By Sean Radican, PWTorch columnist

Radican's Clash Blog first appeared last week in the newly-redesigned Torch VIP Forum available for VIP members. Find out how to become a VIP member, interact with PWTorch writers, and create your own blog as one of the many features that comes with a VIP membership. Subscription info - PWTorch.com/GoVIP.

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WWE's "Best of WCW: Clash of the Champions" DVD set (due out on May 22) promises to deliver some of the best matches from the Clash of the Champions events from 1988-1997. Admittedly, I went into this set blind not quite knowing what to expect. Dusty Rhodes is the host and I was hoping for some background on the events that were initially held because of an ongoing war between Vince McMahon and Jim Crockett Jr.

On Thanksgiving Night 1987, McMahon's World Wrestling Federation aired Survivor Series against Starrcade from Crockett's National Wrestling Alliance. Vince made a threat that any company that aired Starrcade would be banned from carrying any future events, so by a wide margin, most cable companies chose to carry Survivor Series.

Vince was warned not to schedule any more PPV events head-to-head by the PPV companies after this event, but that didn't stop him from continuing to wage war against NWA, as WWE aired the first Royal Rumble live on cable head-to-head with NWA's Bunkhouse Stampede, which was scheduled for PPV.

Crockett decided to give McMahon a taste of his own medicine and air Clash of the Champions head-to-head against WrestleMania IV. Crockett decided to air a PPV quality lineup for free head-to-head with McMahon's biggest PPV with a headline match that saw Sting face NWA Champion Ric Flair in a 45-minute time limit draw that helped establish Sting as a star.

There's more to the story than that and it would have been great to have Rhodes appear upon introducing the first match on Disc 1 featuring Flair vs. Sting from Clash of Champions I. However, all Rhodes says is, "Shots were fired," when talking about Crockett running head-to-head on cable against WrestleMania IV on PPV. Rhodes appears later on Disc 1 - it's just more filler - as he just says NWA couldn't wait a year to run another Clash of the Champions, so they ran another one three months later.

I know this is just a "best of" set, but if WWE invested more energy in to placing the matches on this set in context with some comments from people that were involved in the shows, it would make for a much for satisfying experience.

Another issue here is that, initially, the match selection seems very weak on Disc 1. Many of the matches just aren't very good or worthy of placement on a DVD. Anderson & Blanchard vs. Sting & Dusty, Morton vs. Koloff, Mascaras vs. Cactus Jack, and Midnight Express vs. Rock n' Roll Express are all forgettable matches. The Anderson & Blanchard vs. Lugar & Windham NWA World Tag Title match is only borderline acceptable for a "best of" release.

The treasures on Disc 1 of this set are the Flair vs. Sting match from Clash of the Champions I and Flair vs. Funk from Clash of the Champions IX. Both matches feature hot crowds and Jim Ross on commentary, which is an excellent combination when it comes to a match worthy to be placed on this release.

One thing that was interesting when watching Flair's matches was that he waited a long time before working over his opponent's leg to set up the Figure 4. Flair's match against Sting is easily the best match on the disc with Sting being a huge fan favorite. It was interesting to watch this match again after so many years. Of course, J.J. Dillon is suspended in a cage high above the ring and a panel of judges including a Penthouse Pet are situated at ringside in case of draw.

I really enjoyed Sting's performance in the match as he showed a ton of fire and the last 30 seconds of the match are electric with Flair trying to resist submitting to the Scorpion Deathlock before time expires. Of course, the judges vote once for Flair and once for Sting with the third judge ruling the match a tie, so Flair retained the title.

The Flair-Funk non-title match from Clash of the Champions XI was also very good, although the drama didn't build quite as well as I remembered up to the point where Funk said, "I quit," to the Figure 4. It was still a heck of a match and listening to Ross on commentary was a real pleasure. Ross is simply the best wrestling commentator I've ever heard.

There are still two discs full of matches to go on this release, but I have to say early on that I'm disappointed that more effort wasn't put into making this a more well-rounded collection of matches and history lesson on the Clash of the Champions.

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