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Worst in the World: Dustin Runnels & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl

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So...Battlebowl. If you didn't know, Battlebowl was a WCW pay-per-view they held once where wrestlers were randomly placed in tag matches, and the winners of the tag matches got put in a Battle Royal. The concept had been done twice before at Starrcade 1991 and 1992, and was only held once more after at Slamboree 1996, before TNA picked up the idea, calling it Joker's Wild. I actually think this was a really cool idea, seeing random wrestlers put together, regardless of if they were face or heel, and having them team together. This made a few cool tag teams we never thought we'd get too see, like Cactus Jack & Vader or Steve Austin & Ric Flair. Unfortunately, it also gave us Dustin Rhodes & King Kong facing off against The Equalizer & Kong's Colossal Kongs partner Awesome Kong (who is so obscure he doesn't have a Wikipedia page).
First off, let's just talk about the people in this match. First, we've got white meat Dustin Rhodes in his blandest gimmick, which was simply being Dusty Rhodes son. Then we've got The Equalizer, aka Dave Sullivan. I've already said I think this guy is complete trash and had no business being in a wrestling ring, so I'll leave it at that. And lastly, the Colossal Kongs, two giant, 400+ pounds wrestlers who managed to snag a Worst Tag Team Award from Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 1993. This is going to be a nightmare.
Rhodes and Equalizer start with some exchanges before Rhodes locks in a hammerlock. The two go at it some more before Rhodes hits a drop toe hold followed by a terrible arm drag and locks in an armbar. The two have some more exchanges before Equalizer tags in Awesome Kong. Rhodes immediately hits a few dropkicks and schoolboys Awesome Kong, as King Kong almost goes to break it up, forgetting he's on the other team. Jesse Ventura says that King Kong did that because he hasn't realized Awesome Kong is on the other team. Yes, because Awesome tagging Equalizer or them standing on opposite sides didn't give it away.
Awesome "misses" an elbow drop on Rhodes (Rhodes didn't move quick enough) and Rhodes makes the tag to King. Not wanting to fight his tag partner, he immediately tags Rhodes back in. Smart move, as far as I know winning the Battlebowl meant nothing, so why beat up and possibly injure your teammate.
Awesome continues to beat up Rhodes as he tags in Equalizer, who instantly gets arm dragged. Rhodes tags out again, and this time King will fight Equalizer. The two fight for a while, mostly just punches, before Equalizer blocks a corner splash and hits a shoulder tackle. Equalizer misses a leg drop and King makes the tag to Rhodes. Rhodes runs wild on Awesome, hitting the Bionic Elbow for only a two count and rolls up Awesome with a sunset flip, which Equalizer breaks up. Chaos ensues as Equalizer and King Kong brawl, which Awesome Kong actually breaks up by splashing Equalizer and King in the corner. This allows Rhodes to hit a bulldog on Awesome for the win

The Verdict

I don't know how this match managed to get minus three stars from Dave Meltzer. Granted, it wasn't good, it was slow and plodding, but it wasn't god awful in any way.

Rankings (Best to Worst)

  1.  Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
  2. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
  3. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
  4. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
  5. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
  6. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
  7. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
  8. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
  9. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
  10. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
  11. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
  12. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
  13. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
  14. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
  15. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
  16. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
  17. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
  18. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
  19. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
  20. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
  21. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
  22. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
  23. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
  24. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
  25. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
  26. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
  27. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
  28. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
  29. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
  30. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
  31. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
  32. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
  33. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
  34. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
  35.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
  36. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
  37. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
  38. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
  39. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
  40. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
  41. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
  42. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
  43. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
  44. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
  45. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
  46. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996 
  47. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/10)
  48. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
  49. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
  50. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
And up next on the list...
Oh boy, the match even I said was the worst of 2015.
Thanks for reading, be sure to share if you enjoyed.

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Comments

  1. FrostApril 22, 2021 at 6:50 AM

    For anyone wondering what the Battlebowl even led to, Vader (the current WCW World Heavyweight Champion) won the event but an interaction between Ric Flair and Harley Race (manager to Vader at the time) led to a challenge and future match between the two at Starrcade. Essentially, the Battlebowl main event was a way to further the Flair-Vader storyline that had been building from Clash of the Champions XXV.

    Disclaimer: I do not know this stuff off the top of my head, I only read it on Wikipedia and was not even alive in 1993.

    ReplyDelete

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