Clash of the Champions XXVIII

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XXVIII

August 24, 1994 from the Five Seasons Center in Ceder Rapids, IA

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan

The show opens with the Network "presented in the most complete form possible" disclaimer and starts right up with the Nasty Boys' entrance.

The Nasty Boys def WCW World Tag Team Champions Pretty Wonderful in 9:33- Since losing the titles the Nasys have turned face, a role they're badly suited for. To make matters worse, they'll be WCW's top or near top face team for the next two solid years. Ugh. During intros we get our first shot of the Blacktop Bully (Barry Darsow) sitting ringside. He pops up off and on for a while. He doesn't have a name yet, commentary just calls him an obnoxious fan, but anyone that's watched wrestling for a while should recognize him and know something's up. That and the fact random fans don't get camera time like that no matter how loud they are. Tony mentions that a lot of guys aren't here tonight due to other things going on, specifically saying Sting is doing an appearance in Chicago. That will play into things later. Orndorff and Knobbs start but almost immediately the Nastys are double teaming and take both heels out. Roma gets a boot up in the corner on Sags for their first bit of momentum. He comes off the top rope but Sags catches and powerslams him. The fight goes to the floor and the heels get a double team shot on Sags. Orndorff chokes him with a TV cable and flips him over the guardrail. Sags gives us a very, ahem, unique sell of an eye rake on the floor, wandering around like a literal blind man. Back in Roma hits a slam and elbow off the top rope. More face in peril work with Knobbs constantly running in follows, none of it very interesting. Sags backdrops out of Orndorff's piledriver and tags. DONNYBROOK! The heels hit a suplex/top rope elbow combo, but Sags comes down on Orndorff with a top rope elbow of his own, covers him, and even though Sags isn't legal the ref counts the pin. I assume this got the Nastys a tag title shot but it must have been blown on weekly TV because they aren't in the tag title picture the next few PPVs. Small mercies. The match never came together, they were oil and water. 3/4*

Hey kids, tired of blowing your parents' money on the WCW Hotline? Well now you have a whole new option: the HULK HOGAN HOTLINE! That's right, Hogan now has his own individual hotline. With "Beat the Hulk (I assume in a match, not, er, other 900 number things), Hulk trivia, your daily Hulk affirmation (OK, I paraphrased that one), there's always something new!". After commercial Mean Gene brings out the man himself. But wait! A masked man runs out and hits Hogan in the knee with a crowbar! Was it Jeff Gillooly? Hogan rolls on the floor and shouts "WHY ME?". OK, he doesn't, but the whole Nancy Kerrigan thing was less than a year before this, the reference is irresistible. Heenan makes the reference. A gaggle of officials and trainers surround Hogan, including commish Nick Bockwinkel and Eric Bischoff, who's acknowledged on air for I think the first time ever as the current WCW executive producer. Okerlund runs through all his metaphors, saying it's "a madhouse, bedlam, zoo atmosphere". That just makes me think of Planet of the Apes. The real one, not the Tim Burton remake that doesn't exist. Anyway, Hogan's leg gets braced and they cart him off on a stretcher to get him on an ambulance to take him to the local medical facility.

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def "Stunning" Steve Austin (c) in 16:02- During entrances we see Hogan being loaded into the ambulance (or "meat wagon" per Heenan). Bischoff gets in with him. Heenan: "Is there even a real hospital in Cedar Rapids or are they taking him to some animal clinic?". The DQ rule is waived for this match, meaning Steamboat can win the title if Austin is DQ'd. Austin has the Dragon Slayer tights on again. Headlock/headscissors tradeoff start. Slapping and shoving. Austin tries to hide behind the ref and sneak attack Steamboat but gets caught. That was fantastic. Commentary is still focused on Hogan, bringing in a production guy that was an eyewitness to say what he saw. There's a crossbody reversal in the ring while the camera is on him. Austin roll up with tights for 2. Chop exchange. Steamboat dropkick. Austin back elbow. Steamboat powerslam and roll up for 2. Austin gets a monkey flip, but Steamboat reverses into a cover for 2. DEEP armdrag. Austin snap mare and he tries for a chinlock. Steamboat flips him over to set off another breathless reversal and near fall sequence. Austin uses momentum to send Steamboat to the floor. Steamboat drags him out and chops him. Austin tries to run, but Steamboat goes the opposite direction and catches him on the other side of the ring with a running chop! Austin rolls back in and they immediately turn the jets on again. The pace in this match has been insane. They both try sleepers. Steamboat hooks his in better but Austin quickly jawbreakers out. Tony says Sting has hopped on a charter jet in Chicago to fly to the arena and replace Hogan if necessary. Somehow I doubt it will be. Just a hunch. A cameraman gets knocked off the apron while Austin chops Steamboat in the corner. Steamboat gets a hiptoss and another series of reversals ends with Austin posting his shoulder. Steamboat wraps his arm around the post, then knucklelocks Austin, climbs and walks the top rope, then drops Austin's arm onto it! Chop off the top for 2. Austin backs the ref into the corner and eye pokes Steamboat. Kneedrop for 2. He slaps Steamboat on the ground. After a short chinlock, about the only pause in the match so far, we get another chop exchange. Both guys flip out of suplex attempts, Steamboat hits a clothesline, he goes for a splash but Austin gets his knees up. Austin elbow off the second rope with some very Stone Cold mannerisms. Steamboat lifts Austin to the top rope. Another chop exchange with both guys standing on the ropes. Austin headbutts Steamboat back down. He pops up and crotches Austin with some great mocking by Steamboat. Superplex attempt by Steamboat, but Austin blocks it and drops him to the mat. Austin launches and Steamboat gives him a gut punch on the way down. Steamboat comes off the top. Austin dodges and lets him faceplant himself. He slaps around on the back of Steamboat's head, mocking him and getting super cocky. He even gives Steamboat the old Hollywood Blondes camera crank. More slaps. Steamboat hulks up. Leg takedown! Steamboat's pissed. Austin pushed too far. Steamboat spinebuster for 2. Electric chair for 2. Classic Steamboat series of rapid fire pin attempts for near falls. Austin gets a backdrop near the ropes but Steamboat skins the cat. Roll up for 2. Another small package, and after all those attempts Austin's run out of escapes and Steamboat gets the pin and the title! That match was a beautiful piece of business with an insane breathless pace and some truly remarkable counter and reversal work. Unfortunately since we're on regular TV Steamboat gets about a whole 5 seconds of title celebration before commercial and moving on. More unfortunately, this would also end up being Steamboat's last match as a full time wrestler. He suffered a back injury during this match that forced him to hang it up, becoming the second hall of fame wrestler to have a career ending injury in WCW in the past few months (Rick Rude being the other). After a quick Fall Brawl appearance to hand over the belt Steamboat wouldn't resurface on camera again until his mentor work with both TNA and ROH, where he had a big hand in the development of a young CM Punk, then his short WWE comeback in 2009 with the wonderful Chris Jericho feud. ****1/4

I have no idea how anyone could watch Steve Austin in this period and not think he was a major star waiting to happen. Let's see how the next few months play out for him.

We come back from commercial with Hogan being unloaded from the ambulance at the hospital. I guess they picked up Brutus Beefcake on the way there. Bischoff takes a mic and says they don't know anything yet, Hogan didn't see anything but said that "something snapped" in his knee. Bischoff leaves the mic with the cameraman and goes into the hospital. After that Tony hypes the coming of the Honky Tonk Man, which I'm sure everyone watching WCW was just clamoring for. Yes, that was sarcasm. They have a new music video from HTM to debut, which sounds a lot like his WWF music but just different enough to probably hopefully avoid a lawsuit. We continue the talking segment run with Mean Gene talking to Commissioner Bockwinkel. He says they don't have enough information to make a statement, but apparently he does know enough to say that if Hogan can't make his scheduled title defense tonight he will forfeit the title.

 

"The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes and "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes def Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck (w/Col. Robert Parker and Meng) by DQ in 7:27- This feud has gotten so big it's gotten Dusty out of retirement. Of course the Rhodes family vs the Funks goes back a long, long way. They show the full promo from weekly TV of Dusty asking to be his son's partner and there's some genuine emotion in there from both of them. They make sure to say this is the first time they've teamed up *in WCW*. Eagle eye, well, memory, fans will remember that Dusty and Dustin teamed up at the '91 Royal Rumble just before they both left WWF. As soon as the Rhodes boys hit the ring the brawl is on. The heels get run out of town and crazy Terry Funk goes crazy with a chair. Reset with Buck and Dustin. Dustin wins another brawl exchange. The heels confer in the corner and the Dustin gets trapped in there. Buck takes out Funk on a double team attempt. Dustin clotheslines Buck 360 to the floor and atomic drops the heels into each other. Dusty tags in to a huge ovation. Bionic elbows on Buck. Dustin saves his dad on a corner whip. More bionic elbows for everyone. Funk's selling like a madman. So like Funk. The heels get piled up in the corner. Dustin powerslam on Buck. Funk breaks the pin up and Buck hits Dustin in the back of the head with his boot behind the ref's back. Dustin blocks a Funk DDT. Headbutts from Funk. They do the "ref didn't see the face tag" spot. Buck comes off the top rope with his boot but hits Funk. Tag to Dusty. Arn Anderson runs in and attacks Dustin from behind, then trips Dusty. Funk stomps on Dusty's arm. Dusty dives over to the corner and gets the tag. Dustin cleans house. Lariats for everyone. He whips the heels into Dusty bionic elbows. Dustin bulldog on Buck. Arn comes in and hits Dustin for the cheap DQ and gives Dustin a DDT. Dusty takes Arn out. Now Meng gets in and everyone reacts like shit just got real. Dusty backs off. He gets a wooden chair. I stress wooden. He hits Meng with it, breaking it over his head! Meng doesn't even flinch. What, is he Zeus now or something? Meng slaps a nerve hold on Dusty while everyone else holds Dustin out. They fight security off for a bit before Doug Dellinger finally gets Meng off. This would all lead to this feud getting the War Games match at Fall Brawl. The match was a serviceable brawl, if a bit one sided but in context of the story they were telling it worked, and the angle was pretty good. The crowd was super excited to see Dusty back in the ring too, no matter how limited he was. **

We return to Bischoff at the hospital. He still doesn't know anything. Crack reporting, Eric. He does say it "doesn't look good" which is probably about as reliable as anonymous White House sources. He's joined by Hogan's attorney, Hart and Beefcake. Excuse me, Bruti. That other name has a WWF copyright on it so we can't say it. The lawyer says Hogan is being x-rayed. The doctors think Hogan should forfeit but Hogan of course wants to go. The lawyer is concerned. Hart is concerned. Bruti is concerned. We're all concerned. We have a consensus. Back to the arena and Flair and Sherri join Mean Gene and step all over each other's promos. They were an odd pairing and didn't mesh well. Flair wants Hogan back in the arena, but not to wrestle, to personally hand the belt back over to Flair. Okerlund says if that happens "it'll be a cold day.....well, in Cedar Rapids". Um, it's Iowa. Half the year at least is cold days. Should have thought that through more or just said the naughty word on TV. After commercial Okerlund says his sources say "somehow" Hogan is on his way back to the arena.

 

Antonio Inoki def WCW World Television Champion Lord Steven Regal (w/Sir William) in 8:26- We're early on in Inoki's four year Final Countdown retirement tour (check out my my reviews of the January 4th Tokyo Dome shows from this era for more). I'm really not sure why this match is happening other than Inoki wanted to check "wrestled for WCW" off his list before retirement. Regal attacks before the bell while the camera is on the crowd for a long while. Inoki slides back to the floor and gets his robe off. When he gets in there's the usual MMA style cautious hands up grappling Inoki did. Regal gets a facelock and a leg takedown but doesn't seem to be sure what to do after. Inoki goes for the rear choke but Regal grabs a rope. European uppercuts from Regal. He headbutts Inoki on a corner break. More ground work and Inoki ends up halfway on the announce table, where William gives him a cheap shot. An Inoki reverse kick misses by a mile but Regal sells it anyway. Must have moved the air really hard. Strong style. Regal wraps up a leg hold as we go split screen and see Hogan arriving back at the arena, walking slow and limping. While the match continues back and forth with zero attention from commentary Bockwinkel comes out and says Hogan has been advised not to wrestle but he's going to anyway. Inoki Choki! Regal powers out of it, something very few guys in Japan got to do. Double underhook suplex from Regal for 2. Inoki ducks an uppercut, puts the Inoki Choki on again, and Regal goes out. Your mileage on this match will vary greatly depending on how much you care for Inoki's pseudo MMA pseudo shoot style. Personally as much as I respect Inoki I don't think it came together well at all. It's been a bad night for champions so far. 1/2*

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (w/Sensuous Sherri) def Hulk Hogan (c) (w/Jimmy Hart and Brother Bruti) by countout in 14:26- There's a long delay between Hogan's music starting and him coming out, but he makes it, limping the whole way. Flair tells him to give him the belt. Hogan teases doing it and then attacks Flair! He pummels Flair with Flair's robe up over his head. A Flair chop is no sold and Hogan does the shirt tear in Flair's face. Then he stuffs the shirt in Flair's mouth! At least Hogan is still limping around selling the knee attack. Flair Flip to the floor. He drags Hogan out and more chops are no sold. Hogan grabs a towel from someone ringside, wraps it around Flair and posts him. Guardrail shot. Flair is selling like a maniac. He begs off in the ring. Hogan clotheslines him with the towel. The ref finally gets on Hogan for all the rule breaking and Flair gets in an eye poke. He goes up top but Hogan slams him off. More clotheslines. A punch sends Flair 360 to the floor. They go up the aisle with Hogan giving him a bunch of back rakes. Flair gets posted again. Hogan grabs a chair but Flair dodges. He catches Hogan coming back in and gives him the delayed suplex. Hogan pops right back up, as much as his bad knee will allow, and hits another clothesline followed by elbow drops. Flair Flip 2 and apron clothesline. Another rail shot. There's an old lady at ringside swinging her cane around trying to hit someone with it. Where the hell is security? Hogan teases taking the cane from her to use, and also teases grabbing the belt as a weapon. Back in Flair *finally* hits Hogan in the bum knee and we're loading up the bus to head to school. Sherri comes in and hits Hogan's knee because she's contractually obligated to get involved at some point. Nothing against her but she was such an unnecessary add on in this feud. Flair kneedrop on the bad knee. Hogan fights off the figure four. Chop block and Hogan tumbles out. Flair continues to pick the knee apart. Figure four! At least Hogan's selling it more than he did in the Bash at the Beach match. Then he starts Hulking Up and physically pulls Flair's leg off to break the hold. More Huking Up with Hogan ignoring Flair's kicks to the knee. Finger point. 3 punches. Big boot. Hogan collapses after hitting that. He uses the ropes to stand back up, manages to hit the legdrop, but can't get up to make the cover. He stands up and the knee buckles again. Flair hooks the figure four back on. Hogan almost submits, then grabs the ref and tells him no. He reverses the figure four. While they're on the apron and the ref's attention is with Hart Sherri hits Hogan in the knee with her Shoe of Extraordinary Pointiness +1. Hogan falls to the floor, can't get back up and is counted out. Michael Buffer announces Flair is the new champ. *sigh* Why the hell did WCW hire him again? The ref says no but Flair takes the belt. He at least should know better. Buffer then says Hogan wins by DQ. Heenan shouts "No you dummy, it was a countout!". The masked man is in again! He hits Hogan's knee and he and Flair pick it apart some more until Sting runs in to make the save. Flair leaves with the belt. Sting helps Hogan out of the ring and the show closes with him being loaded into the ambulance again. For those wondering the masked man was played by Arn Anderson tonight, but as much as he made sense he wouldn't be the officially revealed masked man. More on that when we get there, but it's not going anywhere good. **3/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Welcome to the Hulk Hogan Show. No matter who was in the ring or what else was happening, Hogan was always the topic of conversation on TV. So, like the Inoki match, your mileage will vary. The main event is worth watching if you're going through the whole Hogan/Flair feud but isn't worth it on its own. The US title match, however, is must see and helps elevate the overall package.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C+