Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Worldwide
Date: 1/30/1993
From: Anderson, SC
Matches:
1.) Paul Orndorff defeated Tom Zenk
2.) WCW World Champion Big Van Vader defeated Bobby Baker
3.) Chris Benoit defeated Joey Maggs
4.) Cactus Jack defeated John Peterson
5.) Maxx Payne defeated Scott Allen
6.) Steve Austin & Brian Pillman defeated WCW World Tag Team Champions Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas in a non-title match
Angle Developments/Notes:
1. WCW United States Champion Dustin Rhodes is interviewed saying he is honored to be the new champion. His mind is on Barry Windham and says he is going to finish what Windham started between them.
2. Barry Windham is interviewed by Jesse Ventura. Ventura puts Windham over as a professional. Barry heard what Dustin Rhodes says and says if they ever get in the ring the title will be his in very short order. He is also wanting the NWA World Championship which is held by the Great Muta. They will be wrestling at Superbrawl and Windham says that Muta is going back to Japan without the championship.
3. Cactus Jack is interviewed by Jesse Ventura. Jack says he want the word wrestling taken down because it no longer applies. He warns Paul Orndorff and Vader that they are trending on rough water. He realizes that he is in for a war and is ready to take on the punishment. Jack is going after them with very bad intentions.
4. We get one of the first movie oriented videos where Vader introduces Sting to the White Castle of Fear match. It’s a rather corny video with some awful acting. The match is basically a strap match. They pull on the strap with Vader getting the advantage as he drags Sting near a fire but there is an explosion and we are told it continues at Superbrawl.
5. Austin and Steamboat kick off the main event with Austin working over Steamboat in the corner with several strikes. Steamboat fights back with a few chops and knocks Austin to the canvas with a throat thrust. Austin is rolled back into the ring by Douglas, who is tagged in and hits an axe handle from off the top rope. Austin works over Douglas with a knee strike and Pillman is tagged into the match to work over Douglas. Pillman scoop slams Douglas but misses an elbow drop. Douglas atomic drops Pillman and Brian is punched by Steamboat. Ricky tags back in with chops on Pillman. Austin knee lifts Steamboat from the apron and Pillman hits a back suplex for a two count. Austin tags in and hammers away on Ricky followed by a side slam for a near fall. Ricky gets to his feet but is met with a knee lift to the midsection. Steamboat hammers away on Austin and knocks Pillman down but Austin stops Ricky with a spine buster to prevent the tag. Steamboat is double teamed in the corner as the referee is distracted. Steamboat nearly pins Pillman with a sunset flip. Pillman cuts Steamboat off from making a tag with more strikes as Austin tags back in and works over Steamboat with strikes. Douglas gets the tag but the referee was distracted and that allows Pillman to choke Steamboat with a towel. Steamboat runs into a big boot from Pillman, who misses a splash off the middle rope as Ricky got his knees up. Douglas finally gets the hot tag and cleans house on Austin and Pillman with scoop slams and dropkicks. Douglas is slammed off the middle rope. Douglas takes Austin over with a belly to belly suplex but can’t make the cover. All four men are brawling in the ring until the referee is distracted by Steamboat and Pillman pins Douglas after a top rope clothesline from behind! (***1/4. While it was largely a basic by the book tag match, they worked it extremely well and Douglas entered the ring to a huge pop and kept interest with his offense. These two teams have clearly worked with each other for a period of time and their styles work very well together. I thought it was a fun, entertaining television main event.)
Final Thoughts:
A lot of talent on this show were guys that I’m personally a fan of, so the squash matches were entertaining. The main event helped the show as well as that was quite fun, too. I’d say this was a good, productive episode of Worldwide.
Thanks for reading.