On January 2, 1993, Van Hammer lost to Tony Atlas in the quarterfinals of a tournament 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.