WCW Clash of the Champions XXIX

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 XXIX - November 1994

Jacksonville, Florida

CHAMPIONSHIP BACKGROUNDS: Hulk Hogan is the reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion heading into tonight’s show. The team of Pretty Wonderful are the WCW Tag Team Champions, Jim Duggan is the reigning US Champion, and Johnny B. Badd is the recognized TV Champion after ending Steven Regal’s reign.

COMMENTATORS: Tony Schiavone & Bobby Heenan

Tony Schiavone runs down the card for tonight's show and there are no less than three rematches from the Halloween Havoc show a few weeks prior.

"Mean" Gene Okerlund welcomes Colonel Robert Parker to the show. He arrives with Meng at his side and announces that the winner of tonight's Tag Team Title match will be facing Bunkhouse Buck and Arn Anderson on Saturday Night's Main Event.

This segues into the Tag Team Championship match, with Pretty Wonderful defending the belts against the team of Stars n' Stripes. I've found their previous matches to be average so I was not expecting this match to blow me away. This one starts off and runs through the same sort of action as their other matches, with Bagwell playing face-in-peril for the meat of it. The finishing sequence is hard to make heads-or-tails of, though the crowd eats it up. Far from definitive and offering very little to differentiate this bout from their previous, better-executed matches, this is nothing special but nothing offensive. (2/5)

The Honky Tonk Man arrives next for a rematch with the WCW Television Champion, Johnny B. Badd. While this is a tad better than their match at Halloween Havoc, it is still not anything I'd recommend sitting through, aside from maybe the final guitar shot for those that just want to see Badd get brained in the head by something. It is surprising to me that, considering that Badd has some pretty solid bouts in the past with guys like Regal and Austin, they didn't think to have him defend the title against similar talents. Instead, he's paired with an aging Honky Tonk, a wrestler who offers little more than gimmick and schtick. A step up from their last match, but not a big enough one. (1.5/5)

The Three Faces of Fear - Kevin Sullivan, The Butcher, and John "Avalanche" Tenta - are in the back. Beefcake's mic work is atrocious. Tenta's lines are based on a tropical storm that was going on in Ft. Lauderdale at the time, while Sullivan tries his best to save the day by playing up his life goal of destroying Hulkamania. Sullivan's longwinded diatribe is more confusing than scary, though.

Harlem Heat take on the babyface Nasty Boys in the next contest. Schiavone goes out of his way to make it clear that Booker T and Stevie Ray are real-life brothers before the action begins. A commercial break a few minutes in breaks up the story, but it doesn't seem like we miss much. Booker T hits a terrific side kick to Knobbs at this point, putting Harlem Heat in control after being on the receiving end of the offense before the break. Like the opening contest, a fairly clear ending is muddled up by production issues, though, at the very least, this is a fresh rivalry that put forth a physical contest I found to be no worse than average. (2.5/5)

Vader vs. Dustin Rhodes is our next match - and from the first 3 minutes, this one is already leaps and bounds better than anything before it. Rhodes comes in hungry, going straight for the monster and initially looking effective. Vader takes control, though, and from here, we get not only a great showcase of his arsenal, but also Rhodes' pitch-perfect selling, including a wicked backflip off a Vader clothesline. The big spot to the outside doesn't look as devastating as it could've, but Dustin Rhodes is not Mick Foley. What matters more is the punishment Dustin takes in the ring, which makes Rhodes look incredibly resilient for fighting back from. Dustin's desperation spin-slam is the best type of sloppy and his lariats are as good as they get, building up to a finishing sequence that I found excellent. The post-match beatdown is not one I was clamoring for, but I understand it as a booking decision. Very good match. (3.5/5)

Hulk Hogan, Dave Sullivan, and a sweet-looking red-and-yellow facepaint-wearing Sting are in the back. Hogan opens with a typical promo where he basically says nothing and is then gets upstaged by Sting. Dave Sullivan is terrible in his 15 second spot and the Hulkster closes things out with more nothing. I'm going to be nice and rate the two promos between the sides of tonight's main event as one segment. (1/5)

Steve Austin vs. Jim Duggan for the United States Championship is up next and one really wonders why WCW would book a Duggan match immediately after he had just appeared in-ring in a previous segment. Before the match can really begin, it is over from interference. At least it makes storyline sense. (.5/5)

Starrcade 94' is hyped for December 27th, 1994. I'm not sure why the show was scheduled for a Tuesday, or why the previous year's show was on a Monday night, but whatever.

Main event time - Mr. T arrives first, dressed as a referee (unlike at Halloween Havoc 94'). He's also sporting a striped sleeping cap like someone's great grandfather would wear. The Three Faces of Fear follow him before we get the arrival of Hogan, Sting, and Evad Sullivan, all of whom are sporting face paint. Hogan and Sullivan start things off in the ring, but Sting is in soon after. An injury angle takes Dave Sullivan out of the match early, which is addition by subtraction. Hogan gets worked on quite a bit as the match continues, leading to a hot tag. Tenta comes across as the heaviest hitter of the heels, which is poor planning on WCW's part as The Butcher is the guy challenging for the title at Starrcade. The finish is terrible, but I do give the company a little bit of credit for having the heels go over strongly, dishing out beatdowns to the Armstrongs as well as Stars n' Stripes for good measure. While certainly not great, this match is considerably better than it should be considering the participants, their age, and the storyline leading up to things. (3/5)

With an average match/segment rating of 2-out-of-5, Clash of the Champions 29 is an all around bummer of a show. The best match of the night, by a wide margin, is Vader/Rhodes, though, the main event is passable. The drop-off from here is fairly substantial, with the Harlem Heat/Nasty Boys match getting the bronze and everything else deserving a D+ grade at most. It is a shame that Vader/Rhodes, which is really strong, was put on a show that wasn't good enough to deserve it.

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville

WCW Halloween Havoc 94'

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

HALLOWEEN HAVOC 94’ – October 1994

Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

CHAMPIONSHIP BACKGROUNDS: Hulk Hogan is the reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion heading into tonight’s show, having defeated Ric Flair at Bash at the Beach in July. The team of Stars N’ Stripes are the WCW Tag Team Champions, Jim Duggan is the reigning US Champion, and Johnny B. Badd is the recognized TV Champion after ending Steven Regal’s reign.

COMMENTATORS: Tony Schiavone & Bobby Heenan

After some words from our announce team, a weird looking dude sings the National Anthem. Personally, I preferred when Maxx Payne would do it with his 6-string, but the oddly-dressed man who they got to do it on this night is tolerable.

And its time for our opening match - The Honky Tonk Man challenging WCW Television Champion, Johnny B. Badd. The action here is considerably less athletic/serious than what Badd was doing with Regal, but the crowd is alive for it. Honky's selling is cartoonish and his offense noticeably limited, to the point that when Gary Michael Capetta announces there are only 5 minutes left, it is genuinely surprising considering how little of note has happened. When the clock reads 3 minutes left, Honky tosses Badd to the outside - a strange move for the challenger to make considering the title doesn't change hands on a count out (or a DQ, depending on if that rule was still play). When Honky gets Badd back into the ring, he goes right to the same chinlock he'd spent the previous 7 minutes working, another illogical decision for the challenger to make. The final minute is not any better than the first 9 and, though I won't spoil the ending, I will say that it is an odd one. (1/5)

Prior to the next match, we get a recap of the Flair/Hogan rivalry, starting with the Masked Man's attack on Hogan at the Clash of the Champions several months prior. That same night, Hogan ended up returning to the ring to face Flair, but was again attacked by the Masked Man (in this instance, it was obviously Arn Anderson). In October, a new wrinkle was added to the plot when Hogan, who was in the process of unmasking the Masked Man, was attacked by a SECOND Masked Man. To add even more drama to the main event, Ric Flair and tonight's special guest referee, Mr. T, were seen hanging out in New York City, raising the question of whose side Mr. T would be on.

The WCW World Tag Team Championship match is next with the challengers (and former champions), Pretty Wonderful, taking on the team of Stars n' Stripes (who defeated them for the belts back in September). There's more to like about this match than hate, but it isn't a classic. In fact, I think I enjoyed their encounter at Fall Brawl a bit better just because of the extra elements Orndorff brought in on the outside of the ring. Roma does more of the heavy lifting here, while Bagwell continues to play the lead for Stars n' Stripes. The finish makes the Patriot look like an absolute doofus. Nothing great here, but also nothing atrocious. (2/5)

Ric Flair and Sensational Sherri cut a brief promo from backstage, followed by a recap of the Kevin Sullivan/Dave Sullivan feud, which revolves around Kevin Sullivan being bothered by his dyslexic's brother's love for Hulk Hogan. Now, I mention the term "dyslexic" specifically because anyone who knows of dyslexia knows that it does not necessarily correlate with cognitive disability (aka mental retardation). The WCW writers didn't seem to know that because Dave Sullivan is played as a "Eugene" type character, the thoroughly offensive, disgusting "joke" being that "Evad" can summon "retard strength" feuled by Hulkamania. With this terrible thought in mind, let's get to the action - Kevin Sullivan vs. Dave Sullivan. Kevin dominates for most of the match, mocking the Hulkster at times but only occasionally doing anything to play into the idea that his opponent is his blood relative, which, if executed correctly, could have at least added some interesting drama to the proceedings. Throw in an anticlimactic finish and you have one of the biggest filler matches I've ever seen. Half-point awarded for reminding me of the existence of the "I Want To Be A Hulkamaniac" song. (0.5/5)

Dustin Rhodes takes on Arn Anderson in the next contest and, easily, the first one of the evening that I'm actually excited for. Rhodes and Anderson's feud was months-long at this point as the Enforcer had turned on the Natural earlier in the year after agreeing to help him in his ongoing rivalry with the Studs Stable. The early going is back-and-forth, with both guys showing some crisp offense and calculated maneuvers, including Dustin attacking Double A's arm after he inadvertently clotheslined the ring post. As the match continues, it gets more and more personal, with Dustin taking a huge spill to the outside that helps take this match to a higher level at just the right moment. This match highlights how good these two were as "all-arounders," effortlessly mixing a nice variety of brawling, reversals, and high-impact spots (Dustin flying to the outside, Anderson missing a DDT, a well-executed stun gun). Unfortunately, this match goes nowhere, ending anticlimactically and all too quickly, a match on its way to becoming an A before its cut short to a C. (2.5/5)

In a rematch from Fall Brawl 94', "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan defends his US Championship against the former champion, "Stunning" Steve Austin. Duggan gets a fairly loud pop for his entrance and, to his credit, looks to be in good shape. Austin attacks him right at the bell, showing lots of urgency, but Duggan's offense cuts him off quickly and this one turns into a competitive back-and-forth battle - something their last match didn't offer. Austin pulls out some classic heel schtick, nothing truly original, but paired with Duggan's charisma, the crowd is engaged throughout and, based on everything I recall from his 90s career, I'm not sure there's a better Duggan match that year. Unfortunately, like the previous match, you get a finish that doesn't live up to the hard work that these guys put into this bout. (2.5/5)

Sting cuts a bizarre promo next, saying that he is looking forward to watching the main event and learning who will lead professional wrestling into the 90s…in October 1994…and the options are two guys synonymous with 1980s wrestling.

The Guardian Angel vs. Vader is next. Their previous PPV matches were quite good, setting the bar pretty high for this match. The Guardian Angel takes multiple opportunities to attack Harley Race, which is a cool way to introduce a slightly different story to this match than their previous encounters. Vader goes out of his way to sell for the Bossman, taking some respectable bumps while getting in some great offense himself. There's a noticeable botch/miscue when it seems like neither man is sure what spot was called off the ropes and Bossman ends up flat on his back, eating a Vader Bomb. Coming back from the brink of defeat, Bossman connects with an awesome spinebuster before hitting his finisher. Unfortunately, his focus on Harley Race ends up leading to his defeat. While not their best match, this is one that Vader fans will enjoy. It is also noticeably more hard-hitting and enjoyable than most of what Bossman would do moving forward from this feud. (3/5)

"Mean" Gene Okerlund welcomes Tommy "The Hit Man" Hearns to the show, who keeps it pretty simple, stating pretty plainly that he's looking forward to the fight. Meaningless segment that was at least kept short.

The Nasty Boys vs. Buckhouse Buck and Terry Funk is next and I had decently high expectations for this based on nothing other than the fact that these four know how to brawl and do it viciously. Early on, the Nasties do some comedic moves that the crowd goes wild for and Funk's selling of having his face stuck in Brian Knobbs' armpit is outstanding. From there, Funk hits himself with a chair a half dozen times and does crowd work, raising the entertainment value up to a level it almost shouldn't be able to attain without blood. If you're looking for a slobberknocker at the same level as the Nasty Boys' bouts with Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne, this will not suffice, but for what it is, this one delivers plenty of laughs and entertainment. (3/5)

After a pretty lame and depressing segment with Muhammad Ali, it is time four main event - Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan, in a cage, with Mr. T (last seen in a wrestling pay-per-view at WrestleMania 2, a whole nine years earlier) as the guest referee. Unlike Hogan's appearance at the last pay-per-view, he is not met with boos, which makes sense considering the Hulkster's historic achievement in Detroit at WrestleMania 3. Fireworks go off as the cage lowers over the ring looking particularly flimsy. Enjoyment of this match lies in how much poor officiating you can stand from Mr. T, who constantly interrupts legal maneuvers by Hogan for no explicable reason and then just basically watches the match from the best seat in the house, making non-dramatic counts now and then. Flair works extra hard, but the bulk of this match is just a stringing together of standard cage spots. When Flair starts attacking the knee, it seems like he's wasted time getting to this strategy instead of building up to it throughout the contest. Bobby Heenan puts in an amazing effort, nearly losing his voice from all the anti-Hulk vitriol he spews. When Mr. T is taken out, the match and the crowd's involvement reaches its highest point, in no small part due to Sensational Sherri's involvement. The Mystery Man, a pair of handcuffs, and Sting all make appearances while Hogan stops selling any leg pain, the match ending in a fashion that can only be described as equal parts overblown and predictable. The fact that this was a Retirement match is almost completely ignored, but that almost seems better than the alternative of having a moment of actual gravitas tied to a match so cartoonish. (3/5)

Following the match, the Masked Man returns, but is beaten down and unmasked by Hulk Hogan. So, who was behind the attacks on Hogan? His best friend - Brother Bruti! Kevin Sullivan arrives on the scene and he's not alone as we also get the WCW debut of John "Avalanch" Tenta. Sting makes the save, cradling a beaten down Hulkster on the outside of the ring as "Mean" Gene and Tony Schiavone talk up the heels. Again, some would say that this segment takes away from the fact that an 11-time World Champion had just been retired from the sport, but I don't mind that - Flair's days in the sun were over the first time Hogan defeated him and it was time for Hogan to start working with a new dance partner. Was the best choice Brutus Beefcake or John Tenta? Probably not...but its not like this segment is laughably bad or poorly executed. It just is what it is. (2/5)

With an average match/segment-rating of 2.17-out-of-5, there are not many things to praise about Halloween Havoc 94'. The main event is fun and the crowd is electric from beginning to end, but it is not the best match these two had in 94' and, considering it was built as a retirement match for the loser, definitely doesn't come off nearly as important as it should. Elsewhere on the card, Terry Funk, Dustin Rhodes, Arn Anderson, and Vader do solid work, while Honky Tonk Man, Dave "Evad" Sullivan, and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan bring the cheese factor and prevent this show from any level of respectability. Considering how strong WCW's pay-per-views were 5 months earlier, Halloween Havoc is a really bad sign of how much the company was falling from a creative standpoint.

FINAL RATING - DUDLeyville

WCW Fall Brawl 94'

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

Fall Brawl 94’ – September 1994

Roanoke, Virginia

CHAMPIONSHIP BACKGROUNDS: Hulk Hogan is the reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion heading into tonight’s show, having defeated Ric Flair at Bash at the Beach in July. The team of Pretty Wonderful are the WCW Tag Team Champions, Ricky Steamboat is the reigning US Champion, and Lord Steven Regal is the recognized TV Champion.

COMMENTATORS: Tony Schiavone & Bobby Heenan

Kicking things off, we have Atlantic Records country artist Martin Delray singing the National Anthem. I only mention this because his mullet is breathtaking. No score, though, in remembrance of Daron Norwood. 

The opening contest is for the WCW Television Championship with Lord Steven Regal defending against Johnny B. Badd. I gave their Bash At The Beach match a very solid 4-out-of-5 rating and, at Clash XXV, they earned a 3.5 in my book, meaning I went into this match expecting very good things. I was not disappointed either, as, from the get-go, they show off some really tight sequences. The commentators do a nice job of playing up how much homework Badd had done in the build-up to this bout, which is a nice touch. The camera misses a big crossbody onto Regal on the outside, but makes up for it with a nice wide shot of Badd guillotining himself on the top rope minutes later in a tide-turning moment. Badd’s selling is really strong throughout, as is Regal’s viciousness, though Marc Mero haters will likely still be irked by his fiery comebacks, which can come off as hokey. The closing moments are a fun and meaningful throwback to basically every time Regal had defended his title in the past – Sir William attempts to cheat, but it backfires, which leads to Regal trying again but inadvertently hitting his manager with a forearm. In an extra nice twist on expectations, these miscues lead only to near falls, keeping me (and any other first time viewer) guessing about what the outcome would be until the very last second. (4/5)

Cactus Jack vs. Kevin Sullivan (with Dave “Evad” Sullivan) in a Loser Leaves Town match is next. Earlier in the year, Sullivan and Jack held the WCW Tag Team Championships, but had split up since. The commentators play up Jack losing his ear in Germany, building him up as an absolutely fearless maniac, which is a bit odd considering how this match ends. Equally questionable are the bumps that Jack takes, landing back-first multiple times onto the exposed concrete floor. The match only runs a few minutes, but the action therein is high impact. Still, the finish and the heavy involvement of such a lame character as Kevin Sullivan’s dyslexic brother is enough to keep this one from “must see” territory. (2.5/5)

Our next contest is sure to be a barnburner – WCW United States Champion Ricky Steamboat taking on top challenger “Stunning” Steve Austin. Wait. Scratch that. Presiding official Nick Bockwinkel announces that Steamboat is unable to compete due to injury and the title is handed over to Steve Austin. Austin’s delivery and word choice is not as pitch-perfect as it would become years later and his facial expressions are a bit cartoonish, but the segment is still quite good until Bockwinkel announces Austin’s opponent - “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. Austin bounces around the ring, hooting and hollering in protest of the match, but the bell rings and, in a flurry, this one is over. The crowd cheers the title change, but this non-match will still leave a bad taste in many people’s mouths after how well Austin had been built up over the past few years as someone on the brink of being a true main eventer. Taken as an overall segment, it’s not like this one is boring or uneventful or meaningless – the drama is there, the crowd goes bananas, and the surprise appearance of Duggan is disappointing to modern viewers in a way that it wasn't back then. Still, neither the build or the match is any better than decent. (2/5)

Pretty Wonderful, the World Tag Team Champions, are up next, taking on Stars n’ Stripes, aka Marcus Alexander Bagwell and the Patriot. What is somewhat interesting here is how comfortable and confident Roma is by this point, largely due to his lengthy pairing with a still-over Mr. Wonderful. One wonders if Roma’s not-so-great reputation would be as bad if he had started out in this team rather than as a Horseman. The action is standard from the start, with Roma grimacing in pain as Bagwell and the Patriot take turns dishing out punishment. An overuse of wristlocks early on keeps things in a low gear, but there are at least lots of tags to keep the dance partners fresh. At one point Wonderful connects with an elbow drop preceded by all sorts of bells and whistles and a large portion of the audience starts cheering the villains. Orndorff knocking Bagwell’s head into a plastic cooler seems a bit oversold, but the final third of the match is fun, with a bunch of classic tag team wrestling tropes thrown in leading to a believable finish that finds an interesting way to subvert the expectation of a kickout. All in all, a match that is considerably better than it would seem on paper, and possibly a career highlight for half of the guys involved. (2.5/5)

Next up is the evening’s triangle match to declare the number one contendership for Hulk Hogan’s World Heavyweight Championship – The Guardian Angel vs. Sting vs. Vader. Now, what is odd about this is that it is not a “three way dance” in the typical sense – it is more like a round robin, where, after a coin toss, it is decided that Vader will face the Guardian Angel first and then Sting will wrestle the winner. And so, I’m going to split this one up…

Vader vs. The Guardian Angel – Very physical, as expected. These two consistently brought out the best in eachother. Bossman’s offense always looked good against Vader and he was, despite what he may have lacked in-ring and how terrible his gimmick was, a popular personality, which keeps the audience invested. The match doesn’t go too long and actually left me wanting another minute or two because the action was pretty great, though not nearly their best match against eachother. (3.5/5)

Sting arrives next for his match with Vader and, again, it goes without saying that these two had absolutely great chemistry. Sting’s intensity is tremendous in the beginning  and his selling pairs well with Vader’s devastating moveset. Sting’s comebacks and offense are sharp too – they may not be incredibly realistic, but you always get the sense that beyond the desperation "hope spots," he always had a gameplan if he could withstand Vader’s onslaught. The Vadersault spot is always a treat, though predictable at this point, and there’s a nice (intended or not) “callback” to their famous strap match when Sting hits the big man with a Fireman’s Carry. The crowd is electric the whole time too. When you get the announcement that 10 minutes have gone by, one is reminded of the impressiveness of Vader’s performance. As the match nears the end of regulation, urgency sets in and the work from both men is just brilliant. The actual finish is frustrating, but only because this match deserved a more definitive ending. That being said, this is a near-masterpiece that lives up to the tremendous series of matches they'd had two years earlier. (4.5/5)

Hulk Hogan appears via satellite and the audience boos pretty audibly, potentially out of anger with the finish of the previous match or disgust with Hulk not appearing live or, as some have theorized, disgust with Hulk Hogan period. The segment is pretty awful too, both guys floundering quite a bit. Like many of Hogan's promos during this span of it time, it is also endless and bizarre, Hogan’s reactions being ridiculously out-of-character. This so bad, it is almost good – but not enough to make it even worthy of going viral. (0/5)

For the next 15+ minutes, absolutely nothing happens aside from a recap of the feud leading to this WarGames match, Gene Okerlund reminding fans of the rules of WarGames, and the cage itself coming down from the ceiling. 

WarGames is next – Arn Anderson, Terry Funk, Buckhouse Buck, and Colonel Parker taking on “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes, the Nasty Boys, and “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes and Anderson start things off, both quite familiar of the WarGames environment. I’ve seen this match get praised as the second best of its kind and it is a serious improvement on 93’s edition, but I’m not necessarily a huge fan of this bloodless, very by-the-numbers brawl. Terry Funk is highly entertaining, walking around for most of the match in a stupor, and when Dusty Rhodes comes in, the crowd’s response is incredible. Colonel Parker is eventually ripped to shreds by the good guys, giving the crowd the satisfying finish they obviously desired, but there really aren’t any twists or turns to the match, which prevents me from giving it my full recommendation, especially to modern fans who might expect a bit more danger and higher stakes for a match with the WarGames moniker. (3.5/5)

With an average match/segment score of 2.81-out-of-5, Fall Brawl 94’ is the company’s worst PPV since SuperBrawl IV, a significant drop from the consistently good Bash at the Beach, Slamboree, and Spring Stampede events. A significant part of the problem is the arrival of Hulk Hogan and, to some degree, his friends. Hogan’s work on tonight’s show is unwatchable and the instant pushing of Jim Duggan was never going to yield classics the way others could have in a similar position. In fact, it’s the WCW stalwarts (Regal, Badd, Dustin Rhodes, the Studs Stable, Vader, and Sting) that provide the night’s best moments and make this show bearable. Had Sting/Vader and Regal/Badd not been so good and had the main event not had the crowd going wild, this show would probably have ended up in DUDleyville territory, but with at least two highly entertaining matches and the historical significance of this show being Cactus Jack’s final WCW match (and maybe Austin’s last relevant one in the company), I’m going to bump it a notch higher than it probably should go.

FINAL RATING – Watch It…With Remote in Hand

WCW Clash of the Champions XXVIII

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 XXVIII – August 1994

Cedar Rapids, Iowa

CHAMPIONSHIP BACKGROUNDS: Hulk Hogan is the reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion heading into tonight’s show, having defeated Ric Flair at Bash at the Beach 94’. The team of Pretty Wonderful is the WCW Tag Team Champions, Steve Austin is the reigning US Champion, and Lord Steven Regal is the recognized TV Champion.

COMMENTATORS: Tony Schiavone & Bobby Heenan

Kicking things off is tonight’s tag team championship, with Pretty Wonderful in a non-title match against a freshly-turned-babyface Nasty Boys. The Nasties control things early on, while Heenan and Schiavone take some blatant shots at the WWE on commentary. In the audience, the camera shows us our first glimpse (I think) of Barry Darsow in his WCW role of “Blacktop Bully," mocking the good guys. As the match progresses past the 5 minute mark, the crowd grows pretty quiet, obviously not too invested in the fate of Jerry Sags who plays the role of face-in-peril. The finish is cool, but it needed to come sooner to make this one worth recommending. (1.5/5)

Next up is the legendary “Kerrigan-ing” of Hulk Hogan. There is a lot about this that is comically, but what keeps it from true Wrestlecrap greatness is how drawn out and tiring of a segment it becomes. For the first few minutes, we don’t even see EMTs or trainers arrive – the kind of thing that the WWE wisely utilized for similar angles. This forces the audience to simply sit back and watch Hogan’s overdramatic selling. Bischoff’s worry, to his credit, seems real, but if you had seen the Sting/Rude angle and match from Clash of the Champions XVII, you knew where this was story was going. (2/5)

Our second match of the night is United States Champion “Stunning” Steve Austin defending his title against Ricky Steamboat. At Clash 20, I gave their match a solid score of 3.5. At the inaugural Bash at the Beach, they earned an even higher 4.5 rating from me. Between those battles, these two had wrestled in several other TV matches and tag bouts (Austin as a Hollywood Blonde and Steamboat in his underrated partnership with Shane Douglas), so the chemistry was there for them to deliver the goods. Depending on your patience for announcers talking about everything BUT whats going on in the ring, you will either love this match, find it a bit underwhelming, or have the same opinion I do – that this is a fine match, but one that starts slow, gets very competitive, and ultimately doesn’t leave as much as an impression as their match from the previous pay-per-view. Part of that might be due to the fact that Steamboat suffered a career-ending injury in the match, one that kept him on the sidelines for 15 years. (3.5/5)

An ultra-lame Honky Tonk Man video is next. I know I typically give pretty high ratings for WCW’s more harebrained and ridiculous vignettes, but this one isn’t even worth laughing at. Just stupid. (1/5)

Making up for things is a replay of an excellent Dustin Rhodes/Dusty Rhodes moment from WCW Saturday Night or some other TV show. Dusty cuts a passionate promo, not only setting up tonight’s grudge match between the Rhodes duo and the Stud Stable (Bunkhouse Buck and Terry Funk), but also putting over his son as a future World Champion. Dusty’s conviction is remarkable and the crowd’s responses show that he still had enough charisma to command the audience’s attention. (3.5/5)

This leads to…Dusty Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes vs. Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck. The crowd is red-hot throughout and while I’ve seen some critics dismiss this bout as just a hodge-podge of “smoke and mirror” tricks, I don’t mind the layout or what-counts-as-high spots. Dusty Rhodes isn’t “protected” either as he’s throwing elbows early on rather than just standing on the outside watching the match happen. Dustin is the workhorse, but Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck pull their weight too. The finish isn’t a shocker (considering what happened at TBash At The Beach), but the post-match shenanigans are much wilder than I expected. Meng, Col. Parker’s bodyguard at the time, comes out looking especially strong, a respectable feat considering just how many moving pieces are involved in this match. (3/5)

Following this bout we get an absolutely fantastic Ric Flair promo. I personally could’ve used 5 more minutes of Flair screaming, but you take what you can get on a show like this. (3.5/5)

Back in the ring, WCW Television Champion Steve Regal prepares for his non-title bout with Japanese legend, Antonio Inoki. From early on, this one is stiff and the wrestling is strategic, deliberate, and anything but flashy. At one point, Inoki locks in a rear-naked choke, the kind of move that might get a bigger pop today, but back then seems to bore the crowd. Patient wrestling fans who like to see two guys trade facelocks, headlocks, and wristlocks will love this match, but not everyone will be as riveted. The finish is anticlimactic, with Inoki locking in a lethal sleeper hold and Regal selling it arguably too much. While this match is interesting and certainly stands out compared to everything else that happened in the ring that night or almost any night in the years before or after it, uniqueness doesn’t necessarily make something outstanding or worth hunting down. (3/5) 

Main event time – Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan for Hogan’s WCW World Championship. Before the match starts, Flair gets some additional heat from the crowd by calling out the Hulkster, who eventually turns up, damaged leg and all. The crowd is enthralled in the proceedings, though it is hard not to notice how sloppy Flair and Hogan work here, basically just brawling all over the place, selling and no-selling eachother’s eye-rakes and chest chops as they please. When Flair isn’t overselling Hogan’s offense, which consists mostly of scratching and headbutts, he’s blatantly calling spots into the Immortal One’s ear. For the brief stretches where Flair is in control, though, the match gets much more interesting, with Flair hoisting Hogan up in an impressive vertical suplex and applying the figure four to huge reactions. While revisionists love to argue that Hogan was not beloved in WCW, the truth is, the crowds were definitely pro-Hogan at this point and the ratings and buyrates show that there was still a huge part of the wrestling-viewing audience that wanted to see the “same old shit” he’d built his legacy on in WWE. While I would’ve loved to see a more even rivalry with Flair in terms of wins and losses, I’ve enjoyed the Hogan/Flair series up to this point as Flair seemed driven to pull out the best matches he could from his arguably more limited, less athletic opponent. Unfortunately, the finish and the incredibly poor decision to have announcer Michael Buffer purposely mess up the announcement of the winner is confusing and horrendously executed (not to mention needlessly self-sabotaging in the way it degrades the fact that Flair just spent 20+ minutes showing he could hang with Hogan). A more definitive victory for Flair, even one that could be excused away by Hogan's injury, could've really helped this match. Instead, the bizarre booking and execution of the final moments is enough to knock this match down a few pegs. (3.5/5)

With an average match/segment rating of 2.72-out-of-5, Clash of the Champions XXVIII is better than it might appear on paper, but almost only because of the work of two characters you might not have expected it from. Regal/Inoki is a bit of a disappointment and Austin/Steamboat doesn't hit the same highs as their Bash at the Beach match. Instead, it is Flair who gives the performances of the night, both on the mic and in the ring, helping shape a captivating back-and-forth brawl that was en route to being one of Hogan’s best matches in years before it was derailed with a horrid, comically overbooked finish. The other MVP? Fellow old timer Dusty Rhodes, whose passion and energy ignites the crowd more than anyone else on the show not named Hulk. Completists will no doubt find moments of greatness on this show, but I wouldn’t try too hard to make time for this one. The numbers don't lie either as this is my lowest-rated WCW event since the abysmal SuperBrawl 4.  

FINAL RATING – High Risk Maneuver