[1991-12-14-WCW-Saturday Night] Interview: Ricky Steamboat / Ricky Steamboat vs Bobby Eaton

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Steamboat shows good intensity, but I've never thought he was a good interview.

 

The match is excellent. This has to have been the first time these two had a singles match, and Eaton in particular seems excited about the opportunity. He attacks Steamboat right at the opening bell while he's still in his entrance gear, and they brawl into the seats before the match settles into a more standard wrestling match back in the ring. Steamboat doing the skin-the-cat spot and going right into a belly-to-back suplex from Eaton was excellent. All the two counts were well-worked and got over how focused Steamboat was on winning. He finally gets the win with the crucifix.

 

Post-match, Madusa kicks Steamboat from behind and he teases striking her, but stops short. Steve Austin runs in and attacks Steamboat from behind, but Barry Windham makes the save. Good stuff, and nice setup for Austin vs Steamboat in *their* first match the next week. Give WCW credit: they knew the best way to use Steamboat was to have him working pretty much all the time.

[Kevin Ridge]

Madusa’s outfits could be bad at times. Eaton bumps well for Steamboat’s armdrags. Ricky has a Octopus hold on and Eaton gets out of it with a move similar to Sheamus’ White Noise. I liked Eaton hitting the back suplex after Steamboat pulled himself back over the ropes. The close falls at the end were great with Steamboat finally getting the win. Enjoyed this match. Austin attacks the ring after but Windham makes a quick save.

[PeteF3]

Outstanding match, maybe the second-best television match of the year behind Sting/Cactus. Steamboat and Eaton are pretty much perfect for each other in terms of bumping style and offense, and this is a sort-of dream match that lives up the billing and then some. A promising start to a strong era of television matches, with a set-up for another big match next week.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Bobby Eaton w/Mad USA vs. Ricky Steamboat - WCW Saturday Night 12/14/91

Seeing Madusa in her father's suit, makes me want more Missy Hyatt on my screen. O wait, I always want more prime Missy on the screen (I feel like one of the few who does not mind her commentating/interviewing). Enough about Missy because this match totally rules the school. From the outset, Beautiful Bobby establishes himself he is one mean sumbitch. He chokes Steamboat with his own bandanna and is relentless on top of him. This match is a perfect example of how you can mix things up. They brawl into crowd and Eaton hits a chair shot on Steamboat. It is not a hardcore match. It is just a match between two dudes that just don't like each other. WWE seems content in having everything in their nice, neat little boxes and this match showcases how you can blend genres. On the outside, Steamboat is able to send Eaton into the post and here comes a barrage of armdrags and armwork, which affords the Dragon the opportunity to tell the "Witch" at ringside to shut up. After the aforementioned chairshot, Eaton sends The Dragon's shoulder into the ringpost, nice tit for tat. He gets a nearfall on a suplex attempt and busts out a short arm scissors (a favorite of mine). Eaton and Steamboat's selling has really been top notch. In a moment that made me laugh out loud, Eaton goes to hit a move off the top and JR exclaims he is from Huntsville! I guess most natives of Huntsville, AL are landlubbers. Eaton eats feet and Steamboat unloads his onslaught of pinning predicaments. Eaton counters the skin the cat with a belly to back suplex and busts out a Billy Robinson style backbreaker. I like how Steamboat gets his nearfalls on flash pins and Eaton is using suplexes. It makes for good complements. Steamboat catches Eaton in a crucifix pin for the win. Austin crashes the party, but not before Barry Windham cast and all is back to make the save. Great way to build towards Steamboat/Austin next week and a badass match overall. Eaton really showed off his mean streak in this match while still putting over Steamboat's challenge. They really used everything to their advantage. All the outside work was used to set up what was to happen in the ring before they hit the frenetic finish. ***3/4

[soup23]

I guess I will be the low vote on this. i thought it was good and perfunctory but nothing groundbreaking. I did really like the work Eaton did but he seemed less innovative than usual on his offensive attack. Would have liked to have seen another longer feature match between these two.

[garretta]

When you break it down, this is nothing more than a captain's match, a way to showcase the tag team titles without actually putting them on the line. But with workers like these, it turns into so much more. While this match doesn't exactly reinvent the sport, it provides a mix of styles that you don't see very often in one match: there's good limbwork from both guys (you can tell that Bobby's been learning from Arn, the way he goes after Steamboat's arm), high flying, and even a brawl into the crowd that takes no less than Doug Dellinger to break up. Then Steamer gets the pin off of a well-executed but random crucifix, and we add a heel beatdown, a save by a vengeful babyface, and the near-striking of a not-so-innocent woman to our bag of treats. In short, this match had something for everyone.

 

Conspicuous by his absence: Paul Heyman. I have no idea where he was, but he wasn't missed. That's because Medusa filled in more than capably. I loved seeing her stomp on Steamer's robe, and I also liked her trying to interact with both Steamboat and Pee Wee Anderson. She even tops Ricky in the comedy department; when he yells "Shut up, witch!" (JR: "He said witch! Yes, he did!") she comes back with a line straight out of Alice: "Kiss mah grits!" The funny part is, Heyman's set her up as a cool Bond Girl type, complete with European accent. Where I come from, most European girls don't sound like Flo the waitress.

 

The "will Steamboat strike Medusa or not?" bit was well-played. You can tell he wanted to, but he's trapped by his own persona. If he levels Medusa, you can bet that Heyman and the rest of the DA will have the time of their sweet lives over the next few weeks mocking him as the family man who beats up on defenseless women because he can't beat men like Austin and Eaton straight up, and he can't bear that, at least not yet. I'm sure Medusa will provoke him beyond endurance before all is said and done, however.

 

Nice explanation for Dustin's absence (wrestling in Dublin, Ireland) to set up Windham making the save for Ricky instead. Steamer and Barry would have made a hell of a team if WCW had chosen to go that way.

 

The part about Dustin wrestling in Dublin on the night of December 14 was absolutely true; he teamed with Bill Kazmaier to beat the Enforcers. I'm sure this trip was well-known in advance, and that Dustin was just sitting in the back at Center Stage when this match was taped, but it's a rare thing at this time for a promotion to care enough about continuity to make sure that Dustin didn't come in to make the save for Ricky on a show that was supposed to be plausibly live from Atlanta when he's supposed to be all the way across the Atlantic.

 

Line of the match: JR, as Eaton flies off the top rope only to be caught right in the face by Steamboat's feet: "He's from Hunts-VILLE!"

 

I also loved JR's rant about how he thought Bobby was a nice guy until he joined the DA. He sounds more like a jilted drinking buddy than a professional announcer, yet somehow it works in this instance.

 

Why is Bobby still using the knockoff MX music when Corny and Stan are both long gone, not to mention Dennis Condrey?

 

Which genius believed that Mr. Hughes vs. PN News was a main event match for the bottom-level syndicated show, let alone one of the TBS shows? If it was me, I wouldn't even use this match as an interstitial at five o'clock on a Wednesday morning between Headline News and I Dream of Jeannie.

 

Count me as someone who would love to see at least clips of the 45-minute Omni match between Dustin/Steamer and Arn/Eaton.

[dawho5]

Once JR mentions Dustin isn't around you know there will be an ambush. I'm pretty sure it's in a rulebook somewhere. Great TV match with Bobby as motivated as he's been in a while. Steamer calling Madusa a witch while working Bobby's arm was a nice PG way of getting that across. I was waiting for Bobby to take a tumble down the stairs, but not at all disappointed when he didn't. Finish was a nice contrast of styles and it capped off my favorite WCW TV match of 1991.