On This Day: March 7, 1992 – WCW Pro: This Is For You Chicago

WCW Pro
Date: March 7, 1992
Location: Civic Center, Columbus, Georgia
Attendance: 3,000
Commentator: Tony Schiavone

This is another show I’ve never looked at before but it’s the equivalent of probably Main Event today, not to be confused with WCW Main Event which is an entirely different show. We’re a few days past SuperBrawl which means Sting finally won the world title back from Lex Luger, who is on his way out of the company now, not be to be seen again for over three years. I’m not sure what to expect from this one so let’s get to it.

We open with Rude talking about how he’s beaten Sting before and he can do it again.

P.N. News vs. Fred Avery

News is a 400lb white rapper who is as stupid as he sounds. Avery weighs about 300lb himself and is from Wyoming of all places. News pounds away and dropkicks (kind of) Avery down. A clothesline puts Avery down again as does a fireman’s carry/Samoan Drop. News pounds away very slowly and hits a side slam before strolling around even more. Off to a reverse chinlock for a bit as this is dragging already. A belly to belly puts Avery down and a top rope splash ends this. News’ music was playing before the splash even hit.

Rating: D. News was as fat a fat slob that ever entered the ring this side of say Loch Ness. This was slow and plodding with News walking around the ring, likely in search of a Twinkie to prevent collapsing. He feuded with Steve Austin of all people at this time because when you have Austin, you put him in a feud with a fat tub of goo like News who can barely move an inch.

The new World Champion Sting talks about a title defense against Rude in Chicago.

Terry Taylor vs. Larry Santo

Taylor gets things going by sending Santo into the corner and dropping him with a jawbreaker. Santo is sent to the floor as we hear about Taylor taking Marcus Bagwell under his wing, only to turn on him in an attempt to destroy him. Taylor drops some knees on the back of the head and puts on a Boston Crab which goes nowhere. Taylor won’t even cover off a sitout powerbomb or a powerslam. The Five Arm (a forearm with a semi-clever name) puts Santo out of his misery.

Rating: D+. Not that this was good but it was better than the drek we sat through before this. Taylor though is one of the guys that I never have cared for no matter what he did, primarily because of his lame gimmicks. At this point he was the Taylor Made Man which meant he wore nice clothes. Seriously, that’s it.

Danny Wilson vs. Abdullah the Butcher

Butch is a guy who will run over everyone in sight and doesn’t care about rules at all, making this a more intense than usual squash. That’s what I can’t stand about these old shows: there’s nothing to say about them because it’s the same stuff over and over again. It’s the same destruction over and over again and there’s nothing to say here. Wilson is thrown to the floor and run over with a shoulder block back inside. Two big running 400lb elbows end this.

Rating: F+. Again, what do you want me to say here? Thankfully Butcher didn’t stab anyone in the head or main Wilson this time which is a step in the right direction for him. I’ve never been a fan of the guy as he’s in that camp that thinks bleeding everywhere and dropping an elbow or two makes you a wrestler. Now granted he’s done different stuff before, but his WCW stuff was dreadful.

We get a video from Jesse Ventura at the post-SuperBrawl party. Sting shows up for an impromptu press conference. He says he’ll face anyone who wants to face him and he’d love to defend it in Japan. Sting talks about how strong Luger (the guy he beat) was before Jesse asks what the trash talk was about. Apparently they were saying this is it and they were asking each other if they were ready. Sting doesn’t know who his next opponent will be but here’s the Dangerous Alliance, headed by Rick Rude.

He’s very happy about Sting being champion and offers Sting a drink. Sting says he has no reason to drink with Sting so there’s a drink to the face. Sting is ready to fight right now and it’s on with Rude getting a front facelock and riding Sting down with ease. The rest of the Alliance shows up and Sting is WAY outnumbered until security makes the save.

We get a segment called the Brickhouse Bonus which is an editorial from Jack Brickhouse, a legendary Chicago sportscaster. This is the Chicago version of WCW Pro, which is the same from a content perspective, but has stuff like that thrown in, along with ads for Chicago shows.

Young Pistol Steve vs. Ricky Steamboat

Steve is Steve Armstrong of the Armstrong Family. Feeling out process to start with Ricky carefully taking him into the corner. Steve heads to the apron as we’re over two minutes into this with barely any contact so far. A few shoulders put Steve down before Steamboat slaps him for no apparent reason. Ricky wants a test of strength but Armstrong stays in the corner. Armstrong grabs a headlock takeover out of the corner as they’ve got a lot of time to use here.

Another headlock takeover puts Ricky down again but Steamboat counters into a top wristlock. They go to the mat for some chain wrestling until Armstrong goes to the hair to keep him down. They get back up again with Steamboat taking over via a clothesline and a chop. Out to the floor now for nothing of note so we head back in for Steamboat to keep control. Armstrong goes into the corner a few times but he sends Ricky’s head into it instead to take over again.

Some punches to the face keep Steamboat down as Tony rambles about someone slapping someone else in the face. I would have more details about that but listening to Tony Schiavone makes my head hurt. A suplex puts Armstrong down but Armstrong hits one of his own on the Dragon. Ricky pops back up though and pounds away on Steve in the corner. Steamboat misses a clothesline and it’s off to a surfboard by Armstrong. A sunset flip gets one for Armstrong but Ricky rams him face first into the mat. Armstrong misses a charge and hits the ropes, allowing Ricky to go up top and finish with the cross body.

Rating: D+. This is one of those matches that was long for the sake of being long which doesn’t make it entertaining. At the end of the day, this was a former world champion against a lower midcard tag guy. This would be like Orton taking ten minutes to beat Epico. At the end of the day, it’s really hard to stay with a match that long when it’s just ok. Nothing to see here.

We run down the house show card again.

Rude says he’s going to show Chicago who the better man is between he and Sting.

Brian Pillman says don’t do steroids.

Overall Rating: D. This was your basic show from this era: a bunch of squashes and a feature match which didn’t work all that well. 1992 was decent at times, but you need more than this for a show to work. To be fair though this was the lower level show of the era which didn’t do it any favors. This was boring stuff, but at least it was relatively short.

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