June 16, 1992
McAllister Field House, Charleston, South Carolina
McAllister Field House, Charleston, South Carolina
Taped on June 16th before a capacity crowd of 4,600 and airing on TBS a week later, WCW Clash of the Champions 19 revolved almost entirely around a tournament to crown new National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Tournaments.
Over the proceeding few years, the relationship between World Championship Wrestling and the NWA had been tenuous at best, but with old-school stalwart Cowboy Bill Watts now in charge of WCW, the two brands were gung-ho about giving that relationship one last shot.
Of course, it wouldn't last, but until then, shows like tonight would at least provide us with some quality wrestling.
Here's what went down on that fateful night in South Carolina.
The Best in the World Converge on WCW
Our show tonight began with a short promo for the NWA World Tag Team Title tournament that would dominate this show.
From there, we quickly went to the trio of Tony Schiavone, Missy Hyatt, and Magnum TA.
Between Tony and Magnum putting over the magnitude of tonight’s event, Missy Hyatt informed us that New Japan Pro Wrestling was going to be hosting a tournament to crown a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
Missy would be bringing us more details about that later in the show, but first, Schiavone gave us a brief interview with then-WCW boss Cowboy Bill Watts, who put over both the NWA’s rich sense of tradition and the upcoming tournament’s number one seed, The Steiner Brothers.
Finally, we got comments from our announcers, Jim Ross & Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura, before heading to the ring for our opening contest.
Joe Malenko & Dean Malenko (Europe) vs. Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat & Nikita Koloff
First off, hell yeah! Dean Malenko!
Here, the future Man of 1,000 Holds and his brother Joe Malenko represented Europe as they went up against Ricky Steamboat and Nikita Koloff in a tremendous opening match.
Steamboat and Koloff dominated most of the contest, but the Malenko brothers certainly looked impressive too.
In fact, if I were booking WCW back then, I’d absolutely sign those boys up and push them into a feud with The Steiner Brothers.
Alas, as impressive as they may have looked, tonight wasn’t to be Joe & Dean’s night.
The two lost the match when Koloff hit Dean with the Sickle for the pinfall.
Your Winners: Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff
After a quick commercial break, it was back to the action.
The Z-Man & Marcus Alexandra Bagwell vs. The Dangerous Alliance (WCW US Champion ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude & WCW TV Champion ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin w/ Madusa)
Our second match of the night was nowhere near as good as the first, but if you ever wanted to see Steve Austin and Rick Rude just demolishing their opponents, this was the match for you.
Marcus Alexander Bagwell and The Z-Man stood no chance here. The duo’s offense was brief and ineffective compared to that of a Dangerous Alliance team who controlled 99.95% of the match.
After around seven minutes, this glorified squash match ended with Rude drilling Bagwell with the Rude Awakening for the three count.
I read from multiple sources that the babyface’s burial was all due to Booker Bill Watts having a problem with pretty boy babyfaces.
Whatever the reason was, it sure didn’t look good for Bagwell and Zenk.
Your Winners: The Dangerous Alliance
Backstage, Eric Bischoff recapped the results of the show far before turning his attention to an interview with Terry Gordy and Dr. Death Steve Williams.
Both men seemed to fluster their way through an awkward promo.
To begin, Gordy ranted that nobody cared about Australians (their upcoming opponents, The O’Days, were from Down Under), insisting that all anybody wanted to see was Gordy & Williams against The Steiners.
This didn’t make Dr. Death too happy as he next claimed that he was so sick of hearing about Rick & Scott that it gave him a headache.
To wrap things up, Williams called The Steiners a homophobic slur that I won’t repeat here, then said “I know I can’t say that on TV,” but apparently he could as it’s still shown on the Peacock version of this event.
The O’Days (Larry & Jeff O’Day) vs. Terry ‘Bam Bam’ Gordy & Dr. Death Steve Williams
I don’t know much about the father-son duo of Larry & Jeff O’Day, but I do know that they were doomed from the moment they stepped through the curtain.
Father Larry looked like a college art professor who had never seen the sunlight, and son Jeff couldn’t have looked less like a star if he’d tried.
Unsurprisingly, the Aussies were pulverized by Gordy and Williams in two and a half minutes.
Your Winners: Terry Gordy & Steve Williams
Up next, Jesse Ventura conducted an in-ring interview with a tuxedo-clad WCW Champion, Sting.
Well, I say interview.
Ventura basically goaded Sting about Big Van Vader hurting him and coming after the title. In response, Sting likened his story with Vader to that of David vs. Goliath, insisting that since he had the fans on his side, he felt like Goliath and was ready to take on Vader.
This was followed with a quick commercial for Great American Bash ‘92 where the two would meet, and then it was back to the ring.
‘The Natural’ Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham vs. The Dangerous Alliance (Beautiful Bobby & ‘The Enforcer’ Arn Anderson w/ Paul E. Dangerously)
I’m writing this just days after it was announced that Barry Windham had suffered a heart attack and was in ICU.
I sincerely pray that we’ll all have heard more positive news on Windham’s situation by the time you read this review.
Tonight, he and Dustin Rhodes went at it in a solid match with Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton.
There was nothing fancy or elaborate about this one. It was just good, old pro wrestling the way it’s meant to be done.
After a strong performance, Rhodes moved out of the way of Eaton’s Alabama Jam attempt and took him out with a match-winning bulldog.
Your Winners: Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes
A plug for the WCW poster book led us into a commercial break, after which we went back to Eric Bischoff, Missy Hyatt, and Missy’s gorgeous legs.
Missy told us that not only would the NWA World Heavyweight Championship tournament be taking place in Japan that August, but also that all four members of The Dangerous Alliance would be competing in that tournament.
She then left as Gordy and Williams returned to talk about a ‘terrible accident’ that had happened backstage involving The Steiner Brothers’ upcoming Puerto Rican opponents.
Fired up and incredibly animated, Bam Bam and Dr. Death told us that the accident was so awful, The Steiners would have to get a bye to the next round as a result of a forfeit and ultimately go on to face The Miracle Violence Connection in their next match.
This being wrestling, neither Eric nor anyone else seemed concerned with checking on the validity of Gordy & William’s claim and simply accepted it as fact.
The Silver Kings (Silver King 1 & Silver King 2) vs. WCW United States Champions The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael ‘P.S’ Hayes & Jimmy ‘Jam’ Garvin)
The Fabulous Freebirds’ US tag team titles were not on the line here as they went up against the Mexican duo of The Silver Kings.
If you’re wondering, The Silver Kings were Juan Jauregui, who was better known as El Texano and Cesar Gonzalez, who was the guy who you may remember wrestling as Silver King later on in WCW.
The company didn’t care enough about either man to use their names, so they were simply referred to as Silver King 1 & Silver King 2.
That’s a shame, really, because both Jauregui and Gonzalez had some pretty impressive offense to deliver.
The problem was that their way of wrestling was completely at odds with the way Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes wrestled, resulting in a clash of styles that made for a really messy match.
After stumbling awkwardly through a six-minute contest, The Silver Kings pounced on The Freebirds outside the ring but couldn’t follow up.
Immediately after, Hayes rolled up one of the kings in the ring and this one was over.
Your Winners: The Fabulous Freebirds
Post-match, Ross & Ventura confirmed that The Steiner Brothers’ opponents really were unable to compete, and thus we’d be seeing The Steiners vs. Gordy and Williams at The Great American Bash.
Elsewhere in the arena, Tony Schiavone and Magnum T.A. also confirmed this. Ole Anderson showed up, too, though all he did was triple-confirm what had happened.
Flyin’ Brian & Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger vs. Chris Benoit & Beef Wellington
Yes, Canadian grappler, Biff Wellington was known as Beef Wellington here, and I personally found that so funny that I had to take a break and compose myself before watching this match.
Anyway, I’m glad I was able to settle down and eventually pay attention because this tremendous contest turned out to be the best thing on the show so far.
As some long-time fans may recall, Wellington and Chris Benoit had been tag team partners in Stampede Wrestling, Weirdly, they both later died on the same day, but let's not get bogged down into all that right now because this was a damn fine match.
Benoit and Jushin Liger kicked things off with a fine display of wrestling before Benoit tagged out to his beefy partner for an exchange with Brian Pillman.
From there, things got better and better. All four men bust their asses, whipping the crowd into a frenzy in one hell of an exciting match.
After 11 minutes of action, Liger caught Wellington with a moonsault to put his team through to the next round.
Your Winners: Jushin Liger & Brian Pillman
Up next, this:
The Head Hunters (Head Hunter 1 & Head Hunter 2) vs. Hiroshi Hase & Akira Nogami
The Head Hunters were not the huge guys you probably know from Japan, ECW, and their appearance at the 1996 Royal Rumble, but rather Arn Anderson and Bob “Masked Superstar #2” Cook wearing generic masks.
In fact, I'm entirely certain at least one of these masked was used by Rick Rude when he debuted back at Halloween Havoc 91.
Their match with Hiroshi Hase & Akira NoGami was…well…let’s just say that in all the time I’ve been watching pro wrestling, I’ve never seen a match have less heat.
The two teams wrestled to absolute silence, and even the announcers found other things to talk about, like this gem from Ventura:
Ross had mentioned the phrase ‘agony in defeat,’ to which Ventura replied:
“What are you talking about, agony in defeat? You have your shoes on, you don’t have agony in the feet.”
I spent the rest of the match laughing at that and paying almost no attention to the lifeless excuse for pro wrestling going on in the ring.
It was a shame, because I like Hase & Nogami, but this match was incredibly boring.
The Japanese team won with synchronized bridging German suplexes shortly after the five minute mark.
Your Winners: Hiroshi Hase & Akira Nogami
After the break, Jesse Ventura interviewed Ron Simmons about Simmons' quest to become the first black world champion.
After vowing to overcome all the odds, Simmons was interrupted by the arrival of Harley Race and his charge, Super Invader.
In a promo with heavily racist overtones, Race wanted Simmons to be an errand boy and tell Sting that Vader was after him.
Big Ron refused, so Harley told him that when he was a seven-time champion, he had a boy like him carry his bags.
From what I’ve read elsewhere, Race actually used the word “negro” here, but someone at WWE did a nifty job of replacing it with the word “boy.”
Anyway, Simmons destroyed both Race and the useless Super Invader and that was that.
After that, Bill Watts told Tony Schiavone that we’d be starting round 2 of the tag team tournament right now with Steiners vs. Gordy & Williams
Dr: Death Steve Williams & Terry ‘Bam Bam’ Gordy vs. WCW World Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner)
I was really looking forward to this match, but, to be honest, it was a bit of a letdown.
Things started with both teams trading amateur wrestling moves and a couple of stiff shots. I can’t say for certain that they were shooting at each other, but it certainly looked that way and made for boring viewing.
Then, Dr. Death turned Rick Steiner inside out with a clothesline, signaling a turning point in the match in which the action picked up and we got the kind of quality match I’d been expecting.
Then, it all kind of ended when Scott Steiner, Steve Williams, and Terry Gordy all collapsed in a heap on top of one another and Williams pinned Steiner.
Your Winners: Steve Williams & Terry Gordy
The duo would go on to The Great American Bash ‘92 to face Steamboat and Koloff. This is one of the rare instances where I’ve reviewed shows out of order, so you can go right ahead and read my Bash ‘92 review here.
———-
Things may have deteriorated for WCW in the Bill Watts era after this event, but there’s no denying the cowboy’s reign started strong.
The opening match and that excellent Pillman/Liger vs. Benoit/Wellington match more than made up for the lackluster action elsewhere on the show, and while the resulting match was disappointing, the storyline running through the night of Williams & Gordy wanting The Steiner Brothers was well played out.
Not the best Clash of the Champions ever, but certainly a decent show by all accounts.
Other Clash of the Champions Reviews:
- NWA Clash of the Champions 1
- WCW Clash of the Champions X: Texas Shootout
- WCW Clash of the Champions XI - Costal Crush
- WCW Clash of the Champions XII - Fall Brawl '90: Mountain Madness
- WCW Clash of the Champions XIII - Thanksgiving Thunder
- WCW Clash of the Champions XIV - Dixie Dynamite
- WCW Clash of the Champions XV - Knocksville, USA!
- WCW Clash of the Champions XVI - Fall Brawl '91
- WCW Clash of the Champions XVII
- WCW Clash of the Champions XVIII
1 Comments
Dean Malenko, Silver King, Chris Benoit, and... BEEF WELLINGTON!!! in WCW in 1992! Awesomeness 👌
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