Leighty’s Retro Review: WCW Clash of the Champions XXV

-Written: 11.10.25
-Source: Peacock

-Final Clash of the year as WCW squeezed in as many PPVs and Specials as possible between the WWF’s final two PPV offerings. Away we go!

-Announce Team: Tony Schiavone and Jesse “The Body” Ventura
-Nov. 10, 1993
-Bayfront Arena, St. Petersburg, FL
-Attendance: 6000

-This show is notable as it is the first for “Mean” Gene Okerlund and he welcomes us to the show. He makes sure to plug his Hotline where you can vote for Manager of the Year. The candidates: Sir William, Missy Hyatt, Harley Race, and Teddy Long. I would go with Race since Vader has been Champion for nearly the entire year.

International World Heavyweight Champion: “Ravishing” Rick Rude (c) vs. Animal

-They still haven’t settle on a name for this Championship as the show opening listed it as International World Title, and Buffer just called it World Heavyweight Championship while Tony just calls it The Big Gold Belt. Lockup to start and neither man budges so Rude poses. Hawk poses as well and then shoves Rude into the corner. Rude complains about a hair pull so Hawk tells the ref to ask the crowd. Hawk wants a Test of Strength as we are 2 minutes into this with nothing happening. Rude backs away and complains about the oil on Hawk’s body. They milk teasing this test of strength over a minute before Rude finally punches him. Only took three minutes to get something going here. Rude runs Hawk into the buckle and that won’t work. Hawk bounces Rude off the top buckle and then gets a backdrop. Body slam from Hawk. Suplex as Jesse talks about Rude’s tights and how he is proud to be on the front of them. Hard whip to the corner as Hawk is methodically working over the back. Rude goes to the eyes and gets a back breaker. He heads up top, but Hawk gets both feet up to block. Hawk fires away with right hands and a clothesline sends Rude to the floor. Hawk chases and Rude sends him into apron. Hawk gets sent into the post and we have a double count-out at 5:39.

Double Count-Out at 5:39
-You open a show with a double count-out in a World Title Match? How about find someone who will do the job to Rude? This was a 2:30 match stretched to over 5 minutes with a crappy ending. DUD

The Equalizer vs. The Shockmaster

-It’s Dave Sullivan vs. Tugboat! Equalizer attacks before the bell and runs Master into the top buckle. He runs Master into the corner and fires away with right hands before choking on the top rope. Equalizer snaps Master off the ropes and then chokes on the middle rope on the other side of the ring. More choking! Some kicks and then more choking. He weakly jumps on the back and then gets a belly-to-back suplex for two. They collide in the middle of the ring and neither budges. Again and nothing doing. Shockmaster gets a boot up on the third go. Shockmaster with a clothesline out of the corner, but that does nothing. Bear-hug into the fall down slam gets the win at 2:28.

Winner: The Shockmaster via pin at 2:28
-Better than the last match because it was short and had an ending. 1/2*

-Gene is with Colonel Parker who has dropped Sid (and has a restraining order against him) and has picked up “Stunning” Steve Austin. Gene tells Parker he has seen Sid earlier in the day and Parker bails.

WCW World Television Championship: Lord Steven Regal (c) (w/ Sir William) vs. Johnny B. Badd

-Lockup and Badd goes to work on the arm. Regal rolls through and goes to a hammerlock, which Bad escapes. He gets a shoulder tackle for a two count. Hip-toss into another two count. Sunset flip for two and Regal slows things down in the corner. Badd with a side headlock, but gets shoved off. They trade hammerlocks and Badd ends up with another headlock and takes it to the mat. Regal escapes, but Badd puts him in a head scissors. Badd hooks another side headlock as we get a “boring” chant. They are working fine, so I wouldn’t say boring. Regal escapes and gets a bow and arrow. Badd flips out and gets a series of arm drags and then a drop toe hold into a headlock. Badd dives at Regal who ducks and Badd takes a nasty bump on the ropes. That looks great. Regal gets a leg trip and gets a cover for two. European Uppercut! Heavy forearms knocks Badd down and Regal gives us the Victory sign. More uppercuts from Regal as he is rocking Badd. He grinds his boots across the face and hits a sweet butterfly suplex for two. Badd lands the Kiss That Don’t Miss out of nowhere and Regal is out! Badd eventually goes for the cover, but William puts his foot on the ropes so it only gets two. Badd goes after William, which lets Regal gets a roll-up with a handful of tights for the pin at 6:33.

Winner and Still WCW World Television Champion: Lord Steven Regal via pin at 6:33
-This was okay as Regal continues to find ways to escape with his Title. That left hand by Badd looked great. **1/4

”Stunning” Steve Austin (w/ Colonel Parker) vs Flyin’ Brian Pillman

-So this is the Battle of the Hollywood Blondes as they team broke for good on the Oct. 30th edition of Saturday Night. After winning a match together, Parker came out to congratulate Austin told Pillman if he was a horse, he would be put down due to his bum leg. Pillman decked Parker, so Austin attacked him to break up the team. Ten days later, they get this match on a Clash of the Champions. They brawl is on as soon as Austin hits the ring and Jesse doesn’t want watch as it breaks his heart seeing them fight. Pillman chases Parker around the ring, but Austin cuts him off with a clothesline. Pillman reverses a whip and Austin goes crashing into the railing. Chop from Pillman and Austin does a flip to sell it. Back in the ring Austin gets sent flying with a backdrop. Chops in the corner! Pillman with a flying head scissors and Austin begs off as he wants a handshake. Pillman boots him in the head so Austin bails to the ramp. He catches Pillman coming through the ropes and teases a piledriver out there, but Pillman backdrops Austin. Pillman up top and Austin gets the boots up to block. He pushes Pillman off the ramp and he crashes into the railing. Cool! Austin drops a forearm off the ramp and they trade chops. Pillman with a sling shot cross body back into the ring. He charges and gets dropped on the top rope with a modified stun-gun for two. I should note they are wearing matching tights but Austin’s are black. Just so we know who is the bad guy now. Austin with a half crab and he uses the ropes for leverage. Eh, Pillman would do the same. Patrick catches Austin the third time using the ropes and forces a break. Pillman with a right hand and then an elbow. They are beating on each other as I assume they agreed to let it hang out in this one. They collide in the middle of the ring and both are down. Austin heads up top but Pillman hits the ropes to crotch him. Chops from Pillman and he heads up top to deliver a superplex. Austin blocks and drops Pillman with a gourdbuster. Austin comes off the top, but Pillman catches him with a dropkick on the way down for two. Pillman sets too early on a backdrop and Austin looks for a powerbomb (I think), but Pillman breaks out a rana for two. Sling shot from the apron gets caught by Austin and turned into a powerslam for two. Austin misses a move on the ropes and gets PLANTED with a DDT for two. Crucifix attempt but Austin drops back with a (Texan) Samoan Drop. Austin misses a splash off the top and Pillman gets a roll-up for two. Stun-gun misses as Pillman skins the cat back in. He goes to spring, but Parker grabs the leg and Austin spikes him on his head for the pin at 9:11.

Winner: Steve Austin via pin at 9:11
-Real good match, but we deserved more than 10 minutes on a throw away Clash of the Champions. They were going full speed as you could tell they wanted to make this mean something. I enjoyed it and wish we would have gotten more. The ending was a little wonky or I would have gone higher. ***3/4

-Mean Gene hypes BattleBowl in the Control Center!

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Dustin Rhodes (w/ Dusty Rhodes) vs. “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff (w/ Assassin One)

-The Assassin called out Dusty Rhodes at Slamboree and then showed up as Wonderful’s manager so you know they were going to get to this eventually. Dusty is ready to fight Assassin as soon as he hits the ring and the crowd is all for it. Jesse just laughs at the idea of an out of shape Dusty and Assassin going at it. Sadly, we have to get to the actual match and the crowd’s excitement drops a little. Wonderful had been on a roll in his 93 career resurgence. Lockup and Dustin gets a side headlock. He gets shoved off but runs Wonderful over and then gets a series of slams. Back to the side headlock and to the mat we go. Wonderful uses the tights to get a coupe two counts, but the ref catches him. Assassin is just staring Dusty down while rocking a track suit. He sneaks around the corner which gets the crowd going as they don’t care about the match in the ring. Jesse is just entertaining himself by making fun of Assassin’s physical fitness. Hammerlock from Wonderful as the crowd gives him a pity “Paula” chant. Wonderful holds the hammerlock and uses his legs to keep control while grabbing the ropes for extra leverage. We get a faint “boring” chant as Dustin reverses to a wrist lock and then drops a leg on the arm. He hooks a hammerlock and sends Wonderful shoulder first into the top buckle. Dustin with a wrist lock that is broken and they kind of collide in the ring as I am not sure what they were going for there. Dustin just goes back to the arm and Wonderful rakes the eyes. He lays in the boots as we get another “Paula” chant. Wonderful charges in the corner, but Dsutin gets the knees up to block. Back to the a reverse chinlock and to the mat again. Blah! Wonderful counters to a hammerlock and there’s that faint “boring” chant again. He transitions to a standing armbar, so Dustin lands an elbow and throws body shots. Wonderful catches him with a knee to the ribs and then stomps the head. Dustin wildly throws a punch and nearly hits the ref. Belly-to-back suplex from Orndorff and he follows with a reverse chinlock but puts a knee in the back at least. Dustin breaks and gets a backslide for two and then a clothesline for two. Wonderful suckers Dustin in and pulls him head first into the buckle. Clothesline from Wonderful and he drops an elbow before going back to the reverse chinlock. Dustin punches his way out again and hits a lariat for two. He calls for The Bulldog (not the wrestler) and it’s kind of block by Wonderful. That looked weird. Dustin gets a sunset flip for two, but Wonderful runs him over with a clothesline. He calls for The Piledriver (not the wrestling album), but Dustin backdrops out to escape. He heads up top, but misses the knee and Dustin gets a small package for the pin at 12:15 (bell rang after the announcement was made).

Winner and Still WCW United States Champion: Dustin Rhodes via pin at 12:15
-Technically fine, but boring at times. The crowd was waiting for stuff between Dusty and The Assassin which kind of hurt the match. **

-We get to the fun stuff after as Wonderful sends Dustin to the floor where The Assassin posts him. That brings over Dusty and the place explodes as he hits an elbow. He sends Assassin into the ring and more elbow as the crowd is going crazy. Wonderful decks Dusty with something and then Assassin blasts him with the US Title. I am shocked Dusty didn’t blade. I mean he was wearing a white shirt. Piledriver is prepped, but Dustin saves his dad. That was fun stuff.

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Nasty Boys (c) (w/ Missy Hyatt) vs. Sting and The British Bulldog

-They start brawling before we get a bell and Rick Rude crawls down below the ramp and sneaks up on Bulldog to deliver a Rude Awakening on the ramp. Earlier it was noted they had an incident backstage. Obviously they had plans for the two of them battling over the International World Title. Road Warrior Hawk chases Rude away. Sting sees Bulldog down and goes to check on him. Sting asks Bulldog what happened even though Hawk was just there and told him it was Rude. Sting helps Bulldog to the ring as we finally have a bell. Sting gets pulled into the ring and The Nasty Boys stomps him. Sting ducks a double clothesline and hits one of his own. Dropkick to Knobs and one to Sags, which sends him to the floor. Sting off the top with a forearm. Sags in to break it up, but he accidentally drops an elbow on Knobbs. SAgs gets sent into the post and flies to the floor. Sting goes back to check on Bulldog before going after Knobbs. He goes after Sting’s eyes and makes the tag to Sags. Sting drops him and gets an elbow for two. Running clothesline in the corner as Sting is dominating the Tag Champions. He keeps checking on Bulldog though which is silly as he needs to just focus on The Nasty Boys. Slam from Sting but Missy has the ref, which lets Knobbs push Sting off the top rope. Sags drops a series of knees and brings in Knobbs who drops an elbow. Gut wrench powerbomb from Knobbs which looked sweet. He has the ref check on Bulldog, so Sags can pitch Sting over the top and to the floor. Back in Knobbs gets a two count. Bear-hug from Knobbs and I have made it known how much I dislike that move and especially during a tag match. Sting reverses it and gets an overhead belly-to-belly, but Knobbs ends up in his corner where he makes a tag to Sags. He pitches Sting to the floor and Knobbs uses his jacket to choke as Missy has the ref again. Chinlock from Knobbs and credit to the crowd and Sting’s popularity as they are into this one. Sting breaks and hot tag to Bulldog. Powerslams for everone! Dropkicks as well. He plants both Nasty Boys on their face and hits a double clothesline. Double DDT for good measure. He Gorilla Presses Sting onto the Nasty Boys and then hits the running powerslam again. The ref gets Sting out so Sags comes off with an elbow to the back of the head. Knobbs rolls over for the pin at 8:29 as Sting just stands there.

Winners and Still WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Nasty Boys at 8:29
-The crowd was into it more than anything else on this show (not named Dusty Rhodes). This was Sting beating up the Nasty Boys before shenanigans gave them an advantage. It was fun at times and disjointed at others. Ending made Sting look kind of dumb though. **

-Backstage Colonel Parker tells Flair that Austin wants the winner of the match. Flair punches Parker as he just wants to focus on this match.

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Big Van Vader (c) (w/ Harley Race) vs. Ric Flair (w/ Fifi)

-Vader mentions “Jesse, my boy,” as he makes his entrance and that would be a shout-out to his son. Weird they would be giving away The Starrcade Main Event here, but we know they had something else planned for Starrcade at this point and the Parker stuff before the match was to set Austin up with Flair.

-We take a break after Buffer does his introductions.

-We are back with Ric Flair locking Harley Race in the figure-four to pop the crowd. Vader in and he splashes Flair to stop that. Vader throws rights hands and then takes Flair to the corner for some boxing. Clothesline from Vader! Tony talks about the Race/Flair beef that goes back over 10 years. Gorilla Press Slam and Flair has take that move a few thousand times in his career. Vader Bomb! Vader tells us he wants to torture Flair and slaps him in the face. Head-butt and then more boxing in the corner. Flair finally wakes up and fires off chops that drop Vader. He stomps away and Woo! He charges at Vader which usually doesn’t end well and sure enough Vader drops him. He follows with an elbow to the inside of the leg. More boxing in the corner. Whip to the corner and Flair goes upside down and to the floor. Harley gets his lick back as he sends Flair into the railing. Only seems fair! Vader comes off the apron, but Flair moves and Vader crashes into the railing. Flair off the top with a forearm to the floor. Nice! Chop! Chop! Vader’s mask is off as Flair fires away with more chops in the corner. He charges again though and one boot to the face knocks him down. Vader comes off the middle ropes with a splash, but Flair rolls out of the way. That was more a butt bomb than a standard splash. Figure-Four is hooked and Race gouges the eyes to force a break. Suplex brings Flair back into the ring and Flair starts screaming out for good. Splash gets two. No clue why the crowd is so subdued for this match. Vader to the middle rope and Flair avoids to get a kind of powerslam. That gets two as Vader kicks out with ease. Flair off the top with another forearm for two. Vader sends him to the corner, but Flair flips over, runs the apron and gets another forearm off the top. Flair ducks a clothesline but the ref doesn’t and he is gone. Vader catches Flair and takes him up top for a superplex. Nice! No reaction from the crowd though. Vader opts for a moonsault instead of the pin which has Jesse perplexed. He misses and Flair gets the cover for the pin at 9:20. Well, kind of.

Winner by DQ: Ric Flair at 9:20
-Good match as you would expect with a bad ending. WCW had a lot of bad endings to matches in 1993. ***1/4

-So the ref was crawling in a way that it looked like a three count had been made, but he was just getting to the corner to call for the bell and DQ due to Vader hitting him with the clothesline. That’s so dumb!

-Austin hits the ring with Parker and Flair fights them off before Vader gets involved. Dustin Rhodes and The Shockmaster are in to make the save.

-Mean Gene is in to do an interview to give the crowd something else to make up for the Dusty Finish. Flair screams that he is back in the ball game again and he wants Vader and Austin this Saturday and he has Sid as his partner. Parker grabs the mic and accepts the challenge. Yes, remember it was to be Sid vs. Vader at Starrcade until some scissors got involved.

-Thanks for reading!

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

The Blondes match is worth watching as it's the blow-off for the team and while Vader/Flair has a dumb ending it's a decent match and gives us a tease of what's to come. The rest was bad to okay, but thinks moved quickly for the most part.