WCW Clash of the Champions XXIX (November 1994)

Original Airdate: November 16, 1994

From Jacksonville, Florida; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.


Opening WCW World Tag Team Title v Mask Match: Pretty Wonderful v Stars and Stripes: This is Pretty Wonderful's titles versus Patriot's mask. Unfortunately, they don't go for bonus points and mask Bagwell too, so we have to stare at the shit eating grin on his face for the whole match. We start with Paul Orndorff and Shit-Grin Marcus Bagwell, but they stall as Orndorff nearly kills some redneck in the front row. He turns his attention back to killing Bagwell, and a tag to Paul Roma ends in Bagwell taking a bodypress for two - triggering a four-way brawl with the challengers cleaning house to a great reaction. The dust settles on Orndorff and Possibly Shit-Eating Patriot (the mask makes it hard to say definitively), and Patriot wins a criss cross by taking Orndorff to the mat in a hammerlock. Paul uses the ropes to break, and wins another criss cross with a kneelift before tagging Roma. Roma in with an impressive three alarm backbreaker (unreleased) and a flying elbowdrop for two. Patriot comes back with a pair of atomic drops and a diving shoulderblock for two, and Bagwell tags in with a flying axehandle. Criss cross sees Bagwell take a stungun over the top to the floor, and Orndorff jumps him out there, beating him against the guardrail while Roma distracts the Official. Pretty Wonderful cut the ring in half until a big brawl breaks out, and Orndorff suplexes Bagwell for Roma to hit a flying elbowdrop on, but Patriot knocks Roma off the turnbuckle, leaving Orndorff and Bagwell on the mat in the suplex, and Bagwell gets his shoulder up first for the titles at 9:20. Decent little match here, though the ending (while creative) came off as very underwhelming, and almost fluke-like. *

WCW Television Title Match: Johnny B. Badd v Honky Tonk Man: Honky hides in the ropes at the bell, but manages to get Badd on the matt in an armbar. Badd comes back with a hammerlock, but Honky fires a closed fist to break - only to get atomic dropped and knocked to the floor with a big right hand. Honky pulls down the strap, and challenges Badd to a boxing match - then quickly hides in the ropes when the champ accepts. Honky fires off a cheap shot to turn the tide, and a bodyslam sets up a 2^nd rope fistdrop for two. Chinlock sets up the Shake Rattle and Roll, but Badd backdrops to block, and unloads a series of turnbuckle smashes. Inverted atomic drop sets up a ten-punch count, and a kneelift gets two. The referee gets bumped as Johnny goes to finish, but he still catches Honky blasting Badd with his guitar for a disqualification at 6:13. This was supposed to set up a blowoff for Starrcade, but unfortunately Honky left the promotion before it happened, and we never got it. Despite Honky's tights claiming he's the 'greatest of all time' (which is ridiculous in its own right, considering his greatest claim to fame is the secondary title in another promotion), his showing here was average at best - though the match was energetic enough, and didn't overstay its welcome. ¼*

The Nasty Boys v Harlem Heat: Brian Knobs starts with Booker T, but makes the mistake of trying to shove Booker, and ends up getting his ass beat in the corner. Knobs fires back with a clothesline and a bodyslam before tagging out to Jerry Sags - triggering a Nasty-won four-way brawl. The dust settles on Sags and Stevie Ray, and Sags manages to dodge Stevie coming into the corner to set up a bulldog. The Nasties double-team in the corner, and start working the leg - Knobs hooking a leglock after he tags in. Stevie manages to fire off a big kick to break the hold (sold wonderfully by Knobs, who falls out of the ring off of it), and back inside, Harlem Heat cut the ring in half. Booker misses a 2^nd rope elbowdrop to allow the tag to Sags, and he's an outhouse of fire - so the Heat grab their cell phone, and call Sherri down to ringside. Yep, apparently we're watching Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, because they just added 'phone a friend' into their move set here, folks. It works, too, as the Nasties get distracted by Sherri, and Stevie pins Jerry at 10:00. These two teams wrestled dozens of TV and pay per view matches around this period, and pretty much none of them were good. This wasn't good either, but speaking from Nasty/Harlem experience, it could have been much, MUCH worse. ¼*

Dustin Rhodes v Vader: Vader powers Rhodes into the corner right away for a few of those brutal forearm shots, and then spits in his face as Dustin cowers from the beast. Big mistake, as Rhodes spears him to set up a flurry of fists, and hits a bodypress for two - the crowd going wild. A clothesline knocks Vader over the top rope, and Rhodes is right on him with more punches on the floor - even managing to take Vader-manager Harley Race out with a clothesline. Back inside, Dustin manages to beat Vader down in the corner, and an avalanche (more like a slight rumbling, really) sets up a suplex. Another charge, but Vader blocks by being fat, and knocks Dustin off of his feet. Into the corner, Vader unloads a series of shots to the head and body, then sends Rhodes somersaulting to the mat with a clothesline. Avalanche, but Dustin catches him coming into the corner, and powerslams him. Jumping clothesline sets up more mounted punches, but a bulldog is blocked when Vader simply hangs onto him, and dumps him to the floor. Inside, Vader casually unloads on him to set up a Vaderbomb - but it only gets two. Another one hits, but still Rhodes kicks out at two - and now Vader's good and pissed. Slam sets up a 2^nd rope splash, but Rhodes is there with a powerslam to block. Slugfest goes Dustin's way, and a flying clothesline gets two. DDT from the top rope gets two, and the bulldog hits - but Harley Race jumps in to break up the count. That allows Vader to grab a distracted Rhodes, and he hits an inverted powerbomb for the pin at 11:48. Whoa! Where did this come from, and why don't I remember it? Great hard-hitting, fast paced, and exciting back-and-forth match here. Just fun stuff from bell to bell. ** ½

WCW United States Title Match: Jim Duggan v Steve Austin: Not even a real match, as Duggan works the crowd in his usual (literally) retarded way until Vader runs in and kills him for a disqualification at 1:00. Glad to see they found a good way to use a guy like Steve Austin here. DUD

Main Event: Six-Man Tag Team Match: Hulk Hogan, Sting, and Dave Sullivan v The Butcher, Avalanche, and Kevin Sullivan: Mr. T is the special referee here, just to make sure all of Hogan's pals from the 80s get a paycheck tonight. Big brawl to start sees Avalanche breaking Dave Sullivan's arm (kayfabe) with a splash, and the dust settling on Hogan getting stomped by Kevin Sullivan once referee Mr. T regains control. Avalanche comes in to pound the Hulkster as Dave Sullivan gets carried to the back, and finally Butcher gets his turn. The fun continues as Hogan fails to bodyslam Avalanche and ends up in a bearhug. The Hulkster's attempt at a comeback is stopped by a cheap shot from Butcher, and Avalanche powerslams him, but misses a splash and Hogan makes the tag. That triggers an immediate brawl, and Sting gets overwhelmed to allow the heels to cut the ring in half again. Another big brawl ends in Hogan hitting Butcher with the big boot, but they realize that they can't give away the Starrcade main event, so Hulk awkwardly lets off to go after Sullivan again, and pins him instead at  11:04. What a mess this match was. Sloppy, poorly worked, and plain boring - even in the moment. Plus, it featured Dave fucking Sullivan in a main event. What a joke. DUD

BUExperience: Despite a hot crowd and a really fun Dustin Rhodes/Vader match on the undercard, this show is a big waste of time. Nothing of any real historical significance to make it worth checking out, and really, only about twelve minutes of actual good wrestling is not enough to carry it. DUD