[1992-01-11-WCW-Saturday Night] Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko & Rick Rude vs Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes & Ron Simmons

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Not the best 6-man, but a good one with some good moments. The match is about 10 minutes and is all shine on the babyfaces for a good six minutes of it. There's sort of an FIP with Simmons, but the camera misses the hot tag to Dustin. I love some of this stuff though, especially the spot where Arn and Zbyszko were each pulling on one of Simmons' arms then ended up crashing into each other. Bobby Eaton gets incredible height for his Alabama Jam, which they wisely do after the finish. The finish really is pretty cool, as Zbyszko holds Dustin on him and eats the pin because he's in a perfect position for Eaton to attack him right after the bell anyway. There are way better matches with these guys, but this was really fun.

[Tim Evans]

This was a good preview of what's to come. I was really impressed with Larry Z here. Madusa in a man's suit was weird.

[shoe]

I liked this a lot. The finish was great. Simmons power man act was great. Just good stuff.

[Eduardo]

Fun sprint match, the timing of Rude's hip swivel leading into him getting atomic dropped was so perfect. Very enjoyable match-up.

[El-P]

I was really impressed with Larry Z here. Madusa in a man's suit was weird.

Yes and yes. Larry Zbyszko is quite the underrated worker and the "he was all stalling" is overstated. Larry was a very good worker even at this point of his career.

Madusa often had the worst fashion sense then.

Good TV match, as there are tons of those in late 91/92.

[Kevin Ridge]

Fun match though felt a bit too short but makes for a nice tease going forward. I thought Eaton had missed his cue coming off the top rope too late but good on the announcing for pointing out how Larry was holding Dustin to get hit with the leg drop.

[MikeCampbell]

I cracked up at the spot where Simmons tried the double lariat and Rude ducked, but Larry didn't, and Rude started posing. I've got to wonder how much, if any, say Heyman had in who joined the alliance, because the only one who hadn't really come into his own at the time was Austin. The finish was cool, I'm surprised that nobody has stolen that one.

[WingedEagle]

Nothing spectacular, but fun 6 man featuring Simmons as a pretty big powerhouse and Dustin looking like the best worker of the bunch. It looked like someone botched their timing with Eaton coming off the top.

 

**3/4

[PeteF3]

Good teaser of what's to come. This is very heel-in-peril WWF-style in its layout but the heels are such great stooges and the babyfaces have such good-looking offense that it doesn't matter. The finish is inventive and absolutely awesome--the idea that Zbyszko would possibly throw a match if it means taking out Dustin Rhodes really makes sense for both the character and the Alliance itself. They're going all out to get Zbyszko's brainbuster over as a killer finisher, as he was winning matches by ref stoppage, Brock Lesnar-style, and Dustin sells this one like he's dead. Simmons looked good here, but injury issues notwithstanding he's a guy who really seems to have been spinning his wheels since the big Halloween Havoc main event. I can't help but think this had a major effect on his run as WCW Champion.

[garretta]

The faces win a battle, but lose the war as The Cruncher deliberately gets himself pinned so he and Eaton can obliterate Dustin after the bell. It's sort of the Anderson Sacrifice taken to its logical extreme.

 

This was more of a showcase for Simmons than anything else on the face side, and he looked really good here, Dustin did his part and Steamer didn't really do much at all. The Enforcers did the bulk of the work for the DA, though Rude did his part while he was in. This wasn't anything close to a definitive match, but it filled its time better than those half-baked six-mans Vince ran from time to time, some of which were joined in progress and barely lasted three minutes.

 

Why they were trying to get someone as good-looking as Medusa over as some sort of asexual female droid with a bad Eurotrash accent I have no clue. Get her out of the lousy suits and into some dresses posthaste.

 

JR taking shots at Heyman every time he opens his mouth is getting old. Face-heel pairings like this only work if the face suffers the heel gamely even at the heel's most obnoxious. Gino may get mad at Heenan or Jesse from time to time and make a snide remark, but he doesn't spend the next two or three minutes (or so it seems) venting to the audience about what a jerk Bobby or Jesse are. For a while, it was refreshing to hear JR call Paul out for exactly what he is. Now, it's becoming distracting, and it sounds like JR's taking out his frustrations with whoever put them together as an announce crew in the first place.

 

The pushing of Zbyszko as a total badass continues. He's become the symbol for why I'm glad I purchased these yearbooks; talk about a run I never saw coming! I'm sure most of you out there have similar stories on some worker or other.

[soup23]

Fun enough six man although it was mostly just a shine sequence. We are already presenting Larry as the loss post for Dangerous Alliance and I think that is continually one of the main reasons I may not have them quite as high as others on an overall faction list. It never seemed like the faces were in any trouble even with virtual rookies like Dustin in there. As much fun as it is to see this heel team pinball around and that isn't a bad story to tell in rare occasions, I do hope it doesn't become a reoccurring theme heading to Wrestlewar. **3/4

[dawho5]

Fun 6-man with Simmons looking great as the power guy and Dustin really coming off well. I would agree it is too much shine to be great, but when you have these 3 guys as heels it's hard to argue with the shine they put on Rhodes and Simmons. Simmons in particular has looked like he was completely wasted in the 90s based on what I've see when he's given his chance. The finish and post-match shenanigans by the DA were really good too.