Grilling JR - Clash of the Champions 16 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Today is a very interesting topic for a lot of reasons. It is the 30th anniversary of Clash of the Champions XVI which is subtitled Fall Brawl even without a War Games.

Business is tough at this time Jim. The WWF is under investigation for steroids and they just fired Ultimate Warrior at SummerSlam. Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan are working the house show loop for the first time. And things aren’t looking so hot in WCW. From the Observer:

“They are prepping for a Clash of Champions on 9/5 from Augusta, GA, one of which may have a hand in determining the future of the Clash specials. There has been talk that if the show doesn’t do well in the ratings, TBS programming is seriously considering dropping the planned November Clash and future clashes.”

What were the issues with the Clash shows not drawing well?

Supposedly TBS rejected the first version of the card because it didn’t have Sting or Lex Luger on it and TBS thought the show would be doomed ratings wise. Do you know if that’s true or not?

WCW still doesn’t have the big gold belt back from Flair. Did anyone expect this to be an issue?

From the Observer: “Jim Ross has been adamant on his talk show about putting the Flair situation behind them and talking about the present and future, but it’s still the leading topic of conversation on his show and at many arenas.”

Did Jim Herd ever turn to you and say, “Whoo boy I fucked this whole thing up didn’t I?”

Something that’s interesting is being run on the house shows for the TV title held by Steve Austin. The TV title is only on the line in the first 10 minutes and after that the title is no longer on the line. So it’s allowing Austin to lose once the match goes past 10 minutes without changing the title. Think that’s something that could work today?

Nikita Koloff’s contract is expiring at the end of September and no agreement happens for him to continue. Was Koloff ready to just move on or was the money just not there anymore for him to continue?

Sting wins the WCW US title in a tournament held at the Omni and beats Steve Austin in the finals to win it. It draws 5,000 fans and $38,000. That’s gotta be a disappointment…or not at this time?

Any talk of thinking of bringing Warrior in at this time?

I ask because here are some astonishing house numbers. August 29th at the Meadowlands drew 1,800 paid…August 30th in Philly draws 650, August 31st in Baltimore draws 2,500 paid and that’s with kids being let in at 54 cents…and September 1st in Norfolk drew 1,800.

Even Meltzer comments on it in such a way that it’s hard to believe WCW survived:

“I don’t know how long this company can continue to operate in this manner. They have gone long since past the critical point and are approaching a comatose position and the doctors in charge of this patient seemingly are doing nothing but sitting there waiting for a slow, brutal death. A whole scale change of battle plans is needed and all we keep seeing is more of the same, but only worse”

Is Meltzer right on the money here?

From the Observer: “Although WCW officials are denying there was ever a plan to use The Hunchbacks, there definitely was since Kevin Sullivan was asked to be one of them. I don’t know what the status of them is right now, but Jim Ross denied there were ever any plans to do the gimmick.”

Well Jim were there plans to do the Hunchbacks?

Kevin Sullivan leaves when his contract expires as well. Was there hope he would be extended or was he ready to move on?

There’s talk ahead of time of how well the show has to go. Do you feel that pressure?

We’re at the show now Jim and the response isn’t overwhelmingly positive. According to the Observer readers it’s as 25.2% thumbs up, 64.9% thumbs down and 9.9% thumbs in the middle.

The show is taking place from the Richmond County Civic Center in Augusta, Georgia and the show draws 2,800 for a $28,000 house.

We open with the battle royal. From the Observer: “The opened with a Battle Royal, called the Georgia Brawl, which went 9:33 before El Gigante clotheslined both One Man Gang and Oz over the top. This match had no organization or story to it. Just a bunch of guys throwing punches back and forth and waiting for their time to go over the top. In order of elimination, Terrence Taylor, Big Josh and Ranger Ross went out together at 4:35, Thomas Rich at 5:00, Tom Zenk and Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker at 5:04, "Southern Boy Tracy" went out at 5:52, Bobby Eaton at 7:00, P.N. News at 7:19, Barry Windham and Steve Austin at 7:30 and Dustin Rhodes at 9:19. DUD”

Battle royals are tough for wrestlers because of all the space that is taken up. Oz obviously is Kevin Nash. El Gigante was always pushed just because he was a monster. Was there any hope that he could do anything in a wrestling ring to draw money?

2. Brian Pillman pinned Bad Street (Brad Armstrong) in 6:52 with a flying body press. This was the first semifinal of the light heavyweight tournament and was the kind of a match they need to get a lighter weight division over as something different. But out of this group's entire tournament, this really was the first match that exemplified why the lighter weight division has a popular niche in Japan because they worked a faster-paced style rather than just lighter guys working the same style as the bigger guys. They did a lot of Jushin Liger spots. The match was mainly one hot move after another with several near falls. Pillman injured his thigh legit doing the dive through the ropes although only appeared to favor it momentarily during the match. ***¾

This is Brian’s return as Brian Pillman compared to the Yellow Dog gimmick he had been doing for months. Meltzer’s kind of dead on in his assessment of what the Cruiserweight …. Or in this light heavyweight … division should be all about. Who was pushing for this division and this type of action? Was Pillman the perfect person to build this division around? It sounded like you damn near had a heart attack on Pillman’s dive as well!

3. Sting pinned Johnny B. Badd with a small package in 6:11. Love that Johnny B. Badd ring entrance. The first two minutes featured one nice move after another. It broke down from there. At one point, Sting whipped Badd into the ropes for the Stinger Splash, and Badd fell down about 15 feet before he got to the corner. Finish saw a box brought out to ringside. Badd hit Sting with a shot to the ribs and stared at the box. Then Sting got up and he stared at the box. They both stood there like they didn't know what they were doing which I guess got "the box" over and ruined any pretense that they cared about a wrestling match. Then Sting gave Badd a sloppy inside cradle for the pin. Cactus Jack came out of the box, knocked over Teddy Long, blew by Johnny B. and attacked Sting, complete with an elbow off the middle rope onto Sting who was on the floor, and then the double-arm DDT before a few faces came out for the save. *

Anyone coming out of a box is always over as Jim Cornette says but the whole standing around waiting for something to happen is a lot in this match. Did Sting & Badd just not click or were they just wasting time when the box came out?

4. Richard Morton pinned Mike Graham in the other light heavyweight tournament semifinal match in 7:40. People didn't care at all about Graham and it doesn't help tournament credibility when you've got a guy that nobody has seen on television and he's in the semifinals. The wrestling was fine but there wasn't much heat. This was an old school style match with lots of working and selling holds (unlike the Sting-Badd match in which nobody sold much of anything). Finish saw Graham have Morton pinned while Alexandra York distracted the ref. Morton kicked Graham off and his face his the turnbuckles, and as he fell back, Morton schoolboyed him and held the trunks. **

I mean it’s hard to disagree that Mike Graham … who was a road agent up until this point … is just here but heel Richard Morton here just doesn’t seem right does it Jim? Who decided it was a good idea to put Graham out there?

Next it was a feat of strength with Bill Kazmaier, that was really an angle for later in the show. Kazmaier bent a thick steel bar. A contrast between WCW and WWF. If this was WWF, the feat of strength would have been far more visually effective, and also would have been gimmicked. While all the wrestlers backstage knew how impressive Kaz was for bending the bar, I don't think anyone at home really had a clue as to what type of strength is needed for that stunt and what kind of power Kaz really has. Anyway, Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko ran out and smashed a 45 pound plate into Kaz's ribs on the right side doing a "rib injury" gimmick. Arn then did a most muscular pose over the fallen Kaz which he should have done over the fallen company.

Jeez Jim that last line from Meltzer is rough. Who is Bill Kazmaier and why is he getting the push here?

5. Freebirds beat The Patriots in 5:42. Since the match where the U.S. tag team title changed hands wasn't going to air until Saturday, neither team came out with the belts and while the titles were mentioned, they avoided any references to the Freebirds as the current champs (since the title change was taped in Atlanta and to have the Freebirds come out with the belts would only expose the charade in the home city of the company where most of the fall TV tapings will take place). The guys worked hard but the Patriots are nowhere near ready as workers, let alone that gimmick. Chip had Jimmy Garvin pinned Michael Hayes dropped the elbow on him and put Jimmy on top behind the refs back. *

How difficult sometimes in this era is trying to keep track of what’s going to air when and how it’s talked about on commentary? This is not the best match. We’re Chip & Todd not ready for prime time?

Then came the Cactus Jack interview with Paul E. Dangerously. A box came out and Cactus "thought" it was Abdullah the Butcher, and opened it to find Sting. The two had a good, short brawl with Cactus taking a few incredible bumps (a backdrop onto the ramp, a hiptoss off the ramp onto the concrete floor) and them hitting each other with garbage cans.

TWO BOXES ON ONE SHOW JIM! What have we done to be blessed by this? Cactus takes some insane punishment here and Sting looks like a million bucks now compared to that mess earlier with Johnny. Couldn’t we had just one box angle?

6. Ron Simmons pinned Diamond Studd in 2:25 with a shoulderblock. It was short, but hard fought while it lasted. In this case, even though they had no time to do a match, it was best for all concerned to give Simmons, as the No. 1 contender, an explosive quick win. *¼

How does WCW not know what they have with Scott Hall at this point? Look Ron is about to be the #1 contender so I’m not saying have go 50/50 but Hall has been in the business for 7 years at this point, big, muscular, can go, what was it about Scott that just didn’t over until he went to the WWF?

7. Van Hammer pinned Terrence Taylor in 1:07 with a knee off the top rope that missed by a foot. If I ever had to give a speech about things that are wrong with professional wrestling and had to limit it to 67 seconds, I'd just show a videotape of this match. It exemplified most of the problems in wrestling perfectly. Poor Terry Taylor. -**

This is Van Hammer’s debut and literally the hopes were he would become the next Ultimate Warrior and there’s Terry Taylor to help put him over. Meltzer’s write-up though…classic. Did you think Hammer had a chance to be a top guy?

8. Steve Austin pinned Tom Zenk to keep the TV title in 9:07. It started slow with Zenk mainly working on the left arm. Zenk was working with an ankle injury. When Zenk did his comeback, he missed a flying body press off the top rope by about a zip code. Finish saw Lady Blossom give Austin a foreign object, and when Zenk had Austin up for a back suplex, Austin hit Zenk and fell on him for the pin. *¾

Zenk was known as a great worker and we all know what Austin was going to become but Austin is two years in at this point. Did you think when you see a Tom Zenk vs. Steve Austin match it would be better?

Now here comes some controversy Jim…

They did a segment during the show where they were pushing Ron Simmons, showing him at an Atlanta boys club giving a speech, in a school bus with kids going to the last show at the Omni, a film clip of an interview with Bobby Bowden, who was Simmons' college coach and film from last year's ceremony in Tallahassee when they retired Simmons number at Florida State University. While granted, it was an awful lot in one fell swoop and would have been a lot more effective to show one of those things every other week for two months than all at once, it elevated Simmons from one level to the next as a wrestler. He then started an interview when Harley Race and Mr. Hughes came out, and Simmons walked off looking for Luger.

This led to the contract signing with Luger making the remark that when he beats Simmons, he has a job in his organization as a chauffeur and then Simmons jumped across the table and they had another pull-apart.

Since it’s 1991, that white vs. black stuff is REALLY outdated. It wasn’t as overt or as offensive. But they are doing the angle on racial lines. If anyone wants to deny it, answer this question—when was the last time a heel told a white wrestler there was a job for him in the organization as a chauffeur?

Jim it’s a lot to cram into one segment and one video about how this new babyface Ron Simmons is special. Did you feel the racial overtones in this angle like Meltzer laid out and do you think that was the intent?

9.The Enforcers (Anderson & Zbyszko) won the vacated WCW world tag team titles beating Rick Steiner & Kazmaier in the tournament finale in 3:33. Yes, a match to decide the world tag team title and they give the guys 3:33. Rick was in the whole way, before tagging Kaz. Kaz had Zbyszko up for a press-slam, Anderson hit him in his ribs on the left side (it was the right side that was injured earlier in the show, a fact not lost on an awful lot of people) and Zbyszko fell on him for the pin. Nothing against the Enforcers, but the credibility of these tag team titles has never been lower. DUD

Kazmaier is in this spot due to the injury of Scott Steiner. Does it look bad when it’s just two guys in a tournament final that probably shouldn’t have been there and does anyone win in this scenario? Anderson & Zbyszko didn’t look good at all and I’m assuming someone ran long to have this match only go 3.

Well what did you think of the show Jim? Thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle?

From the Observer...The show drew a 3.7 rating and a 5.9 share and was viewed in 2.1 million homes. The rating was the lowest out of the 16 Clash specials since 1988. Still, even though advertisers were promised a 4.5 rating, many in the company were pleased with the rating. It was up against some heavy competition (MTV music awards and a Jimmy Connors tennis match, the latter of which a surprising number of hardcore wrestling fans eschewed the Clash for, not to mention Beverly Hills 90210 and Cheers) and going in, everyone presumed it would draw the lowest rating in Clash history. Most expected worse, since the 3.7 isn't that much off the 3.9 that the previous Clash did with Ric Flair vs. Bobby Eaton and a far stronger undercard. That Clash was during the summer when TV viewership was lower and went head-to-head with the final game of the NBA playoffs. Last year's Fall Brawl Clash with Sting vs. Black Scorpion and Flair vs. Lex Luger as the double headliner was the most-watched Clash in history and the second most-viewed cable television wrestling show of all-time.

Was the rating a success for you and the office even with it being the lowest rated Clash of all time?

From the Observer … “WCW has organized a "steering committee" as opposed to a booking committee. The committee is "responsible for discussing with our Director of Wrestling Operations, Dusty Rhodes, the direction of and emphasis on the various WCW money streams and the priority placed on each one. So the committee, composed of Jim Crockett, Jim Ross, Rhodes, Terry Allen (Magnum T.A.), Jim Barnett and Jim Herd is there to set long-term direction and emphasis and will have weekly meetings.”

Was this the plan before the show or does it happen coming out of the show?