By: Brian Hoops, Nostalgia Specialist

This week’s look at wrestling nostalgia goes back takes us back to November 10, 1993 and the WCW Clash of the Champions #25. The show took place from St. Petersburg, Florida in front of 6,000 people and was headlined by a Ric Flair vs. Big Van Vader Heavyweight Title Match. The match was memorable more for the behind the scenes story than the match itself as there was a major incident that affected the outcome of the match.

Jesse Ventura and Tony Schiavone are the announcers for the matches.

1. Rick Rude and Road Warrior Hawk fought to a double disqualification in 5:23 in a match for the WCW International Heavyweight Title. Rude was the champion and retained the title. Rude was announced first and was heavily booed on his way to the ring. Rude grabbed the microphone away from Michael Buffer before he was announced, which was tremendous. The match was a lot of stalling early and a little back and forth action that was mostly punches. The match never had time to build and they never even tried to build to anything. ¼ *

2. The Shockmaster (Fred Ottman) defeated The Equalizer by pinfall in 2:29. This match had no business being on this show as it was a glorified squash match, but WCW was still trying to push The Shockmaster and trying to get him over, which he wasn’t in the least. At least it was short. ¼ *

Gene Okerlund conducted an interview with Col. Robert Parker during which Parker claimed he was rid of Sid Vicious and had a restraining order against Vicious. This was a complete waste of time as Vicious was fired from the company, but because they had TV and an angle taped with Vicious, they still had to promote him.

3. Steven Regal defeated Johnny B. Badd by pinfall in 6:33 to retain the WCW TV Title. Badd had the offensive the entire way, with Regal carrying the match with his selling. Badd hit Regal with his left hook finisher, but didn’t cover Regal immediately. When he did, Sir William, (Bill Dundee) put Regal’s foot on the ropes. Badd went after Sir William, but Regal rolled up Badd for the pin. * ½.

4. Steve Austin pinned Brian Pillman in 9:12. This was the first match between Pillman and Austin since the breakup of the Hollywood Blonds. Pillman had ankle surgery in August, and turned face after Austin turned on him. Pillman attacked Austin before the bell and controlled the early portion of the match to build that Pillman wanted revenge on Austin. They then worked a hold for hold style, as they told a story that they were equal in talent; but Col. Parker, the new manager of Austin; would be the difference maker in the match. The finish came when Pillman went for a spring board clothesline off the top rope, but Parker grabbed his leg; Pillman hit the mat and Austin scored the victory. ***

Gene Okerlund promoted the next PPV; BattleBowl, The Lethal Lottery which was in two weeks.

5. Dustin Rhodes pinned Paul Orndorff in 11:57 to retain the WCW U.S. Heavyweight Title. While this match had potential, its big picture purpose was to get Dusty Rhodes who was with Dustin on TV and in the ring with The Masked Assassin, who was with Paul Orndorff. Schiavone mentioned Dusty’s history in the Tampa area from the Florida territorial days and Ventura countered that Orndorff was in the University of Tampa’s hall of fame for his football exploits. The crowd was hot at the start of the match but a few too many rest holds took the crowd out of the match. Rhodes went for the bulldog finisher, but Orndorff blocked it. Orndorff took control and went for the piledriver but Rhodes reversed it into a small package for the pin. After the match, The Assassin posted Dustin and Dusty attacked The Assassin. Dusty tried to take off The Assassin’s mask, but Orndorff hit Dusty with the belt. Dustin made the save. * ½

6. The Nasty Boys defeated Sting and Davey Boy Smith in 8:30 when Knobbs pinned Smith. The Nasty Boys retained the WCW World Tag Team titles. Missy Hyatt accompanied the Nasty Boys to the ring. Before the match, Rick Rude attacked Smith and gave him a Rude Awakening on the rampway. They had been teasing on commentary all night that Smith wanted a match with Rude for the International Title. Wouldn’t it have been much more effective to have Smith do an interview challenging Rude for the title then have Rude respond by doing the Rude Awakening to Smith. Sting worked most of the match alone while Smith recovered at ringside. Sting finally made the hot tag to Smith and Smith powered slammed Knobs for the visual three count, but Saggs climbed the top rope and hit Smith off the top, then Knobs pinned Smith for the three count. *

7. Ric Flair defeated Big Van Vader by disqualification in 9:24 in a match for the WCW World Heavyweight Title. Vader retained the title. Flair attacked Race before the match and had Race in the figure four, but Vader splashed Flair and took control of the match. The momentum of the match swung to Flair when Vader missed a splash from the ring unto Flair who was outside the ring, and Vader hit the guardrail. Flair had Vader in the figure four, until Race raked Flair’s eyes; giving the advantage back to Vader. Vader went for a shoulder tackle, but Flair moved and Vader hit the ref. Vader then superplexed Flair and went for a top rope moonsault, but Flair moved. Flair covered Vader for the pin, which the referee counted; but then reversed his decision to a disqualification. Another Dusty finish that killed the top NWA territories. Austin then came out to beat down Flair with Vader, until Dustin Rhodes and the Shockmaster came to ringside to clear the ring. ** ¾

Flair then cut a promo that he had to have hated given the circumstances. Flair challenged Austin and Vader to a tag match on WCW Saturday Night, and Flair said his partner would be Sid Vicious. This match had already been taped and WCW scheduled to air it, despite Vicious being fired by the company the previous weekend in England. The original plan was for Flair to have this match, then use the tag match to build Vicious vs. Vader for the title at Starrcade. After Vicious was fired, WCW went back to Flair vs. Vader for the title, but aired the Saturday Night match and this angle anyway.

Summary: This was an ok show, but having seven matches in less than two hours made the show feel too rushed. They needed to cut out some of the matches that didn’t play into the long term direction or built a new feud, add a few interviews and have a better direction than to choose to build your company around Sid Vicious. The Pillman-Austin match was great and the Vader-Flair match was good. Nothing else is must see however.

I will be discussing the events in full surrounding the firing of Sid Vicious in the PWTorch.com Nostalgia Audio podcast.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at bhoops@iw.net. Also, be sure to tune into the Nostalgia Audio podcast in the VIP section of PWTorch.com where I review all the news and events of wrestling nostalgia.

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