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[1991-09-05-WCW-Clash of the Champions XVI] Brian Pillman vs Badstreet


Loss

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  • 3 months later...

The Yellow Dog angle is over, thank God. But now, Pillman has been hidden in plain sight in the light heavyweight division when he had way more potential than that. Schiavone says ALL the wrong things on commentary, about how it really gives guys who wouldn't have a chance taking on heavies a chance. Ross isn't that bad, but he also spends WAY too much time talking about weight limits. If this company had a clue, this would be a pretty effective launching of the division in spite of all that, as they go all out to have a balls out spotfest, and it's a really good one. It's kind of a precursor to the types of matches we got on Nitro every week in the heyday. It's not a **** match, but it is something I could see hitting my Top 100 for the year. And in some ways, I get why it was loved so much, because it was a really fun match that was more energetic than anything WCW had produced in months.

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  • 1 month later...

Pillman's "first" match back since the loser-leaves bout. The Yellow Dog is one of those lame angles that was a horrible thing to watch and yet still leaves you feeling ripped off that there was no conclusion. Sort of like the insane Lex Luger push of '93. They make the right move in ditching Hayes & Garvin to start with, allowing Badstreet and Pillman to go balls to the wall without any distractions. Pillman takes 4 or 5 insane bumps and Badstreet brings more charisma than Brad Armstrong has ever showed in his life, and this is the most energetic crowd for a WCW event in months. Actually this is one of the better WCW bouts of the year.

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Pillman returns and he was doing about everything out there to establish the new division. Dangerous looking suplex to outside with Pillman smacking his back into ring apron and Badstreet almost landing on his head. Pillman then flies not once but twice into the guardrail. The second one was pretty crazy especially when they show the slow motion replay after match. Fun match and yes the crowd was noticeably into it.

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  • 9 months later...
  • 6 months later...
  • 11 months later...

I really liked this for most of the reasons stated above. Brad's performance in particular was surprising, as he matched Pillman spot for spot. Maybe wrestling under a mask helped him feel free to really show what he could do. Pillman bumped a little more than he should have, but he's always been known as someone who does his best to win matches with little to no regard for his own safety, so he was consistent in that regard.

 

Getting rid of Hayes and Garvin at the start changed the type of match this was; I doubt we'd have seen the aerial circus that we did if they'd been at ringside and able to interfere, although I'd have loved to see one of those "one dropkick takes out two guys" spots out of Pillman whan Hayes and Garvin inevitably attempted to interfere. I liked JR's reference to baseball umpires John McSherry and Harry Wendelstedt, though I'll bet he'd have rather mentioned some Big 8 (as it was still known then) football referees.

 

I don't see what Tony said that was so wrong about the light heavyweight limit. Considering that some of the guys in the tournament were perennial losers and everyone watching knew it, it made sense to promote the light heavyweight division as a place where they could finally show off their skills. I also don't see what was wrong with JR talking about the weight limit; it's there as part of the rules, so why shouldn't it be talked about? Remember, Loss: Dusty must have wanted the bout announced in this way. JR and Tony in particular got along with him from way back, so they wouldn't go into business for themselves, particularly at the next best thing to a pay-per-view. If you have a problem with the announcing, particularly in a situation like this (as opposed to JR putting over college football because he's an OU fan), it's with the booker's talking points, not with the men hired to articulate them.

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I feel like it's understood that announcers don't just say what comes to their mind in most cases and I don't have to specifically say that every time I criticize an announcer. But yes, Tony would also on future shows say stuff like that about the light heavyweights, which just reinforces the idea of a title for JTTS types. Announcers were also not micromanaged then like they are now, especially not in WCW, so I think criticism of Tony is appropriate. It's probably fair to say they were given no direction at all. I doubt Dusty cared one way or the other enough to give them any direction in how he wanted them to sell this.

 

The best approach -- I think -- is to not even talk about their size so much (and definitely not compare them to heavies) and instead spend most of their time calling it just like they would a regular championship match. The only differences that should be spoken of are those that favor smaller guys -- faster pacing, more exciting moves ... if it isn't positive, it shouldn't be said. I'm of the mindset that they should get people thinking about these guys as credible wrestlers first and foremost, not small guys first and foremost.

 

And why should viewers care about a title where the competition is limited to guys who can't beat anyone worth beating, especially if they are throwing that in our faces? How does being champion help them at all if that's the framework? Whether viewers "know" this or not, the idea here was supposed to be to change perceptions, not to further emphasize any negative perceptions that already existed.

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Good points, Loss. I should have realized that light heavyweights were probably the last thing on Dusty's mind at this time. I agree with you about establishing credibility for these guys as wrestlers too, although in Pillman's case he already had his reputation. I'm not sure who was in the other semi, but I'm willing to bet that at least one of the guys' reputations was already made. In other words, anyone that would have had to be talked up in order to convince viewers that they belonged in the tournament (to wit, the jobbers) was probably long gone.

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  • 2 years later...

Yeah I felt like Tony killed any cred this might have built. Really good spotfest with tones of both guys bringing intensity to go after a championship. You could tell that WCW was pretty lukewarm (maybe cold by now) on the idea but Ross and Tony in their misguided way try to sell us that these guys are exciting to watch.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1991-09-05-WCW-Clash of the Champions XVI] Brian Pillman vs Badstreet
  • 10 months later...

Good match that should have been the finals since none of the followups had anywhere close to the same level of energy. As stated above, this feels like the 1991 version of the all action cruiserweight match that would be on Nitro six years later. 

When Johnny Rich, Joey Maggs and Mike Graham make up almost half the participants, it's incredibly hard to take the tournament seriously. At least here, Pillman and Armstrong go full speed the entire time, with the suplex to the outside and the suicide dive especially looking brutally impressive.

Yeah, Liger shows up in a few months and Pillman has a decent match with Scotty Flamingo next summer, but sadly this is close to the non-Liger peak of the short-lived division.

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