Nerd Watch Wednesday: Clash of the Champions 22

Aug 11, 202013 min read

Updated: Oct 14, 2020

Here's Ross Casey on his pick this week:

"Me and Shafi have been watching WCW and WWF from 1992 in chronological order and we have reached the year that was 1993 of late and the Clash of the Champions. We made a promise to hang out more and watch wrestling together and after the fun we had viewing Starrcade 92 together, we should have kept that promise better - so this is sort of an apology to him.

Here are my thoughts on the Clash of Champions 22: For Shafi edition.

If you aren't Shafi and you are reading this then please don't feel like you are reading a secret diary, enjoy the show and please... try the fish.

We open the show with Cowboy Bill Watts and I instantly laugh at how much Shafi hates him for the nepotism he was showing his son at this point in WCW. He lets us know that Van Hammer is injured and will be replaced in the arm wrestling match by Vinnie Vegas and that Erik Watts will also not appear after his arrest and his subsequent suspension.

SHAFI WILL BE CRACKING OPEN THE GIN & TONICS HERE, LADS!

Despite being suspended, we go to Erik Watts in the back who stammers nervously through his retort. He basically says that this was supposed to have the biggest night of his life tonight, facing Cactus Jack, but he knows his good name will be cleared and he will turn a bad situation into a good one by being here and watching the great WCW action. Boy that is some suspension his father has given him - promo time and a free ticket to the show.

CACTUS JACK vs. JOHNNY B BADD

With Watts probably watching from a private box during his suspension, WCW replaced him in this match with Johnny B Badd, which actually means we have a better backstory as these two were drawn together to tag at the Battle Bowl event at Starrcade 92 but could not co-exist and were eliminated. Johnny is after his revenge now - but first he's got confetti to explode.

For all the Little Richard pageantry that comes with the Johnny B Badd character, you would be forgiven for thinking he was awful, but watching back, he always puts in a shift and in recent Saturday Night episodes he has had some great matches against the likes of Barry Windham.

The match is quite interesting as Johnny is the aggressor here, showing his anger for the Starrcade debacle (even though his punch on his teammate Jack landed them the loss) and he manages to ground Cactus a few times with his Golden Glove worthy fists.

The finish comes quickly when Badd changes tactic and goes up top for a wild sunset flip that misses by miles and after a heavy landing, Jack follows up by hitting a running elbow for the surprise quick victory.

The crowd love the fact Cactus has won, which is interesting - are they a smark crowd or do they just hate Johnny B Badd? Jesse Ventura has an excellent line on commentary, where he says look at all these Cactus fans... proof that the world is full of sickos!

WINNER - CACTUS JACK BY RUNNING ELBOW DROP

Tony Schiavone informs us that The Great Muta defeated Masahiro Chono for the NWA Title in Japan, despite the pair having a match just a week previous for the belt at Starrcade which was a long, boring match with neither getting out of first gear. Muta then went on to win the Battle Bowl main event but has not been on WCW TV since. Great booking, Bill!

I read a rumour that Watts purposely asked the Japanese stars to reign in their performances so not to show up the American talent, which if true, is fucking stupid.

SCOTTY FLAMINGO vs. 2 COLD SCORPIO

Before this match, we got a bizarre vignette where 2 Cold Scorpio has a basketball fall through his limousine roof window, so he gets out, shoots some hoops with schoolkids before telling them to go back to school, which he proceeds to do with his backing dancers and the children 'step' dancing all the way to the gates.

Honestly, watching WCW and WWF at the same time during this era really shows the positives and negatives of both promotions and the production of this was miles off what the Fed were producing at the time. However, it was some much needed promotion for 2 Cold, who in 1993 was mindblowing compared to his peers in terms of athleticism and moveset.

He faces Flamingo here - the future Raven - and I am praying he goes over because that vignette wasn't it. The opening minute of this contest is laughably bad in terms of chemistry, with mis-steps aplenty. Flamingo correctly takes a hike and tries to stall as both men attempt to compose themselves and remember they are in this dance together.

It proves the correct call as the work settles down and Flamingo takes control, slowing the pace of the bout. Just as I write that sentence the work goes back to being a modern style with quick strikes and kick outs, with Flamingo kicking out of the twisting top rope splash, but falling to the 450 splash almost immediately afterwards. I can't imagine how exciting that must have been to see live in 1993. The smart marks went wild!

The right man won and fair play to both wrestlers for settling down and getting things back on track after a whopper of a start!

WINNER - 2 COLD SCORPIO BY 450 SPLASH

We get an update from WCW Main Event (which still isn't on the Network yet, release it please, Vince!) where Harley Race pitted Paul Orndorff against Cactus Jack to decide who will be the fourth member of Team Vader in the Thundercage.

After Cactus clotheslines Harley off the apron, Vader attacks and Orndorff puts Jack away with the piledriver. Can EVERYONE smell face turn??! No wonder he just went over Badd in like two minutes!

They then show footage from later in the night where Cactus takes all three of Orndorff, Vader and Race out with a fucking SNOW SHOVEL. The hits to the face and back of the head on Harley Race were particularly brutal. Cactus is interviewed as he cradles his new found friend the snow shovel... and says YOU MADE ONE MISTAKE... YOU LET CACTUS JACK LIVE!

This was fucking awesome and whilst I am massively surprised none of this was mentioned during Jack's match previously on this show, I am all in on it now.

BRAD ARMSTRONG vs. CHRIS BENOIT

Chris Benoit I believe is making only his third appearance in WCW here and during his entrance he goes to extra effort to convince you that he is the heel which is something he rarely did as the Rabid Wolverine, where he relied on his intensity as both a face and a heel. It's quite weird seeing him ham up to the fans with heel mannerisms.

Brad Armstrong me and Shafi have both enjoyed on Saturday Night on the network and this one should be a lot of fun to watch.

For all the struggles that Flamingo and 2 Cold had with chemistry, the opposite can be said for these two. The work is crisp, fluid and fast paced. It's bloody brilliant, to be honest.

A small interesting take is that for all the fun heel stuff Benoit did during his entrance, he has struggled to implement much - if any at all - heel mannerisms into his moveset and in-ring work. Perhaps that is why he dropped the brashness later in his career.

The match does lull a little in the middle with rest holds, but once out of them, unlike the Muta and Chono match, the explosiveness is awesome. Actually, later in the match Benoit does in fact play the heel with his in-ring work and mannerisms and he gets a good reaction from doing it.

Ventura in particular, is putting him over strong for not just his wrestling, but his viciousness. Benoit misses the diving headbutt but he soon reverses an Irish whip and swings it into a HIGH bridge dragon suplex for the win.

That was an awesome showcase for Benoit and I am looking forward to seeing more of him in 93, unless he disappears off TV like a lot of wrestlers appear to on the roster around this time.

WINNER - CHRIS BENOIT BY DRAGON SUPLEX

ARM WRESTLING MATCH: TONY ATLAS vs. VINNIE VEGAS

During this time the WWF was pushing the WBF for BODY GUYS and the WCW were pushing arm wrestling as an exciting spectator sport. Van Hammer won a tournament to be crowned arm wrestling champion but after his injury they are replaced by Vinnie Vegas and Tony Atlas in this 'title' match.

Two heels that garner little reaction, although Ventura does his best to add drama through his in-ring commentary. I find it incredibly boring about from hearing Atlas' weird audio of screams, gasps and put downs.

Soon enough, Vegas wins with his left hand and he then calls out Van Hammer as the REAL champion of arm wrestling. This was pure filler, but at least it was short.

WINNER - VINNIE VEGAS BY LEFT ARM OVER

JOHNNY GUNN & THE Z-MAN vs. THE WRECKING CREW

Gunn and Z-Man have been very prominent on WCW Saturday Night for a few months now including being involved in an angle with the future Godwinns who thought they were so pretty, they bought dresses to try and put them in. Yep. They even teased what was in their bag for a few weeks before revealing their plan.

I have never seen the Wrecking Crew on WCW TV at this point so I assume they are taking the pin here - but they are a bit of a LOD knock-off which is funny as Wrecking Ball Rage is in fact, Mark Laurinaitis!

Z-Man clears house with a great combination of moves including a huge high cross body on Rage, but he kicks out at ZERO. Yep, he's a Laurinaitis alright! Johnny Gunn then hits a huge jumping splash over the top rope to the outside onto both Wrecking Ball members before skinning the cat back inside the ring. JEEZ. Salvatore Sincere used to be good!

The Wrecking Ball guys are great at being big dopes here, constantly going for power moves that get reversed or simply hitting eachother when trying to hit these pretty boys. Momentum turns when Fury lands a great lariat on Z-Man and unlike before when the power moves were missing, they are now landing and hard.

Gunn gets a hot tag and clears house but Rage hits him from the outside which allows the heels to hit the WRECKING BALL which is a fucking sick looking double team move (see screen cap) for the surprising win.

1993 appears to be WCW setting the table for some new talent coming through and so far I am impressed with who they have coming through the curtain, enjoyed this. There were some mis-steps but this was a great little heel vs face tag sprint.

WINNERS - WRECKING BALL CREW BY THE WRECKING BALL

This is very early days for the team of Pillman and Austin as Windham stepped aside to focus on singles action, allowing Austin to become Pillman's new partner. Weirdly, I was quite sad that pairing died a death because they were awesome together... but I have only heard great things about the future Hollywood Blondes and whilst they are clearly yet to get in their stride, Pillman carries this simple promo off by saying tonight is the start of a new era in tag team wrestling.

Sting is next to be interviewed and he says he will accept Vader's challenge to face him in the White Castle Of Fear. That sounds bloody mental. But for now, he is all about tonight and they might be down four on three in the Thundercage, but he, Simmons and Rhodes are ready for the fight.

Next we hear from Team Vader who look like the Stag Do from hell. They are bragging about their numbers advantage and Race calls out Cactus Jack for putting his hands on him. He then bizarrely fires The Barbarian from the team for being associated with Cactus to which Barbarian shouts NOOOOOO. It's fucking hilarious.

He strangles Race in retaliation, so the trio of Orndorff, Vader and Windham kick his ass, with a piledriver on the hardwood floor being the exclamation point. Jesse Ventura, as always is the voice of reason and laughs saying why would you throw away a numbers advantage? Touche.

Next we hear from the unified tag team champions, Douglas and Steamboat. Whilst I certainly have been harsh on Douglas when watching these tags with Shafi, the match at Starrcade was a real turning point for me. He sold his ass off against Windham and Pillman and I really cam around on him.

This promo proves he is the better talker of the two as well and I am hype for the upcoming match!

UNIFIED NWA/WCW TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: SHANE DOUGLAS & RICKY STEAMBOAT (C) vs. BRIAN PILLMAN & STEVE AUSTIN

The team of Austin and Pillman are yet to be announced as the Hollywood Blondes, but that matters not to the fans, who despise them anyway. True heels. Even the smarks boo them, I love that.

Commentary make the point that the time limit is just 30 minutes here compared to the usual 60 in a championship match and to expect a quicker pace to the match because of it. Man, how good were Ventura and Ross as a commentary team?

Austin and Steamboat start things off and the pair of them are just glorious together in the ring, as we will see later in the next few years! For anyone who hasn't seen early 90's Stone Cold, you won't believe the difference in speed and style to his Attitude Era work. He was a ringmaster, alright.

The faces implement quick tags to alienate Pillman from his corner and in desperation, Flyin' Brian resorts to faking a knee injury. The crowd hate him and he quickly tags out after his subterfuge is shown, laughing at the crowd as he does.

Douglas continues to make me eat humble pie with his work, especially on the offensive, his work with Austin in particular is so dynamic, crisp and quick. Pillman continues to play the role of aggravating twerp brilliantly. This time by throwing Steamboat over the top rope which would be a DQ but behind the refs back before he twirls in celebration to the crowd - who respond in kind with boos.

It is now the heels cutting the ring in half with quick tags on the weary Steamboat. However, The Dragon knocks Pillman off the apron and into the guardrail throat first in a nasty spot, which allows him some breathing room, and the opposite for Pillman.

The hot tag is made to Douglas and the crowd go banana. He hits his belly to belly finisher on Pillman, but Austin comes off the top and places Pillman over him... 1 - 2- NO!

The match was getting really good and the crowd were right there with them when Austin stupidly hits Douglas with the belt before Pillman hits Steamboat with a DDT. Steamboat gets claret to about a three on the Muta scale, but the emotion picks up when Steamboat covers his partner to protect him as Pillman whips The Dragon with the tag belt which looks and sounds horrendous.

Finally, the refs all come in and we are left with the destroyed faces in the ring as the future Blondes leave the ring with smiles on their faces and stolen gold in their hands. Bastards!

This was most enjoyable and whilst it didn't hit the heights of the Starrcade tag, it also didn't feature Barry Windham so what chance did it have!

Before Thundercage starts, we get an in-ring interview with Race and Vader. Ventura points out that Race knew of Simmons' shoulder injury and they used it against him to win the WCW Championship with a shoulderbreaker.

If only Dr Death watched Saturday Night and knew that too when he tried to win the title with leg attacks. FOOL.

Ron Simmons arrives and says that the next time Vader lets his guard down Simmons will attack and win back his championship. Then he clobbers Race because why not. Well.. it turns out he probably shouldn't have as Vader responds with a pure ass kicking, including three shoulderbreakers!

Dustin Rhodes and Sting arrive to tend to their fallen partner.

THUNDERCAGE: VADER, BARRY WINDHAM & PAUL ORNDORFF vs. STING & DUSTIN RHODES

So here we are people, we have reached your main event of the evening! Thundercage, a no DQ, come dressed as you are (unless you're Vader in which case come dressed as Vader) street fight in a HUGE cage! Oddly though, tags still apply. Not sure why!

The heels arrive to Vader's badass music, Dustin and Sting jog to the ring to something terribly generic.

Rhodes and Windham start which is great as they have a big backstory after Barry turned on him. Dustin backdrops Windham out of the corner to start and they slug it out, but Windham misses an elbow. Rhodes slugs away in the corner and gets a clothesline, bringing Sting in for a bulldog.

For the next few minutes we get Sting pounding on Vader to everyone's surprise, but he is soon cut off by the Mastodon and then we get those ungodly Vader strikes. Not sure how those guys put up with those!

Before long, Sting is exhausted after taking a 3 on 1 assault but eventually he manages to tag Rhodes who goes to town on the heels. At this point, CACTUS JACK ARRIVES! He has bolt cutters and is trying to open the door but its proving pretty difficult.

The 30 seconds or so it takes him takes away the excitement of his arrival which is a shame, but once he is in the cage, business picks up! All six men are now in the ring and tags are out the window, because you know, its NO DQ!

In the end Cactus Jack comes off the top with his boot in hand as Orndorff is attempting a piledriver and picks up the win and confirms his fully fledged face turn! The match was a bit of a cluster, but what do you expect with the stipulation and the crowd went home happy - with Cactus Jack a made man!

WINNERS - Cactus Jack, Sting and Dustin Rhodes by Cowboy Boot Knockout

Post-Match we got an excellent Cactus Jack promo as always, saying he always felt over his head but now he realises he can get beat, he can get hurt, but you can't stop Cactus Jack!

That's all, folks!