World Championship Wrestling presents Power Hour
Date: 2/29/1992
From:
Matches:
1.) Steiner Brothers defeated Mike Thor & Fred Avery
2.) Sting defeated Rick Thames
3.) Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin defeated Thomas Rich & Joey Maggs
4.) Ron Simmons defeated Bob Cook
5.) WCW United States Champion Rick Rude defeated Brian Pillman
Angle Developments/Notes:
1.) Jim Ross hosts the Power Hour where he runs down the show. Today, WCW United States Champion Rick Rude battles Brian Pillman.
2.) Steiner Brothers easily wins their enhancement match when Scott pins Thor with the Frankensteiner.
3.) Sting has little issue with his enhancement match winning his match with the Scorpion Death Lock.
4.) The Freebirds are comically blatantly lip syncing their song, but they are being presented as babyfaces. They win their enhancement match in less than two minutes when Hayes pins Maggs with a DDT.
5.) WCW World Champion Lex Luger shared comments regarding his title match with Sting at Superbrawl II. Luger notes it’s a big event with big stakes and it is for the World Championship. Luger notes that Sting has been competing and dealing with Rick Rude while he’s been getting ready mentally and he’s never been more ready for a match. Luger considers this the biggest match for himself and for WCW. Luger promises to remain the WCW World Championship.
6.) Ron Simmons won his enhancement match following a spinebuster.
7.) Missy Does The Mail is hosted by Missy Hyatt. Hyatt discusses the issues between Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Terrence Taylor. Hyatt thinks this is a lack of respect shown by Bagwell towards Taylor. Bagwell didn’t want to donate his interview time to Taylor prompting the issue between them. We see footage of the issues starting. Taylor cut into Bagwell’s interview time on more than one occasion. Bagwell backed off from Taylor on two occasions. Taylor had offered Bagwell to take him under his wing, but Bagwell declined the offer. Taylor ended up attacking Bagwell from behind and rammed Bagwell into the railing face first.
8.) Rude gets in Pillman’s face taunting him with the championship held across his waist. Rude tries to back Pillman into a corner, but Pillman sidesteps. Rude backs Pillman into the corner on a second attempt, but backs off cleanly and offers a handshake. Pillman refuses the handshake and slaps Rude’s hand away. Rude forearms Pillman and gets a headlock on Pillman. Pillman forearms free, but Rude shoulder blocks Pillman. Pillman drop toe holds Rude and puts a leg lock on Rude, but doesn’t get a submission. Pillman works over the left knee with strikes. Rude breaks free with a leg kick and forearms Pillman against the ropes. Rude knee lifts Pillman coming off the ropes. Pillman takes Rude down to the mat, but Rude kicks Pillman through the ropes to the floor. Pillman pulls Rude down in the corner from the floor and wraps Rude’s left knee around the ring post. Pillman kicks Rude on the left knee. Rude lifts Pillman into the air and drops Pillman gut first to the mat. Rude strikes Pillman and eye rakes Pillman. Rude hooks Pillman hitting a vertical suplex and taunts the fans before managing a two count.
Pillman kicks Rude on the left knee, but Rude strikes Pillman and hits a backbreaker. Rude scoop slams Pillman and taunts the crowd some more. Pillman strikes Rude in the corner, but Rude regains control with a strike to the lower back. Rude puts a bearhug on Pillman in the middle of the ring. Pillman punches free, but Rude delivers strikes. Pillman comes off the ropes looking for a crucifix, but Rude drives Pillman to the mat. Rude covers, but only gets a two count. Rude forearms Pillman on the mat and heads to the top rope. Rude leaps off the top, but is met with a dropkick in midair. Rude knee lifts Pillman and tries for the Rude Awakening, but Pillman manages to get in the ropes to avoid the hold. Pillman chops Rude several times and punches Rude in the corner. Pillman is dumped to the apron and hits a springboard clothesline for a two count. Rude bails to the floor to regroup.
Pillman slingshots over the top and takes Rude out with a crossbody on the floor. Pillman heads to the top rope and hits another crossbody in the ring, but Rude kicks out at two as Dangerously had distracted the referee. Rude catches Pillman on another crossbody dropping Pillman over the top rope throat first. Rude hits the Rude Awakening and cleanly pins Pillman for the win. (***. It’s just good booking to have Rude win this cleanly. Pillman is the underdog and unlikely to win, so suffering a loss to the second top champion in the company is not hurting him whatsoever. Pillman had a few moments of shine with his high flying and Rude gave quite a bit throughout the match. I enjoyed this quite a bit and it’s a good TV main event.)
Final Thoughts:
A solid episode with a good main event and I liked that they touched on the Bagwell/Taylor issue to remind fans as to what’s going on between them. Superbrawl II has been promoted fairly well.
Thanks for reading.