Mega Powers Running Wild!

The legendary 'Macho man' Randy Savage teams up with 'The Immortal' Hulk Hogan to take on Ted Dibiase and Andre The Giant in the first ever WWF Summerslam!

Shawn Micahels vs. Mankind

The Heartbreak Kid defends the WWF Championship against Mankind in a thrilling main event at WWF In Your House: Mind Games.

The Birth of the nWo

From Hulk Hogan's shocking turn at WCW Bash at the Beach 1996 to the addition of Ted Dibiase, THe Giant Syxx and more, relive the very beginning of the New World Order.

Austin 3:16 Says I Just Kicked Your Ass

It's one of the most famous promos of all time; Stone Cold Steve Austin wins the 1996 King of The Ring and serves notice on all the WWF superstars. Check it out in our complete review

Wrestlemania 12 Review

The boyhood dream comes true as Shawn Michaels battles champion Bret 'The Hitman' Hart in a classic 1-hour iron man match. Plus, Diesel vs. Undertaker and more.

WCW Fall Brawl 1996 Review

Was Sting in cahoots with the New World Order? Would Lex Luger be able to get along with the Four Horsemen as they faced the nWo in War Games? Find out in this review

Thursday, 23 September 2021

EVENT REVIEW: ECW - NWA Bloodfest '93

ECW Bloodfest '93 - Night 2
October 1 and October 2, 1993
ECW Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

NWA Bloodfest ‘93 was a two-night event promoted by Eastern Championship wrestling a short while after their last event Ultraclash '93.

Unlike other ECW events from around this time, Bloodfest isn’t featured on the WWE Network, though I did manage to find a one-hour version on YouTube which features most -but not all- of the matches from night 2 of the event.

If I ever come across Night 1 of the event (or if any of you can tell me where to check it out), then I will of course, review that too.

For now though, let’s dive in and check this one out.






Welcome to Bloodfest



We opened tonight’s event with a short introductory video featuring highlights of tonight’s stars before heading right down to ringside for our opening contest.

Eastern Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship
ECW Tag Team Champions Johnny Hotbody and Tony Stetson (w/ Hunter Q. Robbins III) vs. The Sandman & J.T Smith (w/ Terry Funk)

Something tells me this show might be a chore to watch if this match is anything to go by.

It really wasn’t much of anything.

After a few minutes of decent but uninspiring action, Terry Funk got involved, leading to a disqualification in about 5 minutes.
Your Winners via Disqualification and still ECW Tag Team Champions: Johnny Hotbody & Tony Stetson

Moving on..

The Tazzmaniac & Tommy Dreamer

ECW Bloodfest '93 - The Tazzmaniac hurts Tommy Dreamer
Here we had the ECW debut of Tommy Dreamer as he took on The Tazzmaniac (Tazz), a man who himself had only debuted the previous evening against fellow newcomer Sabu.

Dreamer’s debut is well known as an early example of Paul Heyman’s booking prowess, having the future hardcore legend lose the match but gain the fan’s respect after putting on a solid show against Tazzmaniac.

That certainly happened, but it wasn’t as though Tommy completely got his ass whooped here. He held his own against a man who still had long hair, worn a loin cloth and pretended like he was an actual savage from the island of Tasmania.

It was a decent match. Not great by any stretch, but competently performed and reasonably entertaining.
Your Winner: The Tazzmaniac

Post match, the usually belligerent ECW crowd gave Dreamer

Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship
ECW Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas (w/ Sherri Martel) vs. J.T Smith (w/ Terry Funk)

ECW Bloodfest '93 - Shane Douglas
And so we have our second appearance from J.T Smith. According to Wikipedia, both of his matches happened on night 2.

That seems odd, but there you go.

There wasn’t much to this match. Going into it, the story was that Smith had an injured knee, so Shane Douglas wasted no time going right after it.

Within the space of 4 minutes (at least as it was presented here) Douglas wore down Smith to the point that Terry Funk had to throw in the towel.
Your Winner and Still ECW Champion: Shane Douglas

Post match, Funk turned on Smith, beating him up with his boot then tossing him to the outside and dumping a chair on him.

It was the most entertaining thing that had happened in the first 20 minutes of this show.

Yesterday’s Trash

Prior to the next match, Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge threw some garbage in the trash which allowed them to deliver the very original and very clever line:

“Diamond, Tanaka, we’re going to take you out like yesterday’s trash!”

Right on.

Badd Company (Paul Diamond & Pat Tanaka) vs. Public Enemy (Flyboy Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge)

Finally, we got a match this fan could really sink his teeth into.

Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka were excellent and Public Enemy didn’t exactly phone it in either.

Their combined efforts gave us a compelling match which proved to be the best thing on the show up to this point.

After a very strong contest, Badd Company picked up the win following a miscommunication between Rock and Grunge.
Your Winners: Badd Company

And on we go.

Rockin’ Rebel vs. Chris Michaels

We joined this match in progress and it wasn’t really anything.

Rockin’ Rebel beat up on Chris Michaels for a bit, then beat up the referee too and got disqualified.
Your Winner via disqualification: Chris Michaels

Post-match, Rebel went to attack Michaels with a chair, but his arch-rival Big Sal Belomo charged the ring and saw him off.

Bad Breed (Axl & Ian Rotten) vs. Chad Austin & Don E. Allen

This was essentially a squash match, with Axl Rotten & Ian Rotten demolishing their opponents in rapid order.

It wasn’t terrible or anything, but it was very obvious (especially given Joey Styles commentary), that this was intended as nothing more than TV filler to help Bad Breed get over.
Your Winners: Bad Breed

Up next, more Public Enemy.

Don Muraco & Superfly Jimmy Snuka vs. Badd Company (Paul Diamond & Pat Tanaka)

ECW Bloodfest '93 - Jimmy Snuka
Everywhere you look online, this is listed as Jimmy Snuka and Don Muraco beating Public Enemy by forefeit, but that’s not actually what happened.

Badd Company came out second, looking like they were gearing to fight Snuka & Muraco, only to be blindsided by Public Enemy. As Rock & Grunge attacked, Joey Styles yelled:

“We haven’t seen Public Enemy since they lost to Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka!”

So like, ten minutes ago then Joey?

Anyway, Bad Breed then came out and attacked Public Enemy and the announcer declared the match a forefeit.
Your Winners via forefeit: Don Muraco & Jimmy Snuka.

What a waste of time that was. It was good news for Snuka & Muraco though, and probably the easiest pay check they ever made.

Afterwards, Styles confirmed that Badd Company really were supposed to be the intended opponents.

Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Championship
ECW Heavyweight champion Shane Douglas (w/ Sherri Martel) vs. Sabu (w/ Paul E. Dangerously)

ECW Bloodfest '93 - sabu
This was supposed to be Douglas vs. Sandman but the latter had been incapacitated backstage, so Sabu was wheeled out chained to what looked like a sack truck.

Wikipedia says this match lasted nigh on 13 minutes so this version must have been severely edited because it was over in less than 3.

Sabu got attacked by Douglas but then slammed him and landed a moonsault to capture the title.
Your Winner and New ECW Heavyweight Champion: Sabu

Post-match, the new champion was dragged, thrashing and lashing away, to the back.

Superfly Jimmy Snuka vs. Chad Austin


Snuka destroyed Austin in no time at all then hit him with a slingshot suplex and pinned him with an arrogant ‘one foot over the chest’ cover.

The sling shot suplex looked good. The rest of this match did not.
Your Winner: Jimmy Snuka

And finally...

Steel Cage Match
Badd Company (Paul Diamond & Pat Tanaka) vs. The Public Enemy (Flyboy Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge)

This match went from the entrances straight to Bad Breed running in and a whole bunch of chairs being swung about.

It looked like a good brawl, but by this point I have to admit, I’d completely switched off.

Public Enemy won by escaping the cage.
Your Winners: Public Enemy

Thank goodness that’s over







If anyone out there has a copy of night one of this event that they’d like to send me, I’d be glad to review for the sake of completion, but if it’s anything like Night 2, I dare say I won’t enjoy it much.

By the time this hour-long presentation was half way through, it had become very apparent that what NWA Bloodfest really was, was a two-night TV taping with matches shot in no particular order to be played on ECW TV.

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, the fact that we only saw abridged versions of mediocre matches did not make for an entertaining hour of pro wrestling viewing.

The first Badd Company/Public Enemy match was enjoyable, but nothing else here was up to much.



Thursday, 16 September 2021

EVENT REVIEW: WWE Global Warning 2002

WWE Global Warning 2002: Melbourne
August 10, 2002
Colonial Stadium, Melbourne, Australia

Look up the WWE Global Warning event on the WWE Network and it will tell you that the date of the event was November 5th, 2002. 

It wasn't. 

The actual event took place in August, in between Vengeance 2002 and that year's Summerslam.

The first WWE event in Australia since 1986 was promoted as a Smackdown branded show despite the fact that The Un-Americans, Chris Jericho, and Triple H were all now Raw superstars. 

The show featured three matches that didn't make it to the broadcast, including Mark Henry teaming with a rookie Randy Orton to face Reverand D-Von and Batista, Hardcore Holly and Chavo Guerrero battling Billy and Chuck, and Kurt Angle beating Test

We may not be able to talk about those matches today, but let's talk about the ones we can in this WWE Global Warning review: 






Welcome to Global Warning

WWE Global Warning 2002: Stephanie McMahon opened the show
After the briefest of intros with none of the usual opening video package, pyro exploded, the crowds roared, and Michael Cole and Taz welcomed us to Australia. 

This was followed by the arrival of new Smackdown General Manager, Stephanie McMahon

Steph said nothing of significance, simply welcoming fans to the show before dancing with Rikishi as he made his way to the ring for our opening contest.


Kiss My Ass Match
Rikishi vs. Rico 

You could tell this wasn't an important event because Cole and Tazz spent more time making fun of ring announcer Tony Chimmel, each other, and the size of Rikishi's ass than they did calling the action.

Not that there was much action to call. 

This was all over in pretty much no time. 'Kishi battered his former tag team partner for a few minutes, Rico made the briefest of comebacks but then missed a moonsault and got Samoan Dropped to end the match. 
Your Winner: Rikishi 

Afterwards, Big 'Kish flattened his rival in the corner then gave him the stink face to the delight of the Melbourne faithful. He then proceeded to dance with two kids from the audience, all while Taz and Cole cracked jokes.

Jamie and Nidia go Surfing

Prior to the next match, we saw a video package of Cruiserweight Champion Jamie Noble and his girlfriend Nidia learning to surf and seeing the sights of Australia. 

It looked like they had a good time, and in its own way, the video was almost cute, but it wasn't very interesting and added nothing of value. Still, at least it saved WWE the hassle of actually adding more wrestling matches to this thing.

WWE Cruiserweight Championship
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Jamie Noble (w/ Nidia) vs. The Hurricane

WWE Global Warning 2002: Hurricane vs. Jamie Noble
Although it felt like it moved at a somewhat slower pace than most cruiserweight matches, this was a lot of fun. Noble and The Hurricane combined some of the usual highflying stuff with actual strategy and more of an emphasis on entertaining the crowd.

It was plenty enjoyable, especially when Hurricane took out the champion with a huge swinging neckbreaker off the top rope. Alas, that wasn't enough to win match.

After a solid effort, Noble retained thanks to Nidia's interference and a rope-assisted pin.

All the while, Cole and Taz continued to goof off, this time turning their insults to referee Jimmy Korderas and Raw announcers JR & King.
Your Winner and Still Cruiserweight Champion: Jamie Noble

Post-match, Hurricane destroyed his rival with a chokeslam and smacked Nidia on the ass.

A Day at the Zoo


Before the next match, we got a look at the day Christian, Lance Storm, and Kurt Angle all went to the zoo in Australia. 

Kurt Angle getting offended by the Australian word "buggar" was hilarious, and the video including a shot where Angle clearly called Christian "Jay" was interesting. Everything else was mildly entertaining filler. 

WWE Tag Team Championship
WWE Tag Team Champions The Un-Americans (Lance Storm & Christian) vs. Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman

WWE Global Warning 2002: Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman vs. Lance Storm & Christian
And so, we had former WCW tag team champions Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio taking on current WWE tag team champions Lance Storm and Christian. 

Mysterio had only just arrived in WCW and looked eager to prove himself, flying around the ring with gusto in what was mostly an exciting match.

I say "mostly" because there was a lull in the middle of this one, but for the most part, it was a fun encounter which almost -but not quite- delivered all the excitement you'd expect from these four talented performers.

Given that this show was kind of "non-cannon" in the same way that UK PPVs were, it came as no surprise when the tag champs retained their gold.
Your Winners and Still WWE Tag Team Champions: Lance Storm & Christian 

Edge was in action next. 

That meant that, following the pattern of the rerst of the show, we were obligated to watch him go sightseeing with Billy Kidman and Torrie Wilson. The trio went to a market where Kidman thought that a digeridoo was a walking stick, then sat down to eat dessert.

Alright then.

Chris Jericho vs. Edge 

WWE Global Warning 2002: Edge vs. Chris Jericho
Prior to the match, Chris Jericho took to the microphone to address the crowd but found himself met with a huge chorus of "You're a wanker! You're a wanker!

Of course, Cole, Taz, and Jericho all had no idea -or at least pretended to have no idea- what the word meant. As such, your British writer got a good laugh out of the announcers repeatedly using the word over and over again, and Jericho busting out "you think I'm a wanker? Well I don't even know what a wanker is, and I think Australia sucks!"

The best line, however, went to Taz. Jericho missed a move, causing the announcer to proclaim "he landed right on his wanker!

Given that this word would never make it on air if this show had been broadcast here in the UK, I found this pretty funny, but it wasn't the only thing this match had going for it.

Wanker or not, Jericho put in a solid effort against Edge here as the two gave us the best match they were capable of delivering in ten minutes. 

After a good back and forth and some dramatic nearfalls, Edge went over by reversing the Walls of Jericho into a roll-up.

The best match on the card so far.
Your Winner: Edge 

Post match, Jericho once again channeled his WCW heel turn and threw a temper tantrum before Edge climbed up a big lighting tower to celebrate. 

Fan Frenzy 

Up next, we got a look back at the WWE Fan Frenzy event. This was essentially the Axcess events, Australia style. The event looked like a lot of fun and featured Edge, Test, Stacy Keibler and Brock Lesnar, as well as a bunch of fans spouting catchphrases from their favorite performers. Good times.

Bra & Panties Match
Stacy Keibler vs. Torrie Wilson

Special Guest Ring Announcer: The Big Val Bowski

WWE Global Warning 2002: The Big Valbowski
Before the girls could lock up, The Big Valbowski came down to make a bunch of predictable jokes about going down...under. 

Stacy and Torrie then gave us every bra and panties match you've ever seen. 

I'm sure there are some people who really like these kinds of matches, but this fan isn't one of them. Yes, both girls were insatiably beautiful, and yes, they tried hard to do some actual wrestling to the best of their limited abilities, but there's nothing about bra and panties matches that holds any appeal. 

They even did the predictable spot where the two girls start catfighting and end up rolling on top of the referee, though it was so poorly executed that it looked like official Mike Sparks was physically pulling the two on top of him for his own gratification.

The zebra loved it, so Stacy and Torrie pulled his pants down to expose his undies, then a few moments later Torrie stripped Stacy of her shorts to win the match.
Your Winner: Torrie Wilson

Post-match, Torrie gave Stacy a good spanking and sent her on her way.  

Charity Dinner

WWE Global Warning 2002: The Rock at a charity dinner
Prior to tonight's main event, we got a quick look back at the WWE's recent charity dinner/auction. 

The company often did these before the UK PPVs, so it wasn't much of a surprise to see it here to. 

Paintings of The Rock, Triple H, and Hulk Hogan sold for thousands of dollars to raise good money for good causes, The Rock was asked for his porno name, and by the looks of it, a good time was had by all.

With that out of the way, we still have 35 minutes left on this show which either means a really long main event, or some kind of shenanigans.

No Disqualification Match for the WWE Undisputed Championship
WWE Undisputed Champion The Rock vs. Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Triple H

With Triple H and The Rock competing alongside the man who was certainly living up to his moniker of The Next Big Thing, this was never going to be anything less than a good match.

Was it an all-out, PPV-calibre classic? 

WWE Global Warning 2002: The Rock vs. Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar
Of course not, but as the main event for what was essentially a glorified house show, it was certainly good. 

Triple H and The Rock double-teamed Brock Lesnar in the early going but The Game switched allegiances and helped Lesnar take out The Great One.

From there, standard WWE Triple Threat formula kicked in, with the competitors taking it in turns to have a quick nap while their fellow combatants duked it out. 

Lesnar looked impressive, but it wasn't to be his night. After a good effort, The People's Champ put down The Next Big Thing to retain his title, a result which, let's be honest, was never in question.
Your Winner and Still Undisputed Champion: The Rock

The actual match was only around 20 minutes, which still gave us 15 minutes of show time to fill, something The Rock, Triple H, and Paul Heyman did with gusto.

With Cole and Taz having signed off for the evening, Lesnar went to attack Brock with a chair, only for Hunter to stop him and help The Rock dispose of Heyman's charge once and for all. 

At this point, The Game was in the midst of an intense heel turn following his jump to Raw and fall out with best friend Shawn Michaels. Despite that, he was still very much a babyface here as he and the Undisputed Champion confronted Paul Heyman.

The former ECW boss was hilarious here as he first pleaded for his life and then clapped and cheered along as the Melbourne crowd erupted with chants of "Rocky! Rocky!"

Proving he was smart, Heyman was reluctant to shake The Rock's hand for fear that it would lead to him getting Rock Bottomed and People's Elbowed. Eventually, The Brahma Bull convinced Heyman to shake and let go without trouble, but when Paul E. shook The Game's hand, he naturally got a pedigree for his efforts.

The fun and games continued as first HHH convinced The Rock to hit Heyman with a People's Elbow, before Rock himself convinced Hunter to deliver the move he'd been on the receiving end of countless times.

Finally, Rock stood back and allowed his long-time rival a chance to bask in the adulation of the crowd then, once The Game left, the Undisputed Champion took the microphone to thank the fans and utter some catchphrases.

Honestly, that last 15 minutes of post-show shenanigans was more entertaining than anything else on the show.








The after-match stuff may have been the highlight, but that doesn't necessarily mean that WWE Global Warning was a poor show or anything. The main event was as good as you were going to get for a show at this level, while Edge vs. Jericho and the tag team championship match were also enjoyable. 

Sure, this felt like one of the many UK PPVs were nothing of any consequence happened, and sure, there was far too much "here's what the WWE Superstars did in Australia" stuff between the relatively few matches on the card, but if the goal of professional wrestling is simply to entertain, then I think it's fair to say that Global Warning 2002 achieved that goal. 

Wednesday, 8 September 2021

EVENT REVIEW: WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Fall Brawl '90: Mountain Madness

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Fall Brawl '90: March Madness
September 5, 1990 
Asheville Civic Center, Asheville, North Carolina.

Clash of the Champions X11: Fall Brawl '90 - Mountain Madness sounds like the kind of name you get when a committee can't agree on what to call their event and compromise by simply adding all of their favorite suggestions together.

It's a little excessive, and, of course, confusing, but hey, we're not here to talk about event names, we're here to talk about the event itself, so let's get on with that, shall we?





Welcome to Fall Brawl 2: Mountain Madness

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Jim Ross & Bob Caudle
Just to confuse things further, Jim Ross called the event Fall Brawl 2, which is technically accurate but still confusing if your opening intro is going to call it '90. 

Speaking of the intro, it was very non-descript - basically seeing clips of tonight's stars in small boxes which flew across some animated mountains.

From there, Ross and co-announcer Bob Caudle hyped the ten upcoming matches on our show, including Lex Luger defending the US title against Ric Flair and Sting defending his newly won World Heavyweight Championship for the first time on national TV against The Black Scorpion.

Speaking of Sting, our announce team informed us that the Stinger was live on the WCW Hotline, but of course, you wouldn't want to call right now, because then you'd miss this:

Badstreet USA

Prior to our opening contest, we got a look at a music video in which Michael 'P.S' Hayes strutted around singing Badstreet USA. 

Personally, this writer has never really seen the appeal of the Freebirds, but even I have to admit it was a pretty decent video, albeit one that looks very dated today.

The Fabulous Freebirds (w/ Michael 'P.S' Hayes & Jimmy 'Jam' Garvin w/ Buddy Roberts) vs. The Southern Boys (Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong w/ 'Bullet' Bob Armstrong.

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Michael 'P.S' Hayes
Speaking of things being dated...there was so much confederate flag symbolism in this match that there's no way this match would air on TV today.

Hayes and Jimmy Garvin both switched their traditional tights for confederate ones and had their faces painted with the flag, as did their cornerman, Buddy Roberts. Meanwhile, the Southern Boys whole gimmick was to wave that confederate flag and they did so here with pride.

Dated gimmicks aside, this was another good meeting between these two teams. 

Tracy Smothers and Steve Armstrong won the match thanks to a couple of sunset flips.
Your Winners: The Southern Boys

Post-match, The Freebirds beat up their rivals and hurled them out of the ring. 

The Steiners Have Nothing on Their Minds

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Tony Schiavone interviews The Steiner Brothers
Following the commercial break, Tony Schiavone spoke backstage with The Steiner Brothers, who had recently defeated The Midnight Express to become US tag team champions.

Scott Steiner fumbled his way through his half of the promo, reminding us that being US tag team champions meant they were number one contenders to the world tag team champions and calling out Doom for a match.

For his part, Rick Steiner admitted that he and his brother had never even heard of their upcoming opponents, Maximum Overdrive and had no plan and "nothing on their minds" when they went to the ring.

This was entertaining, but only in the way that watching a Steiner Brothers promo can be.

Buddy Landell vs. Mike Rotunda (w/ Cindy Anderson) 

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Buddy Landell shows off his Skid Row "tattoo"
Prior to the bell, Buddy Landell proudly showed off a terrible Skid Row tattoo because apparently, he was now friends with the band's guitarist, Dave "The Snake" Sabo

Well, I suppose if you've gotta have a gimmick, "I know a musician" is certainly..erm..something.

Meanwhile, if you're wondering who Cindy Anderson is, she apparently won a Burger King poetry contest and her prize was to accompany Mike Rotunda to the ring. 

I swear I'm not making that up. 

All credit to Cindy, I'm sure she's a lovely person and wrote a great poem, but just trying to get my head around the idea that Burger King sponsored a wrestling-themed poetry contest and the prize was to walk Captain Mike to the ring just blows my mind. 

Honestly, these Clash shows were bonkers. 

I say all that because it's far more interesting than anything that actually happened in this match.

It's not that it was bad. Both Landell and Rotunda were competent performers, but this was only ever going ot be a filler match and it was. 

After five and a half minutes of decent but entirely forgettable action, Rotunda secured the win thanks to a jaw-dropping backslide.
Your Winner: Mike Rotunda

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Tony Schiavone interviews The Fabulous Freebirds
Up next, Tony Schiavone interviewed The Fabulous Freebirds who were very angry about losing to The Southern Boys and shouted A LOT.

 It was OK though, because "The Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the World" were able to console themselves by showing us footage of their recent trip to Hollywood.

Hayes and Garvin pulled up in a limo and were swarmed with fans. They then just seemed to have a day out, standing in front of the Hollywood sign and dancing and later eating a hot dog before getting swarmed by yet more fans.

It wasn't entirely clear why the boys were in Hollywood, but for all intents and purposes, it just looked as though we were watching clips from their vacation. 

'White Lightning' Tim Horner & The Candy Man Brad Armstrong vs. The Master Blazers (Iron & Steel)

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Kevin Nash made his debut as part of The Master Blasters
Let's gloss over the fact that Brad Armstrong was now creepily called "The Candy Man" for some reason and talk about what's really important here: 

The debut of Kevin Nash as Master Blaster Steel. 

Honestly, this writer has been a big fan of Big Daddy Cool in the past but even I can't deny that he and Master Blaster Iron looked like the absolute dirt worst tag team you've ever seen in your life.

None of Nash's offence looked like it actually hurt. It was weak and made the whole match look fake. 

Iron's offense was even worse. 

In fact, at one point, he went to hit a diving headbutt on Tim Horner and missed by at least a foot. Horner sold it anyway and the crowds booed both men for daring to give such a shoddy performance.

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I actually recommend watchng this match just to appreciate how good pro wrestlers are at making what they do look believable and how utterly ridiculous wrestling can look when they don't.

Unsurprisingly, The Master Blasters won their debut over a team comprised of a man named after a brand of cheap cider in the UK and a  man whose gimmick was literally that he handed sweets to kids.
Your Winners: The Master Blasters 

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Tony Schiavone interviews Brian Pillman
Backstage, Tony Schiavone interviewed Flyin' Brian Pillman.

Pillman first put over the main event discussed the mystery surrounding the ominous Black Scorpion before discussing his upcoming "Run the Gauntlet" challenge.

The idea was that one man would be selected to take on the challenge. On WCW Power Hour, that man would draw three names out of a hat and those three men would be his opponents over the course of three consecutive nights.

He -in this case, Pillman- would wrestle the first match on WCW Power Hour.

He would then wrestle the second match the following night on World Championship Wrestling.

Finally, he would wrestle the third match the night after that on Sunday Main Event.

If Pillman (or whoever else was taking on the challenge) won all three matches, he would win $15,000. If he lost, the prize money would be divided equally between his opponents.

Though it takes a little while to explain, that's actually not a bad concept, even if it did end up only lasting for three weeks.

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Missy Hyatt interviews Ric Flair
The Greatest World Champion of Ever

Out in the arena, Missy Hyatt introduced us to the man she called "The Greatest World Champion of Ever," the one and only Nature Boy Ric Flair.

As charismatic as ever, Naitch styled and profiled his way through a riveting promo in which he promised to dethrone Lex Luger for the US title on tonight's show. 


The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) vs. Terry Taylor & Jackie Fulton

So, it turns out Kevin Nash wasn't the only one to make a big first appearance at this show. 

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - The Nasty Boys made their debut
The Nasty Boys
were also putting in their first appearance at a major event in a solid effort against the former Red Rooster Terry Taylor and Jackie Fulton.

It's surprising how relatively light, agile, and motivated to work Knobbs and Sags actually were here. Pair that with two capable opponents, and what you had here was a decent tag match which gave this writer no reason to complain.

The Nasties would be gone and in the World Wrestling Federation by December of that year, but for now they were on the rise in WCW after a predictable victory.
Your Winners: The Nasty Boys 

After another commercial break, Tony Schiavone caught up with Four Horsemen member Sid Vicious. Big Sid was very angry about Sting being the world champion and insisted that he -Sid- deserved a title shot. It wasn't so much a direct challenge, more an intense rant about Sid being title-worthy.

Wild Bill Irwin vs. Wildfire Tommy Rich

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Wild Bill Irwin
Going into this one, your writer expected it to be the kind of filler match that has no redeeming qualities. Indeed, half the crowd seemed to have the same idea and could be visibly seen leaving for the bathroom or concession stands as it got underway. 

Surprisingly, however, it wasn't a bad little match. Apart from one little spot where it looked like the match was going to devolve into one long chinlock, this was competently wrestled. Sure, it wasn't going to be an amazing match, and sure, it technically was filler, but it at least it was enjoyable filler.

After a few minutes of decent wrestling, Tommy Rich got the win thanks to a Lou Thesz Press.
Your Winner: Tommy Rich

Up next, Jim Ross and Bob Caudle introduced us to the new Top 10 rankings, with Lex Luger and The Steiners topping the singles and tag ranks respectively. I'm not sure how long this lasted, but I don't think it was very long at all. 

With tobacco spit staining his chest, Stan Hansen then ranted and raved to Tony Schiavone about only being number six on the list and insisted he was going to beat up everyone ahead of him until he got to Sting. 

Not because he wanted the glory of being champion or anything, Big Stan simply needed the money.

"SIX? SIX? SIX? That's bulls**t!" yelled The Larriat as he walked off, clevery making sure he was away from the microphone before dropping the expletive. 

Ladies Professional Wrestling Association World Championship
LPWA Women's Champion Susan Sexton vs. Bambi 

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Susan Sexton
Nobody cared about this "Women's Championship" match, a short-lived cross-over with the equally-as-short-lived LPWA. In fact, even JR didn't seem to know what was going on, telling us:

"Bambi is, I believe, the number one contender to the women's championship." 

Well, yes, Jim, she's standing in the ring about to challenge for the title, so that's pretty much a given. 

The match itself was reasonable. The crowd may not have cared, but Bambi and champion Susan Sexton worked hard regardless to give us a short, predominantly match-based match.

After a few minutes of hold-counterhold-repeat, Sexton reversed a roll-up attempt from Bambi to score the 1,2,3.
Your Winner and Still LPWA Champion: Susan Sexton

After a quick commercial break, it was onto our next match.

National Wrestling Allianace United States Tag Team Championship
NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) vs. Maximum Overdrive (The Hunter and The Silencer)

Yes, this new team of Maximum Overdrive that nobody had ever heard of were called The Hunter and The Silencer. I don't know about you, but for me those names don't exactly fit with a tag team name like "Maximum Overdrive."

It didn't matter anyway, Hunter and Silencer were really only there to serve as warm bodies for Rick and Scott Steiner to hurl around the ring in an extended squash. It was good, but only because The Steiners were such an awesome tag team and super over with the crowd.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the brothers retained their title.
Your Winners and Still NWA US Tag Team Champions: The Steiner Brothers 

Before the next commercial, Missy Hyatt reminded us to watch Sunday Main Event with her and Jim Ross and a whole bunch of Main Event Action.

Stan 'The Larriat' Hansen vs. The Z-Man Tom Zenk 

Hansen was a relatively new arrival to WCW, so it didn't come as much of a surprise when he simply dominated The Z-Man throughout this match. It was decent stuff, but it mattered so little that at one point the screen was divided so that we could hear from Lex Luger at the same time. 

Honestly, it was too difficult to both watch a match and listen to The Total Package, but I think he basically said that he was fully focussed on Ric Flair but if Hansen wanted a match, he'd give him  one.

Back in the ring, the actual was solid but unremarkable and ended with a predictable win for Hansen courtesy of The Larriat. 
Your Winner: Stan Hansen

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Tony Schiavone interviews Lex Luger
Afterward, we got a look back at the Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger match from Wrestle War 90 before Tony Schiavone interviewed the US Champion for the second time on this show. 

Calm, cool, and collected, The Total Package reflected on the fact that all his previous encounters with Flair (including their great match at Great American Bash '88) had seen him chasing Flair. This time, Flair was chasing him, but Luger remained adamant that no matter how much Flair wanted his US title, he -Luger- was going to emerge victorious.

National Wrestling Alliance United States Championship
NWA US Champion Lex Luger vs. Nature Boy Ric Flair

Luger and Flair always had great matches together and this was no exception. Though it may not have been the absolute best they ever had, that's only because they'd already set the bar very high, and this was still damn good in its own right.

This writer also really appreciated the power rankings and the emphasis on Flair needing to beat Luger to become the number one contender to Sting's title again. It gave the occasion as much of a sense of legitimacy as its possible to give a scripted pro wrestling contest and only added to the intensity and excitement of the match.

However, just as Luger and Flair always had good matches, they also always had matches that ended without a clean finish. This one was no exception. 

Stan Hansen ran into attack Luger, causing the disqualification.
Your Winner via DQ and Still US Champion: Lex Luger

Prior to the main event, we got pre-recorded comments from the mysterious Black Scorpion who promised to reveal his identity if Sting beat him tonight.

Speaking to Tony Schiavone, a clearly worried Sting insisted that he was taking the Scorpion very seriously and was heading to the ring to get this done.

National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Sting vs. The Black Scorpion 

WCW Clash of the Champions XII - The Black Scorpion
As you might have predicted, this was not the greatest match in the world. 

Sure, there was a lot of intrigue surrounding the identity of The Black Scorpion, but the actual action was just not that interesting.

Sure, both champ and challenger put some effort into it, but the result of that effort was nowhere near as compelling as the mystery of the Scorpion himself. 

Predictably, Sting retained the gold in his first televised championship defense thanks to a simple crossbody.

By the way, in case you were wondering, the man behind the mask for this match was Al Perez.
Your Winner and Still NWA World Heavyweight Champion: Sting 

Post-match, Sting de-masked the Scorpion only to discover that his adversary was wearing a second mask underneath. At that point, another Black Scorpion character arrived on the scene, with the announcers deducing that this was the real Scorpion after all.

Following a quick commercial break, Sting spoke to Jim Ross about his frustrations in not finding out who his rival was and swore that this wasn't over. At that point, however, the champion was interrupted by Sid Vicious, who demanded a match against the champion.

Sting was in no mood for a challenge, telling The Ruler of the World that all he had to do was talk to the championship committee to be granted a match. UNhappy with the response, Sid attacked Sting and declared himself the next champion before Jim Ross signed off, wrapping up the 12th edition of Clash of the Champions. 






With the exception of the whole Black Scorpion angle, Clash of the Champions 12 featured less of the goofiness and wacky entertainment that we'd seen in recent clashes (Clash 10, I'm looking at you), and placed more of an emphasis on presenting pro wrestling as a true sporting competition, with the announcement of the "Run the Gauntlet Challenge," the power rankings, and Flair's need to dethrone Luger to get back into the title picture all making this seem like serious business.

Unfortunately, despite the emphasis on competition, most of the actual in-ring action wasn't that great. The best match on the card by a good mile was Flair/Luger, and while the opening tag team match was also good and the Nasty Boys debut was decent for what it was, nothing else really stood out as being a must-watch.

Load up this event to see the WCW debut of the aforementioned Nasties and Kevin Nash, skip to Luger/Flair, and that's all you need to see here. 

Retro Pro Wrestling

New reviews of classic WWF/WWE events recalling every moment from Wrestlemania 1 - 30. You'll also find reviews of WCW, ECW, TNA and the occasional indie event, along with a look at old school magazines, merchandise and more.