ¾*
Cactus Jack vs. Yoshi Kwan (w/Harley Race) – Bounty Match
Before the match, they aired a recap of the Cactus Jack amnesia angle where after taking a powerbomb on the concrete in April caused him to go live with hobos in Cleveland. The WCW bookers evidently came off their contact high and realized how retarded this was. They tried to play it off like Cactus Jack was faking the whole time to screw around with Vader in a pre-recorded promo taken place in some rundown American city where Smashing Pumpkins posters are everywhere. BANG BANG! Anyways, Harley Race hires Yoshi Kwan, who is actually Chris Champion dressed up like a stereotypical Asian to get rid of Cactus. Think Kenzo Suzuki from a few years back on Smackdown. Kwan was actually undefeated up until the night before on Saturday Night, thus killing any intrigue this match might’ve had and also makes me want to have a Lewis Black reaction. Oh yeah, and Harley has Cactus Jack’s leather bag that he wants back, but nobody knows what is in the bag or anything about it. Big brawl to start. Cactus straddles Kwan and Cactus Clotheslines him to the floor. Jack goes after Race, but gets kicked from behind. Kwan enziguris Cactus on the rampway. Back in, Kwan hits a spinning heel kick. Cactus blocks another kick and chokes Kwan down on the mat. Race gets up on the apron. That causes some heel miscommunication and leads to a DOUBLE ARM DDT from Cactus for the win. (3:38) So much for collecting a bounty. Cactus gives Race a suplex into the ring and takes his bag back. Whatever, Mick. *
WCW International World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair (w/Fifi) vs. Rick Rude
This seemed to be more about Flair defending Fifi than it was Rude wanting the belt. Rude put the moves on Fifi and when she rejected him on ‘Flair for the Gold’, Rude gave Flair a Rude Awakening. Much like Rude did with Cheryl Roberts in ’88, he has Fifi’s face spray-painted on his tights for this match on his crotch. He looks weird with the white boots, by the way. Rude misses a flying knee drop early and Flair applies the FIGURE-FOUR! Rude makes the ropes and clotheslines Flair to the floor. While Rude gyrates at Fifi, Flair comes off the top with a sledge. Flair works the arm for a good five minutes. They both tumble out to the floor where Rude drops Flair with a clothesline. Rude gives Flair a suplex back in for two. Rude sits down on a chinlock for a while. Flair avoids a butt splash and chops Rude away, but runs into a hotshot. Rude applies a bearhug for a bit and comes off the top with a forearm. He delivers a second one. Rude wants a third, but Flair catches him in the gut on the way down. Flair follows up with a back suplex, but runs into a knee in the corner. Rude hits a DDT for two. RUDE AWAKENING? No! Flair turns it around into a Rude Awakening of his own! That only gets two. Flair escapes a sleeper with a pair of shin breakers. He even comes off the middle rope to try and tear the hamstring. Rude kicks away a Figure-Four attempt and cradles Flair up for two on the second try. Flair throws Rude out to the floor and chops him down before coming off the top for a single ax handle. Back in the ring, Flair Flips out of the corner and comes off the top, but Rude catches him with a clothesline on his way down. Now Rude heads up and hits the Flying Fist Drop for two. Rude tosses Flair to the floor and brings Fifi into the ring for a smooch. Flair runs in and nails Rude from behind. Back drop leads to a FIGURE-FOUR! The ref’s busy with Fifi though, so Rude grabs some taped knux out of his tights and KO’s Flair in the face! Rude covers for three. ANOTHER new champion. (30:47) The only guy I’ve ever seen Rude wrestle with for 30 minutes that delivered in spades was Ricky Steamboat. I love Flair, but he did not bring his A-game in this match. This was resthold after resthold that could’ve been avoided. **¼
Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes & The Shockmaster (w/Road Warrior Animal) vs. Big Van Vader, Sid Vicious & Harlem Heat (w/Harley Race & Col. Robert Parker) – Wargames Cage Match
Dustin Rhodes has his ribs taped from a beating of some kind the night before on Saturday Night. Animal wants to send Shockmaster in first, but thank God Dustin’s stupid. He runs right inside the cage to take on Vader. For some reason, I always enjoyed when Rhodes and Vader hooked up. I wish they had really feuded at some point. Rhodes beats Vader down in the corner. He takes his boot off and charges at Vader, but runs into one of Vader’s boots instead. Irony! Rhodes punches Vader back and hits a lariat, but a shot to the ribs puts Dustin back down. Oh no! Vader hits a Pump Splash. Rhodes battles back again and hits a DDT. Rhodes grabs the boot and nails Vader in the face. Meanwhile, the heels win the coin toss of course. They are so good when it comes to coin tosses, but somehow they still end up losing more times than they win. Quite the conundrum. Rhodes slams Vader as he comes off the middle rope just as Kane, better known as Stevie Ray, enters the match. Just for the sake of confusion, I’m calling them Booker T and Stevie Ray. The heels double-team for the two-minute period. Vader and Stevie Ray meet Sting at the door as he enters the match. He clotheslines both guys and sends Stevie Ray into the cage. Well, finally somebody meets the steel! Sting concentrates on Vader in one ring while Dustin controls Stevie Ray in the other. Rhodes is busted open now, by the way. Another period ends and Sid Vicious comes into the cage. Whatever you do guys, DON’T LET HIM POWERBOMB YOU! Sting gets whipped into Vader and turns around into a Chokeslam. Sid and Vader continue to dominate Sting while Dustin and Stevie Ray exchange blows. Davey Boy Smith is in next to even the teams 3-on-3. He clotheslines Sid and slams Vader off the middle rope. Rhodes is beat down in the corner while Vader, Sid and Stevie Ray pound away on Sting and DBS. Booker T’s the last guy to come in for his team. He slams DBS off the top and before you know it, the Shockmaster enters Wargames for the Match Beyond to begin! That means its come down to submission or surrender. Almost immediately, he grabs a bearhug on Booker T while everyone else on his team just kind of watches him get squeezed to death. He gives up and Shockmaster wins the match for his team. (16:39) Of ALL the people to win the match, it’s fn Tugboat. This was Wargames when you put it on auto-pilot and forget to add any semblance of intensity that a match like this is supposed to have. I’m a huge fan of Wargames, so to see it at this level was just completely unacceptable. Only one guy was busted open and who actually seemed to give a crap, and that was the Wargames inventor’s own son. Thank you, Dustin. You made this match not completely suck.
Final Thoughts: Fall Brawl 1993 is one of those shows you just try to get through. I was literally scared going into this show. At least the Great American Bash was so bad, it was entertaining in a weird, sick way. This was just BORING. Now I know why nobody talks about this show, ever. The Steamboat/Regal match is the only thing worth seeing from this show, but you don’t really need to bother just for that one match. As if you didn’t see this coming, thumbs WAY down for Fall Brawl 1993. That’s three in a row from me as far as WCW PPVs go and they just keep getting worse.