WCW From the Beginning

SLAMBOREE (May 23, 1993)

Davey Boy Smith pinned Paul Orndorff with the Running Powerslam in 6:10.
Rating: ** ½

Since arriving in WCW, Davey Boy Smith has aligned with a group fighting against s stable led by manager Harley Race. Orndorff tried to get one up for Race’s group, but Smith made surprisingly quick work of Mr. Wonderful.

Sid Vicious pinned Van Hammer with the Power Bomb in 2:09.
Rating: 1/2*

Van Hammer seemed like he would present a stiff challenge to Sid, who’s been tearing up the weekly show since a world title match loss to Ron Simmons. 

Sid, though, proved to be way too much for Hammer. 

The Hollywood Blondes (Flyin' Brian and Steve Austin) defeated
2 Cold Scorpio and Johnny B. Badd when Brian pinned Scorpio with the
Springboard Clothesline in 26:20.
Rating: *** 3/4
(The Hollywood Blonds retained the WCW UNITED STATES TAG TEAM TITLES.)

Badd looked to regain the US titles from the Blondes, this time with 2 Cold Scorpio as his partner. The two teams gave a very entertaining match but it was the champs coming out on top. 

Rick Rude pinned Arn Anderson with the Rude Awakening in 10:04.
Rating: ***

Rick Rude took exception last month to Ric Flair coming back to WCW and thinking he could go right back to the top of the federation. Maybe more so, he took exception to Arn Anderson, whom Rude teamed with in the dangerous alliance, siding with his old friend Flair instead of Rude.

Rude sent a message to Flair by taking care of Anderson tonight. 

Shane Douglas pinned Dustin Rhodes with the Belly-to-Belly Suplex in 8:16.
Rating: ** 1/2
(Shane Douglas won the WCW TELEVISION TITLE.)

For 11 months, no one has been able to take the TV title off Dustin Rhodes. That streak ended tonight at the hands of Shane Douglas. 

It wasn’t exactly a win by the book, as it appeared Douglas used some brass knucks while the ref wasn’t looking to set up his belly-to-belly suplex. 

Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Z-Man defeated Dick Slater and Greg Valentine when Z-Man made Slater submit to a sleeperhold in 16:21.
Rating: ***
(Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Z-Man retained the WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES.)

Terry Gordy no-showed

Bagwell & Z Man proved their title win over Slater & Gordy was no fluke. Valentine replaced Gordy in the rematch when Gordy didn’t appear in the arena. 

After the match however, The Hollywood Blondes decided there's only enough room in WCW for one set of tag champions. The current US title holders ambushed world champions as they were celebrating their win.

Ricky Steamboat pinned Bobby Eaton after a crucifix in 6:14.
Rating: ***
(Ricky Steamboat retained the WCW UNITED STATES TITLE.)

Another challenger steps up to challenge for Steamboat’s US title and another is turned away.

However, a new challenger has already seemingly made his intentions known. After the match, Steamboat was getting interviewed when Sid Vicious came out. He simply stood in front of Steamboat, looked at the belt, chuckled and walked away. 

Ron Simmons pinned Barry Windham with the Powerslam in 16:47.
Rating: ** 3/4
(Ron Simmons retained the WCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE.)

Simmons granted a title shot to his friend Barry Windham in an effort to make amends to Windham feeling on the outs with their group. 

The gesture almost cost Simmons his title, but the All-American was narrowly able to get the best of Windham. 

After the match, Simmons offered Windham a handshake. Windham, distraught over the loss, took a minute before responding, but finally shook hands. 

Sting pinned Big Van Vader after the Stinger Splash in 0:22:42.
Rating: *** 1/2
(Sting won the NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE.)
[Harley Race interfered against Sting.]

Sting is the new NWA world champion. He got an assist from of all people, Cactus Jack. It wasn't on purpose, but Jack tried to lend Vader a hand by use of a shovel, only to have Sting move and Jack hit Vader with the shovel. 

Sting dropped kicked Jack off the apron, then splashed down on Vader and got the pin. 

As Sting celebrated his title win, Vader and Race chastised Jack for costing Vader the title.

(The Hollywood Blondes won the WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES)

(The Hollywood Blondes retained the WCW UNITED STATES TAG TEAM TITLES)

The landmark 25th edition of the Clash of Champions began with a unification match for the two sets of tag team titles in WCW. 

The match featured several momentum shifts but it looked like Bagwell & Zenk were going to walk away with all the gold. After a wild scene with all four men fighting in the ring, Bagwell hit Austin with a fishermen’s suplex and had him down for 3, but the referee was trying to clean up the mess and get Zenk out of the ring. 

Meanwhile, Pillman snuck back into the ring with a belt and clocked Bagwell with it, rolling Austin on top of him to get the pin. The Blondes walk away with all the gold. 

Johnny B. Badd pinned Dick Slater with the Tutti Frutti in 7:07.
Rating: ***

Johnny B. Badd has been welcoming challenges from all comers who think they have a stronger punch than him. Dick Slater was the latest to take the challenge and the latest to fall. 

Cactus Jack defeated Paul Orndorff by countout in 10:52.

Rating: ** 3/4

Harley Race was irate at Cactus Jack for costing Vader the NWA title recently. He sent Paul Orndorff to get some revenge. Jack was looking at this as an opportunity to show what he can do for Race, still in an effort to have him take Cactus on as his manager.

Jack won by countout after hitting a flying elbow on the floor Orndorff couldn’t recover from. 

Jack went to Race and tried to get him to raise his hand, but instead Race berated Cactus. It seems at that point, a light finally went off inside his head as Cactus finally swung and clocked Race. He left the ring from a big ovation from the crowd.

A Flair for the Gold

Ric Flair hosted his Flair for the Gold segment with Barry Windham. Flair sang the praises of his former Horsemen running mate. Windham though was skeptical of Flair coming back.

Windham asked Flair what he was doing back here? Flair suggested that he would be willing to get the Horsemen back together. Windham however said Thanks, but no thanks.

Windham accused Flair of holding him back saying he treated Windham as nothing more than a lackey. Since Flair was gone, Windham has twice won a world championship. Something Ric Flair never let Windham get near.

As Flair tried to talk some sense into Windham, Rick Rude ran in and attacked Flair from behind, giving him a Rude Awakening. 

2 Cold Scorpio pinned Shane Douglas with the 450 Splash in 8:17.

Rating: *** 1/4
(2 Cold Scorpio won the WCW TELEVISION TITLE.)

Shane Douglas recently won back the Television title, but his second reign with the belt didn’t last long. 

Scorpio, who Douglas beat to earn his TV title shot, was ready for a rematch and didn’t make the mistakes that cost him that first encounter months ago. 

Douglas tried to walk out of the match to retain his belt via countout, but former champion Dustin Rhodes came to make sure Douglas got back in the ring, and Scorpio won his first WCW title. 

Sid Vicious pinned Ricky Steamboat with the Power Bomb in 4:52.

Rating: *** 1/4
(Sid Vicious won the WCW UNITED STATES TITLE.)

Ricky Steamboat had been on a roll since winning the US title last summer. But he hadn’t run into anyone quite like Sid Vicious during his winning streak. 

When he’s at the top of his game, there’s very few people that can match up to Sid and he has been on a tear lately. 

Steamboat just couldn’t match up to Sid. 

Harlem Heat (Stevie Ray and Booker T) and Rick Rude and

Sting, Davey Boy Smith and Barry Windham battled to a draw in 20:00.
Rating: *** 1/2

Windham’s relationship with Sting had strained lately since Davey Boy Smith arrived, as Windham has accused Sting of trying to push him out of the picture. 

Sting offered this 6-man pairing as a show of unity to go up against Rude and a new tag team in WCW, Harlem Heat. 

Flair and Arn Anderson were eager to get revenge on Rude for his attack earlier and ran in to go after Rude. Windham, reasserted that he wanted no part of Flair and Anderson and didn’t want their help and walked out of the match. This left Sting and Smith puzzled and at the end of things, the ref had no choice but to throw the whole match out. 

Big Van Vader pinned Ron Simmons with the Vader Bomb in 12:44.

Rating: ****
(Big Van Vader won the WCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE.)

After losing his NWA title, Vader got a shot at the WCW title tonight against Simmons. 

Simmons is one of the few in WCW that can match Vader’s power, and Vader looked surprised that he couldn’t overpower the champ. 

Vader spent time targetting Simmons’ back and those efforts paid off in the end, Simmons went for a powerslam but couldn’t execute it and Vader collapsed on top of him. This became the beginning of the end as Vader once again became a world champion.