WCW Fall Brawl 1993

WCW Fall Brawl 1993
Houston, TX
Astro Arena
September 19, 1993

This was a crappy pay per view, easily the worst of 93 so far. Too bad this was such a chore to sit through, as I’ve been really enjoying this era over the last couple months, and I’ve been meaning to watch this one for years.

Tony Shiavone and Jesse Ventura welcome us to a half empty Astro Arena in Houston, TX. The camera pans over massive empty sections in this small arena, but Tony assures us that fans are still filing into the building and EVERY SINGLE SEAT has been sold. Well that’s an outright lie, as you can easily see tons of empty seats during the rest of the show. WCW was absolutely dying at the box office and were giving away most of their tickets for free. I’ve been reading that the company was on the brink of death at this point, which is crazy to think about considering how deep and stacked the roster was. Too bad WCW had ZERO clue on how to book new stars or exciting matches and expected low rent gimmicks like the Shockmaster to sell tickets.

1) Lord Steven Regal (w/ Sir William) pinned WCW TV Champion Ricky Steamboat to win the title at 17:05 with a German suplex into a bridge after Sir William hit Steamboat in the had with his umbrella as the champion attempted to skin the cat

Typically long Lord Steven Regal match to start the show. I remember Lord Steven dominating the TV title division during this time, but didn’t realize what a transitional champion Steamboat was. I really didn’t like these Regal matches as a kid, as the pace was so boring for a diehard WWF fan like myself. Now I enjoy these mat based matches a lot more, but WCW Regal is still pretty damn boring. Steamboat was picking up the pace at the end, only to get smashed in the head with the umbrella by Sir William leading to the first title change on this show.

2) Chief Charlie Norris pinned Big Sky with a boot to the face at 4:35

BWAHAHAHA!!!! Man!! What big memories these two losers are! This was pretty much a match right off of WCW Worldwide. This is yet another example of how out of touch WCW was by the end of 93. Why would they bother hiring or pushing either of these slugs? This match was terrible. Big Sky was hilariously from “Saskatchewan” and had no gimmick other than being big. He’d later crack Hollywood and star as Sabretooth in X-Men. Here he loses to a simple boot to the face. Wow this takes me right back.

3) 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell defeated Paul Orndorff & the Equalizer in an unadvertised match at 10:46 when Scorpio pinned the Equalizer with the 450 splash after Orndorff accidentally hit his partner

WCW just booked a bunch of random ass mid-card matches for this PPV. At least Orndorff was paired with the guy he supposedly brought in to WCW, even though that angle went nowhere. I really enjoyed seeing the odd combination of Scorpio and Orndorff in the ring, but Bagwell and the Equalizer sucked the fun out of this match, which plodded along. Thankfully Scorpio and Bagwell continued their big push, and Scorp gets the pin after destroying the Equalizer with the 450. But they get murdered by grouchy old Orndorff and Eq after the loss.

4) Ice Train pinned Shanghai Pierce (w/ Tex Slazenger) with a powerslam at 3:28

HAHAHA!!! How could I forget about the debut of ICE TRAIN!! A guy who’d hang around the WCW for years to come. I bet he was still under payroll when Vince bought the company. I did mark out at Shanghai getting another PPV appearance. Jesse Ventura’s commentary was hilarious during these boring matches, as he was just going off on all kinds of tangents. Ice Train was literally shouting out “chooo chooo” during this match. Holy shit, I truly felt like I was 12 years old and watching Worldwide on Saturday morning.

5) The Nasty Boys (w/ Missy Hyatt) defeated WCW Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Paul Roma to win the titles at 23:58 when Knobbs pinned Roma following Saggs’ elbowsmash off the top behind the back of referee Randy Anderson, moments after Knobbs sustained the spinebuster / swandive double team

The Nasty Boys debuted on TV back in August after fading out of the WWF during the spring and were immediately given a big push as the top heel tag team. Considering the garbage talent WCW was bringing in, the Nasty Boys were a pretty huge deal. They ended up having a great and memorable run. They debuted their new manager, Missy Hyatt with a Nasty makeover, as a big surprise for this match. The redneck fans at ringside at brutal, taunting and catcalling Missy, chanting derogatory shit at her. Their attention was anywhere other than on this fucking long and boring ass match that went on forever. Anderson and Roma SUCKED as a babyface team, and were getting no reactions by this point. Other than ragging on Missy, the crowd was dead silent for this snorefest. Jesse Ventura was off in his own world through most of this show and also seemed obviously bored as this kept going and going. This finally crawls to an end with the Nasty Boys cheating to win. Wow this sucked.

There was a great promo with Cactus Jack in an alley, where he explains how he faked having amnesia and being lost in Cleveland. See, the only people who believed it were Harley Race and Vader, which was his plan all along. LOL this ‘explanation’ was so completely ridiculous and nonsensical. Thankfully Jack recovered from this shitty storyline and fans were still solidly behind him. Jack was also planning to get back his magic bag from Harley Race. I don’t think the contents of this bag were ever truly explained but it was a key feature of this shitty feud.

6) Cactus Jack pinned Yoshi Kwan (w/ Harley Race) with the double arm DDT at 3:39

LOL!! More WCW mid-card nonsense! Yoshi Kwan was a hired bounty hunter, brought in by Race to put Jack out of action again. Could they not at least have found someone Asian? Jack just steamrolls through this goofball and destroys him with the DDT. He beats up Race after the match to reclaim his magic bag and challenge Vader for Halloween Havoc. Well, at least Jack finally got a PPV win.

7) Rick Rude pinned World Champion Ric Flair (w/ Fifi) to win the title at 30:49 after punching Flair with a pair of brass knuckles as he was caught in the champion’s figure-4

On paper this would seem like a true, all-time dream match. Instead, it was a 30 minute snoozer that just draaaaagged along forever. WCW was in a dispute with the NWA, so that title was now known as the generic “World Championship” and would soon be renamed to the much stupider “Big Gold Belt”. Ric Flair has been so badly booked in 1993 that it’s almost painful to watch. Rick Rude was in full nasty heel mode, as this whole feud started around him trying to take Fifi away from Flair. In classic Rude fashion, he even has Fifi on his tights. Jesse Ventura was insufferable on commentary during this match, going ridiculously far in making sexist jokes and remarks, to the point where his mic was cut off for a while. It was probably all in character, but it was painful to listen to on top of a painful match to watch. I would get up and leave the room for a couple minutes, and Rude would still be wearing Flair down with the same side headlock. I think the storyline they were going for is that Flair is accustomed to these marathon matches and has the endurance to outlast his opponents, but he just comes across as slow and boring. Flair’s 93 run has just been awful. This mercifully comes to an end when Flair has Rude in the figure four, and while the ref is distracted by Fifi, Rude pulls brass knucks out of his trunks and knocks out Flair to win the Big Gold Belt.

8) War Games: Sting, Davey Boy Smith, WCW US Champion Dustin Rhodes, & the Shockmaster (w/ Road Warrior Animal) defeated WCW World Champion Big Van Vader (w/ Harley Race), Sid Vicious (w/ Col. Parker), & Harlem Heat in Wargames at 16:39 when Kole submitted to the Shockmaster’s bearhug

Easily this sits at the bottom of the list of War Games matches. They had some impressive talent lined up for this, but Harlem Heat were brand new to WCW and were still really green, and the Shockmaster just stunk. They completely changed his character, as he was just a big goof in a pair of jeans, a work shirt, and a hardhat. I listened to an interview with him, and he says that the original idea was that the Shockmaster would be a superhero type character in a mask. After all the hype, this match is just a straight up punch and kick fest with no real heat or drama. No one cared about Harlem Heat yet, and Sid and Vader should have been far more dominant and destructive. The match ends super abruptly, as the Shockmaster is the last guy in – to a surprisingly big pop – and cleans house, laying out both Sid and Vader. He grabs hold of Kole and makes him submit immediately to a fucking bearhug. Yup, this match was half the time of Rude and Flair, and ends with the Shockmaster getting the victory for his team. This match, like the whole PPV, was so disappointing. Many fans, especially NWA/WCW diehards, absolutely hate the miserable last few months of 93. For me, it’s more about the memories and laughs, but this PPv was terrible.