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