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[1993-01-10-WCW-Main Event] Cactus Jack vs Paul Orndorff (Street Fight)


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  • 3 weeks later...

Hard-hitting match where the winner goes into Thundercage at the Clash. These two have a brutal, "Come As You Are" streetfight, and Race keeps throwing Cactus back in the ring when he falls to the outside. Cactus finally has enough and clotheslines Race from the apron. So Vader runs out and he and Orndorff do a number on Cactus. After commercial, Michael Hayes does an interview with Vader, Orndorff and Race, and Cactus officially turns babyface for the first time, hitting everyone with a shovel in a great moment.

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Loss, I was curious why you guys chose this one over the Superbrawl match between these two? I haven't watched it yet, so there's no implied criticism there at all. Just curious.

This was put on since this was the official babyface turn. The matches are about equally good, but Superbrawl III already had several matches. So this had the turn and was a little more rare too.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Yeah, this was really good. It had the aura of a fight and was violent without appearing choreographed, which is a trap most modern 'hardcore' matches fall into. The entire segment - match, heel beatdown, comeback with the shovel - definitely has a 'Watts' feel to it, which is a good thing in this instance. Everyone played their roles perfectly, and the turn was very effective.

 

Sidenote: Knowing what we do now about Orndorff, I can't help but to stare at his right arm during his matches.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 3 months later...

Cactus may be the one guy who got a positive boost in his entrance music from the Slam Jam album. I'm an unabashed sucker for "Mr. Bang Bang."

 

I'm not sure if this match was as good as SuperBrawl III, but it's a hell of a fight and I really appreciate that they worked two very different matches even though both were street-fight-type bouts. If it had to be one or the other then the rarity of this plus the significance of the face turn makes this a slam-dunk pick. Orndorff is his usual vicious self and takes some fairly hellacious bumps in his own right. Harley Race makes the mistake of shoving Cactus back into the ring one too many times and eats a clothesline off the apron. That brings out Vader, and Jack is triple-teamed into oblivion in a terrific angle. Loved Race in his suit dropping a picture-perfect kneedrop, and Orndorff choking Jack out with the belt while Vader rained splashes down on him. Race is positively giddy over his selection, until Cactus Jack emerges from the crowd with a shovel and goes crazy, hitting everything that moves.

 

Awesome match and two awesome angles to follow. WCW television is on fire right now. Turning Cactus babyface is a bold and out-of-the-box booking move that really paid off for his career--big props to Watts or Rhodes or whoever's idea this was.

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  • 2 months later...

Street fight to see who replaces Rude in a Thundercage match at the Clash. I thought Cactus wrestled pretty safely here given his rep in brawls, but maybe that only holds up when judging him compared with other guys rather than his own insanity. Race keeps pushing Cactus back in when he's outside. Cactus finally has enough and lays out Race, then Vader & Race attack Cactus with Vader splashing him out. Interview with heels after, where Race is so great. Cactus then attacks them with a shovel to mark his face turn.

 

I did not remember in the slightest that this was the official face turn, so it was fun to see it again.

 

**3/4

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  • 10 months later...

Damn good match that really felt like they made every show in the WCW universe important at the time as we have seen WorldWide in addition to WCW SN really develop angles so far in the year and have different things going on. I appreciated the stiffness Paul brought to this as he didn't mind dishing it out to Cactus. Cactus took some good bumps of course and the finish is really memorable and helps thrust him into the forefront for what should have been a main event run along the lines of DDP rising up in 1997 - 1998. (***1/4)

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  • 1 year later...

Wow.

 

They've done street fights on Main Event before, and they've always been rather forgettable, but this one wasn't. Even without the match, Mick's turn and the aftermath would have been something else, but this was a good match beforehand as well. I always knew Mick was great in these bouts when he had the time to be. but Paul brought out his inner street fighter too, and that's what made this so good. I definitely bought the idea that these two guys would kill each other to have a chance to do the same to Sting and his friends, and Harley was excellent as the puppetmaster/instigator. I've had a hard time seeing what his purpose is as of late, but he redeemed himself here. I loved his gloating interview afterward; it was almost like he deliberately manhandled Cactus knowing that he would snap, and then they could eliminate him and elevate Orndorff.

 

Cactus' with the shovel was the cherry on top, and I liked how he just started whaling away with no idea and no care who he was hitting. By the way, I'm pretty sure I saw a "Vegas" on a pair of tights somewhere in the melee, but I don't think the guy in them was Nash; for one thing, he wasn't any seven feet tall by a longshot.

 

Turning Barby with Cactus is a smart move in retrospect; even though Cactus is now a face, it makes no sense to put him in the same camp as guys like Sting and Dustin, at least on a regular basis. He needs to team with someone just as wild as he is, and Barby fits that bill better than anyone else on the roster at the moment.

 

JR and Hayes aren't a team that you count on for snappy repartee, but Michael got off a good line on Cactus: "Being born was a street fight for him!" I wonder who takes JR's place on Main Event when he leaves?

 

By the way, kudos to Harley for taking the clothesline off the apron and those shovel shots like a champ. He must be in pretty good shape (for the shape he's in, anyway) to take those kind of bumps, which most managers won't (or can't).

 

Just in case you're interested, the Thundercage match ended up a six-man match instead of an eight-man. Sting, Dustin and Cactus (subbing for Ron Simmons) defeated Orndorff, Vader, and Barry Windham when Cactus pinned Orndorff.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1993-01-10-WCW-Main Event] Cactus Jack vs Paul Orndorff (Street Fight)

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