WCW Clash of the Champions XXXIII (August 1996)

Original Airdate: August 15, 1996

From Denver, Colorado; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan.


Opening WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Rey Mysterio Jr v Dean Malenko: Malenko jumps the champ in the corner before the bell, and takes him down with a well executed snap suplex followed by an equally well executed snapmare. They end up on the floor for Rey to hit a springboard dropkick and a baseball slide/headscissors, and Dean is frustrated. Back in, Rey takes him down with a tornado armdrag, and a big criss cross ends in Rey hitting a springboard moonsault for two. Leg lariat sends Malenko to the outside to break the momentum, but he's quick to get back in - he needs to beat Mysterio or the title goes nowhere. Inside, Dean nearly kills poor Rey with a brutal stungun, and keeps after the neck with a brainbuster for two. Wristlock, but Rey springboards into a sunsetflip, and then cradles a countering Malenko for two - only to end up on the mat in a chinlock, which Malenko wisely adds a bodyscissors to, making sure Mysterio doesn't go anywhere. He makes it up anyway, but Dean kicks at the leg to slow him down, and a long reversal sequence ends in Rey bridging into a cradle for two. Malenko responds by cracking him with a backelbow, and snapping him to the mat for a grapevine. Rey gets uppity again, so Dean lets him kiss the sky with a flapjack, and takes it back to the mat - again wisely keeping Mysterio grounded. Criss cross ends in Dean falling to the floor, and Rey is quickly on him with a somersault plancha and a springboard moonsault off of the guardrail. Back inside, Rey hits a springboard dropkick for two, and a tilt-a-whirl inverted DDT for two. Springboard rana gets two, but a pair of chops in the corner are answered in kind by the challenger - only for an attempt to backdrop Mysterio to the floor to get countered with Rey leaping to the top rope. Dean catches him up there in a fireman's carry though, and hits an insane gutbuster off of the top for the pin - though Rey's feet are on the ropes. Dean thinks he's won the title, but as the referee works to clarify, Mysterio sneaks up with a standing victory roll to retain at 11:30. Brilliant match, from the reversals, to the crisp - CRISP - execution, to the timing, to the psychology of Dean trying to keep it mat-based as he gets outplayed whenever he lets Mysterio get to his feet. Great stuff, though it felt like it was missing a certain 'something' to truly knock it up into classic territory. Still, an easy *** ½

Jim Duggan v VK Wallstreet: Duggan tries to keep Wallstreet out of the ring with his 2x4 at the bell, but WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY OF LAWS, and the referee restores order. They trade armbars, which Duggan gets the best of, and follows with a series of turnbuckle smashes. Criss cross ends in a Duggan hiptoss, but Wallstreet hits the deck to dodge the 3-Point Stance, and rolls to the floor. Duggan gets his neck snapped across the ropes as he tries to pull Wallstreet back in, and VK drops an elbow for two. Chinlock, but Duggan counters with a stunner, and a helicopter slam hits. Duggan tapes up his fist to go for the kill, but as the referee tries to wrestle it away from him (SOCIETY OF LAWS!) Wallstreet schoolboys him for the pin at 3:49. Afterwards, Duggan yells 'IT STINKS!!' about ten times in a row, and I can't say I disagree. DUD

Konnan v Ultimo Dragon: Dragon scares Konnan into the corner with threats of lightning kicks, and they go to the mat - Dragon breaking out of a headscissors and getting slapped. Konnan tries a modified anklelock, and a shoulderblock puts Dragon on his ass. Another sends Dragon out to the floor to regroup, and he comes in with a dropkick to put Konnan on the floor - Dragon following with an axehandle off of the apron. Back in, Dragon hits a flying moonsault and cradles Konnan for two. German suplex gets two, but Konnan counters the bridge into a cradle and gets the pin (with a handful of tights) at 2:58. Well that was quick. And thankfully too, as it wasn't going anywhere. DUD

Randy Savage v Meng: Well, in theory. Unfortunately, Randy Savage is still selling a chair shot from Hollywood Hogan the night before on Nitro, and no-shows - giving Meng the victory by forfeit. See how this is different than Disco Inferno no-showing a match with Kevin Sullivan at the previous Clash because he was too busy taking a gig singing at a wedding? That made everyone look stupid. This actually serves to establish and further the nWo storyline, as opposed to having Savage no-show because he's too busy shooting a Slim Jim commercial, or taking a shit, or whatever.

Madusa v Bull Nakano: Madusa jumps the Bull right at the bell, but misses a dropkick, and takes a vicious hairpull slam. Another, and Bull grabs nunchuks - going ballistic on poor Madusa as manager Sonny Oono distracts the referee. Nakano with a splash for two, but Madusa counters a cross corner whip with a springboard bodypress for two. Series of hairpull slams get two, but a sunset flip is countered with a buttsplash for two. To the top, but Madusa dropkicks Nakano off of the turnbuckle to the floor - only to miss a flying bodypress, and hit the rail. Unfortunately for her, Oono accidentally misses a roundhouse kick, and Madusa schoolgirls her for the pin at 2:42. SummerSlam '94 this wasn't. ¼*

WCW Battle Bowl Title Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Eddie Guerrero: Page overpowers him out of the initial lockup, so Eddie starts a criss cross to try and blow him up - ending with a headscissors takedown. Guerrero with a dropkick, but a blind charge misses, and DDP stomps him. Gutbuster hits, and a tilt-a-whirl sidewalk slam gets two. Page hooks a rope-assisted chinlock, but Eddie manages a hiptoss to break. Slugfest goes Guerrero's way, and a dropkick sets up a slingshot somersault senton for two. Page fires back with a jawbreaker and a sitout powerbomb for two, but a superplex attempt is blocked by Eddie, and he hits the Frogsplash to win the BattleBowl ring at 4:22. Too short to really go anywhere, but both guys worked hard, and it was good big/little stuff while it lasted. * ¾

The Giant v Chris Benoit: Benoit gets tangled up with manager Woman as he tries to get his ring jacket off, and Giant takes advantage by charging right at him with an impressive dropkick, and finishes with a breathtaking chokeslam at 0:23. Don't worry though. Benoit would get his revenge on Woman. Eventually. ¼*

WCW World Tag Team Title Triangle Match: Harlem Heat v The Steiner Brothers v Lex Luger and Sting: Triangle rules mean only two guys in at a time, and the first fall takes the titles. Booker T starts with Scott Steiner, and actually manages to match power with him - hitting a sidekick. To the top, but Steiner is there to crotch him on the top rope, and Luger drives it home by driving him to the floor with a clothesline. Tag to Stevie Ray on the way back in, but Scott is over it, and passes to Luger. Stevie wants revenge for what Lex did to his brother (anal rape), and stomps a mud hole in the corner, but Lex returns fire, and hits a clothesline. Tag to Rick Steiner to clothesline both guys, and a flying bulldog gets two on Stevie - broken up by Luger before the referee can clear him out. The distraction allows Stevie to blast Rick with a sidekick, and he tags Booker back in. Criss cross ends in Steiner powerslamming him, but he gets a little too close to the wrong corner, and Sting tags himself in to get the pin himself. Flying clothesline gets two, and a press slam follows for two. Tag to Luger for a 2^nd rope axehandle, and Booker is begging to tag ANYONE, but Lex responds with a vertical suplex for two - saved by Stevie, who then tags. He ends up in with the Stinger, but does so little that Scott Steiner gets bored, and tags himself in. He has a proper showdown with Sting over a wristlock, and a criss cross ends in Sting stungunning him. Flying clothesline gets two, but Scott counters a suplex with an inverted DDT, and follows with a double-underhook powerbomb for two - saved by Luger. Tag to Rick, and Steiner tries a sleeper, but Sting manages to get to Luger. He blasts Steiner with a clothesline out of the corner, and another leaves Steiner stumbling. A third misses though, and Rick drops him with a German suplex before passing back to brother Scott for a belly-to-belly suplex. Scott off the 2^nd rope, but Luger catches him in the Torture Rack - triggering a six-way brawl. In the chaos, Scott catches Booker with a Frankensteiner, but referee Nick Patrick notices the Outsiders at the entrance area, and calls a no-contest at 12:00. Normally, that would be a ridiculously stupid ending, but seeing as they were establishing Patrick as a heel, nWo influenced referee, it's actually a great ending - and perfect for TV. The match lacked flow, but was well paced (especially when the Heat were on the apron), and filled with fun spots. **

Main Event: WCW World Title Match: Hollywood Hulk Hogan v Ric Flair: Flair gets a standing side-headlock right away (well, not 'right away' ... more like after Hulk finishes stalling), but Hogan powers into a shoulderblock - to the cheers of the fans. Flair with another headlock, but this time Hulk casually puts him on the top turnbuckle to break - so Flair slaps him! Flair with a series of chops that actually get sold (!) and Hogan bails to the floor in disgust. Ric follows with an axehandle off of the apron, and inside, Hogan challenges to a test-of-strength. Flair controls by biting at the hand (that feeds him?), but ends up taking a flip to the floor, and Hogan rams him into the rail and ringpost. Back inside, Hogan works him over, but another Flair flip ends in Ric ducking a clothesline, and hooking Hogan for a hanging vertical suplex. Oh, whoops, HULK UP!! Fists of Fury! Big Boot! Legdrop - but Flair rolls out of the way, and locks the Figure Four! He uses valet Woman for leverage, and Hogan looks doomed - but here comes the nWo and Flair gets a disqualification victory at 8:04 - in the days before 'nWo run-in' became a cliché. It's always fun to see these two go at it with the heel/face dynamics reversed (though the crowd was pretty firmly behind Hogan, here), but the actual match was very slow and plodding. DUD

BUExperience: Pretty much just an episode of Nitro (which was already running two hours every week at this point) – though a fun opener and a couple of decent matches peppered throughout an early nWo era show makes for a decent episode, if nothing else. *