World Championship Wrestling presents Pro
Date: 2/22/1992
From:
Matches:
1.) Johnny B. Badd defeated Mike Fever
2.) Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham defeated Scotty The Body & Rip Rogers
3.) Vinnie Vegas defeated Tom Zenk by disqualification
4.) Ricky Steamboat defeated Richard Morton
5.) Cactus Jack, WCW Tag Team Champion Arn Anderson, WCW Tag Team Champion Bobby Eaton & Larry Zbyszko defeated Sting, Marcus Alexander Bagwell & Steiner Brothers
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Johnny B. Badd shared pre-tape comments saying that he didn’t forget what Brian Pillman did to him at Clash of the Champions.
2.) Sting cuts a promo about his cage match against Rick Rude in Chicago. Sting mentions the last time Chicago was a bit wild. Sting says that Rude is a sleaze bag to end the promo.
3.) Windham dropkicks and backdrops Rogers while Rhodes brawled with Scotty on the floor. Windham and Rogers go to the floor while Rhodes decks Scotty to the apron. Rhodes dropkicks Scotty off the apron to the floor. Windham sends Rogers into the railing as Rhodes works over Scotty. Windham enters to strike Scotty and keeps control followed by more strikes. Windham drives Scotty to the mat with a suplex. Windham and Rhodes elbow Scotty coming off the ropes to keep control. Rogers is tagged into the bout. Rhodes leapfrogs Rogers and delivers a strike followed by a snapmare and an elbow drop. Rhodes runs the ropes and decks Rogers with a clothesline. Windham sits Rogers on the top rope hitting a superplex for the win. (*1/2. A solid enhancement match. Clearly Rhodes and Windham are a top face tag team and they dominated this action, which is fine. Scotty and Rogers are a named enhancement duo, which seems kind of bizarre, but I like it.)
4.) Vegas tries to bribe Zenk before the match, but Zenk declines the money. Vegas also tries to bribe the referee, but that fails, too. Vegas shoves Zenk away a couple of times out of a lockup. Vegas knee lifts Zenk followed by a clothesline. Vegas rams Zenk into the corner to maintain control of the bout. Vegas scoop slams Zenk and chokes Zenk over the middle rope. Vegas continues with a back suplex to drive Zenk to the mat. Vegas strikes Zenk in the corner, but is met with a boot. Zenk fires back with strikes and dropkicks Vegas into the ropes. Vegas is given something by Harley Race and decks Zenk with it. Big Josh comes out to chase Race around ringside. Josh attacks Vegas causing a disqualification. (*. Kind of a lame finish. This felt like a match that Vegas should have outright won and given him some momentum for a clear battle with Big Josh.)
5.) Eric Bischoff hosts Wrestling News Network. Bischoff notes we’ve got new WCW United States Tag Team Champions which is now Ron Simmons and Big Josh. We see footage of the title change from WCW Main Event. They defeated the Young Pistols. Bischoff promotes Superbrawl II and notes the complete card has eight matches. Bischoff runs down the card. WCW World Champion Lex Luger cuts a promo about his match against Sting. Luger mentions it’s a big event for all the marbles. Luger talks about Sting’s schedule leading into the bout while he’s sat back and gotten prepared for the battle. Luger notes it is the biggest match in WCW history. Luger is confident he’ll remain WCW World Champion.
6.) Morton backs Steamboat against the ropes, but backs off cleanly. Morton puts a headlock on Steamboat to keep control. Morton hits a crossbody off the ropes for a near fall. Morton gets another two count with an inside cradle. Morton tries for a backslide, but Steamboat holds off and counters with a backslide for a two count. Steamboat leg sweeps Morton for a near fall. Morton keeps a wrist lock on Steamboat for a few moments. Morton yanks on Steamboat’s arm a few times followed by strikes to the face. Steamboat strikes Morton and delivers a victory roll, but spiked Morton’s head on the mat for a two count. Morton is sent to the floor to regroup. Morton pulls Steamboat to the floor and sends Steamboat into the ring post. Steamboat and Morton trade strikes on the floor. Morton atomic drops Steamboat followed by a strike to the mat for a two count. Morton controls Steamboat on the mat with a sleeper. Steamboat strikes Morton, but Morton stops Steamboat with a couple of clotheslines. Morton strikes Steamboat against the ropes. Morton shoulder rams Steamboat in the corner. Morton snapmares Steamboat and keeps a sleeper on Steamboat. Steamboat chops Morton several times and delivers a swinging neckbreaker. Morton strikes Steamboat and tries for a slam, but Steamboat counters to hit an atomic drop. Steamboat hits a flying crossbody off the top to win the match. (**. I feel like Morton doesn’t connect very well as a heel for me in WCW. It’s a decent match for what it was.)
7.) Brickhouse Bonus segment talks about the Steiner Brothers challenging for the tag team titles. They won the 1991 Tag Team award despite Scott being injured for most of the year. Brickhouse believes the time is now for the Steiner’s to regain the tag titles.
8.) Bagwell and Eaton kickoff the main event. Bagwell arm drags Eaton and they have a standoff. Eaton backs Bagwell into a corner, but Bagwell counters with an arm drag and slaps Eaton across the face. Eaton regroups in his corner and tags in Anderson, who wants a piece of Rick Steiner. Rick enters the match and circles Anderson. Rick backs Anderson into a corner, but Anderson counters with strikes. Rick decks Eaton and Anderson with clotheslines. Rick tosses Zbyszko overhead with a suplex. Anderson spits at Sting on the apron, but Sting spits back at Anderson. Anderson yanks sting down to the mat a few times by his hair. Anderson runs the ropes, but is press slammed by Sting. Anderson is decked in the corner and Sting press slams Eaton. Cactus enters the match and backs Sting into a corner to deliver strikes. Cactus kicks Sting in the corner followed by a strike over the back. Sting leaves the ring and Cactus runs the ropes. Rick clotheslines Cactus as Sting stalked Dangerously at ringside.
Scott tags into the match and takes Eaton to the mat with an elbow and a tilt a whirl slam. Scott decks Arn off the apron and shoulders Eaton. Cactus pulls the ropes down to send Scott crashing to the floor. Anderson spikes Scott with a DDT. Zbyszko returns to the match and strikes Scott. Scott hits a double under hook powerbomb for a two count. Bagwell almost pins Zbyszko with a crossbody and all eight men are brawling at this point. Bagwell fisherman suplexs Eaton, but Zbyszko breaks the cover. Zbyszko spikes Bagwell with a brainbuster and gets the pin! (**1/2. A decent main event for this weeks episode as obviously they have a ton of star power. I’m not surprised by Bagwell eating the pin, but I am a bit surprised by the heels winning cleanly, but I love it. Obviously in a short form match not all the guys had time to showcase themselves, but it was still a decent match with a hot crowd.)
9.) Paul E. Dangerously says that Sting is facing the fight of his life against Rude in a steel cage next Sunday. Rude says he’s the man who beat Sting for the US Championship and he’s going to end Sting. In an example of poor WCW production, they kept in Dangerously and Rude being counted down for the promo.
Final Thoughts:
A solid overall episode promoting Superbrawl and having plenty of top names focused on made this an easy hour program to watch.
Thanks for reading.