WCW Worldwide 7/20/1991

Written by: Matt Peddycord

WCW Worldwide
July 20, 1991

The current WCW Champs were as follows:
World Champion: Lex Luger (7/14/1991)
U.S. Champion: Vacant (7/14/1991)
World Television Champion: Steve Austin (6/3/1991)
World Tag Team Champions: Vacant (7/18/1991)
U.S. Tag Team Champions: Freebirds (5/19/1991)
World Six-Man Tag Team Champions: Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin and Badstreet (6/3/1991)

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Magnum TA!

They open the show with a clip of Steve Austin defeating Bobby Eaton for the WCW TV title three weeks ago. That leads into this…

• WCW World Television Champion Steve Austin (w/Lady Blossom) vs. Kip Abee

Abee actually gets a quick rollup on Austin to start, but Austin teaches him not to do that anymore with a Fujiwara armbar. Austin does a pretty cool somersault shoulderblock in the corner for two. Austin chokes Abee in the ropes and lets Blossom pull on his hair for a bit. STUNGUN and a short-arm clothesline wins the match. (2:43) Another good squash for Austin.

Tony and Magnum reflect on the Great American Bash. Tony calls it the best ever, which doesn’t surprise me. Some clips of Luger/Windham from the ‘Bash are shown, but the question remains why Harley Race and Mr. Hughes came down to ringside to help Luger win the title. Apparently, Eric Bischoff interviewed Lex and his entourage after the match. Luger says he’s finally arrived and Race was the man who put him over the edge. Race ~ “The total package is all TO-GETHA!”

• El Gigante vs. Carl Nelson
  

Gigante freakin’ dominates this guy. He gives Nelson a suplex and a CLAWHOLD leads into the pin. (1:31) He’s still pissed about the haircut, One Man Gang.

• Ron Simmons vs. Bob Cook

Cook attacks at the bell, but it does no good because he’s a jobber. Simmons works the arm for a good while with armbars and hammerlocks. Powerslam and a Flying Shoulderblock (Tony ~ “Sidewalk slam!”) wins it for Ron Simmons. (3:56) All that arm work for nothing!

WCW Board member Grizzly Smith announces that Barry Windham will have to unmask the Yellow Dog to prove to the board that he’s actually Brian Pillman. If the Yellow Dog is unmasked and it’s not Brian Pillman, then Pillman can be reinstated at the beginning of the year. If the Yellow Dog is unmasked and he is Brian Pillman, then Pillman will be banned from WCW 4-LIFE!

• Johnny B. Badd (w/Teddy Long) vs. Joey Maggs

Magnum ~ “Either Teddy Long’s a genius or he’s gone completely nuts. (referring to managing Badd)” Badd does a little mat work and then delivers a powerslam on Maggs. Badd hits a monkey flip and a flying sunset flip, but Long doesn’t want Johnny to pin Maggs just yet. He follows up with a high knee and finishes with the KISS THAT DON’T MISS. (2:36) Long and Badd plant the big lips sticker on the side of Maggs’ face.

Firebreaker Chip and Todd Champion have a PSA for us. They say don’t do drugs and sleep around. I mean, get plenty of rest.

• Barry Windham, Arn Anderson & The Diamond Studd (w/DDP) vs. Dustin Rhodes, Bobby Eaton & The Yellow Dog

The heels all are preoccupied with unmasking Yellow Dog, of course. Arn and Barry take turns bumping around for what is obviously Brian Pillman, but even Tony and Magnum aren’t exactly positive to who Yellow Dog is. Eaton and Studd trade blows. Blind tag to Rhodes. He gets pushed back into the heel corner, but runs once Arn is tagged in and we’re back to square one. Arn nails Eaton off the apron, but then forgets about him when he takes a breather and gets popped in the mouth. Back in, Windham tags and takes a bunch of armdrags from Rhodes. The faces punch him around in their own corner. Pillman tags in for some chops before Arn gets another tag. Yellow Dog puts Arn down with a drop-toehold and applies a figure-four. That leads to Eaton and Rhodes running in and slapping figure-fours on Windham and Studd. Perhaps an FU to Jim Herd, or just some old school fun? Who knows. The heels regroup and Bobby Eaton becomes face-in-peril after a lariat on the floor from Windham. After some mudhole stomping from Arn, Windham yanks Bobby off the apron for a nice bump into the guardrail. Back in, Windham controls with knee drops and stomps until Eaton ducks a clothesline and comes back with one of his own. HOT TAG TO RHODES! All six men start brawling as the Yellow Dog rolls up Arn for a quick three-count. (11:35) The heels go after Yellow Dog’s mask, but he manages to get away without anyone revealing his identity. As if the last ten minutes weren’t enough evidence. Hot little tag match there. We definitely deserved a match like that after the Great American Bash fiasco. ***¼

Final Thoughts: Part of what I love about the WCW syndies back then was when they would throw six guys together and have a good little match – that was definitely the case on this episode of Worldwide. This is one of the worst summers in WCW history (summer of ’93 being the worst), but with every cold summer comes a hot winter. I know that analogy makes no sense in theory, but it actually works in WCW’s case to explain 1991. You’ll find out why soon enough.