WCW SN 07/27/1991: Yellow Dog def. Diamond Studd in 8:46

This match wasn’t long before the Great American Bash PPV, now infamous for when Ric Flair walked out of the company as world champion right before the event. Interesting to note that Pillman and Hall both came into WCW near the same time in 1989. Pillman got over and became a staple of the roster for years, while “Gator” Scott Hall became nothing more than a jobber to the stars and was gone in a few months. Here he is as the Diamond Studd with the more traditional Scott Hall/Razor Ramon look we’d grow accustomed to with DDP as a mouthpiece. Tom Zenk meandered out there to help his friend, Pillman, and to offset Page. He raised his hands to the crowd at one point to a tepid response, which wasn’t uncommon for Tom Zenk in this era. As much as this Yellow Dog gimmick for Pillman (who lost a loser leaves WCW match) wasn’t good, the crowd was still massively into him as a babyface. They worked a lot of your typical big man/little man spots, and despite learning how to work under a mask for the first time, Pillman could still sell and connect with the crowd. Maybe the worst part of the match was a really ugly chokeslam by Studd, long before it was a common move. The finish was cute, with Studd ripping off Dog’s mask, Zenk sneaking in to cover Pillman’s face while the ref was distracted with Studd, and Pillman rolled Studd up for the win while still covering his face with the towel. This was solidly worked, but not spectacular or anything. **3/4