Mike Reviews WCW Clash Of The Champions #24

Happy Clashin’ Saturday Everyone!

We’re continuing on with our journey into 1993 WCW, by looking at Clash 24, a show closed by Big Van Vader and British Bulldog. We’ve also got the Tag Titles on the line in a match where an injury did serious damage to the booking.

Oh, and a certain…shocking angle you might have heard of…

You can view the full card for Clash 24 by clicking below;

WCW Clash Of The Champions #24

Clash 24 is emanating from Daytonaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Beach, Florida, on the 18th of August 1993

Calling the action are Tony Schiavone & Jesse Ventura

Flyin’ Brian has an injured ankle, so he won’t be wrestling later on. However, WCW is insisting that The Hollywood Blonds defend the belts, which means that Lord Steven Regal will be wrestling in the bout instead.

Opening Match
NWA/WCW Unified Tag Team Titles
Champs: Stunning Steve and Lord Steven Regal (subbing for Flyin’ Brian) w/ Sir William Dundee Vs The Horsemen (“The Enforcer” Arn Anderson and “Pretty” Paul Roma)

Rumour has it that WCW had originally planned to switch the belts back at Beach Blast, but they decided that it was too obvious and instead scheduled it for here at Clash 24. However, Brian Pillman then got injured, so WCW have had to put His Lordship in there instead, which in-turn makes the Title change SUPER obvious. Oh WCW…

Anderson flings Stunning Steve over the top rope early on, which should be a DQ, but the ref was arguing with His Lordship, so the match continues. The crowd loves it, despite it being flagrant cheating, as that sort of stuff is trademark Horsemen. Anderson and Roma shine on both of the Heels, doing traditional tag team spots such as applying an arm wringer to your opponent so that your partner can come off the ropes with an Axe Handle. It’s pretty basic stuff, but it’s executed well and it works just fine. Stunning Steve eventually cheap shots Roma though, and that gives us our heat segment as Steve and His Lordship work Roma over. The offence from the Heels looks good and Roma sells it all just fine, so it’s a decent heat segment with the crowd getting suitably riled whilst sticking with Roma as he tries to fight back.

Roma eventually catches Stunning Steve with a Stun Gun (the move, not the item) and I bet it felt like rain on Steve’s wedding day. Regal prevents a tag from being made though, meaning the heat segment will continue and the crowd is not best pleased, but in a good way. I must say, for a pretty much thrown together bout due to the injury, the crowd has responded really well to this and it’s been a solid outing. Anderson eventually gets the hot tag and runs wild briefly. Sir William tries to help out, but Anderson runs Steve into the dastardly butler and follows up with a pin for the three count and the belts.

WINNERS AND NEW CHAMPIONS: THE HORSEMEN
RATING: ***

Thoughts: This was good tag team wrestling and the crowd loved it. Honestly this one could have been a bit of a disaster due to the replacement, but all four wrestlers delivered on the night and the crowd dug the action, so it ended up being a thumbs up segment

Eric Bischoff interviews the new Champs, and it’s a good promo from them, as Roma was clearly fired up about people doubting him as a Horsemen and he lets some of that frustration out here and the crowd responds well to it.

Match Two
“Beautiful” Bobby Eaton Vs “The Cold Man” 2 Cold Scorpio

Eaton was kind of just a feller around this period, having generally good matches but with little in the way of storyline reason for existing. Scorp usually tagged with Marcus Bagwell around this time, but he’s getting some singles action here at Clash 24. They don’t appear to be totally on the same page in the early going, with the timing seemingly being a bit off from both. The action isn’t terrible or anything, but it’s not as smooth as you’d perhaps like. Scorp mostly gets the better of things at first, but he misses a cross body at one stage and that allows Eaton to work some heat, keeping it mostly on the mat.

The heat segment doesn’t last for long though, as Scorp dropkicks Eaton off the top rope to the floor and then follows with a dive out there. For some reason that didn’t breach WCW’s “no throwing over the top rope” rule, as the inconsistency regarding that continues. Eaton fights back by getting an impressive Elbow Drop off the top back inside the ring, but Scorp manages to kick out at two and the bout continues. Scorp wins a slugfest and then comes off the top with a 450 Splash for the three count.

WINNER: TOO COLD SCORPIO
RATING: *3/4

Thoughts: That was a bit disappointing actually, as it felt like it was hard work for them to get something going and the action was a bit sloppy as a result. It was a battling win for Scorpio and the crowd popped for the finish, so he did gain something here, but the match quality wasn’t what you’d hope for when it comes to these two

Match Three
Lucha de Apuestas
Guitar Vs Mask
Maxx Payne Vs Johnny B. Badd

Payne fired off a confetti gun in Badd’s face back at Clash 23, and they’ve been feuding ever since. Payne’s guitar is on the line here against Badd’s protective face mask. Payne jumps Badd during the entrance, which I like to be honest as this is supposed to be an intense feud and Badd doing his usual happy entrance didn’t really suit the occasion. We get the second match in a row where a babyface misses a cross body for the cut off, as apparently the agent’s weren’t communicating well with one another. Payne removes Badd’s mask at one stage, but he of course has another one on underneath and the bout continues. Payne tries to apply his signature Arm Bar known as “The Payne Killer” but Badd manages to counter with a roll-up for two. Payne regains control and tries a splash from Bret’s Rope, but Badd dodges it and gets the pin for three.

WINNER: JOHNNY B. BADD
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: Like most of the matches between these two, they didn’t get a lot of time to work with, but the match itself didn’t offend me or anything

Johnny celebrates with the guitar and says he’ll be removing his mask on TV the following week. So why bother putting it on the line here then?

It’s time for “A Flair For The Gold” hosted, appropriately enough, by Ric Flair, and his guests are Sting and Davey Boy Smith, who mostly shout about how fired up they are in the traditional bombastic manner you expect from Pro Wrestler’s. So, you might have heard about this one; as it’s one of the more infamous moments in WCW history. The backstory here is that Sting, Davey Boy Smith and Dustin Rhodes all have an issue with Vader, Sid and The Harlem Heat, so they’ve brought in some back-up for an upcoming War Games match that all seven are due to battle in. Sid and The Heat come out during the interview segment to jaw with the babyfaces, which gives Sting and Davey Boy the perfect opportunity to reveal their new buddy to the world. The back-up just happens to be the WWF’s Typhoon/Tugboat, although now he’ll be known as The Shockmaster. WCW has even planned a spectacular way to debut the big man, as he blasts his way through a wall onto the set. However, Shockmaster sadly ends up tripping over a beam and tumbles onto the floor, losing his mask briefly in the process, which is basically a Star Wars Storm-trooper helmet (don’t let Night know) covered in glitter. Everyone can barely keep a straight face, with Smith in particular laughing that Shocky “fell on his f’in arse”, as the segment totally grinds to a halt. I can’t really add anything to this segment that hasn’t been said before, although I will say that it was cheesy yet serviceable before the silliness with The Shockmaster really kicked in. If Sting and Davey Boy had just done the interview with Flair, leading to the Heels interrupting and then Typhoon, with enough changes to avoid a trademark lawsuit from the WWF, showed up to help then it would have just been any other wrestling segment in a sea of them. I’m sure Typhoon would have been a bit of a disappointment as a special surprise guy, but he’s a big dude at least and the fans would have likely known who he was, so him stomping out to help two of the top babyfaces in the company could have potentially at least worked in a “we’re glad you saved the people we actually like” kind of way. However, the silly name, the even sillier attire, and the ultra silly Ole Anderson voice over for Shockmaster’s “promo” just made the whole thing feel very…silly. Oh, and I’ve only just noticed that Ole couldn’t even get the names of Shocky’s partners correct either, as he said “Dusty” instead of “Dustin”. What an absolute stinker of a segment!

Match Four
WCW World Television Title
Champ: “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff Vs Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat

Orndorff was coming off a feud with Ron Simmons and his new challenger for the belt was The Dragon. After THAT ShockMaster segment and a couple of iffy matches we could do with a good bout in order to pick things up a bit now. They’ve lowered the house lights here and put a spotlight on the ring, which isn’t a bad touch, and along with Michael Buffer’s intro it helps make the presentation of the match feel different and special. The crowd thankfully hasn’t been killed by the previous segment and is still into this, as they chant “Paula” as a way to annoy Mr. Wonderful. Steamer controls things for the most part in the early going, but the challenger misses a tackle and ends up tumbling over the top rope onto the entrance ramp, which makes the third match in a row where a babyface has missed some kind of attack for the cut off. Were they having some kind of a practical joke backstage where everyone had to work that spot in?

Orndorff works some heat back inside the ring following that, and I’m sure it’s of great shock to all of you that Steamboat sells it all well. I’ll give you a chance to sit down and steady yourself before resuming the review, I’m considerate like that. Rather than messing around with ShockMaster, I wonder why they didn’t just have Steamboat be the fourth man on the babyface side in War Games? He was over, you could easily plug him in, and the match itself would have been better. Steamboat eventually fights back with some chops, with one sending Wonderful over the top rope. However, it’s not a DQ, because that’s not scheduled to be the finish and who cares about consistency? Steamboat follows with a dive to the floor following that, but Orndorff gets a rope assisted pin for two back inside. Orndorff tries to use the TV belt in order to get himself DQ’ed and retain the belt cheaply, but Steamboat thwarts that and we get a nice series of pin counters that ends up with Steamer on top to win the belt.

WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: RICKY STEAMBOAT
RATING: ***

Thoughts: This was good fun, with Steamboat selling well and Orndorff being a good dislikeable Heel. Steamboat is a good choice as Champion as he can work with anyone and he brings credibility to the belt due to being a previous World Champ

Orndorff isn’t happy to have lost his belt and lays Steamboat out post-match, which would seem to suggest a rematch at Fall Brawl, but then ended up going with Lord Steven Regal instead for Steamboat’s opponent on that show.

Eric Bischoff is backstage with Harley Race and The Colossal Kong’s. Race threatens bad times for the babyfaces in his usual gravelly voice. This was about as generic a promo segment as you could get, but it set the next match up well enough I guess.

Match Five
The Colossal Kong’s (Awesome Kong & King Kong) w/ Harley Race Vs NWA World Champ Ric Flair and The Man Called Sting

The Kong’s are two big blokes who Race has recruited to take out two of Vader’s rivals. Let’s see if Sting can get through this match without getting betrayed by Flair. Interestingly they enter together to Sting’s music here, even though Flair was arguably higher on the food chain at the time due to being the NWA World Champ. They’ve actually got Michael Buffer for this match as well, which feels a bit OTT but at least they’re trying to make it seem important I guess. They start the match in the most ludicrous manner possible with Sting body slamming both of the Kong’s, which gets a pop but totally removes any drama from proceedings to see the big monsters foiled so easily so early. I mean, spending the whole match building to the big slam before delivering it and taking the match home at it’s peak is basic wrestling for heaven’s sake! Flair fights with one of The Kong’s outside the ring whilst Sting dispatches the other inside the ring with a Top Rope Splash, as The Kong’s get nothing before being defeated with total ease.

WINNERS: FLAIR & STING
RATING: SQUASH

Thoughts: Well okay then! Here’s me thinking that they’ll do the old “big blokes put the babyfaces in some jeopardy before they make the big comeback and win” formula, only to just have the Faces squish the bad guys in seconds. I mean, it looked like The Kong’s weren’t any good, but still, I wasn’t expecting them to be vanquished so easily

Flair and Sting hype up a match they’re due to have down the line, although they’re still being friendly with one another despite their impending battle.

Match Six
“Ravishing” Rick Rude and The Equaliser Vs “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes and Road Warrior Hawk

Rude and Dustin had the issue at the time as they’d been feuding over the US Title for most of the year. Equalizer would go on to be Evad Sullivan, Kevin Sullivan’s dyslexic brother. Hawk is a mystery partner here, as I ponder why HE couldn’t have been the fourth man in War Games for the babyfaces? It’s even more confusing that they went with the guy they did when you think about other options they had. In an early example of corporate synergy in Pro Wrestling, Hawk is showing up in a special car of some kind that a fan will be able to win down the line. Sorry I have no idea about cars, they exist only to transport me to work, Subway sandwich shops and the occasional brothel. I don’t even know what horse power is, although I assume large quantities of it make Jeremy Clarkson aroused in some manner, which is enough for me to know that I don’t want to know about it.

Rude and Hawk do a basic, yet okay, bit to start, but then Equaliser comes in and the match starts heading all the way to suck town. Equaliser can’t even take a Neck Breaker properly from Hawk at one stage, although Hawk covers by dropping a fist and continuing to work his lumbering oath of an opponent over. Equaliser manages to catch Hawk with a clothesline though, and that leads to the Heels working a brief bit of heat on Hawk until Dustin gets the tag and comes off the top with a DOOMsday Device on Rude. Dustin runs wild following that for a brief moment, and it not only looks good due to Rude being a good bumper, but the crowd also goes nuts for it too. However, Rude takes out Dustin with a clothesline and that gives us another heat segment. Dustin sells that well and Rude looks good on offence, whilst Equaliser also exists.

Equaliser ends up clotheslining his own partner by accident, but the ref misses the Hawk hot tag that follows it. This doesn’t stop Hawk from doing a full comeback on the Heels whilst the ref just stands there, including him clotheslining both Heels over the top rope to the floor, which isn’t a DQ here because yadda yadda yadda. Equaliser tries shrugging that all off and going for a slam on Dustin, but Hawk comes off the top with…something to knock Dustin on top of Equaliser for the three count.

WINNERS: RHODES & HAWK
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: So much of that match made so little sense, and I’m glad that Ventura complained about the dodgy refereeing at end because it really took me out of the action. Hawk ran wild on the Heels for ages, far past the 5 second mark, despite the ref not seeing the tag, so really it should have been a DQ, but the match just kept rolling along. The only thing I’ll say about the match is that the crowd seemed to enjoy it, so that’s why I’m being more generous with the rating than I perhaps should be

Main Event
Title Can Change Hands On DQ or Count Out
WCW World Title
Champ: Big Van Vader Vs Davey Boy Smith

These two fought to a non-finish back at Slamboree, so the stipulation is to ensure that we get a proper winner here. They fight out on the ramp right away, with Davey getting a very impressive big suplex out there. Vader just THUDDED onto the ramp there and it did not sound fun. Davey puts Vader into the ring following that and tries jumping in with a splash, but Vader gets the knees up and then starts working Davey over in the corner with the usual brutal punches. Vader tries to squish Davey onto the metal railings at ringside, but Davey dodges it and then suplexes Vader onto the railings for good measure. How many times had Vader wrestled Sting at this stage in his career? Surely he would know that going for a splash against the railings at ringside is NEVER a good idea?!

Davey keeps bringing the impressive power moves back inside with a Samoan Drop, but Vader shrugs that off and tackles Davey down before dropping an elbow for good measure. Davey sells well whilst getting clobbered by Vader, but if we’re honest he probably didn’t have much choice in the matter seeing as Vader normally just cleaned your clock for real. Vader keeps squishing poor Davey with splashes, but Davey refuses to give up and the battle continues, with the crowd trying to get Davey back into things by cheering him on. Davey manages to catch Vader with a crucifix roll-up, which was a hold he’d previously pinned Vader with, but this time Vader kicks out. That spot would have meant more in the commentary team had actually referenced the fact that Davey had previously managed to pin Vader by using that hold.

Vader tries heading up top, but Davey stops that with a dropkick and then unloads with some punches of his own, and it wouldn’t shock me if Davey threw in some live rounds as payback for the beat down Vader has put on him thus far. Vader replies with the Pump Splash, but Davey kicks out in a good near fall. Davey manages to counter a Vader cross body attempt from Bret’s Rope with a Powerslam, but the ref takes a bump in the process and there is nobody to count. This allows Race to cheap shot Davey, which leads to Vader picking up the three count from the now revived referee.

WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: VADER
RATING: ***

Thoughts: A little sloppy in places, but it was generally good overall, with the crowd liking Davey and Vader doing a good job as a mean big man putting a whupping on the handsome virtuous babyface

Cactus Jack returns from a Vader inflicted kayfabe injury following the bout, which saves Davey from any more attacks and sets up a big grudge match down the line between Vader and Jack.

In Conclusion

The WCW Title, Tag Title and TV Title matches were good here, and that saved the show from a thumbs down rating overall. The other matches didn’t really have much going on, and the whole Shockmaster thing was as awful as advertised, although it did go all the way around to being perversely entertaining after a certain point. Not a thumbs up show, but I wouldn’t say it was a Stinker either. You can watch shows like this and see why WCW was struggling at the time though. The serious wrestlers and angles were generally decent, but then you’ve got a whole lot of silly stuff just dragging the show down too.

Not a recommended show