Steve Austin

[Superstar Sleeze]

I think what I love about Austin is that he is not a prodigy. He works fuckin' hard and smart. He got a head because of effort. I love when a hard worker gets rewarded. Don't get me wrong, I think he always had it, but he did not always know how to convey "it" to an audience. What you see him in WCW is him putting together the whole package in terms of ring presence, timing and showmanship. He never had the biggest arsenal, but he always knew to make the most out of it. For now, I am going to focus on the tail end of his WCW career: his post-Blondes period and WCW US Championship reign. Flair seemed to have big plans for him in January of '94 before it kind of fizzled. He had a solid feud with Steamboat before being on job duty for "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.

 

WCW US Champion Dustin Rhodes vs "Stunning" Steve Austin - WCW Halloween Havoc '93

 

At this point, Austin is still being billed as a member of the Hollywood Blondes (the breakup would happen on 10/30/93) and he did not have Col. Robert Parker. Dustin Rhodes was coming off a lackluster feud with a broken down Rude. I feel that Dustin seemed like the bigger the prospect, but Austin had closed the gap considerably since their '91 Havoc match.

 

It is hard not to compare this match to their awesome '91 Havoc encounter and it does fall short of that match. However, this match had different intentions as they were looking to milk this over the course of a couple PPVs thus they could not go for broke. The biggest issue was a pretty dead New Orleans crowd, which just was not biting on their highspots. In the crowd's defense, this was not the world's most exciting match. Austin has a clear grasp of heel psychology, but has not figured out how to put it all together to have carry a great match yet. I liked his use of the slap early and milking it with a stroll around the ring. Unfortunately, when Dustin went to get his receipt he fell too early and it did not have the sound to make the crowd pop. That sequence encapsulates the match. There were great spots, but they were either missing transitions or just were timed well. The match finally kicks into gear when Austin misses a high knee into the turnbuckle and spills to outside. I like when they turn a conventional story on its head with the heel having the injury. Unlike a face valiantly overcoming his injury, Austin kicks Dustin's balls. It is just self-preservation, baby. Another cool spot is Austin tries to pick Dustin up, but Dustin overpowers him. You think Austin is going to eat turnbuckles, but instead he propels himself off the turnbuckle to land a kneedrop. Tony and I were quite impressed. Dustin starts mounting a comeback with his sweet punches, but Austin blocks the bulldog by crotching Dustin on the top turnbuckle. When watching Dustin felt like the better wrestler, but Austin was doing all the spots that really stuck with me. Dustin was better at fundamentals, but Austin was working some good high spots. Dustin is able to counter the Stun Gun with a Thesz Press. I am a sucker for symmetry. Austin thinks he wins with his feet on the ropes, but ref waives it off. Dustin wins with a roll-up due to the confusion. What a fucking lame finish. Austin lets us know this is not over by pasting Dustin with the US Title.

 

This match had plenty of good highspots, but all the glue was dull. The beginning was especially boring and aimless. I felt they were trying to consciously save something for Starrcade instead of going balls to the wall like in '91. The commentators put over all that Austin had learned from Pillman and I think Austin did learn a lot about psychology from Pillman, but he was not putting together complete matches. Dustin felt ho-hum when I know he can be a lot more engaging. It was a disappointing match, but still overall featured solid work and some innovative spots.

 

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"Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs Brian Pillman - Clash of the Champions XXV

 

I blame WCW for this not being one of the all-time classics in wrestling history. Due to the hotshot booking of the Blonds breakup, Pillman & Austin were forced to work two really great matches in one basically. The first half of the match is a heated grudge match style Donnybrook bridged into a counterwrestling style (playing off being former partners). Each section is worked at a sprint pace and it does not feel too disjointed. However, I think each segment could have stood as it is own 15-20 minute classic if WCW pushed this as a lengthy, blood feud.

 

The Battle of the Blonds begins at a break-neck pace and they are just at each other's throat. Brian Pillman is in his element throughout the beginning working a violent, hate-filled fight. He lets his anger toward Parker cost him, but ultimately it is a high-risk splash onto the ramp that eats a foot that does him in. Austin is able to chuck him off the railing for that always sick bump. Pillman does not know how to quite, but eats a stun gun. I love that this match was setup by a seemingly random segment where Pillman took exception to Parker taking interest in them and Austin signing with Parker. These guys wrestled the first five minutes liked the other slept with their woman and took their house. Nowadays, we have the disconnect in the other direction all heat in the buildup and none in the ring. Pillman is so scrappy and losing none of his heel edge even eye-rakes Austin to keep him away from the bad knee. Austin applies a half-crab, but gets caught holding the ropes for leverage. Thus begins the counterwrestling. I am pretty sure they counter every single one of each other's spot to prove how well they know each other. For example, Austin get crotched on top rope, but Austin counters the superplex with a front suplex, but Pillman counters his move off the top with his dropkick spot. It was just fuckin' fantastic work and so well-executed. Austin countered Air Pillman with a powerslam. Pillman countered the Stun Gun by holding the rope to land on the apron. However, the one thing Pillman could not account for with his time with Austin was Parker, who hooked Pillman's leg and Austin drove Pillman's head to mat for the win, what an excellent finish.

 

Unless, I find something in 1994, this is Pillman's last Godly performance as a babyface. He absolutely rules this match and I thought he came off as the star to watch. Austin was a good heel. He just was not bringing the hate like Pillman. Once, it got into counter-wrestling he was with Pillman every step of the way. The match is a little disjointed because it is basically two halves, but it is an excellent match that does not get enough praise. Break this into two matches with each getting 15-20 minutes, you have two classics on your hand and one of the best feuds of all time. It is just too bad.

[flyonthewall2983]

It's obviously in part because of the injuries that nagged at him throughout the last 6-7 years of his career as an active worker, but I thought his best in-ring work was in WCW. It's only his matches with Bret and Rock that maybe stand up to that work, but if you look at the talent he worked with in WCW compared to his run as "Stone Cold" you would have to give him the nudge to his "Stunning" days.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I actually disagree with that assessment, but I have seen more of his Stone Cold work than his Stunning Steve work (which is the whole point of this project). Don't get me wrong I think it is pretty close. In WWF, he put it altogether. He knew how to work smart not hard so to speak. In WCW, he was a good dance partner, but it was always Windham, Pillman, Steamboat, and Rhodes leading him through the dance steps. By late '93, he was putting it altogether and was poised for a big run. In the WWF by late '96, he was Bret's equal in the ring, which is such a vast improvement in my eyes because I hold Bret in pretty high regard. After the injury, he was still working the most compelling matches in '98-'99 WWF because he had such a strong understanding of self and wrestling. To me, he always understood Stone Cold better than Stunning. Stone Cold always had a purpose and knew exactly what he wanted to do. Occasionally, "Stunning" Steve would meander and lose his way in a match. I don't always think he knew who "Stunning" Steve was. It is as simple as Stone Cold is more closely who he is.

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WCW World Champion Vader & "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs Ric Flair & Arn Anderson - WCW Saturday Night 11/13/93

 

Just three days after the Clash, Flair continues his feud with Vader originally with his partner, Sid Vicious. However, Sid had a mental meltdown and attacked Arn Anderson with a pair of scissors in real life this getting his ass fired. They write out Sid by having Harley's henchmen, The Colossal Kongs attack him and Vader hit his big splash. Flair ain't going to let the bad guys one-up him as he gets best friend, Arn Anderson to step in and a melee ensues.

 

When I originally watched this match, I thought the AA FIP was insufferably long and made some jokes about it. As I was watching it again, I was like what I was talking about this has been great so far. Then it kept going and going and going. It was the fuckin energizer bunny of face in peril segments. The Horsemen always prided themselves on going all night long, but I hope it was not like this. In their defense, the opening was just downright explosive. Ric Flair was on fire and moving at the speed of light. He was supplying enough energy in this match to power the city of Hotalnta, GA. His exchanges out on the floor with Vader were awesome taking a jaw-first bump on the railing, Vader taking his chest-first bump hell even using a chair on Vader. That's how you do a TV brawl. Flair balling up his fists and ready to lay one on his opponent is one of the best things ever. Austin seemed overshadowed by the other three all-time great workers in this match. It is not that much of a slight against him. When Flair is supplying that much energy, he is a magnet and it is hard to take your eyes off him. Vader is such a force in the ring and Anderson was given a 15 minute FIP. Austin just did not standout. The short Flair FIP was pretty good as Austin was able to catch him and the back of the neck and the heels unloaded. I think the problem with the match lies that they went right from the Flair FIP to AA FIP, where they could have went more AWA style and had The Enforcer kick some ass before taking an ass-kicking. The first half of the Anderson FIP was actually pretty damn good. It was actually pretty good back and forth with Vader, who took a front suplex onto the railing. After a while the energy was sapped from AA and the hope spots just ended. I thought after Austin did Anderson's knucklelock spot that Flair would get the tag, but instead it kept going. By the end, everyone was running out of gas and the match, which started off with a bang was going out with a whimper. Only to add to my irritation, they wait until there is only 2 minutes left in the show before tagging in Flair. The place explodes for Flair, who rushes to get the figure-4 on Austin. Parker rakes his eyes and we go off the air with Vader attempting to land the Vaderbomb. WCW never did change.

 

Given its length, I will probably not watch this match again. If they just did the first ten minutes as an out of control brawl to build to Flair/Vader and maybe use Dustin instead of Anderson that would have been perfect for Starrcade. I realize these shows were taped pretty far in advance so maybe they had not booked Dustin/Austin yet in their minds. The first ten minutes of this are absolutely great. I wish more TV matches from nowadays had this chaotic feel and used the outside so expertly. Everything seems so sanitized now. As for individual performances, I thought Flair was off the charts good. Vader was his usual badass self. Anderson is a weird FIP and he is definitely better on the heel side of tags. Unlike Flair, he does not have a babyface persona of himself. He comes off as stoic and unexpressive, which hurt him in such a heated environment. Austin came off a little bland in the match. His problem in this match and the Pillman match was he would take this wicked chop and he hit a weak ass chop back. Austin just did not work a heated style yet. He was better at mat-based championship style matches at this point. I would be remiss to mention he took a couple sick reverse elbows from Arn. He was definitely willing to take punishment, which I admire.

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"Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs. 2 Cold Scorpio - WCW Power Hour 12/11/93

 

WCW TV was always good for pairings like this allowing you to see wrestlers against a variety of opponents. Even though Austin is getting pushed heavily he is pretty unselfish in the ring letting Scorpio take the lion's share of match, which is what you want out of a heel. Scorpio is a really good athletic, exciting midcard act. He hit one early highspot (reverse sunset flip) followed up with perfunctory armwork into a fast flurry of roll ups. Austin is able to break his momentum with some rough housing. Austin was definitely missing some spots in the ring, just some go to offensive moves to garner some heat. The jumping jack thing was not doing it for me. He needed more stuff like that, but better. Scorpio is able to connect with a strange cartwheel like splash from the top rope, but Parker distracts him from hitting the 450. Austin reverses a Scorpio rollup to win.

 

Austin carries himself well in these matches and he is willing to give the babyfaces a lot, but he still missing spots in his arsenal to take him to the next level.

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WCW US Champion Dustin Rhodes vs "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker - Starrcade 1993 2 Out Of 3 Falls

 

"Well we certainly cant call her The Natural" - Jesse The Body

 

Well that was anticlimactic. They gave the Nasties vs Sting & Hawk almost 30 minutes, but only let these guys have 15-ish for 2 out of 3 falls? Some of this has to be on the wrestlers as both where wrestling like they were going to go long, but then just went home. It was a really lo-fi match even by Austin's standards. I have no problem with a fundamentals-based match, but nothing seemed to connect. Austin would break Dustin's rhythm by going to the outside. Finally, Dustin said fuck it. They let loose and Dustin chucked Austin four rows deep into the stands. The crowd and I thought this where we were going to get going. Outside of some wicked sweet Dustin rights there was really not much to pop the crowd. Austin's work was real basic used ref's break or a Parker distraction to gain an advantage. Still he did not have the extra gear yet. Rhodes could always rely on his crowd to pop the crowd. Austin did not have an equivalent to garner heat. Rhodes makes his comeback punctuated by a bionic elbow. However, he chucks Austin over the top rope into Parker triggering the DQ finish. Austin blades off a post shot. It was a perfectly adequate first fall, but they seemed to be setting themselves up for some sweet stuff in the subsequent falls. Rhodes starts the second fall on fire, but he Beyonces the house lights. WCW is forced to use spotlights to light up the action. Rhodes goes for a nice series of 10 count punches in the corner when Austin double legs him in the corner to win with his feet on the ropes. WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!

 

It really did feel like an incomplete match. I am still shocked that was the finish. The '91 Halloween Havoc match blows that out of the water. It was really disappointing because you know what they can do on the mat and brawling, but the you get such a by the numbers match with a dogshit finish just sucks. I would say Dustin had more tools in his arsenal at this point, but Austin had more charisma.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WCW International World Champion Rick Rude & WCW US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs Brian Pillman & Dustin Rhodes

 

If only all matches were this fun. It is not going to change your life, but still it is a very entertaining ten minutes. I didn't like how they were portraying it as a Pillman/Parker feud because it makes Austin seem second to Parker. However, I think they were also doing it so Pillman could look strong against Parker, but they protect Austin, who seemed on the fast track to number two heel status. Austin & Rude make such a great team. I loved all the showboating. Austin ratcheted up the heat on his chops. Plus, he came up with a great comedy heel spot: the sloppy skin the cat. How has nobody made that a part of their arsenal! O yeah, because all heels nowadays take themselves way too friggin seriously. Pillman and Rhodes were just excellent babyfaces bringing tons of energy to this match. I liked the heat segment even though it was a bearhug and chinlocks because they broke it up nicely either a Rude taunt or Dustin struggling. Unfortunately, there is no finish to the match. Pillman brings in Parker the hard way. It is rubber pants time for Parker. The heels bail and they just go off the air. I guess that's a countout? So WCW.

 

These four meshed so well together. Depending how much pain Rude was in, he easily could have extended his career by just stooging in a heel tag team for a couple years because this was the best I have ever seen him post-1992. Pillman & Dustin are just perfect babyfaces. Energy, energy, energy. They brought it. Austin looked at his best save for the earlier Pillman bout. I loved the sloppy skin the cat. He was in peak form with his taunting and stooging. It is too bad it had no finish because it was so fun.

[Mr. B.B. Rogers]

I think what I love about Austin is that he is not a prodigy. He works fuckin' hard and smart. He got a head because of effort. I love when a hard worker gets rewarded. Don't get me wrong, I think he always had it, but he did not always know how to convey "it" to an audience. What you see him in WCW is him putting together the whole package in terms of ring presence, timing and showmanship. He never had the biggest arsenal, but he always knew to make the most out of it. For now, I am going to focus on the tail end of his WCW career: his post-Blondes period and WCW US Championship reign. Flair seemed to have big plans for him in January of '94 before it kind of fizzled. He had a solid feud with Steamboat before being on job duty for "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.

 

WCW US Champion Dustin Rhodes vs "Stunning" Steve Austin - WCW Halloween Havoc '93

 

At this point, Austin is still being billed as a member of the Hollywood Blondes (the breakup would happen on 10/30/93) and he did not have Col. Robert Parker. Dustin Rhodes was coming off a lackluster feud with a broken down Rude. I feel that Dustin seemed like the bigger the prospect, but Austin had closed the gap considerably since their '91 Havoc match.

 

It is hard not to compare this match to their awesome '91 Havoc encounter and it does fall short of that match. However, this match had different intentions as they were looking to milk this over the course of a couple PPVs thus they could not go for broke. The biggest issue was a pretty dead New Orleans crowd, which just was not biting on their highspots. In the crowd's defense, this was not the world's most exciting match. Austin has a clear grasp of heel psychology, but has not figured out how to put it all together to have carry a great match yet. I liked his use of the slap early and milking it with a stroll around the ring. Unfortunately, when Dustin went to get his receipt he fell too early and it did not have the sound to make the crowd pop. That sequence encapsulates the match. There were great spots, but they were either missing transitions or just were timed well. The match finally kicks into gear when Austin misses a high knee into the turnbuckle and spills to outside. I like when they turn a conventional story on its head with the heel having the injury. Unlike a face valiantly overcoming his injury, Austin kicks Dustin's balls. It is just self-preservation, baby. Another cool spot is Austin tries to pick Dustin up, but Dustin overpowers him. You think Austin is going to eat turnbuckles, but instead he propels himself off the turnbuckle to land a kneedrop. Tony and I were quite impressed. Dustin starts mounting a comeback with his sweet punches, but Austin blocks the bulldog by crotching Dustin on the top turnbuckle. When watching Dustin felt like the better wrestler, but Austin was doing all the spots that really stuck with me. Dustin was better at fundamentals, but Austin was working some good high spots. Dustin is able to counter the Stun Gun with a Thesz Press. I am a sucker for symmetry. Austin thinks he wins with his feet on the ropes, but ref waives it off. Dustin wins with a roll-up due to the confusion. What a fucking lame finish. Austin lets us know this is not over by pasting Dustin with the US Title.

 

This match had plenty of good highspots, but all the glue was dull. The beginning was especially boring and aimless. I felt they were trying to consciously save something for Starrcade instead of going balls to the wall like in '91. The commentators put over all that Austin had learned from Pillman and I think Austin did learn a lot about psychology from Pillman, but he was not putting together complete matches. Dustin felt ho-hum when I know he can be a lot more engaging. It was a disappointing match, but still overall featured solid work and some innovative spots.

 

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"Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col. Robert Parker vs Brian Pillman - Clash of the Champions XXV

 

I blame WCW for this not being one of the all-time classics in wrestling history. Due to the hotshot booking of the Blonds breakup, Pillman & Austin were forced to work two really great matches in one basically. The first half of the match is a heated grudge match style Donnybrook bridged into a counterwrestling style (playing off being former partners). Each section is worked at a sprint pace and it does not feel too disjointed. However, I think each segment could have stood as it is own 15-20 minute classic if WCW pushed this as a lengthy, blood feud.

 

The Battle of the Blonds begins at a break-neck pace and they are just at each other's throat. Brian Pillman is in his element throughout the beginning working a violent, hate-filled fight. He lets his anger toward Parker cost him, but ultimately it is a high-risk splash onto the ramp that eats a foot that does him in. Austin is able to chuck him off the railing for that always sick bump. Pillman does not know how to quite, but eats a stun gun. I love that this match was setup by a seemingly random segment where Pillman took exception to Parker taking interest in them and Austin signing with Parker. These guys wrestled the first five minutes liked the other slept with their woman and took their house. Nowadays, we have the disconnect in the other direction all heat in the buildup and none in the ring. Pillman is so scrappy and losing none of his heel edge even eye-rakes Austin to keep him away from the bad knee. Austin applies a half-crab, but gets caught holding the ropes for leverage. Thus begins the counterwrestling. I am pretty sure they counter every single one of each other's spot to prove how well they know each other. For example, Austin get crotched on top rope, but Austin counters the superplex with a front suplex, but Pillman counters his move off the top with his dropkick spot. It was just fuckin' fantastic work and so well-executed. Austin countered Air Pillman with a powerslam. Pillman countered the Stun Gun by holding the rope to land on the apron. However, the one thing Pillman could not account for with his time with Austin was Parker, who hooked Pillman's leg and Austin drove Pillman's head to mat for the win, what an excellent finish.

 

Unless, I find something in 1994, this is Pillman's last Godly performance as a babyface. He absolutely rules this match and I thought he came off as the star to watch. Austin was a good heel. He just was not bringing the hate like Pillman. Once, it got into counter-wrestling he was with Pillman every step of the way. The match is a little disjointed because it is basically two halves, but it is an excellent match that does not get enough praise. Break this into two matches with each getting 15-20 minutes, you have two classics on your hand and one of the best feuds of all time. It is just too bad.

 

Austin & Pillman, together or feuding, could have something special no doubt. It's probably the greatest tragedy in wrestling history that doesn't involve something morbid.

[Jesse Ewiak]

Austin & Pillman, together or feuding, could have something special no doubt. It's probably the greatest tragedy in wrestling history that doesn't involve something morbid.

Eh, considering the reason we didn't have a Austin/Pillman feud in the WWF was likely because Pillman got in that wreck that indirectly led to even heavier drug abuse and probably contributed to his death, it still connects to something pretty morbid. Like way too much in wrestling.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WCW International World Champion Rick Rude, WCW US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff vs Sting, Brian Pillman & Dustin Rhodes - Superbrawl IV Thundercage

 

I take everything back about what I say Austin was not a big bumping heel. He takes the first bump into the cage and then takes the bump of the match by straddling the cage. The thundercage is a rickety, bush league Hell In A Cell with steel bars as opposed to mesh. Austin was the badass of the match because he also hit the offensive move of the match when he hotshotted Pillman into the cage busting Pillman wide open. Then after almost shredding his knee he bumps all over the place for the babyfaces. Pillman gets his blowoff victory to a huge pop after Sting press slams him onto Austin. Well so much for my theory in the previous match about protecting Austin from having to job to Pillman. The crowd was hot for this match with "Paula" chants to start and they did not let up in heat. What a friggin' bitchin' match. No one is going to mistake this for a high end Wargames, but this is still a really high-end six-man tag with tons of effort for all. On the babyface side, everything was so well-executed. Sting is a such a great shine babyface, Pillman as the plucky face in peril and Dustin as the energetic hot tag. The one big misstep I thought was having Sting be the one to get the hot tag and bust Orndorff open. You see once Dustin gets tag in how much better he could have done that sequence. Plus, Dustin/Orndorff were dance partners in this match. Orndorff looked great in this match targeting Sting's arm, hitting an absolutely wicked belly to back suplex on Pillman and blading off some cage shots. Again, I think Rude in a tag team was a perfect place for him at this time. He knows how to get heat better than almost anybody else. He still had highspots like his top tope knee drop. I also dug the Dustin bulldog crotch on the top rope. I was happy that Pillman ended up being the final hot tag in the match as he just unloaded on Austin before he got the win. It was an action-packed match, where every character played their role to perfection and the execution was off the charts.

 

If I didn't know anybody better, all the booking and in-ring work point to Austin and Pillman being pushed heavily, but both had pretty lackluster '94 after this. Well, Austin had the Steamboat feud, but still he did not have a hot angle. Those who are low on the match because it was played too much like a six-man. I would say that cage was used in the pivotal transition spots twice. Into the heat segment, it was Austin hotshot on Pillman and to the final hot tag, it was Austin taking wicked straddle bump from the apron. The cage was used effectively. I don't think it is as good as the high-end Wargames matches. I would still give this **** and say one of the better American six-man tags of all time. It is too bad WCW did not build on Pillman's win and the fact that Austin was finally breaking out.

[goodhelmet]

Going to do a PlacetoBe podcast round table discussing this show so psyched to revisit this.

[Superstar Sleeze]

I have never watched the full show (I hardly ever do), but because all the upper-midcarders are in one match it does make for some strange undercard matches. You get the absolutely badass Regal/Anderson and the prototype match for the Spring Stampede match between the Nasties & Cactus/Payne. Payne almost wrecks Knobbs' shoulder on a belly-tobelly if I remember correctly. Still, you get Jimmy Garvin in 1994, The Equalizer, a random DDP/Taylor match and friggin Thunder & Lightning, just so WCW. I have never watched the Flair/Vader match, which has a rep as a debacle so I will have to watch that one before the podcast.

 

"Stunning" Steve Austin w/Col Robert Parker vs "Flyin'" Brian Pillman - WCW Saturday Night 01/15/94

 

How can you hate Parker? He elicits "Foghorn" and "KFC" chants!

 

It is funny I am doing a concentrated Austin viewing session and coming away thinking Pillman is just friggin' awesome. That is not a slight on Austin, but just how badass Pillman is as a babyface when he cares.

 

This match starts off more tentatively than their war at the Clash. They hype Pillman's upcoming match with Parker and the loser must wear a chicken suit and thus they have transferred the heat from Austin to Parker. I think that hurt Austin more than anything else. Austin goes for the trick knee early. Pillman is like if you want a knee injury I can give you one. He applies the one of the most beautiful drop toehold into a toehold that I have ever seen. I am a huge drop toehold mark and that was downright Bockwinkelian. Incidentally, Bock is set to become the commish of WCW soon in the storylines. Pillman wraps Austin's legs around the ringpost and adds some chops for good measure. However, his obsession with Parker gets the best of him as Austin is able to clothesline him and ram his shoulder into the post. Pillman sells the arm the rest of the match like a champ and really makes the match. Austin works various arm holds while Pillman is in his element striking vicious chops from underneath while selling the bad left arm. Eventually, Pillman regains control, but a leverage move by Austin sends him careening to the floor. However, Pillman rolls through a powerslam attempt to win. That booking certainly spits in the face in the current style of the winner of the blowoff match losing the match before.

 

Austin is very good at the fundamentals. He works the arm well and sells for Pillman's chops well. However, he could have done more to get heat in this match. Pillman was just in another league. In the pre-Hogan world, the babyface side was so much more stacked that Pillman breaking past Flair, Sting, Steamboat, Dustin and AA just seems like too much. Austin had the easier path on the thinner heel side with Vader and a broken down Rude. However, Hogan'a arrival renders all this speculation moot.

 

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WCW International World Champion Rick Rude, "Stunning" Steve Austin & Ron Simmons w/Col. Robert Parker vs WCW World Champion Ric Flair, Sting & The Boss w/Ice Train - WCW Saturday Night 01/21/94

 

Austin is very inconsistent in this time period. He is never bad per se. He just ranges from bland midcard heel to main event heel week-to-week (reminds me of Del Rio). This is one of those main event performances as he is the glue that holds this match together. He bumps around for Sting like a million bucks. His interaction with Flair is a tantalizing taste of what we never got. His missed kneedrop set up the babyface knee work. After Simmons holds the top rope down causing The Boss to go tumbling to the floor, Austin rammed Boss' head into the railing. He was the one always racing to cut The Boss off from tagging his partners. In a match with Flair, Sting and Rude, he was the lynchpin, which is a huge amount of respect by those guys to let the match run through him.

 

The beginning was fun with Rude doing all his atomic drop stooging bits. Even in his limited fashion, Rude was awesome here. We got the Austin show as mentioned above and then a Boss heat segment. I guess that is one way to showcase the Boss? Yes, in this time period he was on a hot streak, but I think his partners would have been better faces in peril. The heat segment was not up to snuff with the rest. The Austin bits were good, but Simmons just recently turned heel and did not have it down yet. Sting gets the hot tag and a melee ensues. Simmons who had deck his buddy Ice Train before the match get his comeuppance when Ice Train distracts him and Sting gets the pin.

.

Austin was tremendous and Rude was great in small doses, which lends more credence to my hide Rude in tag matches would have made a great post-prime career for him. Weirdest thing about this match was how subdued Flair was. Flair usually takes over every match he is in. It was nice to let him standback and let others carry the load. Also, weird was they had all this starpower, but the match was a backdrop for the Simmons/Ice Train feud. WCW was always great for stuff like this.

[Sidebottom]

It's obviously in part because of the injuries that nagged at him throughout the last 6-7 years of his career as an active worker, but I thought his best in-ring work was in WCW. It's only his matches with Bret and Rock that maybe stand up to that work, but if you look at the talent he worked with in WCW compared to his run as "Stone Cold" you would have to give him the nudge to his "Stunning" days.

I see your point, and I'm happy you acknowledged the injuries as his style changed dramatically after the pile driver. Many thought Austin wouldn't be working past 1999 after being lucky enough to have a year and a bit after Summerslam 97. When he needed a chair to get to his feet at Backlash 2000, many were worried that he planned on working matches months later (he was being advertised for Fully Loaded that year).

 

But to say he only had good matches with Bret and Rock isn't quite right. He had some belters with HHH (No Mercy 99 comes to mind), Foley (Two PPV's following WM14) Kurt Angle (Summerslam 2001). His work really dipped after 2001 for what of 2002 he was around for due to a combo of injuries and lack of motivation. His one true and proper match of 2003 was dramatic though.

[NintendoLogic]

Yeah, Austin had plenty of great matches in 2001 alone. He wasn't a standout singles wrestler in WCW at all.

[Superstar Sleeze]

"Stunning" Steve Austin w/Paul E. Dangerously vs Big Josh - WCW Pro 12/21/91

Poor Matt Bourne getting saddled with Big Josh and Doink The Clown. While Doink was far superior to Big Josh (just terrible), it did have a ceiling. What is remarkable is that he wrestled in two totally different styles. Doink was presented in the ring and by Vince as a technical wrestling wizard whereas Big Josh was an untrained lumberjack brute (because all people from Oregon are lumberjacks, duh). He did a great job given the limitations of each character. The match is pretty standard, but Josh had two nice spots: airplane spin and standing on top of Austin and stepping him, which was pretty cool. Austin looked like a pretty generic heel in this one and just survived using some Paul E distraction and feet on the ropes. Big Josh was also wearing denim floodwaters. Yep, he was going nowhere.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WCW TV Champion Steve Austin w/Mad USA vs. Scotty Steiner - WCW Saturday Night 3/14/92

Paul E. describing Madusa as Oliver North of WCW made me chuckle. The Pride of Michigan and Champion of the West hit the Tiger Driver/Frankensteiner combination on Austin, but Paul E. called for Plan B and the World Tag Champs Arn Anderson & Beautiful Bobby stormed the ring, but big brother Rick made the save. Scott Steiner seemed more restrained and focused in this match than in previous outings. He worked the mat really well and established early that he would dominate in that domain unless Austin pulled the hair. In addition, he was following up his highspots (suplexes and throws) with covers or matwork. He did have a tendency to start each exchange with a kick to the gut or a whip into the ropes. This over reliance seemed lazy and demonstrated poor transitions. Austin was perfect in bumping and selling for Steiner. Outside of the clothesline, Austin really had nothing in the way of offense. Pretty much Scott hurting himself or a Madusa kick was the majority of Austin offense. His over reliance on the chinlock is not 2005 WWE bad because he does work in some cheating, but overall it leaves a lot to be desired. Steiner delivers a hot finish stretch, which as a bomb thrower is his specialty. Steiner is adequate at selling and with some better transitions I thought this was the best showcase for Scotty Steiner as a future main eventer. Austin knows the fundamentals, but there was still plenty room to grow.