WCW Pro 7/6/1996

World Championship Wrestling presents Pro
Date: 7/6/1996
From:

Matches:
1.) Kurasawa defeated Chip Minton
2.) Alex Wright defeated Billy Kidman
3.) Meng & Barbarian defeated Men At Work (Winner & Starr)
4.) WCW Cruiserweight Champion Dean Malenko defeated Mr. JL
5.) WCW World Champion The Giant defeated Jim Duggan

Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Chip Minton, a former American Olympian, got a good ovation during his entrance likely because he’s a former olympian. Kurasawa won the match by submission with an arm bar.

2.) Wright backs Kidman into a corner, but cleanly backs off. They trade wrist control until Kidman gets a two count on a rollup attempt leading to a standoff. Wright takes Kidman down with a fireman carry, but doesn’t followup. Wright keeps Kidman on the mat with a headlock for a few moments. Kidman breaks free with a head scissors on the mat. Wright kips up and goes back to a headlock. Wright shoulder blocks Kidman and runs the ropes, but is met with a hip toss and dropkick by Kidman. Kidman keeps an arm lock on Wright, and delivers a knee drop to the arm a few times followed by a leg drop. Kidman keeps arm control on Wright, but Wright breaks free to get arm control on Kidman. Wright avoids Kidman in the corner and hits an overhead belly to belly suplex. Wright nails Kidman with a heel kick to the face. Wright delivers a tilt a whirl backbreaker for a two count. Wright uppercuts Kidman into the corner, but misses a splash. Kidman dropkicks Wright in the corner and takes Wright down to the mat. Kidman goes to the top rope missing a 450 splash. Wright uppercuts Kidman in the corner and crotches Kidman on the top rope. Wright goes for a superplex and tosses Kidman across the ring. Wright plays to the crowd and goes to the top rope. Wright hits a flying crossbody for the win. (**1/2. Kidman continues to have some great showings on the syndication shows. Wright looked good in there competing against someone who can bump around for him. The crowd was hot for the match and it was a fun one to watch.)

3.) JL goes to the apron and breaks free from a wrist lock leading to a standoff. They trade hammerlocks until JL takes Malenko down with a snapmare. JL ducks a clothesline and rolls Malenko up for a two count. They have another standoff. JL kicks Malenko followed by a back elbow strike to send Malenko to the floor. Malenko elbows JL and stomps JL on the face. Malenko springboards off the middle rope to dropkick JL. Malenko drops JL over the top rope throat first for a near fall. JL mule kicks Malenko to break free, but Malenko recovers quickly. Malenko spikes JL with a brainbuster for a near fall. Malenko keeps a leg lock on JL in the middle of the ring, but doesn’t get a submission. Malenko knee drops JL on the leg a few times. Malenko hits a springboard crossbody and clotheslines JL. Malenko is sat on the top rope and they both fall to the floor after JL shoved Malenko to the floor, but Malenko hooked his legs under JL’s arms. JL rams Malenko into the corner and hits a springboard dropkick to knock Malenko off the apron. JL runs off the apron to take Malenko out with a somersault dive. JL goes to the top rope hitting a missile dropkick for a near fall. JL gets a rollup on Malenko for another near fall. JL scoop slams Malenko and heads to the top rope again. Malenko gets up and dropkicks JL on the knee. Malenko gets a leg lock on the mat forcing a submission to win the match. (***. That was a really good match for WCW Pro. These two had a fun match on Main Event prior to Slamboree and they delivered a quality match where they weren’t rushed and they could do more stuff. I enjoyed this one.)

4.) Duggan charges at Giant for a lockup and is shoved into the corner. Giant plays to the crowd and Duggan locks up again. Giant shoves Duggan back into the corner before taunting the fans again. Giant knee lifts Duggan followed by a strike over the back. Giant splashes Duggan in the corner. Duggan boots Giant in the corner followed by right hands, but Giant knocks Duggan down and chokes Duggan with his boot. Giant boots Duggan followed by a right hand, but misses an elbow drop. Jimmy Hart prevents Duggan from using the 2×4 and Giant plants Duggan with the chokeslam for the clean win. (1/2*. The rare clean loss by Duggan, but it needed to happen to a guy like Giant. There was some good energy, but the action was fairly limited and thus the match wasn’t very exciting.)

Final Thoughts:
This was a good show and had two good feature matches. Kidman is becoming a guy that I have to see on these shows because his performances are always quality stuff. This has been a good weekend for WCW.

Thanks for reading.