Andrew Lutzke
- The Butcher vs. Randy Savage was the originally booked main event for this card, with no Hulk Hogan involvement. This was changed when WCW decided to take Hogan to Vegas for the national advertising convention being held there and put him on top of a big show.
- Harlem Heat won the World tag belts from Stars and Stripes in a match taped several weeks beforehand.
- Arn Anderson beat Johnny B Badd for the TV title in early January.
- Ric Flair is expected to be brought back ASAP as TV has been dull without Flair craziness to build around -plus he’ll help match quality and bring fans to the arena.
- The cruiserweight division has been delayed due to managerial mess ups in not booking international talent. They are attempting to bring in Chris Benoit and Otani from Japan and have been offered Jerry Estrada and Eddy Guerrero from Mexican promoters, although Bischoff isn’t interested in Eddy. Koko B. Ware is expected to be pushed in it though.
- WCW is looking to bring Sabu in to work big shows part time.
- Jean Paul Levesque turned down an offer to be given a World tag title run with Lord Regal and instead has given his notice that he’ll be jumping to the WWF.
- Paul Wight aka The Big Show has been scouted and is expected to sign soon.
- The Steiner Brothers are expected in soon and even had their names on the TV booking sheets, but they had New Japan commitments at the same time.
- Mean Gene is teasing Roddy Piper and Lex Luger coming in as his hotline lies of the week.
- Rumors continue to spread that the Warlord is coming in soon.
- Harley Race missed the Clash due to a car wreck where he broke both of his hands as well as his hip.
- Van Hammer got busted for drugs shortly after his return to WCW. One official claimed Hammer was not part of the roster, yet the company was airing his matches before and after the comment.
Clash of the Champions 29
Mean Gene, The Brain and Tony Schiavone give us the low down for tonight.
TV Champ Arn Anderson vs. Johnny B Badd
Anderson works a rough house style to try and rock the challenger early, but Badd fires back with fists and flying attacks. Arn tries to get cute and slaps Badd but that only riles Badd up more and Anderson is forced to use a cheap shot in order to take control. After several minutes of grinding him down, Badd kicks Anderson into the corner and starts his comeback. The champ is knocked out with a punch, which Col. Parker fixes with a pitcher of ice water. Badd then gives chase to the manager, which ends poorly for him as he races right into a DDT and is pinned. Solid match, especially considering how rough their Starrcade match was.
Alex Wright vs. Bobby Eaton
They play a video to help establish Wright as a sex symbol. They had been paying actors to rush him at TV tapings to give him a late 50’s Elvis like presence with the ladies. They work technically in the early going, with the rookie feeling out the veteran. Wright misses a flying crossbody and hurts himself on the ropes. Wright is grounded for a bit but he eventually catches Eaton with a flying dropkick and flying crossbody but he can’t finish the cagey vet. Eaton gets a neckbreaker out of no where and delivers an Alabama Jam. Wright somehow kicks out of that and sneaks in a surprise crossbody to pin his far more experienced opponent. Another watchable match, but nothing special.
Vader comes out for a promo. Vader has been stalking Hogan around Vegas, but the Hulkster is hiding.
World tag Champions Harlem Heat vs. Marcus Bagwell and The Patriot
Ric Flair comes down to his seat prior to the match. This was a big thrill for all of us who hadn’t seen Flair for the past 90 days. Bagwell explodes all over the champs early as he’s ready to reclaim the gold. The Patriot comes in and falls victim to a double team. Once Bagwell tags back in he is overwhelmed with Stevie Ray’s power and finds himself in trouble. The Patriot comes back in and he matches muscle well enough with Heat that he can tosses them around. Bagwell tags in and once again ends up being in peril. T grinds things to a halt with restholds. A four way breaks out which allows Sherri to get involved. She tries to hit Bagwell with her shoe, and cracks T accidentally when they collide. Sherri takes a nasty Cactus Jack-esque bump from the ropes to the pavement. That would be cool had she not died in pain from a wrecked back that she couldn’t afford to fix. T is rolled up by Bagwell but Ray manages to kick him in the face, which flips his brother on top of for the win. Paint by numbers stuff.
Sting vs. Avalanche
These two had met several times on TV in the past two months and after too many run in finishes WCW assigned The Guardian Angel to be the special ref. They had teased tension with Sting and the Angel prior to this match. Avalanche attacks Sting right away but Angel pulls him off and Sting dropkicks him to the floor. Sting attempts a follow up slam and Tenta lands on him. Avalanche dumps his bulk onto Stings ribs several times before delivering a powerslam. Avalanche is surprising knocked over by a shoulderblock and the dazed Sting lands on Tenta’s nut sack. Sting delivers four Stinger splashes, a slam and locks in the Scorpion Death Lock. Tenta submits but Angel doesn’t call it. Nick Patrick comes in and stops the match. Angel and Sting start to spout off and trade blows. Avalanche joins in the beating before Bagwell, Patriot and Wright can come in and save the day. Props to Tenta for selling his back for the whole post match. Good little man vs. big man match.
Avalanche and Angel cut a promo with Gene. Angel reverts back to Big Bubba because Nick Patrick didn’t belong in the “riiiiinnnnnng!” Unintentionally funny promo. WCW needed more top heels, so Bubba was as good of choice as anyone.
Hulk Hogan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. The Butcher and Kevin Sullivan
Hogan and Macho Man dominate the Butcher during the first several minutes. This is finally broken up by a sleeper which takes Hogan into unconsciousness. Butcher lets it go and he and Sullivan celebrate as Savage tries to wake Hogan up with slaps. When that fails, Savage scales the top rope and drops the big elbow on Hogan, which causes him to jump to his feet. Way to kill off Savage’s finish Hulk. Butcher goes back to getting pummeled by both MegaPowers before Savage takes a spill to the floor, which allows the heels to begin to torture Macho for the next several minutes. This is all pedestrian stuff. Hogan finally makes the hot tag and beats up both heels by himself before Beefcake eats the big boot, eats a Macho Man elbow (which didn’t revive him) and a leg drop before being pinned. This was a precursor to every Nitro main event for the first eight months of the show: Hogan no sells a bunch of stuff the heels try, his friends do the selling and Hulk wins in the end. Meh.
Vader charges in and knocks Savage to the floor. Vader no sells Hogan’s punches and delivers a powerbomb. Hogan pops up from that and he and Savage team up on Vader to send him packing. Vader split his pants from bumping. Well, now that we know Hogan isn’t effected by Vader’s best move, what is the selling point for the PPV?
Final thoughts: This was a decent show as nothing was unwatchable and thanks to only being two hours long none of the matches really dragged on to long. Absolutely nothing you ever need to see though.
