WCW Clash of the Champions XVIII (January 1992)

Original Airdate: January 21, 1992

From Topeka, Kansas; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone. Jesse Ventura (the greatest color commentator of all time, and perhaps the greatest period) also makes his surprise debut during the broadcast as the latest addition to WCW’s broadcast team.


Opening Match: The Steiner Brothers v Vader and Mr. Hughes: Hughes is billed as a hundred pounds lighter than Vader here, but unless Vader is stuffing his gloves with lead and hasn't shit in, like, three weeks, I just don't see that being even remotely true. Future light heavyweight champion Hughes starts with Scott Steiner, and ends up like a turtle on his back when he tries to outwrestle Steiner. Scott follows up with an impressive fireman’s carry, so Hughes rakes the eyes, and starts throwing shoulderblocks. Scott responds with a visually impressive overhead suplex, so Hughes suckers him into the heel corner for a double-team with Vader. They turn their backs too early though, and the Steiners come off of the top rope with clotheslines for both fatties to clean house. The dusts settles on Rick Steiner and Van Vader, and Vader bounces Rick off of the mat with a side suplex. He follows with a vertical suplex, and starts unloading forearm shots to leave Rick reeling before he scoops him up for a press slam. Avalanche hits, but a second is countered with a clothesline from Steiner, and he busts out his own overhead suplex on Vader. A clothesline knocks the monster to the floor, but Rick's ill-advised attempt to dive out after him gets him caught, and rammed into the ringpost. Inside, Vader takes his head off with a clothesline, but Scott shakes the ropes as Vader goes to the top turnbuckle - allowing brother Rick to belly-to-belly superplex him off. Tag to Scott for a German suplex, but Vader counters a flying bodypress with a powerslam. Buttsplash sets up a tag to Hughes for a powerslam of his own for two, and he creams Scott with a clothesline - only to miss a cross corner charge, and allow the tag to Rick. Steiner comes in hot with hiptosses and backdrops, and a four-way brawl doesn't take long to break out - Rick putting Hughes away with a flying bulldog at 9:03. 'Visually impressive' would be an appropriate description, as these four big guys busted out power move after power move - and everyone sold well for each other to make it look good. Fun opener. ** ¾

Brian Pillman and Marcus Bagwell v Terry Taylor and Tracy Smothers: Pillman starts with Taylor, and they get right into a verbal sparring match which trigger a shovefest. Taylor ends it with a manly slap-to-the-face before growing a pair, and throwing some knife edge chops. Pillman responds with a headscissors takedown, and then he and Bagwell pinfall Terry between their fists. Criss cross ends in Taylor hitting a backbreaker for two, and a chincrusher quickly follows. Another backbreaker, but this time Pillman counters with a second headscissors takedown, and follows with a bodypress. That triggers a four-way brawl, but Pillman and Bagwell clean house with double dropkicks, then follow with stereo planchas. The dust settles on Bagwell and Smothers, but rookie Marcus gets overwhelmed when Taylor distracts him, and Smothers blasts him with a superkick to start cutting the ring in half until Tracy misses a splash, and Pillman tags. He's a house of arson, but Smothers simmers him down with a suplex to the floor. The heels get back to cutting the ring in half with their new Flyin' Brian toy, but Smothers gets too cocky after dumping Pillman into the rail, and gets caught with a springboard clothesline. Tag to Bagwell triggers a four-way brawl, and Marcus pins Tracy with a sunset flip at 7:48. Another well paced, fun tag team wrestling match. ** ¼

Johnny B. Badd v Richard Morton: Badd tries to control with a side-headlock in the early going, but Morton gets uppity, so Badd decides to bust out his Golden Gloves routine. Badd with a 2^nd rope axehandle, and a schoolboy cradle gets two, but Morton blasts him with a clothesline and hits an inverted atomic drop to turn the tide. Richard dumps Johnny to the floor for a trip into the ringpost, and inside, Morton hits a snap suplex for two. Badd tries to fire back with a sunset flip and a powerslam, but Morton keeps swatting him away, and hits a shoulderblock. Bodypress, but Badd rolls through for the pin at 3:21. Kind of an awkward, out of nowhere ending, but this was a fine TV quickie otherwise. ½*

PN News v Diamond Dallas Page: News' pre-match rap fails to impress page, and the fat white rapper gets jumped at the bell. He fights back with an impressive dropkick and a less impressive avalanche, but an elbowdrop misses and Page clotheslines him for two. DDP with a series of elbowdrops and a Russian legsweep for two, but a bodyslam doesn't go his way, and News topples him for two. Page tries to keep the momentum with a slingshot bodypress, but he walks into a belly-to-belly suplex, and News finishes him with a flying splash at 3:27. Nothing special, but another match tonight featuring two hard working, motivated wrestlers - and that's all you can ask for, really. ¼*

Falls Count Anywhere Match: Cactus Jack v Van Hammer: Hammer starts us off right by diving at Jack from the elevated ramp way with a bodypress for two, and he follows with a legdrop for two. 2^nd rope clothesline, but Cactus swats him down with a clothesline of his own, and starts the real party with a Cactus Clothesline for a two count on the floor. Jack whips him into the guardrail, and with Hammer reeling, Cactus pulls up the floor mats for a Cactus Elbow, but Hammer regains a vertical base, so Jack switches gears for a flying sunset flip to the floor for two. Onto the ramp, Jack tries a sleeper, but Hammer breaks with a stunner, and powerslams him on the ramp for two. They brawl up the ramp for a Jack suplex, but Hammer counters with an inside cradle for two and tosses Jack off of the ramp and onto the exposed concrete. He follows with a flying clothesline off of the ramp for two, and they brawl over to the entrance area and backstage. They end up out in the parking lot for Jack to wallop him with parking cones, but Hammer fights back by choking him with a lasso. They brawl into a stable, and Abdullah the Butcher pops out with a shovel to help Cactus to the pinfall victory at 10:00. Though this would seem dull by Attitude Era standards, this was pretty wild stuff for 1992, and Jack's bumping was top notch - as always. * ¾   

The Fabulous Freebirds v Brad Armstrong and Big Josh: This is the debut of the 'new' Freebirds, but it's the same two guys acting the same way, and I'm not even sure why I'm bothering to note it. Michael Hayes starts with Armstrong, but that goes nowhere, so he passes to Jimmy Garvin. Garvin comes in hot with a forearm shot and a flying bodypress for two, but he misses Armstrong tagging out to Big Josh, and gets big powerslammed. Tag to Hayes, but he gets slammed too, and Armstrong comes in to finish - unloading backdrops and dropkicks. Four-way brawl as Armstrong keeps firing off quick moves, but he walks into a double-team, and a Garvin DDT allows Hayes to score the fall at 3:49. Ugh. Everyone looked bad here - just a really sloppy match. Thankfully short, though. DUD

Vinnie Vegas v Thomas Rich: Vegas tries to hold Rich's hand before the bell (which Thomas doesn't seem to object to), but it's all a ploy (a homosexual ploy!) to level him with a lariat. Another, and the Snake Eyes finish at 0:57. Eh, Kevin Nash squashes are good fun, but without the powerbomb it's just not the same. DUD

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Ron Simmons, Dustin Rhodes, and Barry Windham v The Dangerous Alliance: Windham opens with Bobby Eaton, and quickly walks into a swinging neckbreaker moments after the bell. Eaton follows up with a superplex (man, they're wasting no time here, are they?), but gets caught with a clothesline while showboating. Windham follows up with a superplex of his own for two - triggering a six-way brawl in the process. The babyfaces win by getting every Alliance member in a separate figure four, but the referee breaks it up, and the dust settles on Ron Simmons and Larry Zbyszko. Ron uses his power advantage to his... advantage, but the Alliance triple-team him behind the referees back. Ron responds by slamming everybody, and tagging Rhodes to go with Eaton. They end up on the ramp way pretty quickly for a Rhodes suicide dive, and the dust settles again on Windham and Zbyszko. Barry tries a diving clothesline, but Larry dodges - only to have Barry backdrop him as he tries a piledriver. Eaton tags to try something off of the top, but Barry blasts him with a dropkick - knocking him from the turnbuckle to the floor. Rhodes and Zbyszko have a go, but Larry manages to dodge a bodypress and Dustin goes flying out to the ramp. That allows manager Paul E. Dangerously to get in a few cheap shots, and the Alliance cut the ring in half - Anderson nailing Rhodes with a spinebuster for two. DDT gets two, and an Eaton flying elbowdrop gets two - only for Bobby to miss a blind charge, and Rhodes to make the tag to Windham. He goes clothesline crazy to trigger another six-way brawl - Barry pinning Bobby at 9:27. Super energetic, with hard work from everyone - the pace was just fantastic here. ***

Main Event: Sting and Ricky Steamboat v Rick Rude and Steve Austin: Steamboat starts with Steve, and the initial lockup goes to a stalemate. Criss cross goes Steamboat's way with a shoulderblock, and he unloads a series of right hands to send Steve scurrying to safety in the ropes. Steamboat backslide gets two, and a rolling cradle for two. Inside cradle for two, and a superkick draws Rude in - so Steamboat gives him one, too! That leaves both heels on the floor to regroup with manager Paul E. Dangerously, and the dust settles on Ricky and Rude. The heel waste no time trying to cheat, so Steamboat tags Sting. Rude fires off a shot to the throat to take control, but a criss cross goes Sting's way with a big atomic drop - sold as only Rick Rude can sell it. Inverted version gets the Rude treatment as well, and Sting starts hammering on the back. He messes up a gutwrench suplex, so he ends up putting Rude down before dropping him incorrectly, and hooks a reverse chinlock. He and Steamboat trade off with the hold (both stopping to mock Rude's hip swivels, of course), but Sting eventually pays the price - Rude driving his knee into Stinger's nuts.  Tag to Austin to help cut the ring in half, but a tag to Steamboat starts a house of fire! A standing victory roll looks to finish Austin, but Rude runs in for the save behind the referees back, and now Steamboat falls victim to a little friendly ring cutting. Sting finally gets sick of the cheating, however, and bodypresses Steamboat onto Austin for a dog pile pin at 11:22. I'll never get sick of typing 'good effort from everyone,' but this show can certainly put that theory to the test. Yet another brilliantly paced, well booked, and exciting match to close the show. ***

BUExperience: Man, if you ever needed a show to convince someone of the merits of capitalism – this is it. Everyone from PN News to Sting puts in a strong effort in an attempt to win the nightly bonus given to the hardest workers, and it shows. While not as historically significant as some other Clashes, it’s a thoroughly entertaining card with the good stuff getting proper time and the bad kept short. ****