Dark Pegasus Video Review: Clash of the Champions XVIII

Clash of the Champions XVIII by J.D. Dunn January 21, 1992 Live from Topeka, Kan. Your hosts are Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone. Opening Match: Big Van Vader & Mr. Hughes (w/Harley Race) vs. The Steiner Bros. I’m going to go ahead and guess that this is Mr. Hughes best match ever. That’s a testament to the greatness of the Steiners. The Steiners get tossed early but come back with double clotheslines off the top. Vader says, “Enough of this,” and suplexes Rick. That leads to a military press, and Vader goes up. Scott rocks the ropes, though, allowing Rick to catch him and throw him off. Scott tags in and hits a German suplex, but Vader catches him coming off the top with a powerslam. Hughes tags in but misses an avalanche in the corner. A donnybrook erupts, and Vader accidentally knocks out his own partner with a clothesline. That allows Rick to come off the top with a flying bulldog at 9:00. Non-stop action, no resting, and a ton of big moves from everyone involved. The world didn’t get enough Vader/Steiners matches. ***1/4 Tracy Smothers & Terry Taylor vs. Brian Pillman & Marcus Bagwell. Taylor had just left the York Foundation but kept the gimmick. Pillman and Bagwell make a great pretty boy team with all sorts of tandem offense. The vets play tremendous dickish heels, using all the tricks that the audience recognizes but knows that the young’uns don’t because they’re young and stupid. Pillman plays face-in-peril, allowing the rookie Bagwell to stand on the apron, which is probably the best role for him at this point. Bagwell gets the hot tag and sunset flips Smothers. Taylor tries to keep Smothers upright, but Pillman dropkicks him from behind. That allows Bagwell to complete the move and get the pin at 7:49. Classic tag team wrestling, and I’m surprised Pillman and Bagwell didn’t get a longer run as a regular team. *** Richard Morton vs. Johnny B. Badd. Morton is in the last throes of his ill-fated heel run here. This is very quick and squashy. Morton plays the cowardly heel for most of the match. He goes for a crossbody, and Badd simply rolls through for the win at 3:16. 3/4* Brian Pillman goes off on a nationalistic rant about the Japanese buying up American real-estate and putting autoworkers out of work. Johnny mugs to the camera the whole time and tries to get cute with Pillman, so Pillman knocks him on his ass. And this was pre-heel Pillman. Diamond Dallas Page vs. PN News. Page interrupts News’ entrance rap with a failed slam attempt. News throws a dropkick, but Page is just too quick for him. No, really. He gets caught in the belly-to-belly, though, and that sets up the Rapmaster splash at 3:25. 1/2* WCW Top Ten Champion: Lex Luger 10. Larry Zbyszko 9. El Gigante 8. Vader 7. Dustin Rhodes 6. Cactus Jack 5. Rick Steiner 4. Ricky Steamboat 3. Steve Austin 2. Sting 1. Rick Rude Tony introduces Kip Frey, hero to millions, as the new head of WCW. Frey announces Luger vs. Sting for Superbrawl. He also announces the signing of Jesse Ventura. Falls Count Anywhere (in Kansas): Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer. Hammer starts out strong with a flying clothesline over the top, but Cactus takes them both over with the Cactus Clothesline. That sets up the sunset flip off the apron. That never works. To the ramp, Hammer powerslams Jack and small packages him for two. Cactus is staggered, so Van Hammer tosses him on the ramp. That was pretty hardcore for the time, but considering the ramp is about three feet high, and the Cell was 20-feet high, it’s safe to say Foley has topped himself. They brawl out into the rodeo arena where Missy Hyatt plays special rodeo correspondent. Well, she is fond of reverse cowgirl. A giant cowboy, who turns out to be Abdullah the Butcher tries to attack Cactus with a shovel, but he hits Hammer instead. That allows Cactus to pick up the rare (then) win at 6:51. After the match, Abby tosses Missy Hyatt into the water trough. This was the first glimmer of Jack’s value to WCW as he made green lug Van Hammer look like a respectable wrestler. *** The Freebirds debut their new single “I’m a Freebird (and What’s Your Excuse?).” Funny moment as Hayes stops to take in the adulation and gets the same response Randy Watson got in Coming to America. The Freebirds vs. Big Josh & Brad Armstrong. Armstrong is in, what, his sixth gimmick at this point? He had been the Freebirds’ lackey until just before this show. Big Josh, btw, is Matt Bourne doing a lumberjack gimmick. Gotta bring in that lumberjack demo, after all. Brad looks awesome, of course, but the ref gets distracted, allowing the Freebirds to hit a doubleteam DDT at 3:49. 1/2* The Steiners, who are reunited after Scott’s injury, promise that bitchez goan get suplexed. Thomas Rich vs. Vinnie Vegas. Yes, it’s the debut of Vinnie Vegas – Kevin Nash doing either a good Ray Liotta gimmick or a bad lounge singer gimmick. Gotta bring in that… Ray Liotta/lounge singer demo. Vegas double-crosses Rich and finishes him with the Snake Eyes at 0:56. 1/4* Paul E. Dangerously gives a great, hardcore interview, threatening to disfigure Ricky Steamboat and make him frightening to his own child. Gotta love the Dangerous Alliance. Six-Man Tag: Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Ron Simmons vs. Arn Anderson, Beautiful Bobby & Larry Zbyszko (w/Paul E. Dangerously). Zbyszko slammed Barry’s hand in a car door, giving him the name “The Cruncher” and breaking up the Windham/Rhodes team for a while, at least. This is Classic Tag 101 stuff as the faces absolutely DESTROY the Alliance early and work in a triple figure-four spot. Simmons overpowers Anderson and Zbyszko and clotheslines them both. Rhodes tosses Eaton over the top, giving the heels a taste of their own medicine, and then he flies out on him with a clothesline. Windham dropkicks Bobby off the top. Dustin tags in behind Zbyszko’s back and pops him one. Rhodes misses a charge to assume the face-in-peril role. Paul E. nails him with a the cellphone. BLACKBERRIED! Arn hits the spinebuster, but his pump-splash finds Dustin’s knees. Does he ever hit that? Arn plants him with the DDT, though. Bobby charges and crotches himself in the corner. Windham gets the hot tag and cleans house on Bobby. A donnybrook erupts, and Eaton comes off the second rope… right into a fist from Barry. That nets the faces the win at 9:30. Just awesome stuff from bell to bell. Great formula and everyone played their roles to perfection. ***1/2 Barry Windham tells Paul E. to watch his back because Barry’s on the warpath. Sting & Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Rude & Steve Austin (w/Paul E. Dangerously). I’m surprised we never got more Steamboat/Sting pairings – or even a match between the two. Steamboat unloads with karate kicks and chops, so Rude slaps Sting in the face to bait him into the ring instead. Smart move. One guy has the hot hand, you trick the other guy into the ring. PSYCHOLOGY~! Of course, Sting isn’t so bad himself, and he cleans house on both heels. Sting and Steamboat work Rude’s back, screwing with the heels by trading off without tagging. The fans love it. Sting tries to jump on Rude, but Rude turns the tables by getting his knees up. That’s a role reversal for Rude as usually it’s him taking that move. Austin tries to break up a sunset flip with a fist, but Sting avoids it and tags Steamboat. Steamboat destroys both members of the Alliance, but Rude cheapshots him. The ref loses control as Sting and Austin take it to the ramp. Austin tosses Sting off the ramp and picks up Steamboat. Sting comes off the top onto both guys, putting Austin on his back for the win at 11:21. Like Jesse, I hate the finish, but the action was tremendous. The match actually went against formula, with Rude playing the heel-in-peril and the faces gleefully cheating just to piss off Paul E. Dangerously. The fans bought into everything too, making for a hot match. Great stuff. **** Rude and Austin take out their aggressions on Sting and Steamboat. Rude whips Steamboat with his belt, and they fend off security. Sting covers Steamboat and sacrifices himself to save Ricky.

The 411: After a disastrous 1991, WCW came back in a big way with the Dangerous Alliance. Kip Frey provided a much-needed shot in the arm with his incentives and willingness to, you know, run it like a successful company. Of course, WCW being WCW, Kip came and went pretty quickly. His tenure is awesome, though. Thumbs way up.
Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]