WCW Clash of the Champions, Cedar Rapids, IA
Watching the Dusty/Dustin segment that was part of the video of that Sting/Steamboat vs Flair/Austin match made me want to watch this match again.
It really is one of the great promos and storylines you’ll ever see.
(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)
Dusty and Dustin had teamed before. Rather famously at the end of WWF’s run, including his last match there, when they lost to Ted DiBiase and Virgil at the Royal Rumble at the top of ’91. They’d also teamed in Japan in what was, for a moment, meant to be Dusty’s final match at the ’92 January show at the Tokyo Dome.
And that had been Dusty’s last match, until this. The basic story is that Col. Parker and his Stud Stable had been hounding Dustin, who needed a partner, and Arn Anderson stepped up, only to fairly predictably turn on a Rhodes.
Here, we’ve got the Stud Stable represented by Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck, with the Colonel in their corner and the bodyguard Meng.
The fight starts immediately when the Rhodes boys hit the ring. Dustin pairs with Buck, Dusty with his old rival, Terry Funk. The Rhodes clear house, and Terry grabs a chair to spin around, while Parker fans Buck with his hat.
Heenan really puts over the Funk vs Dusty rivalry. “They’ve never liked each other, they never will like each other, and it will never be over, as far as they’re concerned, until one of them is out of this sport.”
Match starts proper with Dustin and Buck trading fiery right hands. Dustin stomps Buck’s face when he drops down, but misses a clothesline, only to hit a boot. Tony thinks the whole thing has been a ploy to get Dusty back in the ring to eliminate him.
Buck pushes Dustin over to the corner and THERE’S CLUBBERIN’! THERE IS CLUBBERIN’! That’s four fistes on one guy.
Dustin ducks a charging Buck, who hits Funk and knocks him off the apron, and Dustin follows by clotheslining Buck out. Funk comes back to take an atomic drop. Dustin gets Buck with one, too, and Buck runs into Funk.
It’s all Dustin here early, even with a cast on his arm, and now here’s the tag to Dusty! There are so few people who could truly control a crowd like this. Rock wound up arguably being the all-timer at it, but Dusty was the pure best of his day and right there with ol’ Dandy Dwayne; it’s something Dusty did even better than Hogan or Flair or anyone else.
Dusty passes on a right hand and drops Buck with the elbow, but who he wants is Terry Funk. Terry’s in, not the legal man, holding his fist up, but he leaves before he can be tagged. Buck with a couple rights in the corner. Dustin shields the corner so his dad doesn’t have to, uh, take an Irish whip to the corner, and Dusty gives the Stud Stable lads a double noggin knocker. Then they get whipped into one another. Then Funk gets his ass thrown into Buck’s face.
Dustin tags back in. Big powerslam on Buck gets two but Funk breaks the pin. That distracts Dustin enough so that Buck can take his cowboy boot off and hit Dustin in the back of the skull with it.
Finally, Terry Funk is going to properly tag in. He wants a DDT, but Dustin doesn’t go with it. Funk tries another front facelock, Dustin trying to push to the corner, but Funk headbutts him a few times and keeps him at bay.
Buck distracts the ref, too, so when Dusty gets the tag, it’s not legal. That also allows Buck to swing the boot again, but this time he hits Funk.
Tag to Dusty, another double noggin knocker. Arn Anderson hits the scene and knocks Dustin out ringside, then trips Dusty from the outside. Now they’re going after Dusty’s arm, trying to follow up what they’ve already done to Dustin the month prior.
Crowd stomping and clapping, and Dusty manages to crawl over and tag Dustin for a lariat on Funk! One for Buck!
Funk gets whipped into a bionic elbow from Big Dust! Buck, too. Parker nailed off the apron and Arn gives him they HEY! WHA HAPPENED?
Bulldog on Buck, but Arn jumps in and DDTs Dustin! Dusty’s taking it to Funk and doesn’t totally notice, but then Arn turns around into Dusty with the bug eyes. Elbow for Arn!
Meng’s there, though. Dusty considers the right hand. Considers the elbow. Asks Meng to wait. Dusty fetches a wooden chair, which he breaks over Meng’s skull to no effect. It’s a moment I’ve thought of I don’t know how many times since it aired live.
Buck, Arn, and Funk are keeping Dustin from helping as Meng paralyzes Dusty with the Nerve Hold.
Who comes for the save? Frankie Lancaster! He fails to help. Dusty back in the Nerve Hold. Is Frankie Lancaster the only real man backstage, what the fuck? Doug Dellinger, who never helped shit, is in along with Greg Gagne, who might bust out a dropkick if these guys don’t watch it.
But the end result is the Rhodes are left laying in a 5-on-2 disadvantage. They would recruit the Nasty Boys for the ’94 WarGames.
The match is fun because the crowd is hot and they do about all they should, keeping plenty in the tank for the big WarGames brawl and still letting you see that Dusty can throw them elbows and right hands. Dustin gets to look great, Funk and Buck stooge around plenty, and then the numbers with Arn and Meng are just overwhelming, and Meng is overwhelming enough by his lonesome.
Tape Machines Are Rolling 