The Name on the Marquee: Clash of the Champions XXXV (08.21.97)

-Once monthly pay-per-views became the standard, Clash of the Champions became an obsolete concept and came to a close with this one final installment at the peak of nWo-Mania. Here’s how it went.

-Originally aired live on August 21, 1997.

-We’re in Nashville, TN.

-Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes, and Bobby Heenan.

-We go to three nights ago at Monday Nitro, when JJ Dillon gave Sting a deadline to step forward and reveal his demands. Sting, the saddest clown in Row 107, makes his way into the ring, grabs Dillon by his tie, and points to a sign reading “Sting Wants Hogan!”

UNITED STATES TITLE: JEFF JARRETT (Champion, with Queen Debra) vs. STEVE “Mongo” MCMICHAEL
-Jarrett gets a slight hometown pop even though he’s running around with another man’s wife. McMichael, whose tights raise & lower like mercury in a thermometer depending on how pissed he is, is so outraged at being cuckolded that tonight, he’s reached upper-quarter-of-the-abdomen level fury.

-Jarrett slams McMichael and celebrates. Mongo tries a German suplex, but Jarrett outmaneuvers him, trips him, and then tackles him, beating Mongo at both men’s games and basically winning the match on principle immediately. Mongo fires back with a clothesline and Jarrett goes to the floor for a breather.

-Back from the break, it’s a brawl on the floor and Mongo goes head-first into the steps. Jarrett stomps away and chokes Mongo out. Debra yanks Mongo by the hair to keep him from getting back up, and Jarrett stays in firm control. Sleeper is clamped on by Jarrett. Mongo raises his arm on three (with the referee holding the arm for a looooooonnnnngggg time before letting go, like he’s worried Mongo will forget) and then applies his own sleeper.

-Eddie Guerrero arrives with the title belt and tries to KO Mongo with it while Debra distracts the referee, but Mongo ducks, Jarrett gets KOed, and Mongo gets the win and the gold. Debra congratulates him and says “I knew you could do it!” Mongo shoves her away and storms off. 0 for 1. Jarrett’s version of carrying the match is getting all of the offense for the entire match and then losing on a fluke.

-Gene Okerlund interviews Alex Wright, who has a chip on his shoulder, tells the fans to shut up, and speaks in German. He appears to be a heel now. Alex Wright says Ultimo Dragon gets his name because Wright will be “dragon” him across the ring. Gene decides to end it on a high note and throws it to a commercial after that.

-Claude Mann & Paul Gilmartin of TBS’ “Dinner and a Movie” kick off season three of their big show, where they’ll be screening The Jerk while preparing jerk chicken. For those who don’t remember “Dinner and a Movie,” that was pretty much the entire show.

RAVEN vs. STEVIE RICHARDS
-Both men had just arrived in WCW and Raven’s angle was that he didn’t actually work for WCW, but merely hung out at the events a lot. He agreed to step in the ring tonight, we’re told. He demands the mike and says this match will be on his terms: No disqualification. Richards agrees and the match is underway.

-Raven immediately goes to work on Richards and won’t let up on him. He drops a series of elbows on the floor, brings him back in, and drop-toeholds him onto the seat of a folding chair. Bulldog on the chair follows. Richards finally gets one bit of offense, reversing an Irish whip that causes Raven to crash into the chair. Series of punches and a flying forearm by Richards. Side suplex gets two.

-Raven fights back with clotheslines and a low blow. The DDT finishes. 0 for 2. Total squash.

TELEVISION TITLE: ULTIMO DRAGON (Champion) vs. ALEX WRIGHT
-Mike Tenay steps in for “guy who knows what the hell he’s talking about” duty.

-Wright hiptosses the Dragon and snapmares him. Dragon makes it back to his feet and they take turns trying to work the arm and escaping. Dragon gets the eventual advantage and Wright resorts to a thumb to the eye. He puts the boots to Dragon and applies a side headlock. They collide and neither man goes anywhere. Another collision knocks Wright to his back and he begs for mercy.

-Dragon instead chops away and fires a series of kicks to the chest and legs. Wright comes back with a jawjack and a powerbomb, but refuses to go for the pin, making Heenan’s head explode. Wright puts the boots to Dragon and hits a backbreaker, pausing to celebrate before getting two. HARD forearm by Wright and an Irish whip by Wright, and another backbreaker gets another two.

-Back from commercial, Wright has a headlock clamped on. Dragon elbows free but Wright knocks him right back down. Slam by Wright and he goes to the top rope and connects with a shot to the throat. He celebrates again and goes to a chinlock. Dragon gets free and applies a non-Dragon variety sleeper. Wright escapes but falls victim to a back suplex, and both men are down and weary.

-Dragon recovers and sends Wright to the floor. Wright sees a bodypress coming and slams Dragon facefirst into the floor. Dragon reverses an Irish whip into the barricade and follows with an Asai moonsault and both men are out cold on the floor. They make it back inside before the ten count and trade counters until Wright hits a German suplex and gets the three-count winning the title clean as a sheet. Really good match to finally liven things up. 1 for 3.

CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE: CHRIS JERICHO (Champion) vs. EDDIE GUERRERO
-Eddie gets the early advantage and Jericho rallies the crowd for support. Series of armdrags and a dropkick give control of the match to Jericho, and Eddie gripes about hair-pulling. The referee turns to the crowd for help and they all agree that Eddie’s full of shit, so the referee refuses to take action. Eddie falls victim to a press slam and again, the referee refuses to do anything about imaginary cheating, so Eddie goes to the floor.

-The breather seems to work because Eddie gets in some offense once he gets back in, but a powerbomb brings things back Jericho’s way and he swings Guerrero around the ring by his feet. Guerrero goes to the floor to recover and Jericho goes to the top rope, but he’s dizzy because of the spinning, trips, and crashes on the floor. Eddie brings him back in with a superplex.

-They trade counters until Jericho gets a German suplex for two. They trade roll-ups again and just out of nowhere, Jericho manages to keep one of them clamped tight enough to pin Guerrero and get the three-count to retain. Guerrero is pissed, KOs Jericho, and frogsplashes Jericho with the belt draped across his chest. 2 for 4. Not their finest work and the finish was a little abrupt, but even their not-best is still pretty damn good.

“EVERYONE GETS A PAYCHECK” CRUISERFUCK: SUPER CALO, JUVENTUD GUERRERA, LIZMARK, JR., & HECTOR GARZA vs. PSYCHOSIS, VILLANO IV, VILLANO V, & SILVER KING (with Sonny Onoo)
-IV starts with Calo and shoulderblocks go nowhere. Calo charges into the corner and rolls over IV and onto the top rope, then comes off and gets clotheslined. Calo dropkicks Silver King off the apron and the faces work Villano’s arm. Garza comes in and so does King. They dodge each other’s stuff with fancy footwork and Silver King runs into a backbreaker.

-Juvy squares off with Psychosis. Thrust kick by Psychosis knocks Juvy down and he gets sent out of the ring. Silver King & Villano do some tandem monkeyflips, they get knocked onto the floor, and that leads to a spot where everybody takes a turn crashing into the accumulating pile of humanity on the floor. That’s what rubs me the wrong way about Cruiserweight matches, I think. If you have two of them, it’s a pretty good match, but if you get enough of them in there, they have to squeeze in some totally unrealistic ballet spot like that.

-So Sonny Onoo interferes and blocks a superplex by Calo, and that allows Psychosis to come off the top with a guillotine legdrop for three. 2 for 5. This was just kind of there.

-We go right back to the “Dinner and a Movie” guys, and they unveil a lot of dishes named for nWo guys, revealing their allegiance to the black & white. Jesus, yes, even the cross-promotional whore spots always favored the nWo. Diamond Dallas Page emerges, destroys their set, and knocks out both men with Diamond Cutters.

1-800-COLLECT ROAD REPORT
-Here’s the guy with the worst job in the company when you think about it. Each week, Lee Marshall calls from the venue where the next big show is taking place, but he’s never actually there for WCW events. We are led to believe, is to just crash in a hotel and make a phone call every night. Wait, that’s an awesome job, now that I think about it.

RIC FLAIR & CURT HENNIG vs. SYXX & KONNAN
-Hennig starts with Konnan. He drop-toeholds Konnan and they trade counters, trying to get the next bit of offense. Syxx steps in and Hennig hangs onto his arm while he slides over and tags in Flair. Syxx takes control until Flair starts going to town with chops. Kneedrop gets two. Backdrop and another chop by Naitch, and in comes Hennig to get back to work.

-Kneelift by Hennig and Syxx has had enough. Konnan comes back in and Hennig works the arm. They bounce off the ropes and collide. Konnan gets back to his feet first, and Hennig gets attacked in the nWo corner. Flair gets fed up and it turns into a four-man brawl, but Hennig accidentally catapults Syxx into Flair’s leg, clipping him. Hennig is able to pick up the pieces and get the fisherman’s suplex for the three-count. 3 for 6. Okay, that’s pretty slick foreshadowing. Hennig “accidentally” injures his partner, and then proves himself to be the stronger member of the team by getting the win alone.

-Gene asks Hennig if he’ll join the Horsemen and Hennig plays coy and walks away, pissing off Flair.

TAG TEAM TITLES: “Macho Man” RANDY SAVAGE & SCOTT HALL (Champions, with Miss Elizabeth, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Buff Bagwell, Scott Norton, Syxx, Vincent, Iron Mike Sharpe, Mighty Wilbur, Golden Terror, Irish Terry Gunn, Corporal Kirchner, a disoriented janitor, a guy who’s there because he knows CPR, and Tom Bosley as Mr. Cunningham) vs. LEX LUGER & DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE
-Introductions entail balloons for the nWo’s anniversary (yes, because 14 months always merits a celebration), long fawning introductions from Michael Buffer (helpfully dubbed by a sound-alike by WWE Classics), and a bonus promo from the nWo. They actually have to take a commercial break during the intros. And yes, it’s Savage defending even though Nash is champion.

-nWo gets the early advantage and Kevin Nash interferes. He gets caught and sent back to the locker room. DDP tags in and cleans house. He gets tripped up from the outside and double-teamed. Overhead slam by Hall gets two. DDP gets trapped in the wrong corner and fights his way free. Savage tosses him to the floor and then distracts Luger and referee Nick Patrick while Hall attacks on the floor.

-Patrick continues being distracted while Page gets dismantled on the floor. Crowd is so enthralled that they’re bouncing the balloons from the entrance back & forth. Clothesline by DDP buys him enough time to make the tag and Luger handles both men alone. Savage breaks the torture rack and a brawl erupts. Savage blinds DDP with an eye gouge and DDP accidentally gives Luger a Diamond Cutter, KOing him. That allows Hall to crawl over and get the three-count to retain the gold. 4 for 7. Good match, the nWo stayed the hell out of the way, and that finish was clever.

-Propaganda flyers begin dropping from the ceiling and the entire nWo arrives for an in-ring circle jerk.

-The lights begin flickering, eerie music plays, and Sting appears in the rafters with a vulture. A child begins reading a creepy poem about black holes in evil men’s hearts and curses. Meanwhile, somebody is entertaining himself by shining a laser pointer at the vulture and it starts freaking out. And then the lights go out. And then the lights come back on and the vulture has supposedly flown to the ring and perched itself near the nWo, which is what it WOULD have looked like if the lights hadn’t come on too soon and caught a bird handler placing the bird on the rope. We close with a great shot of Bischoff looking thoroughly frightened by the bird, even though it clearly has a leash tied around its foot and something is pulling it back. Everyone stands there, waits for something to happen, and…fade to black.

The 411: I don't know about the rest of you guys in 1997, but in West Virginia, it's lasting legacy was everybody making fun of the poem from the little kid at the end of the show. Other than that, it was a very what-you-see-is-what-you get show. Watch it but don't expect to be surprised by it.
Final Score:  5.7   [ Not So Good ]