[1991-09-05-WCW-Clash of the Champions XVI] Sting and Cactus Jack

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Paul E. interviews Cactus Jack about his attack on Sting earlier tonight. Cactus has improved by leaps and bounds as a promo since 1990. A gift box is shipped out and Cactus assumes it's Abdullah. He goes to give him a big Cactus Jack hug, but Sting jumps out of the box and beats him up. Cactus takes a back body drop on the ramp way immediately, then a hiptoss to the floor. Good Lord. How about that, another angle that I liked from this sorry excuse for a wrestling promotion! Sting vs Cactus immediately feels like a hot issue.

[PeteF3]

Cactus ducks Paul E.'s question of who paid him and Abdullah to attack Sting, and instead asks us all for a round of applause for the end of Sting's career. Another gift box appears on the rampway, but instead of Cactus' business partner Abdullah, it's Sting. Not sure where Sting got his own gift box from, maybe he hijacked it from Abdullah. But it's a neat reveal nevertheless. Another awesome brawl follows, with Cactus getting backdropped on the ramp, hiptossed off the ramp, and creamed with a trash can and not backing down, which the announcers put over big.

[Kevin Ridge]

There must a store right near the arena that was selling these giant gift boxes. Cactus thinks it’s Abdullah but out pops Sting. I wouldn’t have put this segment on the same show as I liked Cactus laying out Sting earlier. But at least we got a feud that has some life to it in WCW.

[soup23]

Cactus cuts a good interview and him hugging the box thinking it was Abby was funny until Sting came out showing a lot of fire. I respect Cactus to a extent for the bumps here but it again goes into the inherit problem I have with his character sometimes. If he is able to survive a hiptoss to the floor and get right up, how does that make the other heels in the promotion look? Still this feels like WCW #1 feud by a safe margin at the moment.

[garretta]

This was great stuff, especially the brawl at the end, which is about as hardcore as you can get in 1991 WCW. But couldn't it at least have waited until the following Saturday night? I get that they wanted to portray Sting as being just as tough as Cactus Jack, but the man took a flying elbow from the second rope on the concrete just a segment or two ago; he's allowed to be hurt for three lousy days. Still, at least they're being consistent, as Mick doesn't bother to sell getting hiptossed off the entrance ramp for more than five seconds either. I can't wait to see what their actual matches in the ring will be like!

 

To Soup's point, the announcers did a good job of making Cactus Jack seem like a breed apart from your average heel; there's something about the way the man feels pain (or doesn't, as the case may be) that simply isn't human. That may be a kick in the head for your World champion and supposed top heel Luger, but Luger's not really being portrayed as a flat-out heel anyway; he's more like a paranoid World champion who'll do anything to keep his belt, which isn't always the same thing.

[dawho5]

Sting vs. Cactus is already shaping up to be better than anything WCW has done in months. That bump to the arena floor by Foley is absolutely ridiculous. Foley being put over as one of the toughest guys in wrestling makes a lot of sense.