[1995-01-25-WCW-Clash of the Champions XXX] Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage vs Kevin Sullivan & The Butcher

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[FLIK]

Heh, is this the infamous reviving elbow match?

 

I remember the Dungeon/Horsemen vs Hogan/Savage/Sting feud this morphed into that had Lex in the middle playing both sides producing some good matches but I don't recall this being one of them.

 

On a related note I was always bumed we never got Hogan vs Sullivan in a straight singles since that's what the whole feud was built on. Pure guess that Hogan wouldn't have wanted to sell a ton for a guy that short but it still would have been cool I thought.

[Loss]

This pre-dated the Dungeon of Doom and is pretty much here for the reviving elbow and the Vader/Hogan stuff in the post-match.

[FLIK]

This pre-dated the Dungeon of Doom

Hm, when did they officially take on that name?

I know Sullivan/Butcher/Avalanche had been a group for a while by this time

[Loss]

All the skits with King Curtis after Slamboree were what started the Dungeon of Doom. Avalanche was Shark at that point, and Butcher was Zodiac. At this point, they are just a nameless group.

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

Actually, they were known as the Three Faces of Fear, about a year before Meng and Barbarian.

[Loss]

Perhaps the most preposterous spot in wrestling history and one of the most preposterous segments in wrestling history too. Hogan is unconscious, so Savage does a big elbow to revive him. Suddenly, Hogan, who hasn't even broken a sweat, is a new man. From here to the finish, the match is pretty actively bad.

 

Vader runs in and knocks Savage out of the ring, as he wants a face-off with Hogan. Vader ends up powerbombing Hogan and splitting his pants in the process, but Hogan no-sells it before running Vader off.

 

Why would we even want a match between these two now? Hogan has taken his best shot and lived to not only tell about it, but run him off and pose to close out the show.

 

"You thought the 80s were hot? The 90s are gonna burn your feet! WCW, wow ..." -- Bobby Heenan, seemingly not aware that the decade is already halfway over, and possibly comparing WCW to a case of Athlete's Foot

[Tim Evans]

I think the no sell of Vader's powerbomb is worse than the no sell of the elbow. Hogan took that right on the shoulders and no sold it. Just awful and it makes Beefcake look more stupid selling the Elbow drop.

[El-P]

Seriously, how fucking stupid Hogan was ? He simply killed his feud with Vader in the post-match. It's dead. He took the powerbomb and got up no-selling it. Vader is a chump. Case closed. Damn Hogan was horrendous. For all the talk about him being a smart or at least an "efficient" worker, there are tons of occurence like these which showed Hogan was a dumb fuck who was just feeding his own ego. Like the reviving elbow wasn't retarded enough. Hogan shitting on two major finishers in the same match. Amazing. It gets up there with the Fingerpoke of Doom in godwaful infuriating Hogan moments. How can Savage could agree to be Hogan's bitch during his entire career is something I just don't get.

[PeteF3]

Abysmal match with a startling lack of heat for much of it. Savage vainly attempts to elevate this by bumping around and selling like a loon, but no dice. The big elbow spot is of course absurd, and I would have given anything for Butcher to pop up the same way at the finish. The reviving elbow was silly, but the post-match was actively destructive for business. It's to Vader's credit that he had enough built-up heat that SuperBrawl was a success anyway. The sad part is that up until Hogan's revival, the showdown with Vader no-selling Hogan's punches and overpowering him was really, really good.

 

Heenan declares that after SuperBrawl, Baltimore is going to look like Kobe, Japan. Well, at least he didn't say Hiroshima.

[DMJ]

Just saw this for the first time in my journey (which has now devolved into a weird form of masochism) through WCW in the 90s on the Network.

 

It is as bad as everyone says, but I feel like this could be Exhibit B in the case for Brutus Beefcake being one of the worst workers ever (Exhibit A would be the Starrcade 94' main event). I know some have defended his 80s work, and that might be true and all, but, man, he is just unbelievably, laughably bad here.

 

Recall, if you will, that the lead-in to Savage's ridiculous elbow drop on Hogan is that Beefcake, after applying his finishing move (one that he, we are to believe, is a MASTER of and has used to win countless matches), simply lays Hogan down and celebrates a victory he has not secured by ANY traditional method (like, say, pinning the Hulkster or having the referee lift his arm three times). Instead, he just assumes that he was won and celebrates by flexing his muscles.

 

I actually give some credit to Sullivan and Savage, though. While it is over-the-top, Savage's selling at least gives this match a bit of drama, and Sullivan's offense looks like Lesnar-level brutality compared to whatever Beefcake thought he was accomplishing.

 

Finally, Hogan's no-sell of Vader's powerbomb caps off one of the worst matches I've ever seen.

[BruiserBrody]

This felt like a precursor to every bad Nitro Hogan main event of the first 8 months of the show.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage vs The Butcher & Kevin Sullivan - Clash of the Champions January 1995

This is my first time watching this very infamous segment and I got to say that's what everyone was complaining about?!?! He did not no-sell the Vaderbomb. He no-sold a Powerbomb. Whoopty-fucking-doo! LOL! This whole time I thought he no-sold Vader's finish. I am generally pro-No-Selling. I dont think it would have been my choice as the booker to have Hogan no-sell the powerbomb, BUT it was just a Powerbomb, folks. It was NOT the Vaderbomb. It was NOT the Vadersault. I know anti-Hogan sentiment is very popular, but I am sorry this was not as egregious as many made it out to be. 

Now, the Reviving Elbow, which I thought they did at Slamboree and may be they do repeat it. I have a higher tolerance for camp in Pro Wrestling than most Pro Wrestling fans and initially I thought it was a cute segment. For those have not seen a lot of older pro wrestling, it was actually customary to revive fallen pro wrestlers that had succumbed to the Sleeper with a choke to the back. So this was a cute way to do it. Now, how does that jive with Savage using it as a finish and people selling it as such. It is hard to make that jive. I think I still like the spot (do not do it all the time obviously) but this one I can see having stronger complaints about. If you watch the November Clash, they did a great job building up the Sleeper so I think this was a good payoff to that. 

The rest match was solid. Nothing to write home about definitely not bad. Beefcake is atrocious. It is a real shame because best friend turning angles rule. I thought all the plot points were really good, I thought Hogan and Sullivan played their parts well, but they could not overcome just how fucking bad Beefcake is. The sad thing is I do not know if he is worse on the mic or in the ring. He has no redeemable aspects to him. I thought Macho Man selling and Sullivan's offense especially the Tree of Woe kept this entertaining enough that it was never bad. Hogan was good in the shine and hot tag. 

I think because this coincided with Starrcade it is more notorious, but it was basically a three month angle to get them from Flair to Vader. Three months in the grand scheme of things is not that bad. If you watch Starrcade 94 it is actually sold on whether Savage will be friend or foe with regards to Hogan, which is a much better selling point. Again, the focus is on Hogan & Savage and not what is a collection of what feels like midcard talent. November is a Sweeps month, but December and January are kinda dead months. By the time youre headed into February Sweeps you are going into Hogan/Vader which was their strongest possible match after Flair. Honestly, you knew that was coming at the end of Starrcade. I really dont think this as awful booking as people make it out to be. Is it Crockett 86? No! I am listening to JT & Chad breakdown Summer/Fall of 96 WWF and that sounds way, way worse.