Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Power Hour
Date: 1/18/1992
From:
Matches:
1.) WCW Television Champion Steve Austin defeated Mike Graham to retain the title
2.) Steiner Brothers defeated Don Michaels & Jack Savage
3.) Ron Simmons defeated The Medic
4.) WCW United States Champion Rick Rude defeated Butch Malone
5.) Ricky Steamboat defeated Thomas Rich
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Graham controls Austin with a wrist lock to start the contest. Austin counters, but Graham hip tosses Austin leading to Austin complaining about a tight grab. Austin shoulder blocks Graham, but Graham gets a head scissors on the mat. Graham delivers a knee drop to Austin’s arm in a hammerlock. Austin elbows free and shoulder blocks Graham. Graham takes Austin over with an arm drag. Graham controls Austin on the mat with an arm bar. Graham delivers a few knee drops to Austin’s arm to maintain the advantage. Graham keeps an arm bar on Austin, but Austin pulls Graham’s hair to break free from the hold. Graham controls Austin with a knee and an abdominal stretch on the mat leading to a rollup for a near fall. Austin rams Graham into the corner face first. Austin sends Graham hard into the corner back first causing Graham to crash to the mat. Austin delivers a few knee drops to maintain control. Austin atomic drops Graham, but Graham battles back with several strikes. Austin eye rakes Graham and chokes Graham over the middle rope. Austin comes off the ropes and splashes down onto Graham over the middle rope.
Austin puts an abdominal stretch on Graham and grabs the ropes for leverage. Austin scoop slams Graham, but doesn’t go for a cover. Graham drop toe holds Austin and signals to break Austin’s leg. Graham wrenches on the left leg weakening the leg seemingly for a figure four. Graham instead continues to deliver a knee drop to the leg. Austin eye rakes Graham and rams Graham into the corner before dumping Graham to the floor. Graham wraps Austin’s leg around the ring post. Graham kicks Austin’s leg a few times and rams the champ into the corner. Graham continues with a knee drop for a near fall. Graham locks in the figure four, but Austin quickly reaches the ropes. Graham takes Austin over with a suplex for a near fall. Graham hip tosses Austin and gets an arm bar on Austin. Graham rolled around, but Austin manages to get on top and puts his feet on the ropes to win the match. (*. I was intrigued by this because it went over ten minutes, which I was not expecting. However, there was no reason for this to go so long. Graham had a few bits of momentum, but there wasn’t anything here to suggest Graham was going to get a shock win. This was lacking drama to justify the length of the contest.)
2.) Steiner Brothers cut a promo about the Clash of the Champions where they wrestle Vader and Mr. Hughes. Rick Steiner says that he and his brother come up with something new in their backyard while other guys are in bed. Scott chimes in and says they are going to toss them onto their heads no matter how big they are. Scott promises to get the tag titles no matter who has them.
3.) Ron Simmons cuts a promo regarding Larry Zbyszko saying that his days of being a tag champion are long over with. Simmons says that Zbyszko will have the chance to prove his worth as a singles wrestler with him in the ring. Zbyszko says that Simmons will see the world is a small place when they square off on Saturday Night. Zbyszko says there’s only room for the Dangerous Alliance.
4.) Missy Hyatt hosts Missy Does The Mail and talks about Marcus Alexander Bagwell wrestling Steve Austin to a ten-minute time limit draw. We see footage from Saturday Night where Sting eventually came out to help Bagwell against the Dangerous Alliance. She also talks about Cactus Jack and Abdullah the Butcher having an interaction on Saturday Night. Jack accidentally hit Butcher with a stick, but appeared to be thrilled by doing it. Butcher decked Cactus and they brawled. Cactus and Butcher will be teaming on Saturday Night.
5.) Steamboat takes Rich down with an inside cradle, but Rich counters and they both get near falls. Rich comes off the ropes with a crossbody, but Steamboat dropkicks Rich to the floor. Steamboat hip tosses Rich for another two count. Rich delivers a few right hands, but Steamboat atomic drops Rich over the top to the floor. Rich looks at the computer to see what he should do against Steamboat. Rich elbows Steamboat followed by a clothesline. Rich slams Steamboat and delivers a leg drop. Rich rams Steamboat into the corner, but Steamboat fights back with strikes. Rich hammers away on Steamboat in the corner to maintain control. Rich elbows Steamboat to the mat and delivers a swinging neckbreaker. Rich goes to the apron to talk to York for more advice and sends Steamboat to the floor through the middle rope. Rich comes off the apron with a strike and rams Steamboat into the apron followed by a slam on the floor. Rich kicks Steamboat a few times on the apron, but Steamboat gets a sunset flip from the apron for a two count. Rich eye rakes Steamboat to the apron, but Steamboat comes back with a choke. Rich eye rakes Steamboat and heads to the top rope. Steamboat slams Rich off the top rope to the mat. Steamboat hammers away on Rich several times to drop Rich to the mat. Steamboat slams Rich and goes to the top rope. Steamboat leaps off, but is met with a strike in midair. Rich clotheslines Steamboat for a near fall. Steamboat gets his knees up to block Rich’s splash. Rich sends Steamboat to the apron, but Steamboat gets to the top and hits a crossbody for the win. (*. Rich didn’t do much of anything on offense and made the match feel quite repetitive and boring.)
Final Thoughts:
A ten-minute match between Austin and Graham was a bit too much and didn’t produce anything of substance and the main event was quite boring thanks to Thomas Rich. Power Hour gets another thumbs down from me.
Thanks for reading.