2 Cold Scorpio vs. Barry Windham

[7.0] "They did a really good job of getting Scorpio over here. His stock had taken a hit over the previous few months, and the reaction was mixed at first, but as the match progressed, the fans got behind him and genuinely wanted to see him win the title. Meanwhile Windham built some strong, sustained heat, setting up Scorpio's comeback and the false finishes very well and the whole bout flowed really nicely."

[8.0] "Tragically, Barry Windham's last stand as a premier worker, concluding his time as WCW's best with a thriller opposite 2 Cold Scorpio. Even considering all the classics behind him, I think there's a real argument to be made that overall, Windham had never been better than he was here, momentarily transforming Scorpio's standing in just a single match. They build to the challenger's comeback with extended heat, sprinkling in hope spots along the way. Windham plays with his food just long enough to bite his tongue, with those hurdles bringing Norfolk to their feet. ****"

[7.0] "It's actually a pretty solid story, and in the end, it's almost gripping. In the dusty NWA, there just can't be a champion with '2 Cold' as a prefix, but at a certain point, it still feels plausible. Windham dominates for a long time, his opponent sells the routine really well, and in the end, after a brief counter-sprint, disaster strikes for the face character. That kept me entertained."

[6.0] "I found the heat for this match to be a little too long and slow. However, once Scorpio is able to mount a comeback things pick up considerably. You really do think that Scorpio is capable of winning it a few different times there. He's got a few different interesting pinning predicaments. However, I didn't think it was anything too special compared to the other matches on this show."

[9.0] "Match holds up amazingly well in fact I think it's possible a modern audience can understand the storytelling and underdog plot like even better than when the match was held. The crowd is quite hot for this and Windham tries very hard Scorpio is on his game and the match is minis botches really. A much under talked about gem from this era for sure. Everyone should check it out."

[9.0] "A damn good match! It's one of the best matches that's never talked about. It had everything. The crowd was hot for the duration."

[9.0] "This is one of my all time favorite "plucky underdog who has no chance of beating the champion" matches ever. Scorpio sets the tempo early with some flashy moves and lightning fast kicks, but it's only a matter of time until Barry catches the speedball and starts pounding him mercilessly. You just FEEL the force of Windham's power moves and the audience legit pops every time he hits a suplex or leg drop. Scorpio inevitably catches his second wind and that leads to one of the best "false hope" stretches you'll ever see in a wrestling match. The final five minutes of this match are pretty much perfect, with the perfect ending for this kind of match-up. Decades down the line, this thing STILL gets my pulse pounding even though I know how everything ends. If this isn't the best Scorpio match ever, it's certainly up there."

[7.0] "Really fun matchup and an interesting clash of styles that worked really well. Barry beats on Scorpio for most of the match with only brief moments of a comeback from Scorpio before he hits Barry with an awesome comeback hitting a lot of his ahead of its time offense. Crowd was red hot for this matchup and really added to this match. PPV level stuff 3.75/5"

[8.0] "This was a pretty great match. Scorpio was returning to WCW coming off a trip to Japan and straight into a title shot. Windham is a great heel while in control of Scorpio, and his master of the basics serves to make Scorpio's flashy comeback seem even more exciting by contrast. Their styles are actually very complementary in general, and they show strong chemistry here. I loved the set-up to the finish where Windham cracks Scorpio right in the jaw as he slingshots into the ring. It's simple, but so well executed that it still got a reaction out of me. Great to see Scorpio get an opportunity like this, and such a shame that he didn't get to see him in this position more often throughout his career."

[7.0] "Very good match. Barry Windham played an arrogant heel very well against Scorpios (at the time) innovative offense. A clash of styles that in fact meshed quite well."

[8.0] "I thought this match was great, and at times this had me on the edge of my seat. 2 Cold Scorpio was a great challenger to Windham here, and Windham got to look like a great defending champion here. I figured I'd enjoy this but did not to expect to enjoy it as much as I did; I'd recommend checking this out. Windham retains and soon enough with have to face former stablemate Ric Flair."

[8.0] "This was a terrific match. Scorpio was the shiny new toy in the company at that time, so it makes sense to put him in the NWA title match. Scorpio made us believe he had a chance to become champion during this match and Windham aided him in putting on a banger."

[8.0] "Really, really good match. Both guys looked great, Windham dominated early to get the fans behind Scorpio, and when he came on, he did so in a big way. Slingshot 450 splash from the apron...nobody was even coming close to that in WCW or WWF at the time. Both guys sold their ass off for each other, crowd was into it all the way. Good stuff."

[7.0] "It started off slowly with both guys feeling each other out and Scorpio surprising the veteran Windham with his quick offense. It turned into a damn good World Title match that saw Scorpio getting a couple of hot nearfalls near the end that made fans believe Scorpio would be able to pull it off! Ultimately, one aerial move proved to be too much, as Windham knocked Scorpio out cold (hah! ) with an uppercut in midair, leaving him open for Barry's leaping DDT. [***1/2]"

[8.0] "This match really showed me why Windham was a wrestler's wrestler. He looks the part, can throw a great punch, and can keep things entertaining while working on top. This felt like a showcase TV title defense for him. Windham mostly dominated the match and there was no way Scorpio was winning this, but they threw in a few convincing nearfalls that had me second-guessing myself. I wasn't expecting to see Scorpio pull off a 450 slingshot splash all the way back in 1993! This was more or less a Windham carryjob, but Scorpio played his part well and looked good in there selling for Windham."

[8.0] "This is a very good match with Windham in control for much of the way while still allowing 2 Cold Scorpio to show some of the great things he can do. Really got rid of the stink from the Muta match. ****"

[8.0] "Extremely good and fun match. Loved the slow build leading into an incredibly hot stretch. Scorpio looked tremendous despite losing and not being anywhere close to Windham's league at the time. Big thumbs up. [***3/4]"

[9.0] "This blew me away. This was an awesome top level vs low level wrestler match. Windham was great in this. He was booked to have almost total control and he made the most of it. He definitely seemed like a proper NWA World Champion to me, if that makes any sense. His sense of control and presence was super compelling and this is helped by Scorpio's excellent selling. 2 Cold Scorpio doesn't have a ton of offence but when he gets flying, the crowd go crazy for him. His hope spots were tremendous. Flashy but effective. Windham looked in real danger despite looking so dominant for most of the match. Can't praise it hard enough. ****1/4"

[7.0] "This match was really good; a longer series of near falls at the end, and it would have been even better. The only negative was Nick Patrick, whose terrible counting style hurt a lot of the near falls."

[7.0] "A really fun match that could have been a classic if it had 5-10 minutes more time. The build to Scorpio's comeback is a pretty good build, but 2 Cold Scorpio stars in particular with his comeback. All in all, it went really well."

[10.0] "I thought this was fantastic! Highly underrated bout in my opinion, Windham was in great form around this time and Scorpio was really breaking out, some of the stuff he did in this match was not only groundbreaking at the time but is still pretty shocking even today. Great showing by two incredibly talented guys who don't always get their due."