Leighty’s Retro Review: WCW Clash of The Champions XX

-We reach the 20th Clash and this show is also a celebration of pro-wrestling being on TBS for 20 years. So expect lots of Legends and I assume this show gave them the idea to do Slamboree the following year. Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Jim Ross and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
-Center Stage Theater, Atlanta, GA
-Sept. 2, 1992
-Attendance: 500

-We start with old video of Gordon Solie welcoming Andre The Guant!

-The opening continues the history angle as we get snippets of video from Georgia Championship Wrestling and then the tradition to World Championship Wrestling. Good stuff!

-Tony Schiavone and Missy Hyatt are outside on West Peach Street. I walked up and down that area when I was at WrestleMania XXVIII. Gordon Solie is here and so is Andre The Giant, in what would be his final appearance before his passing. Rumors are it crushed Vince to see Andre on a WCW show.

-Ron Simmons and his wife show up and, I forgot to mention, Ron is the World Champion after his upset win over Vader.

-More people in tuxedos arrive: Bill Watts, Bill Shaw, Hank Aaron, Jim Barnett, Bob Dhue, and Bruno Sammartino. There’s another arrow at Vince. Bruno even gets in a dig as he says he is glad to be back with a company that is about wrestling. Sting shows up on a Harley without his face paint and wearing a leather coat with no shirt underneath. Someone needs to cool Missy down as she wants to ride Sting’s Harley.

-Teddy Long is inside with more suits as the Rob Pitts, Atlanta City Councilman, proclaims the day as World Championship Wrestling and gives the proclamation to Bill Watts. Dusty Rhodes didn’t get any camera time yet, so he pops up to let us know they will get funky like a monkey.

-Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura welcome us inside the theater and they re both in tuxedos. Ventura of course has some flair to his.

WCW World Television Championship: “Stunning” Steve Austin (c) (w/ Paul E Dangerously) vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat

-Before the bell, an 11 year old from Tulsa, OK sings The National Anthem. She is accompanied by Johnny B. Badd. This is quite the visual as you have this tiny theater with half a section of the crowd in tuxedos and the rest dressed as regular fans. Then you have a child singing The National Anthem in the ring while Dangerously gives words of wisdom to Steve Austin.

-Oh, Paul gets forced into a shark cage and is lifted to the heavens. Well, as far as they can take him up in this building. Steamboat has taped ribs as they were broken in the NWA Tag Tournament. Austin goes right for the ribs, and again, Austin not wearing knee pads really freaks me out. Dragon with a side headlock as Ross and Jesse discuss the hotline poll on if they top rope DQ should be waived. The fact they are talking about it, means they know it needs to go away. Austin is able to escape and gets a hip-toss and then drops an elbow. He points to his head while looking up to Paul and Dragon is there to knock him down and goes back to the side headlock. Austin tries a suplex, but Dragon lands on his feet and they do it one more time. Austin pulls Dragon down by the hai and they start fighting on the ropes. Unique move as Austin throws Dragon off the middle ropes. Today that’s an overhead belly to belly, but Dragon just went face first into of flipping. Just weird looking, but kind of cool to see. Austin gets several two counts as the crowd chants for Steamboat. He fires off chops and tries a slam, but the ribs are toast. Austin with a nice looking clothesline! He hooks an abdominal stretch which makes all the sense in the world. Jesse wants to see Austin use the other hand to drive some knuckles into the ribs, but Austin does one better and uses his elbow. Dragon is able to escape and slams Austin on the back of his head. Dragon comes off the middle ropes with a cross-body, but Austin rolls through and gets a two count. Steamboat blocks a dropkick and catapults Austin into the corner and catches him with a roll-up for two. That was a spot he used in the Mania III Match with Savage. Austin gets a roll-up with his feet on the ropes for two. They each reverse a Tombstone and Dragon ends up getting the move for a two count. Austin uses the tights to send Dragon into the corner and gets another roll-up with the tights for two. Superplex is blocked as Steamboat drops Austin on his face. He comes off the middle ropes with a chop, but Austin blocks with a shot to the ribs. Small package gets two! Steamboat back with a shoulder tackle for two and then another. Jesse notes this match is No DQ so they can come off the top. Steamboat skins the cat, but Austin follows him and knocks him to the floor. Dragon crawls under the ring and heads up top and catches a confused Austin with the cross-body for the pin at 10:44.

Winner and New WCW World Television Champion: Ricky Steamboat via pin at 10:44
-This got pretty awesome in the second half and I wanted them to keep going. Austin dominated the TV Title scene so him losing here in front of all the suits to give everyone a title change wasn’t shocking. These two would famously feud over the US Title less than two years later. ***1/4

-We get snippets of classic video from wrestling on TBS from over the past 20 years. I assume all this footage belongs to WWF now and hopefully it ends up somewhere for us to watch. I will gladly pay the $10 a month for the library alone. Early Road Warrior with no face paint! Cool!

-Halloween Havoc: Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal commercial!

-Jesse interviews Michael Hayes (also wearing polkadots to match Jesse) and he puts over Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton. Apparently, it’s the best of The Birds, Horsemen, and Midnight Express.

Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton (w/ Michael Hayes) vs. Dick Slater, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine (w/ Larry Zbyszko)

-Man, is this a weird grouping! Ross: “This should be an very interesting tag team event.” Everyone hits everyone to start as I approve of them just having a Tornado Tag at this point. Sadly no, as we settle into a s standard tag match. Eaton gets caught with an elbow to the back of the head from Slater. Reverse neckbreaker and then a Side Russian Leg Sweep gets two even with his feet on the ropes. Jesse is pumped to have two teams out there that will Cheat 2 Win! Arn back in and he works the arm of Slater. FUTURE STUD STABLE EXPLODES! Hammer in and he gets a suplex for two. Eaton decks him from the apron as the blatant cheating is appreciated. The crowd doesn’t care about the match though. Eaton in and he works the arm and then brings Arn back in. Hammer fires off chops and Slater grabs Arn from the apron. Again, I appreciate the cheating! Slater rams Arn’s knee off the ring apron and Bobby comes over to punch him in the face. Hammer with the figure-four, but Eaton comes in to break that up. Spinebuster from Arn gets two as everyone is back in the ring. Eaton gets sent to the floor through the ropes. The ref keeps Slater from cheating, but Larry tries to use his cast on Arn. He ducks and Valentine takes the shot. Eaton with The Alabama Jam off the second rope (man, I can’t wait until that rule is gone) and Arn gets the pin at 5:43.

Winners: Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton via pin at 5:43
-Weird match but a fun ending to it. I appreciated both teams cheating when possible. I just wish the crowd cared even a little. **1/4

-Jim Ross is with Bruno Sammartino and mentions he sold out The Garden 187 times. Bruno loved Steamboat/Austin and can’t wait to see the match between Cactus and Simmons. He is thrilled to be with WCW as it the wrestling he was used to and calls “the other league” embarrassing.

-Teddy Long is in the VIP room and interviews Bob Armstrong, Thunderbolt Patterson (his Hall of Fame speech was great as he took us to CHURCH). Speaking of the Holy One, Patterson preaches to us here while Andre and Gordon just smile. I love wrestling legends!

-Mr. Wrestling III sends in a pre-taped interview from Hawaii and he puts over WCW. He echoes with Bruno said about WCW bringing back the real wrestling. 500 people here vs. 80,000 at SummerSlam. Yes, I know different events, but the shots at WWF just come off weird after they just put 80,000 people in a stadium.

-Ted Turner offers his thanks in a pre-taped interview. All the best to Ted with his health battles. Keep fighting Ted!

-Tony Schiavone is in the VIP area with Bill Watts, who is holding The Light Heavyweight Title. Brad Armstrong is injured and can’t defend tonight against Brian Pillman. Watts strips him of the Title since it has been over 5 weeks since his last defense. He says they will have a Tournament to crown a new Champion and it never happened. We would have to wait nearly 4 years for the CW Division.

-Jesse is back in the theater with Brad Armstrong and he is bummed about the injury costing him his title. Brian Pillman is out and he calls this whole situation a disgrace and he has a cockier attitude. He slaps Brad in the face to drive home the point that this a different Brian Pillman. Kind of cool seeing the early touches of what would end up becoming The Loose Cannon. He took to being a heel so easily.

-More videos covering the various stars that have appeared on TBS over the years. The do include Flair which is nice to see!

-Another Halloween Havoc commercial! It’s only been two months since The Great American Bash, but so much has changed with Simmons as The World Champion and Jake Roberts making his debut.

-Video package hyping Ron Simmons and showing the win over Vader for the World Title.

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Ron Simmons (c) vs. Cactus Jack

-Mick wrote in his book that he joked backstage there could be a new champion tonight and Arn told him if Ron died in the ring, Jack would put Ron’s lifeless body on top of his for the pin. Tell em Arn! Who would ever buy Mick Foley as a World Champion? Ole Anderson is the special ref for this one. Ron with a side headlock and he runs Jack down with a shoulder tackle after being pushed off. They go again and Ron with another side headlock. Weird that Ron isn’t the Main Event as the new World Champion. Jack shoves Ron off and this time follows him and hits a head butt. He sends Ron to the floor and preps for the elbow, but Ron is waiting on him and Jack just heads back into the ring. Jesse wonders how many more chances Cactus Jack will get at the World Title. More than Jack would have ever imagined in his wildest dreams I bet. Jack with the Cactus Clothesline that sends both men to the floor. He hits a swinging neckbreaker on the concrete because real wrestling doesn’t use padded mats. The crowd is solidly behind Ron, but he gets caught with a boot in the corner. Spinning Clothesline that DDP would steal by Jack and he hits another. And another for two! Jack hooks a reverse chinlock and that goes got a bit as the crowd starts chanting for Ron. Whoops, they missed the peak by a little bit. Ron starts his comeback and comes off the middle ropes to drive Jack face first into the mat for two. He sets too early on a backdrop though and Jack kicks him. He staggers around the ring though and Ron hits a running forearm and then another. Cactus tries a sunset flip and it gets kinds of clunky as Ron ends up getting a back drop, but comes down on top of Jack. They head to the floor and Jack slams Ron on the door. Now he can hit the elbow and Ron just gets right up and hits a spinebuster back in the ring. Weird! Powerslam finishes at 8:51.

Winner and Still WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Ron Simmons via pin at 8:51
-Not a fan of this one as it didn’t do much for Ron and Jack didn’t look as dangerous here as he did against Sting just two months earlier. The ending was weird too as they built to that elbow and Ron just got up and finished Jack seconds later. *1/2

-We have a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion as Chono beat Rick Rude in the Tournament Finals in Japan. We get highlights from the Rude/Chono Match which is often heralded as a BANGER and then Halloween Havoc happened, but we will get there.

-Rick Rude cuts a pre-taped promo and wants a rematch. Jesse notes Rude is his favorite wrestler and that shouldn’t shock anyone. Jesse gets in a nice dig at JR about The Twins beating the Braves in the World Series.

-Cactus Jack (w/ The Barbarian) shows up and tells Jim Ross to stay home as he knows someone that knows Ron Simmons better than anyone. That brings out Butch Reed and he is Barbarian’s tag partner tonight.

Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham vs. The Barbarian and Butch Reed

-Cactus Jack is on commentary for this one. Barbarian starts with Dustin, but Barry gets a tag and hits a lariat. Double drop-kick to Reed and then one for Barbarian. I just realized Jack is on commentary with Jesse Ventura and seven years later, Jesse is the Governor of Minnesota and raises Jack’s hand when he wins the WWF Title at SummerSlam. Wrestling man! Dustin ends up getting dumped to the concrete by Reed . Double clothesline back in the ring by Reed and Barb. Head-butt from Barbarian as Jack gets philosophical on us. I bet he could write a book! Reed hits a swinging neck-breaker for two and then hits a stiff clothesline. He throws soup bones and Dustin has to respond, but Reed cuts off the chance at a tag. Barbarian back in and he runs Dustin upside down into the corner. Dustin continues to show fire but one shot knocks him back down. Barbarian drops an elbow for a two count as Jack freaks out about Dustin kicking out. Reed sets too early on a backdrop and Dustin lands an elbow, but can’t follow up. He backdrops out of a piledriver, but Reed cuts him off again. Double clothesline leaves both men down. Barbarian in first, but the hot tag is made to Barry. He runs wild and hits a dropkick on Barbarian and then a clothesline to Reed. Lariat to The Barbarian. Superplex on Barbarian, but he notices Reed on the top and slams him down. Double dropkick sends Reed to the floor, but Barbarian catches Barry with a boot to the face for the upset pin at 8:12.

Winners: Barbarian and Butch Reed via pin at 8:12
-They used the tag formula well and the crowd was into this one because we had a defined heel team and team. Barbarian getting the win may seem weird now, but he was next in line to face Ron and this was a way to get his some steam. **1/2

-Recap of Vader destroying Sting throughout the summer and taking the World Title at The Great American Bash. Sting’s summer issues continued as Jake Roberts debuted in August and was the hottest heel in the company after hitting Sting with a series of DDTs. We also cover the issues between Rick Rude and Nikita Koloff and all this is leading to tonight’s Elimination Tag Main Event.

-Lot of dead time in this show with the interviews and video packages.

Elimination Tag Match: Rick Rude (w/ Madusa), Big Van Vader (w/ Harley Race), Jake Roberts, and The Super Invader vs. Sting, The Steiner Brothers, and Nikita Koloff

-All these people in the ring just makes the WCW ring look even smaller. Rick starts with Vader and it’s a lockup and nothing happening. Another go and Vader starts boxing. Rick responds but gets caught with a boot in the corner. You don’t have to tell these two to hit each other hard. Vader with a splash in the corner and then a heavy clothesline. Good start! Rick back with an overhead release belly-to-belly suplex. Sweet! Invader in and Koloff gets the tag as well. Putting Hercules under a mask is weird! Goofy looking mask as well. Invader tries to run Koloff down but nothing doing. They get nose to mask and talk crap to each other. Koloff with a series of shoulder tackles and then a cross-body for two. Koloff goes for an armbar (boo), but Invader punches him in the face and tags in Rude. Koloff goes to work on Rude’s arm and then tags Scott. He grounds Rude with an armbar and I just don’t like rest holds in multi-man matches. Rude fights to make a tag to Super Invader. He catches Scott with a knee but sets too early on a backdrop and Scott gets a powerbomb. Overhead belly-to-belly next and he preps for the Frankensteiner, but Rude gets the blind tag and decks Scott from behind. Jake in and he lands a few punches before tagging back to Vader. He mauls Scott in the corner and hits a jumping clothesline. Rude back in as this match has slowed after the hot start. Scott reverses a whip and gets a tilt-a-whirl slam. Tags to Jake and Koloff and sucks to be Jake. Koloff runs wild and decks everyone on the apron as well. He gets a leaping shoulder, but Rude decks him from behind and Jakes gets a roll-up to eliminate Koloff at 7:24.

-Team Vader up 4-3: Sting in and Jake bails as he tags Invader into the match. Sting dominates and pins him at 8:03.

-Back to 3-3: Steiner and Vader have another go and honestly, their interactions have been the best part of the match so far. German Suplex from Rick, but Vader catches him off the top and gets a powerslam. Ugly looking Rock Bottom follows and Vader comes off the top with a splash that gets two. Rude back in and he hooks a front face lock. Can we go back to Vader and Rick? Jake in to get the ref so the tag can to Sting can go unseen. Vader in as the ref didn’t see that tag, but they are heels, so it’s cool. Also, it means more Vader vs. Rick. Vader gets caught off the top with a powerslam for two as Rude makes the save. Steiner floats over on a suplex and The Steiners butcher the Steinerline off the top as Rick couldn’t keep Rick on his shoulders. Scott gets eliminated at 11:30 for coming off the top rope.

-Team Vader up 3-2: Rude hits Rick with a Rude Awakening on the floor. Vader beats the count but Rick is counted out at 12:27.

-Team Vader up 3-1: Sting and Jake finally have a go and Sting dominates. He rubs Jake’s face in the mat and then hits a Stinger Splash. Scorpion Deathlock but Rude hits a clothesline from the apron as Madusa had the ref. Rude back in and Sting continues to fight for his life. He punches everyone and plans Rude with a bulldog for two. Jake has the ref again as Rude gets his balls abused with an inverted atomic drop. Sting with a slingshot suplex but Vader comes off the top and hits both men. That eliminates him by DQ at 14:25.

-Team Vader up 2-1: Jake gets the tag as Rude is gone following the Vader Splash. DDT from Jake and Sting is pinned at 15:14.

Winners: Team Vader: Survivors: Rick Rude and Jaker Roberts at 15:14
-This could have been epic, but wasn’t given enough time. Instead it was just an okay match. Vader and Rick Steiner killed it out there. Sting was his normal self and then Scott and Koloff didn’t get in the match that much. Jake pinning Sting was the right call. The top rope rule being there to eliminate two people and keep them from getting pinned was creative. This was good, but could have been great. ***

-Jim Ross lets us know that 88% of voters who called want the top rope rule rescinded. Shocked it wasn’t higher.

-We get the full Halloween Havoc mini movie with Madusa showing up to a bar where Jake Roberts is having a good time apparently. They all chant “Spin The Wheel, Make The Deal.” Sting shows up and Jake “knew he’d come.” I assume Matt Hardy watched all these mini movies and got an idea to take it a step further. Jake lists all the cool matches on the Wheel and then well, I won’t ruin the surprise. Sting spins the wheel, they shot laser at each other from their eyes and it’s to be continued at Halloween Havoc.

-JR and The Legends wrap things up. Bruno talking about the wrestling he loved and we get that mini movie.

-Thanks for reading!

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

An easy show to watch as there are only five matches thanks to all the Legends stuff and the Halloween Havoc movie. Two of the matches were good and the rest was okay. Not a good show, but not bad either. Just a show you will watch, probably enjoy, and then likely forget about.