WCW Clash of the Champions XXI (November 1992)

Original Airdate: November 18, 1992

From Macon, Georgia; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura in front of a heavily papered crowd.


Opening Match: Brian Pillman v Brad Armstrong: Pillman fakes an injury, but ends up whacking Armstrong with his crutch, and then clipping the knee for an easy pin at 0:28. Not really a match (which is disappointing, since these two had a fun match back at Clash XVI), but it worked as an angle. DUD

Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton v Erik Watts and Kensuke Sasaki: Eaton starts with Watts, and schools the kid while wagging his finger in his face. Well, better than his dick, I guess. Eaton hooks an abdominal stretch, but Watts breaks before Bobby can hook the ropes - triggering perhaps the worst sequence I've ever seen, consisting of Watts flopping over the top rope to the floor, scurrying back in, and trying what looked like a 2^nd rope sunset flip that ended up as Watts landing in the general vicinity of Eaton, but not on him. Bobby bails to Anderson before Watts can annoy him anymore, but Arn is in no mood, so Erik passes. Sasaki scares Arn into tagging Eaton back, but Bobby doesn't fare any better - getting dropkicked and chopped in the corner. He manages to dodge a blind charge to allow Arn and manager Michael Hayes a few cheap shots, and they cut the ring in half. Eaton ends up getting powerslammed to allow the tag to Watts, and a four-way brawl doesn't take long to break out from there - Eaton submitting to Watts' STF at 6:07. Watts looked horrible, but Eaton and Anderson were on their games to carry him. ½*

Boxing Match: Johnny B. Badd v Scotty Flamingo: Scotty is billed as 'One Punch Bingo' Flamingo here, possibly a bit of foreshadowing to his future in ECW. He is also accompanied by a pre-Diesel Kevin Nash, and a pre-overness Diamond Dallas Page, which is even weirder in retrospect.
ROUND ONE: Two minute rounds here. Badd knocks him to the floor early on, and then takes him off his feet with a haymaker as he re-enters. A distraction from Scotty's managerial team allows him to throw a shoulderblock, and he takes control with a series of unanswered rights and lefts. Badd jabs to comeback, and has Scotty on the mat as time runs out.
ROUND TWO: Between rounds, DDP loads Scotty's glove (with water, Bill Watts was too cheap to give him a roll of coins), and Scotty knocks Johnny out at 3:05. Short and inoffensive. DUD

Handicap Match: Cactus Jack, The Barbarian, and Tony Atlas v Ron Simmons and 2 Cold Scorpio: This is Scorpio's WCW debut, as Ron's mystery partner. And he wastes no time wowing the crowd - hitting a plancha before the bell even rings, taking out all three heels. Barbarian starts with Simmons all official-like, and Ron dominates with a hiptoss. That draws Cactus in to take a spinebuster, and Ron passes to Scorpio. Unfortunately, WCW failed to properly introduce Scorpio other than saying 'hey, look, it's a guy with Ron Simmons!' so Ross and Ventura are left wondering out loud what to call him. Maybe 'Sabu' would be good, because he badly botches a moonsault and a dropkick within thirty seconds before passing back to Simmons to properly bulldog Jack. Ron misses a dropkick (as a spot, not a botch), and Barbarian drops a pair of elbows for two. Tag to Atlas to help cut the ring in half, but Jack missing a 2^nd rope elbowdrop to allow the tag back to Scorpio, and he's a house of arson as a big brawl breaks out. The heels manages to isolate Simmons, but he ducks a big boot from Barbarian, and Scorpio finishes Atlas with a 450 splash at 5:57 - popping the crowd big time. Final spot aside, Scorpio was blowing spots left and right here, the match only redeemed by Cactus bumping like a maniac for both babyfaces. ½*

Paul E. Dangerously v Madusa: Dangerously whacks Madusa with his Zack Morris cell phone as she enters the ring, and she's out cold. Paul decides to kiss her (because beating a woman just isn't the same if you don't get your rocks off, after all), but it turns out to be a jobber in a blond wig, and the real Madusa sneaks up from behind. She unloads kicks and a slam to send Paul scurrying to the floor, and he tries to bail, but Madusa drags him back to the ring - only for Michael Hayes to trip her up. Paul responds by posing like Hulk Hogan before hitting a flying axehandle, but Madusa pops up and clotheslines him. She keeps pounding him, and starts to strip him as time expires at 5:00. Not great wrestling, but certainly entertaining to see Madusa get her revenge after the endless abuse she was constantly subjected to by Dangerously. DUD

King of Cable Tournament Semi Final Match: Sting v Rick Rude: Big staredown to start, and Rude wins the initial lockup with an eye rake. He unloads a few turnbuckle smashes to daze the Stinger, and uses the advantage to drive a pair of elbows to the back of the neck. Into the ropes, but Sting reverses for a flapjack (actually a botched gutbuster that they saved nicely) then hits the gutbuster anyway. Sting targets the ribs in the corner, and hits a forward falling suplex for two. Another one leaves Rick clutching his ribs, but Sting shows no mercy, and keeps hammering before hooking a reverse chinlock. Rude won't give, so Sting goes to an abdominal stretch - though the hold doesn't quite do it for me when the babyface does it, and therefore doesn't use the ropes for leverage. Rude hiptosses free to turn the tide, and starts working Sting's back, but Sting blocks a suplex by dumping Rude across the ropes - right on the ribs. To the outside, Sting tries a Stinger Splash against the guardrail, but Rick sidesteps him, and Sting crashes into the rail. Inside, Rude hits a flying forearm for two and a bodyslam sets up a fistdrop for two. Rude hooks a reverse chinlock of his own, but his ribs are acting up, and he can't finish him. He tries another bodyslam/fistdrop combo for two, and follows with a hanging vertical suplex. Yet another bodyslam sets up another reverse chinlock, but Sting powers up, and unloads right hands. Bodyslam, but the back gives, and Rude topples him for a series of two counts. Rude starts whipping Sting into the corners to weaken the back some more, and slaps on a bearhug at center ring. Sting starts to power up, but Rude shoves him into the corner in a preemptive strike, and then reapplies the hold on the weakened Stinger. He won't quit though, so Rude rakes the eyes and whip him into the ropes - only for Sting to slap on a sleeper. Rude with a stunner to counter, but an attempt to go to the top rope gets him slammed off - wonderfully remembering to drop him on his front to work the ribs, instead of his back. Atomic drop sets up a bulldog for two, and a flying bodypress gets two. Another one, but Rude blocks with a gutpunch, and goes for the Rude Awakening, but Sting counters with the Stinger Splash as time expires at 20:00. That's a draw, but since it's a tournament, they go to judge's decision, and Sting advances. Good, psychologically sound battle between the two, but it was super slow pretty much right from the get go, and they were repeating moves like crazy to fill time until the inevitable draw. Basically, this was a ten minute match is slowmo. * ½  

Main Event: NWA & WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes v Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas: Rhodes and Douglas start us off, and a criss cross ends in Shane hooking a small package for two. Uh, to be clear, he cradled him - not fondled. Not fondled. Douglas goes to the mat with a side-headlock, but Rhodes counters into a hammerlock, reversed by Douglas, and broken by Rhodes with the ropes. They trade armdrags in a possible attempt at getting Steamboat to jizz his pants on the apron, and end up colliding in a dropkick stalemate before both tagging. They go right to the mat in a scuffle, and a hiptoss reversal sequence puts them out on the floor. Rhodes and Douglas break them up since they're all babyfaces, but they get right into a chopfest as soon as they get back inside. Steamboat wins, of course, and then throws an armdrag of his own before tagging Douglas in. The challengers take turns working Barry's arm, and Shane hits a suplex for two. Double-team backdrop gets two, but Douglas misses a bodypress into the ropes, and Windham tags. He and Dustin hit a double-team dropkick for two, and Rhodes drops a swift elbow for two. The champs with quick tags as they cut the ring in half - Steamboat coming down to the floor to try and encourage a helpless Douglas. Rhodes finally misses a dropkick to allow the tag to Ricky, and Steamboat comes in hot - firing off a series of bodypresses for near falls. Rhodes hits a dropkick to stop him, and an inside cradle gets two. Shoulderblock for two, and a big criss cross goes Rhodes' way when Dustin headbutts him in the falls on a leapfrog attempt. Dustin doesn't capitalize though - more concerned about Steamboat's welfare - and Windham is not pleased, to put it mildly. Barry tags himself in, but Steamboat has recovered, and kicks out at two. Barry viciously hits an inverted atomic drop anyway, and Dustin is now actively pleading with him to stop giving Steamboat blue balls. Barry responds with another inverted atomic drop, and now Rhodes really pisses him off - breaking up the pinfall attempt. That leads to a shovefest between the two champions, and Douglas capitalizes with a belly-to-belly suplex on Windham to win the titles at 15:54. Afterwards, Windham kicks the shit out of Rhodes to turn heel, though I really can't blame him – and neither can the crowd, apparently. Sure, Barry was kind of a dick, but Rhodes cost them the damn titles – and that’s far worse. That’s taking food out of Barry’s kids’ mouths just because he wanted to take sperm of out Ricky’s wife’s twat. Besides, if the agony was too much for Steamboat, he could have just submitted before Windham started nutbusting him - or during. He took advantage of Rhodes’ kindness, and the titles to boot. The match was all good fun, with the babyface/babyface dynamic they worked throughout building wonderfully into the finish, as well as Windham playing an increasingly less subtle heel throughout. ** ½

BUExperience:  Better than most Bill Watts bore-fests, but other than the last two matches, really nothing to see here – and neither of those is good enough or particularly historically significant enough to make the rest of this worthwhile. Still, not horrible, or anything. *