WCW Clash of the Champions XIX (June 1992)

Original Airdate: June 22, 1992

From Charleston, South Carolina; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura.


Opening NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match: Ricky Steamboat and Nikita Koloff v Joe Malenko and Dean Malenko: Steamboat starts with Joe, and they trade go-behinds ending in Ricky hooking a Boston crab - though unable to properly lock it before Joe makes the ropes. Back to a vertical base, Malenko challenges to a test-of-strength, and manages to dominate Steamboat, but Ricky bridges into a counter, and armdrags Joe into an armbar. Tag to Dean, but his attempt at a hiptoss gets reversed - ending with him getting an armbar as well. Tag to Koloff for bearhug time, but Dean is eager to get his cardio in, and dodges a charge into the corner. He tries a flying bodypress to follow-up, but Koloff kicks out with authority - launching Dean to the floor at two. Back inside, Dean hits a dropkick and a snap suplex, but Koloff pops up and flexes then smacks Dean with a flapjack. Tag back to Steamboat for another armbar, but Dean breaks and tags Joe - who immediately ends up in an armbar. Dean protests from the apron (Joe needs his cardio too, fucker) and the end result is Steamboat taking a stungun, and the Malenko’s cutting the ring in half. Ricky manages to dodges Joe long enough to tag back to Nikita, and Koloff is a house of arson - finishing Dean with the Russian Sickle at 9:53. I like everyone in this match, but it just didn't work. There were nice bits like the Steamboat/Joe amateur stuff in the beginning, or the Koloff/Dean big/little portion, but overall it didn't flow well, and Steamboat in particular looked like he wasn't feeling it. *

NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match: Rick Rude and Steve Austin v Tom Zenk and Marcus Bagwell: Rude starts with Bagwell, and just destroys him with a series of kneelifts and a short-clothesline before tagging Austin in to beat the kid in the corner with a series of right hands. Bagwell fires back with a 2^nd rope axehandle when Austin turns his back, and passes to Zenk - who gets immediately railroaded into the corner for a double-team. Rude officially tags in to hit a dropkick, and follows with a hanging vertical suplex for two. Both men tag, and Bagwell tries to take Steve to school with a series of chops in the corner, but Austin shrugs him off, and tosses him into the heel corner for more double-team fun. Tag to Zenk, but a backdrop gets countered by Rude with a well executed piledriver - which he does not appreciate Tom kicking out of at two. He and Austin take turns destroying Zenk before he manages a desperation superkick on Austin to allow the tag to Bagwell. Marcus comes in hot, but Austin quickly calms him down with a backbreaker, and Rude finishes him with the Awakening at 7:55 - pinning him with one finger. Bagwell and Zenk were treated like outright jobbers here - this was pretty much just an extended squash with very little offense from the babyfaces. *

NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match: The Miracle Violence Connection v Larry O'Day and Jeff O'Day: Man, if you think the last match was a squash, you ain't seen nothing yet - though at least the O'Days weren't exactly name wrestlers, and worth squashing. It's just an absolute slaughter, until Williams finishes Larry with the Stampede at 2:35. It didn't go on long enough for me to bother with play by play. DUD

NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match: Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton v Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes: Anderson starts with Windham, and they go to a couple of lockup stalemates before Arn drives his shoulder into Barry's midsection. Unfortunately, his attempts at grounding Windham get repeatedly countered on the mat, and a flying axehandle gets Arn dropkicked to the floor - bumping him right onto the patented Bill Watts exposed concrete. He regroups out there before limping in to pass off to Bobby Eaton, and Dustin Rhodes tags in to hold Bobby in an armbar. Criss cross sees Dustin try a leapfrog, but Eaton countering by simply (and awesomely) just gut-punching him. Rhodes responds by dropkicking Bobby out to the floor, but it backfires as Eaton breaks his momentum while he regroups. Tag to Windham as they wait for Eaton to get going again, and Barry quickly falls prey to a double-team, and the heels try to cut the ring in half but he manages to pass back to Dustin. He comes in hot, but another double-team cheap shot allows them to give cutting the ring in half another shot on Rhodes. They work through every cheap heel trick in the book to try and finish, but Rhodes dodges Eaton's Alabama Jam, and while Barry keeps Arn busy in a brawl on the floor, bulldogs Bobby for the pin at 11:23. Technically fine, and Eaton/Anderson had fantastic heel chemistry, but this match just didn't spark for me. *

NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match: The Fabulous Freebirds v Silver King and El Texano: Big brawl to start, and Michael Hayes manages to dodge a double-team to start working Silver King over. Jimmy Garvin has less luck with Texano, but he manages to roll out of the may of a flying splash, and turns the tide with a snap suplex for two. Hayes runs into a Mexican double-team, but they fail to properly cut the ring in half (instead opting to have a dance-off with Hayes), an apparently that scrambles everyone's brain because they start missing stuff left and right and miscommunicating more than me with Russian strippers. The match turns into a total blown spot farce, until Hayes finishes with a DDT at 6:27. Bad, but thankfully not too long. DUD

NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match: Brian Pillman and Jushin Liger v Chris Benoit and Beef Wellington: Liger starts with Benoit, and they flip and flop through wristlock reversals. Benoit dominates a test-of-strength, but Liger counters with a Northern lights suplex, and hits a pair of crisp armdrags out of a criss cross. Both men miss dropkicks before tagging, and Pillman immediately gets beef with Wellington as they have a shovefest. Pillman wins with a monkeyflip, and a dropkick to put Wellington on the floor. Another dropkick keeps him there, but a try at a third is countered with a slingshot shoulderblock to turn the tide. Wellington with a snap suplex before dumping Brian to the floor, but it backfires when Pillman suplexes him out with him. Tag to Liger on the way back in, and he unloads lightning kicks before Wellington manages to sweep him off his feet for a leglock. Tag to Benoit for a few chops, and a HARD clothesline that nearly rips Liger's head off. Criss cross ends in a Benoit enzuigiri and Beef tags in to happily slam Liger out onto the concrete. He follows with a plancha, but takes too long to get it going, and face plants - allowing Liger a sloppy monkeyflip on the way back in. Tag to Pillman, but Beef overpowers him into his home corner for a tag to Benoit, but Chris misses a shoulderblock and goes tumbling through the ropes. Back in, Pillman kills him with a vicious side superplex, and follows with a missile dropkick to send Chris scurrying to the floor. Brian keeps it going with a bodypress out after him, but Chris manages to trip him up on the way back in and both men tag. Liger wastes no time taking it back to the floor, and hits Wellington with a crazy flying bodypress onto the exposed concrete - only to have a crucifix countered with a fallaway slam for two. Tag to Benoit to unload in the corner, but a side superplex of his own is countered with a bodypress for two. Liger with a spinheel kick to put Chris on the floor, and he quickly follows up with a springboard moonsault before rolling in to tag Brian. Pillman looks to finish with a German suplex, but a cheap shot from Wellington stops that effort, and Beef tries a crazy looking splash off of the top rope - only to have Brian dodge, and tag Liger. That triggers a four-way brawl, and Liger finishes Wellington with a flying moonsault at 11:31. God. Five more minutes and this would have been an outright classic, but even as-is it's still a fast paced, hard hitting (every move hit with crisp perfection), and exciting non-formula tag match. ****

NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match: The Headhunters v Hiroshi Hase and Akira Nogami: Sorry, I'm still gassed from typing that last match, so you'll just have to get by with knowing that the Headhunters are two masked doofs I can't tell apart, and their Japanese opponents are two guys the crowd doesn't care about or even recognize. It's pretty much a total squash for them anyway, until the Headhunters try some double-team stuff, and both end up getting pinned with stereo suplexes (Northern lights and German) at 5:12. Believe me, that's all you need to know here. DUD

Main Event: NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter Final Match: The Miracle Violence Connection v The Steiner Brothers: The Steiners were supposed to face Miguel Perez Jr and Ricky Santana earlier in the show, but the MVC injured them before the match could take place to ensure the Steiners get a bye to face them in this round. And they get their wish, as Terry Gordy starts with Rick Steiner, and the collegiate showdown begins as they trade reversals on the mat. Scott Steiner tags in to play, and manages to win a bridging reversal sequence by dropping Terry on his head with a German suplex. That leads to Gordy hilariously sitting in a heap in the corner, and holding up a frustrated hand for Steve Williams to tag. Steve gets into a long mat exchange with Scott (which looked to be almost legit) that ends in Scott trying to hook an abdominal stretch but Williams holding the ropes. Tag to Rick to fling Williams across the ring with an overhead suplex, before trading more reversals. Rick tries to spear Williams for some mounted punches, but it turns into (you guessed it) another amateur exchange on the mat, and Williams wins after a clothesline. Tag back to Terry, and Gordy hits another clothesline for two. He and Williams end up cutting the ring in half on Scotty, but Rick gets bored and comes in to trigger a brawl - Williams clipping Scott's knee on the floor in the chaos and finishing him at 15:01. I'm sure Bill Watts was backstage jizzing his pants to this, but for normal people who tune into professional wrestling to see (and I know, this is crazy) professional wrestling this was way, way too much focus on amateur stuff. Don't get me wrong, that's a welcome part of professional wrestling, but if I wanted to see an amateur match I'd just go down to the local high school gym this Saturday and be done with it. *

BUExperience:  Much like Great American Bash ’92 (the show this set up) this is just long, dull tag team tournament stuff, with very little focus on angles, production value, or entertainment and lots of ‘technically fine, but boring’ conclusions.

Probably worth seeking out for history buffs as a companion piece to the rest of the tournament at Bash ’92, and the Liger/Pillman/Benoit/Wellington match is well worth checking out, but neither is enough to carry this Clash. DUD