Clash of the Champions XXV

Date: November 10, 1993

Location: Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg, Florida

Announcers: Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura

The Setup

After doing one match with Cactus Jack on PPV, the WCW brain trust had one live TV special before the planned Sid Vicious title win at Starrcade ‘93, and they gave us Ric Flair challenging Vader for the world title in their first televised match. Also, after spending some of the year in a makeshift super team, Sting & British Bulldog challenged the Nasty Boys for the tag titles. All five WCW titles were on the line, in fact. 

The Business

The show posted a 3.3 cable rating, its second-highest Clash rating all year out of four events. WCW did 3.2 for the prior November’s Clash, headlined by Sting vs. Rick Rude and Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas challenging Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes for the tag team titles, so it was a slight improvement. 

Prowrestlinghistory reports the show drew 6,000 and had a $17,000 gate. With less than $3 a head, this was obviously HEAVILY papered. 

The Results

WCW International World Heavyweight Title: Rick Rude (C) vs. Road Warrior Hawk ended in a double count-out in 5:23. They did a lot of posing and playing to the crowd early. That worked, but the problem is they did almost nothing else before fighting on the floor for a very lame DQ. What a disappointing matchup between two former Minneapolis bouncers. 1/2* 

The Shockmaster def. The Equalizer in 2:29. Shockmaster was at the point where his entrance was almost dead silent. Dusty was relieved of booking duties not long after this, and continuing to push his brother-in-law after repeated disasters likely didn’t help. They were horrible in the Havoc six-man together and were here as well. Shockmaster won with that stupid bearhug where he falls to his own knees. DUD 

WCW World Television Title: Lord Steven Regal (C) def. Johnny B. Badd in 6:33. They did some good chain to start, and Badd helped with the crowd as a Regal opponent because he stayed moving, so the matches were faster-paced. Not that this was good or anything. The work was solid, and they tried to build a little story where Sir William interfered after it looked like Badd was going to win with the punch. Regal got a roll-up and held the tights for the win. *3/4 

Steve Austin def. Brian Pillman in 9:12. These guys really got the crowd back into the show after a tough start. They didn’t get nearly enough time, but they made the absolute most of it and never fucking stopped. They had a back-and-forth match, and both men played their roles to a tee, with Austin as the fiery babyface and Austin the bumping heel. Pillman was laying in the chops, and Austin was perfect, taking them, flailing his arms for the live crowd. Pillman took his patented throat on the guardrail spot, but did it from the WCW big show ramp, and it looked like a million bucks. The finish came when Austin missed a stun gun; Pillman went to the top for Air Pillman, Col. Parker grabbed his ankles, and Pillman crashed to the mat so Austin could spike him down for the win. The fact that the match was this good in this little time, and it’s the only big show singles they had, means they fucked this feud up something fierce. ***1/2 

WCW United States Heavyweight Title: Dustin Rhodes (C) def. Paul Orndorff in 11:57.  Dusty and The Assassin were in each man’s corners. The fans wanted to like this match early, but they zapped the crowd with how slow they worked the match. Orndorff worked the arm for a long time, then started mixing in chinlocks. Perhaps if the two had let Dustin get the crowd going early, they would have responded, but there wasn’t much meat on the bone. Dustin didn’t even get a proper comeback and instead won after a short flurry with a small package. The crowd was way more into Dusty Rhodes going after The Assassin and being attacked by Orndorff than anything in this match. Orndorff laid out Dusty with the US title, and it’s pretty clear that before they had to pull Sid from the planned Starrcade main event, Dustin was working with Orndorff again. *1/4

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: The Nasty Boys (C) def. Sting & Davey Boy Smith in 8:30. Before the bell rang, Rick Rude attacked Bulldog on the ramp and laid him out with a Rude Awakening. They teased a backstage confrontation between the two all night to set it up. Sting worked most of the match alone until Bulldog got a hot tag and came in on fire. I should mention that the Nastys wouldn’t get a huge rep for being dangerous until the following year, but Knobs gave Sting a gut-wrench suplex that he looked like he wanted to turn into a powerbomb midway through, and just spiked him hard on the side of his body. The fans were into House of Fire Bulldog, and he had Knobs covered after a powerslam, but Sags dropped an elbow off the top on the back of Bulldog’s head for the win. The ref was distracted, but what didn’t make sense is that this happened in plain view of Sting, who did not attempt to break up the pin. Other than that, this was a good match. **3/4 

WCW World Heavyweight Title: Ric Flair def. Big Van Vader (C) by DQ in 9:24. This was worked not only really smart, but pretty stiff, which was probably the least surprising part of the whole night. Vader would dominate, but every time he would go for a kill shot (an avalanche against the guardrail or an elbow off the second rope), Flair would move and start battling back. There was a ref bump when Flair ducked a clothesline. After Flair took a superplex from the top (No, Flair didn’t scream “Oh God” after), Vader missed a moonsault and Flair got the cover for the win. Only, Dusty couldn’t help himself and brought back “the Dusty finish” and had the referee say that Flair won by DQ because of the clotheslines. Why the fuck did he count to three then??? Jesus, this was fucking stupid. The Dusty finish isn’t a bad idea when there’s something at least logical to it, but this made zero fucking sense and only pisses your fans off. This ruined what was otherwise a very good match. **1/2 

I guess I should mention now that Rob Parker went to Flair before this match and challenged the winner on Austin’s behalf, and Flair decked him. Austin came out after the match and started pummeling Flair with Vader. Didn’t he want a title shot? And to top it off, Flair was saved by Dustin Rhodes and…Shockmaster. Flair grabbed the mic and issued a challenge to Austin and Vader for Saturday TV, where he was to team with Sid Vicious. Since Sid was to face Vader at Starrcade, they did an angle where Vader and the Kongs attacked Sid, and Flair teamed with Arn Anderson. Unfortunately, all of this was pre-taped, and Sid had already stabbed Arn Anderson overseas before that match aired and before this Clash, even, so Starrcade became Flair vs. Vader. Got it? Probably not, but Jesus, real life threw a real curveball there. 

The Recommendation

Thumbs in the middle. This started as a disaster, but the bad stuff was kept really short, and it got drastically better as it went along. Still, nothing was great or going out of your way to see unless you like fuck finishes, or want to be teased by how good a Hollywood Blondes feud could have been.