Clash Countdown: #23

The SmarK Retro Rant for WCW Clash of the Champions XXIII

- See, now this is why my fans rule. I complain about not having a good copy of something to rant on, and it shows up in my mailbox a couple of weeks after. This is courtesy Kurt Killberg, and it’s much appreciated.

- Live from Norfolk, VA. Original airdate: June 17 1993, according to the PWI Almanac.  (June 16 according to WWE Network.  I don’t get why they keep messing up dates.) 

- Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Jesse Ventura.

- Opening match: Ron Simmons v. Dick Slater.

This was supposed to be Paul Orndorff defending the TV title against Simmons, but an injury changed it to this match. Ron’s theme music, “Don’t Step To Ron”, brings up unfortunate memories of WCW’s ill-fated “Slam Jam” album, although really it doesn’t address the question of who would WANT to step to Ron and what stepping to him would involve. They exchange shots in the corner to start and Simmons slams him a few times and a shoulderblock gets two, as Dick bails. Back in, they do the test of strength, and really that’s not terribly smart on Slater’s part. Simmons tries a sunset flip, but Slater slaps him to block it, and then Orndorff hooks the leg to trip up Simmons, allowing Slater a cheapshot to take over. Slater slugs him down and gives him some boot leather, and a neckbreaker gets two. Orndorff celebrates, drawing the attention of Slater, but Simmons comes back with a powerslam for the pin at 3:55. Bit of a mess, as this was obviously booked at the last-minute. ½*

- Marcus Bagwell v. Lord Steven Regal.

This was early in the WCW career of Regal, shortly after his rather bland start as a generic British wrestler. A quick repackaging and he was good to go. Regal takes Bagwell down to start and goes for the arm, and they reverse off that for a bit. Tony and Jesse are left in the unenviable position of having to hype the “Search for Cactus Jack” segment upcoming on WCW Saturday Night during this segment. Nice takedown from Regal off the mat, but Bagwell reverses to a hammerlock and works the arm. They slug it out and Bagwell flips him with a wristlock and goes back to the arm. Regal uses a forearm to end that and then clips him, then snapmares him onto the ropes, which is a novel way to hurt the leg. I don’t think the crowd got that strategy exactly. (Well, the crowd bought tickets to WCW in 1993, so they’re kind of stupid to start out.)  Regal keeps working the leg and anklelocks Bagwell, and he taps! Okay, it was 1993 and tapping didn’t mean anything back then, and neither did an anklelock. Bagwell escapes with an enzuigiri, but Regal takes him right down again and destroys the knee. Drop toehold into another anklelock, but Bagwell flips out of it. Bagwell makes the comeback on one leg and backdrops him, into a hiptoss-slam for two. Backslide gets two. Clothesline and the leg seems to be healed, and a rollup gets two, reversed by Regal for the pin at 6:13. Weak finish that had nothing to do with all the leg work, surprisingly well-worked match. **1/2

- Maxx Payne shoots the CONFETTI GUN OF DEATH in Johnny B Badd’s face, triggering a brawl with Tom Zenk. Man, talk about your gathering of people who burned all their bridges. I think Payne v. Zenk would be the rare case where a shoot interview with the two guys would be more interesting than the match.  (Yeah, Daryl Peterson burned the bridge and then basically shot the guy who was sent to sweep up the ashes, metaphorically speaking.  I’m surprised Dolph Ziggler hasn’t released a video of guys doing drugs on a tour bus yet, given all the other bonehead moves he’s made.) 

- NWA World title: Barry Windham v. 2 Cold Scorpio.

This is Michael Buffer’s first appearance as ring announcer for WCW’s title matches. Windham was in quite the zone in 1993, making a comeback before injuries felled him again. (I still feel like he could have been huge leading a blond version of the Four Horsemen with Pillman/Austin and someone else.)  Scorpio dodges him to start and gets a dropkick. Windham tries working the arm, but gets slammed. Windham pounds on him in the corner and gets a corner clothesline, but Scorp takes him down for a half-crab attempt, and Windham bails to avoid it. Back in, Barry goes to the eyes and dodge each others’ punches before Windham kicks him down and goes up for a flying lariat. Barry’s supposed to be the heel but the crowd is nuts for him. Kneedrop and delayed floatover suplex get two. Scorpio misses a dropkick and Windham DDTs him for two. Scorp gets a small package for two. Windham returns fire with a gut wrench suplex for two. Scorpio dropkicks him back, but Barry knocks him down again with a clothesline. Awkward sequence. Barry hotshots him and tosses him, then pounds away on the apron. Scorp slingshots back in with a Thesz Press that gets two, but Windham gets a standing dropkick to end the rally. Samoan drop gets two. Windham slaps him around to get him going again, and Scorpio gets a sunset flip for two, but Windham clotheslines him again. Scorpio comes back with a backdrop suplex, but Windham powers him to the top. Superplex is blocked and Scorpio follows him down with a splash for a hot two. Rana and superkick stagger Windham, and a front rollup get two. Slingshot splash gets two. Scorpio goes up with a missile dropkick for two. Windham tries to dump him, but he slingshots back, and Windham simply punches him in mid-air and finishes with the leaping DDT at 12:51. Slow start, but the near-falls at the end were really good and there was lots of cool state-of-the-art stuff from Scorpio. Wouldn’t be very memorable today or anything. ***1/2

- Sting, British Bulldog & Dustin Rhodes v. Vader, Rick Rude & Sid Vicious.

This was of course building up to the Beach Blast PPV, although lord knows it didn’t draw as many buys as the awesome “bomb on a boat” mini-movie generated. Sting starts with Rude and they fight over a wristlock, as Sting turns it into a headlock and hangs on tight. Rude powers out and into a hammerlock, and slugs Sting into the corner, but gets backdropped. Sting presses him into the arms of Vader & Sid, so they toss Rude back at him. This gives Sting the chance to go after both of them, and then a small package on Rude gets two. Dustin comes in and fires away on Rude, and dodges Vader, which results in Rude getting splashed. Rough night for Ravishing Rick. Next up, Sid tries with Bulldog and gets pinballed in the face corner and slammed by Bulldog, then crotched by Sting while trying to escape. Great stuff. Sid comes back with a boot on Bulldog, but now Dustin comes in again and gets Vader. He kicks the crap out of him in the corner until the REF has to rescue the World champion, and the crowd eats it up. Rhodes gets a sweet vertical suplex on Vader and drops an elbow series to set up a seated clothesline. To the top, but Rude shakes the ropes and he whiffs on an elbow. Vader clobbers him down and goes up for the pump splash, which gets two. Rude comes in as it appears that Dustin is YOUR face in peril. Rude batters the back , into a gourdbuster for two. Rhodes gets his own, but Sid comes in and cuts off any tag. Sid tosses him into the corner a couple of times and TAKES HIM DOWN WITH A HEADLOCK. Oh my GOD! Clothesline gets two. I’m still reeling from this show of technical expertise by Sid. Vader pounds on Dustin and goes up, but gets caught and slammed. Rude cuts off the tag again and tries a tombstone, but Dustin reverses to his own and makes the false tag to Sting. The heels pound on Dustin while the argument ensues, and it’s BONZO GONZO as a result. Sting misses his splash on the floor and hits the railing, and Vader nails Dustin with the briefcase, giving Rude the pin at 10:58. Lots of fun, although the ending was a letdown. ***1/4

- WCW World tag titles: The Hollywood Blonds v. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson.

This is 2/3 falls, and it was basically the Blonds one and only chance at the top of the card. Sadly the buildup for the feud isn’t shown here, because the “Flair for the Old” skit was hilarious. Pillman starts with Arn and mocks Flair as they fight over a lockup. He keeps trying a headlock, and Arn keeps taking him down, so Pillman smacks him around in the corner. Arn fires back and Pillman begs off, then cheats. AA hotshots him, however, and gets his own cheapshots. Oh, this is NASTY. Austin comes in and mocks Anderson, then grabs a headlock, but AA takes him down and Flair comes in. Crowd goes INSANE for that. Flair goes to the eyes and lays in the chops in the corner, backdropping Austin out of there and beating on Pillman for good measure. More chops for Austin and the crowd is loving every second. The Horsemen double-team the Blonds and they’re reeling, as Flair rips at Austin’s face. He finally pokes Flair in the eye to break up the momentum and bails. Back in, Arn works on the arm and gets the hammerlock slam, and Flair drops a knee and hits Pillman on the follow-through. Back to the corner, AA works on the arm again, but Pillman chokes him out with a towel from the apron and Austin chokes him down. More cheating from Pillman behind the ref’s back and the Blonds go to work on Arn, as Pillman comes in and chokes away. They take turns teeing off on Arn and Austin drops knees. The Blonds work him over in the corner and Austin suplexes him, but Arn fights back out of the corner. Austin misses a charge and gets DDT’d while showboating, and it’s hot tag Flair. He comes in from the top onto Pillman and starts chopping, and catches him with an atomic drop. He dumps Austin and slugs away on Pillman in the corner, and finishes Pillman with a flying forearm at 9:38. Buffer screws up and announces Flair & Anderson as the new champions as they fade to the break. Second fall sees Pillman chopping away on Flair in nasty manner, and it’s a Flair Flip, but Ric hits both Blonds on the way by. Austin takes care of him on the floor, however, with a suplex. Pillman adds some chops and rams him into the railing, and Austin adds his own shots, triggering a Flair Flop on the floor. Back in, Austin chops away and Pillman chokes him out behind the ref’s back. Austin brings Flair to the top and gets a superplex for two. He whips Flair around and pounds him into the corner, but Flair plays dirty and chokes back. Austin stomps a mudhole to end that, so Flair chops him away. Pillman comes back in and adds more chops, but Flair returns fire, and they collide for the double KO. Tags on both ends, as Anderson backdrops Austin and boots him down. Spinebuster gets nothing, as Pillman breaks it up and the ref ushers Flair out. They clip Anderson, however, and Austin gets two. Pillman goes to town on the injured knee of Anderson, and the knee gives way on an irish whip. Pillman gets two. Austin keeps on it with a toehold, but Anderson manages to take Austin down and kick away from it. Pillman cuts off the tag and goes to a half-crab, with help from Austin. Pillman keeps stomping the knee, but Anderson gets an enzuigiri. Austin cuts off the ring again, dragging him back to the heel corner, and Pillman rams the knee onto the apron. Pillman comes in and goes up, but lands on Arn’s foot. Hot tag Flair, and he’s a house afire. (House OF Fire!)He tosses Pillman and chops Austin down, into a backdrop suplex and figure-four, but Barry Windham runs in for the DQ at 21:12, which under WWE rules would have changed the titles. Paul Roma makes the save, kicking off the low point in Four Horsemen history. Great match, though, filled with terrific old-school cheating and tag team formula stuff. ****1/4  (Man, that Paul Roma save was SO not what the crowd wanted.) 

The Bottom Line:

This show kind of caught me off guard and pretty much rocked, with only one bad match, the opener, and even that was really short. The rest is ***ish or better, and the main event is pretty much must-see stuff, which makes this an easy recommendation. The Blonds-Horsemen match is on the new Steve Austin DVD, so there ya go.

Highly recommended.