RATING LEVELS:
Curt Hennig – A
“GOAT” show, as Perfect as possible
Watch It – A
consistently good show worth watching in its entirety
Watch It…With Remote
in Hand – 3 or more above-average ratings
High Risk Maneuver –
Mostly filler, inessential, but 1-2 good matches
DUDleyville –
Zero redeeming qualities, chore to watch
Clash of the Champions XXX – January 95’
Las Vegas, Nevada
COMMENTATORS: Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan
CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Hulk Hogan is the WCW World Champion,
Vader holds the United States Champion, the Tag Team Champions are Harlem Heat
(they defeated Stars n' Stripes on an episode of Saturday Night roughly two
weeks before this show), and the Television Champion is "Double A"
Arn Anderson.
The show begins
with Arn Anderson, accompanied by
Colonel Parker and Meng, defending his Television Championship against the
former titleholder, Johnny B. Badd.
According to Gary Michael Capetta, this match was voted on by WCW's fans,
which I'm not sure I trust but I can't disprove. At Starrcade, these
two had a decent match, one of Badd's best since the days when he was
being paired with Steven Regal. The crowd is firmly behind Badd but its hard
not to notice the little things that Anderson does to keep the crowd engaged,
cheapshotting his opponent, mocking the fans with sly grins, and using the
ropes to get an unfair advantage via chokes. What also helps this match is that
Anderson sells Badd's punches in a way that makes it clear that one good punch
from the former Golden Gloves boxer would be enough to end the bout, an element
that is absolutely key to getting the character over. The finish is
smartly crafted and well-delivered, though, as much as I enjoy this match, it
really doesn't have the duration necessary to call it anything better than good. (2.5/5)
After some
words from Kevin Sullivan and the Butcher, we get one of the highlights of the
show - Alex Wright's music video. I
love his theme music and this video, which is the near-perfect level of
cheesiness. While not quite as "must see" as 2 Cold Scorpio's music
video (or the music video of the short-lived tag team of Johnny Gunn and Tom
Zenk), it is still pretty awesome. (3.5/5)
This show just
earned another point automatically by featuring "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton, one of my all-time favorite workers,
even if he is up against the not-as-talented "Das Wunderkid" Alex Wright. This match was designed to showcase Wright, who has a few high
impact moves, but goes to the restholds too early and too often for my
taste. As much as I wanted to enjoy this match, it just never clicked
for me - Wright's offense is not nearly as impressive as Schiavone tells us and
Eaton is just here to bump around. (1.5/5)
Mean Gene hypes
the next WCW pay-per-view, SuperBrawl, with its main event of Hogan vs. Vader.
Big Van Vader arrives on the scene (without Harley Race) and cuts a good promo, but nothing on the Must
See List.
WCW World Tag
Team Champions, Stevie Ray and Booker T, Harlem
Heat vs. Stars n' Stripes is the scheduled contest - but before Stars n'
Stripes arrive, Ric Flair shows up with two women. When the match starts off,
Bagwell gets the better of Booker T, and the champions look to be on the ropes.
There's a noticeable hiccup a few minutes later between Booker and Patriot, but
for the most part, the work in this match is crisp, though unremarkable. What
really saves it is the finishing sequence, which is well-shot,
well-timed, and well-executed. (2/5)
The Monster
Maniacs - Hogan and Savage - are in the back. Hogan kicks things off with another
one of his paint-by-numbers promos, passes the mic to Jimmy Hart for a split
second, who then hands things over to Mach. It is already noticeable that Hogan's character, unchanged in years, is a
creative dead end for the company. Savage, on the other hand, is fresh comparatively because he hasn't been in WCW for as long.
The Guardian
Angel arrives as the guest referee for our next contest - Sting vs. The Avalanche. A poor finish prevented their Starrcade
match from "hidden gem" status, so I went into this one hoping for
good things. From the start, Sting takes the fight to Avalanche, but loses the
upperhand when he attempts to hit the big man with a bodyslam. Though workrate
and "fast-paced" would never describe a John Tenta match, what you do
get is good selling and good desperation offense out of
Sting. The ending of this match is oddly executed, though, with Guardian
Angel's turn not necessarily coming off as heelish as it should. Part of the problem is that, prior to the final seconds, the idea that
Guardian Angel has sold out to the Faces of Fear is only slightly hinted at
when he prevents Sting from gaining an advantage on the outside of the ring.
Aside from that, Guardian Angel seems to call things down the middle - which
goes against the logic of the final seconds. Not nearly as good as their
previous bout, capped off by a finish that does not effectively
signal Guardian Angel's transformation into Big Bubba Rogers as well as it
could have. (2/5)
Main event time
- Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. The
Butcher and Kevin Sullivan. With Vader and Flair sitting in the stands, all
one can really think of is how unimportant and weak the Monster Maniacs' tag
team opponents are. Hogan and the Butcher start things off, a
pseudo-rematch of Starrcade's awful main event. The Hulkster relies on his
tried-and-true offense of punches and clotheslines while the Butcher sells like
a mannequin, unspirited and mostly just teetering in reaction to the good guys'
vanilla movesets. When the Butcher locks in the Sleeper, fans are supposed to
be worried for Hogan's well-being, but the Butcher goofs it up anyway, seemingly unaware that to
win, he would have to keep the move locked on and wait for the ref to drop Hulk's arm three times. This laughably stupid spot is followed by another laughably stupid one - Savage waking up the Hulkster with an
elbow drop from the top. For some reason, the match doesn't end here and we
finally get a bump worth noting when Savage is flung over the top rope.
Schiavone notes that this should end the match by DQ, but that
rule hadn't been upheld for months. In fact, in the previous match, Sting
clotheslined the Avalanche over the top rope without any
consequence. Sullivan finally gets in the ring and turns Savage into
the face-in-peril, which allows for the match's first stretch of good selling
and believable offense. The undeniable MVP of the match, Savage's stumbling and
bumbling might seem to be a bit over-the-top for some, but I credit him for at
least attempting to add drama to a match featuring Butcher, who is just dreadful to watch. Savage's hot tag gets a big cheer,
but not a "monster" one, as most of the audience stays seated.
With a serviceable finish, this match isn't a total trainwreck, but contains at least a few moments
of god-awfulness. During the post-match, Vader defies the ruling that he could not have a face-to-face with the champion prior to SuperBrawl.
Vader then no-sells some of Hogan's rights and lefts before leveling him with a
powerbomb. Hogan heroically gets up from the powerbomb, though, and, with the
help of Savage, sends the heels back down the aisle. Oh well - there goes any
suspense for SuperBrawl's main event. I would've loved this segment if it would've ended with
Hogan beaten down by his challenger, but instead, its the babyfaces who have
the last laugh yet again. A terrible way to cap off a terrible match. (0.5/5)
With an average
match/segment rating of 2.00-out-of-5,
Clash of the Champions XXX, by its brevity, is actually more
watchable than it would seem based on the card. Of course, it's not so watchable that I would rewatch it, but this thing is almost passable at times.
No match is great, but there are distinct moments when this show really had my
attention. The opener is solid, the Tag Titles match has its moments, and Alex
Wright's music video is good for a chuckle. The main event, while terrible
overall, at least ends with getting to see Hulkster take a powerbomb, something
I'm not sure he'd ever been hit with before. I'm tempted to put this at High
Risk Maneuver level, but I remember I have a soul and wouldn't want to misguide
anyone into firing this up on the Network.
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