[1992-01-11-WCW-Worldwide] Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes & Ron Simmons vs Steve Austin & Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton

[PeteF3]

Follows the usual Dangerous Alliance vs Random group of Sting's Buddies formula but as far as those go I thought this was a really great example of it and they got a little more time then usual going 14-15 mins. Thought this was better then the Rude/Austin/Eaton vs Sting/Steamboat/Bagwell and Arn/Larry/Rude vs Steamboat/Dustin/Simmons matches from Jan 92 that did make the set

[garretta]

The in-ring action here was very hard-hitting, especially for syndicated TV, but what struck me here was the NWO-like vibe surrounding the DA. They're really being presented here as a force that could wreck the whole of WCW, which ties in with the original point of the angle- Heyman wanting a seat on the Board of Directors- very nicely. I'd even go so far as to say that they're portrayed as a more dangerous combined force than the Horsemen were. The Horsemen were presented as four guys out for personal glory who would hurt anything in their path; the DA is presented here as a group who doesn't care what happens to themselves as long as WCW is wrecked in the process. It's not a huge difference, but it's a marked one.

 

I loved the partner sacrifice spots both teams did here, particularly Steamboat protecting Dustin after he was posted (which we didn't see). For all of their virtue, you very seldom see a member of a babyface team physically protecting their partner like that; most of the time, they're just content to whine to the referee, which invariably makes any bad situation worse. (We saw that here too, when Dustin had Arn down for what could have been a winning backslide if Simmons hadn't been jawing with Pee Wee Anderson).

 

I would have appreciated some footage of last week's attack on Simmons which set this match up; I don't think it made the Yearbook.

 

Heyman looked like a real crybaby on the phone with Medusa (by the way, that's a good way to explain her and Rude's absence from the postmatch beatdown). Then again, who expected anything else? And for those who say Paul took too much heat from the DA, remember that this angle was all about him (Heyman) from the start. It was his firing from the booth and his desire to pay WCW and Turner Broadcasting back for it that led to this version of the DA being formed. The wrestlers weren't irrelevant, certainly, but they were meant to play second fiddle to their manager at all times, much as the Heenan Family members were in the WWF. Tony even mentioned that what most fans would like to see is Heyman taking his own beating, which unfortunately would never happen (and didn't).

 

Austin as a power wrestler? That's going to take some getting used to.

 

Is JR the only one allowed to mention Beautiful Bobby's last name? Most guys who have a nickname get their full name mentioned as well, at least in WCW. I guess the lack of a last name was a holdoiver from the MX days, when Corny never mentioned anyone's last name (except his own, of course).

 

I get the feeling that Rude was always supposed to be the protected one, the one who didn't come out unless 1) he was going to wrestle or 2) Sting was going to be the DA's latest victim of a beatdown. Nice way to protect both his own aura and that of the U.S. title.

 

From what I can tell, the faces didn't win too many of these six-mans, so it's a good thing that we got to see this one!

[Wahoos Leg]

The action here is hard-hitting and the story is fairly simple. With a less talented group of wrestlers, this match easily would be skippable. Instead little touches really elevate this six man, such as:

–When Dustin kicks out after eating a huge clothesline from Austin, Steamboat (who was already headed in to try and break up the pin) starts cheering on his partner
–As the beatdown on Rhodes continues, Arn backs into the ropes to deliver a stalling kneedrop to Dustin, only for Steamboat to slide into the ring and take the knee across his own back
–A unique turnabout spot, where Arn goes to ram Dustin’s head into the outstretched knee of Austin in a tag-match spot we’ve all seen a million times, only for Dustin to send Arn’s cranium into the knee instead. Arn and Dustin smash skulls after the impact while Austin, doing the Wrestling Gods’ work, stumbles to the floor, selling his knee after the impact

Check out my full review of this match, as part of the 365 Wrestling project.