WCW Clash of the Champions XXV (Version II)

Original Airdate: November 10, 1993

From St. Petersburg, Florida; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura

Opening WCW International World Title Match: Rick Rude v Road Warrior Hawk: They spend some time sizing each other up to start, until Rude takes a cheap shot during a test-of-strength, and blitzes Hawk with a flurry of rights and lefts. Hawk no-sells a turnbuckle smash, however, and he hits the champion with a backdrop, followed by a bodyslam. Vertical suplex gets two, so Rude goes to the eyes, and delivers a backbreaker. He goes up with a flying kneedrop, but Hawk lifts his boot to block, and then clotheslines the champion over the top. Hawk follows, but the brawl gets out of control, and the referee counts both men out at 5:38. This never really got off the ground. I think Rude's a very good worker, but he sure had his share of stinkers in '92/'93, didn't he? DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Shockmaster v Equalizer: Dear Lord. Why were they still calling him 'Shockmaster' at this point, since the gimmick was so radically different than the original concept? I mean, it's not like, say, Undertaker, where the guy is so established that he can change his gimmick around and keep the name. What does being a construction worker have to do with being the 'Shockmaster?' Unless, wait, was he supposed to be an electrician, or something? I guess the stormtrooper helmet he wore in his debut was just to protect his eyes from debris while he was remodeling Ric's 'Flair for the Gold' set. Now I'm actually going to be disappointed if I pick up the yellow pages, and don't see an electrician called Shockmaster. I'd also like to note that I only said 'yellow pages' for the sake of the joke. I'm not a hundred. I know it's 2017, and the kids today use 411. I'm hip, yo. Equalizer blitzes him early on, but Shockmaster comes back with a big boot and the Squeeze Slam for the pin at 2:29. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Gene Okerlund brings Colonel Robert Parker out, who notes he's 'dropped Sid Vicious like a hot potato,' and will now be handling the career of Steve Austin. Yeah, a lot of people were dropping Sid Vicious like a hot potato that fall, weren’t they?

WCW Television Title Match: Lord Steven Regal v Johnny B. Badd: Johnny's outfit tonight appears to be the one his action figure was based on. Regal slaps him around to start, so Badd throws a shoulderblock for two, followed by a sunset flip for two, and Steven hides in the ropes to buy time. Johnny takes him down in a side-headlock, but Regal counters to a bow-and-arrow, so Badd escapes into an overhead armdrag, then back to the headlock. Regal tries to maintain a vertical base, but Badd keeps him grounded for a bit, until Steven forces a criss cross - ducking a bodypress, with Johnny wiping out on the ropes. Steven unloads with European uppercuts, and a short-forearm leaves Badd in trouble. Snapmare sets up a bootrake, and Regal delivers a butterfly suplex for two, but Johnny is able to catch him with a left hook, and Regal may be knocked out! Sir William protests to delay the cover, and that allows Regal to sneak up with a schoolboy to retain at 6:35. They didn't mesh well, but it was competent. * (Original rating: DUD)

Steve Austin v Brian Pillman: I get that there was a lot of politics involved, but breaking up the Blonds at the height of their run is still such a boneheaded move that it's annoying almost a quarter of a century later. Both guys are still sporting the team gear tonight, Tito Santana style! Pillman attacks before the bell, but gets caught up chasing Colonel Parker, and Austin manages to blast him with a clothesline on the outside. Whip into the guardrail gets reversed, however, and Brian cracks his former partner with a chop. Inside, Pillman with a backdrop, and he keeps unloading with those chops in the corner. Criss cross goes Brian's way with a headscissors, and Steve bails to the ramp - able to nail Pillman as he tries following out. Steve with a piledriver on the ramp, but Brian counters with a backdrop, and he comes off the top with a flying splash - only for Steve to lift his boot to block, then shove his former partner off of the ramp and into the rail! Steve dives after him with a flying forearm, and a snapmare on the floor sets up a kneedrop out there. Austin heads in, but Brian is on him with a slingshot shoulderblock for two - only to run into a press-drop across the top rope while looking for a follow-up! Steve with a snapmare to setup a half-crab, but he gets caught using the ropes for leverage, and has to abandon it. That allows Brian to fire off some chops, so Steve tries a corner whip, but Pillman springboard up onto the middle rope, and then dives back at Austin with a flying backelbow. Austin recovers first, and heads up, but Brian is able to crotch him on the top turnbuckle. He tries a superplex, but Steve counters with a gourdbuster off the top - only to have the follow-up dive countered with a dropkick for two! Brian tries following up with a backdrop, but Steve counters with a piledriver, so Pillman counters back with a rana for two. Another slingshot shoulderblock, but Steve counters this one with a powerslam for two, and he adds a facebuster. Straddling ropechoke misses, however, and Pillman DDTs him for two. Crucifix, but Austin counters with a Samoan drop, and he heads back to the top for a flying splash, but Brian rolls out of the way, and hooks an Oklahoma roll for two! Austin tries the Stungun, but Brian blocks - only to have Parker shove him off the ropes while trying the Air Pillman, and Austin gets the pin at 9:11! I really wish these two got twenty minutes on pay per view sometime, but at least we got this. *** ½ (Original rating: *** ¼)

Gene Okerlund hosts a BattleBowl Control Center. This looked so much better, and more professional, than the stuff WCW was producing prior. Clearly Gene's WWF experience is already paying off for them

WCW United States Title Match: Dustin Rhodes v Paul Orndorff: Dustin has dad Dusty in his corner to counteract Assassin in Orndorff's corner - in a feud that apparently Dusty was pushing pretty hard for backstage, but luckily got shot down by the higher ups. Dusty is, of course, super over in Florida, though. Feeling out process, dominated by Dustin to start. Meanwhile, on the outside, Assassin tries to sneak up on Dusty, which is like the Goodyear blimp trying to sneak up on you. Orndorff works a hammerlock, but Rhodes reverses, then shifts to an armbar. They're really taking their sweet time in getting this one going. Orndorff starts throwing elbows, but Dustin takes him down for a leglock, so Paul rakes the eyes. Charge in the corner misses, however, and Dustin snapmares him down for a chinlock. Riveting. Orndorff counters back to a hammerlock, but Dustin escapes, so Paul hits a facebuster, followed by a side suplex to setup a pointed elbowdrop. Chinlock, but Dustin counters to a backslide for two, then adds a clothesline for two, so Paul drops him into the turnbuckles. Orndorff comes with a corner whip and a clothesline to setup another pointed elbowdrop, then back to the bloody chinlock again. What is their deal tonight? Dustin escapes, and hits a jumping clothesline for two, but Orndorff blocks the Bulldog in sloppy fashion. Paul with a backdrop, but Dustin counters with a sunset flip for two, so Orndorff cuts him off with a clothesline. Piledriver, but Rhodes counters with a backdrop, so Paul stomps him down to prevent a comeback. He goes up for a flying kneedrop, but Dustin dodges, and hooks an inside cradle to retain at 12:15. Longer than it needed to be, considering the bulk of it was like a resthold exhibition. Like, at first, I thought they were going slow to allow the drama with Assassin sneaking up on Dusty to play out, but once that was done, they just kept on sleepwalking anyway. And, speaking of them, Dusty gets into it with Assassin after the bell - drawing a huge pop for the brawl. ¼* (Original rating: DUD)

Gene Okerlund plugs the WCW Hotline. You know he was effective because I still remember that phone number all these years later. And no wonder, as apparently he was getting a nice cut of the profits from that gig. Tonight's special hotline feature: vote for WCWs best manager. Laugh now, but Gene probably bought a new Caddy with his take on that one

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: The Nasty Boys v Sting and Davey Boy Smith: Missy Hyatt is looking tremendous here. If you haven't seen it, let's just say Brian wasn't the only 'knobs' in the house. Big brawl to start, with Rick Rude sneaking out, and hitting Davey Boy with the Rude Awakening out on the ramp! That draws Road Warrior Hawk out to check on him, while Sting hits Brian Knobbs with a flying bodypress in the ring. He notices that Bulldog is down on the ramp, however, and abandons ship to go check on him. They beat the count back in, but the champs use the predicament to jump Sting when they reach the ring. Sting manages to fight off the double team with dropkicks for both Nasties, and he settles on Knobbs with turnbuckle smashes, followed by a flying tomahawk chop for two. In comes Jerry Sags again, but Sting quickly dispatches him, and nails Knobbs with a backelbow. Meanwhile, Smith is still down on the apron, distracting Sting enough for Knobbs to rake the eyes, and tag. Sags walks right into a hiptoss though, and Sting adds an elbowdrop for two. Sting is basically manhandling both world tag champions on his own here, and even taking extended breaks to check on Bulldog. Not sure that makes the champs look great, but then, it's the Nasty Boys. 'Look great' is not something you'd expect to use in the same sentence as either of their names. They finally manage to gang up on Sting, and Knobbs hits a gutwrench slam, followed by Sags tossing him over the top. Knobbs vertical suplexes him back in for two, as the champs cut the ring in half on the Stinger. Davey is still barely on his feet, so that must have been one hell of a neckbreaker. Sting manages to overhead suplex Knobbs to escape a bearhug, but Brian lands right in his home corner, and Sags gets the tag. He dumps Sting to the floor again for Knobbs to abuse out there, but inside, Sting powers out of a reverse chinlock, and gets the tag! Bulldog is a doghouse of fire, and Roseanne Barr the door! Double facebusters on the champs, followed by a double clothesline! Double DDT connects, and Davey then press-slams Sting into both champions! Knobbs eats the Running Powerslam, but the referee is distracted trying to restore order, and Jerry comes off the top with a flying elbowdrop to allow Brian the pin to retain at 8:41. Pretty decent, actually. Interesting that my ratings have been almost one hundred percent in line with the original review for the most part, but I liked this one a lot better this time around. ** ¼ (Original rating: ¼*)

Backstage, Colonel Robert Parker tries to sweet talk Ric Flair into agreeing to a title shot for Steve Austin, should he win the championship tonight. That goes about as well for him as it did for Sensational Sherri at the Royal Rumble in 1991. Though, thankfully, this one had significantly less implied oral sex offers attached to it. Not none, but significantly less

Main Event: WCW World Title Match: Vader v Ric Flair: Flair beats up Harley Race to start, but makes the mistake of putting him in the Figure Four, allowing Vader to save with a splash. Into the corner, Vader unloads, and delivers a short-clothesline. They're wearing the same color pattern tonight, which looks odd. And, it's not like it's a standard pattern for Flair (red tights/black pads). Vader with a press-slam and the Vaderbomb (funny how much of a transitional move that was in WCW, rather than the finisher it became in the WWF), but another beating in the corner ends up getting the tables turned on him. Flair hits a wall while trying to charge, however, and the world champion drops an elbow. He goes to town in the corner again, and a cross corner whip ends in Flair flipping to the floor. Race is right there for a shot into the rail, but an attempt by Vader to dive off of the apron at his challenger ends in the monster crashing into the rail himself! Ric capitalizes with a flying tomahawk chop out there, and the throws a few chops before bringing things back inside. Cross corner whip sets up a knife-edge chop, but a charge in the corner hits boot, Vader tees off on him with right hands. I'm sure that was fun for Ric. Vader with a 2^nd rope flying elbowdrop, but Ric rolls out of the way, and he goes right for the Figure Four! Flair gets it on, but Vader has the ropes, and Race rakes Ric's eyes while the referee is distracted. That allows Vader a vertical suplex to setup a splash for two, but Ric dodges a 2^nd rope flying bodyblock, and goes up himself with a flying forearm. Another one follows, so Vader throws a clothesline - the referee getting clobbered when Ric ducks! Ric keeps coming with another flying forearm, but Vader catches him this time, and sets him down on the top turnbuckle for a vertical superplex! They're lucky the ropes didn't snap on that one. Vadersault looks to finish, but Flair dodges, and covers - the referee appearing to count the pin, but in actuality disqualifying Vader for hitting him earlier at 9:08. The crowd totally bought the title change too, and the pop was huge. As soon as the bell rings, Steve Austin is here to attack Flair, but Dustin Rhodes and Shockmaster make the save. Terrible finish, but a solid match. ** ¾ (Original rating: ** ½)

BUExperience: The battle of the Hollywood Blonds is downright awesome, and the last two matches are pretty good too, but it certainly has its share of crap. Other than the dull US Title match, most of the bad stuff is really short, and the show had a lot going on – though a lot of the angles it was setting up ultimately got scrapped due to booking changes and roster shakeups. Not a must see episode, but its passable.