WCW Clash of the Champions XXVII (Version II)

Original Airdate: June 23, 1994

From Charleston, South Carolina; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan. Heenan wastes no time cracking a joke about OJ Simpson

Opening WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan v The Nasty Boys: Jack starts with Jerry Sags, and it's a slugfest right away. Jack gets the better of it, so Brian Knobbs comes in without a tag, but Sullivan cuts him off. The champion's clean house, and the dust settles on Kevin and Brian. The ring looks tiny tonight. The Nasties try doubling up again, but Jack comes off the top with a flying somersault senton, and the champs clean house again. Knobbs manages a turnbuckle smash on Jack on the way back in, but a charge hits boot, and Cactus clotheslines him for two. The champs work Knobbs over for a bit, but Kevin ends up getting trapped in the wrong corner, and Sags bodyslams him to set up a legdrop. The challengers cut the ring in half on Sullivan, but Jerry misses a kneedrop, and Jack gets the tag. He comes in hot, and both Boys end up on the outside, where Cactus tries a springboard backelbow, but ends up crashing into the guardrail! Well, you knew Jack was bound to take a crazy bump at some point, and there it was. Sags adds a side suplex on the floor, and they head in, where the Boys try a double team, but Cactus dodges. Tag back to Sullivan, and Roseanne Barr the door! Weird finish, as Jack hits Knobbs with the double-arm DDT, and though Sags is there and breaking up the pin, everyone just sort of pretends he isn't, and the pin stands at 10:36. Take away all the chaotic brawling, and there's not much left. ¾* (Original rating: *)

Sting comes out to set us know he's a twenty four foot great white shark. Now, I'm not going to say he's a liar. But I'm also not going to say that I quite believe him

Guardian Angel vignette, as the Boss now leads an army of... child soldiers... apparently?

Guardian Angel v Tex Slazenger: Listening to the announcers try to make sense of (and get over) the angle that saw Boss become the Angel is pretty entertaining. The first minute is literally all posturing, before Angel suddenly slugs him down for a straddling ropechoke, then finish with the scrapbuster at 1:45. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Outside, Hulk Hogan's motorcade makes its way to the building, complete with an absolutely massive police escort. That was pretty cool, and definitely made this seem like a huge deal

WCW Television Title Match: Larry Zbyszko v Lord Steven Regal: Jesse Ventura takes over for Heenan here, who has bailed in disgust over the size of Hogan's motorcade. Maybe Bobby was an environmentalist? Regal has added a powdered wig to his entrance gear, which instantly makes him more dislikeable. Stalling to start. Regal sneak attacks during the stall fest, and stomps Larry down, then unloads with European uppercuts in the corner. Zbyszko slugs back, and tosses Regal over the top onto the ramp, then back into the ring, but Steven sweeps him down. I think this may be the last major WCW show to feature that awesome elevated ramp. Regal with a butterfly suplex, but Zbyszko counters with a backdrop into a cradle for two, then vertical suplexes the challenger for two. Zbyszko with a piledriver for two, and a swinging neckbreaker gets two. Regal gets pissed, and challenges the champion to slug it out - putting Larry down for a kneedrop, then hammering him for forearm blows on the mat. Chinlock wears Zbyszko down, and another uppercut is worth two, but Larry counters a knucklelock with a bodyscissors. Regal slugs out of that, so Zbyszko tries a spinebuster into a Boston crab, but Sir William reaches in to rake the eyes - allowing Regal to counter into a cradle at 9:25. Pretty basic, but they had loads of intensity, and both guys did a terrific job of working the crowd. ** ½ (Original rating: * ½)

Gene Okerlund brings out Dustin Rhodes and Arn Anderson to offer fashion advice. It's pretty funny that Dustin rants that the 'whole world' is standing behind them ahead of their tag match with Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck at the Bash at the Beach. The whole world? Really? Delusional much?

WCW United States Title Match: Steve Austin v Johnny B. Badd: Ventura is still sitting in for Heenan here. Austin slaps him across the mouth at the bell, and he chops Johnny into the corner. Cross corner whip sets up a backdrop, but Badd dodges, and returns fire with his own chops in the corner - only to run into an elbow on a charge. Steve tosses him to the outside, but Badd sweeps him out after him, and smashes his face into the apron. Back in, Badd works a wristlock, as the announcers do a fantastic job of putting both guys over. Johnny with a dropkick, but Steve blocks a rollup, so Badd throws a second dropkick to send the champ out over the top! Johnny rolls him right back in for a flying clothesline for two, and a drop-toehold grounds Steve for a front-facelock. Once calming Austin down, Badd is able to shift back to the arm, but Steve lifts his boot to block a corner charge, and he matslams his challenger. Steve with a pointed elbowdrop and a pair of kneedrops, but Johnny hooks a schoolboy for two, so Austin drives his face into the mat for two. Badd keeps coming with a nicely timed dropkick, and this time adds an inverted atomic drop before Austin can cut him off again. Headscissors takedown and a DDT lead to a backdrop, and a bodyslam sets up a trip to the top, but Austin crotches him up there. Steve with a vertical superplex, but Badd counters with a gourdbuster off the top, and he dives with a flying sunset flip - only for Austin to sidestep, and hook the leg for two! Steve with a straddling ropechoke, but now it's Johnny's turn to dodge, and he throws a left hook for two. Badd with a ten-punch in the corner, but the referee intervenes to protest the use of the closed fist, which allows Austin to grab a pair of knux to knock Johnny out with for the pin at 10:20. Unfortunately for Austin, another referee comes out to protest, and Badd schoolboys him for three in the confusion, but that doesn't stand as the match didn't officially re-start, and thus Badd wins by DQ, but Austin keeps the title. Like the TV title bout, this was much better than the Slamboree match that set it up. I wasn't wild about the finish, but good action otherwise. ** ¾ (Original rating: * ¾)

Gene Okerlund brings Hulk Hogan out, marking the Hulkster's first in-arena appearance for WCW. He makes his presence felt right away, challenging the winner of tonight's main event for a shot at the unified world title. And, as if it wasn't already very obvious who was going over tonight, Ric Flair then shows up on the video wall, and cuts a promo on Hogan

Shaquille O'Neal is going as Hulk Hogan for Halloween

Main Event: WCW World Title v WCW International World Title Unification Match: Ric Flair v Sting: Heenan has returned to his post for the main event. Before the bell, Sherri makes her way out, in Sting face paint, and stands at ringside. Both guys measure each other to start, with Sting eager to get going, but Flair keeping things slow. Criss cross ends in Sting press-slamming him a couple of times, and Flair bails to the outside - flopping on the floor in front of Sherri. Inside, Flair tries to go to the eyes, but that sets Sting off, and a series of clotheslines (including a pretty noticeable mistime) knock the Nature Boy back to the outside. In, Flair tries chops, but Sting no-sells him, and hits a dropkick. Second one misses, however, allowing Flair to try for the Figure Four, but Sting cradles him for two, so Ric bails. Back in, Ric tries chops again, but Sting is still not in the mood to sell, though Flair is able to dodge the Stinger Splash to force him to. He dumps Sting to the outside, where Sherri tries to encourage him. Flair hops out to hammer the Stinger on the floor, then snaps his throat across the top rope when Sting is beating the count in. Ric with a pair of kneedrops for a leveraged two count, and a side suplex sets up the Figure Four, but Sting blocks. Ric stays on him with a backelbow and a sleeper, but Sting drops him into the turnbuckle to escape, and a shoulderblock sets up a catapult into the corner. Another mistime there. Vertical suplex gets two, and a cross corner whip flips Flair onto the apron for a clothesline. Ten-punch count, so Ric tries an inverted atomic drop, but doesn't quite land it, and Sting clotheslines him for two. Vertical superplex sets up a flying splash, but Ric rolls out of the way, and hits a hanging vertical suplex - only for Sting to no-sell. He hiptosses Ric to set up a dropkick, followed by another press-slam. Pair of clotheslines send the Nature Boy over the top, but he shoves Sherri into Sting's flight path to avoid a plancha. That distracts Sting long enough for Flair to attack, but Sting fights him off with a backslide on the way back in. He's still distracted thinking about Sherri's condition, however, and Flair is able to schoolboy him with a handful of tights at 17:15. And then, Sherri comes in to reveal that she was with Flair all along, and they beat him down - until Hulk Hogan runs in to make the save. That's fine, though having Flair immediately beg off from facing Hogan rubbed me the wrong way. If you've seen one of their matches, you've seen 'em all. This was one of them. ** ¼ (Original rating: **)

Gene Okerlund comes out to let Hogan cut a final promo to close the show, reiterating his challenge to Flair for a match for the unified world title

BUExperience: Some solid matches, but the main attraction here is Hulk Hogan’s arrival into WCW. Nothing to go out of your way to catch, but it’s a solid – and historically significant – episode.