World Championship Wrestling presents Worldwide
Date: 11/21/1992
Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura open the show. Schiavone announces that Jake Roberts is no longer with WCW due to personal problems and the company wishes him well. They also promote the arm wrestling tournament and Starrcade for a bit. Tonight, we will see Rick Rude in singles action against Kensuke Sasaki.
MATCH #1: TOM ZENK & JOHNNY GUNN VS. JOE CRUZ & BOB COOK
FINISH: Zenk pins Cruz following a missile dropkick.
Bob’s Take: They are trying to put over Zenk and Gunn as a great young team that could be a force in the tag division, at least on commentary. As every babyface tag team does they hit a double dropkick in the match. There’s nothing to the team as they’re just handsome fellas wrestling. There was no harm to this.
Match Rating: SQUASH
Eric Bischoff hosts WCW Magazine and says they’ll be looking at Brian Pillman and his recent attitude change. Shane Douglas shared a pre-tape promo talking about having battles with Pillman. Douglas knows he has to beat the best to be the best. Douglas is in WCW to get straight to the top and if he has to go through Pillman then he’ll do that with the belly to belly suplex.
MATCH #2: VINNIE VEGAS VS. VAN HAMMER — ARM WRESTLING
FINISH: Vegas wraps his leg around the podium looking for extra leverage. However, Hammer is able to overcome that and wins the tournament battle. After the match, Hammer puts over Vegas a tough guy and puts over the other guys in the arm wrestling contest. Hammer notes that Tony Atlas is whining about not being in the tournament.
Match Rating: NR
Tony Schaivone interviews Paul E. Dangerously, Michael Hayes and Manbo Warrior. Dangerously says that Madusa’s career has been saved by Erik because his dad is the boss here. Dangerously talks about the challengers that Watts has already defeated leading into his match tonight against Manbo Warrior. Watts has defeated Bobby Eaton and Michael Hayes. Dangerously says Manbo isn’t going to show mercy and he’s here to take out Erik Watts.
MATCH #3: ERIK WATTS VS. MANBO WARRIOR
FINISH: Manbo misses a top rope splash and Watts locks in the STF for the submission victory.
Bob’s Take: Manbo is literally a knockoff version of Kamala, who is working in the WWF at this point. Manbo tries for the cheap advantage, but Watts fight back quickly, but is cutoff. I can’t take Manbo all that seriously because he’s clearly a gimmick ripoff from the competition. To their credit, they kept it quick and to the point.
Match Rating: *
Eric Bischoff is back with another WCW Magazine segment. Bischoff promotes a rematch between WCW World Champion Ron Simmons and the Barbarian that has been signed. Simmons talks about Barbarian being everywhere, but doesn’t know Simmons heart. Simmons doesn’t quit and says Barbarian will have to essentially kill him to take the title from him. Cactus Jack asks how did it feel when Barbarian hit Simmons with a boot. Cactus says Barbarian is mad that he’s not champion and he wouldn’t want to be Simmons.
MATCH #4: BRIAN PILLMAN VS. JOE BARRETT
FINISH: Pillman wins the match following a running chop block.
Bob’s Take: Pillman certainly no longer has the upbeat energy he normally had during his entrance and is leaning fully into the heel persona at this point. There’s a level of cockiness that he didn’t have previously. The chop block is such a drastic change to his finishing move and a perfect way to get even more heel heat because he’s not doing something flashy on purpose. I like it.
Match Rating: SQUASH
Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura promote the feud between Johnny B. Badd and Scotty Flamingo that has been going on for the past several weeks. Badd claimed that Flamingo isn’t as pretty as him and put a sticker of lips on Flamingo’s cheek, but was met with a right hand for doing that. Flamingo claimed the strike was a grazing blow and Badd fell down easily. Flamingo believes he’s the prettiest man in WCW. Schiavone is claiming there was a roll of coins in Flamingo’s fist.
Jim Ross hosts Starrcade ’92 Control Center. WCW World Champion Ron Simmons shares comments about his next title match and wants the match to be made so that he can prepare for either Vader, Sting or Rick Rude. NWA World Champion Masahiro Chono will defend against the Great Muta at Starrcade.
MATCH #5: MARCUS ALEXANDER BAGWELL & BRAD ARMSTRONG VS. SHANGHAI PIERCE & TEX SLAZENGER
FINISH: Bagwell is decked by a double clothesline as the referee is distracted by Armstrong. Pierce delivered an elbow drop and pins Bagwell.
Bob’s Take: I like the idea of Armstrong and Bagwell as a regular tag team as Armstrong is a veteran and Bagwell is still fairly new to the company. Bagwell and Armstrong work together well by tagging in and out quickly to keep the advantage, but Pierce decks Armstrong with a clothesline after Slazenger delivered a knee from the apron to get the advantage. Pierce continued with a nice side slam, as well. Pierce continues to show good power by slamming Armstrong chest first to the mat. I can appreciate Pierce’s offense as he’s displaying power moves and not relying on rest holds or just strikes. Bagwell gets the hot tag and cleans house with scoop slams and dropkicks. The finish is fine, and this feels like a fairly big win for Pierce and Slazenger. I thought this was a solid TV tag match.
Match Rating: **1/4
Eric Bischoff hosts another WCW Magazine segment. Bischoff talks about Tony Atlas not being in the arm wrestling contest. Atlas has been signed a match against Van Hammer. Atlas shares pre-tape comments saying that he’s witnessed many muscle guys pickup a few weights and think they can stand in the ring with him. Atlas declares he’s ready for Van Hammer.
MAIN EVENT: RICK RUDE VS. KENSUKE SASAKI
FINISH: The show goes off the air as the match is still happening.
Bob’s Take: Well, I was quite excited to see this on TV, but there’s barely five minutes left in the program when Rude made his entrance, so it was obvious this wasn’t going to be a match of substance. For the most part, Sasaki works over Rude’s left arm to fill the time for the contest. One thing I’ve never liked is going off the air without a finish. It adds to the perception that it’s a real fight, but as a wrestling fan, just give me a finish and not leave feeling like I got screwed over.
Match Rating: NR
Final Thoughts:
A skippable episode largely because the main event isn’t shown in full, and that’s a pet peeve of mine. Especially when it’s a match that I’m actually interested in seeing. We did get a solid tag match on the show and the segments mostly served a purpose, so it’s not a wasteful episode. I just wanted to see a conclusion to Rude vs. Sasaki.
Thanks for reading.