Dark Pegasus Video Review: Clash of the Champions XXIV

Clash of the Champions XXIV by J.D. Dunn Twitter.com/jddunn411 Facebook.com/jddunn411 August 18, 1993 Live from Daytona, Fla. Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura. Opening Match, NWA World Tag Team Titles, WCW Tag Team Titles: Steve Austin & William Regal (w/Brian Pillman) vs. Arn Anderson & Paul Roma. Pillman was Austin’s regular partner in the Hollywood Blonds, but he was injured right before this match. Normally, you’d just book some sort of screwjob here and delay the big blowoff until Pillman was able to properly defend the titles. However, WCW had the bright idea of taping weeks of television in advance, and the Horsemen were already taped with the titles in tow so we get this match. In fact, the Nasty Boys were already taped with the tag titles, so there were actually two tag team title changes that hadn’t happened yet. The match itself isn’t bad, but the Blonds deserved much better. Arn cheats like a bastard to the fans’ delight. Roma plays face-in-peril before hitting Austin with his own Stun Gun. False tag leads to chicanery on the part of the heels. Roma hits Regal with an enzuigiri to get the real tag moments later. Regal saves Austin from a DDT, but Sir William’s interference backfires, giving the Horsemen the win and the titles at about 10:00. Would have been a good enough match if it weren’t for the bad taste left by the stupidity of WCW and the fact that the Blonds finished so unceremoniously. **1/2 The Horsemen give a victorious promo. For fun, watch Arn’s facial expressions as Roma calls himself a Horseman. 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Bobby Eaton. This was supposed to be Scorpio versus Regal, but Regal moved to the tag match, and Eaton slid into this spot. I’m not sure why they didn’t just do Austin & Eaton versus the Horsemen. Scorpio misses a crossbody, allowing Eaton to work the arm. Scorpio actually hits a super dropkick (dropkicking the opponent on the top rope) that sends Eaton to the floor. That sets up the plancha. Back in, Scorpio finishes with a sick Firebird Splash that lands right on Eaton’s face. (5:29). Neither guy had much going on at the time. Scorpio was still tagging with Bagwell on occasion. ** Mask vs. Guitar: Maxx Payne vs. Johnny B. Badd. Payne shot Badd with his own Baddblaster at Clash XXIII, so Bad started wearing a protective mask (with pointy ears like a kitty). Way short for such an ::ahem:: anticipated blowoff. Payne destroys Badd for two minutes but misses a 747 Splash. Badd just rolls over and covers him for the win at 2:38. * Flair For the Gold: Flair’s first words: “We are live!” Yep. And that’s the problem. This, for those unaware, is the infamous segment where THE SHOCKMASTER debuted. Honestly, it’s a little painful to watch. Kind of like episodes of “Jackass.” Sting and The British Bulldog come out, vowing to reveal a surprise partner to help them in their battle with Sid Vicious and Big Van Vader. Pyro goes off, and the Shockmaster bursts through the wall like some nerdy version of the Kool-Aid Man, but he trips on the way through. I guess knocking down a wall just isn’t as easy as it looks. The helmet goes flying off, and poor Fred Ottman has to recover and try to salvage the segment while his own partners are heard audibly making fun of him off –camera. As if that wasn’t enough, he has to pretend to deliver a promo on Sid Vicious that is clearly dubbed over by Ole Anderson (cuz he sure sounds like the Black Scorpion). The backstory behind this is that Shockmaster successfully crashed through the wall on trial runs, but David Crockett placed a support beam on the set and didn’t tell Ottman, so he wasn’t expecting it to be there. It’s kind of sad, too, because Ottman has become synonymous with screwing up, but really it was Crockett and WCW’s production staff. Sidebar: But let’s say, for a moment, that everything had gone according to plan. How is “guy in a glitter-covered Stormtrooper helmet” any better? He looked like a create-a-wrestler set to random. “Uh, Stormtrooper helmet from Star Wars. Let’s add a little silver paint and glitter so we don’t sued. Don’t want a repeat of the Arachnaman debacle. Oh, let’s see. Give him a fur vest with no shirt on. Yeah. Yeah, that’s nice. And, uh, some jeans and cowboy boots. Oh, and call my accountant. Tell him he’s gonna need a bigger calculator to process all that money that’s gonna come rollin’ in.” WCW TV Title: Paul Orndorff vs. Ricky Steamboat. Jesse is still laughing at the Shockmaster. At least he’s entertained by that memory because most of this match is tedious. Lots of chinlockery from Orndorff. Steamboat fights back and chops him over the top, much to the chagrin of Jesse. He follows that with a plancha. Awesome~! Orndorff nonsensically grabs the belt and celebrates, so Steamboat rolls him up for two. They go into the bridge sequence, which Orndorff ends with a clothesline. He tries a piledriver, but Steamboat backdrops out of it and rolls him up for the win and the title at 8:36. Not bad once it got going. ** Harley Race promises death and destruction for Flair and Sting at the hands of The Colossal Kongs. Sting & Ric Flair vs. The Colossal Kongs (w/Harley Race). The Kongs are Awesome Kong (not to be confused with the female Awesome Kong) and King Kong (not to be confused with the simian). Sting slams them both off the bell. No, no, no! Haven’t you ever seen a Hogan match? You’re supposed to go for the slam, clutch your lower back and hobble around and then slam them later on. Flair adds more punishment. Sting comes off the top with a splash at 2:14. Yep. This was a squash. 1/2* Sting tells Flair he respects him. Rick Rude & The Equalizer vs. Dustin Rhodes & A Mystery Partner. Rhodes’ mystery partner turns out to be Road Warrior Animal. Oh, no it’s not. It’s Road Warrior Hawk. Animal is just managing for tonight. IT’S A TRAP! The heels are so flustered that Dustin and Hawk have a pretty easy time with them early. They even hit an awful version of the Doomsday Device. Equalizer, by the way, is the guy who went on to become Evad Sullivan. He looks like Kevin Sullivan (his kayfabe brother) if Sullivan took the Super Soldier Formula and it went horribly awry. Dustin tries a monkeyflip, but Rude holds on to the ropes. The doubleteam Rhodes for a while, but a heel doubleteam backfires, and Equalizer nails Rude. Hawk gets the false tag and cleans house, clotheslining both guys over the top. Equalizer picks Dustin up for a bodyslam, but Hawk comes off the top and knocks them over, and Dustin gets the pin at 6:55. The ref allowed the babyfaces so much leeway that it veered into self-parody. Jesse voices a half-hearted complaint about it. *1/2 WCW Heavyweight Title: Big Van Vader (w/Harley Race) vs. The British Bulldog. The DQ rule has been waived. Buffer recounts Davey’s Stampede title wins in the opening intro. Interesting. We open with the Bulldog charging Vader in the aisle and suplexing him on the ramp. Bulldog tweaks his knee, and suddenly there’s blood in the water. Vader, of course, misses the charge and crashes into the railing. Back in, Vader hits the Avalanche. That always looks like one of the most painful moves in wrestling. Something about the velocity of running into a brick wall. And he does it twice! Davey tries a crucifix, but Vader falls back with him into a Samoan Drop. Davey rolls through anyway to get two. Actually, it just looked like they screwed up the move, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt after the previous hour and a half. Vader goes up, but Bulldog dropkicks him and UNLEASHES THE FURY! Vader boots him down and hits the pump splash, though. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Vader goes up again, but Davey Boy catches him with a POWERSLAM! Oh, but the ref gets knocked down too. Bulldog goes for a suplex, but Race hops in and clips his knee, putting Vader on top. Vader retains at 11:01. This was not unlike Sting vs. Vader if Sting were a step slower and lacked a bit of natural babyface charisma. ***1/4 And just as we’re going off the air, Cactus Jack RETURNS~! He opens a can of the ass-whip on Vader as the show closes.

The 411: Oooh, this is one of those shows that's hard to rate. On the one hand, the show is so mind-numbingly inept on every level save for the main event that it shouldn't reasonably be rewarded with a high rating. On the other hand, the show is famous in wrestling lore as an example of just how incredibly tonic-clonic stupid the WCW brass was. I mean, the Hollywood Blondes debacle *and* the Shockmaster on one show?! And that's not even counting the battle over the Baddblaster incident. It's like an orgasm of WrestleCrap! For anyone who's seen the show, the following recommendation and rating will make sense. Highly recommended

Final Score:  4.0   [ Poor ]