WCW Worldwide 4/14/1996

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Worldwide
Date: 4/14/1996
From: Orlando, FL

Matches:
1.) Road Warriors defeated State Patrol
2.) Blue Bloods (Earl Robert Eaton & Dave Taylor) defeated Steve & Brad Armstrong
3.) Sting defeated Shark
4.) Cobra defeated Frank Lancaster
5.) WCW World Champion Ric Flair defeated Randy Savage to retain the title

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Eaton and Steve kickoff the tag match with the crowd heavily behind the Armstrong’s, who represent America. Steve monkey flips Eaton followed by a couple of dropkicks and decks Taylor off the apron. Steve decks Lord Steven Regal on the floor, too. Regal sells it wonderfully. Taylor tags in and works over Steve with a few strikes. Taylor scoop slams Steve and taunts the crowd suggesting this has been easy work for him. Brad tags in after Taylor uppercuts Steve into the corner. Taylor has a wrist lock on Brad, but Brad quickly counters. Taylor controls Brad with a top wrist lock, but Brad counters with a nice head scissors. Taylor gets out of the head scissors on the mat and they have a standoff. Eaton tries to deck Brad, but Brad knocks Eaton off the apron. Taylor keeps control on Brad with a few uppercuts. Eaton slams Brad followed by a couple of knee drops. Brad tags in Steve and Steve cleans house with right hands. Steve dropkicks both men and now all four men are in the ring. Brad dumps Eaton over the top to the floor. Regal decked Steve with a left hand from the apron and Taylor uses the ropes to pin Steve for the win. (**. I enjoyed this more than I was expecting to. There was some hard hitting spots and Brad had some good counters. Regal was fun at ringside and this held by interest throughout.)

2.) Backstage, Mean Gene interviews Disco Inferno. Inferno has a CD with him. Inferno puts over his CD as being the best selling CD that costs $50. Inferno believes he’s a crossover celebrity and claims he can sing, too. Inferno is going to start singing and wants to give a sample. Inferno proceeds to sing and does so poorly, obviously.

3.) Shark backs Sting into a corner and delivers a few forearms for the early advantage. Shark scoop slams Sting and comes off the ropes to deliver an elbow drop and leg drop for a two count. Shark chokes Sting over the top rope. Shark delivers a few shoulder rams in the corner and stands on Sting’s chest. Sting fights back with right hands, but fails to slam Shark and is nearly pinned. Shark elbow drops Sting to maintain control and follows up with a big splash for a near fall. Shark headbutts Sting into the corner and delivers a jump kick to the chest. Sting fires back with right hands and kicks in the corner. Sting gets on Shark’s back with a sleeper, but Shark isn’t going to submit. Shark rams Sting into the corner to break free. Shark hits a belly to belly suplex for a near fall. Sting kicks Shark on the left knee several times. Sting chop blocks Shark’s leg and tries for the Scorpion Death Lock, but Shark avoids it. Shark locks in a bearhug and drives Sting into the corner back first. Shark misses a splash in the corner and Sting kicks Shark over the top rope. Sting plants Shark with a Samoan Drop out of the corner for the win. (*. The closing sequence seemed a bit weird and clunky. They did the best they could considering they don’t have the best chemistry.)

4.) Backstage, Mean Gene interviews the Steiner Brothers. Gene notes the tag division in WCW being big and the Steiner Brothers are here for the best competition. Scott says they are here for mainly the Road Warriors Rick Steiner chimes in and says they are here to take on all the teams. They want the tag champs and some tag action. Scott mentions that Rick is going nuts. Scott says they haven’t forgiven nor forgotten and they are coming for them. It’s amazing to me that Scott Steiner sucks at interviews when in three years he’s a lot of fun.

5.) Backstage, Woman and Elizabeth are hopeful that Ric Flair doesn’t lose the WCW World Championship tonight and they go to grab some lunch. They will not be joining Flair for the match, which likely means it was taped prior to their association.

6.) Ric Flair is the WCW World Champion, but Savage comes out with the championship as this match was taped before Savage lost the title. So, what is funny about this is that Schiavone continually tells us that Flair is the champion despite this.

7.) Flair has a hammerlock on Savage, but Savage counters quickly. Flair sends Savage into the corner and delivers a few strikes. Flair takes Savage down with a snapmare, but misses a knee drop. Savage locks in a figure four and Flair is not close to the ropes. Jimmy Hart pulls Savage to the floor and chokes Savage while the referee is distracted. Flair delivers a knee lift on the apron and continues with a stomp to the knee. Flair sends Savage over the top to the floor. Hart chokes Savage on the floor while the referee is distracted again by Flair. Flair chokes Savage with something while Hart distracts the referee. Flair appeared to use a string or something. Flair kicks Savage in the ribs and continues with chops in the corner. Hart chokes Savage in the corner once again. Flair elbows Savage charging towards the corner. Savage blocks a right hand and hammers away on Flair. Savage tries for a cover, but Flair kicks out. Savage goes for a backslide, but Flair kicks out at two. Flair chops Savage to the mat and heads to the top rope. Savage stops Flair with a press slam to the mat. Savage axe handles Flair leading to a two count. Savage eye rakes Flair and goes to the top rope again hitting another axe handle for a near fall. Flair begs off in the corner and eye rakes Savage.

Flair drives Savage down with a knee breaker and locks in the figure four in the middle of the ring. Savage is trying to rollover and succeeds. Brian Pillman comes off the top to deliver a forearm strike and whips Savage with a belt over the back to cause a disqualification. Pillman chokes Savage with the weight belt. Pillman chokes Savage over the top rope. Hulk Hogan comes out with his weight belt and whips Pillman from behind. Hogan rolls Pillman into the ring and Savage gets revenge with a few belt whips causing Pillman to runaway. (*1/2. A disappointing match because they kept it very simple and repetitive with the choke spots with Hart. The finish with Pillman really dates this to likely January as Pillman hasn’t really been around in a few months and may be gone from the company at this point anyway.)

Final Thoughts:
On paper, there’s a few interesting matches here but they didn’t come through with entertainment. Armstrongs/Bloods was an enjoyable encounter, but the show needed one of the feature matches to deliver, as well.

Thanks for reading.