[1992-05-02-WCW-Saturday Night] Interview: Paul E. Dangerously & Madusa / Interview: Rick Rude & Madusa

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Paul E. and Madusa do an interview accusing Steamboat of being a sexually harassing pervert, and to leave her alone. In the middle of all this, the lights go dim and Steamboat's music starts playing. Steamboat is in the ring and blows fire for the first time in WCW. Paul E. takes off running and Madusa starts screaming LEAVE ME ALONE YOU WOMAN BEATER. This was heated, but made no sense. I don't understand why this was sold the way it was, but whatever.

 

We segue to a green screen promo with Rude and Madusa.

[Tim Evans]

Was this before or after Steamboat almost hit Madusa? That's the only reason I can see it being sold that way.

[shoe]

Stupid segment. Why even bring up the stupid family man gimmick of Steamboat's in 89 that didn't get over. He was hot as a face as Ricky Steamboat.

[Kevin Ridge]

Madusa and Rude make some claims of abuse against Steamboat. Ricky appears in another part of arena and just blows fire while Madusa screams at him the whole time. Ross and Hervey were talking about this different side of Steamboat. I guess the doesn't make sense side of him. This was just weird.

[Matt D]

This stuff is frustrating since Ricky's promo from a few weeks before was so good and heated and this was a terrible way to follow up on it.

[WingedEagle]

Ross & Hervey again, which is unfortunate. Heyman cuts a promo on Steamboat for sexually harassing Madusa. I assume this coincided with some election campaign headlines at the time? Steamboat is out with his busted nose, which I believe was from an awesome angle where the DA smashed his face on the floor at Center Stage. Has that not happened yet or did it not make the yearbook for some reason? Just a weird angle.

[MikeCampbell]

Good promo by Heyman. Madusa's promo sucked, but it got the crowd worked up. The fire breathing was pointless.

[PeteF3]

I like the thought of Paul E. schmoozing with Jesse. Madusa is in tears at the treatment Ricky Steamboat has given her, first striking her and now "sexually harrassing" her. For fuck's sake guys, the Thomas/Hill hearings were 6 months before this and the Lisa Olson incident over a year before. Try to stay on top of things--that goes for everyone in wrestling. Madusa still does "ditzy dumb blonde who's also an asskicker" well, though. The lights go out and Steamboat's in the balcony and Madusa screams like she's in a horror movie and Steamboat resurrects his WWF fire-breathing gimmick.

 

Ross and Hervey talk about how uncharacteristic this is of Steamboat--are they trying to give credence to Paul E. and Madusa's story or something? Rude and Madusa cut a good promo--I always thought Madusa was one of the all-time worst on the stick but she's been pretty good in this role.

 

Steamboat had his nose taped, so this Yearbook missed Steamboat finally striking Madusa after weeks of build-up, and then being immediately apologetic and getting absolutely waylaid by the Dangerous Alliance and having his face rubbed in cement. That was a spectacular angle, sold awesomely by everyone from the fringe DA members, to the babyfaces making the save, to Schiavone on commentary, to the Apter mags ("DON'T HURT MY DADDY"). But the follow-up just seems "off." I actually like the idea of Rude trying to break Steamboat's "family man" image, but...

 

1.) There needs to be some doubt as to whether Steamboat's actually doing this, and I don't think anyone would actually buy the accusations.

2.) More importantly, it's coming WAY too close to the Flair/Liz angle and reeks of copycatting.

[PhilTLL]

Steamboat had his nose taped, so this Yearbook missed Steamboat finally striking Madusa after weeks of build-up, and then being immediately apologetic and getting absolutely waylaid by the Dangerous Alliance and having his face rubbed in cement. That was a spectacular angle, sold awesomely by everyone from the fringe DA members, to the babyfaces making the save, to Schiavone on commentary, to the Apter mags ("DON'T HURT MY DADDY").

This angle was shown approximately 9,000 times in the weeks after it first aired, and I was pretty surprised not to see it listed here. But it is indeed spectacular.

 

The fire angle was also shown a bunch of times, but it gets less effective the more I see it. Steamboat isn't a stalker, so he does total creep ball stalker things?

[garretta]

I think Hervey had it right for once in his life; we're supposed to see this as wishful thinking on Medusa's part, and a penny-ante psychological ploy on Heyman's as he tries in vain to stop Rude's day of reckoning with the Dragon. Where the fire breathing comes in, I don't know. If Steamer isn't stalking Medusa, why is he trying to scare her to death? Or was the fire meant for Heyman and Rude, with Medusa an innocent bystander? All I know is that Jesse and Paul acted like true gentlemen, playing feet-do-your-stuff and leaving a terrified Medusa all alone. I would have liked this better if Rude had been involved somehow.

 

Am I the only one who'd love to be at lunch with Paui and Jesse, regardless of who's paying?

 

I didn't like Rude's promo at all. Unless Bonnie's going to get involved on-camera, why bring her and Richie into this the way he is? For that matter, why have Steamer accuse Rude of disturbing him at home? This isn't a copycat of Savage/Flair/Liz; that's mostly innuendo and speculation. We're getting into supposed criminal territory here, and as I said, either Bonnie should be getting involved or that part of the feud should be scrapped. Steamboat and Rude proved at SuperBrawl that they can get the job done in the ring, and that should be good enough.

 

Thank heaven Medusa dropped the "European" accent; even if she isn't exactly good on promos, at least you can understand her better.

[dawho5]

Chalk this up to another terrible idea on WCW's part.  Is anyone watching taking any of this seriously?