WCW Main Event: January 3, 1993

Tony Schiavone welcomes us to WCW Main Event – brought to you by Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts! Run, jump, and hack your way through 7 terrifying stages, and rescue the princess! I guess … that’s one way to make it sound like Mario, as opposed to, say, the most anger inducing impossible game this side of the original Battle Toads. Of course, having a super frustrating sponsor for WCW is completely apropos. I hope next month’s sponsor is those plastic shell boxes for modern day electronics, with absolutely no way to open the product without requiring Tommy John surgery.

JIM ROSS and MICHAEL HAYES handle the commentary.

CHRIS SULLIVAN vs. 2 COLD SCORPIO

Chris Sullivan! Where have you been my entire life? Despite sharing the same facial DNA with Gene Okerlund and the guy who sells Micro Machines, I’m fairly certain he’s also the man responsible for delivering internal mail at my office.

Sullivan is completely disgusted by Scorpio’s insistence on steppin’, and he comes at 2 Cold with an attack so vicious, that Scorpio flies all the way to the guardrail, and Sullivan’s ponytail almost comes off. Scorpio gets back in and trips up this previously unheard of stud machine, and wins with a slingshot 450 splash at 1:09. A valiant effort from Sullivan, and I think we’ll need to see him every single week for the remainder of our lives to really get a feel for his incredible skillset.

DUSTIN RHODES vs. DANNY DEESE

Oh hell yes! I don’t know what I did to please the baby Jesus today, but to continually bless me with this parade of talent is like experiencing Christmas morning again and again.

Rhodes is of course in the semi-finals of the US title tournament after his win over Vinny Vegas, so a win here from Deese would have to immediately put him in the WCW Top 10. Ross calls Rhodes the favorite, which seems a little premature. Deese throws some methodical right hands – but I know his slowness of the blows is clearly because his fists are made of stone, and he’s toying with Rhodes in cat-like fashion. Dustin dropkicks the portly Reese, and a bulldog scores the massive upset at 1:46. A bad night for two of the top guys on tonight’s program. Maybe they should think about forming an unstoppable tag-team instead?

The main event sees a replay of a big tag-team match between Vader/Rude against Steamboat/Douglas before Starrcade – and since I may touch on it in another time and place, I won’t do a full recap here. However, Vader’s in classic form here, destroying anything and everything in his path – booked like a fat Brock Lesnar, but showing JUST enough ass to make you believe in the babyfaces. Plenty entertaining, and a nice way to wrap this one up.

Tomorrow brings WCW’s yearly Japan Supershow, and to say the card is loaded is an understatement. Jushin Liger, Ultimo Dragon, Muta, Sting, the Steiners, and a ton of the top Japanese guys from the era (Chono, Tenryu, Hase) are all on board. Heck – Ludvig Borga’s even chipping in. It might have no impact on the actual WCW, but it’s a fantastic cross-promotional concept that I wish we’d have seen more of. We’ll tackle all that, and more, as we head into the Clash on January 13^th.