Clash of the Champions #34

Date:
January 21, 1997

Location:
Wisconsin Center Arena, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Attendance:
6,800

Commentators:
Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes, Bobby Heenan

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

This
is another of the prime time specials from WCW and one of the last
ones. The NWO is in full control here and this show means nothing
for the most part as everything was about Nitro. Also we were more
or less in a deep freeze because everything was building to Sting vs.
Hogan which was in about 11 months. This is also the go home show
for Souled Out. Let’s get to it.

After
some yapping we’re ready to start.

Dragon
is champion coming in here and Tenay is here for the sake of
knowledge. Malenko has lost two in a row coming into this including
one the previous night and the opener at Starrcade. The idiot that
is known as Tony Schiavone keeps calling him Ultimate Dragon. They
hit the mat and Dragon uses a bunch of spin moves to get out. They
stay on the mat and we take a break.

The
NWO now has its own hotline.

Back
with them slugging it out. Dragon apparently lost the J-Crown at the
January 4th show at the Tokyo Dome to Jushin Thunder
Liger. This is a more hard hitting match than you’re used to with
these two. Long vertical suplex gets two and it’s off to a head
scissors on the mat. Dragon hammers away with kicks and Dean heads
to the floor for a breather.

Half
crab by Malenko and here comes Dean. Off to another leg lock and out
to the floor. All Malenko here as he hooks on the figure four.
Actually he doesn’t as Dragon blocks it for a bit. They speed
things up a bit and it’s a spin wheel kick from Dragon to take Dean
down. Dean grabs a superplex to take Dragon down and we speed it up
even more. Powerbomb by Dean is reversed into a rana but we counter
stuff even more.

Out
to the floor and Dean is whipped into the railing. Asai Moonsault
takes Dean down and the fans are into this to say the least. Back in
and a top rope moonsault gets two for Dragon. Now all the fans turn
and look at something else as Dragon gets a twisting rana off the
top. Tiger suplex is reversed into a Cloverleaf attempt but that
gets reversed. Another powerbomb is reversed into a butterfly
powerbomb and a third Cloverleaf attempt. Down goes Onoo and the
Cloverleaf ends this.

Rating:
B+. Great stuff here as they were incredibly crisp with both guys
working incredibly hard. The cruiserweight division was absolutely
incredible at this point and Dean was at his absolute peak in 1997.
Excellent match here with very little missing from it at all and an
incredible opener. Bets on anything being good compared to this?

Neither
gets an intro so what do you expect here? This is a very basic power
vs. speed match and Riggs is here to look good before his match with
Bagwell at the PPV. Both guys are incredibly generic and I see
absolutely no reason for this to be here. A running forearm ends
this for Riggs in about two minutes. Totally pointless match that
gets no rating. Riggs says he’s the heart and soul of WCW. I
can’t make this stuff up.

Here
are the Horsemen, in this case Benoit and Anderson with some women.
Oh and Mongo is there too. The fans of course want Flair. Benoit
talks about how awesome he is and there’s a HUGE Benoit chant.
Anderson says finish Sullivan tonight. Mongo (huge booing for the
Bear here in Packer town). Debra says nothing of note at all.

Tenay
and the other commentators say the Horsemen are having issues because
Flair isn’t here. La Parka is replacing Psicosis who is injured
and Jericho is replacing Juventud Guerrera who just no showed. This
is under lucha rules, meaning if you hit the floor another member of
your team can come in just like a tag. Chavo vs. JL to start with
Jerry Lynn (what the JL stands for) destroying him.

Off
to Konnan and Calo with Konnan continuing his team’s dominance.
Calo was a guy I never liked or got the appeal of for the most part.
We get some nice speed moves from those two with Calo looking kind of
awesome actually. Off to Jericho and La Parka for awhile now and
Parka is a bit nuts. Parka does a Spinarooni of all things but can’t
keep Jericho down. Konnan comes in and it’s a Doomsday Device with
La Parka throwing out a Whisper in the Wind instead of a clothesline.
That was kind of awesome.

Konnan
takes Jericho down and it’s off to Chavo. They are MOVING out
there. Jericho vs. JL at the moment with Jericho taking over.
Konnan comes in as does Chavo so there are four in the ring at once.
Out to the floor and JL dives on Jericho. Chavo dives on JL and La
Parka dives in general. Calo with a slingshot hilo to La Parka and
in the ring JL gets a rana on Jericho for two. Jericho wants a
superplex but settles for a super rana for the pin. Jericho looked
like a star here.

Rating:
B. Fun match here that was nothing but dives and speed. This is
something you got in WCW that was great: they mixed up the styles
every match almost. We’ve had a technical match, power vs. speed
and now lucha libre. Not bad for 40 minutes. Jericho looked awesome
here and of course would go on to mediocrity in WCW before becoming a
legend in WWE.

Guess
what we’ve got here. Gomez is a guy that Is just kind of around
while Renegade is the WCW version of Ultimate Warrior who hasn’t
meant anything in about 18 months. Booker beats on Gomez for a bit
and then Stevie and Sherri get to do the same. Axe kick to Gomez but
Renegade comes in to get what passes for a hot tag. Harlem Heat
destroys him and the Heat Seeker (Doomsday Device with a missile
dropkick) ends him quickly. Just a squash.

Chono
is NWO. He jumps Wright immediately but Wright charges back at him.
Wright backflips off the top and gets an enziguri. Not in the same
move mind you. He’s a dancer, not Spider-Morrison. The fans don’t
really like either guy here. Wright can move and gets a leg lariat
for about 9 but Nick Patrick won’t count with any speed at all.

Chono
takes over again and throws Wright over the top which should be a DQ
but isn’t here because Patrick doesn’t want to count. Sunset
flip by Wright but the shoulder of Patrick hurts. Belly to back gets
no cover and then Wright misses a cross body. Mafia Kick ends Wright
pretty easily and the shoulder is fine of course.

Rating:
D+. Just a quick match here with the idea being that it was a
preview of what the PPV is going to be like. The match itself means
nothing of course but it wasn’t really supposed to. Wright again
continues to mean nothing at all but being a midcard jobber to the
stars. Weak match but it got the point across.

Patrick
is the referee again. Eddie is US Champion here but doesn’t have
the physical belt as Syxx stole it. Norton chops away and uses basic
power to take over. Eddie goes after the knee and gets Norton off
his feet like a smart man. He chops away which just makes Norton mad.
Norton is NWO if that clears anything up. Here comes the power game
again as I can remember the majority of this show from watching it
when it aired.

Norton
does something I haven’t seen before as he sets him for a suplex
and just drops him without moving at all. No cover though as Norton
is wanting to show off here. Big powerbomb puts Guerrero down again
but a clothesline misses Guerrero and down goes Patrick. DDP,
currently the fastest rising star in forever comes through the crowd
and drops Norton with the Diamond Cutter and gets a huge pop. Frog
Splash makes Patrick count the three with a hilarious look on his
face.

Rating:
D+. Well they did a great job here of making it seem possible
that WCW had a chance on Satruday at the PPV. Not much of a match
but it wasn’t supposed to be. Eddie, like Jericho, looked great
here but that wouldn’t matter as we needed guys like Buff Bagwell
to get pushes and the TV time.

Giant
talks about Hogan. He’s in the dark here almost and talks about
how Hogan paid Giant to be on the sidelines and keep him from taking
out Hogan because no one can stop the Giant. He strikes a match and
says that Hogan is like this match. It gave light, it gave some
warmth, but eventually it gets blown out. At Souled Out, Hogan is
blown out. I’ve always liked this promo and it’s still pretty
awesome today.

Woman
is here with Chris and looks pretty good here. This is falls count
anywhere again. Kevin wants to start it on the floor and Benoit says
let’s do it. They had another of these at the Great American Bash
the previous year and it was totally awesome. They’re in the crowd
almost immediately and are in the back quickly.

The
first room is the men’s room and Benoit knocks a towel dispenser
off the way with his head. Benoit throws a trashcan that hits Hart
and the referee. This is almost move for move the same match as
their Great American Bash match. Sullivan gets a clothesline for two
as we’re still in the men’s room. Now we’re talking about an
Andy Griffith movie.

Back
into the arena and Benoit is kicked down the steps. Seriously, this
is the SAME MATCH. Back in the ring and Benoit is in the Tree of Woe
for the running knee. Double stomp to Benoit gets two. Woman comes
in and cracks Sullivan with a wooden chair to end Sullivan and give
Benoit the win. Well at least the ending was different I suppose.
Also they didn’t swerve us.

Rating:
B-. Well yes it’s a good match but legitimately over half of
the spots are identical to the one at the Bash. Also the Bash’s
ending was better and it went on longer. It also helps that we got
to see it for the first time back then. Sometimes you need to see a
semi-shoot like this though as it makes things more interesting, as
it did here.

Benoit
hits him with a chair again post match.

The
French Canadians are the Quebecers. Colonel Parker is with them in a
French Canadian soldier outfit I guess. They try the Canadian
national anthem but get cut off by Steinerized. The Outsiders
injured Scott in a form of attempted vehicular manslaughter and this
is his return. The Outsiders pop up on the screen to laugh at them
with Nash implying he’ll come out here.

Scott
has a new look here which would eventually be what he wore as a heel.
The Steiners clean house to start and hit top rope clotheslines
almost at the same time. We take a break and come back with Rick in
some trouble. The Canadians beat him down and try their Cannonball
move but Rick gets out of the way just in time. The Canadians seem
to not tag at all. Here’s Scotty who destroys them both on his
own. A French flag shot fails and the elevated DDT ends Oulette with
ease.

Rating:
C-. Without the commercial we saw about 3 minutes here so why not
rate it. Nothing worth note at all as it was again really just a
squash to set up the Steiners against the Outsiders at the PPV.
Scott would be about to get pushed to the moon as a solo guy and get
a major push. Anyway, this was domination.

Main
event time here and Hall has a small army with him. Luger has the
kind of rare black boots on. Luger does the pec dance and gets a
toothpick in his face for his troubles. All power by Luger to start
and he no sells the fallaway slam. A middle rope bulldog puts Luger
down for two though and Scott works on the arm. Chokeslam puts Luger
down but he’s up quickly.

Some
fan shouts about oozing machismo which makes me smile a bit. He hits
the floor and the numbers (I only see the number Syxx but whatever)
catch up with him so that Hall can take over. Syxx interferes again
with Nash distracting the referee. The clothesline from Syxx gets
two. Now the fallaway slam works a bit better, getting two this
time.

Off
to the abdominal stretch as Luger is in trouble. Luger gets out of
it after about a minute but misses an elbow and here comes Hall
again. Luger comes back again and hits a slingshot dropkick of all
things and lets loose his rather limited offense. Atomic drops and
punches and clotheslines OH MY! No sign for the Rack yet but there’s
one after a powerslam. Nash breaks it up but Luger fights both of
them off. Where is WCW? Is there a good Old Maid game going on in
the back? Syxx finally gets a shot in and it’s a DQ.

Rating:
C. Just a main event match here with an unsurprising finish. At
least they gave them some time here and we got a decent match out of
it. Luger probably should have gone over but I guess they wanted the
Outsiders looking as strong as possible going into the PPV. Not bad,
but just kind of there for a TV main event.

The
Steiners come out for the save from the beatdown.

Overall
Rating: B-. Pretty good show here from a weaker
period for WCW. There was some good stuff here but the bad is hard
to overlook. The opener is great of course but there wasn’t much
really good after that. The good outweighs the bad though and they
build up Souled Out pretty well so I can live with this. Not bad but
nothing great either.