for the vacant WCW United States Heavyweight Championship on Saturday Night. A day later he lost to World Heavyweight Champion Big Van Vader on a house show in Bristol, TN, after which he took time off to have surgery to repair the broken nose that he had been wrestling with, causing him to miss the Thunderdome match at the Clash of the Champions XXII on January 13. He would be out for a month before returning on the February 9th taping of WCW Power Hour. Hammer continued to be a mainstay on Saturday Night, winning the majority of his matches. At the first-ever Slamboree pay-per-view, Van Hammer lost his match with Sid Vicious in only 35 seconds. Despite the quick loss Hammer continued to be pushed, defeating Vinnie Vegas on a house show in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 3. He was victorious as well against Tommy Angel and Vladimir Koloff as well that month, although he sustained a defeat to Rick Rude. On July 3, Hammer defeated Lord Steven Regal at a house show in Spartanburg, South Carolina. His final WCW match came on July 11 in Tower City, Pennsylvania, when he pinned Wrecking Crew Fury. However, due to WCW's lengthy tapings that began that month, he continued to appear much later in the year. On the September 11 episode of WCW Worldwide (taped July 7 in Orlando, Florida) he teamed with 2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell in a losing effort against Sid Vicious & Harlem Heat. His final television appearance came on the November 6 episode of WCW Worldwide (taped July 10 in Orlando, Florida), Hammer attempted to defend his Jesse Ventura's Strongest Arm championship but was defeated by The Equalizer in the first round. In addition to making a television appearance in November 1993 (due to the pre-taping in July) in the Jesse Ventura arm-wrestling challenge, Hammer's name was also mentioned on the January 4 episode of WCW Main Event in a segment with Diamond Dallas Page. The heel randomly drew names out a fishbowl, and Hammer's name was one of the selections. However Hildreth would not make his actual return until November 29, 1994, when he was defeated by Dick Slater in a television taping. On the January 21, 1995 episode of WCW Pro (taped on December 4, 1994, in Dalton, Georgia) another challenge was made by Diamond Dallas Page, this time a call to