WCW Power Hour 2/20/1993

Written by: Matt Peddycord

WCW Power Hour
February 20, 1993
Atlanta, GA
Center Stage Theatre

The current WCW & NWA Champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Big Van Vader (12/30/1992)
NWA World Champion: The Great Muta (1/4/1993)
WCW U.S. Champion: Dustin Rhodes (1/11/1993)
WCW/NWA World Tag Team Champions: Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas (11/18/1992)
WCW World Television Champion: vacant (11/1/1992)

They STILL have Rick Steiner in the intro video.

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko.

• Chris Benoit vs. Joey Maggs
  

Oh HECK yeah. Benoit drills Maggs with the Snap Suplex and heads up top for the SWANDIVE HEADBUTT, but apparently Maggs thought it was supposed to be a splash. Maggs tries to get a suplex in on Benoit, so he quickly kills him with the DRAGON SUPLEX for the win. (1:57) I’m looking forward to watching Benoit/Scorpio again.

Superbrawl III Control Center with Eric Bischoff. Let’s run through the card! Sting/Vader in the “White Castle of Fear” leather strap match, Muta/Windham for the NWA world title, Rhodes/Simmons for the WCW US title, Cactus/Orndorff in a falls count anywhere match, Heavenly Bodies/RNR Express for the SMW tag titles, Austin & Pillman/Bagwell & Watts, Scorpio/Benoit. Also, Davey Boy Smith debuts! Okay, so now you know that one of the matches is changed. But can you guess the second one? Oh I bet you can’t unless you already know!

We check out the Orndorff/Scorpio TV title tournament match from last week’s WCW Main Event on 2/14. We JIP with Orndorff keeping Scorpio grounded with a front headlock. Scorpio fights up and hits a slingshot splash for two. He hits the corkscrew legdrop out of the corner and then attempts to go on the top turnbuckle, but trips him and crotches himself. You know, I’ve heard things about Scorpio’s giant third leg. Orndorff takes advantage and covers for the win to advance.

Promotional Consideration paid for by the following: Clear Eyes, Slick 50, Flintstones trading cards.

• Maxx Payne vs. Brad Anderson

Maxx Payne looks like Nikki Sixx here. Definitely fatter, but he looks just as stoned out of his mind. Brad Anderson is Gene Anderson’s son, by the way. He looks like Alex Shelley if he started to be a wrestler fifteen years ago. Brad gives Payne a little bit of a fight, but the PAYNEKILLER (Fujiwara armbar) turns out to be more than he can handle. (2:49) Next match.

Teddy Long tells us what’s up like he does every week. He analyzes the build up to Muta/Windham at Superbrawl. We check out the ending of the Muta/Chono NWA world title match. Chono kicks out of the first Moonsault, but not the second one. Long mentions how the NWA title win would put Windham in the same caliber as guys like Flair, Race, Steamboat, Sting, Jeff Jarrett and Rhino! Well, not those last two, but I think you get the idea.

Last week on Saturday Night, Paul Orndorff and Barry Windham took on Dustin Rhodes and a mystery partner! Ooo! He looks kind of tall and fat so perhaps it’s daddy Dusty? Nope, you silly. It’s Cactus Jack! Rhodes and Cactus go NUTZ on the heels to start, then we JIP to Cactus becoming the face-in-peril. Lots of Orndorff stuff today. After lots of stomping on Cactus, Windham telegraphs a backdrop to set up the hot tag to Dustin. All four guys get in the ring as Rhodes hits Windham with the Lariat for two. Meanwhile on the floor, Orndorff hiptosses Cactus through the curtain. Rhodes hits the BULLDOG, but Orndorff sprints back into the ring to stop the count. While Orndorff and Windham do a number on Rhodes, Cactus returns to the ring to save him with a SHOVEL! That’s a cool way to get yourself DQ’ed. As we go to break, Cactus starts licking the shovel. Eww!

Oh great. Now we have to listen to some WCW Slam Jam songs. Which one do you like better? “The Man Called Sting” or “Don’t Step To Ron”! They actually seem to care which one you like better because they give you a number to call to vote and everything.

“Missy Does The Mail” some more. Her hair is shorter and less slutty looking this week. She hypes the Austin & Pillman/Bagwell & Watts tag match at Superbrawl instead of answering some mail. I should’ve known this was fake when they didn’t even give us a mailing address!

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader (w/Harley Race) vs. Bobby Baker

Yay! Vader gets to kill him a jobber this week. Short-arm clothesline, fallaway slam, POWER BOMB. (1:27) Wow, the crowd was yelling at Vader the WHOLE time.

Promotional Consideration paid for by the following: Load Hugger, Bicycle cards, T2: The Arcade Game for NES/Gameboy.

• WCW/NWA World Tag Team Champions Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas vs. Brian Pillman & Steve Austin –non-title match

Wow, this is a great episode of Power Hour right here. Steamboat chops Austin in and out of the ring to start. Douglas tags in and works the arm, but Austin knees Shane and tags in Pillman. Pillman misses an elbow – allowing Steamboat to tag. Lucky for the Blondes, Austin catches him with a knee as he comes off the ropes. We’ve now got our face-in-peril. The Blondes do a great job of cutting the ring in half and keeping Steamboat on their side of town. Steamboat gets in some hope spots including a false tag spot. Once they drag Steamboat to their corner, Pillman chokes Steamboat out with a towel and then wipes his face off with it. Awesome. Pillman tries a flying splash, but he takes way too long, which cues the universal sign that he’s going to land on some knees. Shane Douglas gets the hot tag. He hits the BELLY-TO-BELLY SUPLEX on Pillman and then prevents Austin from breaking up the pin. He seems to forget about the legal man Brian Pillman and decides to roll Austin up off the ropes, which makes him easy pickings for AIR PILLMAN to the back of the head. Pillman covers for 1-2-3! (8:42) The usual goodness from these two teams. ***