The Chrononaut Chronicles: WCW Clash of the Champions XXXV

Thanks to the infinitely talented Kyle Morton for the logo. Check out his Etsy account, where he does custom artwork and commissions… you’ll be glad you did!

The Chrononaut Chronicles
WCW Clash of the Champions XXXV – August 21, 1997

– Kicking off the final Clash of the Champions ever broadcast, the opening video does a good job of hyping every match-up and highlighting a hook for each of them. In the main event, Diamond Dallas Page will join forces with Lex Luger to present a united front for WCW against the nWo’s Randy “Macho Man” Savage & Scott Hall! Still claiming to be a free agent since arriving in WCW, Curt Hennig has agreed to team with his old associate, Ric Flair, to take on Syxx & Konnan of the nWo! With Debra McMichael in his corner, ex-Horseman Jeff Jarrett will defend the US Heavyweight Title against her husband, Steve McMichael! There will be a wild eight-man tag team match contested under Lucha Libre rules! Raven will face his long-time friend, Stevie Richards, in a Grudge Match! Recently revealing a bitter side to his personality, Eddie Guerrero will challenge Chris Jericho for the World Cruiserweight Title! World TV Champion Ultimate Dragon will put his gold on the line against Alex Wright! I will miss using so many exclamation points at the end of sentences!

– LIVE from the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee! The three-man announce booth of Tony Schiavone, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes welcome us to the Clash of the Champions and they mention that tonight is the deadline for Sting to tell James J. Dillon, recently named Chairman of the WCW Executive Committee, exactly what it is that he wants. Footage is shown from this past Monday’s Nitro that answers the question, as Sting grabbed JJ by his tie and pointed at the signs in the audience indicating that the silent Stinger wants a match against WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hogan. Even Schiavone thinks it’s pretty obvious what Sting wants, and he’s a total melonhead, so it wasn’t some big mystery.

– WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Jarrett (w/Queen Debra) © vs. Steve “Mongo” McMichael

During the period he was associated with the Four Horsemen, Jeff Jarrett had never gotten along with teammate Steve McMichael and the situation only worsened when Mongo’s wife, Debra, inserted herself in the middle of their issue and caused friction between them. Typing that sentence, I realize that if Vince Russo had been writing this storyline, Debra’s motive would have been that she wanted a threesome. Following Double J’s exit from the Horsemen, he feuded with McMichael and pinned him at Bash at the Beach ’97 after Debra turned on her husband, passing the haliburton briefcase to Jarrett so that he could whack Mongo and retain the United States Title. The self-anointed “Queen of WCW” due to her beauty-pageant experience, Debra seems like she would have been an ideal candidate for one of those Real Housewives reality shows, as she appears to enjoy shiny objects like the US Title belt. Using his superior quickness and wrestling expertise, Jeff Jarrett outmaneuvers McMichael at the outset and gives him a taste of his own medicine, as the US Champion goes into a three-point stance and chopblocks the former Chicago Bear. Dipping into his bag of heel antics by laying across the top turnbuckle and then performing the Fargo Strut, Jarrett gets in his challenger’s head to throw him off of his game and bails out of the ring when McMichael strikes back with a clothesline. When we come back from a commercial break, Jarrett is asserting himself at ringside as he whips Mongo into the steps and continues to abuse him in the ring as well. For the first time that the commentary trio can recall, Debra gets physically involved as she chokes her husband over the middle rope before Jeff comes crashing down across the back of Mongo’s neck. A vertical suplex later, Jarrett locks in a good old-fashioned sleeperhold and McMichael is fading fast as his arm drops twice, but it doesn’t go down a third time as Mongo powers out and applies his own sleeper. Now full-bore into his slimy heel persona, Eddie Guerrero–a recent ally of JJ–sneaks out and climbs to the top turnbuckle with the US Title belt in an effort to help Jarrett while Debra distracts referee Randy Anderson. Predictably, the outside interference backfires as Guerrero ends up smashing Jarrett inadvertently and McMichael pins him to capture the first title of his pro wrestling career, the WCW United States Championship, in 8:07. When McMichael exits the squared circle, Debra is waiting to congratulate him at ringside and she tries to get her hands on the title belt, but Mongo blows off his gold-digging wife and heads up the aisle by himself. **¼ Not a bad match since Jarrett was carrying it and Mongo was better than most give him credit for, but it was pretty one-sided and Eddie’s interference seemed pretty random. The feud between Jarrett and McMichael would continue and a rubber match was scheduled for Halloween Havoc, but Double J jumped back to the WWF before it could happen.

Next time, on Real Housewives of WCW…

– Gene Okerlund brings out Alex Wright for an interview and enforces a strict English-only policy as he threatens to cut Alex off when he speaks in German. How very American of you, Mean Gene. Forced to speak a language he clearly hasn’t bothered to learn very well, Das Wunderkind makes a bad pun joke about “draggin’ the Dragon” around Nashville tonight and says he is a real champion. Embracing his heel turn, Wright calls the fans “losers” and he dances as Okerlund cuts the interview short.

– This weekend on WCW Saturday Night, it’s a double main event: Wrath & Mortis battle the Faces of Fear, and Eddie Guerrero meets Dean Malenko! That reminds me, as much as I took it for granted at the time, I miss WCW Saturday Night.

– To promote the third season of Dinner & A Movie on TBS, Mean Gene interviews the dull-as-dishwater hosts as they prepare a meal on a kitchen set. They look ABSOLUTELY THRILLED to be there and the one guy mentions how they are all part of the AOL/Time Warner family, as if that’s his excuse for being on a pro wrestling show.

– Stevie Richards vs. Raven

Kind of a weird situation here, as Raven and Stevie Richards had recently jumped to WCW and basically imported their characters and the unique relationship between them from ECW, with the commentators alluding to their past in “other organizations” on the air. Mere weeks after his final match in ECW, Raven began appearing in the crowd on Monday Nitro as a free agent and shortly thereafter, Stevie Richards showed up on Nitro unexpectedly and found himself shunned by his former ECW Tag Team Championship partner, leading to this grudge match. Schiavone notes that Raven is not under contract as he enters from the crowd and assumes his trademark slumped position in the corner before announcing that he wants to fight on his terms, and that means a No Disqualification match. Eager to face his former boss, Stevie agrees and ring announcer David Penzer makes the official declaration. Representing the 95% of WCW fans who have no idea about anything ECW-related, Heenan claims he doesn’t understand the history between Raven and Stevie. While Schiavone admits he doesn’t know a lot about Raven and tries to explain what he has learned, Raven dumps Richards to the floor and wipes him out with a crazy running leap over the top rope. Attention is drawn to Raven’s right boot, as Schiavone mentions that Raven has undergone a series of ankle surgeries throughout his career that left one foot shorter than the other. In another bit of character development, Tony talks about how Raven is almost like a cult leader in the way he gains the devotion of fans and followers. Meanwhile, Raven completely dominates Dancin’ Stevie inside and outside the ring, where he drops a pair of Cactus Jack elbows off the apron to the floor. Taking advantage of the no-DQ stipulation, Raven sets up a chair in the ring and drop-toeholds Stevie’s face into the edge of the chair, then bulldogs him across it. Sticking to chair-based offense, Raven stands the chair up in the corner and tries to whip Stevie into it, but the King of Swing reverses it and mounts a comeback to a very minimal crowd response. Big Stevie Cool sideslam earns a two-count and Richards tunes up the band for the Steviekick, but Raven ducks and Stevie rolls him up for a near-fall. Since Richards is now showing some fight, Raven cuts him down with a clothesline and finishes him off with the DDT at 5:01. ** Although the work was solid and it felt different from the rest of the show, the crowd reaction was tepid at best because the storyline between Raven and Richards had not been adequately explained. No matter how many times the announcers claimed that Raven was World Champion in “many different places”, the average WCW fan had no clue who he was and didn’t know how to react to him. Raven would soon find his niche in WCW with the formation of the Flock in the weeks following Clash XXXV.

– WCW World Television Championship: Alex Wright vs. Ultimo Dragon ©

Prior to the match, Mike Tenay narrates a video feature on the Ultimate Dragon that explains how the meaning of his name was lost in translation, as Ultimo Dragon means “the last student of Bruce Lee” in Spanish and anglicizing his moniker to “Ultimate” was incorrect. Now a babyface after dumping Sonny Onoo as his manager, Ultimo Dragon captured the World TV Title from Lord Steven Regal at Slamboree ’97 and defends it here against the freshly heel Alex Wright, who just lost the Cruiserweight Title to Chris Jericho last weekend on WCW Saturday Night. To begin the match, Wright and Dragon trade off on armwork until Das Wunderkind pokes the TV Champion in the eyes and tries to shoulderblock him down, but Dragon stands his ground and knocks Wright down with a shoulderblock when he tries it again. Receiving a great response from the fans since his face turn, Ultimo shows off his headstand on the top turnbuckle and comes down with a dropkick on Alex before unleashing his patented series of swift kicks. Wright executes a backbreaker, but the tide truly turns when Dragon attempts a huracanrana and Wright drops him in a powerbomb for a near-fall, although Alex seems more interested in taunting the fans than going for quick pins while he’s in control. On commentary, Heenan is disgusted with Wright’s lack of focus as he takes his time covering Dragon after another backbreaker and only gets a two-count. A third backbreaker (looks like someone learned a new move) gets another two and Wright pulls off a gutwrench suplex for two as we go to commercial with Alex getting in the face of referee Mark Curtis. When we return, Wright maintains control with basic offense and a high flying kneedrop off the top turnbuckle (actually more of a shindrop and it clearly didn’t connect, but it’s the thought that counts) before Dragon fights out of a sleeperhold and applies one of his own. Although Wright escapes the sleeper, the Dragon plants him with a back suplex and both competitors struggle to their feet to stop the ref’s ten-count. After exchanging stiff chops, Wright decks Dragon with a European uppercut and slams him with a back suplex, but he takes too long going out to the top turnbuckle and Ultimo has time to get up and dropkick him off the apron. Following his challenger out to ringside, the TV Champion slingshots over the top rope, but Wright steps back and spikes Dragon onto the floor. Displaying his incredible resiliency, the Dragon reverses a whip into the guardrail and springboards off the ropes out to the floor with his famous Asai moonsault. When they make it back into the ring, they struggle on the top turnbuckle as Alex prevents the Dragonrana and hooks him up for a superplex, but Ultimo counters on the way down by driving Wright’s face into the mat and wraps him up in a La Magistral cradle for a near-fall. Showing that he has studied his opponent, Das Wunderkind counters the handspring elbow with an elbow to the back of the head and rolls the Dragon up, using his feet on the ropes for leverage, for a two-count. After Alex blocks Ultimo’s attempts to hook him up for a tiger suplex and then a dragon suplex, they trade near-falls off of a victory roll and Wright traps Dragon in a bridging German suplex to win the WCW World Television Championship in 13:55. In a moment reminiscent of Rick Rude, Alex tries to engage in a celebratory dance, but he clutches his back because he’s too sore from the match. ***½ Finally realizing three years after his debut that fans hated Alex Wright regardless of how hard the company tried to shove him down their throats, WCW turned him heel and (surprise, surprise) that turned out to be more of a natural role for him. While he may not have been a world-class worker like an Ultimo Dragon or a Dean Malenko, Wright had improved quite a bit and he could usually hold his own against the more talented cruiserweights.

Take two tabs of ecstasy and call me in the morning.

– WCW World Cruiserweight Championship: Eddie Guerrero vs. “Lionheart” Chris Jericho ©

This is an interesting pairing at this point, as it was early in Eddie Guerrero’s heel run and not long before Chris Jericho would turn to the dark side. Hearkening back to his partnership in Los Gringos Locos with Art “Love Machine” Barr, Eddie slips into the cocky dirtbag heel role with ease as he taunts Jericho after outmaneuvering him to begin the contest. The Lionheart displays his hidden strength as he catches Eddie in a press slam and tosses him on his face, but Guerrero crawls behind referee Mark Curtis and bails out to argue with some fans in the “Stupid Hat Section,” as Heenan so aptly phrases it. Enacting his fiendish plot, Guerrero stalls at ringside until Jericho turns his back and then slithers back inside with a blindside attack to take the advantage. Following his patented slingshot senton, Eddie positions Jericho on the turnbuckles and snaps him back down with a super huracanrana for a two-count, but when the former US Champion leaps off the top rope for another style of huracanrana, Jericho counters with a powerbomb. Presumably planning to apply the Liontamer, Jericho grabs Guerrero’s legs while Guerrero grabs the ropes, so the Cruiserweight Champion yanks his challenger away from the ropes and uses the momentum to transition into a giant swing. Dazed and dizzy, both men take their time getting up as Jericho knocks Eddie out of the ring and attempts to follow him by springboarding off the middle turnbuckle over the top rope, but Jericho’s foot gets caught on the rope along the way and he takes a nasty spill out to the floor. That’s a great spot because it’s hard to tell if Chris was just selling the disorientation after the giant swing or if it was a legitimate botch. After enjoying a hearty chortle at his opponent’s misfortune, Eddie tries to suplex Jericho back into the ring, but the Lionheart reverses it and suplexes Eddie all the way down to the floor. Back inside, Jericho ascends the turnbuckles to seize the opportunity, but Guerrero meets him on the top turnbuckle and superplexes him down to the canvas for two. A quick series of counters between the two well-traveled stars leads to Chris dropping Eddie on the back of his head with a German release suplex for two, and they exchange near-falls on the mat until Jericho ends up on top for the three-count to retain the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship in 6:41. Afterward, Guerrero lays Jericho out with a brainbuster and a frogsplash to further their issue. ***½ No offense to Ultimo Dragon and Alex Wright, but Jericho/Guerrero was the match that needed 14 minutes as this felt rushed and somewhat unsatisfying. Still a good short match to continue the feud, as they went on to have a longer rematch at Fall Brawl where Eddie won the Cruiserweight Title.

You can tell when Eddie is a heel because he neglects to dry his hair.

– Lucha Rules: Psychosis & Villano IV & Villano V & Silver King (w/Sonny Onoo) vs. Super Calo & Juventud Guerrera & Lizmark Jr. & Hector Garza

Since splitting from Ultimo Dragon, Sonny Onoo began to manage a consortium of international cruiserweights in his on-going effort to make money and bring down his former protege, explaining the Japanese businessman’s presence with the rudo quartet. Mike Tenay joins the broadcast team for this match and explains that under Lucha Libre rules if a man falls out of the ring, one of his partners can replace him without making a tag. Patiently awaiting their highspot fix, the crowd is quiet for the first couple of minutes until Hector Garza & Lizmark Jr. back-bodydrop Silver King & Villano IV out to the floor and Super Calo follows them out with a somersault plancha over the top. The bodies continue to fly as Lizmark is out next with a suicide dive over the top rope, followed by Juventud Guerrera springboarding off of Garza’s back with his “Air Juvy” leap over the top, then Villano V diving through the ropes, and to cap it off, Garza wiping out the whole crew with a spinning corkscrew off the top turnbuckle. Noticing that one man did not participate, Calo goes after Psychosis in the ring and positions him on the turnbuckles, but when the Super One tries to headscissor him down, Sonny Onoo holds onto Psycho’s leg and Calo crashes to the canvas. While his partners prevent the opponents from interfering with the finish, Psychosis lands the guillotine legdrop on Calo for the uno-dos-tres at 4:52. ** Just another mish-mash of Lucha spots and dives out of the ring, this one was fairly dull and the crowd wasn’t really into it until the obligatory highspots.

– Mean Gene interviews the Dinner & A Movie guys again and, OH MY GOD!!! They pull off their jackets to reveal black-and-white “Macho Madness” t-shirts! THEY WERE WITH THE NWO ALL ALONG! Totally killing any shred of credibility he might have left, Okerlund is outraged and indignant as the two nobodies revel in their nWo membership. Since WCW had arbitrarily decided that tonight would be recognized as the one-year anniversary of the formation of the nWo–even though Bash at the Beach ’94 was over 13 months ago–the Macho Man comes out on the set and explains that the guys are catering the nWo’s birthday party. After Savage leaves the scene, a big nWo birthday cake has appeared and the two dweebs kill time uttering clever insults like “Diamond Dallas Pantywaist” until Page himself finally makes his way out and drops one of them with the Diamond Cutter. Sadly, nobody ends up wearing the cake, although DDP does destroy the set. Well, that was…something.

THE MOST SHOCKING SWERVE IN THE HISTORY OF OUR GREAT SPORT!

– For the 1-800-COLLECT Road Report, Lee Marshall informs us that Columbia, South Carolina, is home to a lovely botanical garden that had an infestation of “Weasel Weed”. It will forever boggle my mind that he was paid to do this every week.

– Syxx & Konnan vs. “Nature Boy” Ric Flair & Curt Hennig

Following his sudden departure from the WWF in the autumn of 1996, Curt Hennig made his WCW debut as Dallas Page’s mystery partner against Randy Savage & Scott Hall at Bash at the Beach ’97 and ended up costing them the match when he turned on DDP after some miscommunication between the two. Leaving his “Mr. Perfect” persona behind, Hennig declared himself wrestling’s most coveted free agent and was touted as the most expensive hired gun on the market, so Ric Flair began a campaign to recruit him for the Four Horsemen in a storyline that drew on their past alliance in the WWF five years earlier. Formerly a member of the Dungeon of Doom, Konnan had recently joined the nWo due to his admiration for Hulk Hogan and frustration with WCW, while Syxx was known as “The 1-2-3 Kid” in the WWF and had seen his stock rise considerably when he became the sixth member of the nWo a year prior. Leading off for the nWo’s B-team, Konnan is eager to square off against Curt Hennig, but he doesn’t appreciate Hennig swatting his gum at him and they engage in some chain-wrestling before they both tag out. Although Syxx initially gets the better of him, Ric Flair chops him down and tags in Hennig, who drives Syxx back to the nWo corner with his patented kneelift and starts pounding on Konnan when he tags back in. After a collision off the ropes, Hennig and Konnan both go down, but K-Dawg is able to trap Hennig in the corner and tag Syxx as they both open up on the former WWF Intercontinental Champion. In an effort to save his partner, Flair breaks up the double-teaming and prepares to apply the figure-four on Konnan, but Hennig inadvertently fires Syxx right into the Nature Boy’s knee amidst the chaos. Flawlessly, Hennig snares Konnan in the Perfect–err, Hennigplex to win the match in 5:09. In a post-match interview, Hennig repeatedly responds “No” when Mean Gene asks if he is a Horseman and Flair continues to question him on the way up the aisle as the intrigue builds. ** Too short to really get going, the sole purpose of this match was to advance Hennig’s storyline as he would later graciously accept Arn Anderson’s “spot” in the Horsemen, only to turn on Flair during the War Games at Fall Brawl ’97 and reveal his allegiance to the nWo. This was one of WCW’s better angles at the time and it made Hennig stand out from the plethora of ex-WWF stars since he was portrayed as a mercenary-like sellsword (damn you, Skyrim and Game of Thrones!) without any official ties to WCW or the nWo upon his arrival. Although he was such a natural heel, I would have rather seen Hennig remain a Horseman and help them battle the nWo, since he made a pretty cool babyface and I always liked his chemistry with Flair. His heel turn was just another instance of Flair and WCW coming across as total losers who were constantly being humiliated and fooled by the nWo without ever really getting the upper hand.

“I used to be a Nature Boy like you. Then I took a Syxx in the knee.”

– WCW World Tag Team Championship: Scott Hall & “Macho Man” Randy Savage (w/Miss Elizabeth) © vs. Diamond Dallas Page & “Total Package” Lex Luger

During his introductions, ring announcer Michael Buffer accurately sums up the neverending war between WCW and the nWo when he says their “continuing issues continue” tonight. In the absence of Hollywood Hogan, the Macho Man comes across as the de facto leader of the New World Order as the Outsiders, Syxx, Konnan, Buff Bagwell, Scott Norton, Vincent, and Elizabeth come out to celebrate the nWo’s one-year anniversary amidst black and white balloons falling from the ceiling. Just because he can, Kevin Nash announces that this will be a championship bout with Randy Savage stepping into his spot as Scott Hall’s partner to defend the Outsiders’ World Tag Team Title, and then remains at ringside with Elizabeth while the rest of the nWo heads up the aisle. The referee for the match is Nick Patrick, who had resigned from the nWo and earned back his old job with WCW as a neutral official. In a rematch from the previous Clash, Lex Luger and Scott Hall start off against each other and it doesn’t take long for Hall to outsmart Luger and dump him out to the floor, where Nash levels the Total Package with a clothesline from behind. Proving that he had indeed turned over a new leaf, Nick Patrick ejects Nash from ringside while Hall & Savage seize the opportunity in the ring, with Savage landing a flying double-axhandle across Luger’s back. Lex manages to tag out before taking too much punishment and Diamond Dallas unloads on both of the nWo headliners, but Hall trips DDP up and Savage blindsides him when he turns to look at Hall. The defending World Tag Team Champions work over DDP in and out of the ring and focus on the midsection as Schiavone notes that DDP’s ribs had already been injured twice during previous encounters with the nWo, leading to the oft-mocked tape that Page would wear around his ribs for the rest of his career. After sustaining an extended beating, DDP ducks a clothesline from Hall and cuts him down with a clothesline of his own, finally making the hot tag to Luger. Like a house of fire, the Total Package mows down Hall & Savage with a series of clotheslines and inverted atomic drops while the crowd erupts in a frenzy. Behind the ref’s back, Luger tosses Savage over the top rope and lifts Hall in the Torture Rack, but the Macho Man runs back in to make the save and gouges DDP’s eyes for good measure. With DDP blinded in the corner, Hall shoves Luger into Page’s ribs from behind and DDP unknowingly snaps the Diamond Cutter on his own partner, allowing Hall to cover Luger and retain the WCW World Tag Team Title in 9:55. *** While I would have liked to see them get more time, this was a well-worked main event that used the tried-and-true face-in-peril formula to great effect, as DDP sold a fantastic beating and incorporated the psychology of his injured ribs into the match. The finish came off very well and looked natural when DDP instinctively dropped Lex with the Diamond Cutter after getting hit in the ribs, and it was also nice to see a pinfall instead of the usual nWo run-in ending.

– After a commercial break, the nWo comes out to the ring to continue their celebration and this time Eric Bischoff is with them as he attempts to coerce the crowd into a “Happy Birthday” cheer. Doing what he does best, Bischoff kisses up to the Outsiders and informs the crowd that Hollywood Hogan sends his love, but his pointless rambling is interrupted when the lights dim and we see Sting standing in the rafters with a vulture on his arm. While Sting stares down silently at the ring, the voice of a young boy can be heard reciting a soliloquy describing the Stinger as a dark avenger. As it concludes, the lights go out and when they come back on, the vulture is perched on the top rope while the nWo acts all scared and frightened of it. Apparently, that was Sting’s answer.

In another shocking swerve, the bird joined the nWo the following week on Nitro.

With this being the last Clash, I decided to compile win/loss records for every wrestler who ever appeared in a match on a Clash, including boxing matches, arm-wrestling challenges, Five Men & A Lady tags, and whatever else WCW threw at them. I present here the Top 30 sorted by win totals, and draws include time-limit decisions, double disqualifications or count-outs, and no-contest rulings. The top three or four aren’t surprising, but Jimmy Garvin? Really?

1. Sting (16-5-3)
2. Ric Flair (15-4-2)
3. Lex Luger (12-1-1)
4. Ricky Steamboat (11-0-0)
5. Brian Pillman (11-6-0)
6. Jimmy Garvin (10-4-0)
7. Steve Williams (9-0-2)
8. Michael Hayes (9-3-0)
9. Barry Windham (9-4-0)
10. Rick Steiner (9-8-1)
11. Mike Rotunda / Michael Wallstreet / VK Wallstreet (8-2-2)
12. Ron Simmons / Doom #1 (8-3-0)
13. Dustin Rhodes (8-4-1)
14. Arn Anderson (8-7-1)
15. The Z-Man (7-4-0)
16. Scott Steiner (7-5-2)
17. Cactus Jack (6-3-0)
18. Bobby Eaton (6-12-0)
19. Big Van Vader (5-4-0)
20. Steve Austin (5-8-0)
21. Master Blaster Steel / Oz / Vinnie Vegas (4-0-0)
22. Sid Vicious (4-2-0)
23. Road Warrior Hawk (4-3-2)
24. Rick Rude (4-4-1)
25. Stan Lane (4-4-0)
26. Butch Reed / Doom #2 (4-4-0)
27. Johnny B. Badd (4-7-0)
28. Dusty Rhodes (3-1-1)
29. Steve Armstrong (3-1-0)
30. Ranger Ross (3-1-0)

And for my fellow tag team enthusiasts, here are the Top 10 tag teams and their Clash records.

1. The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin (9-3-0)
2. The Steiner Brothers: Rick & Scott Steiner (7-5-1)
3. Harlem Heat: Booker T & Stevie Ray (4-0-1)
4. The Midnight Express: Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane (4-4-0)
5. The Southern Boys / Young Pistols: Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong (3-1-0)
6. The Nasty Boys: Jerry Saggs & Brian Knobbs (3-4-1)
7. Sting & Lex Luger (2-0-1)
8. The Varsity Club: Mike Rotunda & Steve Williams (2-0-1)
9. Terry Gordy & Steve Williams (2-0-0)
10. Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas (2-0-0)

Thanks again for reading these Clash reviews and all of the feedback I have received. Hope you’ve enjoyed the journey as much as I have. *sniffle*

The 411: Since the formation of the New World Order, WCW had been firing on all cylinders and blowing the WWF away in the war for television ratings dominance between Nitro and Raw. In terms of storyline quality, 1997 was arguably the company's best year creatively as the nWo was still going strong and that encompassed several different angles involving a variety of talent, including the elevation of Diamond Dallas Page during his feud with the Macho Man. The mystery of which side Curt Hennig would choose was treated as a major deal, and the love triangle between Jeff Jarrett, Debra, and Steve McMichael produced a solid undercard storyline that eventually led to the McMichaels divorcing in real-life. Also freshening up the lower card were the heel turns of Eddie Guerrero and Alex Wright, the face turn by Ultimo Dragon, a parade of colorful Luchadores, and the debut of Raven as they all provided something unique in their roles. As a snapshot of WCW at the time, the thirty-fifth and final Clash of the Champions was an entertaining program and a fitting end to the series. The company had come a long way since the first Clash and now had television programming that featured production values and ratings that exceeded those of the WWF, a miraculous feat that nobody seriously thought possible on the afternoon of March 27, 1988. Intending to capitalize on the massive ratings success of Nitro, TBS requested a two-hour live primetime show for Thursdays (and occasional Wednesdays) and in early 1998, WCW Thunder premiered on the Superstation and rendered Clash of the Champions obsolete.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]