The Furious Flashbacks – WCW Clash of the Champions 26

The Furious Flashbacks – WCW Clash of the Champions 26

Feedbacky feedbag of feedback (sorry, all the other names were gone) –

Whats with the numbering for the Clash shows? I thought they were all done in Roman numbers?

Yeah, I have somewhat dumbed down the Clash numbering system there in an attempt to make the shows even easier to search for in the old database. I would apologise for said dumbing down but I haven’t had many complaints. Well, a few. Sorry.

I just wanted you to know that I recently picked up reading the Furious Flashbacks and they’re great. I remember watching all of these shows when they happened and I also take a trip back to them every once in awhile on tape. I really enjoy your lambasting of WCW creative, cause I remember watching some of these matches recently and wanting to kill myself, especially the Nasty Boys and their 20-25 minute wrestling clinics (like at Halloween Havoc 93). I loved WCW when it was actually at this time, guess that’s what being 8 at the time does for you. I’m enjoying these a lot.
Thank you for doing them.

Score! Positive feedback. Everyone has far fonder memories of the Nasty Boys than history does. Time has not been kind to you, Itlan. Apologies also to Zach for replying to his email when I was blind drunk. You can blame, say, JT. Yeah.

There was also the guy who I also replied to when I was drunk, which is why my response makes no sense at all who called me a super-smark and said I had a crowd mentality. He claimed I gave Dusty Rhodes no credit for his booking in the 1980’s, which is odd considering I was writing about a show in 1993. Which was rubbish. There’s no pleasing some folk.

January 27th 1994. We’re in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Scheme Gene welcomes us but the hosts are Fat Tony and wait… Gene has an SHOCK announcement and joining the show is BOBBY HEENAN. Enormous heat for Bobby. “Weasel” chants the crowd.

Pretty Wonderful w/The Assassin v Too Cold Scorpio/Marcus Alexander Bagwell w/Teddy Long

Heenan’s first contribution is changing TBS to The Brain Station. Scorpio is pretty quick but Orndorff just bashes him in the face. Heenan calls Marcus “Baglady”. Noice. Scorpio flips around to confuse and disorientate Orndorff so he tags out to Roma as we hit up an ad break. Why I oughta! We come back with Roma dumping Bagwell on the ropes Stun Gun style. Bagwell gets the Brisco roll up on Roma for 2. He cuts Bagwell right back down and the crowd gets on his case as Scorpio gets a tag. Scorpio goes for a superplex but Roma anchors himself allowing Scorpio to fall. Hard. Roma with sledges off the top and in comes Orndorff, who used to be managed by Bobby Heenan. Pretty Wonderful illegally double team to prevent a hot tag. More heat on Scorpio as he’s isolated now. Double backdrop gets a gasp. Orndorff comes off top but predictably gets bashed in the face and Scorpio does a great falling backwards hot tag to Bagwell. He cleans house. Hey, it WAS a hot tag. I can dig that. Crossbody gets 2. Bagwell up top and the missile dropkick would finish but Orndorff is in there. Teddy is all “hollah, hollah, hollah, playa”. Everyone in for a mass brawl and the referee has lost it. Scorpio misses on a crossbody and flies outside. This leaves Bagwell at a disadvantage and he gets his own heat segment but it’s a short one and Pretty Wonderful miscue the heel face into knee double team spot allowing Bagwell to pin Roma at 12.37. **. Decent formula tag match but it went on a bit long. Reactions were there though so you can’t argue too much with that. The babyfaces get a title shot as a result.

Ron Simmons v Ice Train

JIP thanks to ad breaks. Train was the former student of Simmons so now he’s out to kick his ass. He hits a patented Simmons powerslam to start. Outside where Simmons takes over and clubbers Train. Simmons suplexes Train back inside. He beats Train down and reminds him that he’s the teacher. Simmons heel antics aren’t over much like his babyface antics weren’t over. Train makes a mess of a sunset flip for 2. Simmons misses his diving shoulderblock. Train powerslams him and again doesn’t pin. He misses in the corner and Simmons puts him out of his misery with a cradle at 3.31. ½*. Nothing much doing there. I’m going all JR here to remind you of Ron Simmons’ career in football. He competed at Warner Robins High School where he made the All State team in 1976. He was a defensive noseguard at Florida State University where his jersey was retired and he was inducted into the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame for outstanding college football skills. He was an All-American who played in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns. Didn’t have much of a future thanks to a bum knee and went into wrestling instead. I believe that knee flared up here and promptly ended his WCW career. He’d resurface in ECW in late 1994 challenging Shane Douglas for the ECW title at November To Remember ’94.

PROMO TIME – Gene Okerlund interviews the US champ Steve Austin who’s doing an impression of Robert Parker. He’s managing Parker against Pillman tonight. Parker meanwhile lets us know he whipped his dog’s ass last week. Ok, then. Okerlund seques into the WCW commissioner position. The new commissioner is…Nick Bockwinkel. He’s not the greatest of personalities so I’m not sure what the point of this authority figure was. He was a former 6-time AWA champion though so he had the credentials. Oddly enough he also used to be managed by Bobby Heenan who just joined WCW as well.

TV title – Steven Regal (c) w/Sir William v Dustin Rhodes

GORDON FUCKIN’ SOLIE replaces Fat Tony on commentary for this one. Regal brings the usual mannerisms and facial expressions before cheap shotting Dustin in the corner. That gets his dander up and he dropkicks Regal out of the ring. Rhodes grabs the arm as Regal comes back in and works it over. Solie’s commentary is really refreshing. Regal reverses on the mat and that is slick. Dustin looks confused as Regal has such a fine style that looks so hard to deal with. He goes to a more conventional full nelson to allow Dustin the chance to get out of the hold and then bails when he’s thrown out of it. Regal is working with himself here. Dustin is biting at the right points, sort of, but it’s all Regal. They should have pushed him to the moon. He was over like clover and he made everyone look great that wanted it. Dustin uses a headlock extensively so the only real thing of note about this match is Solie’s commentary, which is so superior to Fat Tony’s. I wonder if he’d been capable of calling an entire show around this time. I guess WCW thought he sounded a bit old fashioned. Regal takes down Rhodes again and works a chinlock. The match has degenerated to rest holds and as this is a TV title match so we’re headed for 15 minuts. “The point of attack, the point of balance and the point of defence” says Gordon. You just don’t hear that kind of commentary anymore. Regal takes Dustin down and palm strikes him in the eye. 10 minutes gone then and GMC points out we’re mostly done here. Regal spends another minute in the goku raku stretch. Dustin uses fists so Regal bails out again. Sir William coaches him on the time remaining and tells him to stay outside. Regal baits Dustin into breaking the count several times leaving him out there for nearly a minute. Regal sunset flips back inside but Dustin blocks into mounted punches. Aren’t those entirely illegal? Regal takes more punches on the ropes and a flying lariat gets 2. Two minutes left and Regal bails out to protect the title and this time Dustin follows. Regal tries to suplex him back in, no dice and Dustin hits a dropkick for 2. Regal tries for a sneaky roll up, into the ropes and Regal bails again. About a minute left and Regal gets backdropped back inside. Slingshot splash gets 2. Regal bails again. Dustin follows and we get a brawl on the floor with Sir William getting beaten down too. Time running out with Regal dodging everything until the BULLDOG should finish but the bell goes early at 14.56. If you’re going to do the near finish because of time then get a better timekeeper. GMC and the wrestlers were in perfect sync on their countdown though so that’s ok. **3/4. Passable match but never really hit a higher gear and as soon as Regal used his stalling tactics it was clear the match wasn’t going to be great. Ah, well. At least the psychology was great.

PROMO TIME – Gene Okerlund chats to Aaron Neville. He talks about how he likes all the wrestlers, cajun food and Mardi Gras. Wow, what was the point of that?

SHILL – Superbrawl 4 on February 20th. I managed to get a loaner of that but the audio is in German because there was no tape release.

Nasty Boys w/Missy Hyatt v Cactus Jack/Maxx Payne

Missy scores about 3 on the Skankometer tonight thanks to some less than repulsive jeans rather than something more hideous. I thought she was gone by this point but I guess it can’t be far off. I SO mark for the babyface duo although they’re not challenging for the titles tonight. They enter through the crowd and blindside the Nasties. FOLEYLINE takes Knobbs out. He adds the APRON ELBOW. Saggs gets thrown out there and he gets the CACTUS ELBOW too. Knobbs gets double teamed and we finally get 1 on 1 with Payne singling him out. Saggs quickly tags after a thumb to the eye. Saggs comes off the top but Payne armdrags him into a pin for 2. Maxx no sells the buckles and smiles. Heh. Knobbs runs right into the PAYNE KILLER. Saggs breaks it up and Cactus dives in too. Nasties do their standard double team business to keep Payne down and Knobbs drops a leg for 2. Saggs blasts Payne in the face with a plastic chair but he baseball swung that son of a bitch. Nasties continue to double team. Payne double lariats both Nasties to turn the tide. Hot tag to Cactus and he cleans house. DOUBLE FOLEYLINE! Missy interferes while Cactus hits the DOUBLE ARM DDT. Saggs elbows him off but Payne sneaks in to elbow Knobbs off the cover and the babyface duo take the win over the tag champs at 6.46 using Nasty Boys formula to do so. **. I really like the booking on the finish because it plays up the number of times that the Nasties use that finish. Crowd pops big for it as well.

POST MATCH COMEDY sees both Maxx and Cactus lay liplocks on Missy, Cactus even leans her back that sly old romantic. They’d have another match at Superbrawl.

PROMO TIME – Gene Okerlund talks about the Nasties having backstage issues with Missy Hyatt, which is on the Hotline. [phone]. Give them a call and see what the scoop is! We then get a recap of the Austin-Pillman feud.

Robert Parker w/Colonel Steve Austin v Brian Pillman

Loser has to wear a chicken suit. Oh OLD SCHOOL. Parker runs around like a, well, chicken. Pillman gives a series of comedy bumps. Crowd is somewhat disinterested because Austin just seems to be waiting to screw the crowd out of Pillman’s revenge. It’s like they’re 3 steps ahead. The Colonel takes a walk and Austin takes his place in the ass kicking. The Boss is out here to send Parker back to the ring. The Boss is all about making sure justice is done as Austin takes a bump off the ramp. Parker takes a powder again but the Boss apprehends him. Austin runs in again and gives Pillman the Stun Gun. Parker gets back in and seems confident but Pillman is back up and he kicks some serious ass while jumping around in uber babyface mode. Austin jumps on the apron and gets clothslined off it. Pillman goes up but Austin knocks him off and Parker gets a pin…for 2. Austin sure is doing the work out there. Boss runs him off and the distraction allows Pillman to roll Parker up for the pin at 5.40. **. That was a fun little match. Austin reminded me of Shawn Michaels when he managed Diesel and totally took over the entire match because he had so much energy. It works here too because Austin is the guy getting pushed so he’s the focus. Now Parker has to wear a chicken suit.

Vader/Rick Rude w/Harley Race v Ric Flair/Sting

This is elimination rules. According to Buffer, Rude is the “WCW heavyweight champion”. Is he? Nick Bockwinkel joins the commentary. The commentators speculate that Vader is using this match as an excuse to try and injure Flair ahead of their forthcoming WCW title re-match. Meanwhile Rude grinds for Sting. He grinds right back and Flair adds a “woo”. Heenan feigns concern for Flair but what he’s actually after is Flair’s watch. “Well someone’s got to have it” reasons the Weasel. He also points out that Schiavone is the only person involved in this match that isn’t a world champion or former world champion or managed one. Which is true. Vader tags in to dismantle Sting. Just totally manhandle him and he even manges a sunset flip off the buckles but Sting sits down on him. That’s a weird reversal of what should actually be happening. Vader is less than happy and he works Sting over with strikes. The mask is off too. Uh, oh. He means bidniz now. Sting hits a big back suplex and Flair is in and he’s fast. He gets all over Vader chopping away and raking the eyes every time there’s a sign of life. His attack is absolutely relentless as he wails away on Vader and continues to chop him. Sting tags in as we head to the ad break. We return with Sting getting worked over again. Rude has the BORE-HUG! Flair gets a tag and axe handles Rude before groin bumping him. GREAT sell from Rude on that. Knees together, mouth open. Vader gets a tag though and goes after Flair’s back. VADERBOMB! No pin. Vader looks like a gorilla when he does that. Race wants more punishment for Naitch and Vader takes him up for the superplex. No sign of a pin because that’s clearly not Vader’s intention here. He just wants to hurt him. Back up again and SUPERDUPERPLEX from way up top leaves Flair completely incapacitated. Race calls for it again and Vader goes up top for the big top rope splash but Sting runs in to save. Rude comes in to DDT Sting. Vader grabs a chair and Nick Bockwinkel stands in his way to prevent a chair shot. Vader is upset about not being able to bash Flair’s head in. “Shit” he shouts and he’s so upset he doesn’t notice the referee count him and Flair out at 16.09. Boo! Cop out to show the power of Bockwinkel’s position rather than advance the storyline between Vader and Flair although Flair needs help leaving the arena after all the top rope moves.

Sting has control on Rude meanwhile and hits him with some quick high energy offence. Sting manages to cripple himself trying to hit an inverted Atomic drop. No idea what happened there but it didn’t look right. Sting just slumps. Rude puts a beating on him and something definitely went wrong in there. Sting stands up out of a chinlock and drops Rude south. However his follow up splash gets knees. Sting manages to hit the RUDE AWAKENING but Rude has his foot on the ropes. Sting runs into an atomic drop but Rude then misses a charge. Rude goes after a Tombstone but Sting reverses out. TOMBSTONE! Sting goes up top to add in a splash for good measure and the pin at 22.34. ***1/4. It was going great until the eliminations kicked in. Then we got a really boring heat deal for 6 minutes. Still the stuff with Vader just creaming Flair was good enough for the triple snowflake rating. It also sets up Superbrawl 4. Which, coincidentally will be my next WCW recap.

The 411: A clear step up from the muddled booking towards the end of 1993. Continuity has arrived and Flair-Vader is actually being booked smartly. Vader is back as the monster and Sting is back as a main eventer. Basically everything at the top end is going in the right direction. The undercard has a lot of fun stuff with Austin-Pillman, Regal-Rhodes and the imminent Payne/Cactus-Nasties feud. The only really bad thing was the Simmons-Ice Train encounter and that has the decency to be short. So its thumbs up from me. Nothing like getting your booking straightened out to improve your shows. Bye, Dusty.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]