[1992-05-09-WCW-Saturday Night] Steve Austin vs Barry Windham (2/3 falls)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Somebody got a haircut! This is probably to this point the best singles match of Austin's career. Really nice first fall, as Austin has improved a lot even since SuperBrawl. He punches Windham in the mouth in a nasty spot and Barry's mouth is all bloody. There are lots of spots that are a little more violent than normal. Love Windham countering the camel clutch finally by just raising his head slightly and catching Austin with a low blow. I love that glassy eyed look Windham gets when he's selling. Austin just obliterates Windham in the second fall and finally wins with a Stun Gun. No wonder Austin got so good -- he spent years working with guys like Ricky Steamboat and Barry Windham. Windham wins the match and the TV title in a terrific match. I've seen this before, but it's never stuck with me like it did this time.

[Tim Evans]

Pretty good match although seemed to be a lot of headlocks in this. Thrid fall was the best. Austin hitting the stun gun and leaving with the belt meant this feud wasn't over.

[KB8]

Good match, although I like their match from Worldwide the next month more. Thought that one was much tighter, while here I started wishing Windham would take over and actually take some offence. Been a while since I watched it though, so my memory might be iffy.

[shoe]

This was a really good matches. I thought the headlocks gave this a 70's style feel to the match, along with a 2 out of 3 fall stip. I thought Windham was great. Austin was good here too. It began to drag a bit but didn't kill the match for me.

[El-P]

Windham was great, Austin was good but lacked some offense to sustain such a long match, and it showed on the last fall. Good match but could have been better without the 2/3 falls stipulation probably.

[Zenjo]

It's amazing they used to have such long TV matches, not that I'm complaining. It started off really hot with fast paced action and an excited audience. They worked hard and went full out. Probably a bit too much as they slowed down once they tired and the quality went on a slight negative trajectory as in progressed. The ending wasn't done right. Pretty good overall.

[WingedEagle]

This was pretty good, especially given the seemingly endless 2/3 falls main events on Saturday Night we've seen and that are still in the pipeline. Austin looked really good here, working a quick, rough pace early that felt natural whereas in the past you might see him thinking about what comes next. Good finishes for all the falls here and a surprise title change. Heyman's antics during the third fall as the intensity picked up were superb.

 

***

[PeteF3]

I'm not sure these constant 2/3 fall matches were really the way for a company in 1992 to be going towards, but this was quite good and maybe Austin's best all-around performance so far.

[MikeCampbell]

It's no wonder that Austin wound up being such a good worker. Getting to work matches like this with Barry, and then later in the year getting to work with Ricky Steamboat.

[slabinski611]

What were the reasons behind the 2/3 falls matches at the time ? Both kayfabe and legitimate. Regardless, 1992 was an awesome time for wcw workrate wise.

[MikeCampbell]

I assume it was another way to separate them from the WWF. They were all about cartoony gimmicks, but WCW was all about the wrestling.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WCW World TV Champion Steve Austin w/Paul E. Dangerously vs. Barry Windham - WCW Saturday Night 05/09/92 Saturday Night

 

Austin cut off his golden locks, but retained the shitty birthday part tights. You changed the wrong part of your presentation, brutha. Apparently though, Austin has said that his long hair was nuance in the ring because it was so thin that it easily tangled and pulled. Plus it was starting to thin all compounded into obvious need for a hair cut, but still a major upgrade to the tights is still necessary. I have watched this match a couple times before and have always been lukewarm on it. I finally can put my finger on it. There is really no comeback. Windham gets his ass kicked for the majority of the last two falls and then Austin swings and misses and it is all over. Windham clearly had the fire in his belly for the Clash and SuperBrawl matches, but here treats it as just a regular match. Don't get me wrong, he puts on a great showcase of selling, but he seems content, just to sell whereas Steamboat as this time was constantly struggling and making the heel earn it. Also, much like the SuperBrawl II match Austin ran out of offense in the third fall. He looked great in the second fall, but in the third fall he resorting to chinlocks. There is a decent enough kayfabe reason that time is on Austin's side because he retains the title in the event of the draw so it is behooved of him to wrestle conservatively. It just is not very entertaining. For me, the first two falls were by far the best work and the third fall was very anticlimatic.

 

The first fall was actually a pretty solid TV wrestling match unto itself. I would give that fall the same rating that I would give for the entire match. Austin works the headlock early, but Windham puts more effort into keeping moving with a back suplex, pinfall attempts and a top wristlock attempt, before cracking it with a second back suplex. Windham is so crazy athletic that when Austin sets early he just steps over him and hits a dropkick. That's wild. Windham hits a lariat and a floatover suplex (he won the first fall against Austin a couple weeks ago with that move) for a pair of nearfalls. Austin hits with his game-changing clothesline (ask Dustin) and looks like he busts Windham's lip open. Austin works a headscissors to keep Barry at bay using the ropes for leverage. I prefer holds like this to sap a babyface's energy rather than when you already have the babyface down and out. Upon the ref breaking it for the cheating, Barry hits the DDT, but before he can capitalize Austin nails him with a right. However, Windham is able to hit his beautiful floatover superplex to pick up the first fall. Really great work with Barry hitting big bombs looking for the win and Austin trying just to hang on.

In the second fall, with his back against the Austin really ratchets up his intensity. This is the best he look in the ring at this point in his character. He hits a stiff back elbow that sends Windham reeling through the ropes to the floor. Austin is just suffocating with his full court press on Big Barry: double axe-handle, gutwrench suplex, vertical suplex. Austin applies a camel clutch and Barry uses his head to hit Austin in the nether regions. Austin's game-changing clothesline keeps it in his favor and he hits the Stun Gun to even it up. Windham made Austin look like a million bucks with his classic glassy eye sell. The third fall is pretty mundane as it consists of Austin trying to milk the clock with holds and occasionally hitting an elbow drop. When the ref is inadvertently caught with a boot, Austin looks to blast Windham with the belt, but whiffs and Windham rolls him up to win. I was like all for that finish. No big comeback. I guess you want to protect Austin, but it was literally all Austin for the last ten minutes and it seemed like Windham just backed into a championship. Austin is rightfully pissed off and whips Windham with the belt, hits the Stun Gun and leaves with the TV Title in hand. I would put his match with Dustin at Havoc '91 over this, but this is still a solid TV match. ***1/4

[garretta]

First fall: I liked that they showed how Barry almost won the TV title two weeks before. It put the idea of a title change in the viewers' minds and showed how vulnerable Austin could be if Barry picked up the pace just a tad. Interesting that Barry used a regular suplex to gain his only fall instead of the superplex. Maybe Dusty wanted him to save it for the rematch he knew was coming tonight.

 

As usual, the pace was sloth-like almost until Barry hits the superplex for the pin. There were a few more action sequences than are typical of these matches (including the one where Austin busted Barry's mouth open), but they weren't exactly hopping to it. I don't expect guys to go a hundred miles an hour for a half hour, but these constant slow starts have to be turning off at least some viewers.

 

Owen wasn't much on commentary, and if the guys we've heard in the last four weeks are the best celebrity co-hosts that Turner with all his money can find, they need to tell JR to get over his ego and bring Jesse on full-time. I thought the guests were picked based on their wrestling fandom and knowledge, but if they were, they could have fooled me so far. Rachtmann was a cut above the rest, but he's still not the experienced commentator that a promotion's flagship show needs.

 

It was interesting to hear that Owen was a wrestler in high school, and he really put over what good condition a wrestler needs to be in whether they're an amateur or a professional, so he's made at least one positive contribution to the broadcast so far. I really didn't need to hear JR's reminiscences of the first time he saw Alabama in person, though I suppose they were inevitable with the lead singer right next to him.

 

Has JR ever put Heyman over, even grudgingly? It sure doesn't seem like it. I've never heard one word about how smart or resourceful he is, or how he's been a major force in WCW for the past six months, locking up three titles and forcing WCW to dance to his tune for the most part, just as he bragged that he would. How many homosexual or wimp references do we need to hear? How many times do we need to hear that he's acting like a brat at ringside (which he does a lot of the time, but JR doesn't need to constantly call attention to it)? In other words, when he says things like he does, is he insulting Paul E. Dangerously the character or quasi-shooting on Paul Heyman the human being?

 

Yes, he's done similar shtick in the past, most notably on Corny. But Corny was playing a mama's boy type whose manhood was in question, with his brightly colored outfits that didn't match and his fire engine red tights when he wrestled, plus his high-pitched voice and the use of a tennis racquet as a weapon. Paul E. Dangerously is many annoying things, but he's never come across as effeminate or childlike. A blowhard, yes. An asshole, definitely. But always a manly blowhard asshole. If the only thing JR can say about Dangerously is that his success doesn't count for much because he's somehow less than a man (read: gay), then he really needs to keep his mouth shut and his personal feelings about Paul Heyman the man out of his broadcasts.

 

Second fall: This one was quick, as Austin took over and dominated, hitting the Stun Gun for the pin, Barry spent most of the fall selling, which he's great at, and Austin's offense really looked good, as some said earlier.

 

I loved Paul taunting Barry with the belt right in front of Randy Anderson. As big a part of his act as the phone is, I wonder if he'd be taken a little more seriously if he spent less time on it and more time interacting with his wrestlers' opponents.

 

JR mentioned at the end of the fall that Austin took control through illegal tactics on the outside. The problem is, the only truly illegal tactic that I remember was Barry's low blow to get out of the camel clutch. Was there something edited out of this fall, presumably for time?

 

Third fall: This fall is basically one long finishing sequence, as both guys sell exhaustion and try to gain the advantage and the win any way they possibly can.

 

More taunting of Barry by Heyman with the belt, and by now Pee Wee's so used to it that he only glances over once. It's amazing what referees can get used to.

 

I forgot to mention this earlier, but Austin does a superior job of selling Barry's right hands with the cast. They're not meant to be instant knockout shots, but they're definitely meant to cross Austin's running lights, and we can see that they do.

 

I would have liked the finish better if Barry had whacked Austin with the belt instead of just rolling him up. After all, it's not like he's above that sort of thing. Austin's postmatch attack was well-done, but it's not anything we haven't seen before. One thing that kind of distressed me was JR's lack of outrage. This is the time when most announcers will go crazy denouncing the heel's tactics, and given JR's dislike of both Dangerously the character and Heyman the man, I thought he and Austin both would be in for a real blistering. Instead, JR reports it just like everything else in the match, and seems more eager to plug next week's matches in the standup than talk about the one we just saw.

 

The pressure to get all the plugs and shills in for a given block of time has compromised the ability to tell a story fully on TV, and not everyone can afford wrestling hotlines to catch up on what they missed. WCW is usually more conscientious about trying to make sure the matches and angles aren't given short shrift than the WWF is, but they don't always succeed, as we see here.

 

Before I forget, it was nice of JR to allow Owen to introduce Rhubarb since they were classmates at Jacksonville State. Most promotions wouldn't even bother to acknowledge the connection, let alone act on it like that.

[JKWebb]

I LOVED the first fall of this match.  I was all in.  I found second fall to be pretty good, and third fall drug a little bit.  Either way, I thought Austin looked like an up and coming main event player here.  This was a cool match to see.

[dawho5]

I questioned Austin in a long match before even watching this.  That step over a doubled over Austin into a dropkick is a great spot for Windham.   First fall was GREAT for TV wrestling.  Fall 2 Austin does bring a lot of aggression and it flows pretty well for how green he still is.  I was a fan of Paul's taunting too, good work there.  Owen loses steam as the match goes on, but there are 2 things I like about him here.  First, he doesn't try to talk about anything he doesn't know about and come off like a moron.  Second, it seems like he gets along with JR and JR tries to set him up when it fits.  Barry's camel clutch counter was different.  Austin slowing things down in the third fall makes a lot of sense even if it gets a little too slow.  He wants to use the clock as an ally.  The finish was a little too out of nowhere, but otherwise I really liked the match.  Austin's best singles so far.