Talk about it here.

Last few minutes. Windham and Race hold Sting so Vader can whip him with his strap. Short clip.

Cut for time? Or for the angle?

The match is good, but was one of many tough cuts. But the angle felt like a must.

Great angle, bad ref bump compared to the Curtis one.

Excellent match. Vader does a great job cutting off the hope spots, the crowd is eating this shit up.

That was a bad atomic drop by Dustin on Windham. Sting full of fury taking out both Windham and Vader. Big Van Vader smashes Sting. Windham with that Implant DDT that I love. Vader introduces the strap on Sting's back.

Hot main event. Vader lays waste to both Sting and Dustin and brings the leather strap into the ring, and whips Sting while Windham holds him.

Big pop for Dustin hot tagging Sting, who lays out both heels. Sting goes for the scorpion on Windham but Vader lariats him, then jumps onto Dustin on floor. Windham DDT's Sting, lays out the ref and we get Vader whipping Sting with the strap to set up Superbrawl. Make this a featured angle with a sneak attack, some juice and welt marks and you can save yourself the white castle of fear funds. Hot angle.

They have made Vader vs. Sting as a strong feud and Barry being put in the position of a gatekeeper is a lot of fun.

Vader & Barry Windham vs Sting & Dustin Rhodes - WCW Saturday Night 1/30/93

 

Twenty two years and nothing has changed, Dustin Rhodes is still the best face in peril in the game. Holy shit what an incredible performance from him throughout this match. It is too bad he got saddled with a crippled Rude. Windham vs Rhodes throughout the year would have been money. Vader and Windham were simply awesome in this. Windham was perfect early on being overwhelmed by Sting and Dustin. He tried different ways to get the upper hand, but Sting & Dustin were always one step ahead. I loved Dustin trying to meet Vader head on. It looked like it might work, but a wild Vader right turned Dustin inside out. The heat segment was just textbook with Dusting staggered but mixing in hope spots and the heels just staying on top of him. Dustin crawling for the tag and Vader literally squashing him was awesome! Windham was on fire with his suplexes and rights. Vader was just a force even hitting a flying body attack. Sting's hot tag whipped everyone into a frenzy and it looked like he had Windham right where he wanted him. However, with Dustin taken out by Vader and Harley on the outside, Vader annihilated Sting with a lariat and Windham hit his elevated DDT. This allowed teh heels to whip Sting like a dog. Well, now I am all revved up for SuperBrawl III. Obviously a better buildup than the White Castle of Fear, but I am glad that exists. Lets go to SuperBrawl III! LETS GO STING! ***1/2

I wasn't a fan of the whole Dustin-Harley segment lasting as long as it did, because it took my attention away from what Sting and Barry were doing in the ring. I know I've said in the past that I don't mind Harley getting physically involved, but not quite as heavily as this. If there was one time whem the old pro needed to act like a helpless manager, this was it.

 

Eagle said that they could have saved money on the White Castle of Fear movie if they'd shown Sting being busted open by the strap. Well, that's precisely why they made the movie; they wanted to promote the match in a Little Stinger-friendly way, and showing their hero being beaten bloody wasn't it. Plus, there were probably still restrictions on how much blood TBS would let them get away with on their air; I seem to remember occasional juice by now, but nothing too sickening. (Just as I wrote that, my mind flashed to someone who bled like a faucet sometime late in '92 on one of the TBS shows. I can't for the life of me think of who it was, though.)

Great match. Vader and Windham are like a king-sized Hollywood Blondes in the way they keep Dustin from getting the hot tag over and over. I loved the little fist bump Windham and Vader exchanged as well.

Dustin is unbelievable here as face in peril. He is so fun to watch and his comeback attempts have weight to them. I loved Vader splashing him as he crawled to the corner. Loved Windham hitting the DDT on both Dustin and Sting. Loved the ending where all the undercard faces come out, but Vader stands tall in the ring swinging his strap around.

From beginning of 1993 to Watts leaving is one of the best WCW periods ever. Such a shame it was cutoff. This show in particular is filled with great undercard squashes featuring guys like Benoit, Scorpio, Bagwell, Payne, the debut interview of Regal, and Orndorff and Barbarian looking motivated against each other. 

Sting/Vader and Dustin/Windham both feel like high-profile programs going into SuperBrawl III. Interesting that Windham was paired with Muta on that show instead, but I suppose the idea was to have him win a "major" title and feud with Dustin for it. Of course Flair returning through a wrench in that too. I wonder if Watts would have gone with Sting/Vader, Dustin/Windham and Flair/Rude as the three big programs heading into spring.