Leighty’s Retro Review: WCW Clash of The Champions XXI

-We are still rolling along in the Bill Watts era, but Gordy and Doc are gone. Ron Simmons is still our World Champion, but hasn’t been featured as a World Champion should. Let’s see if that changes. Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura
-Nov. 18, 1992
-Macon Coliseum, Macon, GA
-Attendance: 7500

-Jim and Jesse welcome us and throw to video of the weigh in between Paul E and Madusa from earlier in the day. Paul flexing like Hogan in his boxers is certainly something. They nearly get into it and are separated by officials.

-Tony Schiavone is backstage with Bill Watts, who just wants to thank us for watching. He didn’t even get to say Hook Em Up. He probably knows he is on his way out the door.

-Next we go to Teddy Long who is with Michael Hayes. There is a bounty on Erik Watts and Hayes says he would hate the kid even if his last name was Hayes.

-Jesse is at ringside with Brian Pillman, who is on crutches. Sadly, that wouldn’t be the last time. Pillman is a freshly turned heel, but he has seen the error of his ways when he made fun of Brad for being injured back in September. He tells Brad he can slap him if it makes them even. Pillman then beats Brad with the crutch and tells the ref he can’t be disqualified as the match hasn’t started yet. The man has a point! Brad wants to go and I don’t like his chances.

Brian Pillman vs. Brad Armstrong

-Brad fires up the crowd as he reels off right hands while hobbling around the ring. Pillman clips the knee though and gets the pin at 28 seconds.

Winner: Brian Pillman via pin at 28 seconds
-Just here to build Pillman’s new character and it worked. 1/4*

-Recap of Dangerously/Madusa as Paul was rolling with his misogynistic character and I am glad he worked all that out before he started ECW. He did a heck of a job building sympathy for Madusa and there’s only way the should end tonight.

-Michael Hayes is backstage with Paul and he will have one hand tied behind his back. He goes Biblical as he mentions it was a man that sacrificed for the world and not a woman. Shocked he didn’t bring up Eve and her leading man to temptation.

-For the company that talks about how much they are the wrestling company, there hasn’t been much of that to start this show.

Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton (w/ Michael Hayes) vs. Erik Watts and Kensuke Sasaki

-Dangerously has a bounty on Erik’s head in this match. Eaton starts with Watts and Eaton slaps him around. Watts with a slap to the face which slows Eaton down. Lockup and Eaton lands an elbow to the face and hooks an abdominal stretch. Eaton breaks easily and Watts is just all over the place as he’s like a new born giraffe that hasn’t found his footing. Arn and Sasaki go and I have no recollection of Sasaki being in WCW at this point. They don’t do much, so Eaton is in. Sasaki misses a charge as Arn pulls Eaton away. Hayes gets in a cheap shot from the floor. He gets in a right hand as Sasaki is on the ropes as well. Watts chases Hayes away. If they want the bounty, shouldn’t they want Watts in the ring? Sasaki gets a powerslam and hot tag (yes, the crowd is behind him) to Watts. He runs wild and gets a backdrop. Arn bumps around for him as well. Everyone in the ring as I do appreciate the crowd is hot for this show even with all the down time to start. Eaton comes off the top, but Watts decks him with a right hand. He hooks the STF and Eaton gives up at 6:06.

Winner: Erik Watts and Kensuke Saski via pin at 6:06
-Well, not good, but it was at least short. Saski and Watts as a team is kind of weird. Arn and Eaton bumped and sold for Watts, but unlike Dustin, he wouldn’t get better to justify being pushed. *

-Tony is in the back with Scotty Flamingo, who is with his training team as he has a boxing match tonight. Vinnie Vegas cuts a hilarious promo that isn’t good, but I can’t stop listening to him, so it worked. DDP being the hype man was funny as well. Wild to think these three ended up being such big deals in the Monday Night War and a huge part of WCW surpassing the WWF. They also tease Don King being there, but we only see the hair.

Boxing Match: Johnny B. Badd (w/ Teddy Long) vs. Scotty Flamingo (w/ DDP and Vinnie Vegas)

-Round One: Two minute rounds! Badd with a flurry of jabs and Flamingo bails to the floor. He goes back in and misses several punches and Badd drops him with a right hand. Scotty is up and Badd fires away again, so Scotty goes to a clinch and then goes to the eyes and hits a clothesline as Vegas distracts the ref. Funny! Rabbit punch after Badd gets to his feet. Flamingo tees off as Badd tries to regroup. Badd is back in control in the final 30 seconds of the round. Flamingo îs out but get saved by the bell. Jesse clarifies that in Georgia you can be saved by the bell. Speaking of which, they were in the 4th and final season for our Bayside Kids before they went off to college. The College Years ruled and deserved more than one season.

-Round Two: Between rounds, Page soaks Scotty’s glove in water. Cheat 2 Win! Scotty struggles to get off the stool and Badd just peppers him with jabs. Page distracts Badd and that lets Flamingo hit a rather nice looking hook with the loaded glove and Badd is knocked out at 1:03 of the second round.

Winner: Scotty Flamingo via KO at 1:03 Round Two
-This was way more entertaining that you would think. The soon to be Raven and his soon to be more famous flunkies were hilarious here. We know Badd has real boxing skill and credit to him for going with this one. One of the better wrestling boxing matches you will see. Just sit back and enjoy this one as a bunch of young guys are making the most of their air time and doing whatever they could to get over.

-Video recap of Battle Bowl. Just so much down time on this show.

-We draw the first match for Lethal Lottery at Starrcade: Cactus Jack and Johnny B. Badd vs. Dan Spivey and Van Hammer.

-Commercials for Slam Jam 1! It produced a number of memorable wrestling themes. Much like a Spiderman does whatever a Spiderman can, Sting does this and does that.

Ghetto Odds Match: Cactus Jack, The Barbarian, and Tony Atlas vs. Ron Simmons and 2 Cold Scorpio

-I assume Turner suits didn’t want to call it a “handicap match.” Bobby Walker was originally Ron’s partner, but was injured so we get the debut of 2 Cold Scorpio and nobody knows his name at this point. Ron is still World Champion, but you wouldn’t really think it with the matches they keep putting him in. Simmons and Scorpio rush the ring and clear it. Scorpio flies over the top to the floor with a dive to pop the crowd. I actually have memories of watching this match live as Scorpio looked like a star. The only thing I actually remember from this show. Ron slams Jack down as I assume he will be doing the majority of the bumping for his team. Scorpio in and Jack goes for a suplex, but Scorpio slides out. He flips off the top rope and hits Jack with a kick to the head. Ron back in as Jack continues to carry the load for his team. Jack runs into an elbow in the corner and Ron follows with a bulldog. Simmons misses a dropkick and now Barbarian is in as they need someone to get heat on Simmons, so no bumps. Atlas in with a headbutt and he has some awful looking gear. Jack back in but then back to Atlas. Ron gets sent into Barbarian’s knee. Ugly backdrop from Barbarian gets two. Jack in and he comes off the middle ropes, but gets caught with a boot to the face. Scorpio in and the crowd already loves him. He runs wild and everyone is in the ring. Scorpio gets dumped to the floor, so Ron fights off all three men. Barbarian accidentally kicks Atlas and that lets Scorpio come off the top with a 450 and the place explodes! 11 year old me was right there with them. Just clear as day I can remember seeing that move and my eyes popping out of my head. That gets the pin at 5:57.

Winner: Ron Simmons and 2 Cold Scorpio via pin at 5:57
-Not a good match, but Scorpio looked like a star and that 450 was mind blowing at the time. Check that, as it’s still pretty sick even today! Go check out this match just for the crowd reaction to the 450. *1/2

-Jesse interviews Ron and we learn Scorpio’s name.

-Z-Man and Johnny Gunn video package of them shopping and getting groped by women. They legit had women who worked in a men’s clothing store sitting around reading a copy of WCW magazine. I don’t even know if Miss Peacock would be that devoted to wrestling. Shout-out to her! They are labeled as the hottest new tag team.

-Tony Schiavone is backstage with Rick Rude and he faces Sting in the King of Cable Tournament.

-More time to kill as we go over Jesse’s Strong Arm Competition. Remember this is the show about wrestling. Well, I guess arm-wrestling is a sort of wrestling. So, WCW has King of Cable, Lethal Lottery, and Jesse Ventura’s Strongest Arm contest all going on at once. Here I thought AEW would run a lot of tournaments at one time.

-Hayes is backstage with Paul, who is all over this show. Not complaining as he is great on the mic, but man, he is featured more than the current World Champion. Time is a flat circle!

Paul E. Dangerously (w/ Michael Hayes) vs. Madusa

-“Madusa”, who we only see from the back gets decks by Dangerously before the bell. Hayes yelling “kick her,” sounds icky today. Paul cuts a victory speech as Hayes yells for him to kick her again. Paul wants a kiss from an unconscious woman, but we soon learn Mike Thor is dressed up like Madusa. Paul is now scared shitless as Madusa hits the ring. Head kick sends Paul down and she lands a kick to the ass. Paul doesn’t have an arm behind his back like promised. She gets a slam and Jesse says, “she slammed him.” Which sounded just like his call of Hogan slamming Andre. Hayes gets kicked off the apron for his trouble. Paul bails and Madusa chases him and carries him back to the ring. Paul begs off which lets Hayes trip Madusa. Paul spits on her and hits a Hogan pose. He heads up top and I want to see a 450, but instead it’s just a double axe. Madusa just no sells it and hits a clothesline. She lays the boots in and drops a knee to the back of the head. Madusa comes off the middle ropes with a shotgun dropkick. She rips the head gear off and strips Paul’s pants off. JR: “This should be on radio, not television.” The five minutes end as Medusa chases Paul to the back.

Time Limit Draw at 5:00
-Paul get embarrassed as expected, but probably should have been more cathartic of a beating considering everything he said and did. Different time back then and again, I am sure this taught Paul a lesson to treat women with more respect when he went to ECW. Entertaining but not a good match but it was never really supposed to be. Man, Bills Watts and his time limit draws! DUD

-King of Cable video package. A Tournament sponsored by WCW Magazine that had 15 competitors, but then 8 were drawn at random to be in the Tournament. What? Just have a 16 Man Tournament. Anyway, Rude beat Windham, Sting beat Pillman, Vader beat Tony Atlas (on man that had to be interesting), and Dustin beat The Barbarian. So our semis are Rude vs. Sting and Vader vs. Dustin. We get Rude/Sting tonight and Vader/Dustin on Saturday Night. Three judges determine the winner if we hit a time limit. I am sure that won’t happen.

-Tony is in the back with Harley Race and Vader. He is apparently the odds on favorite to win The King of Cable. Again, so much stuff going on at once and it all kinds of runs together. Watts apparently really, really liked Tournaments.

King of Cable Semi-Final: Rick Rude vs. Sting

-Larry Zbyszko, Ole Anderson, and Hiro Matsuda are the three judges sitting at ringside. Rude goes right to the eyes to start and runs Sting into the top buckle. Jesse puts over the idea that you want to get a pin to win, but also need to make sure you do enough to stay ahead in the judge’s eyes in case it goes to a decision. Sting reverses whip and throws Rude in and lets him land on his face. Another one, but he catches Rude on the way down with a knee to the ribs. Sting continues to work the abs and Jesse questions that strategy as nobody has abs like Rude. Sting mocks the hip swivel and the crowd goes crazy. Gourdbuster for a one count as Sting continues to work the midsection. He hits another one and Rude is doing a solid job of selling the ribs as his is taking deep breaths in and out that look pained. Reverse chinlock as this one is not going the expected way. Generally, Sting gets the crap kicked out of him, but he is controlling and Rude is the one fighting from underneath. Interesting! Abdominal stretch next and I am feeling some sympathy for Rude. The crowd is dying a little as well as they don’t know how to react. I think they realize it as Rude escapes and goes back to the eyes. Rude goes after the small of the back with forearms. Rude goes for a suplex, but Sting blocks and drops Rude abs first over the top rope. He does it a second time and then just punts Rude in the ribs as he is hung on the ropes. Stinger Splash on the floor, but Rude drops down and Sting hits the railing. That would be called a turning point in this match. Rude heads up top and hits a forearm to the head for a two count as Sting gets his foot on the bottom rope. Forearm gets a two count and now the crowd is into more as they can cheer to try to rally Sting. Modified Camel Clutch from Rude as we hit the 10 minute mark. Jesse notes he has Sting ahead on points. No kidding! Rude drops his weight on Sting’s back and then swivels the hips, but makes sure to sell the pain. Nice! Rude goes back to the Camel Clutch and switches off to deliver more forearms to the back. Delayed suplex from Rude and the key is he is still selling the abs/ribs after the move. He can’t follow up quickly, so he goes to a slam and a reverse chinlock. The point Jesse is selling is that Rude is grabbing holds to not only damage Sting, but also by himself time to recover. Sting avoids Rude jumping on him again and he starts to fire up. He goes for a slam, but can’t hold him and Rude falls back for a two count. I appreciate that each man has targeted a body part and stayed with that strategy. Five minutes to go as Rude hooks a bear hug. Rude releases when he realizes Sting won’t give and opts to run him back first into the corner. Guess not as he goes back to the bear hug with less than four minutes to go. Sting starts to punch his way out and feeds over the crowd, so Rude goes to the eyes again. Sleeper from Sting but Rude hits a jawbreaker to escape. Rude blows a snot rocket on Sting’s back before heading up top. The snot rocket apparently was enough of a time waste for Sting to get up and slam him down. Inverted Atomic Drop and an Atomic Drop which is Rude’s kryptonite. Bulldog gets a two count as well have 60 seconds left. He comes off the top with the crossbody and that’s the move he beat Luger with for the World Title earlier in the year, but Rude is out at two. Sting comes off the top again, but Rude lands a punch to the gut. Rude fights for The Rude Awakening, but Sting escapes, hits the Stinger Splash and goes for the Scorpion. No deal though as we hit the 20 minute time limit.

Winner: Sting via split decision at 20:00
-Good, old school match with them working body parts and just wrestling, It was pretty apparent they were going to a draw because it was harped on so much and then had to do it once during the tournament I guess. I appreciated the hard work, but it never got into the next gear and the crowd was kind of out of it at times, which was weird. ***1/4

-Matsuda for Sting, Larry for Rude, and Ole for Sting. Could be some shenanigans there as Rude was just feuding with Chono, so we know where Matsuda is leaning and yeah, he left him for dead at one point, but Ole and Sting were horsemen together.

Unified World Tag Team Championship: Barry Windham (c) and Dustin Rhodes (c) vs. Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas

-Reminder that the Unified Tag Titles are the WCW and NWA Tag Titles. Everyone is a face here, but nice touch as Windham slyly slaps a fans hand away as he makes his entrance. We get a graphic popping up to tell us this is the most complete version they have. I assume something with the masters, but I haven’t noticed anything so far outside of a random black screen with a show timer pop up during the previous match. Dustin and Shane start and it’s still remarkable that 32 years later Dustin is not only wrestling, but having blood baths on television. They battle over arm control and Dustin gets an armbar. Douglas shoves off but gets run down and Dustin gets a roll-up for two. Each man goes for a dropkick and miss, so they tag out. Barry and The Dragon in and they have a much faster pace to start. They fight for a hiptoss and both men end up crashing through the ropes. They are pissed at each other and the partners are out to broker peace. Boo! Let them fight! They head back in the ring and give us just that as they start firing off chops at each other. Dragon with an atomic drop and then an arm-drag. Douglas back in and we get double elbow for a two count. Quick tags by the challengers as they work on the arm. Barry tries a suplex, but Douglas blocks and gets his own suplex for two. Barry fires off forearms, but misses charge in the corner. Dragon in off the top with a chop and then a kick for a two count. He grounds Barry with an armbar as the crowd is still waiting to get into this one. More double team from Dean Dragon as they hit a double backdrop for two. Douglas back to the arm, but he misses a dive as Barry drops low. Douglas crashes into the ropes and Dustin is in to get a two count. For some reason he tags back out to Barry, who was just looking for a breather. Double dropkick and Barry hits a suplex. Dustin in and he drops an elbow for two as Steamboat makes the save. Barry back in with an elbow to the arm. Now the champs are working the quick tags as they go after Shane’s arm. Hammerlock from Dustin and he gets a two count as he rolls Shane on his shoulders. Barry with a right hand and that gets two. More double team offense as the Champs hit a double clothesline. Reverse chinlock from Dustin as the crowd continues to be subdued. Dragon leaves his corner and runs to where Shane can see him so he can cheer him on. That’s unique! I’m wondering if he knows the crowd is not into it and he was trying to get them to fire up with him. Barry gets a belly-to-back suplex and hits a lariat for two as Dragon makes the save. Barry is annoyed with him and while the match has been basic, I am enjoying Barry’s change as the match progresses. Dustin works the arm so more. Dean gets a crossbody off a whip to the corner and makes the tag as he avoids a dropkick. Steamboat runs wild with a series of pin attempts, but gets caught with a dropkick. Small package from Dustin gets two. Shoulder tackle gets two! Steamboat goes for a leap, but Dustin accidentally hits him in the groin. Barry wants Dustin to go for blood, but Dustin checks on his former partner. Jesse is losing his mind over this and I don’t blame him. Barry wants Dustin to pin him, and when he doesn’t, he tags himself in and drops an elbow for two. Inverted Atomic Drop gets two. Barry bitches at Douglas as he tells him to get back on the apron. Dustin wants some mercy for Dragon, but Barry hits another inverted atomic drop and then the lariat. Rhodes pulls Barry off the cover and the crowd boos Dustin. Don’t blame them! The Champs start fighting with each other and don’t realize Shane has made the tag and he hits a belly-to-belly on Barry for the pin at 15:54.

Winners and New Unified Tag Team Champions: Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas at 15:54
-This was like 10 minutes of Shane Douglas getting beat up which some may enjoy. Barry’s slight turn to the dark side throughout the match was fun to watch and the key is he was completely justified by the end because Dustin was weak. Match was technically fine, but lacked any heat until the ball shot. ***

-Dustin leaves his partner and Barry starts screaming for him to get back in the ring. Dustin tries to explain his side and Barry kicks him in the gut. Deserved! DDT and again, deserved. Windham pushes a ref away and then hits a superplex on Dustin as JR sends us to a commercial.

-Jesse is backstage with the new Unified Tag Champions. Ricky says they would have loved to win the belts under different circumstances. He calls Dustin his friend, and as Scott Hall once said you can have friends or money. Barry wants money as he rushes in and beats the piss out of the new Champions with a chair.

-Thanks for reading!

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Good show here with two solid matches to close and some fun, entertaining stuff underneath. As noted there is a bit of down time, but they were pushing a lot of stuff. Scorpio debut and Windham heel turn were tremendous and made this a memorable show. The boxing match and Paul/Madusa was wacky fun so there was a little bit of something for everyone. The only complaint is the booking of the World Champion. Still a fun show!