How stupid are you guys? All you people out there in TV land, you just make me sick. We told the world what we were gonna do and we went out and did it. The wrestler who will dominate the sport like no other wrestler can. WCW has tried way too long to try to hold me back. The whole facade, who cares? No one cares. No one can beat.

Welcome to the Bottom Line Wrestling cast the career of Stone Cold Steve Austin. We are back with another episode covering Stunning Steve in our special series. Episode 27 of this special series calling this one Just Win, baby. It's August of 1994, heading towards the end of the Stunning Steve run, but still hanging on there. So we're gonna get into August in just a bit. But let me introduce as always, jv. I'm Mike Prue, by the way. It's been a while.

Anymore.

We don't even fucking suck at this now. Not like we have another podcast to keep us sharp.

True.

Yeah.

This is a little different though, you know. Yeah. I don't know. Just even saying bottom line, Wrestling cast felt weird. Extreme cast. Yeah.

Wrong one.

Wrong one. Yeah. Yeah. So it's been a couple months. Not too long, you know, we have to stretch this out anyway. We don't want to just finish and be done. Yeah, let's drag it out. As long as we can drop an episode every two months or so.

Anyway, vacation coming. I'll probably get an episode in there and then I'm sure.

Yeah, yeah, I think I pretty much already have the notes set up for September 94, so you just have to watch the. All right, good. Yeah, so I think that'll be out sooner. All right. February vacations coming up a week already. Yeah, so sweet.

Sorry.

All right, so before we get into it, let me just give a little rundown here. There's a fall on X at Bottom Linecast. Follow me Mike Pro at MPRU 83. Follow JV at John Van Damage and also give us five star review. Wherever you get your podcasts, I think that helps, especially help because we're not putting episodes out weekly or even monthly. So any. Any reviews would be great and help out, I'm sure. Plus there's a shit ton of old episodes that they're evergreen. You can go back and listen to any of those things.

Yeah, they stand the test of time.

Yes, good shit. Covering all of Stone Cold Steve Austin and we did all the Hollywood blondes and we're 27 episodes into stunning Steve, so. Shit ton of episodes. Nearly 300 episodes I think we have over there. Let me see yeah, 260 episodes available. Bottom line Wrestling cast. All right, so yeah, no, it's crazy that we have that many. Plus we have over 100 ECW too. We've done like 400 podcast episodes. Crazy. So anyway, there's plenty there also. Yeah, check out ExtremeCast. You can hear the most current episodes on Booking the territories, five dollar Patreon tier. Or you could just go to the the free feed which has stuff that's just about a year behind where we're currently at. But still all of 93, all of 94, 95, 96 and part of 97 is all available free. That's a ton of episodes right there as well.

That'll keep you busy.

Yeah, no. All right, so we're gonna get right into August of 94. So we're dealing with the aftermath of Steamboat and all that still going on. Oh yeah, Bash of the beach was last time. Now we're heading into August. So we're gonna have a Clash of the Champions during this. Yeah, like I said, coming to an end. But let's see how it all shakes out. JV is gonna kick us off with coverage of WW Worldwide. Jv, what do you got?

Alright, so kicking it off we got WCW Worldwide from August 6, 1994 in Orlando, Florida. This was taped months earlier back on May 15, 1994. So basically this episode we start off with Austin and we're going to get a brief recap of last week's event. So a recap of the brutal attack on Ricky Steamboat when during Austin and Steamboat's match, Steamboat catches an eye poke from Austin, as you may recall, resulting in Steamboat getting tied up in the ropes. And then Austin just went batshit crazy. He went super aggressive. Just continued to stomp Steamboat repeatedly while he was caught up in the ropes. Followed by some pretty brutal head strikes. The ref came in and tried to break it up. Austin threw the ref. You know, he wanted no part of that. Austin really wanted to kind of do some long term damage here on Steamboat. The ref then doesn't even DQ Austin right away. He decides to give Austin a five count. But Austin of course isn't going to listen after he just threw the guy to the ground. And then we finally get the dq. We got some legitimate heel heat for Austin here. Thunderous boos from the, from the audience in attendance. Eventually Brian Armstrong and good old Barry Houston come out the same, save Steamboat. But Austin actually takes care of them both. After acting like he was done, he kind of baited them. Acting like he was done doing damage on Steamboat had his hands up, but obviously was playing possum there. Then Gagne and Dillinger. WCW officials here, they finally show up and Austin makes a decision to stop with the the Authority there. Steamboat, though, is declared the winner by dq. And that actually leads us into a match. So we come from that recap of last week's event into the match tonight here at WCW Worldwide, and it's the US Champion stunning Steve Austin versus Barry Houston. Austin is out to the ring first. He's all smiles while Barry Houston is already in the ring. He doesn't get an entrance. Tony and Jesse are actually arguing about Austin's dq. And Jesse, you know, rightfully calls out that Austin had the champions out. And then we cut back to Austin flexing into the camera saying, I have the largest arms in the world, with a little bit of a grin. Had to be a shot, knowing Hogan's there now at wcw, Tony takes the opportunity to give the newly arrived Hulk Hogan a shout out, proclaiming, austin should have been watched in the beginning of the show to see the real largest arms in the world, those being Hulk Hogan. Austin gets Houston in the corner early, and the riff immediately calls for break. Austin gives Houston actually gives Houston the clean break. And then we get a repeat scenario. But Austin. But Houston doesn't give. Austin doesn't give Houston a clean break this time. So Austin hits Houston with shoulder rams and blows in the corner, followed by a big hip throw. Austin is having fun now. He's talking to Houston as Houston's tied up in the ropes. The camera is zoomed in and you can hear Austin telling Houston to tell his mom that he's in the ring with the US Champion. Austin's not really taking him too seriously. But Austin works on Houston's leg with a big overhead yank, a stomp. And then repeats the same sequence of moves. Austin picks Houston up and goes to toss him into the ropes, but Houston drops immediately to the mat, selling the leg injury from Austin's blows from the overhead yank and stop repeatedly from just moments earlier. Austin. Then it gets Houston in a toehold while holding the ropes, hoping for a submission. But the ref, of course catches Austin using the ropes as leverage and calls for the break. Tony Schiavone on commentary says Austin almost got DQ'd again, but Jesse the body calls out that Austin did what he wanted to do, and that's simply apply maximum damage. Austin then locks in the. That's a wrap. His standing figure 4. Houston taps pretty quickly and Austin holds it a little bit longer just to be a dickhead And Austin wins the match.

So Barry Houston got his ass kicked by Austin twice on that show.

Not a good job selling us to the crowd. That Barry Houston's a legitimate contender.

Yeah, right.

He's dumb and he's a bad wrestler.

All right, so thanks for that. So that was worldwide from August 6th. And I'm gonna stick with the same night with WCW Saturday night on August 6th, 1994. And this was actually live. They were doing some live Saturday nights at the time since Hulk Hogan came in, I guess. Just probably because nothing was filmed earlier with Hogan.

Yep.

So they had to get new. So they just did some shows live.

Good point. They needed to get content out quick.

Yeah. So we're going to start off with an interview. So we got Mean Gene interviewing Stunning Steve and we got some audio for this. So take a listen and we'll be right back.

All right, Tony, with me right now, the members of the Red locker room. These superstars would love a payday. They'd love to be in that main event. With me at this time is United States Cherokee studying Steve Austin. A lot of men in the opposing locker room that would like a shot at you in this title. And they're all shaking like a leaf because they know that it's time and Steve Austin gets picked. They haven't got a chance. Johnny B. Bad the Little Bad Blaster. Nobody cares. Flying Brian the Raspy Voice. Nobody cares. Ricky Steamboat, I know you're mad because I saw your little mealy mouth kick did at the swimming pool today and I pushed him in the water and he's out there sputtering and saying, save me, Steve, save me. And I just let him flop around in the water. Mrs. Steamboat couldn't make the save cuz she's passed out drunk with a bottle of hooch under her arm.

Oh please.

The lifeguard pulled Little. We're not going to condone that kind of talk. Things might be a little out of control. Let's go over to you in the blue locker room. Well, thank you very much. Well, I'll tell you what. Stunning Steve Austin is a picture of arrogance. Well, thanks to Colonel kfc, the rematch between the Stunner and myself never took place. But that was before interactive tv. You want to see the battle of the blondes? Pick up the phone. Make the match that nobody in wrestling had the guts to. I promise it'll be violent, it'll be personal. Make my day go in right now. Oh, hush, Flying Brian. Listen, Stunning Steve, you'll rip me off twice for the US Belt that belt belongs to Johnny B Band. Don't forget, I want you today. Call it right now. Hold it, hold it. You had your chance. I want Steve talk about my family like that. Let's get it on right here and now. I've got you in a couple of weeks at the class, but we'll take it right now. All right, you've heard it. You can vote now. Hey, let's go to Gary Michael.

All right, so Mean Jeans interviewing Steve Austin in the heel red locker room. And so you have the locker room where the lockers are red. That means it's the bad guys. That's the heel locker room. Because then there's a blue locker room for the baby faces. They're hyping up that fans can call and vote for the heel and a babyface. They don't say that, but you can choose somebody from red locker room and somebody from the blue locker room to be in the live main event match tonight. Austin says that everyone in the blue locker room is shaking like a leaf worrying that that if Austin gets the match, they'll have to face him. And he goes on to say nobody cares about his potential opponents like Johnny Be Bad with his little bad blaster. Nobody cares. Brian Raspy Brian Pillman, the raspy little voice. Nobody cares. Austin says that he saw Ricky's mealy mouth kid and pushed him in the pool and let him float there. And then his wife couldn't make the save because she's too drunk and passed out.

Wow. Vicious.

Yeah. That's funny though. It's like, oh, you guys were just all hanging out in the pool together, like, no, no.

Yeah. Like why didn't you beat their ass?

Yeah. And why you had the pool together? Yeah. Kayfabe. Yeah. No, they probably were actually hanging out at the pool and that's why Austin got the idea to say that. But then it just gives away. Like, yeah, you guys were just hanging out because you're friends.

Good intentions. Didn't think it through.

Yeah. All right, so me and Gene is disgusted. He cuts Austin off and goes to Gordon solely in the blue locker room. You have Brian Pillman and Johnny B. Bad make their case to get the fans votes so that either one of them can take on Austin. All right, so some side notes of other things that happen on WCW Saturday night. Just to give you a kind of perspective of what's going on, it's announced that the upcoming Clash of the champions on August 24, stunning Steve will defend the US Championship against rookie Dragon Steamboat. And this time, if Austin gets Disqualified, he loses the championship. So obviously, I guess we know what direction this is going in. You know, Austin's likely going to get disqualified and lose the championship because they're hyping that up. And also we keep seeing Austin lose matches by getting DQ'd because he doesn't stop kicking someone's ass at the end of the match. And yep, the match gets reversed like we just saw before. All right, so also, again, this is a live episode of WCW Saturday Night at MGM Studios. The fans did call and the main event ended up being Dustin Rhodes from the blue locker room taking on Bunkhouse Buck on the red locker room, if you will. If you will, baby. So Dustin wins. Then Mink starts to get involved and goes after Dusty Rhodes. Mink Ming Haku. Also, Hacksaw Jim Duggan makes his WCW wrestling debut on this episode. So all Hogan's buddies are coming in and he defeats Rip Rogers. And then also WCW main event the next night, Sunday night is going to be live as well. So they're doing a big push for these live episodes. Like I said, probably Hogan related and he pro. Yeah, he probably didn't want his first month of appearances to just be in the can and be spoiled, you know, in the Wrestling observer or something. So that's probably another part of it too is that he wanted his appearances to be live and mean something more. Probably it's smart though.

Like, yeah, they're paying them. I'm sure a fat and like you got to strike while the iron's heart. That's big, hot. That's big news that he's there. So like. Right, can't wait on it. Right.

And you don't want the information getting out too of what's happening. All right, so from there now we got a couple house show results. Fayetteville, North Carolina, the Cumberland County Civic Center. On August 12th, Steve Austin pinned Ricky Steamboat after 20, 27 minutes by grabbing the ropes for leverage. And then the next night, August 13, 1994, in Richmond, Virginia, Austin and Steamboat fight to 30 minute mark, probably just a draw. And then from there we go to the next week and JV's got some more coverage of WCW Worldwide.

All right, so we're back to WCW Worldwide and this one's from August 13, 1994. So just a week later from the previous episode, I just covered. But we're going to kick things off with our coverage here with an audio clip. And it's a promo and it's going to be Mean Gene with stunning Steve Austin. It's about two minutes long. We'll lay out for that. So give it a listen and we'll be right back to cover.

All right. Ladies and gentlemen, Wednesday, August 24th at 8:05 Eastern Time. The Clash of the Champions coming your way on national tv. Check your local listing for time and channel. You know that WCW Heavyweight champ Hulk Hoga defends against the Nature Boy, Ric Flair. That's a return out of the Bash. Also in tag team action, father and son Dusty and Dustin Rhodes collaborate to meet Bunkhouse Buck and Terry Funk in other title action. Get ready for this, United States champ. My guest at this time, stunning Steve Austin. You and that title are going to be tested on the 24th of the month when you're challenged by the great veteran Ricky the Dragon Steamboat. I guess you saw the other day when Ricky Steamboat slapped my face on that. What did I. I was there.

Yeah.

All I did was go out there on my time, my interview time to voice my opinion. And whose storms are set but Ricky the Dragon, Steamboat. Well, I'm sick and tired of Ricky's Steamboat being in my face and always getting the shots that I have never gotten and my career. Ricky Steamboat has just now gone to the board of directors and he said, oh, he always tries to get disqualified. He keeps the belt. I keep the belt because I'm smarter than you, Ricky Steamboat. I give you all the credit in the world. You are tremendous. But if I went to the board of directors and cried about every hard knock I got, I'd be crying every single day. If I get disqualified, you become the champion. Well, let me tell you something, Steamboat. I won't be disqualified and you can't beat me on your best day. That referee might look the wrong way for just a split second and when he does, I'll take full advantage of it. And when it's all said and done, Dragon, I'll still be the champ. This is what it's all about. Ladies and gentlemen, U.S. champs, Don H.D. austin. Title defense at the clash against the Dragon, Ricky Steamboat.

All right. So Mean Gene kicks it off, reminding viewers that coming up on Wednesday, August 24th at 8:05 Eastern Time, we have Clash of the Champions on national tv where we'll have WCW Champion Hulk Hogan defending against the Nature Boy, Ric Flair. And then in a tag team action, we have father and son, the Rhodes, Dusty and Dustin versus Bunkhouse Buck and Terry Funk. And then we'll also have the US Heavyweight Championship on the line, which is a segue to Austin. Entering the frame live with Mean Gene, Austin will be challenged by the great Veteran Ricky the Dragon Steamboat. Austin is visibly annoyed that Steamboat smacked him on national television, considering Austin went out there on this interview time to voice his opinion. And he's sick and tired of Steamboat being in his face and getting shots Austin never got in his career. So he feels. He feels like Steamboat's getting some preferential treatment and just getting, like, opportunity after opportunity after opportunity. And I think Austin has a right to feel a little slighted.

Yeah.

Especially no knowing what happened with the world title shot. So anyhow, Austin humorously mocked Steamboat for going to the board of directors and complaining that Austin always gets DQ'd and gets to keep the belt. Austin then looks directly at the camera and says he'll keep the belt because he's smarter than Steamboat. He gives Ricky all the credit in the world for being tremendous. But if Austin went to the board of directors and cried about every hard knock, he'd be crying every single day. Austin is now still annoyed that if he gets DQ'd that Ricky steamboat is champ. But Austin assures Steamboat that he can't beat Austin on his best day. And Austin also reiterates that if the ref looks the wrong way for even a split second, Austin will take advantage and still be the champ. So good promo there from Austin. Yeah, he's kind of got some resentment about just the overall. Like, I know this is, like, a story, but, yeah, I think some truth into it. There's a lot of truth into it. And I like how he's kind of working his personal feelings into that. You can see it, you know, the way he looks to the camera and stuff. It was.

Yeah. I like how he's portraying Ricky Steamboat as, like, this freaking tattletale. Yeah, yeah. Like, don't worry about me getting DQ'd, man.

Like a cowardly baby face.

Yeah, it's like, oh, it's not fair. He keeps winning the title because of dqs. Shut up.

Say he's following strategy. Yeah, but. All right, so we're gonna get another promo here on this episode of Worldwide, and we're gonna get the rebuttal from Ricky the Dragon. Steamboat. This one's about two minutes long. Give it a listen, and we'll be right back to cover it.

Check your local listing for time and channel. Another exciting bout that's gonna be part of that Clash of Champions card is gonna pit my guest at this time. Come on in, Ricky Steamboat the Dragon. You're going to be challenging us, champ Studying Steve Austin for that coveted United States title. That is a title for the record, Ricky, that you've Held once before. That's true, Mean Gene. I've had the United States Heavyweight Championship before, and I'd like to get it a second time around. Because after all, Mean Gene, everybody knows just as well as you do that holding that United States Heavyweight Championship pretty well put you in line as a number one contender for the. For the heavyweight title. Does it ever. The World Heavyweight Championship. Now, can you imagine that if Hulk Hogan successfully defends his belt against Ric Flair and I happen to beat Stunning Steve Austin, what kind of position this creates? Absolutely. You got to be a number one contender. That's right. And I know, Stunning Steve, I know you're a smart wrestler, and I know you've been well tuned in the last eight, nine, ten months if you've been the United States Heavyweight Championship. But the last time we met, I know that the fans know, the promotion know, they saw the video, that you purposely tried to get yourself disqualified. Now, what could I do to Stunning Steve to get him mad enough to sign a contract that would have a stipulation in it that you've purposely got yourself disqualified? You would lose the United States Heavyweight Champ. So, yes, I walked down TV during your interview, you called me stupid. Yes, I stupid slapped you in the face. And it worked, didn't it, Austin? I finally got you mad enough. You signed the dotted line. If you get DQ'd, you lose it. Who's stupid now? All right, point well taken. I thank you. Ricky Steamboat challenging Steve Austin for the United States title at the Clash of Champions.

All right, so, wow, we got a haircut change here. Ricky the Dragon Steamboat looking like a little rascal.

Yeah, Freaking Mo from Three Stooges.

So if you go back, you remember, we all remember Steamboat getting this Lloyd cut. So mean. Gene, tell Steamboat that's a title that he's held, that the US title is a title that he's held once before. And Steamboat says, you know, I want it a second time around. And everyone knows that holding that championship puts you in line as the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Yeah, yeah, right.

Unless you're awesome.

Right. Unless you're Austin, he's the US Champion, like, for a year or whatever. No title shots.

So Steamboat does say if Hogan beats Flair and Steamboat is champion, that would make him the number one contender. Steamboat says he knows Austin is a smart wrestler, but the last time they met, the fans know, the promotion knows, they saw the video, that Austin tried to purposely get himself DQ'd. And yeah, we know that. We saw it. Steamboat says he lured Austin into this contract by Walking down to TV during his interview and slacking him in the face worked. And that got Austin mad enough and emotional enough to sign that dotted line. And Austin Steamboat finishes his promo here with who is stupid now?

Great point.

It's a great move by Steamboat. It clearly works. Yeah. Lured him in hook, line, and sinker. So regardless of how you feel about Steamboat being whiny and stuff, this was. He clearly had a plan and the plan executed to perfection. So props to. Props to Steamboat for that.

Yeah, that's good. All right, from there now, we continue on the 13th still. And I'll cover some WW Saturday night from August 13th. And this was a taped edition from July 19th, 1994. And we're going to start with the match. We got us champ stunning Steve taking on Brian Armstrong, Road dog. And Brian Armstrong has changed his look here a little bit. And Bobby Heenan is going to notice it and recognize at the beginning of the match, we know that Brian Armstrong, as road dog, as the roadie, will have dreadlocks. And that'll be one of his, you know, signature looks over the years, staple.

For, like, almost the rest of his career.

Right. So he has it here at this point. And Bobby Heenan calls him Whoopi Armstrong. Whoopi Goldberg, you know, she was the.

Most famous person in the 90s with dreadlocks.

Yeah, exactly. All right, Austin's in this match. His trunks now say just win baby on them, which is where we got the title for the episode. But I think he did wear him last month, too, in July.

I feel like he did.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, because Jesse. Jesse Ventura mentioned something about just one baby. All right, so anyway, Bobby mentions that it would be a tragedy if Austin lost the title because of a dq. Tony Greece basically saying, yeah, no, don't get DQ then. So, yeah, you can prevent that. You know, you don't have to get the queued. But I can see Austin getting screwed over, though. Like just any. Any little thing can cause a dq, you know, if they wanted to enforce it hard enough. Anyway, Austin Armstrong gets some offense in. Doesn't really last long. This match is pretty quick. Austin works the knee, then he applies that. That's a wrap. Reverse figure four for the win. So nothing much there, but just kind of painting the picture that, you know, Austin is building up to this match at the Clash, and if he gets the eq, he's going to lose his title. All right, so from there, got some little side notes again just to point some things out. Going on earlier, Mean Gene interviews Ricky Steamboat After a match with Chick Donovan. Always good to see Chick Donovan. Chick Donovan. Ricky talks about the special stipulation for his title match against Austin at the upcoming Clash of the Champions. If Austin gets the queue, then he loses the title. My thought is, why not just make it a no DQ match?

Right.

But I guess the point is you want Austin to not be able to control himself and get DQ'd.

Yeah. Not to, like, you know, he has to wrestle his way.

Right.

He can't, like, you know. Right.

He can't cheat.

Right. He'd push the envelope more than Steamboat would. Yeah.

In a no DQ match. Right. Yeah. He could do whatever you wanted, then grab a chair. So I guess that makes sense. Now you want to limit Austin's ability to do what he usually does to.

Win without truly wrestling.

Right. All right, so we also get a Honky Tonk man vignette. So more WWF guys coming in at this point. They're hyping up his debut coming up in a week or so. Mean Gene urges the audience to call the hotline and find out all about who the Patriot is, which. Who cares? Like, we know. Like, now that we know who he is, it's like, why would people be excited to know about Del Wilkes? Like, they made it sound like, oh, he's somebody, you know? So find out who he is. And the Patriot.

No.

Yeah, the Patriot. Del Wilkes. Yeah. They say behind a mask, who is he? Like, who cares, really? Unless he's, like, somebody that wrestling fans would already know. It's a big deal. All right, so anyway, Pretty Wonderful retains the tag team titles by getting DQ'd against the stars and Stripes. How come Pretty Wonderful doesn't have that stipulation now? They lose the titles if they Nasty Boys make a run in, make the save as ARNORF and Roma try to rip off the Patriots mask. So I guess that helps with what Mean Jean was saying. Find out who it is. So they're building it up like, oh, this guy's somebody, because people are trying to take. Take his mask off. So again, that works with helping get people to call the hotline to find out the true identity of the Patriot, because that might have enticed them, like, oh, his mask was almost off. I want to call now and find out who he is. Yeah, that's that. That's the WCW Saturday night. And now we move on to the next night, which is WWE main event. And JV's got some coverage and looks like a good match here. So, JV, what do you got?

Yeah, so WCW main event August 14, 1994. We're at Richmond, Virginia in the Coliseum. This was just taped a day prior. And the match we have here is US Champion stunning Steve Austin in Lord Steven Regal in a tag batch against Ricky Steamboat and Johnny B. Bad. So we haven't seen much of Johnny B. Bad lately, but he's gonna be back in the forefront here. So Larry Zabisco is putting over Johnny B. Bad right away on commentary as better and better every week. All right, so a little rub there from commentary. Zabisco is annoyed to see Regal, which he has beef with. And then we cut to a baby face Hulk Hogan promoting the Hulk Hogan hotline with eight incredible options like Hulk trivia and one of the great messages. One of his great messages. 1-900-737-HULK. Then we also get a commercial for the Incredible Hulk video game, which I don't think I ever played it. And it looked pretty fucking awesome.

It did.

So a little mad. I might have to get that on my emulator. Anyhow, back to the match. Austin and Johnny are in the ring. They are going back and forth with armholes. Johnny Bad tags in Steamboat, but Austin gets the upper hand right away. Steamboat fights back and they're exchanging blows. Austin ends up in trouble as he ends up in the wrong corner and takes a shot from Johnny B. Bad. Austin gets a pep talk then from little Sir William and then he tags in Regal. Now we have two amazing workers in the ring. Now we got Regal and Steamboat. Regal nails uppercuts in the corner. I love, always loved Regal's uppercuts.

Yeah, awesome.

You know, European style.

Yep.

In the way he just. Yeah. But Steamboat's agility is a little too much for Regal as he dodges a couple of the follow up attacks by Regal. Austin is wearing his Dragon Slayer tights. Regal tags in Austin and Austin controls Steamboat on the mat with a chin lock. Steamboat eventually counters out, lifting Austin up. Austin up on his shoulders and landing. I think that's called the electric chair drop. Just kind of falls back and takes out Austin. Steampo gets the hot tag on Johnny B. Bad and Johnny Bad takes control very quickly, but Austin hits a desperation back, elbow, elbow and then a knee to regain control. Austin definitely, you could tell, has some extra tenacity tonight. Like he's not, he's not taking this lightly. Like we saw Barry Houston in our earlier coverage and he was kind of like laughing and grinning and Austin's a little bit more.

Yeah, it's more serious.

Yeah, he's a bit more locked in.

He's got Real competition.

Yeah, and he's got prior beef with Johnny B. Bad. So like you know, so Larry calls out Austin basically, you know, calls out his extra tenacity calling him a pitbull tonight. Austin tags in Regal and works John V. Bad in the corner, then tags Austin back in. So a little quick work here. Austin and Regal are kind of clicking now. Austin heads to the top rope, but John B. Bad counters with a pretty impressive drop kick. And the tide seems to be turning. And it is turning. John B. Badd gets the hot tag on Steamboat. Austin tags in Regal, but Steamboat hits an array of moves on Regal. You know, the usual parry of like chops and shit that Steamboat always does. And then takes out Austin as Austin's trying to get involved and interfere to help Regal out. Regal now is the legal man still because there was no tag. But Austin is still in the ring. John bat trips up Regal on the ropes and. And then Steamboat hits a sunset flip on Austin and gets the three count which doesn't seem right because Austin isn't the legal man. And Zabisco actually calls that out on commentary.

Good.

Anyhow, Steamboat and Johnny Bad get the win anyway. But I think the selling point here is that Steamboat got the pin on Austin.

Yeah. And they want Austin to be able to complain about something like hey, that wasn't fair for me, you know, so.

A little good writing there. Yeah, Little Sir William is crying foul but nobody cares. And that's the end of that match. It was a really good tag match, I gotta say. Fast paced, you know. Austin obviously we know, knows how to work in a tag team. And John B. Bad and Steamboat, they were like a good, they had some good chemistry too.

So yeah, that's a good match. A surprisingly good match to be on WCW main event too.

Yeah, like it was, you know, a lot of the Austin matches we get are kind of like meh, yeah, guys like Barry Houston. But this was a good, this was a good tag match with you know, three, you know, developed wrestlers. And then Johnny B. Bad who's slowly starting to come on his coming to his own.

Yeah, solid match and yeah, good shit there. And it continues the storyline of what we've been covering with the Steamboat screwing over Austin or Austin screwing over Steamboat. So it's all good there. All right, so let's run down some more August house show results. We're in Hampton, Virginia, August 14, 1994. Steve Austin and Ricky Steamboat fight to about 30 minute mark with no. Actually Austin did win that match around 30 minutes. And then on August 15th you had sting and Ricky Steamboat team up to defeat Ric Flair and Steve Austin on a WCW Pro taping in Dalton, Georgia. And then on August 16th in Gainesville, Georgia, Steve Austin defeated Barry Houston. That's kind of a lame match for a house show. Steve Austin versus Barry Houston. That must have been a fucking shitty card. Then they go to Houston. Houston, Texas, at the astro arena on August 18th, you have Steve Austin defeat Ricky Steamboat at 25 minute mark. And I'm sure he's winning these matches by like pulling the tights up or something, you know, rolling them up, some kind of nefarious means of winning. Then August 19th in Beaumont, Texas, same thing. Austin defeats Steamboat. So Austin's getting all these wins over Steamboat, but that's probably just because we know it's gonna happen at the Clash. Get him some wins before, before the big match. And from there now we go to WCW Pro on August 20, 1994. So I'm going to cover that. It's another jobber match. Basically you have a stunning Steve taking on Mike McReynolds, whoever the hell that is. Austin heads to the ring. The camera focused on a few teenagers like 17 to 19. These are like dudes with long hair, they got KISS T shirts, they're giving Austin a thumbs down. And I was just thinking these are the same dudes that in like in a couple years, two, three years, they're going to be huge Austin fans. But right now he's just like the California pretty boy and he's, you know, these rock and roll dudes, they're not feeling it at this point. But we know that will change when Austin's character changes. So we have Gordon solely on commentary. He mentions that Austin's opponent is Mike Reynolds. And Mike Reynolds has multiple flags on his leather jacket and he may be an international traveler. Larry Z says that he looks like, he looks like a suitcase. Which is funny because back in the day, you know, you used to put like the stickers of all the places that you went to on your suitcase on your luggage. Yep. Back in like the early 1900s through the 1940s, that was a, that was a thing like, oh, Hawaii. And you get the little sticker that says Hawaii on it and throw it on your suitcase. Kind of, I don't know, a way of like showing off where you went, basically. So Gordon and Larry bring up that Austin is defending the US title against Ricky Steamboat with the DQ that can cause you to lose the championship. Losing by DQ is a favorite stunt of his. Gordon solely says, and that has been taken away from him. All right, so in the, in the in ring action here, you get McReynolds get a head scissors take down on Austin. Austin complains that his hair was being pulled. McReynold is all hyped up and working the crowd which seems to be supporting him. They're booing Austin and they're, they're all excited that Mike McReynolds got this head scissors takedown on Austin. But Austin regains control almost immediately and takes him down and drops a knee on McReynolds, following it up with a snapmare. Austin goes to the second rope, comes down with the lame forearm smashed to the chest, goes for a cover. McReynolds kicks out. And I thought at that point, like Austin was going to intentionally break the count, but McReynolds fucking kicked out of it. Austin gets back to. Gets right back to work. He does a standing soup play as Gordon Sully likes to pronounce it, which is the actual pronunciation. But who the fuck says that other than him? McReynolds surprises Austin with the roll up pin attempt. Austin kicks out and is now pissed because he almost lost this Mike McReynolds character. And he sets him up in the corner and he gets some knife edge chops in. Larry Z mentions that Austin may be underestimating his opponent. And I think he's right. He needs to, he needs to get serious here. Gordon says that the near. The near fall embarrassed the US Champion, which pissed off Austin off. Okay, so Larry and Gordon mentioned that Austin makes any mistakes like that against Ricky Steamboat, then he's gonna lose the title at the Clash. That's a good point. Austin lifts McReynolds up and drops a knee on him and sets him up for the Hollywood and Vine. And then actually he goes for the. That's a wrap Standing reverse figure four. Hollywood and vine, and that's a Wrap are two similar moves.

They are.

I don't even what one's a standing figure for. What the hell's the other one? Yeah, I don't even know. I don't even know the difference. I'd fail.

Yeah, the Hollywood and Vine. I think he just like goes back more on it. Either way, he's barely been using Hollywood and Vine. It's been that's a Wrap pretty consistently anyway. It causes him. It causes Mike McReynolds to submit. And then Austin runs around the ring in jubilation with his one arm and one finger raised high, as he likes to do sometimes. And that totally Annoys the crowd. And man, we're starting to see like not having Colonel Parker has changed his character to becoming pretty silly. At least when he had Colonel Parker, Colonel Parker could build the heat and then Austin could remain cool and cocky. But now for Austin to garner any, he has to go run around being all goofy and annoying to get people to be pissed off at him. So it changed his whole character completely. Now that he has to get the heat on his own, it just worked so well with Parker. All right, with that said, we're moving on now. Looks like I get some more coverage here of August 20, 1994 is WCW worldwide. And it's a audio clip from the Clash of the Champions Control center. So it's about a minute long, so take a listen to that and we'll be right back.

And Terry Funk in singles action at the Clash. United States champ studying Steve Austin defends against challenger Ricky the Dragon Steamboat. Understand, officials here have waived the disqualification rule. If Austin intentionally gets disqualified, he'll lose the title. With that in mind, let's hear from both the champion and and the challenger. I'll tell you right now, Ricky Steamboat, and I'll tell the world. I've had enough of you and your stupid little shenanigans. This Wednesday at the Clash of the Champions. Stipulation, if I'm DQ'd, you win the belt. I'm not gonna get DQ'd. Steamboat, there's no way scientifically you can pin my shoulders to the mat. And I prove to the world and that mealy mouth family of yours why I'm always gonna be the best. You know something, Austin? This Wednesday, you and I are gonna meet. United States Heavyweight Championship on the line. And I want to get that belt for the second time in my wrestling career. You try to get yourself disqualified three times, but you pulled the fast one in front of the crowd that was watching. That's right. Feet up on the ropes, handful of tights. You had everything covered. You beat me. 1, 2, 3. I know I've got my hands full, but I've got the crowd behind me, I got the promotion behind me. I'm gonna win that US belt.

All right, so again, they're in the control center here. Mean Gene is covering the upcoming matches and matches at Clash. And he's gonna focus on the U.S. championship match between Austin and Steamboat. In which if Austin loses, it gets the queued, he loses the title. And Mean Gene says he will hear from both men. Austin is up first. Austin has his own logo behind him on a green screen. So Steve stunning Austin and has a pink silhouette image of like a bodybuilder posing. That's purple lettering. And Austin says, I'll tell you right now, Steamboat, I'll tell the world. I'm sick and tired of you and your stupid little shenanigans. This Wednesday at the Clash of Champions. Stipulation, if I'm DQ'd, you win the belt. I'm not going to get DQ'd. Steamboat. There's no way scientifically you could pin my shoulders to the mat. I'll prove to the world that you meely mouth family of yours and your mealy mouth family of yours, why I'm always going to be the best. And Steamboat is up next. He has a logo behind him as well. They're really leaning into wanting to be like the WWF at this point since they have Hogan. So they're even doing the little images in the background like WWF did at the time. So anyway, Steamboat still has that horrible bull haircut here. Steamboat bitches about Austin getting DQ'd in the past and cheating for a pinfall by grabbing a handful of tights. Steamboat says, I got the crowd behind me, I got the promotion behind me. I'm gonna win that U.S. belt. That's some bullshit right there to say I got the promotion behind me. Fuck you, you little kiss ass. Getting all the stipulations you want, getting title shots. Almost like you shouldn't have said that. I got the promotion behind me. It's like, it's like he's openly saying, yeah, Austin, they don't like you anymore. So you're getting screwed out of here because Hogan doesn't want to work with you, Austin. All right, so continuing now to WCW Saturday night on August 20, 1994. And we got another promo with Ricky Steamboat being interviewed by Mean Gene. And that's about two minutes long, so take a listen and we'll be right back to cover that.

All right, fans, this coming Wednesday night live here on TBS on the Clash. This man Ricky Steamboat, who's been so impressive as of late, is going to be locking up with United States States champ studying Steve Austin. I think one thing that you proved recently conclusively that Steve Austin can be beat. As a matter of fact, at a tag team match recently, the world now knows Ricky Steamboat that you down stunning Steve Austin. Well, you know something Mean Gene, I'm sure a lot of the wrestling fans as they followed this feud between Stunning Steve and Ricky Steamboat week after week after week, Steve Austin getting up here and telling everybody in America that he cannot be Beaten. Well, we just saw it. We just saw it on tv. It was. Even though it was a tag match. Studying Steve, you got pinned and I did the pinning. Now, this Wednesday, we've got a big match coming up. It's a clash and your championship is on the line. Once again. What could I do? What could I do to get a stipulation put in that he would sign? He was calling me so stupid time and time again. Ricky Steamboat's a stupid wrestler. What could I do? So I came out here, remember that time Mean Gene, it was just a little love pat just right on his interview time and just slapped the living. You know what out of his face. It made him. It made him so mad that he signed that contract with the stipulation. The Stunning Steve Austin. If you purposely try to get yourself disqualified, you will lose. United States Heavyweight Championship. So who's stupid now? Stunning Steve, who's stupid now? This season veteran out tricked you. Outsmart you. I pinned you the last time we had a confirmation. Mean Gene. I've got his number. I believe you do. Ricky the Dragon Steamboat this Wednesday at the Clash is going to be locking up with Stunning Steve Austin. Stay tuned. We've got more action here on tbs.

All right, so Ricky Stebo is interviewed by Mean Gene here after the victory that he had against the Gambler. And Gene starts with mentioning how Ricky got a pinfall against Austin in a tag team match last week on WCW Main event, which was just covered by Jay Z. Jay Z? Yeah, the. Although earlier on the show they showed a clip and said it was on the August 13th WCW Pro. Yeah, that's just WCW up. Stunning Steve. You got pinned. And I did the pinning. Ricky mentions how he outsmarted Austin by slapping him and knocking him down a few weeks ago on WCW Saturday Night. And that was just to get Austin to agree to the DQ stipulation in which he would lose the title if he gets DQ'd. So Ricky Steamboat is very proud of himself. He thinks he's like the mastermind here that he was able to get Austin to accept this match. All right, anyway, so now here we are, we're at WCW Clash of the champions. It's Wednesday, August 24, 1994 from Cedar Rapids, Iowa at the Five Season Center. And we're gonna watch this match. It's about 20 minutes, so we're gonna get right into it and get us set up here. So we'll just take a quick little break for a second just so we can get ourselves set up and we'll be. Normal design Parameters. Engage cybernetic generation sequence. Active system overload.

System overload. Next on WCW Saturday Night.

All right, so we're back. We're all set up, ready to go. And we got a time stamp of 2457. I'm not sure where this is available at this point. I mean, if you have WWE Network still, if you're outside of the United States and you're probably good to go and you can sync up, but I don't think it's really available anywhere else. So this might be on WWE's vault page of the WCW Vault page that they have on YouTube. So maybe it's there. I'm not sure. So anyway, do our best to cover the action here. And you can hear it in the background, so that's usually sufficient enough. But we'll sync ourselves up with the countdown. Three down to one. I'll say play. When I say play, we'll click play. All right. 3, 2, 1. Play. Volume.

The two load are loud.

Yeah, when I hit play, the volume is like muted already. Then when I unmute it, it goes all the way up. Challengers coming down to the ring. Little outfit, his little dragon wings. Stupid little dragon wings. And his little flame torch. Ricky Steamville just keeps getting title shots. All right, so we have Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan on commentary here at the Clash. I usually put the results to the other matches. Let's see what else was on this card. Clash of the champions 28.

And put him in an ambulance to leave the Five Season Center. Go to the hospital.

28. All right, so you have the Nasty Boys defeat. Pretty wonderful. Then the second match here was Austin versus Steamboat. But later on the show, you had Dusty and Dustin Rhodes team up. They defeated Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck. Antonio Inoki defeated. Well, it's Steven Regal and Ric Flair defeated Hulk Hogan by count out in the main event. I think that's the match where Hogan gets attacked. Yeah, masked man came out and attacked Hogan. Arn Anderson was originally under the mask, but then it was later revealed that the masked man was Brutus Beefcake. Beefcake turned on Hogan, which led to their Starcade main event match. The Butcher versus Hulk Hogan. So I even had to get Brutus Beefcake in a main event match. That's the pull that Austin that Hogan had. All right, so what do we have going on here?

I don't know. A.

Bischoff's hopping in with somebody.

Yeah, he's leaving Old school ambulances, bro. Yeah, that shitty orange.

Well, it's funny, even during this U.S. championship match that they've been hyping. The match is almost secondary. Secondary to what's going on backstage, Eric.

As as soon as possible to see on the condition of hul.

So Hulk Hogan was already attacked backstage. Okay.

I mean, the obvious question is, can he wrestle?

All right. Austin wearing the Dragon Slayer tights. Fitting since he's up against the Dragon.

After what's going on here?

Exchange of moves on the mat. Back up. Austin's already complaining that his hair is getting pulled. Hey, how'd Ricky Steo's hair grow back so fast?

Is that a wig? I like the pants, though.

That was cool.

Like the green better than the red he usually wears. Sometimes.

That'S not right on the ropes. Steamboat can get disqualified. However, if Stunning Steve gets disqualified, then he loses the title. Oh, it's worse than I thought. So everything is in his favor. Ricky the Dragon, Steamboat. Well, I think Stunning Steve brought this on himself. As a matter of fact, if you just joined us, Hulk Hogan came out for an interview with me, Gene, and was attacked.

All right, come on, pick up the pace. They like to start slow. See, even on commentary, they're talking about something else. Not even talking about the match. Everything's about Hogan.

Is it a wrestler?

Hey, that's the bread and butter. Let's ask Ron.

He's right here. Exactly what happened? Did you see Ron? What happened?

Sounds like they're talking to some production guy about what happened backstage, but can't hear anything he's saying. He's talking. You can kind of hear him. It's like. It's almost like they expected that it was going to pick up on the mic, but it's not. I just got dead. Dead noise. Tony's like, this sucks, guys. Not even miked up. I thought that. I guess I misremembered. I thought that happened during the match. I guess it was just backstage. Maybe comes out again later.

Big miss. Blow his shoulder out.

The drop kick.

No, Austin with when he missed the back.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that looked like.

There. That was a good one.

Power slam. One, two, kick out. All right, now we're following the ambulance in the split screen.

Eric Bischoff is there with him. They just take him to the edge of town and dump him. What are you talking about, Hogan? I didn't need sympathy when I was worked over. I didn't have 200 people on their hands and knees crying, trying to help me up like they were helping Hogan up. I don't really care if he ever wrestles again. I don't ever care if he walks again? Well, that's the question here.

Bob Heenan laying into Hogan. I don't care if he wrestles again. I don't care if he walks again. This pin attempt. Oh, reversal. Austin kicks out deep palm Dragon, Steamboat.

Because he's so quick and he's so fast and he's always where you don't want him to be and he's got you armed.

Dragon twist it is the black top bully in the first row. There he is like he's a regular fan. Yeah, yeah.

He's just some guy.

Who the this big guy in the first row line like we said, yelling at Steamboat.

Then he will lose the title. Well see, if Steamboat was smart, I would set Austin up in a position where to let him throw me into the ropes and I would just jump.

Over a lot of reversals.

But does he want to win it like that? Oh no, he wants to do it the old fashioned way. He wants to earn it. What's wrong with that? The money's the same whether you earn it or you scam it. Now that's a nice thing. You know how many young people we have watching this program? It's not a nice thing to do. Of course not. But I mean you have to fight fire with fire. That's what I do. If I, if I wanted to become the United States champion and didn't like Austin, I'm not like that. Austin so many times trying to cut corners, take shortcuts. The inroads to being the champion, he has held onto the title.

Nick Patrick Yellen at Austin.

Watch the hair.

It's not over the top. So through the middle rope. Tossed them out. You never know when over the top is illegal or not because who the knows anymore, right? Sometimes they say it's illegal, sometimes they don't. Clothesline Austin begging off, slides back into the ring. Steve Bo gives chase. Austin hits the ropes. Drop down on the Austin gets him in a sleeper. Another reversal. Steamboat gets a sleeper on. Oh, drawbreaker looking like a stunning Steve Stone cold stunner rather.

Both down. Is it ref counting? Shouldn't he be counting?

Yeah, it should be. Is he?

Yeah, yeah, I just heard him.

What has happened? Has ordered a charted chartered airplane and is on route. A mess. Hogan that he will wrestle in his place if need be tonight and thinks that he'll be arriving here very soon.

All right. So still talking about Hogan and that Sting might take his spot tonight if Hogan can't get back. Taking a chartered airplane to get here sitting in the back.

Very soon. It's about a 30 minute flight from Chicago here to Cedar Rapids. Steamboat.

Oh, still on the taker walk?

Yeah, Steamboat going up some old school.

Oh, oh, that's different.

Yeah, just dropped down to the, to the ringside and slammed Austin's arm on the top rope.

That's quite the drop too. Yeah, for Steamboat. On your knees, bro. Yeah.

A two count but he's not United States Champion, is he?

Looked interesting, but probably hurt. This one looks smash apparently loud mouth.

Iowan in Iowan they call him Iowa in. What do they call the people that live here? Human?

Humanoids, I guess. Humanoids. Tony, you can answer your own questions. For now. Bow drop. Nope. Knee drop.

Knee drop, drop.

One, two. Smack to the head. Another slap to the head.

Damn. Just smacking him.

Steamboat's gonna come back and smack him, right? No, guess not.

Stay off the hair, Austin.

Yeah, the ref. Yeah, Salty. Hey, he's got to be careful though. You don't want to lose by DQ because you pulled someone's hair.

True.

Imagine that. Austin lost by DQ because he pulled his hair too much. That'd be some bullshit. Now what would, what would totally suck in this match is if somebody else came out and ran in and caused the DQ for Austin. That would be some bullshit. That wouldn't be fair to DQ the guy because somebody else ran in.

Need that. I don't buy that.

That's what always happens. Somebody else comes in, ruins the match and the other person takes the loss because of it. Should just be called no contest when somebody does.

Yeah, nc, you know, Flair said, he.

Said, I have the ultimate surprise for Hulk Hogan and he may have pulled off the perfect crime. If he's behind this. I would say whoever hit him in the knee did a perfect job. In the chat. And a chop. And again, back and forth they go again. We'll keep you impressed.

Oh, Jesus. That was some height. And the match is picking up pace here. We're getting towards the, the final minutes. Last five or six minutes of the.

Match here, so it should pick up soon.

Yeah, it's kind of picking up right there, but now it's slowing down again.

Oh, there we go. Don't miss this.

Nice.

That was a clean land on his chin. Yeah, that was good.

Right along the chest. Here he goes.

Couple years in the future, those be middle fingers that he's doing on the rope.

Yeah.

Right now they're just like pointers. Hey man, come down, baby. Also going for a suplex. Suplex. My watch is telling me time to stand. Screw you not standing up right now you. You understand?

Henry Holmes, the attorney for Hulk's brother.

Hey, going for another suplex. Blocked. Steamboats, picks him right up. Brings them to the corner, places them on the top rope. Knife edge, chops, shot of the entrance for some reason. Does that mean somebody's coming out here? The is that all about just poor WCW production?

I suggest if there's any Hulk Hogan fans out there, you get on the phone right now and call anybody you.

Know, because this is only the second match so far.

We've got a lot more to come.

Oh, a little nut drop there for Austin on the top. That hurt. Oh, Steam Belt's making fun of him, mocking him. Oh, his balls hurt. He's doing like a little shimmy. Oh, that's gotta hurt. That's gotta hurt. Oh, Steamboat going all the way up for a superplex. Oh, oh, Austin's still preventing it.

Oh, oh, what a counter.

Yeah, nice counter. What a counter. Basically flapjacked him.

Yep.

Austin going up to the top. Pretty top. UBA misses. Guess he was going for no ax handle. Took the punch to the gut, which always happens. All right, Steamboat's going to the top, but Austin's like, way far away. But now Austin's repositioning himself standing up. Looks like flying cross body time. Oh, Austin had it scouted, Avoided it and slammed Steamboat down to the mat. Austin's taking his wrist tape off. Blacktop Bullies, guys. Walkie talkie with him. CB radio. They make it seem like Blacktop Bully is going to interfere in this match.

I know he's getting a lot of, like, attention.

Yeah, like he's gonna hit Steamboat with the radio or something.

Hollywood Blondes thing.

Yeah, even Tony said it too.

Look at this.

Oh, Steamville's dragoning up. Take down and playground fighting here.

Now for the ride. Double chop.

Double chops. Crowd is hyped. Now what would be hilarious if this match just ended normal without dq. With all the hype building up to this match and the just not doing it. The G bowin's clean. Didn't even need that stipulation fighting like this. There's no way though.

They got a. Oh, come on. What is this?

One, two, kick out.

I would have been pissed, dude.

Yeah, Austin's got to cheat somehow and get the queued. All right, roll up. Two, count again. One, two, kick out. Back and forth. Oh, backslide, backslide. One, two. They are exhausted, though. Yeah, this is over soon. Oh, another roll up. Nope.

Back and forth, back and forth. Clothes no stranger.

Oh, no. You kidding me? So they were saying that over the top would be a dq. The kick out. No. So he did just win clean.

Wow.

The roll up. One, two, three.

A roll up.

I do not like that.

How do you feel about that?

Pro stupid.

Why?

Why? All month hype up that if Austin gets the cut, he loses the title. That it just ends regular. It just ends with a pin.

I don't like that ending.

It's almost like it was a good match. Yeah, it was good.

It was definitely fun. But like, I don't know about that.

Maybe the match was supposed to end when Austin flipped. Flipped Steamboat out of the ring, but Steamboat held on and didn't get DQ'd. Maybe it was supposed to end in DQ right there because they up the.

Spot and then they just wanted Steamboat to win clean.

Yeah, probably right. So Austin couldn't or, you know. Yeah.

Because it basically ends the feud.

Right, Steve? Okay, just say, yeah, I pinned you clean, even though I didn't. We had the stipulation. Ultimately need it. And it also shows, like, Austin, I don't know, he followed it because he didn't want to lose the title. Mm. But he ended up losing anyway.

Anyway.

Yeah. Oh, just. It's just funny. I guess it's a tease, right? Because they lead you to think it's going to be a dq and then it's. It's like, oh, no, it's not. Okay. Even though that's what you expected all along. All right, so we'll stop here because we don't need to see Hogan in the. In the hospital and. Yeah. So good match. Yeah, good match. Overall. Steamboat is the US Champion now cleanly. But we'll see what happens there because they'll. There'll be some developments because I know that Austin gets another title shot coming up because next month we have Fall Brawl and Fall Brawl. Yeah. I'm pretty sure though, Steamboat injured himself in this match and it leads to. Yeah, I think so. I have to see if it gets mentioned later, but pretty sure he gets injured in this match. Yeah. Okay, so in the notes here, it says during the bout, Steamboat suffered what would become a career ending back. Back injury.

Oh, that's when it happened.

Yeah. I wonder when it was in the match.

I wonder if it's when he fell from the. The side, like, you know. You know, I don't know. Like that. That's a hard landing.

What do you mean? When he was on the top rope and jumped down.

No, when. When he was on the side of the apron. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When he was on the top of the rope and Jumped down? Yeah. From. But like the side rope. Yeah.

Yeah. That would be a shitty way to get injured by doing something like that. It's not like. I mean, that was under his control to just drop down like that, you.

Know, I doubt it. But like, I don't know, dude. That's a. That's. That's a fault.

That's.

I mean, I could see that hurting someone's back, knees.

Right. A career ending. Holy shit. Yes. Ultimately what's gonna happen is, you know, he just won the title, but he's gonna have to forfeit it back to Austin.

Mm.

But then they immediately take it off of Austin next month. Fucking Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Which we'll get to.

Oh, come on, dude. You gotta watch Hacksaw.

Yup. All right, so, yeah, career ending right there. Unfortunate. But now I need to go back and see it. I wish I would have known during the match to be looking for it, but. Oh, well. If any listeners out there know the exact point when it happened. Sure. Share it with us. Yeah. Tweet out to us on X at Bottom Linecast. All right, let's do some more house show results here and I don't think there's much more to cover. Yeah, there's a couple more things to cover, but let's. Let's get moving with that.

Okay.

August 25th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ricky Steamboat, the US champion, pinned Steve Austin in 21 minutes, right? So he's still wrestling. So maybe he just didn't know it was career ending yet at that point. Like, and then he went to the doctors and they're like, nah, you gotta stop wrestling, man.

Yeah, he might not be feeling it yet maybe.

Yeah, that's why he was able to continue on the match like it was nothing, but it probably was like feeling like shit. And then got checked and they're like, nope, man, you can't do this anymore. Something's up here. August 26th in Oklahoma City, you have Ricky Steamboat defeat Austin again. And then Same thing on August 27th in Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas, Ricky Steamboat defeats Steve Austin. Then that brings us to August 27th, another episode of WCW Worldwide. JV, what do we got?

Alright, so WCW Worldwide, August 27th, 1994, in Atlanta, Georgia, taking center stage. All we have for this episode is audio. So we got a promo from Ricky the Dragon. Steamboat did a little over two minutes long. Not a lot of content in it, but give it a listen and we'll be right back.

All right, fans, recently at the Clash of the Champions, history was made. And we Have a brand new United States Heavyweight Champion come on in. Ricky the Dragon Steamboat Downing. None other than Stunning Steve. And it had to be a big honor for you. You know something mean Gene. Anytime you win a championship belt, it's a big honor for everyone. And I guess in one's lifetime you have days that you remember. One of them is of course, course, the birth of my son. Another is the time that I won the World's Heavyweight Championship from Rick Flair. And I guess coming back around for the second time the United States Heavyweight Champion of my wrestling career is a day that I'll remember. You know, Stunning Steve for the past several months has been trying to dodge the Dragon, has been putting him off. But like I had told him and I went public with it that I've got some pull around the WCW and had to go through a lot of red tape. But that special stipulation, the disqualification rule was waived. That was the stipulation. Stunning Steve, that beat you, that did him in, you painted the picture time and time again. The times that we wrestled the other men that I've seen you wrestle in the past and you would walk away as the United States Heavyweight Champion and every single week on TV that you would claim the fact and tell everyone that you were the greatest US Heavyweight Champion ever. That last weekend you beat so and so and the weekend before that you beat so and so and you told everyone that Ricky Steamboat was next in line, a former World Heavyweight Champion that you were going to beat and pin. Well, the disqualification rule beat you, Stunning Steve. That's right. And you know what I'm talking about. If you got yourself disqualified, you'd lose the championship. And so many times you would walk away home with this belt because you got yourself disqualified. You had to wrestle, even you had to wrestle square. You couldn't handle it. You got beat. All right. He is the brand new US Champ. Ladies and gentlemen, Ricky the Dragon. Steamboat.

All right, so history was made at Clash of the Champions. Steamboat said it's a, says it's a big honor to win the belt. And there are days you remember, like the birth of his son. Ah, now I remember how he said, is it then, then there are others when, when I won the World Heavyweight Championship against Ric Flair, coming back around for the second time as US Champion in his career. And my career is a day I'll remember. His promos are so bad. Austin has been trying to dodge the Dragon for months, Steamboat says, but Steamboat had a, had, had to do, had to go through a lot of red tape and that Special stipulation. When that DQ rule was waived, that was the stipulation that did Austin in.

Not really did it though? Yeah, I mean, it led him to want to take the match.

Yeah. Did it though?

Yeah. It didn't lead to the end.

So. Steamboat was disgusted that Austin would claim he's the greatest champion, bragging how he beat wrestler after wrestler after wrestler. And Steamboat was next in line, a former champion that he was going to beat and win. Steamboat says inaccurately, the DQ rule beat Austin. And so many times he walked away with the belt because of that rule on his side. But fair and square, Austin lost.

And know what? Like these promos probably were before the match actually happened. They probably were going to go with Austin getting DQ'd to lose the title.

It was taped on August 10th.

Yeah. Two weeks before. Yeah. So then something happened in the match where they had to change course and he just rolled them up to get the win because the. Whatever the DQ spot was didn't work. But you have all this recorded earlier saying the DQ rule beat Austin. No, it didn't. They shouldn't just scrap these fucking interviews. But nope, they still played them well.

They should have had more than one recording.

Right. Just in case.

Yeah, like a backup.

Right. All right, so with that said, let's move on now to WCW. Saturday night, August 27, 1994 in Atlanta, Georgia, taped on August 10 as well. And we're gonna go to a job of match here with stunning Steve Austin versus Chris Michaels. You have Tony and Bobby Heenan on commentary. You have former US Champ Austin cockily walking to the ring without the belt. Of course, he's no longer the champion, even though he was at that time. But he knew he was going to lose it 14 days later, so he had to come out without it, which is weird. Which can be confusing to the fans, I bet. Like, oh, where's your belt? How come you're not the champion anymore? We didn't see anything, by the way. Austin has taken on Chris Michaels, who looks like Ricky Morton. Another Ricky Morton knockoff. Austin and Michaels tie up. Austin pushes him to the corner. Austin and Michaels exchanged a few takedowns. Austin misses an elbow drop. Bobby Heenan mentions how good Austin is. And even though he just missed the move, he is so good that the way he recovered, he got right back up. And he didn't run after the guy. He didn't lose his cool. He just said, yeah, I missed something. It's not going to happen again. He's that cool of a customer. Stone cold of a Customer Austin gains complete control. Knee drop, suplex. Stomp on. Stomp on the hand. Bobby mentions how great a match that Austin and Steamboat had at the at the Clash. Even though Bobby doesn't know yet, but I say it anyway. They mentioned that it would could have gone either way. Meanwhile, Austin works on Michael's leg and locks in a reverse standing four. That's a wrap. And that's a wrap. Tony mentions that Austin certainly has a return match in the works against Steamboat. And Bobby says that he imagines that Austin will be the US Champion again. Then from there now we go to the Fall Brawl Control center. And you have Stunning Steve and Ricky Steamboat sharing some time in the Control Center. And this is some audio. So we're gonna play this about a minute long with Mean Gene as the host. So take a listen and we'll be.

Right back against Stars and Stripes, Ricky Steamboat, once again the US Champ. And he's gonna be facing this man, former J now challenger, Stunning Steve Austin. You know, Ricky Steamboat, the last few weeks have been really hard for me because when I wake up in the morning and I get out of bed and that United States title isn't around my waist, I'm just not the same. I'm the one that inspired you to perform like you did, to take that title from me. Ricky Steamboat, you're always gonna be one of the greatest champions of all time. But On Sunday the September 18th, I'm gonna be the US champion again. You know something? Stunning Steve Austin, you've got on television a number of times telling everybody, Ricky Steamboat, you will never ever beat me. But look before you, Stunning Steve, as I stand before you and all the wrestling fans throughout the world as the United States Heavyweight champion for the second time. And right here in Roanoke, Sunday, September 18th, I'm giving you the former champion, a rematch. That's right. I come from the old school and you're going to have your chance right here in Roanoke. All right, Study Steve and Ricky the Dragon Steamboat for the US Top.

All right, so Mean Gene is in the Fall Brawl War Games Control center and he runs down the matches for the show and spotlights the upcoming title match on September 18 between Ricky Steamboat and Stunning Steve Austin. So there is a return match planned here. Mean Gene cuts two brief promos from the contestants. Austin, the challenger is up first. Austin says that last week, the last few weeks have been very hard on him. He's just not the same person. He's not waking up with the US title belt, belt wrapped around his waist. I guess he sleeps with the title. Austin says that he's the one that inspired Steamboat to be able to win the US Title from him. He mentions that Steamboat will always be considered one of the greatest champions, but on September 18, he's going to be the champion again. Then they switch over to the champ, Steamboat. Ricky mentions how Austin frequently mentioned that Steamboat would never beat him. But look before you, stunning Steve, as I stand before you, the US champion for the second time on September 18, I'm going to give the former champion a rematch. That's right. I come from the old school. You're going to have your chase in your chance in Roanoke. All right, so already right back to hyping up the next match here. We know, as we mentioned before, that Steamboat's injured and that's going to be a change of plans there. Match will be planned and we'll talk about that and how it really doesn't go down. And there's a change of course. And that brings in. Oh, brings in our hacksaw Jim Duggan and all that nonsense that goes on for the next couple of months with Austin before he is out of wcw. And then. Yeah, so we got just one more house show result. It's Ricky Steamboat beats Austin again on August 28th in Lancaster, California. And that wraps up our coverage. So new US Champion, but that comes with a legit injury. So whatever they had planned will get changed. Plans will change in September. And with that said, anything else, jv, before we wrap it up here?

I got nothing.

Yeah, I mean, it's good stuff. It's getting to the end. They did a good job building up the match for the Clash of Champions. The match was pretty good at Clash of Champions, so all in all, it was a good month. But as we know, we're heading down the path that Austin is just not going to be held in high status anymore, ultimately leading to him getting fired by Eric Bischoff within the next couple of months or so. All right, so we'll be back soon. Okay. We think sooner than two months because we got some time off. I think we could bang out another episode within the month. So we'll cover September of 94 next time. And again, that'll be based on the upcoming Steamboat in Austin Fall Brawl pay per View match. All right, so let's wrap things up here, but first, take a listen to our podcast, Pals Talking Taker, as they are covering the career of the Undertaker. They do one episode a month now comes out the first of every month. But they covered the entire career of the Undertaker just as we've covered the entire career of Stone Cold Steve Austin. So please check out Alex and Travis over at Talking Taker. Take a listen to them right now and then we'll be wrapped up back with our wrap up.

All right, bottom Line cast listeners, this.

Is Alex Dorio, one half of the.

Talking Taker podcast and after nearly 200 episodes exploring every pay per view match of the Undertaker's career, along with my.

Co host Travis White, we just couldn't.

Let the podcast rest in peace.

So join us. Join us now on the 1st of.

Every month as we dig even deeper into the legacy of the newest member of the WWE hall of Fame. From unearthing some rare and unreleased hidden.

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Us on social media. Oky Taker and as always, take her easy. All right, we're back now for the Bottom Line wrap up and you just heard from Talking take it. So please check them out. We're wherever you get your podcast. Also check out their YouTube channel where they have videos of their episodes as well. Also check out Booking the Territory, the unprofessional wrestling podcast where they are covering WCW Saturday Night and they're pretty much catching up to us. They're in I believe June of 1994, so they're just a couple months behind us at this point, so check them out and see their slaying on it. They cover the entire episode of WW Saturday Night and they do the pay per views as well as they come up. Clash of the Champions as they come up as well. Those are available on their Patreon $5 tier, the pay per views and the Clash. But the weekly shows, they're available free wherever you get your podcast and also sign up for their $5 Patreon because we're on it as well with the Extreme ECW Live cast on their $5 tier and also we have the free episodes available covering 93 through 97 of ECW hardcore TV wherever you get podcasts as well. Then also check out our Vantage point, the Retro Wrestling podcast where Joe Morata and Michael Quinn cover WWF Superstars of Wrestling on a weekly basis. They are currently in 1988 and they started all the way back in like 1982, covered everything up to 1988. They are in the summer of 88 July building up to the first SummerSlam SummerSlam 88. All right, with that said, thanks guys for listening. We'll be back soon with episode 28 covering September of 1994. JB, any final words?

No.

All right, guys. Oh, well, one other thing. You'll be listening to this after the Super Bowl.

Yes.

Our New England Patriots are in there. We're recording the morning of the super bowl, so we don't know the results. We're just crossing our fingers and hoping for a good game and hoping for the Patriots to bring home their seventh championship. Well, we'll see hopefully when you guys listen to this. It's I know that they lost the Seahawks one, but we'll be rooting for the pets, of course. So with that said, co Patriots, we'll see you next time, guys. So long.

And that's the bottom line. As far as I'm concerned, this is over with. So get the hell out of here.

Sa.