Sage Cortez
Clash 18 was without Lex Luger due to him turning in his notice and WCW being out of dates to use him on, but the show still looks very good. It appears to be loaded with tag team matches, which after Starrcade isn’t exactly ideal, but I think I’ll manage in any case. The main event here was also a tag team match, between the teams of Sting and Ricky Steamboat, and Rick Rude and Steve Austin. Doesn’t get much better as far as singles wrestlers in tag matches goes. We also have a few new gimmicks showing up! I have no idea why they’d do this, but they had Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton win the tag belts in a 2 out of 3 falls match that was off television. The synopsis I read said that Arn clocked Dustin Rhodes with Paul E. Dangerously’s cell phone.
– January 21st, 1992, from the Expocenter in Topeka, Kansas
The opening calls Paul E. a yuppie, which cracks me up. It also talks about the Dangerous Alliance, and makes clear we’ll see all of them face their foes. Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone will commentate this show as well, and state there are nine matches on the card. Eric Bischoff and Missy Hyatt host this too, and say they’ll have interviews here. Okay, then.
Big Van Vader & Mr. Hughes (w/Harley Race) vs. The Steiner Brothers
Pre-Match Thoughts: WCW had pushed that these four had an issue, but I haven’t seen anything of the sort until now. Great way to open the show if you ask me. Vader has his headgear, coupled with the awesome entrance music. I think Hughes will be doing a job here, but I’m just guessing and don’t really know. Rick has a serious jobbing face, maybe his stomach just hurts. Who knows. No way the Steiners do a job here.
Match Review: Hughes starts off with Scott, who trips him and drives him back into the ropes. Scott takes him over with a fireman’s carry, but Hughes comes back with punches and headbutts. Scott dishes out a belly to belly throw, getting a huge pop for doing so. All four guys wind up in the ring, and the Steiners get thrown to the outside. When Vader and Hughes celebrate, it’s time for TOP ROPE STEINERLINES as the Steiners leap off the same turnbuckle. Vader makes a tag in, and he looks angry. He gives Rick Steiner a back suplex, and follows that with another suplex. Vader picks Rick up and press slams him, then squashes him in the corner while running at speed. Rick STEINERLINES him to stop a second charge, and throws him with a belly to belly. Another STEINERLINE sends Vader over the top, and Rick tries to leap from the apron onto him. Bad idea. Vader catches him and drives his back into the post, then destroys him with a clothesline. Vader then heads up top, but Rick gets to his feet and gives him a belly to belly suplex from the top! Scott tags in for a Steinerline that gets 2, and Vader blocks a German suplex, only to be given one anyway. Scott heads up top, and Vader catches him on the way down for a powerslam. Vader sits on Scott to block a sunset flip, then tags in Mr. Hughes for his own powerslam that gets 2. Hughes clotheslines Scott too, but misses a charge to the corner and grabs his groin. Rick makes the tag in, and gives Hughes a hip toss. A backdrop follows that, then everyone gets in the ring. Vader throws Rick to the outside, but accidentally hits Hughes with a clothesline on a double team. Vader and Scott go over the top, and Rick finishes Hughes with the TOP ROPE BULLDOG at 9:03.
My Thoughts: This was a lot of fun, and I was surprised to see Vader bumping around like this. Shows he wasn’t quite in the plans just yet. I really love seeing matches where both teams throw each other around, and this fit the bill. ***, great start to the show. I don’t know how Mr. Hughes was able to keep those sunglasses on his head with the big bumps he was taking here. I’m not surprised to have been right about who was doing a job here. No, I honestly did not know, and do not know any results from this show.
Tracy Smothers (WCW US Tag Team Champion) & Taylor Made Man vs. Brian Pillman & Marcus Alexander Bagwell
Pre-Match Thoughts: Steve Armstrong was injured, but him not being part of this just looks idiotic. Similarly, Terry Taylor staying a heel after leaving the York Foundation, wearing a tuxedo, and being given that terrible name is idiotic. Tracy didn’t have his title belt, which usually means that the person lost it at a TV taping. Pillman having to team with Bagwell doesn’t sound good to me, but there are three good workers here, after all. Pillman did need repackaging, in terms of his outfit or something. He’d been wearing those striped trunks for years.
Match Review: Taylor and Pillman start by shoving each other, until Taylor slaps Pillman. Taylor chops him too, but Pillman gets his own in. Pillman takes Taylor down with a flying head-scissors, then an atomic drop causes Taylor to pinball back and forth between Pillman and Bagwell. Taylor comes back with a backbreaker that gets 2, and gives Pillman a jawbreaker. Taylor tries another backbreaker, but Pillman counters with another flying head-scissors. A cross body gets 2, then Bagwell comes in with dropkicks and hip tosses to both heels. Pillman comes in with AIR PILLMAN, and stereo dropkicks clear the ring! Stereo planchas follow that, and I guess these guys look like a real team. Smothers and Bagwell are the legal men now, and Smothers dropkicks Bagwell. He follows with a flying back elbow, and clotheslines Bagwell for 2. Taylor tags in, and clotheslines Bagwell in the corner. He snaps Bagwell’s neck, it gets 2. Smothers tags in, bodyslams Bagwell, and misses a big splash. Pillman makes the tag in, and backdrops Smothers. After a dropkick knocks Taylor off the apron, Pillman hits Smothers with a spinning wheel kick for 2. Behind the referee’s back, Taylor decides to suplex Pillman all the way to the floor! Smothers knocks Pillman into the rail, then posts him. In the ring, Taylor makes a tag and drops Pillman with a gutwrench powerbomb for 2. Smothers gets back in there, and knocks Pillman from the apron into the rail. Pillman comes back in with another AIR PILLMAN, and he’s able to make the tag out. Bagwell backdrops Smothers in sloppy fashion, and winds up getting doubled up on. Bagwell goes for a sunset flip on Smothers, and they do a bit where Taylor holds Smothers up to keep him from going down. Pillman dropkicks Taylor from behind, over Smothers goes, and Bagwell picks up the win for his team at 7:48.
Match Review: Bagwell very nearly screwed Smothers’ neck up, and overall he looked very sloppy. It did detract from what otherwise was a good match. The finish was interesting, and the start of the match was hot. I was surprised Pillman and Bagwell worked that well together. **3/4, this has the makings of being quite a nice show.
Richard Morton vs. Johnny B. Badd
Pre-Match Thoughts: I don’t understand why WCW would make Badd a babyface, because what he does is so much different than their home territory would be willing to accept from a babyface. This was Badd’s weirdest outfit yet. Almost completely rainbow colored. Did the ol’ double facepalm when I saw him. Gotta admire his commitment to the gimmick.
Match Review: Morton pushes Badd to the canvas when Badd tries a headlock, and that’s how this starts. Morton avoids some punches for a while, but Badd rams him into the buckle and hits him with a double axehandle from the second rope. Morton throws Badd to the outside, but Badd lands on his feet, gets back in there, and rolls Morton up for 2. Morton clotheslines him, and dishes out an inverted atomic drop. This time, Morton throws Badd to the outside and Badd doesn’t get up. Morton posts him, but Badd gets in the ring with a sunset flip that gets 2. Morton uses a snap suplex for his own 2 count, but Badd powerslams him. Badd follows with some punches, a facebuster, and he gets elbowed in the face. Morton takes Badd down with a cross body, but in a horribly botched finish, Badd reverses it for the win at 3:21.
My Thoughts: This was not good, especially the finish. I’m surprised Badd looked this bad, he’d be in WCW for long enough that shouldn’t have been the case. Maybe he was made to look bad, I don’t know. We were bound for a letdown, I don’t think this is a big deal. 1/2*.
Eric Bischoff has an interview with Johnny B. Badd and Brian Pillman who were here to talk about Jushin Liger. Badd put a kiss sticker on Bischoff’s face during that. Good rib. Pillman’s interview was horrible, which was a big surprise. He started talking about how Japanese businesses destroyed America, as Badd mugged for the camera the whole time. Badd then put a kiss sticker on Pillman’s face, and when Pillman saw what it was, he slugged him. I have literally no idea what this was supposed to be. Was he a conservative?
Diamond Dallas Page vs. PN News
Pre-Match Thoughts: I’m glad Page’s “GOOD GAWD” catchphrase was incorporated into his entrance theme. I have no expectations for this match, both of these guys were terrible. DDP improved, but that’s many years off. Let’s see if PN News raps. He did, so I assume he’s going to win this match. This rap was terrible.
Match Review: DDP attacks News and goes for a slam, but the fat guy blocks it. They do a criss-cross, and eventually, News hits DDP with his butt and dropkicks him over the top. He brings DDP in the hard way, and splashes him in the corner. News does a few rolling splashes onto DDP, but misses an elbow drop. News misses a splash in the corner, so DDP clotheslines him for 2. A few elbow drops follow that, and DDP hits him with a Russian leg sweep for 2. DDP goes for another slam, but News falls on top for 2. DDP does the Savage special rope assisted clothesline, which feels so wrong. DDP slingshots in with a cross body that gets 2, but News squashes him with a belly to belly. Up top he goes, and down he comes with a MONSTER BIG SPLASH for the win at 3:27.
My Thoughts: I didn’t really understand why the people in the back kept playing PN’s music throughout the match. This wasn’t ECW and neither of these guys are New Jack. The match itself was fine. I think they both worked hard, they didn’t screw anything up, and they worked quickly. Shouldn’t have been on the show at all, though. *1/4.
Time for the WCW TOP TEN!
10. Larry Zbyszko
9. El Gigante
8. Big Van Vader
7. Dustin Rhodes
6. Cactus Jack
5. Rick Steiner
4. Ricky Steamboat
3. Steve Austin
2. Sting
1. Rick Rude
These rankings were still utterly meaningless on every level.
Tony Schiavone apparently has some big announcements. One of those, is his introduction of Kip Allen Frey. Why did WCW do this? Frey said that Sting is going to face Lex Luger at SuperBrawl 2. I guess I understand now. Frey then said that he needed to find a personality to use at this event. IT IS JESSE THE BODY VENTURA! Very cool. The WWF tried to make it sound like Jesse needed money around this time, apparently. He gave a good speech. Now, Schiavone was supposed to bring out Sting. This would have been the perfect time for another Dangerous Alliance attack. Instead, they have pre-taped comments from Lex Luger. Terrible, awful pre-taped comments. He said it was his prerogative to prepare for the match and did not need to be at any shows until that match. Sting signed the contract, said nothing of value, and Ventura had to sell the match harder than both Luger and Sting.
Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer in a FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: This sounds fun, regardless of how bad Van Hammer was. I remember reading about it in Foley’s book, but I don’t remember the content of that. It has been years since I’ve read it. Obviously, I’m interested in seeing this now. I need to. Cactus had some signs in the crowd backing him, which says it all to me. Van Hammer was still doing that shit where he’d spin his guitar around his head.
Match Review: Cactus meets this guy in the aisle, but gets something shot out of Hammer’s guitar into his face. Hammer then runs down the ramp and flies into the ring with a cross body that gets 2. Hammer clotheslines Cactus in the corner, and flies off the second rope with another one to the back of the head. A leg drop gets 2 for Hammer, and Cactus clotheslines him when he leaps off the second rope. Cactus follows that with the CACTUS CLOTHESLINE, and covers on the floor for 2. I LOVE this stipulation. Cactus throws Hammer into the rail, then pulls up some padding for who knows what. He smashes Hammer’s face into the concrete, and heads up to the second turnbuckle for a SUNSET FLIP ONTO THE CONCRETE FOR 2. That’s even worse than the fabled NESTEA PLUNGE. He gets up very slowly, then Hammer throws him into the rail. Cactus looks very fucked up. They brawl to the ramp, and Cactus puts a sleeper on Hammer until he gets dropped with a jawbreaker. Hammer then powerslams Cactus on the ramp for 2, only for Cactus to clothesline him there. They start brawling to the back, and Hammer takes Cactus down with a small package for 2. Cactus comes back with another clothesline, only for Hammer to hip toss him OFF THE RAMP. I can see why Foley has a hard time walking now. Hammer leaps off the ramp with a clothesline and Foley takes another bad bump, it gets 2. Foley utilizes a shin-breaker, and they’re headed to the back!
After a commercial, and quite a bit of booing from the crowd, we encounter the two wrestlers in the parking lot. Cactus grabs a wooden barricade and smashes it on Hammer, then throws a traffic cone at him. Missy Hyatt’s out there too! Missy shouted out Mick’s name, rendering this a disaster of sorts. Cactus tries to kill Hammer with a set of horns, then Hammer tries to choke Cactus out with a rope! Cactus goes over the holding pens into the barnyard area, and Missy just can’t take this anymore. ABDULLAH IS DRESSED AS A COWBOY! He rams Hammer into the steel pens, and we have a three-way brawl. Abdullah hits Hammer with a shovel to the back, so Cactus falls in the dirt and covers Van Hammer for the win after about 10 minutes.
This thing wasn’t over by any stretch. Abdullah and Cactus start brawling with each other, and Cactus gets dunked in a trough full of water. Now, and this is extremely mean, Abdullah grabs Missy and dunks her in the trough full of water without her having known about that beforehand. That got the biggest pop of the show. Cactus takes a further bath, and so does Abdullah, as they finally go to commercial.
My Thoughts: I am so glad I watched this. I mean, I did have to watch it, but like, this was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in wrestling. At first I thought Abdullah was Dusty Rhodes. Foley’s bumps were really tough to see knowing what happened to him later in live, in terms of his body breaking down, but this was so fun. To some people it doesn’t hold up, but to me…it does. ***1/2. This match was worked very smartly, and things like the small package on the ramp really worked for me. The post-match was funny despite how mean it was. Van Hammer was sent to wrestling school after this and didn’t come back for a while.
The Fabulous Freebirds vs. Big Josh & Brad Armstrong
Pre-Match Thoughts: Oh no, it’s time for the Freebirds to debut a new song. I’ve heard about this before. Michael Hayes looks to be so into this, and it’s so terrible. Their microphones clearly don’t work and they’re clearly lip synching. This is legitimately one of the worst things I’ve seen on these WCW shows. Yet, it’s awesome at the same time. Now, to book this as a babyface match…I don’t even know, man. Hayes and Garvin looked like such dorks. They got NO reaction when the song finished. This was much worse than when Big Josh brought the bear to the ring.
Match Review: Armstrong and Hayes start, and shake hands with each other. When they lock up, Armstrong hip tosses Hayes. Hayes gets up and puts a headlock on Armstrong, then goes for a cradle that gets 2. Garvin tags in, runs Armstrong over, and hits Armstrong with a nice running forearm. Garvin leaps off the top with a bad cross body for 2, then Armstrong makes a blind tag and Josh powerslams him. Josh does his LOG ROLL, then stumbles when trying to celebrate on the ropes. Josh bodyslams Hayes when he tags in, and there’s another LOG ROLL. Hayes sunset flips Josh, and Josh comes back with an arm drag. Garvin tags in, and Josh takes him to the corner for some punches. These two collide with each other after that, and make tags out. Armstrong backdrops Hayes, dropkicks him, and dropkicks Garvin too. The Birds regroup and throw Armstrong out of the ring, but Josh is able to hit them with a double clothesline. Armstrong gets back in there and tries a suplex, but Garvin kicks him and Armstrong is given a DOUBLE DDT. Hayes covers, and that’s it at 3:27.
My Thoughts: This match was absolutely terrible, but what happened before it was even worse. The Freebirds wrestled this match as heels, but I don’t think they became heels if I’m remembering right. That renders this match unbelievably pointless. DUD.
It was then time for a Steiner Brothers video package, which I don’t even see the need for. They made sure to include the Steiners beating the Road Warriors in this video package. Nasty Boys too. Basically every team that had left. They also showed Rick Steiner pinning Lex Luger. Bischoff is with the Steiners for an interview, and Rick’s dropped his stupid act.
Thomas Rich vs. Vinnie Vegas
Pre-Match Thoughts: Both these guys are supposed to be heels, right? I don’t understand this at all. I’ve never seen anything with Vinnie Vegas in it, despite Kevin Nash having talked about the gimmick numerous times. He looked silly, and at first, I couldn’t tell he was Oz. When he took his sunglasses off, it was a lot easier. Coupled with how tall he was, I don’t know how anyone wouldn’t know.
Match Review: Vegas eventually takes some knees to Rich, while wrestling in a tuxedo. He gives Rich a facebuster, chokes him with the ropes, and clotheslines him. After that, it’s time for…SNAKE EYES. Sadly, it gets 3 after just 57 seconds.
My Thoughts: These gimmicks WCW had a tendency to come up with were so bad. Obviously, they’d put them on their TV special, to make sure everyone saw how bad they were. This one really sucked. DUD. Even the announcers couldn’t say a whole lot about this.
Paul E. was interviewed regarding the next two matches, and didn’t seem very happy. His promo on all the opponents of the Dangerous Alliance was one of his best. I mean, I can’t think of many others as good as this. I’ve seen a whole lot of them too.
Larry Zbyszko, Arn Anderson, and Bobby Eaton (WCW Tag Team Champions, w/Paul E. Dangerously) vs. Ron Simmons, Dustin Rhodes, and Barry Windham
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is a great six. It really doesn’t get that much better, and given that this match is on a TV special, something great could come of this. Windham is also back in action here, after all those attacks with his cast on television. Windham still has a heavily taped fist, and there’s no doubt that will come into play.
Match Review: Eaton tries to attack Windham, but Windham stops it, only for Eaton to give him a neckbreaker anyway. Eaton then puts Windham on the top rope, and takes Windham down with a SUPERPLEX. Windham gets up and clotheslines Eaton twice, then picks him up to deliver his own SUPERPLEX for 2. Everyone gets in the ring, and it’s time for STEREO FIGURE-FOURS! Zbyszko and Simmons resume the match when the holds are broken, and they do a bit where Simmons powers out of a wristlock. Arn runs in for a double wristlock, but HE HAS TOO MUCH POWER and arm drags them both. Simmons follows with a double shoulderblock, and catches Eaton coming off the top with a bear hug. Arn gets in there to break it, so Simmons clotheslines Eaton with Arn ducking out of the way, and subsequently press slams Arn. Dustin tags in and loads his boot, kicking Zbyszko in the ribs. Dustin wants Bobby Eaton, and he’s going to get him. Eaton smacks the kid around, but Dustin returns the favor and throws Eaton over the top behind the back of the official. Dustin flies out with a clothesline onto the ramp, and throws Eaton back in. Zbyszko tags in there, and so does Barry Windham. It’s time for Windham to get revenge after the car door attack. He sets Zbyszko up for a clothesline, but Zbyszko moves out of the way. He goes for a piledriver, but Windham reverses to a backdrop. Eaton climbs up top and gets dropkicked out to the floor, with Eaton taking a Cactus-like bump. Windham gives Arn a facebuster, and makes a blind tag so Dustin can pop Zbyszko with right hands. The heels are switching in and out like crazy. Zbyszko moves out of the way of a cross body, so Dustin flies out to the ramp, where Paul E. hits him with the phone. Zbyszko gives Dustin a swinging neckbreaker, and brings in Arn for the SPINEBUSTER. It only gets 2, so Arn heads up to the second rope. His pump splash misses, but his DDT does not. Eaton gets in there, and takes Dustin down with a bodyslam. He goes for a FLYING ELBOW, which lands and only gets 2. Eaton misses a charge to the corner and crotches himself, but makes a tag out. Arn slams Dustin, heads up to the second rope, and has a flying nothing blocked by Dustin. Dustin makes the tag out to Windham, who flies off the top with a clothesline on Eaton. Windham follows that with another, then backdrops Eaton for 2. Windham gets kneed from behind by Arn, and Simmons runs in to shoulderblock Zbyszko. Eaton and Windham wind up in the ring, and Windham clocks Eaton with his taped up fist for the victory at 9:27.
My Thoughts: This was ridiculously good, everyone here was killing it. It’s hard to believe they were able to put together such a good match given that amount of time. I mean, the speed at which everyone was flying around was extremely fast. Definitely the best match on the show as far as I’m concerned. WWE should take note. When you have the heels get over on the babyfaces repeatedly on television, there’s a time when the babyfaces have to go over. They simply have to. ***3/4.
Tony Schiavone was with Rhodes, Simmons, and Windham, who cut a very fiery promo. Windham felt a lot like the top face behind Sting on this show. He said that Zbyszko would be first on his list, and that he’s going to take care of him. Simmons and Rhodes just stood there.
Steve Austin (WCW TV Champion) & Rick Rude (WCW US Champion, w/Paul E. Dangerously) vs. Ricky Steamboat & Sting
Pre-Match Thoughts: Sounds like Jesse Ventura will be commentating on this match in place of Schiavone. I’m sure he did his studying on the product and did a great job here. This is the best commentary team imaginable in terms of their stature and how good they were as commentators, but I haven’t heard a lot of their work together. They didn’t work together for that long, either. Rude actually does his routine for this match!
Match Review: Austin and Steamboat lock up, and unlike their other matches, no staring and a clean break takes place. Steamboat shoulderblocks Austin, and they start trading punches until Austin goes down again. Steamboat takes Austin down with a backslide for 2, and goes for a jackknife pin that also gets 2. Steamboat follows with a small package for 2, and a superkick to Austin’s head. Austin regroups, and tags out. Rude slaps Sting to try to get him in the ring, and when Sting tags in, Rude backs up to the corner. Rude goes to work with right hands, but Sting gives him an atomic drop and an inverted atomic drop. After clotheslines by Sting, Austin runs in and gets popped too. Sting rakes at Rude’s back, and follows up with a chinlock. There seemed to be major miscommunication with that sequence. Sting gets in some gyrating, then Steamboat makes an illegal switch in and puts the chinlock on Rude. Steamboat does his own dancing, and it’s time for another illegal switch. Jesse is hilarious on commentary here, I needed this. Sting tries to jump on Rude’s back, but Rude flips over and knees him in the nuts. Austin tags in, but Sting rams him into the buckle. Austin nails Sting with a back elbow for 2 anyway, then brings Rude back in there. Rude goes to a front face-lock, and winds up hitting Steamboat to prevent a tag. Austin gets back in there, and gives Sting a back suplex. Austin tries a backdrop, but Sting goes over with a sunset flip that gets blocked. He dodges a punch, and Steamboat makes the big tag in. He gives Rude and Austin a noggin-knocker, and shoulderblocks Austin for 2. Steamboat takes Austin over with a victory roll, but Paul E. distracts to prevent a cover. Rude attacks Steamboat, and Austin hits Steamboat with a hard back elbow. Rude tags back in, slams Steamboat, and tags back out. Steamboat goes for a cradle, but Austin blocks it. Steamboat goes for a small package and gets 2, now all four guys are in there. Austin gives Steamboat a backbreaker, and Sting winds up on the ramp. He pulls Austin out there, and Austin throws Sting off the ramp. Austin gives Steamboat another awful backbreaker, then he has Steamboat still picked up. Sting heads up top and hits Steamboat’s back with a cross body, sending him on top for a 3 count at 11:22.
They keep fighting after the match, with Rude giving Steamboat a RUDE AWAKENING. Sting misses a STINGER SPLASH, so Rude gives Steamboat a second RUDE AWAKENING. Steamboat sells it perfectly, then Rude starts WHIPPING HIM WITH A BELT. OLD COUNTRY WAY, BROTHER. Rude beats up “security” with the belt, then Sting gets on top of Steamboat and takes the punishment instead of his partner. That’s the end of the show!
My Thoughts: This was good, but it didn’t quite do it for me on the level of the previous match. The stuff after the match was better than the match itself, which wasn’t extremely structured. Make no mistake that this was really good, it just wasn’t what I expected. The heat was strong, Sting and Steamboat’s switching in made Jesse Ventura properly angry, and there was a clean finish. ***1/4. The way Steamboat sold those Rude Awakenings was perfect.
This was a fantastic show, certainly one of the best Clash episodes there were. The way they finished off some feuds really worked for me. This Dangerous Alliance feud is fantastic too. They aren’t really facing a totally unified opponent with a leader, it stopped seeming like Sting’s friends quite a while ago. I loved the Cactus/Hammer match, and fortunately there was very little here that was awful. I also still don’t see the obviousness of Vader’s push upcoming, which makes that a very good surprise. Anyway, I strongly recommend this show. Next up is SNME #30!
Wrestling Time: 59:14. Give or take. There seemed to be more than this, but I guess there wasn’t.
Best: Dangerous Alliance vs. Ron Simmons, Dustin Rhodes, and Barry Windham. This match was so good, I really loved it.
Worst: The Freebirds musical performance. This was so awful.
Card Rating: 8/10. I think if you want to watch WCW stuff from 1992, you need to watch this.
