Wrestling by the Decade: WCW Clash of the Champions XXII

Date: 01/13/1993

Location: Milwaukee, WI

Announcers: Jim Ross & Jesse Ventura

The Setup

When in doubt, drag out the cage, so we have a multiman main event that’s basically a combination of singles feuds. Vader vs. Sting and Dustin vs. Windham were represented. Van Hammer was supposed to be in the main event, but he was “injured” and was also going to miss his epic arm wrestling contest. Ron Simmons was also supposed to be on the babyface side because he recently lost the world title to Vader, but Vader took him out on the show. Barbarian was scheduled to be on the heel side, but his teammates attacked him for being associated with Cactus Jack. So yeah, the match doesn’t matter much by the time it’s in the ring, other than being a cage match on free television.

The Business

The show scored a 2.9 cable rating, down from November’s Clash (headlined by Sting vs. Rude, Windham & Dustin vs. Steamboat & Douglas), drawing a 3.2. Not only that, but outside of June ‘92’s NWA tag title tourney Clash, this was also the second-lowest rated Clash in the series’ history. Usually, the cage gimmick could be a draw for WCW, but not here. One thing worth mentioning is that the January Clash had become an annual event, but it had never been this close to Starrcade (only 16 days later), leaving very little time to build it up. Still, there wasn’t any match where someone or a team was working a program, other than the main event, which featured different individual programs mashed together into something that became very convoluted. 

Pro wrestlinghistory.com lists the attendance for this show in Milwaukee as 4,000, with a $14,000 gate. Since there’s no chance they averaged $3 a ticket sale, they must have heavily papered this show. It would also stand to reason since their last show in the building, a 10/30/92 house show headlined by Sting vs. Jake Roberts, drew FOUR HUNDRED fans. Oof. Why even run here?

The Results

Cactus Jack def. Johnny B. Badd in 2:49 *1/4

2 Cold Scorpio def. Scotty Flamingo in 5:58 **1/4

Chris Benoit def. Brad Armstrong in 9:13 ***1/4

Wrecking Crew def. Tom Zenk & Johnny Gunn in 6:06 *1/2

World Tag Team Title Match: Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas (C) def. Hollywood Blondes by DQ in 13:39 ***1/2

Thunderdome Match: Sting, Dustin Rhodes & Cactus Jack def. Vader, Barry Windham & Paul Orndorff in 11:22 **3/4

Notable Happenings

Vader was interviewed in the ring, and Simmons interrupted, and the ensuing angle was really good. The crowd went wild for Simmons, seemingly laying out Vader, including a nice sidewalk slam. Vader attacked him in the aisle and laid Simmons out with a shoulderbreaker on the floor. They should have done a detailed video explanation of how the move hurts extra on the floor, since it defies logic. Sadly, this angle was never paid off in any meaningful way.

They aired the infamous “White Castle of Fear” video on this show for the first time, and Sting accepted the challenge during an interview.

They were doing the Jesse Ventura invitational arm wrestling tournament at this time, and we got a battle of heels, as it was Vinnie Vegas vs. Tony Atlas. As mentioned, Hammer was scheduled, but he was pulled. Vegas eventually won the contest after a long, unrealistic battle. It could have been worse – they could have worked a match.

Cactus cut a big babyface promo to end the show. It was weird, considering he wasn’t in a big match at Superbrawl, and this Clash did a lot to build that show, but it was very good, especially considering it was his first time in the role.

To kickstart the program in WCW, they aired highlights of a Rock n Roll vs. Heavenly Bodies match from SMW here. It was good and certainly improved the show’s quality.

This show also featured the debut of Scorpio’s WCW theme and the accompanying video, where he was trying to show kids on the street how to dance. At least it was an honest attempt with a talented guy.

The Best, The Worst, and The Underrated

The Best: The tag title match wasn’t just the best match on the show, but also a match very few seem to talk about since it happened. You could see right away how good the Blondes would become as a team.

The Worst: Why the fuck am I watching Tony Atlas vs. Vinnie Vegas in an arm wrestling match on this show?

The Underrated: The influx of WCW talent at this time. The company brought in Benoit, Scorpio, and the Wrecking Crew to breathe some life into this company.

Backstage Notes

Rick Rude was originally scheduled for the main event, but his legit back injury forced him out and Orndorff into the match. My goodness, how many times did this thing change on paper?

Hammer wasn’t legitimately injured, but he was taken off TV, largely because he wasn’t getting much better. The next high-profile thing he does is a quick squash loss to Sid Vicious at Slamboree.

Rating: 6.0/10

This was a very marginal thumbs up, but still deserving of one anyway. It’s too bad Orndorff had to be beaten so quickly into his WCW return because it was worth kicking the tires to see if he could draw money still at that point, but at least the Cactus vs. Orndorff feud was fun. This was kind of a reset show with new talent and new acts like the Blondes.

The Video

Not currently available.