WCW Clash of the Champions XV

RATING LEVELS: 

Curt Hennig – A perfect show, all killer no filler

Watch It – A consistently great show worth watching in its entirety

Watch It…With Remote in Hand – Multiple above-average ratings but a few clunkers

High Risk Maneuver – Inessential, maybe 1-2 good matches, but could have its own charm

DUDleyville – Zero redeeming qualities, chore to watch

WCW Clash of the Champions XV: Knocksville, USA

Knoxville, TN - June 1991

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, Ric Flair was the reigning WCW World Champion, Lex Luger held the United States Championship, and the Television Title was held by Bobby Eaton (though "Stunning" Steve Austin had actually won the title prior to this show at a round of tapings that would air after this show). The Fabulous Freebirds held the United States Tag Team Titles, while The Steiner Brothers were the World Tag Team Champions. 

COMMENTATORS: Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone

Clash of the Champions XV is a show I probably watched a dozen times growing up. I remember my brother taping it off TBS using our VCR and I watched and re-watched it countless times as I played with my wrestling action figures from ages 7 to...I don't want to say. Anyway, this nostalgic lens will probably affect some scores, but who cares?

The show begins with a sub-5 minute match pitting the feuding Fabulous Freebirds and Baddstreet against The Young Pistols and their good buddy Z-Man. With such little time to waste, this match barely starts before its an absolute melee and its the better for it. This match is all about the finish, as after getting sent to the outside, the babyfaces manage to sunset flip all three of the heels and get the easy win. It doesn't make much sense and the ref doesn't even bother to try to figure out who the legal man is, but I always liked it as a kid. That's enough for a point. (1.5/5)

Oz squashes Johnny Rich in under 2 minutes next. Oz doesn't get as elaborate an entrance as he did at SuperBrawl, which I feel like was a really lost opportunity to hook in all the Wizard of Oz fans that might've accidentally caught this match. Kevin Nash's spinning release powerbomb is absolutely devastating looking, but also probably considerably more dangerous of a bump to take than the classic Jackknife he would eventually make his trademark. The commentators spend considerable time talking about Oz's mysterious background, but I'm kind of more interested in where Johnny Rich came from. (1/5)

After a commercial break, its time for Big Josh vs. "Dangerous" Dan Spivey. Not much to talk about here as this is supposed to set up a feud between Josh and Kevin Sullivan, who comes in and strikes him with a crutch (allowing Spivey to snag the victory). Maybe this made sense in 91' - when Spivey seemed like a guy that needed to be booked somewhat strong and Josh could afford a loss by interference as long as it led to a big showdown with Sullivan. In 2018, though, knowing that the Big Josh character wouldn't last more than a year or so and Spivey had basically peaked already, this match did nothing for no one. Less entertaining than the Oz squash. (0.5/5)

After one of my favorite WCW gimmicks (the weekly Top Ten), Paul Dangerously welcomes Jason Hervey (of "The Wonder Years") to the Danger Zone. I must've watched this angle a hundred times growing up, not only on my dubbed copy of this show but also in the weeks after on various WCW programs. Dangerously won't let Hervey speak and then takes a not-so-nice dig at Hervey's girlfriend Missy Hyatt before "Arnold" grabs him by the necktie and tells him off. Hervey turns to leave the ring and Dangerously decks him in the back of the head with his signature cell phone in one of the best angles WCW produced that year (or maybe any). I loved this as a kid and it still holds up. (+1)

Dustin Rhodes takes on Terry "Terrence" Taylor of the York Foundation next. I didn't love their SuperBrawl match and this one was even less meaningful. Again, the point of this match seems to be more about progressing a storyline (Ricky Morton turning heel, joining the Foundation, and becoming "Richard" Morton) than it is about delivering a good TV bout. Not offensive, but not worth watching either and while Morton was pretty cold as a babyface by 91', turning him heel didn't instantly solve the problem of what to do with a guy that just screamed "80s." (1.5/5)

Nikita Koloff vs. Sting is next in a bit of a "sleeper" favorite of mine. Koloff is one-dimensional and Sting is no super worker, but this match is worked smart, the characters and feud were over, and Sting's selling and pacing is pitch perfect. At no point does Koloff really do anything that impressive or devastating to Sting, but Sting sells everything just right to make it clear that, while he's never down for the count, Koloff's targeted attack is preventing him from turning the corner. This all leads brilliantly to the finish, which comes off as non-definitive while still being relatively definitive, popping the crowd, and keeping Sting over (which was a necessity at this point as his title run in 90' had not been great). For a sub-10 minute match, this is a wonderfully executed old school one. Not "must see," but maybe deserving of more acclaim as a "hidden gem" from Sting's lengthy career. (3.5/5)

PN News makes his way down the aisle with Salt-N-Pepa (actually Pepa and DJ Spinderella, though I'll admit to not knowing that till I did some research), who were fairly big stars in 91' but would achieve even greater commercial success a few years later with their Very Necessary album. Spin-N-Pepa don't do any rapping or anything, which is a bit of a waste of their talent, but maybe WCW didn't want them to totally upstage News? Johnny B. Badd shows up and the two music-based characters trade insults. Of all the in-ring segments on this show, this one might be the least entertaining and it pains me to say it because I'm a PN News mark.

El Gigante and Brian Pillman took on Barry Windham and Arn Anderson in a Loser Leaves Town Match next where the man who suffers a pinfall has to leave WCW. In a meritocracy, there is only one reasonable option for which guy should never be allowed anywhere near a wrestling ring again (his name rhymes with Smell Picante), but because this is pro-wrestling and the purpose was to put sympathy on the babyface that the fans actually cared about (even if it hurt his already damaged credibility), the finish is really never in question. Pillman and Windham had a super brawl at SuperBrawl (so that name isn't just a clever Super Bowl pun!), though they could've used more time. This match gets like a third of even that so there's basically no time for this to really achieve what it could've even with Gigante unable to do much of anything. Pillman has so much energy that he holds his own in what is essentially a handicap match and, again, the booking, while it doesn't help Pillman, does make at least a little bit of sense in the story they're trying to tell. Cool spot where Pillman comes flying off Gigante's shoulders. Uncool spot where the camera man misses the finish. Whoops. This match lacks the time needed to really build drama and suspense and, as we'd come to find out, the Yellow Dog angle wouldn't push Pillman to the main event like it could've. (2/5)

Before I go on, I should mention that there's a Robin Leach-narrated advertisement on this show for the Great American Bash Sweepstakes and, as a kid, even on my hundredth view, I could not solve the puzzle. At age 34, I finally did and I feel like I total dummy for not getting it sooner. No excuses, I was/am an idiot.

Okay, back to the action - The Steiner Brothers defending the IWGP Tag Team Championships against Hiroshi Hase and Masahiro Chono. Like many of the Steiners' matches from the early 90s, this one is stiff and built around power spots and straight-to-the-mush clotheslines. Hase and Chono hold their own too, though, taking the majority of the damage but dishing out a fair amount of their own too. The Steiners are over enough for the crowd to be invested and interested, but I'm not sure how familiar the average 91' WCW fan was with New Japan's roster. Unlike some of the other matches on this card, this one gives us a solid finish and progresses a future storyline without giving short shrift to either as Dick Murdoch and Dick Slater (The Hardliners) run out and destroy everybody after the bell. Some cursory research reveals that Scott Steiner suffered a bicep injury either before this match or during it (which is somewhat ironic considering its Rick Steiner who sells an arm injury), which prevented The Hardliners/Steiners feud from really taking off. These two teams at perfect health would've been the definition of a slobberknocker, so I'm excited to see if they do end up working together later in 91' on a big show. Good match, good post-match, but not must see. (3/5)

The Diamond Studd (Scott Hall) squashes Tommy Rich in under 2 minutes in the next match. I'm tempted to give this 5 stars just because finally, finally, finally someone at the top of WCW realized that Tommy Rich sucked at this point. I'm not even sure Tommy Rich was any good 10 years earlier, but I'll admit to not seeing much of his work, so I could be wrong. He had a tag match with Ricky Morton that I liked in 89' or 90' maybe? Regardless, nothing to this aside from DDP's intro, Hall  wrestling in a straight-outta-the-80s gimmick, and Rich getting buried. (1/5)

Much like the Jason Hervey/Dangerously segment from earlier, this Clash is the gift that keeps on giving with segments and angles. Jim Ross interviews the winner of a Sting Look-a-Like contest, a kid who doesn't really look anything like Sting aside from having face paint on. Sting comes out to congratulate him, but forgets he's involved in a blood feud with Nikita Koloff, who is still pissed about getting rolled up earlier. Koloff attacks him and scares the hell out of the kid and his mother. Old School Awesomeness. I wish WWE would do angles like this again. (+1)

Back inside the ring we go for a number one contender's match pitting the US Champion, Lex Luger, against The Great Muta with the winner going on to face Ric Flair for his WCW World Championship at The Great American Bash. Considering the stakes, this match should be a total barnburner, but because this is a TV special and booker Dusty Rhodes absolutely needed to get Oz and Diamond Studd and Johnny B. Badd and PN News and Big Josh and "Stunning" Steve on the show, this match runs about 4 minutes. To their credit, JR and Schiavone do a good job of talking up the idea that Luger has scouted Muta's offense and is well prepared for this match, but this is still too brief to accomplish the goal of making Luger seem like a worthy number one contender. I mean, if all you need to do is squash a guy that used to be a big deal, shouldn't Diamond Studd be the number contender? There is an absolutely insane bump in this match that Muta takes and if he wasn't in such a rush to get back into the ring, it would've been an excellent turning point in a well-developed story. Instead, Muta has to brush it off so he can lose by a simple powerslam. Just not good. (1/5)

We get a third or fourth "Coming Soon" vignette, this time for "Stunning" Steve Austin. I forgot how thick (maybe steroid bloat?) Austin looked at this point. He may have still been on some juice in the late 90s, but he definitely had a better look overall as he just looks like a total meathead in 91'. The vignette also shows him with the TV Title which is interesting because, coming into the show, Eaton was actually the champion.

Steve Austin destroys "Jumpin" Joey Maggs in the next bout. Austin hits his Stun Gun finisher but doesn't make the cover immediately, which makes no sense. I am a massive Austin fan, but this might be his worst televised performance ever as he just looks goose shit green out there not making the cover after hitting his finisher. Like, what was he waiting for? (0/5)

Before the next segment, if I'm not mistaken (could be after the segment), we get a vignette for Black Blood, aka Billy Jack Haynes, one of the more bizarre figures in modern wrestling history. Haynes had a tremendous physique (or at least he did before 91' as he looks less impressive here) and, from the few videos I saw, could actually work a lick - or at least well enough to be employed - but was reportedly such a headcase that both WWF and WCW cut ties with him rather abruptly. That's really saying something when you consider that in 91', the WWE would bring back the Ultimate Warrior and WCW was, well, kinda desperate for workers - sane or not. Anywho, this a great vignette. (+1)

Shit gets even crazier next with Ricky, now "Richard," Morton joining the York Foundation. So, he goes corporate but maintains the mullet? You have to know that Morton was approached about trimming the haircut as that would've been such a huge symbolic gesture towards his heel turn, but he opted to KEEP it because, well, its 91', and why shouldn't you look like a pro hockey player from 1987? Again, the angles on this show are everything that the matches aren't. Robert Gibson comes out to find out whats going on with his former teammate and Morton prevents Terry Taylor and Mr. Hughes from attacking him only to attack him himself! Yes! Old school wrestling angle in all its corntastic beauty! (+1)

Main event time - Ric Flair defending the World Title against "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton in a 2-out-of-3 falls match. Some unpacking is necessary here: First, at this point, Ric Flair was already in a contract dispute with WCW and basically had a foot out of the door. Second, that this match was intended to propel Eaton into being an upper midcard face. Third, because Dusty Rhodes had filled this show with so much nonsense, this match was cut to under 20 minutes and so Point #2 didn't happen. As could be expected, the 18 or so minutes of action they do get to deliver is excellent. Eaton targets Flair's arm in the first fall, but then wisely transitions to his shoulder/neck and delivers a succession of big moves, including the Alabama Jam, to score the first pinfall. Unfortunately, the fact that this all happens in about 10 minutes is just hard to believe, even if one wants to assume that Flair willfully dropped the first fall as some sort of strategy (which is never mentioned on commentary and, again, wouldn't make much sense after just 10 minutes). Flair bounces back by knocking Eaton off the top rope and onto the arena floor and while the camera captures the fall, it doesn't adequately capture the landing so the damage to Eaton's knee isn't as apparent as it should be. Flair takes the countout victory and then, a few minutes later, wraps it up with the Figure Four in a somewhat rare clean victory. This match not only needed more time, but the whole show should've been built around Eaton if they were going to try to push him even with a loss. Backstage segments of him warming up, video vignettes of his training or the wins he collected on his way to this match, etc. would've all made this match feel bigger and establish Eaton's credibility. A good, not great match. (3/5)


Clash of the Champions XV may not have earned a high Kwang score (2.00-out-of-5), but in terms of watchability, its got plenty of entertainment value packed into its 2-hour runtime. And the word packed doesn't even it do the show justice - its more crammed. How many separate angles occur on this show? And most of em' are actually kinda cool! Dangerously attacking Hervey? Sting getting jumped by Koloff in front of his biggest fan? Ricky Morton going corporate and betraying his long-running tag partner and best friend? Flyin' Brian Pilman being forced into retirement? All entertaining and interesting segments. Sadly, between all these tremendous moments WCW decided to also try to showcase new talent and deliver important matches and they simply didn't have enough time to do both. Cut the opener and the "spotlight" matches of Oz, Studd, and Austin and maybe the Horsemen tag, Number One Contender's match, and main event could've got the time they needed and made this one of WCW's all-time greatest shows. Instead, this is wrestling as splatter paint, good and bad tossed together on screen with no semblance of control or design and there's something to be said for the effort to fill every inch of the canvas. If you're like me, you might dig it.

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver