Loss Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Tomorrow is the 23-year anniversary of the first Clash of the Champions, if anyone would like to feel old. This is just intended to be a pure nostalgia thread for how great these specials were (most of the time) and how exciting it was to actually watch wrestling during the week at night! What are your favorite Clash matches and moments? The first Clash will always hold a special place with me because it's when I went from fan to super fan. In retrospect, it has importance because it was Crockett's last hurrah and probably the best show ever to air on TBS. My other standouts are pretty much usual suspects: Clash VII with the awesome Luger turn that blew my mind since Luger as a bad guy was something I'd only heard about at the time. Clash VIII with Funk and the plastic bag. Clash IX with Luger destroying Flair's Wrestler of the Decade trophy. Clash X with the Horsemen turn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Favorite Clash Matches: Steiners vs Hughes/Vader Midnights vs Fantastics Vader/Rude vs Sting/Flair Barry Windham vs 2 Cold The first match was just all Steiners throwing Vader and Hughes around like cruiserweights. Haven't seen Vader/Rude vs Sting/Flair in a while but I remember really like Rude in that match. My favorite moment was probably Harley Race and Paul Orndorff turning on Barbarian because he was friends with Cactus Jack. That or Doc/Gordy taking out the Puerto Rican team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blehschmidt Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 23 years, good lord, I remember watching it when I was 9! My biggest memory from the first one is Luger and Windham taking the tag team titles, as I was a huge Barry Windham fan back then! I think my favorite over all Clash memory is the Flair/Funk stuff from "New York Knockouts" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Douglas and Steamboat against Austin and Pillman at Clash 22 is pretty good. And at the next clash Flair and Arn vs. Austin and Pillman, 2 out of 3 falls. The Clashes of 1993 were generally better than the PPVs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 A few years back someone was selling a dvd set of every Clash for a ridiculously low price. I still always turn to it when I can't decide what to watch. I love the one at the Citadel that had Ranger Ross vs. "The Terrorist" in front of an all Army crowd going nuts. I also just re-watched Clash of the Champions 19 with the AWESOME Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes vs. Arn Anderson and Beautiful Bobby Eaton match. I wrote this about it over at DVDVR. This is one of those matches where every guy involved, including Paul E. on the outside, does all the little things that matter. It's such an awesome match. My favorite part is where Windham and Arn are doing the headlock into a head scissors spot and when Arn kicks out of the scissors and stands up, Barry just punches him in the face and Arn falls on his ass looking totally dazed. And Windham is the FACE with a TAPED FIST, but it's ok cause his fist is only taped because of Anderson and Zybysko having broken it in the car door months earlier. If this had been in ROH or many other promotions now they would have repeated the wrestling part of the spot about 13 times with various "flashy" alterations on the basic spot and it would've ended with some stupid Indy stand there looking at each other "respect" horseshit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Some of my earliest memories of watching really good wrestling are watching the clashes in 1991-92. Off the top of my head I remember Rhodes/Windham vs Steamboat/Douglas, Steamboat/Rhodes vs Enforcers, Sting vs Rude, Cactus vs Van Hammer. When Van Hammer's music video came on I was trying to figure out what happened to the wrestling program! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Mine is easily Rude winning the US Belt off of Sting and Bobby Eaton trying to delay the ambulance and all that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Clash XX was my first real exposure to WCW. That show is likely being best remembered as Andre's last appearance on U.S. television. I remember it being a really strong card, but recently I saw the main event for the first time (our tape of it stopped right as the heels were coming out) and it didn't hold up as well. I totally agree with Jerry that the '93 Clashes out performed the PPV counterparts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Clash XX was my first real exposure to WCW. That show is likely being best remembered as Andre's last appearance on U.S. television. I remember it being a really strong card, but recently I saw the main event for the first time (our tape of it stopped right as the heels were coming out) and it didn't hold up as well. I totally agree with Jerry that the '93 Clashes out performed the PPV counterparts. What was up with that? Did Andre and Vince have a falling out before he died? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kowking Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 If this had been in ROH or many other promotions now they would have repeated the wrestling part of the spot about 13 times with various "flashy" alterations on the basic spot and it would've ended with some stupid Indy stand there looking at each other "respect" horseshit. No, it probably would not have. They have grudge matches and blood feuds in ROH too, you know, where one wrestler betrays the code of honor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Clash XX was my first real exposure to WCW. That show is likely being best remembered as Andre's last appearance on U.S. television. I remember it being a really strong card, but recently I saw the main event for the first time (our tape of it stopped right as the heels were coming out) and it didn't hold up as well. I totally agree with Jerry that the '93 Clashes out performed the PPV counterparts. What was up with that? Did Andre and Vince have a falling out before he died? IIRC there was no falling out but Vince was taken by surprise and really upset about the appearance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob Naylor Posted March 27, 2011 Report Share Posted March 27, 2011 Best Clash moments: - Badstreet vs. Pillman was excellent at Fall Brawl 91 Clash - The crowd at the Troy NY Clash with Flair vs. Funk and Skyscrapers vs. Steiners was possibly the best live crowd ever for wrestling, so of course the WCW dipshits never held another live even there again. - The pop at the first Clash when Luger/Barry won the straps from Arn/Tully - Sid vs. Joey Maggs wimpy match - Austin vs. Pillman and Scorp vs. Scotty Flamingo from a random Clash. - Van Hammer's two bouts with Cactus kicked all kinds of ass. - Eddie Gilbert burning Trent Knight by accident when he missed Muta/Gary Hart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCampbell Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 Clash X (the first Clash I ever saw not on tape), Ole telling Sting that he's out of the Horsemen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 Clash X (the first Clash I ever saw not on tape), Ole telling Sting that he's out of the Horsemen.Flair's part is way better. "I TRIED TO TELL YOU! I BOUGHT YOU SOME TIME! NOW DO THE SMART THING! CANCEL THAT CONTRACT, GET OUT OF THIS BUSINESS, AND GET OUT OF OUR LIVES!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCampbell Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 Bad wording on my part, Bix. I meant the angle as a whole of Sting getting turfed from the Horsemen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 Obviously Clash 1 was one of the cool high points of tv wrestling in the 80s. MX-Fans was a blast, and holds up. Lex & Barry vs Arn & Tully had that amazing pop for the title change, and remained an entertaining match the last time I watched it. I'm less of a fan of Flair-Sting, but it was a big contrast to what the Evil WWF was doing that same day. Flair-Steamer on Clash 4 was epic. Those two are Usual Suspect answers. I wasn't as high on Flair-Funk as others at the time, and it's not really clicked anymore with me since. I enjoyed Steamboat returning for the tag title change at the time, I'm trying to remember the last time I watched it... one of those you worry about holding up because it was something of a "moment" that worked so well. Other less "big" things that I enjoyed: Lex's matches with Tommy Rich and Pillman in 1989. The Rich match was a massive disappointment on paper when announced, but ended up being way better than I expected. I really enjoyed Clash 18 at the time as a contrast between what WCW did well and what they didn't do well. Steiners vs Vader & Hughes was interesting. Pillman & Bagwell vs Taylor & Smothers was three pretty damn solid guys working around the overly pushed Bagwell in a Nitro-style match. Cactus vs Hammer was a watchable Cactus match. The top two matches focused on the Dangerous Alliance, loaded up with good workers. At the time you kind of wished they both went 15+ minutes and that the crap part of the card below (Badd-Morton, News-Page, Freebirds vs Armstrong & Josh, Vegas-Rich) was largely pitched. Instead, you probably could pop that show in now and treat it as a proto-Nitro. All the big stars of the promotion are on there. You don't really get a major PPV lengthed match. Guys try to get to their spots in the limited time they have. The good is pretty watchable. The bad is forgettable and you wonder why it's there, other than Creative thinking they need to roll a ton of stuff of there. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Morris Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Agreed that the Flair-Funk Clash match doesn't hold up so well. The GAB match is a much better match and that one holds up better... particularly for the post-match stuff with Muta and Sting and how the four men just keep brawling until it becomes quite clear to the heels that it's best to retreat and live to fight another day. The Steamboat/Dustin Rhodes vs. Arn/Zybysko match also holds up pretty nicely. Very good job of building heat and utilzing the tag team formula exactly how it's supposed to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flairchops Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 I loved those first 10 or so COTCs. I probably watched all of these a dozen times or more and got way more excited about Clashes than most PPVs. Matches the I loved from these early shows other than the big Sting/Flair, Flair/Steamboat, and Flair/Funk matches - Clash I Dusty Rhodes & The Road Warriors over Ivan Koloff & The Powers of Pain The Midnight Express over The Fantastics Lex Luger & Barry Windham over NWA Tag champs Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard Clash II Barry Windham over Brad Armstrong Dusty Rhodes & Sting over NWA Tag champs Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard Clash III Brad Armstrong battled Mike Rotundo to a draw Steve Williams & Nikita Koloff over The Sheepherders Ricky Morton over Ivan Koloff Clash IV The Fantastics over Eddie Gilbert & Ron Simmons Clash V The Midnight Express over The Russian Assassins Clash VI Steve Williams & Mike Rotundo over NWA Tag champs The Road Warrior Ranger Ross over The Iron Sheik Clash VII The Midnight Express over The Samoan Swat Team The Steiners over Kevin Sullivan & Mike Rotundo Clash VIII Lex Luger over Tommy Rich Ric Flair & Sting over The Great Muta & Dick Slater Clash IX Lex Luger over Brian Pillman Clash X The Steiners over Doom Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, & Ole Anderson over The Great Muta, The Dragon Master, & Buzz Sawyer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 I've always had a soft spot for the first Clash. I was grounded by my parents for something I did at school (can't remember what). My punishment was that I couldn't watch wrestling. On the day of the first Clash, my parents went somewhere and I had a babysitter. They didn't tell her about my punishment, so I got to watch the show. I switched between it and WMIV on scramble-vision. I was so happy to have got away with that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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