WCW Clash of the Champions XXIV

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 XXIV – August 1993

Daytona Beach, Florida

CHAMPIONSHIP BACKGROUNDS: Heading into tonight’s show, Vader is the WCW World Heavyweight Champion and Ric Flair holds the NWA World Championship. The Hollywood Blondes are the recognized WCW Tag Team Champions, though, due to injury, Steven Regal subs in for Brian Pillman in their defense tonight. The United States Championship is vacant at the time, while the Television Title is held by “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff.

COMMENTATORS: Tony Schiavone & Jesse Ventura

Our opening contest is The Hollywood Blonds (featuring Steven Regal) vs. Paul Roma and Arn Anderson for the WCW World Tag Team Championship. Regal is subbing in for an injured Brian Pillman in what would’ve been a rematch from the previous month’s Beach Blast contest. As I enjoyed that match, this one was definitely a bit of a letdown. Ventura accurately calls Regal the best scientific wrestler on the roster, but there are some miscues here, including Regal overselling a Paul Roma dropkick and possibly being out of position for the Enforcer’s hot tag. After the match, Roma cuts a generic promo about nobody believing in him as a Horseman. (2/5)

Beautiful Bobby vs. 2 Cold Scorpio is next – a minor “dream match” if you ask me as Eaton is one of my all-time favorites and 2 Cold was phenomenal at this point. Unfortunately, instead of a nice, even, back-and-forth match, you get a short one essentially designed to put over the rising, young talent. (2/5)

In a Mask vs. Guitar match, Maxx Payne takes on Johnny B. Badd in a rematch from Beach Blast. The match in July was one of my least favorite bouts on that fairly awful card, but I was willing to give this one a chance to see if these two could find a way to tell a story that lived up to the personal, ongoing grudge that was developed on TV. Unfortunately, they don't. (0/5)

The most legendary part of the show is next – the Flair For The Gold segment featuring Sting, The British Bulldog, and their mystery guest…The Shockmaster! The segment opens with Bulldog absolutely murdering any and all excitement that Flair tried to build as Sting sits there, well aware of how poorly things are going. Sid and Harlem Heat arrive and a screaming match ensues before Sting finally announces the arrival of the Shockmaster. If you have the internet, you’ve seen this part before. While I am tempted to simultaneously give this a 0-out-of-5 and a 5-out-of-5 at the same time, I’m going to just go ahead and not rate it at all. This is just an absolute train wreck that, at the time, would’ve undoubtedly earned a 0, but, today, is something I could watch and rewatch forever.

Ricky Steamboat challenges Paul Orndorff for the Television Championship next. As both men walk the aisle, Ventura can’t resist making some jokes at the Shockmaster’s expense. As for the match, there are some nice pinning combos and I absolutely love how well both men play their role here – with Orndorff looking legitimately pissed throughout and Steamboat using sound wrestling basics to try to overcome the rule-breaking Mr. Wonderful. While not a match of the year candidate, after such a string of disappointing contests, this one does stand out as the first segment of the night to actually deliver at least a little bit of its promise. (3/5)

Harley Race’s team, The Colossal Kongs take on Sting and Ric Flair next. Sting and Flair have a match scheduled for the next week’s edition of Saturday Night for Flair’s NWA World Championship, so, the announcers make sure to play that up. Here’s some trivia: In 1993, the Kongs (Awesome and King) won the Wrestling Observer’s Worst Tag Team of the Year Award, which would be no surprise to anyone who saw this. A total squash, there is just absolutely nothing to this match aside from watching Sting deliver 4-5 dropkicks and Ric Flair strutting around the ring. (1/5)

The next match is a showdown pitting Dustin Rhodes and a Mystery Partner against Rick Rude and The Equalizer (aka John “The Berzerker” Nord). At Beach Blast 93’, Rude and Rhodes put on one of the worst matches I’d seen in some time – a 30-minute bore that showed just how much wear-and-tear the Ravishing One had on him by now. After Rhodes arrives, a fancy schmancy car rolls in, and we get the WCW debut of…Road Warrior Animal! The crowd goes pretty ballistic for Animal, but the roof completely blows off the place when, sneaking up behind Rude is…Road Warrior Hawk! A “Legion of Doom” chant breaks out, but WCW really misses the boat by having the match be Rhodes & Hawk vs. Rude & Equalizer instead of just letting Rhodes out of the match entirely and having this as the official return of the Road Warriors. The match itself is not too great, though, it is nice to see Rhodes and Rude showcase some of the exciting spots that we didn’t get at Beach Blast. I’ve read complimentary things about John Nord in the past, but I’m not sure I saw anything worthy of it in this match. (2.5/5)

The British Bulldog vs. Vader for the WCW World Championship is tonight’s main event - yet another rematch, this time from Slamboree. Schiavone reminds the fans that the title can change hands on a disqualification this time around. Michael Buffer does the ring announcement, but, as he’s done a number of them tonight, it adds nothing to the “big match feel” this one needs. The match begins with Bulldog and Vader brawling on the entrance ramp and, once again, you just have to be impressed by Davey Boy’s ability to hit the vertical suplex on the big man. From there, the action is well-paced and, if you’re a fan of Vader, there’s plenty to enjoy – though several of the spots are identical to ones the two used at previous shows.  I wouldn’t rate it as highly as their Slamboree match, but I will say that it is probably the Match of the Night, narrowly squeaking past Steamboat/Orndorff. (3/5)

With an average match/segment score of 1.93-out-of-5, Clash of the Champions 24 has the unenviable distinction of being the lowest rated show I have reviewed thus far. Even if I had rewarded the Shockmaster segment a glowing 5-out-of-5 score, this still would’ve been true, which says something about how piss poor the rest of the show is. Once again, it is easy to blame talents like Maxx Payne, Johnny B. Badd, John Nord, and Paul Roma for this – but, to me, the real problem is the booking. While the workers mentioned above may not bring you many 4-point matches, there was enough talent on the rest of the roster to carry them to better matches. For example, having the Legion of Doom squash Rude and Nord in a return match makes for much better TV than Hawk teaming up with Dustin Rhodes and having a competitive match that nobody is really interested in. Similarly, the whole show would have benefitted from Eaton and Scorpio getting more time, eliminating the Sting/Flair tag match entirely, and maybe having Payne and Badd turn their match into something different by giving it a Falls Count Anywhere stip or putting the Badd Blaster on a pole. At the very least, it would have added variety to the card and to their match, which was essentially the same tedious affair as their bout at Beach Blast. With such a low score and so little to recommend to even the biggest WCW fans, this show certainly earns the lowest distinction on my scale.

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville