Mike Reviews WCW Clash of the Champions #23

Happy Clashin’ Saturday Everyone!

As mentioned last week; we’re taking a little bit of a break from 1994 WCW for a few weeks, but we’ll get there again eventually. In the meantime, we’ll wallow in the hodgepodge that was World Championship Wrestling in 1993, by taking a look at Clash of the Champions #23.

Clash #23 does at least have an intriguing Main Event, as well as featuring arguably the biggest match of 2 Cold Scorpio’s US career. Seeing as I’m a big fan of Ol’ Scorp, I’m looking forward to that particular bout especially.

You can view the card for Clash #23 by clicking the link below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=4045&page=3

Clash #23 is emanating from Norfolk, Virginia on the 16th of June 1993

Calling the action are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura

Opening Match
Dirty Dick Slater w/ Paul Orndorff Vs Ron Simmons

Simmons had been WCW Champ in 1992, but it hadn’t worked out for him in that position and now he’s back in the mid-card for a feud with Orndorff over the TV Title. Orndorff is too injured to wrestle here, so Slater is filling in for him. Orndorff is drawing good heat actually, with the fans tormenting him by “chanting” Paula as he scowls at ringside. Simmons uses his strength to shine on Slater to start, although Slater’s bumping and feeding isn’t especially crisp.

Orndorff eventually distracts Simmons, with the referee missing it of course, and that allows Slater to cut Simmons off and work some heat. Simmons is nice enough to put his feet on the rope following a Slater neck breaker rather than kicking out fully, and that leads into Simmons getting a quick Powerslam for the three count.

WINNER: RON SIMMONS
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: This one barely got going, but it was a clean win for Simmons that kept him in contention for Orndorff’s belt, and they would eventually battle for it at the Beach Blast pay per view, so it served it’s purpose

Speaking of Beach Blast, that’s on the 18th of July and we’ll get to it next month at some point.

Eric Bischoff and Larry Z talk about the upcoming NWA World Title match, which gives Larry an opportunity to waffle on, as he is want to do. Michael Buffer then enters and puts the fans over. Buffer then picks The Horsemen in the Main Event later on, and it sounds like he actually came up with the opinions himself when he probably didn’t. That’s why he’s a pro folks!

Match Two
Lord Steven Regal w/ Sir William Vs Marcus Alexander Bagwell

Regal had initially entered WCW as a generic smiling babyface and had promptly struggled with the move from European to American wrestling. However, once he was repackaged into a snooty aristocratic villain, he started getting more comfortable and ended up having a very solid run. Sir William is Bill Dundee repackaged as a loyal lackey to His Lordship. Bagwell was still pretty bland during this period of his career, but he was showing potential as an in-ring performer, and he gets a decent reception from the crowd here, especially from the ladies as he was a handsome chap in 1993.

Regal is announced as actually living in Blackpool Tower, which is pretty much impossible unless he lives in the janitors closet at the top or something. Still, the American’s won’t know any better, so I guess it doesn’t matter. Bagwell holds on in a technical wrestling battle with Regal in the early going, and it’s decent stuff, with Regal doing everything he can to make Bagwell look good. Regal is the first to throw strikes, essentially conceding the technical wrestling part of the match, which actually does a lot of put Bagwell over as it shows that he was out-wrestling the technician.

Regal targets the leg of Bagwell with his offence, which Bagwell sells well, although Bagwell does start tapping the mat to fire up the crowd at one stage, so technically he should have lost the match by submission. Still, it was 1993 and tapping out wasn’t really a thing in American Pro Wrestling yet. Bagwell eventually makes a comeback, showing some good fire, although he kind of ignores all the leg work a bit to do it. Bagwell gets some near falls on Regal, as the crowd gets progressively more into this, but Regal eventually gets a tights assisted roll-up for three.

WINNER: HIS LORDSHIP
RATING: **1/2

Thoughts: This was decent Pro Wrestling, although Bagwell could have done a better job selling the leg during the comeback and Regal’s pinning hold at the end was a bit sloppy. Aside from that though, it was a “perfectly cromulent” match as Scott Keith would say

Eric Bischoff is interviewing Maxx Payne, who appears to have stolen one of Johnny B. Badd’s confetti guns. Payne says that he will return it before their match later on, which leads to Johnny B. Badd joining us. However, Payne instead shoots the confetti gun into Badd’s face, which leads to Badd doing a big sell job and the feud between the two being escalated. Tom Zenk is furious about what Payne did and ends up fighting Payne, getting a good reaction for doing so. Payne ends up fighting back though and locks in a Fujiwara Arm Bar until a gaggle of referees break it up. WCW’s attitude to Zenk during this time frame was kind of weird, as he had a good look, was a solid enough wrestler and the crowd seemed to like him, but he usually only got used in roles like this from 1993 onwards. Zenk could have cleared the ring here and you could have ran Payne Vs Zenk for a bit until it was time for Badd to get some revenge.

Match Three
NWA World Title
Champ: “The Lone Wolf” Barry Windham Vs 2 Cold Scorpio

Big Bazza had defeated Great Muta in a real snoozer back at SuperBrawl III to win the belt, but had since redeemed himself by having a good match with Arn Anderson at Slamboree. Scorp had picked up victories on the past two pay per view events, so he’d earned himself a Title shot here at the Clash. I’m not sure whether fans at the time really bought into the idea that Scorpio could be the Champ, but he was a viable challenger for a Clash level event. And hey, it’s nice to finally see a belt getting defended here, seeing as the event is called Clash of the CHAMPIONS and all. Michael Buffer does the in-ring introductions for this one, which helps give it a special feel.

Scorp uses speed to keep Windham on the back-foot to start, and the crowd seems into the contest. It’s a very good babyface shine segment in general actually, with Windham doing just enough to make Scorpio look like an actual contender, but not to the point that it becomes detrimental to the perception that Windham is the World Champ and supposedly in the same breath of the best wrestlers in the world. Windham ends up clocking Scorpio with a punch, which allows him to get the cut off. This is another subtle way of putting Scorpio over, as well as drawing some Heel heat, as Windham had to take the low road in order to get into the match as Scorpio was doing the better wrestling, which is similar to the match we just saw, except that a punch is even more underhanded than what Regal was doing.

Windham throws Scorpio yet another bone by allowing Scorp to kick out of a DDT, which was one of Windham’s big moves at the time, which gets a good reaction from the crowd and Windham sells his frustration at the two count excellently. Scorpio’s selling is really good during the heat, with him continuously trying to fight back, which helps with keeping the crowd in his corner. What the match really needs to take it to the next level is that one near fall where the crowd genuinely bites and thinks that they’re going to see a new Champion. If they can manage that, then the match has been an unqualified success and Scorp has been elevated by it.

Scorpio keeps having intermittent attempts at fighting back, usually leading to him getting a pin of some kind for a quick two until Windham is able to cut him off again. It’s classic match structure for when you want a Main Event level wrestler to help raise the profile of a Mid-Carder by giving them something in a competitive match, and both wrestlers have worked the formula well. We do finally get the spot where people bite that the Title might change hands, as Scorpio is able to fight off a Superplex attempt and then come flying off the top with a Splash for two. People were actually standing in the crowd during that near fall like they thought the hand would drop for three. Sensational stuff! Windham remains on the back-foot following that and Scorp gets a few more really well done near falls, but eventually Windham is able to catch Scorpio with punch on a springboard attempt and another DDT finishes it for the Champion after a hearty challenge from The Cold Man here at the Clash.

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: BARRY WINDHAM
RATING: ****

Thoughts: Windham was fantastic in this. Scorpio definitely held up his end of it as well, but Windham did SUCH a good job here as the World Champ who almost came up against the wrong man on the wrong night before he was able to finally show why he was the Champ to begin with. It wasn’t just the way the match was structured or wrestled either, as a big reason why this worked so well was Windham’s facial expressions and body language, with him getting across the idea from the opening bell onwards that Scorpio was no joke and he knew he had a proper tussle on his hands. The frustration Windham displayed when he couldn’t put Scorp away at points was brilliant, as you could feel it coming through the TV screen. I regularly point to this as a match that’s worth watching, as it’s a great example of how to shine up a lower ranked challenger so that they gain something in a World Title match without losing anything yourself in the process. A big shout out has to go to the commentary team as well, as they both did an excellent job of getting the story of the match across, with Tony in particular really making you think that the upset could be just seconds away from happening

Eric Bischoff is backstage with Dustin Rhodes, Davey Boy Smith and Sting, who hype up the upcoming six man tag. They all cut a fired up promo, with Sting getting the biggest pop of everyone, because he’s Sting. That was a good segment and I’m actually excited for the match now!

Match Four
“Ravishing” Rick Rude, Big Van Vader and Sid Vicious w/ Harley Race and Colonel Rob Parker Vs “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes, Davey Boy Smith and The Man Called Sting

This would be a continuation of three of WCW’s big feuds at the time in Rude/Dustin, Vader/Smith and Sid/Sting. It’s a shame that Sid is clogging this one up, otherwise you’d have arguably one of the best line-ups for a six man tag match ever. Sid does do something amusing by demanding that Rude shadow box with him before the match, which Rude reluctantly does, although he looks to be laughing for real at a certain point at the absurdity of it all. The crowd is HOSS for Sting here, as The Stinger battles with Rude to start, with it being the usual solid action you’d expect from the two. Sting ends up running wild on all three Heels with punches at one stage, which leads to the Heels goofing and accidentally attacking one another, with Vader squishing Rude with an accidental splash at one stage.

All three babyfaces get a chance to shine on the Heels to start, with the crowd responding well to it. The Heels are happy to show butt and bump around for the Faces too, which helps make it an effective segment. Dustin ends up missing a move from the second rope eventually, and that sees Dustin taking the big Jannetty inside-out bump on a Vader clothesline for the cut off. As usual, Vader’s stuff looks good, likely because he’s just outright clobbering people. Dustin sells well during the heat, with Vader and Rude both doing a good job of working Dustin over (and Sid also exists). Dustin manages to catch both Vader and Rude with big counter moves, but Sid prevents the tags, leading to the other two babyfaces heading in to help out seeing as all three Heels are in the ring. Vader uses the commotion to smash Dustin with Harley Race’s metal briefcase and that’s enough for the cheap win when Rude drapes an arm.

WINNERS: VADER, SID & RUDE
RATING: ***

Thoughts: This was a good match, with the action being fun for the most part and the cheap finish setting up further matches between the six wrestlers without actively hurting any of the participants

The Heels attempt a post-match beat down, but Sting grabs the briefcase and chases them off.

Sleazy E and Larry Z hype up the Main Event, with Larry SHOCKINGLY picking the veterans to win, because Larry.

Main Event
Two out of Three Falls for the NWA/WCW Unified Tag Titles
Champs: The Hollywood Blondes (Flyin’ Brian and Stunning Steve) Vs The Horsemen (“Nature Boy” Ric Flair and “The Enforcer” Arn Anderson)

Flair, Arn, Ole Anderson and Paul Roma were The Horsemen at the time, with The Blondes targeting the new babyface group with taunts and insults. Brian dressing up as Flair in a “Flair For The Old” segment caused The Horsemen to step into the ring with their brash young foes. The Horsemen enter to generic sounding cowboy music here, which isn’t a patch on the theme they would eventually get. The opening babyface shine is done really well, with Brian and Steve taking big bumps for the challengers in order to fire up the crowd. I like how Flair is still fighting dirty, but because he’s doing it to a Heel the crowd loves it. It’s why I’m always confused when Flair says he thought he was a bad babyface, because he could still do most of his regular routine as a babyface and get over due to how beloved he was.

Brian is eventually able to choke Anderson with a towel whilst the referee isn’t looking, and that leads to the cut off, with The Blondes of course taking great glee in being as devious as possible, which is what made them so entertaining to watch. Anderson sells well in quite an understated way, as he continues eschews any melodrama and instead simply tries to find a way back to a vertical base so that he can fight back whilst registering the pain he’s on the receiving end of. Anderson eventually manages to catch Steve with a DDT and it’s hot tag Flair, with The Nature Boy running wild and looking good doing so. Steve ends up taking a spill over the top rope to the floor at one stage, but there’s not a DQ scheduled to happen there so it just becomes one of those WCW moments where they ignore the over the top rule when it suits them to do so. Flair manages to catch Brian with a running forearm and then pins him for three in order to give The Horsemen the first fall.

Horsemen win the first fall – Flair pins Brian (forearm smash)

Anderson’s leg got taken out just before the hot tag though, so he’s selling his leg out on the floor during the commercial break. Humorously, Michael Buffer seemed to be announcing The Horsemen as the new Champs just before the Clash went to break, so I’m guessing he wasn’t aware of the stipulation. The Blondes start working some heat on Flair quickly into the second fall, with Steve giving Flair a suplex out on the floor and Brian adding in a journey into the metal railings at ringside. I’m sure this will shock everyone reading this, but Ric Flair is very good at selling whilst the Heels work him over. I know, Ric Flair being good at Pro Wrestling, I’m as shocked as you are.

Anderson eventually gets the tag and runs wild on the Heels, with Brian and Steve continuing to do a great job at pin-balling around for their opponents in order to make them look good. Brian catches Anderson with a sly chop-block to put a stop to that, and then targets the leg with further attacks, giving us an unprecedented third heat segment in one tag match. I’ve seen double heat and hot tag, but triple heat and hot tag seems like a very bold move indeed. The crowd heat feels like it dissipates a bit during this period actually, as it’s hard to pop a crowd so much and then take them back down in order to bring them up again for the third time. Thankfully Anderson does an excellent job taking the heat and it means there is still some heat for Flair’s second comeback (the third of the match). Sadly the finish here is utter cack, as Barry Windham runs in for the DQ, which means the belts don’t change hands as the deciding fall needs to be a pin or a submission.

The Horsemen win the second fall – DQ

WINNERS: THE HORSEMEN BY 2-0 (BLONDES RETAIN AS DECIDING FALL A DQ)
RATING: ***3/4

Thoughts: This ended up being a flat way to close the show due to the crappy finish, but I don’t think there were many better options for Main Event as this was clearly the bout the crowd came to see. The wrestling here was great and this was a nice tease for what could have been if these four had been given a proper feud together, but sadly Flair was soon moved into the NWA Title picture and we got Roma subbed in instead, which took away from things somewhat, even though Roma is a solid wrestler. Both Blondes did an excellent job bumping around for The Horsemen, with The Horsemen both putting in strong runs as the babyface in peril, so finish aside, this was a cracking match!

Paul Roma runs down to make the save, so we’ll all fight again another day. To be fair, this angle did at least set two matches up for the pay per view (Blondes Vs Anderson/Roma and Windham Vs Flair) but it’s a shame that the Title match had to have such a rubbish finish in order to get us there.

In Conclusion

The two big Title matches were great and that’s enough to make Clash #23 an easy thumbs up. Sadly WCW struggled to draw a live crowd for the event and the TV ratings weren’t any good either, but the show itself ended up being a nice breezy watch. I personally thought Windham Vs Scorpio in particular was excellent and it’s well worth a watch if you’ve never seen it and appreciate the work of both wrestlers.

Recommended show!