Written By: Matt Peddycord
WCW Clash of the Champions XXXII
January 23, 1996
Las Vegas, NV
Caesars Palace
The current WCW champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Randy Savage (1/22/1996)
WCW U.S. Champion: One Man Gang (12/27/1995)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Sting & Lex Luger (1/22/1996)
WCW World Television Champion: Johnny B. Badd (10/29/1995)
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.
Last night on Nitro, Randy Savage beat Ric Flair to regain the WCW world title he lost just three weeks earlier! Plus, Sting and Luger defeated Harlem Heat to win the WCW world tag titles after Luger punched Booker T with a roll of quarters. Does the perennial straight arrow Sting even realize? Does he completely ignore the obvious? Well, we are talking about Sting here.
Before any ‘rasslin goes down, Gene Okerlund is standing outside the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas where the Col. Parker/Sherri wedding will be taking place sometime during the show. Oh happy days.
The Nasty Boys vs. Public Enemy
This is like the street fights of ‘94 with the Nasties. You can’t tell who’s legal and at least two guys are on the floor at all times. I’ll just list the Highspots here. Rocco Rock stands up on the guardrail and Sags kicks the rail to send Rocco Rock south REAL fast. After that, Sags leaves and brings a table to the ring. He leans it up in the corner to hiptoss Rocco into it, but Rock counters with a bulldog. They switch as Knobbs knocks Rocco Rock off the apron to send him into the guardrail. Sags delivers a PILEDRIVER to Grunge as they look to splash him through that table. And just now, the ref calls for the bell to disqualify everybody. WHAT. (3:58) Rock gets rid of Sags and tries to moonsault Knobbs through the table, but the table doesn’t break. Well, not really. Sags grabs a piece of the table and whacks on Public Enemy. When Grunge tries to leave, Sags throws the huge remain of the table on top of him! Great brawl from everybody, but why the double-DQ right then? All they did was set the table up. The table had been in the ring for a minute or two already by that point. Whatever. It’s a good round one for the many Nasties/PE matches in 1996. **½
Eric Bischoff meets with Ric Flair, The Giant, and Jimmy Hart. Flair says his title loss meant nothing to him because tonight Savage has to face him and the Giant. What. Flair makes a creepy comment about a little girl fantasizing about him. What. Giant says it’s all over but the crying. What.
Dean Malenko vs. Alex Wright
Malenko wouldn’t break the Texas Cloverleaf on Alex Wright on the previous Saturday Night, so now they must have a rematch. Good job, Dean. Headscissors and hammerlocks on the mat to start. Malenko rolls away from a failed O’Connor Roll attempt, so Wright back flips over Malenko as he drops to the mat and then nails Malenko with a dropkick and a headscissors takedown. Malenko ducks an enziguri and starts working the knee. Wright fails to take a dragon screw leg whip right and almost gets his shin torn from his knee. He comes back with a crossbody out of the corner though, but that will bother your knee. Dean hits a back suplex, but eats a dropkick up top and takes a top-rope superplex. Wright delivers a Bridging German Suplex for 1-2-NO! He gives Dean a moonsault kick in the corner, but Malenko is too cool for that and dropkicks the knee. Jackknife rollup gets 1-2-3. (5:30) Not bad. As usual, Alex Wright is only as good as the guy he’s wrestling. **¼
Kevin Sullivan (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Disco Inferno
No match. Disco doesn’t come out because he’s at the wedding and instead, he sends out an Elvis impersonator with a singing telegram. And no, it’s not the Honky Tonk Man. Sullivan isn’t about to stand around and listen to that, so he beats down Elvis and gives him a DOUBLE STOMP. What a fun guy that Kevin Sullivan is.
Over at the Little White Chapel, Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater show up in their regular wrestling gear. Where’s the Colonel? Last time they saw him, he was losing money at a crap table.
Back at Caesar’s Palace. Eric Bischoff brings out the new tag champs Sting and Lex Luger. Bischoff calls them the most dominant tag team if they can stay together. Speaking of dominate tag teams, here comes the Road Warriors making their final return to WCW. Of course they want a tag titles match. Sting is down with it, but Luger says they have other contenders to wrestle like State Patrol. Haha, funny. Hawk says the Road Warriors are behind on their annual beatings quota and they would LOOOVE to make Luger the first recipient. Sting doesn’t care about that. He just wants to wrestle the Road Warriors! Crazy kid. You gotta love him.
We catch an interview with Paul Orndorff in a neckbrace. Just when his career was heading in the right direction, the Four Horsemen came along and ended it all. All Orndorff has to say to the Horsemen is, they better watch their backs.
Back to the Little White Chapel. Col. Parker shows up late and asks Gene if he can borrow 50 bucks. You see, Col. Parker has lost all his money in Vegas. Sherri calls him on his cell phone asking where he is. He’ll call her back. She sounds mad!
Brian Pillman vs. Eddie Guerrero
Lots of stalling as Pillman reacts to the “Eddie” chants. He even slaps Tony Schiavone as he walks around the ring. “Stay away from me, fella.” Yeah, you tell him Tony. And in the most memorable part of the match, Guerrero dropkicks Pillman out beside Heenan. He gets up and starts to pull on Bobby’s jacket, which freaks Bobby out since he’s got a bad neck and all. Heenan responds with, “What the f___ are YOU doing?!” on live TV and walks away to collect himself. When he comes back, he apologizes for what he said and still puts over Pillman. What a pro. Back in the ring, Pillman wants to sucker Eddie in with a handshake and there’s no way that’s happening. Eddie gives him a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Pillman still suckers Eddie into the corner where he pokes him in the eye and starts choking Eddie in the ropes. Guerrero fights out of a chinlock and hits a pair of dropkicks. He lands a Tornado DDT, but misses a charge in the corner. They trade cheap nearfalls, ending with Pillman catching Eddie with a crossbody block and pulling the tights for the three-count. (5:55) And Pillman continues to get crazier and crazier. Not much of a match though as their Nitro match in November was better, but certainly an important moment for this stage in Pillman’s career. **
Eric Bischoff brings out Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Kevin Greene back when he was a Steeler. They all brag about who is taking Elizabeth out after the show. OOOOO YEAH~!
WCW World Tag Team Champions Sting & Lex Luger vs. The Blue Bloods
If you have CompuServe, you can join an electronic chat with Eric Bischoff! Hmm, I wonder what questions you could really ask him. Sting messes around with Regal to start. Eaton dumps Luger out, but then runs into a backdrop out on the floor. Back in, Lex flexes Eaton until he gets scared and runs over to tag Regal. They corner Luger and give him a bunch of European uppercuts. Eaton hits a Flying Knee Drop, which is his new finisher in place of the Alabama Jam now that he’s British. Regal comes in and applies the REGAL STRETCH, but Sting breaks it up. Eaton tags and comes off the top again, but flies into Luger’s arms. Oops, they collapse. After a double-KO spot, Luger makes the HOT TAG TO STING! Eaton collides with Regal to knock him to the floor and then receives the SCORPION DEATHLOCK to finish him off. (7:45) Run-of-the-mill formula match. *½
Back at the Little White Chapel, Col. Parker breaks it to Sister Sherri that he ain’t got no mo money. He won’t let her change in Buck’s trailer because there’s a dog in it. That seems fairly reasonable.
At Caesar’s Palace, Eric Bischoff interviews Brian Pillman. He dares to say the seven words you can’t say on TV. Well, we’ve already heard one of them tonight. Of course he doesn’t say them, BUT WHAT’S BISCHOFF GONNA DO IF HE DOES?
“Mexican Heavyweight Champion” Konnan vs. Psychosis
Since Konnan wasn’t a real champion at the time, they gave him a fake title to make him look legit. That is until they gave him the US strap a week after this show. This is noteworthy for being Psychosis’s WCW debut. Naturally, uber geek Mike Tenay joins us for commentary on this match. Konnan chases him in and out of the ring to start. He locks on some Koji Clutch variation and then delivers a pair of Germans. They trade some wacky submissions on the mat while Tony mentions that Bischoff will be responding to certain skits being produced by another wrestling organization on the WCW Hotline! Meanwhile, Konnan delivers some fancy armdrags and hits a DDT! Psychosis nails Konnan with a missile dropkick that puts him on the floor for a tope! Back inside, Konnan is in control (huh?) and delivers a Spider German Suplex. And with that, he applies the Zip Lock on Psychosis for the submission win. (5:24) The problem I have with Konnan is that he never looks like he’s in any real danger. When he does take a few moves, he doesn’t sell them whatsoever. He’s like the Mexican Hulk Hogan. Aside from the selling issues, it wasn’t too bad. The crowd could not have cared less though. **¾
And we go back to the Little White Chapel. Gene Okerlund walks Sherri down the street to the window where she and Col. Parker get “married”. Gosh, she looks like Ming the Merciless with hair. Gene mentions the cell phone call he assumes she made earlier to the Colonel, but she doesn’t remember a thing. With the way she’s slurring her words, I’m not surprised. Disco Inferno interrupts the “wedding march” with his dancing. Alright, now it’s time to get this wedding over with for crying out loud. Just before they say their “I do’s”, MADUSA jumps out the trailer and attacks Sherri to start a big fight. Harlem Heat holds Sherri back while Slater grabs hold of Madusa. Finally, something for her to do. Okay then, wedding over!
Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth & Kevin Greene) vs. Ric Flair & The Giant (w/Jimmy Hart)
The chicks from last night (including Woman, Debra, and Linda Hogan) come out with the good guys before the match. They leave because Elizabeth is the main chick of the night. During a commercial break, Schiavone tells us how the Cowboys are going to beat the Steelers at Super Bowl XXX to get under Kevin Greene’s skin. Greene takes off the shirt and comes into the ring to get into a three point stance with Flair, but the NAITCH isn’t dumb and walks away from that. Enough shenanigans, it’s time to get busy. Flair and Savage hook it up. Savage takes Flair’s chop and then fires back with a clothesline. Savage whips Flair in for the Flair Flip that sends him right into Hogan’s Big Boot on the apron. Back inside, Flair suckers Savage into the corner and chops. Immediately after, Savage blocks a hiptoss and backslides Flair for two. Flair gets caught in between Savage and Hogan and then tags in the Giant. Hogan wants him some, so he tags Savage. Hogan can’t do anything to the Giant to start. He tries a slam and fails. If you couldn’t shoulderblock him down, what made you think you could SLAM him? Instead, Giant slams Hogan and kicks him around. He takes FOREVER walking around Hogan and then finally headbutts Hulk in the balls. Giant delivers a backbreaker and goes for a running elbow drop off the ropes, but misses. Here comes Hogan. He SLAMS the Giant, but it’s right after a backbreaker, so he goes down. Flair tags in and delivers a stalling suplex. Well, Hogan will NO-SELL that. Flair pokes Hulk in the eye as Jimmy Hart gets up on the apron. That allows Giant to pull Hogan out to the floor to back him into the guardrail. Back in, Hogan NO-SELLS chops and slams Flair off the top. Tag to Savage, he nails the Flying Double Ax Handle on Flair and hits the MACHO ELBOW while Hogan clotheslines Giant to the floor. Jimmy Hart’s with the ref again. Savage grabs and nails Jimmy while Flair pulls out the infamous taped knux from his trunks. Savage goes over and picks Flair up off the mat and gets DRILLED in the face. Oh man it’s over. (9:53) All those “secret weapons” and the Mega Powers still couldn’t pull off a win. Afterwards, Hulk Hogan and Kevin Greene dispose of Brian Pillman and Zodiac who try and attack them. As you would expect, the Savage/Flair stuff was the best part. *¾
Final Thoughts: Much like the Saturday Night Main Event shows that were revived in 2006 that became simply extended episodes of what you see every week, the Clash shows began to suffer the same problem from this point on in that nothing was done on the program to make it more special than what you saw on Nitro on every week. Anything worth seeing from this show is on the Brian Pillman “Loose Cannon” DVD. The main event was just standard stuff. I mean, Elizabeth was just a pretty face who’s famous for being the Yoko Ono of the Mega Powers in ‘89 and that’s about it. Thumbs down for Clash of the Champions #32.