WCW Clash of the Champions XXXV (Version II)

Original Airdate: August 21, 1997

 

From Nashville, Tennessee; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes, and Bobby Heenan

 

Opening WCW United States Title Match: Jeff Jarrett v Steve McMichael: Jeff wins a criss cross with a bodyslam early on, and he wins a reversal sequence to set up a three-point stance on Mongo. Steve is all worked up over it, so Jeff hides out on the floor, but McMichael is too stupid to keep his eyes on him, and Jarrett sneak attacks. That made Mongo look especially dumb, considering no one was even distracting him, he was just too busy looking out into the crowd to focus on the guy screwing his wife. Jeff sends him into the steps a few times, and he applies a sleeper, but McMichael manages a reversal. Cue a distraction from Debra McMichael, which allows Eddie Guerrero to dive in with the title belt, but he accidentally nails Jarrett. That allows McMichael to cover, and we have a new champion at 8:06. There was very little to the match here, but the crowd popped pretty big for the title change. Afterwards, Debra tries to reconcile with her husband, but he pushes past her with his new title belt. ½* (Original rating: DUD)

 

Gene Okerlund brings Alex Wright out, and suddenly Alex is not so hot about joining this new Jarrett/Guerrero stable anymore. Yeah, can't blame him there

 

Paul Gilmartin of Dinner & A Movie is here to celebrate the shows third season, and I definitely remember watching that all the time back in the day. Didn't he have a cute girly co-host?

 

No Disqualification Match: Stevie Richards v Raven: Raven demands that it be a no DQ match before the bell, with Stevie easily agreeing. Raven beats him into the corner to start, and tosses Richards to the outside to set up a plancha. Inside, Raven covers for two, then dumps Richards right back to the outside so he can drop an elbow from the apron. He adds a second, as they announce that it will be Scott Hall and Randy Savage defending the tag title later, with absolutely no explanation as to why Kevin Nash is suddenly out of the match. Inside, Raven with a drop-toehold to the seat of a chair, followed by a bulldog onto it. He sets the chair up in the corner, but Richards reverses a whip into it, only for Raven to pop up and keep beating on him anyway. Richards fights through it and starts making a comeback, delivering a sidewalk slam for two. Superkick, but Raven blocks, so Richards uses a schoolboy for two. Raven fires back with a clothesline for two, and the DDT finishes at 5:02. This died badly. ½* (Original rating: DUD)

 

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Mike Tenay comes out to introduce a video that clears up that Ultimo Dragon is called Ultimo not Ultimate, and the meaning behind the name... while calling him the Ultimate Dragon anyway

 

WCW Television Title Match: Ultimo Dragon v Alex Wright: Mike Tenay sits in on commentary for this one. Heenan notes that clearly Dragon was better off with Sonny Onoo, because he had nine belts then, now he's only got one. Man can do math. They measure each other a bit to start, dominated by the challenger. Dragon manages to take control with a wristlock, so Wright pokes him in the eye, and puts the boots to him. Alex works a standing side-headlock from there, but Dragon forces a criss cross, and barrels into him with a shoulderblock. Another criss cross sees Dragon block a monkeyflip with a Greco-Roman stomp to the face, and he does the handstand bit in the corner to set up a series of kicks. Chinlock, but Wright quickly escape with a jawbreaker, and he drops the champ with a powerbomb. Corner whip rebounds Dragon into a sidewalk slam for two, and another corner whip sets up a backbreaker for two. A third corner whip sets up a gutwrench suplex for two, and he works a chinlock, but Dragon forces another criss cross - only to lose this one when Wright is ready with a big clothesline. Bodyslam sets up a flying stomp, so he works a sleeper, but Dragon escapes. Wright tries the clothesline again as they criss cross, but Dragon outmoves him, and applies a sleeper of his own. Wright tries a side suplex to escape, but Dragon reverses, and both guys stagger to a vertical base to trade chops. Alex gets the better of that, and he delivers the side suplex on the second try. He goes to the top, but wastes time showboating, and Dragon dropkicks him to the outside. The champ tries a plancha out there, but Alex sidesteps him. Wright tries a whip into the rail, but Dragon reverses, and he dives with a springboard moonsault press into the aisle. Dragon takes him upstairs for a rana off the top on the way back in, so Wright tries countering with a superplex - only for Dragon to counter with a gourdbuster on the way down. Magistral cradle gets the champ two, but Wright blocks the handspring backelbow, and hooks a leveraged cradle for two. Reversal sequence sees them trade nearfalls off of cradles, and Wright gets the better of it with a German suplex as they get to their feet - bridging into a pin at 13:24. It felt like they weren't clicking in the early going, but it turned into quite the contest by the end. *** (Original rating: * ½)

 

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WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Chris Jericho v Eddie Guerrero: They do some measuring to start, with Eddie initially dominating, but getting caught with a pair of armdrags, and a dropkick. That leads him to accuse Jericho of pulling the hair, and they do a fun bit where the referee plays to the crowd. Criss cross ends in Chris press-slamming him, and a pop-up flapjack follows, leading to Eddie hiding out behind the official before bailing. Eddie sneaks back in with an attack, and a jumping backelbow puts Jericho down for a slingshot somersault senton splash. Guerrero takes him upstairs with a rana off the top for two, so he tries a springboard rana, but Chris counters with a powerbomb. Jericho adds a giant swing, though it gets a strangely muted response, despite being a pretty long one. Spinheel kick knocks Eddie to the outside, and Jericho tries springboarding after him, but he badly botches it, and wipes out. He recovers with a suplex-slam on the floor, but a trip to the top on the way back in ends badly when Eddie vertical superplexes him for two. Reversal sequence ends in Chris launching him with a German suplex for two, but Eddie blocks a rollup, and a pinfall reversal sequence ends in Jericho tying him up for the pin at 6:40. Pretty basic outing for these two, but it was okay. Afterwards, Eddie drills him with a brainbuster, and adds a flying frogsplash for good measure. I get that Guerrero needed to get his heat back, but Jericho already didn't look so good coming out of this weak performance, and that certainly didn't help matters. * ¾ (Original rating: * ¾)

 

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Eight-Man Tag Team Match: Psychosis, Silver King, Villano IV, and Villano V v Juventud Guerrera, Super Calo, Lizmark Jr, and Hector Garza: Villano IV starts with Calo, with Villano dominating some criss crossing. Calo springboards to put him down with a headscissors, but Villano wins another criss cross with a clothesline. Calo fires back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two, and he passes to Garza for a flying axehandle. Corner splash misses, however, and King tags in - promptly missing a corner dropkick. Reversal sequence ends in Garza delivering a tilt-a-whirl of his own, but both guys tumble over the top on a clothesline, and we get Psychosis and Guerrera in. Psychosis superkicks him down, and an elbow knocks Juvi to the outside. That brings a bunch of guys in to set up some dives, and as usual, Calo nearly kills a fan. He was just so irresponsible during this period. We get the big dog pile sequence on the outside, and the dust settles on Psychosis diving on Calo with a flying legdrop for the pin at 4:50. He got quite a bit of air on that one. * (Original rating: ¾*)

 

Over at the Dinner & a Movie set, the host and chef name all their dishes after Randy Savage, and turn heel by joining the nWo. That draws Macho himself out to solidify the turn, and apparently this is a thing that needed to happen. I do like that they added a back-story with Savage recruiting them when he was a guest on their show. Then, after Savage leaves, they unveil a birthday cake for the nWo, but Diamond Dallas Page (who Gilmartin had just called 'Diamond Dallas Panty Waste') shows up to hit Paul with the Diamond Cutter to get WCW's heat back. I guess?

 

Lee Marshall is still on Columbia South Carolina with the 1-800-Collect Road Report, where he was back on Monday. Geez, how hard is that guy's job, anyway?

 

Ric Flair and Curt Hennig v Syxx and Konnan: Curt and Konnan start, and they do a hammerlock reversal sequence to a stalemate, then trade wristlocks to another stalemate. Konnan shoves him into the corner to pass to Syxx, but Curt quickly escapes a headlock, and tags out himself. Syxx shoulderblocks Flair down for some mounted punches, and a corner whip allows him a backdrop. Chop, but Flair reverses, and uses a kneedrop for two. Syxx goes to the eyes to fight him off, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, and Ric backdrops him before passing back to Curt. Hennig with chops of his own, and a kneelift sends Syxx flying into a tag. Curt pounds Konnan down as soon as he's in, however, so Syxx comes in for a double team, but Flair is there to back Hennig up, and Roseanne Barr the door. Ric goes for the figure four on Konnan, but Syxx saves by clipping the knee, and Konnan covers for two. And then Hennig just hits Konnan with the bridging fisherman suplex at 4:52. Just kind of treading water here. Afterwards, Okerlund joins them in the ring to again ask if Hennig is officially a Horsemen or not, but Curt still won't commit. * (Original rating: ¾*)

 

Main Event: WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Scott Hall and Randy Savage v Lex Luger and Diamond Dallas Page: I'm guessing they switched Savage in since they already did Outsiders/Luger/Page on Nitro, and it sucked. Hall and Luger start, and they do an extended battle over a collar-and-elbow lockup, won by Lex even after cheating from Hall. Scott dumps him to the outside for Kevin Nash to attack, however, and that allows the nWo to get control of the match. They work Lex over as the referee ejects Nash, though sadly we don't get to hear him yell 'DID YOU SEE SOMETHIN'?' over and over again this time. Luger fights them off for a tag to Page, and Dallas comes in hot, but quickly falls prey to a double team. The heels work him over for an extended period of time, and this thing is dragging. Finally, DDP fights Hall off long enough to make the hot tag, and Roseanne Barr the door! So many clotheslines. Lex gets Scott in the torture rack, but Savage saves, and Lex stumbles into Page - Dallas accidentally leveling his own partner with the Diamond Cutter. That allows Scott to cover at 9:22. This was really boring, and felt much longer than just ten minutes. The whole thing was just two heat segments, with little else. Afterwards, the rest of the nWo come down to celebrate their one year anniversary (though the group didn't actually, you know, form in August), and Hollywood Hogan can't be bothered to show up. No matter, the others have plenty of fun gloating for him, until Sting shows up in the rafters with a vulture on his arm. A creepy voiceover plays as Sting stares down at the nWo, when suddenly the lights die, and come back on with the vulture standing on the top rope. The nWo are disproportionately freaked out, of course, and that's the final image on the final Clash of the Champions: some ten professional wrestlers freaked out by a bird. Fitting. Apparently the bird was supposed to be carrying a note that clarified (again) that Sting wants to wrestle Hulk Hogan, but the bird dropped it along the way. Again, fitting. ¼* (Original rating: ¼*)

 

BUExperience: Even a Dinner & a Movie heel turn is not enough to save this one from the crap bag.