To me, in the history of World Championship Wrestling, there was no one more underrated, underappreciated, and undervalued as Cactus Jack.
My father turned me onto Mick Foley back in the early 1990s. My earliest memory was taking my old man’s Memorex VHS tape at 7 years old and watching WCW Beach Blast 1992 in my room. His match with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting, a non-title Falls Count Anywhere war, was unreal. Cactus took some serious punishment and kept on ticking. Although he lost, I was mesmerized by his performance.
Papa Bruce kept ordering pay-per-views, solely to watch Cactus’s matches. His SuperBrawl III battle with Paul Orndorff and the Halloween Havoc fight with Big Van Vader were his two particular favorites.
However, on May 22, 1994, with two of my buds coming over for Slamboree 1994, Cactus was a part of the damnedest match I had ever seen.
—--
Cactus and Kevin Sullivan teamed up for the first time since 1990, when they were a part of Sullivan’s Slaughterhouse alongside Buzz Sawyer and Bam Bam Bigelow, against the Nasty Boys in a “Broad Street Bullies” street fight for the WCW World Tag Team Championships, with two-time Stanley Cup Champion and 1970s enforcer for the Philadelphia Flyers Dave “the Hammer” Schultz as special guest referee.
Originally, Cactus had just faced the Nasty Boys at Spring Stampede in April, alongside Maxx Payne, in a Chicago Street Fight and lost. He had also begun the process of leaving World Championship Wrestling, putting in a four month notice following frustrations with WCW’s creative, among other reasons.
Also, many people forget that it was supposed to be Kevin Sullivan and his brother Dave against Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags at Slamboree; however, following a serious injury to his knee, Dave had to bow out, and Kevin had to call an audible for a new partner. That audible: CACTUS JACK.
All four men beat the Hell out of one another. In the heart of Philadelphia, the bloodthirsty fans ate it up. In the end, thanks to a brawl between Sags and a disrespected Schultz, Cactus caught the Nasty Boy with a hockey stick to the head. Three fast slaps of the mat later, and Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan won the WCW World Tag Team Championships in a shocker.
A month later at Clash of the Champions XXVII on June 23, 1994, Cactus and Sullivan retained the belts in a rematch. More toned down, the four men still beat the Hell out of one another, but thanks to interference from “Evad” and one Double Arm DDT, the unlikely champions trudged onward.
The next night, Cactus returned to Philadelphia. However, it wasn’t for WCW. It was for an international dream match for a fledgling company with some serious buzz against one of professional wrestling’s most incredible daredevils.
Cactus Jack vs “the Homicidal, Suicidal, Genocidal, Death-Defying” SABU at Hostile City Showdown for Eastern Championship Wrestling.
—--
To understand how important this match was at the time, you have to look at the state of Eastern Championship Wrestling.
When Paul Heyman took over the head creative position of the promotion on September 19, 1993, he intended to take ECW and revolutionize the industry. Using a combination of old school Memphis, vintage television, modern grunge and hip-hop music, and his own innovative mind, Eastern Championship Wrestling built up a unique product.
Even with the foundation being laid out, ECW was being talked about by hardcore wrestling fans and tape-traders. In particular, there was one wrestler that was being discussed in multiple continents that had already become a cult legend in the undergrounds.
That man was Sabu.
Trained by his Uncle, the original Sheik, Sabu broke into the business in the mid-1980s, based out of Detroit. By 1991, Sabu began traveling to Japan to perform for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, run by Japanese deathmatch legend Atushi Onita.
In FMW, Sabu’s legend grew, putting his body on the line repeatedly in hard hitting deathmatch, flying through the air with the greatest of ease while putting his body through unimaginable pain. His arms and torso were adorned with scars and marks. It was unbelievable to see. There wasn’t another performer in wrestling like him.
So when he made his debut on October 1, 1993 at the ECW Arena in South Philly against the Tasmaniac, his reputation and aura preceded him. He was violent with not only content, but himself. Quickly, he became ECW Champion and became the lynchpin to more fans discovering and coming to ECW events.
By the time June 24, 1994 came around, Sabu had become a “can’t miss” competitor. At the same time, ECW came to a talent exchange with WCW.
Ironically enough, with Slamboree being in Philly, ECW and WCW, or more ECW Owner Tod Gordon and WCW Creative Team member Kevin Sullivan, came to an agreement, with Terry Funk coming to WCW, and Bobby Eaton & Arn Anderson going to ECW for some cards. With a solid partnership, IN SPITE of Heyman’s animosity towards the company after being fired in 1992, Heyman decided to ask for Cactus Jack for a match with Sabu.
WCW Management AGREED, and we got this promo a short time later.
The match was set: Hostile City Showdown 1994, ECW Arena, June 24, 1994. Sabu vs WCW World Tag Team Champion Cactus Jack in a Dream Match.
The battle was hardcore as to be expected. Cactus and Sabu both took extreme risks with their bodies. At the end, thanks to a cell phone shot by Paul E. Dangerously, Sabu picked up a three-count and the win. But it was such an even battle.
Yet, the match was only the beginning of the story.
After the event, Cactus Jack got in front of the camera and began cutting an incredibly passionate promo.
For the hardcore fan and the ECW loyalist, this really hit the spot. Cactus laying down his truth was absolutely awe-inspiring and definitely an early precursor to the future “Cane Dewey” promos in ECW a year later, especially with its intensity.
From WCW’s perspective, it was not good at all.
According to Mick Foley in his incredible autobiography “Have a Nice Day”, he went into detail regarding this promo.
I thought we had a Hell of a match. I later saw a tape, and still thought so. Unfortunately, expectations were so high for this match that they were impossible to live up to. There were people in that converted bingo hall who literally thought they were going to see someone die. When I finished the match, my lower back was in a great deal of pain. There was no shower in that little sweatbox arena, and my body started to break out in hives. I wanted nothing more than to have a hot shower and a clean bed, but remembering the importance of the match, I stuck around for three more hours until it was my time to do interviews. In them, I tried my best to put over ECW and Sabu, and explain what it was like to lose to a better man. To illustrate just how upset I was, I spit on the WCW tag team belt.
I had no idea how much trouble my saliva would cause. (Foley, 273-274)
Mick continued on a few paragraphs later.
The phone rang as I prepared to head to Center Stage for a match with Orndorff and Roma. Janie Engle was on the line, and she asked if I’d “hold for Ric.”
“Cactus,” Flair began accusingly, “did you do an interview where you spit on the WCW tag team belt?” Now someone had told me that Gene Okerlund had stooged off my ECW interview to Flair, after seeing it on the Sunshine Network in Florida, so I was prepared.
“Yeah Ric, I did,” I said excitedly. “Did you see it?”
Flair seemed taken aback by my tone. “Why would you do an interview where you spit on the championship belt?” he inquired.
“Well, Ric,” I explained to my boss, with even more excitement in my voice, “I wanted the fans to understand that as much as I valued that belt, I valued my pride a little more. By spitting on the belt, I felt that I was adding an exclamation point to that fact. I knew how important this match was for WCW, so I wanted to give a little something extra.”
With that, Flair said he needed to take another call. I was all fired up. “F### him,” I silently mouthed, while raising my middle finger in a Stone Cold Salute. When Flair got back on the line, he said he had to go, but that he’d talk to me at TV. It would be great to say that I went there and verbally tore Naitch a new @$$hole, but the truth is that, not wanting to create waves, I apologized for disrespecting the image of the belt.” (Foley, 274-275)
A few weeks later, at Bash At The Beach on July 17, 1994, Cactus and Sullivan lost the belts to Pretty Wonderful.
Two months following the title loss, Cactus Jack officially left the promotion at Fall Brawl on September 18, losing to the future “Taskmaster” in a “Loser Leaves WCW” match.
Ironically enough, a few weeks prior on August 27 at the infamous NWA World Title Tournament at the ECW Arena, the night Eastern became EXTREME, Cactus and Mikey Whipwreck defeated the Public Enemy in a shocking upset to become the new ECW World Tag Team Champions. What a wild timeline.
—--
For me, this moment was underrated in the history of World Championship Wrestling. With the beginnings of Hulk Hogan in the company, as well as the entire philosophy of the company changing under the guiding eye of Eric Bischoff, it’s really a blip on the radar.
Yet, even in this era of the infamous Madusa throwing the WWF Women’s Title in the trash live on Nitro in December 1995, the spitting and tossing of the WCW WORLD Tag Team Title belt on another show’s television product is wild.
I totally see both sides of the equation. Cactus’ point of showcasing his frustration over losing the match and how much it meant to him is so subliminal, while Ric Flair’s frustration of the image of the belt being “tarnished” is definitely understandable as well.
Needless to say, I LOVED this moment. Cactus Jack had me captivated, even thirty-two years later. It makes me wish that all of his successes outside of WCW actually happened inside of the company. More importantly, it makes me wish we were in a time machine and we could live this again.
BANG BANG!
Bankie Bruce
Add comment
Comments