Mike Reviews Shows Considered To Be Stinkers: WCW BattleBowl 1993

Happy Stinky Friday Everyone!

We’re back with another Stinker Review today, where I look at a show with a bad reputation and see if that reputation is deserved. This time we’ve got WCW BattleBowl 1993, a show that Scott Keith and Jabroniville have already reviewed, so I’ll just add to the pile. Heck, I bet Thomas Hall has suffered through it too (Yup).

The whole deal with BattleBowl is that we’re going to have some random tag matches throughout the show and the winners of those tag matches will then advance to a big battle royal at the end of the night. This was supposed to lead to intrigue by giving you wrestler combinations you wouldn’t normally see, but that aspect could be hit and miss to say the least.

Who knows though, maybe BattleBowl 1993 could be better than I’ve heard? We’ll just have to review it and find out I guess.

You can view the card for BattleBowl 1993 below;

WCW BattleBowl 1993 Card

Pics come courtesy of Wrestle Crap

BattleBowl is emanating from Pensacola, Washington on the 20th of November 1993

Calling the action are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura

The intro video is pretty funny, with everyone talking about how tough BattleBowl is, ending with Nasty Boy Knobbs just yelling “BattleBowl!!” at Nasty Boy Sags whilst Sags gives a bemused “BattleBowl? Wuahhh?!”

Mean Gene Okerlund and Mademoiselle Fifi will be drawing the names from the tumbler tonight, which allows Mean Gene to be a total lech, as was the style at the time.

Opening Match
BattleBowl Tag Team Match #1
Big Van Vader and Cactus Jack (w/Harley Race) vs. Charlie Norris and Kane

Vader and Cactus is an easy way to highlight the “bizarro” aspect of the show, as they were feuding at the time but now they’re teaming?!?! Norris is a Native American wrestler and Kane would be better known as Stevie Ray of The Harlem Heat tag team. Kane and Vader apparently got into a row following this one; if Stevie and the mic way-too-close to his mouth are anything to go by. Vader and Cactus don’t even wait for the match to begin before they start fighting with one another, with Kane helping Vader out at points, even though it’s counter productive for him to do so. Race realises this and gives Vader the pep talk so that he heads back to the ring and actually tries to qualify for BattleBowl. Race even tries talking some sense into Cactus at one stage too, which leads to Cactus getting worked over in the ring for a bit whilst Vader waits for, and eventually gives, the tag.

Vader and Cactus actually briefly work together at points, with Vader holding Norris so that Cactus can come flying off the apron with a body attack. Norris doesn’t seem to really know what he’s doing out there, as Vader tries whipping Norris to the ropes at one stage and the Native American just kind of…stops, leading Vader to just charge over and clatter him. Kane comes in for a bit with Cactus, but then Vader gets in and won’t get out, leading to the confrontation that wound up getting Kane so mad from the aforementioned interview. Kane and Norris work over Cactus for a bit, with Cactus selling it well enough and the crowd clearly seems to back the Cactus and Vader duo. Vader ostensibly gets a “hot tag” at one stage, and destroys Norris some more before getting a really sloppy Powerbomb for three. I don’t know what went wrong there, but the move looked terrible. They then dub in some really weird music for Vader, which wasn’t what he was using at the time I think.

WINNERS: VADER & CACTUS
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: Norris was absolutely awful in that one, and Stevie Ray getting into a real fight with Vader didn’t help things much either. If Vader and Cactus had been in there against a better team then that one could have been a lot of fun because the crowd was seemingly into the idea of those two teaming

Mean Gene is still being a naughty man with Fifi.

Match Two
BattleBowl Tag Team Match #2
Erik Watts and “Pretty” Paul Roma Vs Nasty Boy Knobbs and Johnny B. Badd w/ “The Walking Riot” Missy Hyatt

I’m amazed Watts was still around at this stage, as he was hired due to nepotism and his father was long gone by the time BattleBowl took place. Knobbs is the lone Heel in this one, so you’d think that Knobbs and Badd will be playing the Heel team for the night seeing as Badd had prior experience to being a bad guy. For some reason they’re not playing entrance music for the folks in these matches, which hampers some of the pops they’d usually get. Badd and Roma do some nice stuff to start, although the crowd doesn’t care about it that much. Knobbs gets annoyed at Badd using holds, so he tags himself in and starts brawling whilst yelling at Badd that this is how you do things. That’s an actual story that makes sense with a Heel and a Face teaming, so fair play to them for at least trying something.

Roma and Watts put Knobbs on the back step with some traditional babyface offence, so Badd comes in and tries wrestling again, which works out a bit better for The Badd Man than Knobbs’ brawling tactics worked for him. Watts actually doesn’t look too bad in there, and Roma wrestles well but he’s always felt miscast as a babyface due to just how good he is at playing a self satisfied preening villain. The match hasn’t been that bad from an in-ring perspective, but it has been a bit dull with a pretty flat crowd watching on. Knobbs and Badd arguing over how best to wrestle the match could work as a narrative for the bout, but the crowd doesn’t seem to be picking up on it and they haven’t got the best team to run that story against.

The match really starts to drag after a certain point, with the Knobbs and Badd team constantly arguing over whether to wrestle in the Heel or babyface style. whilst still handily controlling things. Roma eventually manages to counter a Knobbs attack from the second rope and makes the ice cold tag to Watts, who runs wild on Knobbs and actually looks okay whilst doing so, getting a nice looking snug clothesline and a big jumping elbow drop. Knobbs rolls through on a cross body though and grabs the tights in order to get the three count.

WINNERS: KNOBBS & BADD
RATING: *3/4

Thoughts: The actual wrestling wasn’t terrible here, but the match itself was really dull due to the flat crowd. Against a pair of more over babyfaces, the story Knobbs and Badd were trying to tell about them arguing over how best to wrestle the match might have had a chance of getting a reaction from the crowd

Knobbs, Missy and Badd continue arguing following that, but they’ve both made it to BattleBowl regardless.

Mean Gene and Fifi continue flirting with one another.

Match Three
BattleBowl Tag Team Match #3
Paul Orndorff w/ The Assassin and The Shockmaster Vs WCW World Television Champion Lord Steven Regal and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat w/ Sir William

Steamboat had issues with both Orndorff and Regal at the time, so that could lead to some interesting combinations. Orndorff and Steamboat do some solid wrestling together, with Steamboat throwing chops and working holds whilst Orndorff tries to find ways to cheat. Regal and Shocky do a bit together, with Regal’s facial expressions at having to wrestle this large blue collar man being to the usual standard you would expect from His Lordship. Shockmaster actually used to work over in the UK quite a bit in the 1990’s, because if there’s one kind of wrestler we like over here it’s jolly big blokes. Shocky gets the better of things with Regal thanks to his size, which leads to Orndorff tagging in and doing a bit with Regal, which is an interesting combo you didn’t normally see at the time. Orndorff and Regal do some nice technical grappling with each other, and it’s some of the best wrestling we’ve had all night up to this point on BattleBowl.

Steamboat is getting wound up at Orndorff and Regal respectfully wrestling one another, which is pretty funny considering that they are Heels and he’s supposed to be the babyface. Steamboat eventually demands to be tagged in, which leads to Orndorff getting the better of things with a Stun Gun (the move, not the item). Shockmaster then eventually comes in and Regal short arms Steamer. Shocky isn’t having that though and forces Regal to tag in. Shockmaster and Orndorff get into an argument off that, which distracts the referee, leading to Regal trying to hit Shockmaster with Sir William’s umbrella. Steamboat stops that though and clocks His Lordship with the brolly, leading to Shockmaster and Wonderful picking up the win.

WINNERS: ORNDORFF & SHOCKMASTER
RATING: **

Thoughts: That was the best match of BattleBowl so far in my opinion, with Orndorff and Regal doing some very nice wrestling together and the finish keeping Steamboat’s issue with Regal continuing. The crowd still didn’t get that into it, but the in-ring action was solid for the most part

The next pay per view will be Starrcade 1993, which I’ve previously reviewed. We get clips from the press conference for the event, where Mean Gene announces that the show will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Harley Race and Vader are there too, which leads to Ric Flair coming over and asking for a Title shot with Vader. Vader isn’t interested, but Flair notes that he’ll put his career on the line for the shot, and the match is made official.

Match Four
BattleBowl Tag Team Match #4
WCW US Champ “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes and King Kong Vs Awesome Kong and The Equalizer

Oh my word, poor Dustin has found himself in the middle of a whirlwind of suck here. The Kong’s are big useless masked dudes. whilst Equaliser is equally useless but wrestles unmasked. Dustin does his best to wrestle for four people here, but it’s an uphill battle. The eventual meeting of The Kong’s ends up not happening, as King immediately tags out again. The crowd was actually kind of buzzing at the thought of that too. King eventually does get in to fight Equaliser, and it’s suitably terrible. The crowd is practically comatose now, as Dustin comes back in to barely any reaction with a Bionic Elbow onto Awesome for two. All four wrestlers go at it, and that leads to The Kong’s bonking heads and Dustin catching Awesome with a Bulldog for three.

WINNERS: DUSTIN & KING KONG
RATING: DUD

Thoughts: As awful as you’d expect. The Kong’s having a worst match of all time candidate with one another could have at least been a bit morbidly interesting, but they couldn’t even deliver that

Match Five
BattleBowl Tag Team Match #5
Nasty Boy Sags and The Man Called Sting w/ “The Walking Riot” Missy Hyatt Vs Keith Cole and Ron Simmons

Cole used to tag with his brother Kent, in one of the more generic duos to ever compete in WCW. Sting and Cole have similar hair styles, so they make a joke about it at one stage. This is a pretty impressive collection of wrestlers in kayfabe world, as both Sting and Simmons have been the World Champ, whilst Sags is a multiple time Tag Champ. Cole is dragging down the average somewhat, but you can’t have everything I guess. Sags and Simmons do a decent bit together, as I ponder what The Nasty’s Vs DOOM would have been like if they’d feuded back in 1990. Cole is blander than dry Shredded Wheat here, but he can do the basics at least if this is anything to go by, so he’s dull yet functional for the most part. In a funny bit, Sags is all cocky and refusing to tag Sting in when he’s controlling things, but the minute the opposing team gets any offence Sags is begging for Sting to help him.

Sting and Simmons do a bit, with Simmons seemingly getting annoyed at Sting at one stage, which was planting seeds for a future Heel turn I think. We get the battle of the haircuts between Sting and Cole, and it’s mostly just arm drags, and thus not terrible but not remotely exciting either. Things amble along, with the match just being the two teams trading momentum whilst the crowd doesn’t really care, as the whole BattleBowl concept is not over with the crowd and the atmosphere at the show has been flatter than a pancake for most of the evening thus far. There’s only so many times I can write “Wrestler X wrestles Wrestler Y for a bit and the crowd doesn’t really care” so BattleBowl has been difficult to review thus far.

This one does at least get a bit interesting when Simmons is in there, because he’s decided to essentially be a jerk here in an effort to get the crowd to care when he’s beating up Sting. There’s then a bit of a storyline going on with Simmons getting annoyed that Cole isn’t being aggressive enough. Sting ends up catching Cole with the Stinger Splash and Sags comes off the top rope with an elbow drop, and that’s enough for three.

WINNERS: SAGS & STING
RATING: *3/4

Thoughts: The stuff with Simmons was interesting, the rest was more of the same tonight, with fellers just doing stuff until it was time to take it home whilst the crowd was nonplussed

Simmons yells at Cole following that because Cole let the team down. Cole tries to walk away, so Simmons delivers a Spine Buster to Cole and then storms off.

Match Six
BattleBowl Tag Team Match #6
2 Cold Scorpio and Maxx Payne Vs “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair and “Stunning” Steve Austin w/ Colonel Robert Parker

This is an interesting combo of guys and should hopefully lead to a watchable match, but who even knows with this show? Austin and Flair of course can’t get along here, which makes sense considering that they were feuding earlier in the year, whilst Payne and Scorp are both babyfaces, so they are happier to work together. Austin takes some nice bumps for Payne in the early going, whilst Flair chastises Austin for getting beaten up. Austin and Scorpio do a nice quick paced bit together, with only really one counter going awry and they cover for it well enough. Flair and Scorpio go at it next, with Scorp holding his own with the former World Champ and the action being fun. Flair allows Payne to throw him around a bit, so that combo works well also, so all of the wrestling in this one has been good thus far. The whole BattleBowl concept still doesn’t seem to be working for the crowd, but at least we’re getting some good wrestling to enjoy here.

Both teams continue to trade the momentum, with Flair staying as a babyface and not really switching to Heel for the match so that he and Austin can play bad guys and work some heat leading to a hot tag for the Payne and Scorpio tandem. Austin is happy to be nefarious during a section where he works over Scorpio, but Flair plays it more straight, working a “control” segment as opposed to a heat segment. Austin and Flair eventually start fighting when Flair gets annoyed at an Austin rope assisted abdominal stretch, but Flair manages to regain control on Scorpio and The Cold Man continues getting worked over. This is actually started to feel like a proper formula tag match the more it’s wore on, which has helped make it more watchable. Eventually Scorp is able to catch Austin with a spin kick and tags in Payne, which leads to Payne no selling some Flair chops and running wild, with Flair taking nice bumps for it all. Payne misses a charge in the corner and hurts his knee though, with the Figure Four immediately following for the submission win.

WINNERS: FLAIR & AUSTIN
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: If Flair had decided to switch to being a Heel for just this match, then this one might have been better just because they could have worked a more traditional tag formula bout. As it was though, this was the most entertaining match of the night so far, as all four of these wrestlers could actually work and they all entered good performances

Match Seven
BattleBowl Tag Team Match #7
Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Tex Slazenger Vs International Champion “Ravishing” Rick Rude and Shanghai Pierce

Slazenger and Pierce are normally a tag team, but they’re on opposing sides tonight. They would eventually go one to be The Godwin’s in the WWF. Bagwell was a fresh faced young babyface at the time, whilst Rude was the International Champion, as WCW had two big belts at the time. Rude and Bagwell do an okay bit to start, although Bagwell seems kind of out of his depth mixing up with a guy of Rude’s calibre at this stage of his career. Pierce and Slazenger don’t want to fight one another, much to the annoyance of their partners tonight. You know, if one of the appeals of your wacky gimmick pay per view is that you might see regular tag team partners have to wrestle each other, then you kind of need to deliver on that premise when you have situations like this. Twice now we’ve seen partners in that position, and on both occasions they’ve refused to fight one another. At least in one of the earlier Royal Rumbles the WWF promised an Ax Vs Smash fight and then actually delivered on it.

Rude and Pierce eventually manage to isolate Bagwell and work him over for a bit, with the action mostly consisting of punching and kicking. It’s not bad wrestling, but it’s not that thrilling either and the crowd doesn’t seem that bothered by it, which has been a trend thus far on BattleBowl. Pierce and Slazenger actually fighting would at least be somewhat interesting due to them being regular partners, but instead we’ve just got Rude and Pierce efficiently working over Bagwell in a rather dull manner. We do FINALLY get Pierce and Slazenger going at it, and not surprisingly it’s the best bit of the match, as the fans actually get into it and it’s a reasonably entertaining scrap. Sadly it doesn’t go on for that long, as Rude blind tags himself in and gets the Rude Awakening on Slazenger for the three count.

WINNERS: RUDE & PIERCE
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: This was honestly one of the most boring matches I can ever recall watching. It wasn’t even as if the wrestling was bad, because it wasn’t, but the match just felt like it went on forever and the crowd was comatose for the majority of it. Then, they finally managed to get the fans to care by having the two regular partners fight each other, and they then promptly took it home just when it threatened to get interesting. It’s like the match was one long troll job from WCW, which is how most of BattleBowl has felt in general thus far

Pierce and Slazenger beat up Bagwell following the match in order to get back on the same page.

Match Eight
BattleBowl Tag Team Match #8
Rip Rogers and Road Warrior Hawk vs. Davey Boy Smith and Kole

Rogers was normally an enhancement guy who didn’t win a lot, so he’s not only thrilled to have made it onto pay per view, but he’s also lucked out in drawing such a strong partner as well. Kole would be better known as Booker T these days. Hawk isn’t thrilled about tagging with Rogers though, so Hawk clocks Rogers and heads to the ring. Davey and Kole both add insult to injury by stomping on Rogers as well, which leaves Hawk on his own here. Hawk and Davey do some power wrestling, with the honours being even between the two of them. Kole is being a backseat driver though, so Davey tags the future Booker T in, and that leads to Kole actually getting the better of things for the most part. Kole even busts out the Spinaroonie at one stage, as he’s trying to make the most of this pay per view opportunity. Rogers keeps trying, and failing, to get back into the ring, as Kole continues to work over Hawk and dominate the majority of the bout. Kole eventually misses an elbow drop from the second rope though, and Hawk makes the comeback before pressing Rogers onto Kole for three, giving Rogers a rare win.

WINNERS: ROGERS & HAWK
RATING: **

Thoughts: Hawk’s selling was actually decent for the majority of that one, which isn’t something you always expect to see from a Road Warrior. Rogers was entertaining as the beaten down enhancement guy who couldn’t even make it to the ring, and Davey barely did anything in there, which led me to think he was carrying an injury or something. This had a story I could actually get invested in and they stuck the landing with it, so I’ll be generous with the rating

Tony Schiavone lets us know that if you get thrown onto the entrance ramp tonight, then you’re still in the match and not eliminated.

Main Event
BattleBowl Battle Royal
Cactus Jack Vs Big Van Vader w/ Harley Race Vs Johnny B. Badd Vs Rip Rogers Vs Sting Vs Paul Orndorff Vs Road Warrior Hawk Vs Nasty Boy Sags Vs Rick Rude Vs Nasty Boy Knobbs Vs Steve Austin Vs The Shockmaster Vs Dustin Rhodes Vs Shanghai Pierce Vs Ric Flair Vs King Kong

Rogers is walking wounded following the previous match, but he manages to get a few attacks in on Johnny B. Badd. Badd quickly fights back though and Badd knocks him over the top to the floor for the first elimination.

Johnny B. Badd (1) eliminates Rip Rogers

As they’re showing the replay of Rogers going out, Cactus sends Pierce over the top and he’s gone via a low bridge.

Cactus Jack (1) eliminates Shanghai Pierce

Flair sends Austin out, but it was through the ropes, so they’re both still in this. Orndorff throws Badd onto the ramp, but Badd is still alive, so they keep going at it. However, Orndorff back body drops Badd out on one of the other sides of the ring, and that one sticks.

Paul Orndorff (1) eliminates Johnny B. Badd

Vader and Cactus go at it as their eternal feud continues, with Vader stupidly trying to head up top for something. Cactus fights Vader up there and tries to bring him down with a Superplex, but Vader fends that off and throws Cactus out, whilst Dustin Rhodes ends Orndorff’s night.

Vader (1) eliminates Cactus Jack

Dustin Rhodes (1) eliminates Paul Orndorff

Shockmaster dumps King Kong out, but he doesn’t get any time to smell the roses, as The Nasty’s quickly bundle him out as well.

The Shockmaster (1) eliminates King Kong

Nasty Boy Knobbs (1) and Nasty Boy Sags (1) eliminate The Shockmaster

Vader presses Sting out onto the ramp, but that’s not an elimination and Sting is still in this. Sting gets back into the ring and fights Vader, but there’s too many bodies in there from them to really cut loose just yet. The Nasty’s are trying to work together here, although they will have to fight one another eventually. There’s a lot of aimless brawling and hanging around on the ropes around this point, although we do get a battle between Vader and Rude at one stage, which was a combo of guys you didn’t see a lot. Austin and Dustin brawl on the floor at one stage in order to plant seeds for their eventual match at Starrcade, although neither is eliminated in the process. Dustin comes up bleeding following that, with Austin working the cut in an aggressive manner. Blood was kind of a no-no in WCW at the time, so the camera cuts to a faraway shot whenever Dustin is on screen. Dustin manages to back body drop Knobbs out of the match, but when he tries to slam out Sags, Austin dumps them both out.

Dustin Rhodes (2) eliminates Nasty Boy Knobbs

Steve Austin (2) eliminates Dustin Rhodes and Nasty Boy Sags

Hawk gets a big scalp by knocking out Rude, but Vader and Austin quickly pounce to send Hawk to the showers, as we’ve had something like five eliminations in 15 seconds there.

Road Warrior Hawk (1) eliminates Rick Rude

Steve Austin (3) & Vader (2) eliminate Hawk

Final Four: Vader, Austin, Flair and Sting

That’s a pretty impressive last four guys at least. As you might imagine, the action gets quite good at this point thanks to four such talented wrestlers being in there. Flair ends up getting dragged out of the ring by Race, which leads to Flair suplexing Race out on the ramp. This allows Vader to assault Flair on the ramp though, and that leads to Flair being medically disqualified from the contest, meaning Sting is now left against the two Heels by himself.

Ric Flair is eliminated by referee decision

Sting bravely fights back against Vader and Austin, with the crowd going nuts for it. It suggests that if they’d just done normal matches all night instead of the wacky BattleBowl concept then they might have had better crowd reactions. It looks like the numbers advantage will be too much for Sting, but he keeps fighting like the good gutsy babyface he is, and eventually Vader accidentally squishes Austin in the corner. Sting flings Austin onto the ramp and Austin tumbles off the ramp to the floor, leaving us with Vader and Sting.

Sting (1) eliminates Steve Austin

So now we have Vader Vs Sting, and it’s Vader Vs Sting, so it’s good almost by default. Vader gets the better of things and brutally works Sting over, but Sting won’t give up and ends up accidentally head butting Vader right in his Baby Bull’s. Sting misses a Stinger Splash in the corner and tumbles over the top to the floor though, and that leads to Vader picking up the win. At which point they play Vader’s actual theme after dubbing it out earlier in the night, as the dubbing on WWE Network/Peacock continues to confound me.

Vader (3) eliminates Sting

WINNER: VADER
Most Eliminations: Vader and Steve Austin, both with 3 each
RATING: ***

Thoughts: There was a lot of traditional battle royal topes of folks laying on the ropes and not doing much here, but there were some fun bits sprinkled in as well, and they did a good job of putting some heat on some of the Starrcade issues such as Vader Vs Flair and Austin Vs Dustin. If I’d been booking, then I’d have it look like Vader won, only for an injured Flair to bravely limp back out and send Vader over the top in order to build anticipation for the Starrcade match between the two. Sting running wild on the two Heels at the end was great fun, and probably the best bit of the entire pay per view, so they ended BattleBowl on a somewhat strong foot at least

Is It Really A Stinker?

BattleBowl might honestly be one of the most boring shows I’ve ever witnessed. Just match after match of mostly boring action, in front of a crowd that couldn’t have cared less. The concept was interesting in theory, but in execution it just didn’t work and it made the show itself a real slog to get through. I’m not even sure if that makes BattleBowl a Stinker, because it’s not like the wrestling was terrible in every match. Most of the time it was just dull and functional, with only really the match with The Kong’s and The Equaliser being outright awful.

That being said, if BattleBowl isn’t a Stinker then it’s definitely the next level up from one, as any show this miserable and boring is going to test even the strongest wrestling fan’s nostrils. If they’d thrown in some more interesting combination of wrestlers going at it then BattleBowl might have been more exciting, but they seemed against the idea and only delivered fun stuff in quick fleeting moments. We only got one instance of regular tag team partners fighting one another for instance, and the crowd actually got into the idea, but then they IMMEDIATELY moved on before the crowd could get their monies worth with it.

BattleBowl at times felt like a practical joke on WCW’s part, to the point that it almost became some warped endurance test for the viewing audience. If I’d been at the show live then I think I would have developed an intricate knowledge of the arena’s architecture by the end of the evening, because I would have spent the majority of the event getting out of my seat and walking around just to relieve the boredom. BattleBowl is a real slog and I implore you to give it a wide berth.

Screw it, I’m calling BattleBowl a Stinker. It’s very existence offends me and I deeply resent the time I spent with it. If that doesn’t make a show a Stinker then I don’t know what does.

Final Rating – Stinker
(Based on a scale of Stinker/Stinky/Odourless/Pleasant/Fragrant)