The Furious Flashbacks – WCW Clash of the Champions 34

The Furious Flashbacks – WCW Clash of the Champions 34

Malenko has another classic, Konnan doesn’t and Lex Luger is aided by the Steiners in turning the course of the war against the nWo

We’re in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Hosts are Fat Tony, Fatter Bobby and Fattest Dusty.

Cruiserweight title – Ultimo Dragon (c) v Dean Malenko

Mike Tenay joins the commentary team and WCW is still getting Ultimo’s name wrong. It seems no matter how many times Tenay explains that one to them it doesn’t seem to sink in. Dragon lost the J Crown to Jushin Liger since the last show. To the mat to start and Dragon works at the leg. Malenko gets fired up and hits a suplex for 2. Dragon goes the kicks and continues to boot at Malenko after he goes down. Malenko takes none of that shiznit and hits a back suplex HARD. Knee bar applied and Dragon has to get into the ropes. Malenko opts for a half crab at the 2nd attempt at a submission. Dragon kicks away Malenko’s standing leg so Malenko drops into a leglock and Dragon kicks him off again. Shinbreaker from Malenko. Outside and Malenko uses the rail on Dragon’s knee. Figure 4 applied and Malenko gives up on that so Dragon spin kicks him. Dragon climbs but Malenko catches him – SUPERPLEX! Standing switches (Malenko’s switches always looked believable, I love watching him just chain) and Malenko looks for a powerbomb, COUNTERED INTO A RANA PIN for 2. Dragon with the springboard dropkick sending Malenko to the floor. ASAI MOONSAULT! Back inside and Dragon hits a brainbuster and a moonsault for 2. Twisting Super Rana from Dragon and he looks for the Tiger Suplex, blocked into the Cloverleaf, blocked into the pin for 2. Butterfly powerbomb from Malenko and he stops to lay out Sonny Onoo. TEXAS CLOVERLEAF! Dragon can’t get away and now Onoo can’t interfere either and Dragon has to tap at 15.05. ***1/4. A lot slower than the first match between these two at Starrcade but it was nice that they used the finishes and near finishes from that match to contribute to the psychology in this one. The replay shows Malenko catching a kick and then sweeping the leg to lead into the second Cloverleaf attempt. Sweet. Everything Malenko did looked great.

Scotty Riggs v Mike Enos

The American Males just died after Marcus Bagwell joined the nWo and became Buff. Enos is incredibly vanilla. I didn’t even recognise him. They fight out to the floor where Enos takes a backdrop. Back inside Enos hits an overhead belly to belly. Riggs hits a flying forearm for the pin at 2.15. Wasn’t even a good flying forearm. ¼*. That match was just nothing. I award the quarter snowflake for Enos taking an unnecessary backdrop on the floor in a nothing jobber match.

FRONTSTAGE Scheme Gene gets a chat with the Four Horsemen. No Flair but Arn, Mongo and Benoit are out here. There’s been trouble a brewin’ in the Horsemen but after a summit conference they’re back on the same page. Benoit uses this as an excuse to cut a promo on Kevin Sullivan that’s somewhat heelish. He says he can take anything of Sullivan’s any time he wants. Crowd initially chants for Flair but then for Benoit as he talks about destroying Sullivan and taking his career. Mongo gets booed and actually cuts a heel promo. I don’t get the response though because he used to play for the Packers, right? Debra sticks the oar into Woman before the promo ends.

Konnan/JL/La Parka v Chris Jericho/Chavo Guerrero Jr/Super Calo

Juvi misses the show so Jericho is subbing in for him. Psicosis is also injured so he’s replaced by La Parka. This is a Mexican style Trios bout. Trying to pass Jerry Lynn off as a luchadore is quite funny. Konnan v Calo is brutally awful but then practically every single thing Konnan does looks atrocious. They move around each slowly moving into position for lucha spots. BOO! Rubbish. Jericho-Parka. Now we’re talking. They do something approaching chaining before Jericho clotheslines him but Parka spinning back kicks him. Jericho stuns him then hits a missile dropkick. Konnan comes in and just stands there waiting for Chavo to dropkick him. How did no one notice that Konnan just completely sucks? He stands around waiting for Chavo to dropkick Parka. Oh good lord. Konnan holds Chavo up and Parka hits a moonsault onto them and that is fucking ugly. Chavo crossbodies the talented guys on the heel team. In comes Jericho to hit a sweet spinning heel kick on JL. Konnan gets knocked outside where he stands with his arms in the air waiting for Jericho to pescado onto him. Could you be a worse worker? Could you make this look any faker? Jericho turns in time to get levelled by JL hitting a plancha. Chavo hits a plancha too and then Parka hits a suicide dive. Calo hilos onto the fallen Parka in the best flying spot of the lot. JL rolls up Jericho for 2. This certainly is fast paced. Jericho traps JL up top and hits a SUPER RANA for the pin at 5.26. That was from way up there. Tasty. ½*. Total spotfest and a seriously ugly match at times (like when Konnan was in there) but at least some of the spots were good and the crowd got popped.

Harlem Heat w/Sister Sherri v The Renegade/Joe Gomez

Renegade had become a jobber by this point and started tagging with Gomez, another jobber. This is just a match to demonstrate how cool Booker’s jumping kicks are. Harlem Heat does some double teaming to demonstrate some team talent and keep the crowd reminded of what a coherent unit they are. Even more so when they position the referee for Sherri to slap down Gomez. Booker hits his axe kick and says it’s over. Up he goes for the leg jam but Gomez rolls out of the way. Tag to Renegade because Gomez has already been slaughtered. Renegade fairs slightly better until Stevie lariats him. Heat Seeker (Doomsday Missile dropkick) finishes at 3.42. ½*. Just a jobber match but then the Clash was getting treated like another edition of Monday Nitro by this point so it’s to be expected.

Masahiro Chono v Alex Wright

Chono just joined the nWo although that rarely became an issue in North America. Chono stomps Wright but Wright fires up and bashes Chono’s face off the nWo shirt in the corner. Impartial referee Nick Patrick is officiating this match wearing an nWo shirt. IMPARTIAL 4 LIFE! Wright clocks Chono with an Enzuigiri and then headscissors him over. Dropkick follows and Chono is struggling. If we’re talking Hidden Highlights check this out – Chono punches Wright in the stomach and Patrick makes the referee signal that Chono used the palm of the hand. Oh that’s some fucking awesome heel refereeing. Wright hits a spin kick to a very slow 2 count. Chono goes for a slam but gets rolled up for a painfully slow 2 count. Chono tosses Wright over the top rope but Patrick manages to miss that. Wright tries to suplex Chono outside and Patrick tells him to stop. Wright goes up top for the diving sunset flip but Patrick’s old shoulder injury plays up. Wright gets sick of it and boots Patrick in the legs. Wright goes up top but Chono just moves. YAKUZAAAAA KIIIIIICK and Wright is finished at 4.29. Some seriously heavy booking to protect Wright there. *. Match was ok but obviously dominated by the heel official work, which was actually very good. A lesson for any would be heel officials.

Eddie Guerrero v Scott Norton

Referee is still Nick Patrick, which doesn’t bode well for Eddie. Eddie cheekily slaps Patrick on the ass while he’s checking Norton’s gear. Norton shows his power by elbowing Eddie off and shoving him over. Norton with a press slam. He goes for another but Eddie switches to a sunset flip, and then dropkicks the knee out when Norton blocks it. Slingshot hilo on the knee and Eddie hooks up a leglock. Eddie sure was as great fucking worker. Norton shrugs off some chops. Say, how many world titles did you win Flash? Norton shrugs off a dropkick and hits a clothesline. Norton with a one armed suplex and he just drops him. Powerslam and there’s no pin. Powerbomb! Hello! No pin so when Norton goes up top Eddie dropkicks him. Up Eddie goes for some punches into the super rana. Of course the sell isn’t great on it because Norton is too big. Out comes DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE. Remember he feuded with Eddie at this point. Patrick gets bumped and DDP hits the Diamond Cutter on Norton! Thus showing that he’s a babyface. Eddie throws Patrick back in and Frogsplashes Norton. Patrick has no choice but to count 3 because Norton is out at 5.34. **. Some seriously solid bumping from Eddie and a nice storyline to go with it. Basically everyone got over. Norton looked like a monster, DDP a fan favourite and Eddie a battling underdog with tonnes of heart. This is actually superb booking from WCW for once. Hey, it did happen!

BACKSTAGE The Giant cuts a promo about his forthcoming title shot (at Souled Out). Giant says Hogan feared him the most, which is why he befriended him and recruited him to the nWo.

Falls Count Anywhere – Kevin Sullivan w/Jimmy Hart v Chris Benoit w/Woman

Sullivan challenges Benoit to fight him on the floor to start with. Benoit obviously accepts and throws Sullivan into the crowd. They brawl out into the fans with Benoit bringing the kind of intensity that continues to make him so very popular. They brawl into the toilets, which can’t be hygienic. Jimmy Hart gets levelled with a trash can. Sullivan takes a header into the paper towel machine. Referee is in the urinal. Good lord. Sullivan hits the old toilet lariat for 2. Back out of the toilets for more crowd brawling. I like that they plough straight into the thickest hoard of fans. Benoit takes a pisser down the steps. Nearly wiped out a security guy. Into the ring for the first time then because Sullivan wants to tree Benoit and running knee smash him. Double stomp gets 2. Hart calls for a megaphone shot but Woman is in here with a wooden chair and she nails Sullivan with it for the pin at 5.10. **1/4. Fun brawl.

POST MATCH Benoit pulls out some more wooden chairs and breaks one over Sullivan’s noodle.

The Steiner Brothers v Amazing French-Canadians w/Col Robert Parker

The Outsiders get on the big screen to badmouth the Steiners. The Steiners start fast but we take an ad break after about a minute of that. We return with Rick taking heat. The heels try an Iconoclasm onto the fallen Rick but miss. Rick hits a double clothesline and tags in Scott. He cleans house with an intense smashmouth style. He presses Jacques onto Pierre. The Colonel sends Jacques in with the flag but Scott lays him out. Oulette gets set up for the Doomsday DDT and you’d better believe that finishes at 6.53. ½*. Just an extended job bout to show off how fit Scott Steiner was. He’d just returned from a back injury and they wanted to get a good look at him. Interesting to note he didn’t do any bumping though.

Scott Hall w/Kevin Nash/Syxx v Lex Luger

Toothpick for Lex! Luger shoves him over a few times. Hall hits a back suplex but Luger no sells it. Hall boots him in the face and hits a diving bulldog for 2. Hall works the arm a bit but that just gets him clotheslined. Hip tosses blocked and Hall hits a chokeslam. Luger doesn’t stay down for long though so Hall tosses him outside for Syxx. Luger ducks and clotheslines him but Nash shows up to cut him down for real. Hall is able to take over thanks to that. Nash distracts to allow Syxx to interfere as well. Hall pins using the ropes for 2. Nash throws another cheap shot with a punch from the floor. The ref asks him if he interfered in the match leading to some hideous acting from Nash. Hall with the fallaway slam for 2. Hall with the Shades of Wilbur Snyder and do you think he cheats? You’d better believe it! After the ref sees the ropes move Syxx holds his hand instead. Luger manages to hip toss out but he’s worn down. Luger slides outside and crotches Hall on the ring post. Slingshot dropkick and an atomic drop. Inverted atomic drop. Make that a pair. Hall sells the groin. Another inverted atomic drop. Hall thumbs him in the eye to try and stop the momentum but he’s caught in a powerslam. Nash gets punked out and then Luger presses Syxx onto Nash. Hall is in the RACK. It should be over but Nash is in there. Luger elbows him down again but now his concentration is divided. Syxx finally kicks Luger in the head and we have our DQ at 10.28. *1/2. Not a bad match really.

POST MATCH the Steiners run in to brawl with the tag champs. The faces eventually clear the ring out and we get a happy finish to the show for once, although the DQ prevents Luger winning cleanly.

The 411: Great opener and a couple of other decent matches. There’s too much filler on the card to make it a real great show as too much time is dedicated to jobber matches with various enhancement talent on display. The swing of power during the main event was interesting but going into Souled Out it was giving WCW a little before giving the nWo a lot. The feud was incredibly one sided and would remain so. The problem with the Clashes by this point is they were no longer special. They rarely featured epic title bouts or matches of any great importance. With Nitro running every Monday it just felt like another show. Nothing to write home about. While this would make for a good episode of Nitro it’s not memorable enough to be a Clash show. Next time out for me it’s Superbrawl 7, which features Roddy Piper going after Hogan and the world title.

Final Score:  5.5   [ Not So Good ]