Clash of the Champions XXIV

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XXIV

August 18, 1993 from the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, FL

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura

Unified WCW and NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson and Paul Roma def The Hollywood Blondes "Stunning" Steve Austin and Lord Steven Regal (c) (w/Brian Pillman and Sir William) in 9:52- The Disney tapings come back to bite WCW in the ass. The Horsemen were scheduled to win the titles at Beach Blast but that was nixed at the last second because word got out of them being champs during the tapings, so Bischoff decided to swerve the smart fans. Now their backs are against the wall- do the title change or lose the footage. The problem is, Pillman got hurt a couple of days before this show. Regal is his emergency this match must happen tonight replacement. Arn and Austin start. Arn gives Pillman a little mocking violin playing. Speed run out of the lockup. Austin his a clothesline and lays in the measured elbows. Arn gets a leg takedown and some ground punches. He slingshots Austin over the top rope. Austin lands on the apron, charges, and Arn backdrops him to the floor. Austin backpedals quick and tags. The Horsemen work Regal's arm with some terrific selling. Regal keeps trying to get his ground game going with Roma but Roma's all "screw this limey, we're working my way". You can almost see the point where Regal figures the hell with it, might as well just go with it. Austin trips Roma to put him Horseman in peril. Pillman helps out with a choke. Regal hits a senton for 2, then a gut wrench suplex for 2. Roma and Austin make a hash out of a buckle shot counter. More mildly interesting face in peril stuff follows. Roma gets a small package but the ref is distracted. He catches Austin and gives him a hot shot. Regal runs in and the ref doesn't see the tag. Roma hits a .5 enzuguri I think and gets the tag. Regal breaks up an Arn DDT attempt. DONNYBROOK! Arn runs Austin into Sir William and cradles Austin with a handful of tights for the pin and the titles. Roma becomes the fifth (and least) partner Arn has won a tag title with. Fine for a thrown together match. Sadly this was the end of the Blondes' short but nuclear hot run. Austin would get a singles run while Pillman was hurt, and even after he recovered they were kept apart until teaming up again just to lead to their half hearted breakup feud. **

 

2 Cold Scorpio def "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton in 5:26- This was originally set as Scorpio vs Regal before the Pillman injury. They open up with some basic arm work. Eaton counters a backdrop and tosses Scorpio out. Scorpio flips back in with a roll up for 2. Eaton answers with a clothesline. Scorpio ducks in the corner and Eaton runs face first into the top buckle. Scorpio flips over onto the top rope and hits a crossbody for 2. Eaton dodges a crossbody and Scorpio splats on the mat. Scorpio sets Eaton on the top rope and dropkicks him to the floor! Plancha! Back in Eaton hits a swinging neckbreaker and elbow off the top for 2. Scorpio has a quick comeback, hits the 450 (badly, driving his knee right into Eaton's face) and it's done. Eaton was an '80s version of a high flier but this was a total clash of styles, and frankly didn't look like there was much effort being put in from either side. *1/2

 

Mask vs Guitar: Johnny B Badd def Maxx Payne in 2:41- The final final blowoff of this feud. Payne grabs Badd during his entrance and whacks his knee over the apron. Then doesn't touch the knee again the whole match. He hits elbow drops instead. Badd ducks a clothesline and lays in some punches. Payne dodges a crossbody and hits a side suplex. He rips Badd's mask off. Badd has another one on underneath! That old trick. Badd hits a flying headscissors. Payne goes for the Paynekiller. Badd wraps up a small package for 2. Payne tries a splash off the second rope. Badd dodges, and covers the prone Payne with one arm for the pin. Lame finish. Given Payne's track record, it's for the best this was kept so short. 1/4*

 

Next up is a Clash edition of A Flair for the Gold. His guests are Sting and the British Bulldog. Even though they all have matches later tonight, this is all about their upcoming War Games match at Fall Brawl, specifically who their mystery partner will be. Sid Vicious, Col. Robert Parker and Harlem Heat crash the show, demanding to know who it is. They yell at each other for a while, during which Flair goes to leave then hilariously stands frozen in the door like a cardboard cutout. Finally Sting says their partner will shock you, because he is.....THE SHOCKMASTER! BOOM PYRO! SHOCKMASTER CRASHES THROUGH THE WALL and trips and falls flat on his face. His glitter covered Stormtrooper helmet comes off and he has to scramble to put it back on. Yes, a Star Wars Stormtrooper helmet covered with purple glitter. Someone says "Oh God!". Bulldog: "He fell on his fucking arse!". Everyone stands around and tries to recover while waiting for Ole Anderson to get on the mic backstage and deliver Shockmaster's promo Black Scorpion style. Because that angle worked out so well, why not call back to it? Generic promo cut, everyone gets the hell off the set in case they get associated with the all time disaster that took place here. This isn't just a wrestling botch, this might be THE definitive wrestling botch. Everyone's heard of the Shockmaster, just not the way that was intended.

 

WCW World Television Championship: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff (c) in 8:31- Tony and Ventura are still trying to pull themselves together and make a few funny cracks about good entrances. Oh great, Buffer's here. That'll kill 10 minutes. The TV title is about 5 rungs below his usual standard, he's really slumming it here. The first few minutes is pretty flat with a lot of basic and uninteresting work. The most engaging thing is the house lights have gone down and spend the match trying to turn back on. Orndorff ducks a dive and Steamboat flies over the top rope to the floor. After a Steamboat leapfrog Orndorff does a u-turn, slams him, and tries again for a pin multiple times. Steamboat chops back. Orndorff counters a backdrop with a faceplant. Steamboat chop off the top rope for 2. Back suplex. Big chops from Steamboat and Orndorff goes 360 over the top outside. Steamboat with a plancha! He almost legit ran over the ref to do it too. Orndorff gets a shoulderblock and slingshot splash back in for 2. He grabs the belt from Ventura. Steamboat rolls him up from behind for 2. Orndorff goes for the piledriver but Steamboat backdrops out. Bridge and backslide for 2. Steamboat crossbody off the top. Orndorff rolls through it for 2. He goes for a slam, but Steamboat rolls him up for 3 and the title! After the match Orndorff piledrives Steamboat into the belt on the ramp. Dull as paint start, but the closing stretch pretty good. **1/4

 

NWA World Heavyweight Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair and Sting def The Colossal Kongs (w/Harley Race) in 2:14- The Kongs are purported to weigh a half a ton, are masked and are named Awesome Kong (no, not that one) and King Kong (no, not that one). Which is which? Don't know, don't care. Sting is challenging Flair for the NWA World title on TV next Saturday but they can operate together because they're buds now. Sting immediately slams both Kongs out of the gate. Well there goes that drama. After a long heel stall everyone gets in the pool! Flair and one Kong fight on the floor with the Kong getting posted. Sting gives the in-ring Kong the Stinger Splash, a splash off the top and we're done here. That was pointless. Buffer's intro was longer than the match. I could be remembering wrong but I'm pretty sure the Kongs never showed their masks in WCW again. 1/2*

Dustin Rhodes has a mystery partner tonight, who's arriving in a Corvette that's part of a giveaway contest. It drives into the arena and out pops....Road Warrior Animal! He teases getting in the ring, but while the heels are distracted Road Warrior Hawk sneaks in from behind and scares them off. Hawk will be wrestling this match as, not said on TV, Animal's back injury was still keeping him from wrestling. Hawk had been working full time in New Japan since leaving WWF after Summerslam '92 and had been in the last joint WCW/NJPW Tokyo Dome show, but this is the Roadies' first proper WCW appearance since they left for the WWF in mid '90 and the crowd goes nuts for them.

 

"The Natural" Dustin Rhodes and Road Warrior Hawk (w/Road Warrior Animal) def "Ravishing" Rick Rude and The Equalizer in 7:41- The US title was amazingly still in limbo, but it would finally be won by Dustin between here and Fall Brawl. After his big entrance Hawk and Rude start. Ventura: "There's been a lot of really good entrances tonight. Almost shocking." Hawk tosses Rude across the ring out of the lockup. Rude takes forever to get in a test of strength and loses when he does. Equalizer comes in. WCW fans know him best as the future Dave/Evad Sullivan. After a roll out and chase sequence Hawk tries to hit a neckbreaker but Equalizer just.....drops. Ugly. Hawk hits a corner clothesline. Equalizer gets a boot up and clotheslines Hawk. Rude slaps on a double chinlock just so Hawk can lift him on his shoulders. Dustin tags in and the faces hit a doomsday device. Dustin runs wild, giving Rude an inverted atomic drop (classic Rude sell) and backdrop. Rude hits an ax handle off the top rope. Equalizer choke slams Dustin. The heels try to double team but Rude clotheslines Equalizer. Dustin tags out but the ref didn't see it. Hawk doesn't give a shit. He press slams Equalizer into Rude. Double clothesline. He clotheslines both heels 360 to the floor. During this whole sequence ref Randy Anderson is yelling at Hawk to get back on the apron to deaf ears. Equalizer clotheslines Hawk down to the floor. He bounces right back up to the top rope, tackles Dustin's back while Equalizer has him lifted up, and Dustin falls on top for the pin. *3/4

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Big Van Vader (c) (w/Harley Race) def "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith in 11:11- Vader can lose the title on a DQ in this match. After another overly long Buffer intro Vader wanders onto the ramp, Bulldog charges him and we're on! The mask is already off! Vader hits a short clothesline. Bulldog delayed suplexes Vader on the ramp! He clotheslines Vader back in the ring and tries a slinghsot splash, but Vader gets his knees up. Bulldog hurt his knee coming down. Vader lays in the corner beatdown. Bulldog ducks away from punches at one point, I think legitimately because he didn't want Vader to hit him any more. They have an obvious quick conversation and Vader tosses him to the floor. Bulldog dodges a charge and Vader crashes into the guardrail. Back in Bulldog hits a Samoan drop. Vader gets a foot on the rope. Off a whip reversal Vader hits his signature tackle and elbow drops Bulldog's hurt knee. Stiff clothesline. Vader hits his own Samoan drop. He goes up top and hits a splash! Bulldog kicks out! Bulldog flies into the corner upside down on a corner whip. After ducking a clothesline Bulldog wraps up a crucifix. Vader fights and tries to drop Bulldog, but Bulldog hangs on a gets a *long* 2 count! HUGE Vader potato shot. More corner beatdown. He goes up top again. Bulldog dropkicks him and Vader gets crotched. He falls down in the corner and Bulldog stomps a mudhole in him. Vader gets a boot up in the corner. Vader bomb! Bulldog kicks out again! Vader comes off the second rope. Bulldog catches and powerslams him. Ref Nick Patrick got taken out too and there's no one to count Bulldog's cover. Bulldog lifts Vader up for another suplex. Race come in and clips Bulldog's knee! Vader falls on top of him and gets the pin. Not great, not terrible. Not really a fan of the booking, I don't see the downside of Vader winning clean the roll he was on. This was essentially the end of Bulldog's mega push in WCW. He'd be relegated back towards the midcard and would be out of the company before the end of the year. **3/4

 

After the match is over someone tackles Vader on the ramp. IT'S CACTUS JACK! Jack found his way out of Cleveland! BANG BANG!

OVERALL SHOW THOUGTS- Not much in the way of good wrestling to recommend here. If you're going to watch this show, it's going to be for the bad things that happened: the Hollywood Blondes dropping the titles despite Pillman's injury because of WCW painting themselves into a pretape corner and ending their red hot run almost as soon as it began, and THE SHOCKMASTER. For people that enjoy poking fun at the let's say less successful moments in wrestling history (the same kind of people, like me, that are huge Rifftrax/MST3K and Angry Video Game Nerd fans), the Shockmaster is a seminal must see event.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+, the plus for the Shockmaster