We’re back for another week of Vintage Collection. Today we’re going to be looking at rare WCW matches featuring superstars who became famous in other programs and other brands.
Our first match is from WCW and aired on February 13th, 1993. We’re witnessing two superstars in their early gimmicks. We have Rob Van Dam wrestling as Robbie V and Raven wrestling as Scotty Flamingo. We come in to Flamingo showboating in the ring, and then they lock up in the ring. We get to see some great reversals as Robbie V takes control of the match. V locks in a side headlock, and they go through a bit of back and forth leading to V jumping up to the top rope, balancing there, and then hitting a flying cross body back onto Flamingo. Flamingo manages to get back in control with a nice reversal, and ends up throwing V out of the ring. V comes back in, manages a backslide to a cover, but to no avail. Flamingo gets in a reverse chinlock, and both men go back and forth here for control. V manages to end it here slamming Flamingo down, and then does a split leg moonsault for the three count. Your winner here, Robbie V (otherwise known as RVD).
Our next contest is a 6 man tag team match from WCW featuring 2 teams consisting of Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Cactus Jack & The Barbarian, and Nikita Koloff, Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes. It took place on September 20th, 1992. we start off with Cactus Jack and Barry Windham in the ring. The two men lock up, and Windham tags in Dustin Rhodes straight away. Rhodes starts working on the arm of Jack, but he reverses it and they end up on the ground. Again they lock up, and Jack starts in on the arm of Rhodes before tagging in the Snake. Rhodes starts to come back, and unloads on his arm. While holding onto the arm of the Snake, Rhodes makes the tag to Koloff who continues the abuse on the arm. The Snake manages to get a tag to the Barbarian, and things appear to be quite even in the ring between Koloff and the Barbarian. It takes a dropkick to knock the Barbarian off his feet. They circle the ring, and again, lock up, for quite a long time. The Barbarian manages to get the upper hand, and then tags in Jack. Koloff and Jack literally just roll around the ground until Jack hooks his leg onto the ropes to break it up. Windham gets tagged in, and then the Snake gets tagged in too. There is a lot of back and forth here, and another tag. We see a great double drop kick from Rhodes and Windham, and then go to an ad break.
Coming straight back into the match. Koloff and the Snake are on the ground with the Snake holding a reverse chinlock in. Things break up and the Barbarian gets tagged in. He dominates leading to getting in another reverse chinlock. Koloff fights back up to vertical and gets in some punches. Again, Barbarian gets back in dominant control quickly. He tags in Jack who tries to keep up the assult. Jack goes up to the top ropes, and Koloff manages to stop the move. Windham gets tagged in on his side, and goes straight into offensive control. And things go into a complete and utter brawl between all 6 men. The Barbarian manages to kick Windham in the face, and then Jack (the legal man) tags him back into the match. Barbarian goes for the cover, and its over. Your winners in this one, Cactus Jack, the Barbarian & Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
This next match comes from WCW Halloween Havoc 95 (October 29th, 95) and we’re seeing a contest between Sabu (with the Sheik) and the Mysterious JL (known to us as Jerry Lynn). We’re off immediately, with JL getting in a kick straight away that knocks Sabu right back out of the ring. Things go outside, and Sabu climbs up and flies off hitting both JL and the Sheik. Things stay outside, and then we see JL go up to the top rope and jump off to the outside again, hitting Sabu. This match finally goes into the ring at this stage. Sabu tries a reverse moonsault and misses, then JL goes straight up and actually hits a reverse moonsault. This match is basically even between them, as both men use the top ropes and flying maneuvers a fair bit. Sabu gets in a sunset flip for a two count, and as Sabu is trying to climb back up on the ropes again, JL jumps into a dropkick which knocks Sabu back outside the ring. Coming back in, Sabu uses the ropes to do a moonsault and rolls JL up for the three count.
This next section comes from the time where WCW sanctioned matches were occurring on WWE television. So this is from WCW SmackDown. And the match is for the Cruiserweight title between Shane Helms and Billy Kidman that took place on July 5, 2001. The two men start off strong and fast, and we see Kidman get the first upper hand here, flying over the top ropes onto Helms, and then using also a huge flying cross body to gain advantage. Helms manages to turn things around throwing Kidman to the outside, and slingshotting him into the ring post. Helms goes for a few cover attempts, and Kidman manages to reverse things, getting in a spinebuster. The action stays fast paced here, and both men get in some offense. Eventually Kidman goes up to the top rope, does a shooting star press and misses Helms. Helms goes for what they’re calling the vertibreaker, which Kidman reverses. And in smashing the face of Helms down into the mat, Kidman manages to get the three count and the win. The new Cruiserweight champion, Billy Kidman.
Into our main event now, and it is coming from a time before Steve Austin was Stone Cold. At this stage in WCW, he was Stunning Steve Austin. We are at Bash at the Beach, July 17th, 1994. And the match is for the US championship with Stunning Steve Austin up against Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat. Things start off with a bang, with Austin getting in punches and dominating over Steamboat in the corner of the ring. Steamboat comes back with a series of chops and both men go back and forth. Steamboat ends up walking across the top rope and taking out Austin’s arm. (and in other news, Austin has “dragon slayer” on his tights. work that one out). Austin keeps trying to come back, and when he is sitting on the ropes, Steamboat manages to knock Austin so that he is hanging by his legs from the ropes and delivers more punishment to a trapped Austin. When they get back into the ring, things slow down a little, but Steamboat does stay in control. When Austin is leapfrogging over Steamboat it looks like Austin’s knee gives out. And the ref pulls Steamboat back giving Austin a rest, which lasts a matter of seconds before Steamboat is back in there. Austin falls to the outside and waves his arms around in a T trying to get a time out. Of course, Austin seems to be fine and ends up running around with Steamboat chasing him. Back in the ring, Steamboat gets in a sleeper hold, it gets broken, and they go into an arm bar. And we go into an ad break.
Straight back into the action. Austin is in control standing up over a prone Steamboat. Austin hits a flying knee, and we see Steamboat try to get back to standing. And the action moves into the corner of the ring. Austin just keep firing off punches and chops as they’re moving out of the corner. Steamboat eventually catapults Austin back into the corner, but it achieves basically nothing. A tired looking Steamboat just keeps trying to come back. Austin stays in complete control. He locks in a reverse chinlock from a standing position, and Steamboat does get out of it, but its to no avail. And Austin tries over and over and over for a three count. In breaking the attempts up, Steamboat hits a low blow using his knees. But again, Austin just goes straight back into a control position. Things turn around when Steamboat hits a “stun gun” and the two men exchange punches on the ring apron. Steamboat gets sent into the railings, and then Austin gets sent into the ring post. Steamboat climbs the ropes, flies off into Austin, and then unloads 10 punches. Steamboat stays on top of this until Austin rakes his eyes. Austin keeps trying to send Steamboat over the top ropes, which apparently will get Austin disqualified in this contest. Austin goes for a piledriver, Steamboat reverses, then Austin reverses, and eventually Steamboat hits the piledriver. Steamboat goes up to the top ropes, Austin manages to pull the ref in front of him, and it looks like Austin will retain by DQ. Steamboat talks to the ref, and the match continues. It takes a matter of seconds for Austin to go for a cover using his feet on the ropes to take out the win here. Your winner and still US champion, Stunning Steve Austin.
Well, that’s all for today. We’ll be back next week for more action, so do come back again!
