WCW House Show 12/29/1992

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling House Show
Date: 12/29/1992
From: Philadelphia, PA

This show was supposed to feature a WCW World Championship match between Ron Simmons and Big Van Vader with Vader winning the championship. However, Simmons no-showed the event and was fined $2,000 for missing the show. They would wrestle in a singles match the following night in Baltimore where the title change happened.

There appears to be two matches not recorded from the show. The matches saw 2 Cold Scorpio defeat Vinnie Vegas and Erik Watts defeat Tex Slazenger.

Opening Contest: Paul E. Dangerously vs. Madusa in a five minute challenge match: Madusa starts the match with several kicks causing Dangerously to bail to the floor and recover. He had been cutting a promo saying that it was all Arn Anderson’s fault and Bobby Eaton. Dangerously trips Madusa and comes off the top rope with a double axe handle. Dangerously continues to beat down Madusa with stomps and plays to the crowd to allow Madusa to hit a missile dropkick and more kicks in the corner. Dangerously yanks her down by the hair and tosses her across the ring. Madusa hammers away on Dangerously and goes back to kicking him in the corner. Madusa comes running out of the corner with a clothesline a few times. They go to the floor where Madusa scoop slams Dangerously on the floor! Madusa hits Dangerously over the back with a steel chair several times. The ring announcer announces that the five minutes are up and nobody has won. Well, I guess Dangerously survived so maybe he won. Anyway, I thought it was an enjoyable opener, but it wasn’t designed to be a match, really, so I’ll just say it was a fun segment to watch.

Second Contest: Johnny B. Badd vs. Scotty Flamingo in a boxing match: I’m not going to do an in-depth review for a boxing match since, well, I’m a wrestling fan and not a boxing fan. I’ve never really understood the point of promoting a boxing match between two wrestlers at a pro wrestling event. Vinnie Vegas was at ringside and got punched on the apron. Badd knocks Flamingo out with a left hook and that ends that. The knockout came at the 58-second mark of the third round. After the bout, Badd is double teamed but knocks both Vegas and Flamingo to the floor following punches to end the segment.

Third Contest: Dustin Rhodes vs. Barry Windham: Dustin hammers away on Windham on the floor but they quickly enter the ring where Windham trades strikes with Rhodes. Rhodes takes Windham down with a press slam and a backdrop. They go to the floor again with Dustin nailing Barry with several strikes before returning to the ring. Windham drops Rhodes with a strike to the face but Dustin fights back with punches in the corner and a clothesline. Windham plants Rhodes with a DDT to gain control of the match. The crowd appears to be very pro-Barry despite playing the heel role. Windham takes Rhodes over with a vertical suplex for a near fall. They go to the outside again where Windham slams Dustin face first onto a table at ringside. Windham drops Rhodes with more strikes before rolling back into the ring.

Dustin rights out of the corner and blocks a kick only for Windham to still keep control of the match with a clothesline. Windham plants Rhodes with another DDT and stomps on Dustin. Windham slams Dustin’s injured hand over the top turnbuckle. Windham hits a hammerlock scoop slam and hits a knee drop for a two count. Rhodes battles back with a DDT of his own and heads to the top rope but misses an elbow drop landing on his bad arm. Windham leg drops the lower midsection area of Rhodes. Barry wrenches on the injured arm under the top rope. Rhodes backdrops Windham and hammers away on Windham some more. Rhodes clotheslines Windham and sends Windham into the referee. Rhodes hits the bulldog but there isn’t a referee for the count. Dustin turns around and Windham whacks him over the head with his boot! Windham has the cover and pins Rhodes. (***1/4. The crowd was really into this, as was I. I wanted to see these guys compete in a meaningful match since I don’t recall them having a blowoff on television in ’93 or anything like that. This was a really fun match and the fans were the most interested in this match thus far.)

Fourth Contest: NWA World Champion Masahiro Chono & Big Van Vader vs. Sting & The Great Muta: Vader tosses the table at ringside towards Sting prior to the bell sounding as Sting had a chair in hand. Chono and Muta kick off the tag match. A slow start to the match with Chono shoving Muta to the canvas after some basic holds that neither man got lasting control of. Chono takes Muta over with a backdrop but Muta quickly gets up and takes Chono down to the canvas. Muta avoids a catapult by stomping on Chono’s face and tags in Sting. Chono backs Sting into his corner but Sting wiggles free and backs Chono into his corner only to let go of the hold. Sting tags out after doing nothing and Chono tags in Vader. Muta doesn’t tag out and instead Vader begins to hammer away on Muta. Vader drops Muta with a short arm clothesline. Vader continues to hammer away on Muta to keep control of the match in his favor.

Muta counters a suplex attempt and kicks Vader a few times and Sting clotheslines Vader over the top to the floor. Sting and Muta hit a double bulldog on Chono to send the heels to the floor. Vader comes back in and clotheslines Sting before tagging in Chono. Chono focuses his offense on the left knee of Sting. Vader tags in and goes for the Scorpion Death Lock but Muta enters and prevents that from happening. Vader splashes the back of Sting to keep his rival on the canvas. Vader splashes Sting in the corner and follows up with a clothesline. Sting attempts a sunset flip and avoids a sit down splash attempt by Vader. mutt gets the hot tag and dropkicks Vader followed by a handspring elbow strike. Vader stops Muta with a body strike and tags in Chono.

On the floor, Chono works over Muta slamming his head onto the table at ringside. Harley Race chokes Muta from the floor on the apron while the referee is distracted. Chono continues his offense with a snap suplex for a near fall. Chono heads to the top rope and hits a shoulder block. Vader tags in and drives Muta down to the canvas with a vertical suplex and a big splash. Chono enters the match and stomps on Muta’s midsection before locking in a STF but Muta doesn’t give up. Chono scoop slams Muta and heads to the top rope but Muta gets a second wind and stops him. Muta hooks Chono and hits a superplex! Sting gets the hot tag and cleans house. Sting this a stinger splash on Chono in the corner and goes for the Scorpion Death Lock but Vader nails Sting from behind before Muta dropkicks Vader to the floor. Chono heads to the top hitting a cross body but Sting rolls through and pins Chono while Muta brawled with Vader on the floor. (***. It’s a good match, but I would’ve liked to have seen more from Sting. Chono and Muta worked well, but there seemed to be more of a connection between Sting and Vader for the fans, which is to be expected. Anyway, they got plenty of time to compete and it was a fun match.)

Main Event: WCW World Tag Team Champions Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas vs. Jushin Liger & Kensuke Sasaki: All four men show respect for each other by shaking hands, but now it’s time for business. Sasaki and Steamboat kick off the title match, which seems to have plenty of time to end the show, as well. Steamboat scoop slams Sasaki but doesn’t followup with the advantage. Steamboat controls Sasaki on the canvas with a headlock. Sasaki plants Steamboat with a spine buster and Liger tags in to hit a cross body on Steamboat for a near fall. Liger hits a spinning heel kick on Steamboat and plays to the crowd. Sasaki tags back in and trades pin fall attempts with Steamboat. Steamboat regained control and tags in Douglas to try his luck in the match. Douglas scoop slams Sasaki and hits a dropkick followed by an arm drag. Steamboat comes off the top rope and axe handles Sasaki before press slamming Douglas onto Sasaki for a near fall.

Sasaki scoop slams Douglas and Liger tags in but Douglas takes him down with an arm drag. Douglas backdrops Liger and keeps control of the arm. Steamboat splashes the left arm of Liger after tagging in. Douglas gets tagged in and elbow strikes the arm of Liger. The champions are making quick tags and working on the arm of Liger as they both hit axe handles from the top rope. Douglas hits a back suplex to get a near fall on Liger. Douglas scoop slams Liger and heads to the top rope. Liger gets up and crotches Douglas before hitting a press slam. Liger dropkicks Douglas to the floor and Sasaki holds Douglas so that Liger can hit a baseball slide. Steamboat leaves the apron to check on his partner on the floor. Sasaki gets tagged back into the match and stomps away on Douglas. Sasaki backdrops Douglas and hits an elbow drop for a near fall.

Steamboat scoop slams Douglas and Liger comes off the top to hit a swanton bomb. Liger hits a running somersault splash but Douglas kicks out at two. Sasaki works on the left leg of Douglas and tags in Liger to hold the leg as Sasaki splashes down onto the injured knee. Liger locks in the figure four in the middle of the ring but Douglas refuses to submit to the hold. Sasaki tags in and locks in a Boston Crab but Douglas again doesn’t submit to the pain. Sasaki lets go of the hold and continues to work over Douglas. Douglas counters a backdrop attempt with a snap suplex. Steamboat gets the hot tag and dropkicks both Sasaki and Liger followed by clotheslines. Steamboat takes Sasaki over with a snap suplex and a back suplex for Liger. Sasaki plants Ricky with a power slam in midair as Steamboat attempted a leapfrog. Liger and Sasaki hit a Doomsday Device on Steamboat!

Liger delivers a flurry of kicks to Steamboat against the ropes and the fans are loving it. Sasaki tags in as they hit a spike piledriver! Steamboat and Sasaki begin to trade chops with Sasaki getting the better of the exchange before they collide and both men go down. Liger enters and drives Steamboat down with a back breaker before hitting a moonsault. All four men are in the ring as Sasaki and Liger hit dropkicks on the champs. Steamboat is dropkicked to the floor as Liger and Sasaki hit the Hart Attack. Douglas is backdropped by the challengers and knokced to the floor. Steamboat comes in and rolls Liger up from out of nowhere and wins the match. (***3/4. Alright, that was a bad ass match but the finish was rather lackluster. Liger and Sasaki came across as a great heel tag team and their double team moves helped the match get to a new level of excitement. It was humorous how much the fans disliked Douglas, though he would become a hometown hero, of sorts, when ECW was going strong even when he was a heel. I enjoyed the match quite a bit.)

Final Thoughts:
The main event scene in WCW at this point is top notch and the viewing experience here dwarfs anything I’ve watched for the WWF on the house show circuit. This was a lot of fun watching and I’d recommend it.

Thanks for reading.