411 Video Review: Clash Of The Champions XXVI

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Live from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

This is taking place a month after Starrcade 93 where Ric Flair kept his career alive by defeating Vader for the WCW Title and a rematch was signed for Superbrawl. In the interim a Clash was a coming up and Sting and Rude were also continuing their feud so they decided to sign an elimination match.

Mean Gene comes out and here’s some news that is worse when his mother-in-law announced she was moving. Mean Gene brings out-

THE BRAIN!!!!!

Booby Heenan and Mean Gene squabble as usual. Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Brain.

Pretty Wonderful (w/The Assassin) v. 2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell (w/Teddy Long)

Winner meets the Nastys on WCWSN. This is a rematch from Starrcade 93 and the teams have been feuding ever since. Crowd chants ‘Paula’. Orndorff and 2 Cold start. Orndorff controls on the mat and hammers away. Scorpio reverses a suplex and hammers away. CLIP! Roma and Bagwell are in. Roma with a stungun. Bagwell with a rollup for two. Tag Scorpio. Scorpio kicks Roma’s ass but Roma blocks a superplex and nails him from the top twice. Scorpio is face-in-peril. Orndorff eats boot coming off the top, hot tag Bagwell who cleans house. Crossbody to Roma-two. Top-rope dropkick- Orndorff is late for the save. Bagwell covers but the ref is distracted. Cheapshot by Orndorff and it’s breaking lose in Baton Rouge. The match kinda slows down for a minute and I don’t think anyone knows what to do until Bagwell pins Roma after some heel miscommunication. I hated this feud. Ѕ*

Ron Simmons v. Ice Train

This is your standard teacher v. student feud only the teacher was the heel. After losing to Vader in 1992 there really was nothing else for Simmons to and this was the last thing he ever really did before leaving. Ice Train is one of those guys who somehow had a job with WCW for like eight years before the company folded despite not doing anything of note like ever. Ice Train takes control and they brawl on the outside. Ice Train misses a charge and hits post. Simmons kicks his ass. Simmons talks some trash- DAMN. On a charge Train counters with a sunset flip or one. Simmons powerslams him but Ice Train nails him from the top and does a botched powerslam. Ice Train misses a three point stance (well he was going at like .0000001 mph) and Simmons rolls him up using the tights for the win. DUD

Mean Gene hypes the hotline of course. 1-900-909-9900.

Mean Gene brings out Steve Austin who is dressed like Col. Rob Parker and does a very funny impression of him. Funny funny stuff.

Mean Gene announces the new commissioner- Nick Bockwinkle. Bockwinkle cuts a boring promo.

Lord Steven Regal (w/Sir William) v. Dustin Rhodes for the WCW TV Title

Solie joins Heenan on commentary for this match

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love both guys and they are my two current faves in WWE. Lockup- Dustin pushes him back and Regal complains. Lockup- Regal pushes him back and nails him. Dustin gets pissed and lets the fists fly and dropkicks him. Regal bails. Lockup- Dustin with an armtwist and throws Regal using the ropes. Dustin is God. Test of strength- nothing doing. Lockup- Dustin works on the arm. Regal reverses and pulls back on the neck and arm. I love Regal. Regal then hooks a full nelson which Dustin breaks. Regal kips up but Dustin shoulderblocks him. Regal bails. Dustin with a headlock. Regal reverses for two. Back to the headlock. Dustin outsmarts Regal and gets a slam for two. Back to the headlock. Regal uses his foot to break so Dustin goes back to a drop toehold and goes back to the headlock. Regal again tries to reverse for a fall. Regal with the forearms to break. European uppercuts and forearms and poor Dustin. Regal with an armbar. See this is like wicked hidden psychology- Regal stayed in the headlock for a long time to kill time and is now doing ground moves in order to save his title. It may not be exciting stuff but it works and it is more proof that Regal is God. Dustin tries to break so Regal gutwrench suplexes him. Regal goes back to working him on the mat with a crossface. Dustin breaks but Regal trips him up and goes back to the crossface/chinlock with five minutes left. Regal with a Million Dollar Dream type maneuver by crossing Dustin’s arms and stuff. Dustin counters with a lariat for two. Regal bails and has a conference with Sir William on how much time is left. Back in- Dustin blocks a sunset flip and hammers away. Dustin hammers away and gets a flying lariat for two. Regal bails pissing off Dustin. Dustin chases him but Regal of course proves his smarts and catches him. He tries a suplex but Dustin reverses and Dustin with a dropkick. Regal rolls him up but Dustin is in the ropes. Regal bails. Regal kicks ass on the outside but Dustin backdrops him back into the ring. Dustin with a crossbody for two. Regal bails. Dustin follows him out and beats up both Regal and Sir William. Dustin tries desperately to roll him back in and get the pin but he’s too slow and hits the bulldog as time expires. I love both guys and even though it wasn’t the most exciting match ever it had wicked psychology and other cool stuff you don’t see anymore. ****

Mean Gene is with Aaron Neville who likes Dusty and Dustin.

Maxx Payne/Cactus Jack v. The Nasty Boys (w/Missy Hyatt)

Tony is back with Brain for this one. Nastys are the tag champs at this point but this is non-title. Cactus and Maxx run in from the crowd and attack. This is mainly just a pier-4 brawl. Payne and Sags actually do a real tag match with Payne botching a slam. Payne and Knobbs go with Payne getting his armbar finisher but Sags saves. Knobbs beats on Payne. Sags kills Payne with a chairshot as the Nastys work him over. Payne lariats both Nastys, hot tag Cactus who kicks some ass. Cactus with a DOUBLE CACTUS CLOTHESLINE!~ on the Nastys and they all go out. Back in- Cactus hits the double arm DDT on Knobbs- Sags saves. Payne runs in and takes out Knobbs- Cactus and Payne win. A couple months later these guys had a classic brawl at Spring Stampede but they just didn’t work well just doing straight up tag team matches and I think someone back there noticed. *1/2 Payne and Cactus kiss Missy post-match.

Mean Gene again bitches about Brain getting hired. There is some commotion involving Missy and the Nastys- call the hotline.

Video package of Parker-Pillman.

Col. Rob Parker (w/Stunning Steve Austin) v. ‘Flyin’’ Brian Pillman in a loser must wear a chicken suit match

The Hollywood Blondes were this really over tag team that managed to piss everyone off like ever but of course WCW broke them up and turned Pillman face and gave Austin a manager- Col. Robert Parker. Austin and Parker made life miserable for Pillman and I think Parker started calling him a chicken and thus we have this- the loser must wear a chicken suit.

Parker runs away but Pillma catches him and slams him which Parker sells like he’s dead. Pillman with a dropkick for two. Parker bails. Pillman goes after Austin and kicks his ass. Parker rams his head into the mat. Parker works him over but Pillman nails him in the midsection and kicks his ass. Parker bails again and him and Austin walk up the ramp. Pillman chases after them and beats up Austin. Parker tries to run but The Boss stops him and Pillman’s beats the shit out of Parker. Parker bails again and tries to run through the crowd but Boss stops him. In the confusion Austin stun guns Pillman. Back in- Parker doesn’t cover and him Austin beat on Pillman. Parker goes up top?? And that doesn’t work too well as Pillman nails him. Pillman kicks his ass some more and rams him into all the turnbuckles. Pillman nails Austin again so Austin throws him off the top and it gets two. The Boss chases Austin away and Pillman rolls up Parker for the win. Funny match here. **

Sting and “Nature Boy” Ric Flair v. Vader and “Ravishing” Rick Rude (w/Harley Race) in an elimination match

Buffer does the intros. Rude and Sting start. OWWWWWWWW! Lockup- Rude pushes him back and swivels. Lockup- Sting pushes him back and swivels. Sting applies a wristlock and works on the arm. Rude bops him on the back of the head but Sting yanks on the arm. Rude hammers away and kicks Sting’s ass. Tag Vader. Vader beats on Sting and shoots Flair an evil look. Vader presses Sting throat-first right onto the rope. Vader kills Sting per the tradition. Sting blocks a sunset flip and jumps on Vader. Rude runs in and Vader TAKES OFF THE MASK! IT’S ON NOW BIOTCH!! Sting tries to fight back but Vader just calmly makes him his bitch until Sting GERMAN SUPLEXES Vader. Tag Flair and WOOOOOOO! Flair kills Vader and murders him with a chop. CLIP! We’re back to Sting v. Rude. Rude has a bearhug on Sting (umm Rude- we’re back from commercial) Sting boxes his ear and comes back. Hot tag Flair. WOOO! Flair kicks some ass but Rude nails him on a blind charge and tags in Vader who is pretty damn pissed. Vader with a Vader splash. Flair: Ohhh God! Ohhh! Vader with a superplex. Vader with a top-rope suplex. I think Flair is dead. Tony and Brain talk about the plane crash. Sting runs in and saves Flair and gets his ass kicked. Nick Bockwinkle tells Vader to not hit Flair with a chair and Vader and Flair get counted out. So we’re down to Sting v. Rude. Sting clotheslines Rude out as they carry Flair out. Sting and Rude brawl on the ramp and Sting hits a top-rope clothesline. Sting with a backdrop but Rude counters an atomic drop. Rude nails Sting from the top. Rude beats down Sting and flexes. Sting counters a looooooong reverse chinlock by falling back. Sting blocks the Rude Awakening and hits one of his own for two. Rude with an atomic drop but he misses his own Stinger Splash but stays in control. Rude goes for a tombstone but Sting hits one of his own and hits a top-rope splash for three. A bit too much resting from the ravishing one but this match was excellent- Vader was on fire here. ****

Tony and Brain plug the hotline. This Saturday 2 Cold/Bagwell faces the Nasties, Col. Rob has to dress up as a chicken and Shanghai Pierce v. Johnny B. Badd and that’s Clash 26.

The Bottom Line- Two **** matches make this Clash an easy recommendation. WCW was on fire during this time and it showed with shows like this, Spring Stampede and Slamboree. Definitely check this one out- there’s some great stuff on it. Go to wrestletapes.net for it.

Recommended.