WCW Clash Of The Champions #26 Review (Bobby Heenan's WCW Debut)

Date: January 27, 1994

Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA (Riverside Centroplex)

Announced attendance: ca 3,200

TV rating: 3.5 (TBS) [up 6.1% from Clash #25's 3.3 rating]

Welcome to my review of the 26th WCW Clash of the Champions. The main event is a star-studded elimination tag team match pitting Sting and the new WCW World Champion, Ric Flair, taking on the team of Big Van Vader and the WCW International World Champion, Rick Rude. The World Television Championship is up for grabs as 'The Natural' Dustin Rhodes challenges Lord Steven Regal. Flyin' Brian Pillman faces Stunning Steve Austin's manager, Col. Robert Parker, in a Loser Wears A Chicken Suit Match, and much more.

Here is the list of WCW's champions heading into this Clash of the Champions:

• WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Ric Flair [31st day of his 2nd reign] - previous champion: Big Van Vader

• WCW International World Heavyweight Champion: Rick Rude [130th day of his 1st reign] - previous champion: Ric Flair

• WCW United States Heavyweight Champion: Stunning Steve Austin [31st day of his 1st reign] - previous champion: Dustin Rhodes

• WCW World Television Champion: Lord Steven Regal [130th day of his 1st reign] - previous champion: Ricky Steamboat

• WCW World Tag Team Champions: The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) [95th day of their 2nd reign as a tag team; Knobbs' 2nd individual reign & Sags' 2nd individual reign] - previous champions: 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell)

Title reign lengths are calculated as of the episode's air date

Note: in title matches, the names of the defending champions are underlined

Enjoy the review!

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Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Bobby Heenan

Mean Gene Okerlund welcomes us to the first Clash of the Champions of 1994... but he's interrupted. And here comes the debuting Bobby Heenan, fresh off getting kicked out of the WWF by Gorilla Monsoon on RAW the previous month. Okerlund says he can't believe it and that Heenan follows him everywhere. Heenan says Mean Gene better deal with it because he works here now.

2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell (w/ Theodore Long) vs. Pretty Wonderful (Paul Orndorff & Paul Roma) (w/ The Assassin)

We kick things off with a rematch from Starrcade 1993, where Pretty Wonderful picked up a cheap win thanks to an assist from The Assassin. The winners of this match will challenge The Nasty Boys for the WCW World Tag Team Championship on the next episode of WCW Saturday Night.

Orndorff and Scorpio get things going in this one. Scorpio uses his speed and agility to reverse a vertical suplex and he takes it to Orndorff as we take a commercial break already.

Commercial break

We're back with Paul Roma taking control with a stun gun to Bagwell, as they show us a replay of Scorpio & Bagwell taking Roma down with a double-team flying shoulderblock during the break. Back to live action, Roma misses a blind charge and Bagwell sunset flips him for two. 2 Cold Scorpio comes in off the tag and goes to work on Roma's arm. Scorpio takes Roma up to the top rope, possibly for a superplex, but Orndorff distracts Scorpio and allows Roma to shove him off the top rope. Paul Roma follows it up with a pair of flying clubbing blows off the top rope. And now Pretty Wonderful use quick tags to isolate Scorpio in their corner and prevent him from tagging out.

Orndorff takes Scorpio to the mat to stay in control and Pretty Wonderful double-team him some more. However, Orndorff goes for something off the top rope but only finds Scorpio's boot, and that finally allows him to make the hot tag to Bagwell. Roma's in for his team as well, and Bagwell takes care of both Roma and Orndorff. A running knee to the back sends Mr. Wonderful flying to the floor and a running crossbody gets two. Bagwell keeps going and a missile dropkick gets another nearfall, this time with Orndorff breaking up the count. All hell is breaking loose now with all four wrestlers going at it inside the ring, but Scorpio misses a running crossbody and takes himself out on the floor. Orndorff tells Roma to ram Bagwell's face into his knee, but Bagwell turns the tables and Roma's the one who ends up getting his face smashed. That allows Bagwell to quickly cover Roma for the win at 12:39.

Pretty Wonderful jump Bagwell as soon as the bell rings and they attack him for a while, until Scorpio makes the save and the faces clean house.

Winners: 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell

• Rating: This was a fun tag team match to open the show. Sure, it follows the same formula you see in most tag team matches, but the wrestlers involved made it entertaining while it lasted. ***

Ron Simmons vs. Ice Train

They don't even get an entrance, as we're back from a commercial break with the bell already ringing. Ice Train smacks Ron Simmons out of the corner, powerslams him and dumps him to the outside with a three point stance clothesline. Simmons wants to take a break, but Ice Train follows him and slams Ron on the floor. He goes for another three point stance clothesline, but Simmons moves out of the way and Ice Train hits the post. Simmons goes after that shoulder immediately before bringing Ice Train back to the ring with a vertical suplex. Ron takes over now and takes his time talking trash. Ice Train surprises Simmons with a sunset flip out of the corner for a one count, and then he blocks Simmons' flying clothesline off the top rope. Ice Train follows it up with a slam, but he doesn't go for the pin for whatever reason... Instead, he sends Simmons into the corner and goes for another three point stance, but finds no water in the pool and Simmons rolls him up for the win with a handful of tights at 3:32.

Winner: Ron Simmons

• Rating: Not a horrible match with some nice looking powerful moves by both men with Simmons doing his best to make Ice Train look good, but it was obvious Ice Train wasn't quite ready yet and still needed to improve his skills. *1/2

Mean Gene interviews Stunning Steve & Robert Parker: Since Austin is the manager and Parker is the wrestler against Brian Pillman tonight, Austin appears dressed like Parker and does his best Col. Robert Parker impression. Parker talks about how he'll whip Brian Pillman like he whipped his dog and will make Pillman dress like a chicken.

New WCW commissioner announcement: Mean Gene introduces the new WCW commissioner, Nick Bockwinkel, who says he'll do his best to oversee things.

WCW World Television Championship

Lord Steven Regal (w/ Sir William) vs. Dustin Rhodes

Gordon Solie takes Tony Schiavone's place on commentary for the next two matches. Once again, we don't get to see the participants making their entrances. Bobby Heenan is already Lord Steven Regal's biggest supporter, of course! They lockup to start, Dustin gets the advantage and Regal complains about his ear. Gotta love the character work! Into the lockup they go again, this time with Regal getting the advantage. He decides to cheapshot Dustin instead of giving him a clean break, and that gets Dustin all fired up. Dustin explodes with several shots followed by a dropkick, and Regal decides to take a break and talk some strategy with his manager, Sir William. Back in, Dustin goes to work on Regal's arm, who keeps brilliantly slowing down the pace. Rhodes goes after the arm again but gets outwrestled by Regal, who applies a full nelson hold. Dustin reverses that too, though, and goes after the arm again. Shoulderblock by Rhodes... and Regal leaves the ring again. Sir William shows Regal the time in a fantastic little touch. Gordon Solie picking up all these small details also helps.

Dustin Rhodes takes Regal down and they get into a brief pinfall reversal sequence. Dustin slams Regal for two, and he stays in control with a headlock. Regal uses his feet to bring Dustin down to the mat, which allows him to escape the hold easily. His Lordship wipes the sweat off his face rather than following up on that smooth reversal, and that allows Dustin to take Regal down again with a drop toehold. This match has been so "basic" yet so, so good. Regal finally escapes the headlock after a few seconds, and he takes it to Dustin with a number of aggressive uppercuts. Regal goes to work on Dustin's hand/arm before hitting a gutwrench slam for two. Regal keeps Dustin down on the mat, but Rhodes keeps fighting back as Gary Cappetta announces there are only five minutes left.

Regal stays in control with a cheap headbutt while they're fighting over a submission. He takes control again, until Rhodes escapes a submission hold by literally sending Regal flying across the ring! Rhodes follows it up with a clothesline, but Sir William gets involved and Regal bails again. Sir William tells him there are only three minutes left, and Regal wastes even more time on the outside just to be a dick! Regal finally returns to the ring and he goes for a sunset flip, but Rhodes sits down to block it and proceeds to punch Regal numerous times. A flying lariat by Dustin gets two. Cappetta lets us know there are only two minutes left, and Regal leaves the ring again as soon as he hears it. Regal goes back to the ring as he runs away from Regal. He tries to bring Dustin back to the ring with a suplex, but Dustin lands on his feet and he delivers a dropkick for two. Regal leaves the ring yet again, and they're fighting on the ramp when Gary Cappetta says there's only a minute left on the clock. Dustin Rhodes throws Regal back inside the ring with a backdrop, and a slingshot splash gets him another nearfall. Lord Steven Regal leaves the ring AGAIN, and Rhodes takes it to both Regal and Sir William. He throws Regal back inside the ring and delivers an axehandle, but he only has 15 seconds to get the job done. Rhodes picks Regal back up and delivers the running bulldog... but the 15:00 time limit expires before he can get the pinfall win and Regal remains the Television Champion.

Result: time limit draw (Regal retains the title)

• Rating: Everyone can smell this finish coming a mile away in TV Title matches. That's a shame, because I really enjoyed the first half of this match before they started killing time to get to this ending. It was still a very good match, but I'd love to see another match between these two without the TV Title involved. ***1/4

Mean Gene chats with Aaron Neville for a while.

The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) (w/ Missy Hyatt) vs. Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne

The Nasty Boys come out first for this non-title tag match. Cactus Jack's theme song plays, but they don't come out and we take a commercial break.

Commercial break

We're back with Nasty Boys still waiting in the ring. We finally see Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne running through the crowd and they jump The Nasty Boys from behind. Cactus sends Knobbs to the outside with a Cactus Clothesline and drops an elbow off the apron as the bell finally rings. Cactus slams Sags outside the ring and drops an elbow on him too! The match finally starts PROPERLY with Cactus making the tag to Maxx Payne as they double-team Knobbs. A thumb to the eye stops Maxx Payne, though, and The Nasty Boys capitalize. Jerry Sags comes in off the tag. He goes up top, but Maxx armdrags him in mid-air and gets a two count. Knobbs comes back in and rams Maxx's head into the turnbuckle, but Maxx no-sells it and eventually applies the Payne Killer.

Sags is there to break up the hold and he proceeds to trip Maxx Payne while he was running the ropes. Knobbs follows it up with a legdrop and it gets two. Knobbs throws Maxx Payne to the outside, and Sags hits him in the head with a chair while the ref was distracted with Cactus. The Nasty Boys put Maxx Payne back inside the ring and try to double-team him, only to end up taking a double clothesline from him. Maxx Payne makes the hot tag to Cactus Jack and he dumps both Sags and Knobbs with a double Cactus Clothesline! Cactus finishes Knobbs with the Double-Arm DDT back inside the ring, but Sags is there again to break up the pin. Knobbs goes for the cover on Cactus, but Maxx Payne sees the referee is still dealing with Sags, so he comes in to drop a quick elbow on Knobbs, and it's Cactus who picks up the win at 6:46.

Both Cactus and Maxx Payne plant a kiss on Missy Hyatt after the bell.

Winners: Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne

• Rating: The match was relatively short at seven minutes, but a lot happened during that time. The match was unorthodox and I get what they were trying to do here, but I didn't love it. **

A quick recap of the Steve Austin/Brian Pillman feud airs.

Loser Wears A Chicken Suit Match

Flyin' Brian Pillman vs. Col. Robert Parker (w/ Stunning Steve Austin)

The bell rings and Parker runs away as soon as Pillman enters the ring. Pillman ends up catching Parker inside the ring and slams him, but it only gets two. A dropkick gets two as well, and Parker leaves the ring again. Meanwhile, Pillman runs into Austin and they get into a brief fight outside the ring, which allows Parker to get the upper hand. He slugs away on Brian back inside the ring, but his flurry doesn't last too long, as an atomic drop followed by a chop from Pillman get two. Austin tries to convince Robert Parker to leave the match, but Austin ends up eating a backdrop from Pillman on the ramp and The Boss (aka Big Bossman) is there to stop Parker from running away.

Robert Parker gets thrown back into the ring by Pillman, but he escapes again and tries to run away through the crowd. The Boss stops him again, and meanwhile Austin jumps Pillman inside the ring and hits him with a Stun Gun while the referee is busy with The Boss at ringside. Parker gets thrown back inside the ring and he tries to capitalize. However, Pillman cuts him off rather easily and starts making his comeback. Parker eats a clothesline, a dropkick and his head meets the turnbuckle a number of times. Brian goes to the top rope, but Steve Austin shoves him off and Parker gets a nearfall. The Boss takes care of Stunning Steve, who runs all the way to the back. Robert Parker tells him to come back, and that distraction allows Pillman to roll him up for the win at 5:41.

Winner: Flyin' Brian Pillman

• Rating: This was fun and quite energic for what it was - a comedy match involving a wrestler and a manager. Pillman won to humiliate the heel manager, who will have to wear a chicken suit on the next episode of WCW Saturday Night. It's basic, old-school booking that works almost every time. **

Tony Schiavone tells us SuperBrawl IV is coming up in February and it will feature a main event Thundercage Match for the World Title between Ric Flair and Vader.

Main Event

Elimination Tag Team Match

Ric Flair & Sting vs. Rick Rude & Big Van Vader (w/ Harley Race)

Nick Bockwinkel joins Heenan and Schiavone on commentary for this match. Rick Rude hip-swivels to mock Sting in the first moments of the match, and Sting returns the favor immediately afterwards. The crowd loves it! Sting overpowers Rude and goes to work on the arm. Rude turns things around with knees to the mid-section before tagging in Vader, who comes in with a big clothesline. Vader picks up Sting for a gorilla press slam and drops him throat-first on the top rope. Vader slams Sting and goes up for a sunset flip(!) that Sting ends up blocking with a buttdrop to Vader's chest. Rick Rude gets involved, however, and that prevents Sting from following up on that move. Vader takes the mask off and slugs away on Sting, who keeps fighting back the whole time but still gets destroyed. However, Sting finally dodges one of the punches and brings Vader down with a backdrop suplex. And he makes the tag to Ric Flair! Naitch takes it to Vader as we take a break...

Commercial break

We're back with Rick Rude applying a bearhug to Sting. The Stinger escapes the hold and tags Flair back in, who atomic drops Rude - great selljob as always! Flair misses a blind charge, though, and Vader's in to splash Flair in the corner. Ric Flair sells the injured back and Vader slams him to set up the Vader Bomb. Harley Race wants him to do more damage, obviously thinking about SuperBrawl. Vader obliges and takes Flair up top for a huge superplex. That's still not enough, and Vader gives him a second superplex. Vader goes to the top rope, but Sting enters the ring and drags Flair out of the way. Rude gets in as well to hit Sting with a DDT, while Vader keeps beating up Flair outside the ring. New WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel prevents Vader from hitting Flair with a chair, and meanwhile both Vader & Flair get eliminated via double count-out at 15:30.

Big Van Vader & Ric Flair eliminated (double count-out)

The match continues with Rude and Sting. Rude takes over and takes his time mocking The Stinger. Rude drops a forearm and arrogantly covers Sting for two. Rude shows off his biceps before applying a chinlock. They stay in that hold for a while before Sting finally overpowers Rude and takes him down. Sting tries to follow it up with a splash, but only finds Rude's knees. Both men get up at the same time and they both take each other down with a double clothesline. Rude gets up first and goes for the Rude Awakening, but Sting holds on to the top rope and Rude goes down. Then, Sting hits Rude with his own version of the Rude Awakening and goes for the cover... but Rude's foot is on the ropes! Rude catches Sting with an atomic drop and he misses a Stinger Splash. Sting still can't capitalize, and Rude picks him up for a tombstone piledriver. However, Sting lands on his feet and reverses the move. Sting connects with the tombstone! He goes up top and hits a big flying splash for the win after 22:27.

Rick Rude eliminated (by Sting)

Winners: Ric Flair & Sting (survivor: Sting)

• Rating: This was a pretty good main event, especially while all four men were still involved. Vader looked awesome in this match as usual, destroying Sting and literally taking Flair out ahead of their World Title match a few weeks later. The double elimination was a smart way to take them out while advancing their storyline, and the Sting/Rude finale was quite good too. I loved how Sting didn't waste any time after hitting the tombstone piledriver, quickly following it up with a massive splash and immediately pinning Rude, who almost kicked out. This was a really fun main event, in my opinion. ***1/2

END OF THE SHOW

Overall thoughts: I honestly had a good time watching this show. This edition of Clash of the Champions doesn't have the greatest rating on Cagematch right now, but I thought it was pretty good. WCW either advanced or set up several major storylines here (obviously Flair vs Vader, but also Rude vs Sting for the International World Title or Nasty Boys vs Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne). They also set the stage for the upcoming weekly TV shows, with Col. Robert Parker getting humiliated the following Saturday, and Scorpio & Bagwell earning a tag team title shot with their victory in the opener. Not to mention the WCW debut of Bobby Heenan, of course! Most of the matches were good, too. Personally, I thought it was a good show. 7/10

Watch the full show here (courtesy of WCW's YouTube channel):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3XQAOqXrJs

WCW Clash Of The Champions 26 Results

Match Order	Match	Stipulation	Winner(s)	Time
1	Pretty Wonderful vs. 2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell	No. 1 Contenders Tag Team Match	2 Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell	12:39
2	Ron Simmons vs. Ice Train	Singles Match	Ron Simmons	3:32
3	Lord Steven Regal vs. Dustin Rhodes	WCW World Television Championship Match	N/A (Draw) - Regal Retained The Title	15:00
4	The Nasty Boys vs. Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne	Tag Team Match	Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne	6:46
5	Flyin' Brian Pillman vs. Col. Robert Parker	Loser Wears A Chicken Suit Match	Flyin' Brian Pillman	5:41
6	Rick Rude & Big Van Vader vs. Ric Flair & Sting	Elimination Tag Team Match	Ric Flair & Sting	22:27

POINT SYSTEM

Click here to learn more about the point system.

Wrestler	Result	Star rating	Main eventing	Extras	Total
Sting	1	3.5	1	0.5	6
Ric Flair	1	3.5	1	-0.5	5
Marcus Alexander Bagwell	1	3	0	0.5	4.5
Lord Steven Regal	0	3.25	0	1	4.25
2 Cold Scorpio	1	3	0	0	4
Cactus Jack	1	2	0	0.5	3.5
Dustin Rhodes	0	3.25	0	0	3.25
Maxx Payne	1	2	0	0	3
Brian Pillman	1	2	0	0	3
Rick Rude	-1	3.5	1	-0.5	3
Big Van Vader	-1	3.5	1	-0.5	3
Ron Simmons	1	1.5	0	0	2.5
Paul Orndorff	-1	3	0	0	2
Paul Roma	-1	3	0	-0.5	1.5
Jerry Sags	-1	2	0	0	1
Col. Robert Parker	-1	2	0	0	1
Ice Train	-1	1.5	0	0	0.5
Brian Knobbs	-1	2	0	-0.5	0.5

Stay tuned for more WCW and WWF reviews, including SuperBrawl IV, WrestleMania X and Monday Night Raw. Thank you for reading!