Battlebowl

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Battlebowl
Pensacola Civic Center
Attendance7,000
Tagline(s)Ready! Set! Battlebowl!
Pay-per-view chronology
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Starrcade

BattleBowl was a one-time

event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The show took place on November 20, 1993, at the Pensacola Civic Center in Pensacola, Florida. The event featured only the "BattleBowl Tournament", where the first round consisted of eight tag team matches where the teams were drawn at random in a "Lethal Lottery". Members of the winning teams would advance to the BattleBowl battle royal main event. Vader, who was already the WCW World Heavyweight Champion
at the time of the show, received a ring for winning the tournament.

WCW had previously used the Battlebowl concept at

Starrcade 1992, opting to make it a stand-alone show in 1993 as they expanded the number of PPV shows they held that year. The BattleBowl concept would not be used again until the 1996 Slamboree show. WCW closed in 2001 and all rights to their television and PPV shows were bought by WWE, including BattleBowl. When the WWE Network
launched in 2014 this show became available "on demand" to network subscribers along with the majority of all WCW PPVs.

Production

Background

The Lethal Lottery/BattleBowl concept was originally introduced for

The Great Muta, but the tournament win did not result in further storylines.[2]

WCW held a total of six PPVs in the continental United States in 1992, but in 1993 they expanded their schedule to seven, adding BattleBowl to their schedule for November, holding the tournament separately from the

1993 Starrcade show.[3]

Storylines

The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[4]

Event

Other on-screen personnel
Role: Name:
Commentators Tony Schiavone
Jesse Ventura
Interviewer Gene Okerlund
Ring announcers Michael Buffer
Gary Michael Cappetta
Referees Randy Anderson
Nick Patrick
Vader, the reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion and BattleBowl winner.

color commentary, providing a counter-point by often siding with the heel wrestlers (those that portray the bad guys). Prior to each match Gene Okerlund and Fifi stood by a large lottery drum, supposedly pulling names at random, though the names were never displayed to the viewers. As the names were announced WCW showed two side-by-side live feeds, one from the heel locker room and one from the face
(those that portray the good guys) locker room.

The first team announced consisted of Big Van Vader, WCW World Heavyweight Champion and Cactus Jack. Vader and Cactus Jack had been on opposite sides in the main event of WCW's last PPV Halloween Havoc, thus pairing rivals together for the first match. Okerlund announced that Harlem Heat member Kole was part of the opposite team, but instead of Kole leaving the locker room his brother Kane left the locker room and came to the ring. Kane helped Vader attack Cactus Jack, during which Schiavone commented that it was the wrong brother and then stated, "I guess it doesn't really matter". Moments later the last participant, Charlie Norris, came to the ring and the match started. Initially, Vader and Cactus Jack would occasionally hit each other during the match but later started to get along enough to double team their opponents. In the end, Vader pinned Charlie Norris to advance to the BattleBowl main event.[3][5]

For the second match one-half of the WCW World Tag Team Championship team the Nasty Boys, Brian Knobbs was paired up with Johnny B. Badd for a match against Erik Watts and Paul Roma, who were both faces leading up to the match. After almost 13 minutes of wrestling Brian Knobbs pinned Eric Watts by holding onto Watts' tights for extra leverage to win the match.[3][5] For the third match of the night long-time rivals Ricky Steamboat and Lord Steven Regal were forced to team together, much to the dismay of Regal who was very vocal in his displeasure with Steamboat. While their opponents, Paul Orndorff and The Shockmaster, were not on friendly terms they worked better together than Regal and Steamboat, allowing the Shockmaster to pin Regal.[3][5]

After the third match WCW showed a segment announcing that

King Kong to take on King Kong's regular partner Awesome Kong and The Equalizer, leaving Rhodes as the lone face against three heels. During the match all three heels attacked Dustin throughout the match, leaving Rhodes at a disadvantage throughout. In the end Awesome Kong accidentally landed on both King Kong and the Equalizer, leaving him vulnerable to Dustin Rhodes' Running bulldog move, which led to Rhodes pinning Awesome King.[3][5] For the fifth match of the night rivals Sting and Jerry Sags were teamed up to take on Ron Simmons and Keith Cole. During the match Simmons started to get a little rougher in the ring, beating Sting down repeatedly. When he tagged in his partner Cole would wrestle a more basic match, opting for arm locks and holds, frustrating Simmons throughout the match. Near the end of the match, Sags tagged Sting on the back, taking over the match to pin Keith Cole. After the match Ron Simmons completed his heel turn by attacking Keith Cole.[3][5]

To start the sixth match of the night,

Tex Slazenger found themselves on opposite sides of the ring, initially refusing to fight. The refusal angered Pierce's partner Rick Rude who tagged himself in while Slazenger tagged in Marcus Bagwell. Near the end of the match Slazenger and Pierce finally fought each other, leaving Slazinger open to Rick Rude sneaking in the ring to get a pinfall for his team. Afterward Pierce and Slazenger showed their unity by attacking Marcus Bagwell.[3][5]

Road Warrior Hawk was the first competitor drawn for the last match and moments later his partner was announced as low card wrestler Rip Rogers. While Rogers was excited to be called for the match Hawk showed his displeasure by punching Rogers in the face during their introduction. Moments later both opponents, Davey Boy Smith and Kole, both hit Rip Rogers while he was on the ground. Hawk proceeded to wrestle the match on his own as Rogers slowly crawled towards the ring. After a short time in the ring with Hawk, Davey Boy Smith tagged out and left Kole to fight the remainder of the match. Near the end of the match, Rip Rogers finally got to ringside, only for Hawk to pull him into the ring, press him up over his head and throw him on top of Kole, enabling Rogers to win the match without performing a single move.[3][5]

After the "fluke" win by Rogers, he was quickly eliminated from the BattleBowl as he was tossed out of the ring moments after the bell rang. Austin ended up eliminating Dustin Rhodes, who hit his head on the ring post, and then "bladed" to cause his forehead to bleed for dramatic effect. The final four wrestlers were Sting, Steve Austin, Ric Flair and Vader, with Sting and Vader facing off and Flair and Austin pairing up. During the match, Vader's manager Harley Race pulled Ric Flair out of the ring onto the ramp. Race tried to suplex Flair, but Flair countered it and suplexed Race instead. While Flair was still on the ramp Vader left the ring and attacked Flair dropping his considerable weight on him twice. Moments later it was announced that the referee had deemed Flair physically unable to compete and thus was eliminated from the match. Later on, Austin was eliminated when Sting carried him over the top rope and he fell off the ramp. Sting was then eliminated when he missed a Stinger Splash and fell over the top rope, giving Vader the victory.[3][5]

Aftermath

With a victory over Vader at

1993 Starrcade show to win the championship.[7]

After Regal attacked Steamboat during their match, Steamboat challenged Lord Steven Regal for the WCW World Television Championship at Starrcade, with the match ending in a 15-minute time limit draw. Due to the draw Regal retained the championship.[7]

BattleBowl concept

WCW abandoned the BattleBowl concept for a number of years, bringing it back one last time for the 1996 Slamboree event. Diamond Dallas Page won the 1996 BattleBowl, using the win as a way to increase Page's profile in the company, starting an ascent that would eventually lead to Page winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.[8][9] In 2001 WWE bought out WCW, gaining ownership of all television and PPV programming produced by WCW, including the BattleBowl show. When the WWE Network launched in 2014 this show became available "on demand" to network subscribers along with the majority of all WCW PPVs.[10]

Other promotions have used a similar concept to the "Lethal Lottery" / "BattleBowl" tournament after WCW created the concept in 1991.

Joker's Wild tournament, held as part of their "One Night Only" PPV series. The "Joker's Wild" tournament included both the Lethal Lottery portion and the BattleBowl portion, with the winners being given a cash prize as a reward for winning the tournament.[12]

Results

No.Results
Tex Slazenger and Marcus Bagwell
Tag team match14:50
8Road Warrior Hawk and Rip Rogers defeated Davey Boy Smith and KoleTag team match07:55
9Vader won the 16-man battle royal by lastly eliminating StingBattleBowl battle royal25:33

See also

  • TNA One Night Only Joker's Wild tournament
  • TNA One Night Only Joker's Wild 2 tournament
  • TNA One Night Only Joker's Wild 3 tournament
  • TNA One Night Only Joker's Wild 4 tournament

References

  1. ^ "History of the WCW World Championship: Sting". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved June 1, 2008.
  2. ^ "Starrcade 1992". Pro Wrestling History. December 28, 1992. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts". Wrestling’s Historical Cards: BattleBowl (Pensacola Florida, Pensacola Civic Center). Kappa Publishing. 2007. p. 142.
  4. Discovery Communications
    . Retrieved 2015-11-15.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "BattleBowl". Pro Wrestling History. November 20, 1993. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  6. ^ "Clash of Champions Results (XXV)". Archived from the original on 2008-06-24.
  7. ^ a b Adamson, Matt (March 30, 2008). "Going Old School: Starrcade '93". 411mania. Retrieved June 1, 2008.
  8. ^ "Spring Stampede 1999". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved October 2, 2007.
  9. ^ "Dallas Page's first reign". WWE. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved October 9, 2007.
  10. ^ Douglas Scarpa. "16 PPVs NOT On The WWE Network". Archived from the original on July 23, 2014. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
  11. ^ "Chikara DVD September 6, 2008 "La Loteria Letal" – Easton, PA". Smart Mark Video. Archived from the original on February 28, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2009.
  12. ^ "TNA News: "One Night Only" PPV Spoilers – results for Joker's Wild Tournament for $100,000". PWTorch. 2013-01-12. Retrieved 2013-04-06.
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