wrestling / Video Reviews
Dark Pegasus Video Review: Clash of the Champions XIX
January 2, 2010 | Posted by
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| Clash of the Champions XIX by J.D. Dunn Twitter.com/jddunn411 Brightkite.com/jddunn411 Facebook.com/jddunn411 Examiner.com For those that think that the Bill Watts era was a total failure, this was a pretty strong sellout, so much so that WCW started holding Charleston shows at the much bigger Charleston Coliseum. This would be Watts’ first Clash, and WCW decided to reestablish their relationship with the NWA, which was doomed to failure from the beginning because WCW sure as hell wasn’t going to subordinate their titles, and really then what’s the point? But since the thought was there, this is a tournament to crown new NWA Tag Team Champions. If you’ve never seen Joe Malenko, just imagine Dean Malenko with all of the skill and none of the personality. His opening sequence with Steamboat is some damn fine scientific wrestling. Koloff sticks out like a sore thumb as the other three want to do some classic wrestling while Koloff plays the big babyface for the crowd. Guess which one of the four is most over, though. The Malenkos use some doubleteams to take over on Ricky, thus establishing the psychology that they are the more polished team, even if they don’t match up as singles competitors. Ricky fights out of trouble, tags in Koloff, and the Malenkos never knew what hit them. The American Sickle finishes at 9:52. Ricky and the Malenkos provided the wrestling, and Nikita provided the excitement. **1/2 If you hate Bagwell, this is the match for you. He gets no respect from Rude, who smacks him around and no-sells everything he has. In fact, the Dangerous Alliance looks rather surly tonight. Ross works in SPRAYBERRY HIGH~! Rude piledrives Zenk but only gets two. Bagwell tags in and UNLEASHES THE FURY… of poofy hair. Madusa distracts the referee as Rude sidesteps a dropkick and finishes Bagwell with the Rude Awakening and a hand to the chest at 7:55. Bill Watts doesn’t like pretty boys. *1/2 For those who asked about the MVC, I don’t believe the ever did call Gordy and Williams by that name on this side of the ocean. I know I’ve heard the Japanese announcers refer to them as the Miracle Violence Connection, which shouldn’t be surprising because it is a very Japanese sounding combination. Larry O’Day looks like a decrepit monkey skeleton. Jeff O’Day, his son, looks like William Regal. Gordy drops Ol’ Man Larry right on his bean with a backdrop driver. That’s elderly abuse. Larry tries a double-clothesline for reasons no sane person understands. Gordy seems to take offense at that and gives him an extra stiff kick on his way out. Williams finishes with the Oklahoma Stampede at 2:35, and Jeff doesn’t even bother to save. Actually, that’s much better than I thought they O’Days would do. 1/4* This is the other half of the Dangerous Alliance representation in the tournament. The interesting thing is if Eaton & Anderson win, they go on to face Austin & Rude. I would gladly kill a puppy to see that match. What? It’s just a puppy. There are thousands of them without homes that are going to be put to death anyway. Don’t look at me like that. Anyway, it doesn’t happen because the tournament needs some babyfaces to move on. This is good, old-school action as the faces clean house on the Midnight Busters until Arn kicks Barry in the back of the head from the outside. Barry blocks the DDT but gets clobbered by a clothesline from Eaton. Dustin tags in and gets more of the same. He misses a charge and flops to the floor where Paul E. gives him a nice shot to the back of the head with his cellphone. The false tag leads to Arn hitting the spinebuster for two. The Alabama Jam misses, though, and Eaton is so stunned that Dustin is able to hit the bulldog for the win at 10:22. Almost exactly what you’d expect from these guys. Good, solid tag action. Not spectacular, just great formula work. ***1/4 The Kings are Juan Jauregui (El Texano) and Cesar Gonzalez (who is most famously known as *the* Silver King or Black Tiger III). Hayes and Garvin don’t seem to know what to do with the Kings’ offense. Texano misses a senton, but the Kings hit a modified Total Elimination on Hayes. The match totally breaks down as everyone is off kilter. The fans lose patience and call for the end with the DDT. The Mexicans do the stereo 619 fakeout, though, leading to Hayes inadvertently taking out Garvin. The Mexicans turn it into a battle of attrition, though, as one wipes out the other with a dive. Hayes rolls one of them back in and ends the misery at 6:27. 3/4* In a bizarre twist, Wellington and Benoit are believed to have died on the same day. All four guys are Stampede alums and all four are varying degrees of MASSIVE AWESOMENESS~! Pillman dropkicks Wellington to the floor but charges right into a shoulderblock. Snap suplex follows. If you’ve never seen Wellington, just imagine if Skinner wrestled like Benoit. Lyger tags in and peppers Wellington with kicks, so Benoit ENDS HIM with a hooking clothesline. Wellington press slams Lyger to the floor behind the ref’s back. Benoit tries his leap to the top into a crossbody, but Pillman leg sweeps. Benoit ducks to the floor but gets wiped out by a crossbody. TREMENDOUS~! Pillman and Benoit get chippy and chop the everloving crap out of each other. Even Jesse is impressed. Wellington misses a charge and goes over the top, so Lyger follows him out with a crossbody. Back in, Lyger tries a crucifix but goes splat when Wellington counters to a Samoan Drop. Benoit puts Lyger on top and goes for the backdrop superplex, but Lyger counters to the crossbody in midair. Lyger busts out the ASAI MOONSAULT~! The fans are REALLY into Lyger now. Great spot as Pillman goes for an O’Connor Roll, but Wellington deftly cuts him off with a boot to the face. The Stampede Dropkick misses, though, and Lyger gets the hot tag. Lyger’s crappy suplex on Wellington mars the match a bit, but Pillman and Benoit make up for it with a VICIOUS BRAWL~! The Canadians go for a double bulldog but get shoved into one another. That sets up the Lyger moonsault on Wellington at 11:29. The fans didn’t care about anyone but Pillman going in, but they were JACKED once it got going. Who says workrate can’t win fans? Of course, with Pillman pissing off Bill Watts, the cornerpiece of the division was gone and, hence, the other guys were superfluous. This was one glorious moment in the sun, though. ****1/4 Nogami looks hella freaky with his Oni makeup and headdress. The Headhunters are representing the Dominican Republic, but they are not the ones you might associate with the name. Instead, this is Bob Cook and Arn Anderson under masks. Nothing match as the Japanese team goes through some stuff with the Headhunters getting generic masked jobber offense on occasion. Nogami hits a German Suplex as Hase hits his Northern Lights, and the Japanese get a stereo pin at 5:11. 1/2* This is a MANLY match. The opening is a bit slow and clunky because no one seems to want to cooperate with one another. I should note that the Steiners were New Japan guys while the MVC were All Japan guys. That may have a little something to do with it, although Williams claims he was always cool with the Steiners. They all take a moment to breathe and come back into a regular match with Scott playing the face-in-peril for Gordy and Williams’ stiff moves. They work Scott’s knee with no surcease. These guys have no compunction about beating the shit out of each other. In fact, they seem to enjoy it. Rick gets the hot tag, but the MVC doubleteam him. Rick survives the Oklahoma Stampede, and Scott returns to give Doc a belly-to-belly, but Gordy clips him. Doc falls on top for the win at 15:00. This was like two different matches welded into one. The first part was a lot of shooty amateur wrestling and jockeying. In the second half, they just threw caution to the wind and started tossing each other around the ring. I’m a sucker for both teams, so I liked this okay in spite of its faults. ***1/4 |
The 411: It was all downhill from here as Watts demoralized the locker room and forced his brand of wrestling down the throats of the fans. This show is actually quite good, though, in spite of a number of no-names (at the time) getting squashed. It's fun to see Benoit and Malenko in their early days, especially against guys like Pillman, Steamboat, and Lyger. Sting and Vader was a fantastic feud as well, and the build for their Bash encounter took place here. All in all, a damn fine show. Thumbs up. |
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| Final Score: 8.0 [ Very Good ] legend |
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