September 19, 1993
Location: Houston, Texas, USA (Astro Arena)
Announced attendance: ca 6,000
PPV buys: 95,000 (down 5% from Beach Blast 1993’s 100,000 buys; down 62% from WWF SummerSlam 1993’s 250,000 buys)
Fall Brawl 1993 features the return of WarGames, as a team led by Sting & The British Bulldog takes on the fivesome led by Big Van Vader & Sid Vicious. Ric Flair defends the newly-renamed WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (formerly the NWA World Title). Cactus Jack makes his return to WCW and much more.
Here is the list of WCW champions heading into Fall Brawl:
- WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Big Van Vader [186th day of his 3rd reign] – previous champion: Sting
- WCW International World Heavyweight Champion: Ric Flair [63rd day of his 1st reign] – previous (NWA) champion: Barry Windham
- WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Dustin Rhodes [20th day of his 2nd reign] – previous champion: Dustin Rhodes, before it was vacated
- WCW World Television Champion: Ricky Steamboat [63rd day of his 4th reign] – previous champion: Paul Orndorff
- WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson & Paul Roma) [32nd day of their 1st reign] – previous champions: The Hollywood Blonds (Stunning Steve Austin & Flyin’ Brian Pillman)
Note: in title matches, the defending champions are underlined
Enjoy the review!
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jesse Ventura
The show kicks off with a video showing regular things that happen in the fall, like kids coming back to school, before transitioning to Fall Brawl and WarGames taking over this year’s fall. The commentators hype up tonight’s matches before Eric Bischoff throws it to Michael Buffer for our first title match of the evening.
Ricky Steamboat vs. Lord Steven Regal (w/ Sir William)
WCW World Television Championship
Steamboat walks out with taped ribs due to a beating from Regal using an umbrella. Dragon takes it to Regal with chops right from the get-go. Steamboat throws Regal over the top rope to the floor, which isn’t a DQ for reasons that aren’t explained. Regal gets thrown over the top back to the ring, and Steamboat comes off the top rope with a double axehandle. The moves ends up hurting Steamboat’s ribs, though. Regal smartly drives his elbow to the ribs, but Steamboat fights back with a thrust kick. Steamboat with more aggressive chops in the corner as Regal’s chest has turned red. Steamboat takes Regal to the mat with a hammerlock. He drives some knees to the leg, and Regal goes after the ribs again to break free. Then, Steamboat plays possum in a brilliant spot before rolling Regal over into an armbar. Again, Regal with a stiff kick to the ribs forces Steamboat to break the hold. Regal lands hard on his shoulder and Steamboat goes immediately after it with a tight hammerlock. Dragon switches to an armbar, Regal manages to cover Steamboat with the hold still on, but it only gets two and Steamboat goes back to the armbar. Regal tries to break it by getting Steamboat up on his shoulders, but Steamboat rolls over and takes him back to the mat. Regal finally breaks it by dumping Steamboat to the floor and then backdrops Steamboat back inside the ring. Regal squeezes the ribs with his elbow while applying a submission, before hitting a senton on Steamboat’s back.
Steamboat uses his power to reverse, hitting an electric chair drop on Regal. He goes for a splash, but hurts his own injured ribs as Regal gets his knees up. Regal with a torture rack submission. Steamboat manages to land on his feet to break the hold before chopping Regal in the head. Regal with a painful looking surfboard submission on Steamboat. Great psychology there. Steamboat breaks free and chops away while constantly selling the ribs. His selling is superb. Regal again goes after the ribs to cut Steamboat off, and then takes the tape off. Butterfly suplex by Regal gets two. Dragon catapults Regal into the turnbuckle and goes for a powerslam, but his ribs give out and Regal lands on top for two. That’s another clever spot. Regal connects with a powerslam of his own and gets two. Regal goes for a piledriver, Steamboat leans back and reverses into his own piledriver for two. Steamboat hits a vertical suplex for two. That was a delayed cover as Steamboat was selling the ribs. Steamboat to the top and he comes down with the high crossbody for two. Shoulderblock by Ricky gets two. Regal tosses Steamboat out, Steamboat skins the cat… but Sir William knocks him out with an umbrella shot to the back of the head. Regal capitalizes with a German suplex to win the title at 17:05.
Winner & new champion: Lord Steven Regal
- Rating: Badass match to open the PPV. It was a fantastic technical match that might seem boring to some, but it featured incredible selling and psychology. Some of the smart fans were booing Steamboat, but he sold his ass off like a pro here and made Regal look like a world-beater. He kept going after the injured ribs to gain the advantage yet Steamboat kept fighting back. He only went down for good once Sir William and the umbrella became a factor during the “skin the cat” spot. The fact that the umbrella caused the injury to begin with and then caused Ricky to lose the title was another great touch. This was fantastic wrestling. ****
The Nasty Boys are with Eric Bischoff and they “reveal” they’ll beat The Horsemen with a bulldog off the top rope for the 1, 2, 3. This was a knock on the spoilers that were all over the dirt sheets since WCW decided it was a good idea to book WCW TV months in advance, and thus all the hardcore fans knew the results ahead of the show.
Charlie Norris vs. Big Sky
Oh look, a babyface native American. I wonder where WCW got the idea from. Big Sky takes control early on. Charlie chops Big Sky in the arm to break free as the crowd starts a small “we want Flair” chant. Charlie takes Big Sky down to the mat and goes after the arm. “Boring” chant next while Charlie still applies the boring hold. Big Sky comes back with a chokeslam but sadly doesn’t go for the cover. Sky with a powerslam followed by a legdrop. Another slam by Big Sky and he goes up top, just to miss a flying kneedrop. Tatan… I mean Charlie Norris IS ON THE WARPATH and he makes the comeback. Big Sky cuts him off but Norris comes back with a bycicle kick to finally end this nonsense at 4:34. Jesse Ventura makes sure to point out Charlie Norris is still undefeated in WCW. Where have I seen this before?
Winner: Charlie Norris
- Rating: Utterly pointless and awful. Charlie Norris came off looking like the Vinted version of Tatanka and no one gave a crap about him. DUD
A special backstage interviewer with cerebral palsy interviews Davey Boy Smith, who talks about WarGames later on.
It’s time for a ‘bonus match’ that was just added to the PPV.
2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Paul Orndorff & The Equalizer
The fans chant ‘Paula’ before the bell. Equalizer takes it to Bagwell to start us off. Bagwell gets things going his way by avoiding an elbowdrop and hitting a running shoulderblock. Scorpio & Bagwell double-team Equalizer, with the heels walking away for a while to cut them off. Back inside the ring, Equalizer takes back control with a headbutt. Double backdrop by the heels and Orndorff comes in to work over Scorpio. Scorpio fights back and hits an inverted high crossbody, but the momentum puts Orndorff on top for two. More Paula chants from the crowd. Bagwell comes back in and hits a suplex for two. Bagwell runs the ropes for a move, but Equalizer pulls the top rope and Bagwell gets knocked to the floor. That allows the heels to get the advantage. Equalizer with a chinlock. Bagwell tries to fight out of it and manages to roll through into a crucifix pin for a one count, only to eat a clothesline by Equalizer right away. Orndorff gets tagged in and locks in a bearhug. Bagwell escapes with a backdrop suplex and finally makes the hot tag. The crowd doesn’t react to it at first, but they start making a bit more noise once Scorpio starts running wild. High crossbody gets two with Orndorff breaking up the pin, and we have everyone fighting in the ring. WE HAVE A MELEE GOING ON, says Schiavone. Sadly, no one really cares about this match. Orndorff ends up hitting Equalizer by mistake, setting him up for Scorpio’s 450 Splash at 10:46. The heels jump the babyfaces after the match and stand tall.
Winners: 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell
- Rating: Just a cold (no pun intended) match to fill some time on the PPV. The Equalizer worked most of the match for the heel team and his heat segment was boring as hell. All the crowd wanted to do was chant Paula at Orndorff and they did care when he was in the ring, but they went back to their seats everytime The Equalizer (Dave Sullivan) got tagged in. This was a bit long for what it was, but it wasn’t horrible or anything. Just boring and a bit pointless, not necessarily bad. **
Eric Bischoff interviews Lord Steven Regal & Sir William. William says they’re going back to England, and Regal adds he’ll defend the title with honor and pride once he comes back to “this land of decadence”. Bischoff questions his values due to the way he won the title, but Regal has no time for him and walks away. This should be the beginning of an entertaining title run.
Ice Train vs. Shanghai Pierce (w/ Tex Slazenger)
I’m starting to question if I’m really watching a PPV or accidentally played an episode of Saturday Night or Worldwide. Lockup to start, Ice Train strikes first with a shoulderblock. Shanghai asks for a test of strength and cheapshots Ice Train to get control. Shanghai pounds away on Ice Train but he can’t suplex him, and Ice Train turns it into a suplex of his own. Backdrop by Ice Train. Shanghai thumbs him in the eye and Pierce & Slazenger try to use the cowbell, but Ice Train runs right through it and powerslams Pierce for the win at 3:27.
Winner: Ice Train
- Rating: The finish was decent and put Ice Train’s power over, but this didn’t belong on an already weak PPV card. 1/4*
The Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson & Paul Roma) vs. The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) (w/ Missy Hyatt)
WCW World Tag Team Championship
Michael Buffer does the introductions and announces Paul Roma as one of the most popular stars in WCW. Yeah, right. Missy Hyatt surprisingly comes out with The Nasty Boys after she was essentially rejected by The Horsemen. Knobbs talks some trash and Roma slugs away to start. Roma with powerslams on both Knobbs & Sags, and The Nasty Boys bail. Back in, Sags asks for Anderson to get tagged in, and Roma obliges. Arn takes it to Sags, rams Sags’ leg into the post and brings Roma back in. Roma goes to work on the leg with boring holds while the crowd chants “crack whore” at Missy Hyatt. Arn gets tagged in and starts going after Brian Knobbs’ leg as well. Arn goes to work on the leg with a grapevine submission followed by some knees to the leg, which looks a lot better than Roma’s offense. Roma gets back in and shows a bit more aggression as he pounds away on Knobbs’ leg. However, Roma ends up getting caught in the heel corner and Sags turns things around with a gutwrench suplex.
Knobbs with a reverse chinlock while the crowd keeps having fun calling Missy Hyatt some nice names. Roma powers up Knobbs and brings him down with an electric chair drop. Anderson gets tagged in and comes in with a sleeper on Sags. Hyatt distracts the referee, though, allowing Knobbs to clothesline Anderson over the top to the floor as The Nasty Boys take control. Jerry Sags hits Anderson with a steel chair to the back behind the ref’s back, and Sags whips Arn back-first into the turnbuckle back inside the ring. Abdominal stretch by Sags with some assistance from Knobbs. Anderson finally reverses the hold, but Sags clotheslines Anderson to cut him off. The referee misses Arn’s hot tag to Roma, as apparently this match just MUST keep going forever. Anderson bites Knobbs to escape a bearhug, only for Sags to prevent the hot tag and hit a suplex for two. Sags with a bearhug followed by a double back elbow by The Nasty Boys. Anderson avoids a backdrop and reaches for the hot tag, but Sags again stops him. The Nasty Boys go for another double-team move, but Anderson faceplants them and finally makes the hot tag. Roma unloads on both heels. Clothesline to Knobbs, dropkick to Sags, powerslam to Knobbs and a double noggin knocker. Roma goes up top and hits a missile dropkick on Knobbs for two, with Sags breaking up the pin. Knobbs gets Roma up on his shoulder and The Nasty Boys actually set him up for the bulldog off the top rope that they mentioned earlier. However, Anderson pushes Sags off the top and Roma covers Knobbs for two. Spinebuster by Arn followed by a flying splash off the top from Roma, but the ref is busy getting Anderson out of the ring. Sags drops an elbow off the top rope on Roma and that’s enough for Knobbs to steal the pin and the titles at 23:58.
Winners & new champions: The Nasty Boys
- Rating: This was a lot longer than it needed to be. The Nasty Boys’ heat spot was incredibly boring and not eve Arn Anderson could save it from being mediocre. The Horsemen’s forgettable reign was over less than a month after it began, which makes me wonder why WCW took it off The Hollywood Blonds to begin with. **1/4
We see a recap of Cactus Jack getting injured back in April after taking a powerbomb from Vader on the concrete floor. Harley Race stole a mysterious leather bag from Cactus when he was getting taken away in the ambulance, and then Cactus went missing. After weeks and weeks of trying, a WCW reporter finally caught Cactus living with the homeless in Cleveland. Cactus now had amnesia and didn’t even recognize his own name or family, but Harley Race started receiving strange gifts on television such as a cactus. This led to Cactus’ return after several months away, attacking Vader after he’d defended the title against British Bulldog. Cactus revealed he’d faked the whole amnesia angle and no one believed it except from Vader & Harley. Cactus says they didn’t believe it because they’re dumb, as you can’t win that many World Titles by being an idiot, but rather because they wanted to believe it and to avoid Cactus at all cost. Vader wants to collect Cactus Jack’s head much like he did to Sting’s ribs, Ron Simmons’ shoulder and Nikita Koloff’s neck, but he can’t have it. Cactus finishes by saying there’s a day Cactus Jack is worse than any ghost, which is obviously a challenge for the next PPV, Halloween Havoc. But for now, Harley Race is offering money to anyone who can take Cactus Jack down and he hired Yoshi Kwan to get it done.
Cactus Jack vs. Yoshi Kwan (w/ Harley Race)
Cactus punches Harley Race and takes Kwan down. Cactus Clothesline puts both men on the floor. Harley Race gets involved, allowing Kwan to jump Cactus from behind with a kick to the floor. Yoshi hits a nice enziguiri on the ramp and keeps beating him up. Back in the ring, Kwan hits a nice roundhouse kick. He gets caught going for a bycicle kick and Cactus takes over. Cactus with an atomic drop, he sets up for an elbowdrop but Race trips him up. Race gets up on the apron and holds Cactus for a Kwan kick, but Cactus moves and Kwan hits Race instead. Cactus follows it up with the double-arm DDT and wins at 3:38. Cactus attacks Race after the match and officially challenges Vader for a match at Halloween Havoc.
Winner: Cactus Jack
- Rating: It was barely a match and more of an angle, but it worked because the fans were excited to see the returning Cactus Jack. 1/2*
We see a recap of the Flair/Rude feud. It started during an edition of ‘Flair For The Gold’ with Rick Rude as the guest. Rude tried to seduce Fifi during the show, only to get slapped by Fifi in return. Rude jumped Flair from behind and hit him with the title belt, followed by a Rude Awakening on the floor.
Ric Flair (w/ Fifi) vs. Rick Rude
WCW International World Heavyweight Championship
Rude takes the microphone and says he’ll take Flair’s belt and his woman, before taking off his robe to show an image of Fifi on his tights. Rude works a headlock to start, with Schiavone doing a nice job explaining Rude is targeting the neck after the recent Rude Awakening on the floor. Flair avoids a flying kneedrop with Rude landing on his knee, and Flair immediately locks in the Figure Four. Rude quickly makes it to the ropes, though. Flair comes off the top with a double axehandle and he locks in a wristlock. Flair goes to work on the arm for a few minutes. Rude rakes the eyes to finally get back into it, only to miss a blind charge in the corner and Flair goes after the arm again. After a while, Rude picks up Flair for a bodyslam but the arm gives out and Flair takes him down to the mat again. Flair with his classic kneedrop to the arm and he locks in an armbar. Rude escapes it and tries a hiptoss, reversed by Flair into a backslide for two. Flair charges with a crossbody and both men go over the top rope to the floor.
Rude clotheslines Flair on the floor and drives the back onto the apron. Back in, Rude suplexes Flair from the apron into the ring for two. Bodyslam gets two more, and Rude applies a chinlock. After over two minutes in the hold, Flair escapes and runs wild for a bit, only to get caught and press slammed on the top rope. Rude dumps Flair to the outside and pounds away back inside the ring. Long bearhug by Rude. This whole PPV is so damn boring. Flair finds a way to escape, but ends up charging into a stungun. Rude hits a couple of double axehandles off the top until Flair finally reverses one. Classic Flair kneedrop followed by a butterfly suplex gets a nearfall. Flair unloads on Rude in the corner, but Rude gets his knees up to block a blind charge. DDT by Rude gets two. He sets Flair up for the Rude Awakening, but Flair bites Rude’s fingers to escape and hits his own version of the Rude Awakening to finally wake up the crowd. Flair covers but Rude gets his foot on the ropes at two. Rude locks in a sleeper, Flair escapes with a kneebreaker and goes after the knee. He goes for the Figure Four again, but Rude cradles him for two. They take the fight to the floor, with Flair slamming Rude onto the railing.
Flair goes up top and connects with a flying double axehandle on the outside. Flair chops away back in but Rude catches him with a clothesline in midair. Rude hits a kneedrop off the top rope for a nearfall before dumping Flair to the floor yet again. Rude stops to seduce Fifi, who slaps him. Rude forces a kiss on her and brings her into the ring, giving Flair enough time to get back in and take it to Rude. Flair sets up for the Figure Four, and this time he applies it. However, the referee is still busy with Fifi and Rude grabs brass knuckles from his tights. Rude knocks Flair out cold and covers Flair to win his first world title at 30:47.
Winner & new champion: Rick Rude
- Rating: I wanted this match to be great. In fact, after such a weak PPV, I’d actually say it needed to be great, yet for whatever strange reason Rude and Flair just didn’t click here. Although it did get much better near the end, the first half of this match was extremely boring and felt like it would go on forever. The crowd was pretty much dead until Flair hit his own Rude Awakening too, which didn’t help. Like I said, thankfully the match got better after that spot and the finishing sequence was fun to watch, but overall this was an incredibly disappointing match between two all-time greats. But hey, it was nice to see Rude winning his first world title. **1/2
Jesse & Schiavone hype up Halloween Havoc some more before talking about the history of WarGames and tonight’s match. Dustin Rhodes has injured ribs due to a vicious attack on the previous night’s episode of Saturday Night, yet he’s still competing. Rhodes forces his way into the ring against his team’s will to start off the match against Vader.
Main Event
WarGames – Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes & The Shockmaster (w/ Road Warrior Animal) vs. Big Van Vader, Sid Vicious & Harlem Heat (Kane & Kole) (w/ Harley Race & Col. Robert Parker)
Dustin catches Vader off guard and slugs away on the big man in the corner. Dustin takes off his boot and uses it to attack Vader, until Vader takes him down with a hard clothesline. Vader goes after the injured ribs but Dustin keeps fighting back while Sting cheers him on at ringside. However, Vader slams Rhodes down and squashes him with a massive Vader Bomb. Dustin uses the boot to stay in it and actually manages to powerslam Vader in midair. The heels win the coin toss as always and send the next man in.
Kane (Stevie Ray) enters the ring to make it 2-on-1 for the heels. I’ll just call him Stevie Ray because honestly I struggle to remember who’s Kane and who’s Kole. Vader holds Dustin and allows Ray to hit Dustin with his boot. They ram Dustin’s head into the cage which busts him open and here comes Sting for the faces. Sting takes down both heels with a double clothesline and he unloads on Vader and Ray. Sting sends Ray flying into the cage. Stinger Splash to Vader and Sting slams Vader into the cage. Sting whips Ray into the second ring and focuses on Vader, resulting in two separate fights in each ring.
Sid Vicious joins the match and immediately makes an impact with a big Chokeslam to Sting. Sid chokes away on the ropes and maintains control until Sting explodes with a faceplant that draws a massive pop from the crowd. Dustin is a bloody mess in there. Sid & Vader slam Sting onto the top of the cage and beat up Dustin some more as well. Davey Boy Smith is in to even the odds but Sid is waiting for him right by the door. Sid slugs away but Bulldog breaks free and clotheslines him. Vader is on the top rope and jumps off, only for Bulldog to powerslam him in midair. Vader eventually puts him down and takes control. Rhodes rams Sid into the cage while the last man gets ready to enter the ring.
Kole (Booker T) is up last for the heels and he joins the beatdown. They actually saved The Shockmaster for last to save the day! Even Jesse mocks it on commentary by saying he’s wondering what kind of entrance we’ll see tonight. The Shockmaster is in and he goes after all the heels like the big natural disaster he is. He hammers Vader to the mat and gets a half-assed pop. Shockmaster sends Booker into the cage twice but the crowd still doesn’t give a shit. Shockmaster locks in a bearhug on Booker who gives it up (WHAT THE FUCK?) at 16:39. You’ve gotta be kidding…
Winners: Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes & The Shockmaster
- Rating: You know what, this didn’t start off bad with Dustin Rhodes taking a beating due to his injured ribs. The heels cut him open early on and this had all the makings to be a fun comeback for the faces (or even a heel win as Vader could’ve used a submission win to set up the match with Foley), but that was quickly forgotten because it turned out to be all about The Shockmaster. He was barely two minutes in the ring and finished Booker T – who was the last heel to enter, no less – with a freaking bearhug. No extended beatdown on Dustin near the end, not the heels taking advantage of that to gain an advantage near the end, no nothing. A bearhug. This is one of the worst WarGames ever. **
Jesse & Tony announce at Halloween Havoc it’ll be “spin the wheel make the deal” between Vader and Cactus Jack before closing the show.
END OF THE SHOW
Final thoughts: God, this is a painful PPV to sit through from start to finish. It starts off really well with a terrific technical match for the TV Title between Regal and Steamboat, but everything after that is average at best. While the matches aren’t total duds, most are super long (a lot longer than necessary), boring and heatless. Overall, this has to be a recommendation to avoid because it’s simply not enjoyable. One of the worst PPVs of the year, for sure. 3/10
POINT SYSTEM
Find out how the point system works.
| Wrestler | Result | Star rating | Main eventing | Extras | Total |
| Lord Steven Regal | 1 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| Brian Knobbs | 1 | 2.25 | 0 | 2.5 | 5.75 |
| Rick Rude | 1 | 2.5 | 0 | 2 | 5.5 |
| Jerry Sags | 1 | 2.25 | 0 | 2 | 5.25 |
| The Shockmaster | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0.5 | 4.5 |
| Sting Davey Boy Smith Dustin Rhodes | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 2 Cold Scorpio | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | 3.5 |
| Marcus Bagwell | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Big Van Vader Sid Vicious Kane (S. Ray) | -1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Cactus Jack | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 |
| Kole (Booker T) | -1 | 2 | 1 | -0.5 | 1.5 |
| Ice Train | 1 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | 1.25 |
| Ricky Steamboat | -1 | 4 | 0 | -2 | 1 |
| Charlie Norris | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Paul Orndorff | -1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| The Equalizer | -1 | 2 | 0 | -0.5 | 0.5 |
| Yoshi Kwan | -1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | -0.5 |
| Ric Flair | -1 | 2.5 | 0 | -2 | -0.5 |
| Shanghai Pierce | -1 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | -0.75 |
| Arn Anderson | -1 | 2.25 | 0 | -2 | -0.75 |
| Big Sky | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
| Paul Roma | -1 | 2.25 | 0 | -2.5 | -1.25 |
That’s all from me today. Make sure you don’t miss the upcoming reviews here on the blog. Check out the archive on top of the page with all the shows I’ve reviewed so far. Thanks for reading. See you all in the next review!
