Clash of the Champions XVIII

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XVIII

January 21, 1992 from the Kansas Expo Center in Topeka, KS

Commentary: Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone

Following WCW's second joint show with New Japan in the Tokyo Dome (and New Japan's first January 4th Dome show, the start of a tradition that would become Wrestle Kingdom) Jim Herd is out, and Kip Frey is in. Shiny. The increase in energy and motivation from everyone involved is immediately noticeable. We're also in the middle of the Dangerous Alliance's run, one of WCW's hottest angles ever.

The Steiner Brothers def Big Van Vader and Mr. Hughes (w/Harley Race) in 9:02- We got a Steiners/Vader aperitif when Rick and Vader were on opposite sides of a Lethal Lottery tag match at Starrcade, now this is....well not enough for a main course. More an appetizer. But a large one, one of those family sized sampler platters of every appetizer in the restaurant. Sadly it's Hughes that starts out with Scott. Scott gets an amateur leg takedown and fireman's carry on the big man. Hughes tries to take momentum with the heel 101 eye poke. Scott gives him a belly to belly suplex! After Hughes rolls out to regroup Scott gets trapped in the heel corner. Rick comes in and we're donnybrooking early. The Steiners are thrown to the floor. They pop right back up, go to the top rope and double Steinerline the heels! Reset with Rick and Vader. Vader hits a quick back suplex. After a regular suplex he lays in the first couple of potato shots. Press slam on Rick. Avalanche! He goes for another one. Rick pops out of the corner with a Steinerline! Rick belly to belly suplexes Vader! Another Steinerline sends Vader 360 and out. Rick dives onto him off the apron, almost ending up in the second row! Vader catches him and posts him. Back in Vader with a huge clothesline. He goes up top but Scott shakes the rope. Rick meets him up there. Belly to belly superplex on Vader! Good God almighty. Vader blocks a Scott German suplex attempt. He gets too close to the ropes, Rick pops him a couple of times, and Scott hits the German! Suplex city, bitch. Scott goes up top. Vader catches and powerslams him! Scott tries a sunset flip but Vader squashes him. Vader tags out. Boooo. Scott powerslams himself and Hughes tries to make it look like he did something. Scott dodges a Hughes avalanche and tags. Huge Rick backdrop on Hughes. Match end donnybrook! Scott dodges a double team and Vader takes Hughes out. Rick hits Hughes with a bulldog off the top rope and that gets the pin! Keep Hughes parked on the apron and I would have loved another 10 minutes of this. ***1/2

 

"Flyin'" Brian Pillman and Marcus Alexander Bagwell def "The Taylor Made Man" Terry Taylor and Tracey Smothers in 7:49- Random teams FTW. Taylor had just caused the dismantling of the York Foundation but was still a heel. Taylor and Pillman start with some shoving, jawing and a slap. Chop exchange in the corner. Pillman gets a flying headscissors. Taylor grabs a backbreaker for 2. Pillman with another tiltawhirl style headscissors. Smothers runs in and Bagwell goes wild on both heels. Pillman with a slingshot clothesline over the top rope on both heels! Dropkicks send the heels to the floor. Double plancha! Man, what a difference getting someone in charge that actually knew how to positively motivate your wrestlers makes. Reset with Smothers and Bagwell. Smothers hits a superkick as the rookie was distracted by Taylor. Taylor hits a big corner clothesline and neck snap. Bagwell gets his knees up on a Smothers splash attempt and tags. Pillman gets a spinning heel kick. Taylor breaks the pin up. The heels double team and Taylor suplexes Pillman from the apron to the floor! Pillman must have loved doing that old Canadian Stampede spot. A Smothers double ax handle off the apron sends Pillman into the guardrail. Taylor gutwrench powerbomb for 2. Smothers hits a flying back elbow that sends Pillman off the apron into the guardrail again. He comes back in with a springboard clothesline! Tag to Bagwell. He hits an ugly backdrop on Smothers and we're donnybrooking. Bagwell gets a sunset flip on Smothers, Pillman dispatches Taylor, and Bagwell pins Smothers. Nonstop action. ***

 

Footage of Jushin Thunder Liger winning the Light Heavyweight title from Pillman on Christmas day in WCW's home arena, the Omni in Atlanta. JR says Liger is signed to defend the title at Superbrawl, but his opponent is to be determined.

 

Johnny B Badd def Richard Morton in 3:20- Badd plays to the crowd forever. Morton lays right in with the heel 101 hair pulls. Badd takes some wild swings and Morton hides in the ropes. Badd double ax handle off the top for 2. Morton hits an inverted atomic drop and sends Badd to the floor. Badd's posted but comes back in with a sunset flip for 2. Powerslam for 2. Morton tries some fisticuffs and Badd responds in kind. Morton gets a crossbody, but Badd rolls through it, has to legitimately untangle himself from the ropes, and gets the 3. Lots of back and forth but this never gelled. Morton was a phenomenal wrestler, half of one of the greatest tag teams of all time, but as much as he tried to play the hand he was dealt he didn't work at all as a heel. *1/2

Badd and Pillman are with Eric Bischoff. Pillman cuts a super serious promo on Liger for the Light Heavyweight title with a lot of stuff about Japanese companies taking over the world while Badd goofs off and gurns for the camera. After Pillman's done Badd puts a kiss sticker on his cheek, so Pillman kisses Badd with his fist. And this was *face* Pillman. What a loose canon. Pillman and Liger went on to have an all time classic at Superbrawl II, a match that was the first to really showcase the New Japan junior heavyweight style to a wide US audience.

 

PN News def Diamond Dallas Page in 3:25- "Young" DDP made his in-ring WCW debut at Starrcade, starting his transition from manager to wrestler and eventually to legend. DDP jumps News during his shitty rap and tries to slam him without success. Criss cross. DDP dodges a backdrop but then goes down from the power of hitting News' ass. Seriously. News with an avalanche and he rolls over DDP a couple of times. DDP comes back with an avalanche dodge, clothesline and elbows. Russian leg sweep for 2. He tries to slam News again and News falls on top of him for 2. DDP slingshot crossbody for 2. He runs into a News belly to belly suplex. News hits the splash off the top rope and it's over. Greener than green DDP is already carrying matches. 3/4*

Tony joins us and announces the man of the hour, day, week and month, the new man in charge of WCW, KIP FREY! Frey has a contract for Lex Luger's next world title defense at Superbrawl, but before he announces that match, he has another huge announcement. Just signed to WCW: Jesse "The Body" Ventura! Ventura had been out of wrestling since leaving WWF soon after Wrestlemania 6 in 1990. He says it's been too long, and he'll be back to announce the whole show at Superbrawl. After that Frey lets Tony make the big announcement of who will be challenging Luger at Superbrawl: Sting! Kip Frey, not messing around.

 

Falls Count Anywhere: Cactus Jack def Van Hammer in 10:08- Jack and Hammer had been feuding since their match at the last Clash, while Jack had also turned against his former partner in crime Abdullah the Butcher. Jack catches some pyro from Hammer's guitar in the face and Hammer charges with a crossbody over the top rope for a 2 count. Hammer with a bulldog off the second rope and legdrop to the back of Jack's head for 2. He tries coming off the second rope again but Jack *kills* him with a clothesline. Cactus Clothesline! Jack covers on the floor for 2. He pulls the mat up and faceplants Hammer on the concrete. He goes up to the second rope looking for the elbow, but Hammer gets up so he does a sunset flip instead, splatting right on the bare concrete! Damn. Hammer is very slow to roll over for it. They move to the entrance ramp. Hammer powerslam for 2. Jack goes for a suplex. Hammer reverses it into a small package for 2. Who does a small package in a falls count anywhere match, honestly? Jack gets hiptossed off the ramp to the floor for Foley Bump #2 tonight. Hammer comes off the ramp with a diving clothesline for 2. They move to the stage area and go through to the back. The crowd boos as they lose sight of them and JR cuts to commercial as they "need to get some cameras back there". Back from commercial the wrestlers are in the parking lot with a broken barricade. Jack throws a traffic cone onto Hammer! That's hardcore. They brawl over to a rodeo pen, complete with live cows. Hammer chokes Jack with a rope. Somebody in a red flannel and cowboy hat wanders in. It's Abby! Abby tries to hit Jack with a shovel but gets Hammer instead. Jack covers him for the 3 count. Afterward Abby and Jack keep fighting until commercial. The first inkling of what Mick Foley could do when allowed to do his thing. **3/4

There's a WWE Network/Peacock cut here of the Freebirds introducing their new entrance song "I'm a Freebird (And What's Your Excuse?)", likely for rights reasons. Normally I'm not a big fan of cuts, but then again even entertaining the thought of replacing Badstreet USA was stupid, and the new song is massively inferior, so call it a wash. Maybe somebody could put a copyright claim on PN News' rapping so that could get cut too.

 

The Fabulous Freebirds def Brad Armstrong and Big Josh in 3:03- Armstrong goes against the Freebirds after teaming with them under a mask for most of '91 as Badstreet. It's face vs face so Hayes and Armstrong do some respectful back and forth basics. Hayes rolls Armstrong up and tags when Armstrong's kickout sends him all the way into the corner. Garvin shows a little more intensity. Crossbody off the top for 2. Armstrong dropkicks Garvin into a Josh slam and he does the log roll. The Freebirds try to outmaneuver Josh but Hayes also gets slammed and log rolled. Garvin and Josh work back and forth but seem to have trouble getting on the same page. Armstrong comes in with a hot tag like run until the Freebirds knee him in the gut. The Freebirds hit a double DDT on Armstrong behind the ref's back and that gets the pin. Once heels, always heels. *

Video package on the Steiner Brothers, which runs through a list of all the teams they beat that are now in the WWF. Hilarious.

 

Vinnie Vegas def Thomas Rich in :56- Oz was a complete and utter bomb so Kevin Nash has once again been repackaged, this time as a cocky casino high roller. He uses someone in the crowd to distract and blindside Rich, almost literally walks him through a few moves, and hits his new snake eyes finisher to complete the squash. I don't know what was up with Rich there but he looked completely out to lunch, dinner, supper and second breakfast. NR

Paul E does what he was born to do, cut awesome wrestling promos. He lists off all the guys the Alliance is facing in the next two matches and promises at least one of them will be hurt badly. Nice reference when he puts up four fingers and says Barry Windham couldn't cut it with a certain other group. "Magnum TA Retirement Home" is also fantastic heel work.

 

"The Natural" Dustin Rhodes, "The All American" Ron Simmons and Barry Windham def WCW World Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton and Larry Zbyszko (w/Paul E Dangerously) in 9:28- Arn and Eaton had just defeated Dustin and Ricky Steamboat for the tag titles at a house show a few days before this. The faces are all fired up and the heels stall. Eaton tries to jump Windham at the bell but Windham was ready for him. Eaton grabs a swinging neckbreaker outta nowhere. Superplex on Windham! Windham pops right back up! Huge lariat on Eaton. Now Windham superplexes Eaton! Damn they're not messing around. Arn breaks the pin up and everyone jumps in the pool. The faces hook up figure fours on everyone. Well, not the ref. That'd be illegal. The Alliance team fights out and we jump right into Simmons and Zbyszko in with no pause at all. Simmons Japanese armdrags Zbyszko and Arn simultaneously and hits a double tackle on them. Dustin tags in and wants Eaton for title loss revenge. After some back and forth Dustin tosses Eaton over the top rope to the ramp. Dustin with a flying clothesline over the top rope! Windham comes in and wants Zbyszko. For some reason he still hasn't gotten over Zbyszko crunching his hand in that car door all the way back in October. Zbyszko dodges a flying lariat. Windham backdrops out of a piledriver. Eaton goes up top and Windham dropkicks him off and all the way down to the floor! Zbyszko dodges a Dustin crossbody and Dustin flies all the way to the ramp. Paul E gets a phone shot to Dustin's gut. Arn World's Greatest Spinebuster! That gets a 2 count. Dustin counters Arn coming off the second rope but Arn recovers and hits a DDT! Both guys are down. Arn drapes an arm over and Dustin just kicks out. Eaton goes up top but opts for an elbow drop instead of the Alabama Jam. Arn comes off the second rope and Dustin gets his boots up again, with a tremendous sell from Arn. Dustin rolls around the whole ring dodging Eaton like a kick returner looking for an opening (I can do football references too JR!) and gets a tag to Windham. Arn cheap shots Windham and it's DONNYBROOKING time. Windham punches Eaton right in the face as he's coming off the top rope and covers him for 3. They slammed on the gas right from the start and didn't let up the whole match. ***1/2

Sting and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def WCW World Television Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin and WCW United States Heavyweight Champion "Ravishing" Rick Rude (w/Paul E Dangerously) in 11:21- Ventura replaces Tony in the booth to commentate his first WCW match. He and JR have instant rapport. The guys in this match are all ranked #1-4 in the current WCW top 10 rankings so this really is an all star tag team match. Not that you needed the rankings to tell you that with these names but hey, it's a data point. Steamboat and Austin start. Austin punches in the corner and Steamboat fights out with crazy rapid fire chops. Steamboat blocks a hiptoss and turns it into a backslide, setting off the Steamboat quick pin attempt run. He gives both heels reverse kicks and they go outside to regroup. Paul E wants a TO. Rude tags in and slaps Sting, then hides in his corner after Sting tags in. Sting ducks a clothesline and nails Rude with atomic drops. Rude gives it the classic Rude hurt ass sell. Sting back rakes rile Ventura up. He lifts Rude up in a gutwrench, but doesn't turn him over and drops him down face first. Not sure if that was the plan or if something happened. Sting locks in a double chinlock and gets up to mock Rude's hip swivel. While Nick Patrick is jawing with Paul E the faces swap without a tag, really setting Ventura off. After Steamboat gets some hip swivel mocking in they do it again! Ventura: "Illegal tag again!" JR: "Well he was the legal guy, I thought that's what you wanted?". Man, it's like they've been working together for years already. Sting tries to drop on Rude's back but Rude flips over and Sting's nether regions find Rude's knees. Sting goes face in peril. Quick tag work by the heels. Austin with a back suplex. Sting gets a sunset flip, dodges Austin's counter punch, and tags. Steamboat fights both heels off. Victory roll on Austin! Patrick is distracted again and Rude breaks the pin up. Paul E does some awesome taunting while Steamboat's being worked over. Steamboat chops back and tries to roll Austin up. Austin blocks it. Steamboat grabs a small package instead. Sting and Rude run in. Austin lifts Steamboat up. Sting comes off the top rope with a crossbody and both he and Steamboat are covering Austin. Patrick counts the 3! I'm with Ventura on this one, that was a very questionable pin with both guys covering. The Alliance team are furious at the decision. Rude gives Steamboat two Rude Awakenings while Austin dodges a Stinger Splash and Sting crashes all the way to the floor. Rude gets a belt and whips Steamboat with it until security runs them off. Four of the best ever doing what they do, though with a little more of a traditional layout than the other tag matches tonight. ***3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It's amazing what competent leadership can do for you. Top to bottom, this is easily one of the best Clashes of all time. The Dangerous Alliance was one of those magic everything was clicking times in the sport's history. Sadly it's the only Clash that would be run under Frey. By the time the next one came around he had been replaced by Bill Watts and the Dangerous Alliance was already no more because it's WCW and we can't have nice things.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-