BattleBowl ’93

November 20, 1993

Pensacola, Florida

Announcers: Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura

The Setup  

This was the first (and last) BattleBowl-only PPV since Starrcade ‘91. Without a title match of any kind and the pretty meaningless race for the (not so) illustrious BattleBowl ring being the highlight, this was also surrounded by a glut of WCW big shows. They had three PPVs and a Clash in about nine weeks, which, for the time, was an extraordinary amount, especially when you compare it to the WWF’s five PPVs all year. 

The Business

Prowrestlinghistory has the attendance: at 7,000 people in the building, but only $30,000 at the gate, so they heavily papered again. The show did an abysmal 55,000 PPV buys, which was not only an all-time company record low for the time, but would remain so for well over six years, until Superbrawl 2000. No one wanted to see this show. 

The Results

Big Van Vader (C) & Cactus Jack def. Charlie Norris & Kane in 07:34 *1/4

Brian Knobbs (C) & Johnny B. Badd def. Erik Watts & Paul Roma in 12:56 *

Paul Orndorff & The Shockmaster def. Lord Steven Regal (C) & Ricky Steamboat in 12:26 **1/4

Dustin Rhodes (C) & King Kong def. Awesome Kong & The Equalizer in 05:55 DUD 

Jerry Sags (C) & Sting def. Keith Cole & Ron Simmons in 13:14. *1/2

Ric Flair & Steve Austin def. 2 Cold Scorpio & Maxx Payne in 14:31 **3/4

Rick Rude (C) & Shanghai Pierce def. Marcus Alexander Bagwell & Tex Slazenger in 14:50 *1/4

Rip Rogers & Road Warrior Hawk def. Davey Boy Smith & Kole in 07:55 *

Big Van Vader (C) won the 16-man BattleBowl battle royal in 25:33 *3/4 

Notable Happenings

They did a press conference announcing Flair vs. Vader at Starrcade for the WCW title, with Flair putting his career on the line if he didn’t win. They had to do something after Flair lost the Clash match. 

Vader splashed Flair on the ramp to stretcher Flair and eliminate him from the battle royal, putting more heat on their match for Starrcade. 

Austin posted Dustin in the battle royal, causing Dustin to bleed. Dustin continued and eliminated both Nasties, only to be sneak-attacked by Austin. This helped set up the Austin vs. Dustin Starrcade match. 

Simmons attacked Keith Cole after Cole took the loss in their tag match, starting and teasing a heel turn that wouldn’t take place until months after, and was already about six months overdue. 

I will say that although the Rude tag wasn’t good, they teased and built to Tex and Shanghai finally going nuts on each other towards the end, and it may have been one of the biggest pops of the night. To their credit, it also looked like a really good brawl. It led to nothing long-term, of course, but it was fun for this show at least. It certainly beat the battle of the Kongs tag match. 

Gene Okerlund essentially sexually harassed Fifi all night as they drew names, making innuendo after innuendo. 

Poor Rip Rogers got beaten up by his own partner, then beaten up every time he tried to get into the tag match. That is, until Hawk launched him into Booker with a press slam, giving his team the win. He was also quickly eliminated first in the battle royal. Poor Rip. 

Best, Worst, and Most Underrated of the Night

Best: Steve Austin. Not only was he in the best tag match, but being in the final three with Vader and Sting provided some of the best action of the night, and something the crowd was actually into. 

Worst: King Kong. He was in the worst tag match (where he looked awful) and fucked up a FOREARM elimination from Shockmaster in the battle royal, causing them to do the spot twice. Sweet Jesus. 

Most Underrated: Steve Regal. He worked really well with the limited Shocknaster, using his facials and some light comedy to get over his opponent’s strengths. 

Backstage Notes

Sid was originally scheduled to face Vader (and win the title) at Starrcade, but the Arn Anderson stabbing forced a change. It’s hard to say for sure, but you gotta believe he would have won here to set up the title switch. 

Vader began working excessively stiff in the opener (to the surprise of no one), prompting Stevie Ray to retaliate with actual punches that left Vader visibly rattled and flustered. There was heat over this one backstage. 

We had a classic WCW production mishap when  Mean Gene drew the name of “Kole” (Booker T), but his tag partner, “Kane” (Stevie Ray), walked out to the ring instead. Announcer Tony Schiavone covered for the mistake, saying Gene drew Kole. Whoops. Even Gene never bothered learning those stupid names. 

Rating: 2.0/10

This was just a flat, dull show. The battle royal went way too long, but it did get good once we got down to the final three. There were too many matches hovering around the “bad” mark, and Gene was entertaining only himself and the boys with his dirty old man routine. There was no real need for this show to exist in WCW in 1993. 

The Video