– Live from Charleston, South Carolina
– Hosted by Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Jesse Ventura.
– Opening match: WCW World tag team title: Cactus Jack & Kevin
Sullivan v. The Nasty Boys. This, like most of the card, is a rematch
from Slamboree. That match was one of my favorite matches, ever. This
is not as good because it’s a straight tag team match and 3/4
participants are shitty at straight tag team matches. Two referees here
for no reason in particular. Not too painful to watch, because WCW
allows them one last flirtation with hardcore wrestling before the
arrival of Hulk Hogan puts Cactus Jack on a permanent leash. Sags and
the Sullivan brothers brawl outside the ring and Jack DDTs Knobs for the
pin to retain the titles. Not bad, and an enjoyable opener. **1/2
– Guardian Angel promo.
– Guardian Angel v. Tex Slazenger. The Angel is of course Ray Traylor,
and this is the debut match for the gimmick. Speaking of bad gimmicks,
ol’ Tex is currently stinking up the WWF as everyone’s favorite hog
farmer, Phineas I. Godwinn. And this match is a squash. Angel gives
Tex three “strikes” (ie. shots) before he flips out and ends it with the
Bossman slam. One of the better gimmicks for Traylor, to be sure, but
doomed to failure for legal reasons.
– Extended footage of Hulk Hogan’s limousine pulling into the building
is shown, as Bobby fires off a couple of OJ jokes. Back when they were
still funny.
– WCW World TV title match: Larry Zbyszko v. Steven Regal. Here’s the
short version of this feud: Regal was acting like a pompous ass and
generally pissing on Zbyszko’s leg (much like Scott Hall today) so one
day while interviewing him, Zbyszko decided to deck him and come out of
retirement. They fought at Slamboree in a non-title match to prove
Larry’s worth, and that earned him a title shot, which he also won,
which was aired on Worldwide (I think). This is the rematch. Steven
Regal is my god at this point, and I wish he’d remember how good he was
in 1994 and go back there again. By this time, these two have wrestled
each other twice and have a really awesome groove going together. Both
guys are total professionals and know how to keep a match from getting
boring, and their styles mesh perfectly here. The crowd is very
appreciative throughout, as Regal draws monster heel heat. When was the
last time that happened? End comes as Zbyszko tries a Boston Crab, but
Sir William pulls him over with the umbrella, putting Regal on top, and
Regal then grabs onto the top rope for leverage and gets the pin and
his second TV title. Terrific match. ***1/2
– Mean Gene interviews Dustin Rhodes. Rhodes has been feuding with Col.
Parker’s stable for a few months, and now he’s asking Arn Anderson to be
his partner against Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck, in retaliation for a
beating at Slamboree. Arn accepts on the condition that Dustin realizes
it’ll be the old, sneaky, dirty trick playing Arn that shows up.
Dustin, like an IDIOT, agrees and of course when they wrestle at Bash at
the Beach, Arn turns on him and beats the hell out of him. They just
don’t write great storylines like that one anymore.
– US title match: Stunning Steve Austin v. Johnny B. Badd. Another
rematch from Slamboree. Austin had fired Parker the week before and was
better for it. It was supposed to be Austin going over Flair for the
World title in the next few months, but Hulk showed up and screwed it
up, and screwed up Austin’s career with it. Ironically, it was the
bitterness caused by this that created Stone Cold Steve Austin. A damn
fine match that isn’t as good as Slamboree, but it’s a lot different and
different is good sometimes. I just watched some Johnny B. Badd stuff
from 1991-ish this afternoon, and the difference between then and
1994-ish is ASTOUNDING. The guy improved 200% in that time span. Goofy
ending to the match: Austin pulls out a gimmick (foreign object,
whatever you want to call it) from his tights and nails Johnny in the
gut, then small packages him for the pin. Austin does a lousy job of
hiding it, however, and a second referee runs down and sees Austin drop
it, then restarts the match. Badd cradles Austin and gets a quick pin
from the second referee, and is declared the new US champion! We go to
break and a decision is promised when he come back.
– We’re back, with no mention of the decision. I grumble to myself and
check the PWI Almanac, which says that it was Badd by DQ. Good enough
for me.
– Hulk Hogan comes out to a decent pop. Boos can be heard, however. He
challenges the winner of the Flair-Sting match later in the show. Flair
pops up on the video wall, to a pop at least 3x louder than Hogan got.
Keep in mind that WCW turned Flair heel not two weeks prior to this in
order to prevent exactly that sort of thing from happening. This is why
I hate Hogan so much.
– Main event: “Unification” match: WCW World champion Ric Flair v.
Bogus World champion Sting. Flair gets an amazing pop, half face/half
heel. Sting gets an even louder face pop. Hulk didn’t get half of what
either guy got. The subplot here is that Sherri Martell has been
showing up in the front row of WCW shows for weeks now, and no one knows
who she’s managing. Once again, before we start, I feel the need to
reiterate that this match unified NOTHING and Sting’s “title” was
WORTHLESS. Sherri comes down with her face painted like Sting and sits
in his corner. This is about the closest these two got to having that
big epic showdown that everyone was waiting for but never happened.
The first Clash of Champions was too soon for Sting to win. He was too
injured at Bash 90 and the match was too bogged down with storyline.
This had a great reason for existing (The World title controversy), a
good storyline (They hate each other…what more do you need?) and GREAT
heat. It’s not a great match, but it’s really, really good. Lots of
stalling from Flair to start, which drags it down but gives Flair
mega-heat. Flair is the king, I swear. It amazes me that WCW could
manage to put Flair over as the biggest babyface champion they’d had in
years, then ask him to turn heel again on two weeks’ notice and watch as
he puts every other heel in the federation to shame. The man could do
it all. And WCW pissed it away for Hulk. It gets *really* good 15
minutes in as Flair takes over. Sting makes the comeback and starts
rockin’ and rollin’ on Flair, showing more moves than in all of his 1998
matches combined. Flair rolls out and Sting tries a plancha, but Flair
pulls Sherri in the way and Sting wipes her out. Sting is in shock over
it, and is distracted enough trying to help her up that Flair can simply
roll him up and pin him to unify the titles. Holding the tights, of
course. ****
After the match, Flair and Sherri hug, since it was all a ruse, of
course, then clobber Sting. Hogan makes the save. Oh, the irony.
– Everyone promptly forgets what a good match we just saw as Hogan poses
and challenges Flair to a match at Bash at the Beach. Sting? Who’s
Sting?
The Bottom Line:
He ruined it all.
From 1989 – 1993, WCW was led by a parade of idiots, blunderers,
accountants, lawyers, old men and faded ex-wrestlers, none of whom could
both satisfy the bottom-line craving suits and put on a watchable
product. Bill Watts tried but was fired for daring to have an opinion.
Things were terrible in 1990 under Ole Anderson, but Dusty Rhodes tried
everything new and original he could think of in 1991 to rebuild. It
didn’t work, but many of the stars built in that era (Austin & Badd to
name two) would stick around to help later on. In 1992, Bill Watts gave
the federation a complete makeover before Eric Bischoff forced him out
in a power play typical of WCW. In 1993, Ted Turner threw every cent he
could at WCW in a desperate attempt to boost the federation to the WWF’s
level and the decision was made to put Sid Vicious on top for the bulk
of 1994.
Then, a few weeks prior to Starrcade 93, Vicious nearly stabbed Arn
Anderson to death with a pair of scissors and was promptly fired. WCW
was left without their biggest draw and, more importantly, a credible
challenger for the monster Vader at Starrcade. So they did what they
always did in their most desperate times of need: They went back to Ric
Flair, hoping for a stopgap until they could start from square one, just
like they always did. But the unthinkable happened: WCW finally got it
right.
We’re still not sure how or why it happened, but they put on a hot
Starrcade, followed it up with a good Clash of Champions, then blew
everyone away with Superbrawl IV, Spring Stampede and Slamboree. The
quality was through the roof. Flair was drawing like nuts as a babyface
and Sting was more over than ever before in his feud with Rick Rude.
WCW could do no wrong, and with Steve Austin and Johnny B. Badd in the
wings, being prepped for major star turns, they looked to be ready to
mount a major offensive against the WWF within weeks. They even flirted
with a more mature, “hardcore” style by signing Terry Funk and allowing
Cactus Jack to book his own matches.
Then they signed Hulk Hogan. And it all fell apart. Flair was turned
heel to set up a hastily signed match between the two at Bash at the
Beach. Sting was put on the backburner for more than a year. Cactus
Jack was put on a virtual choke-chain and forced out of the federation
by the fall. All of Hogan’s friends came in and took away the spots
earned by WCW’s rising talent. Austin was jobbed out and humiliated.
Badd was stuck fighting the Honky Tonk Man in the opening matches.
Vader was relegated to ineffective heel while Brutus Beefcake fought
Hogan in the main event of Starrcade 1994.
For me, it was like watching a relative deteriorate due to disease.
After seeing WCW f*ck it up for so long, then get it totally right, I
couldn’t help but have a soft spot for them.
But Hulk Hogan ruined it all. I never forgave him for that, and in fact
I stopped watching WCW entirely for 18 months following Bash at the
Beach, as my own personal protest.
This Clash represents the last truly great show WCW put on in 1994, and
is the turning point for them, as they went from penthouse to outhouse
in one month flat. Had they continued with this level of quality, they
wouldn’t have needed to wait until 1996 to overtake the WWF because
their product could have stood on it’s own, with the talent they already
had.
But Hulk Hogan ruined it all.
As usual.
I highly recommend watching this show, and thinking hard about whether
or not it was worth ever signing him.
