From: v070qg5d@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Eric M Chmiel)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling
Subject: Clash Review: The Worst Clash in TBS History
Keywords: Horrible, Horrendous, Embarrassing, etc.
Date: 19 Nov 92 05:01:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41


   Just finished watching the Clash on TBS, and I am totally disgusted
with WCW.  This was the worst CoC ever, and though I still don't want to
see interest in WCW drop off to nothing, if it did it would be nobody's
fault but their own.  There is no doubt that at least two of the matches
were intentionally booked to be lousy, which I'll get to in a second.

    Match 1: Pillman vs. Armstrong.  Pillman comes out on crutches and
talks to Jesse Ventura.  Armstrong joins them and Pillman tells him he 
suffered an injury and now knows how Brad felt at the last Clash.  He says
he's sorry for hitting Brad at the last Clash as well, and that if Brad wants
to, he can slap Pillman in the face.  As Brad is deciding what to do, Pillman
takes the crutch and breaks it over Brad's knee.  Of course, once they get
into the ring, Brad is selling the shot to the knee so much that he does no
moves of any note whatsoever.  Amazingly, Pillman gets the pin in about (no
lie) 30 seconds!!  Thank you Bill Watts for taking the most promising bout
on the card and making it a washout.  Why would he do something so stupid as
to intentionally book a match to be lousy on a national TV event?  This match
was a total waste of two great atheletes.  Rating: DUD.

    Match 2: Sasaki/Watts vs. Arn/Bobby.  Watts had several elaborate moves
worked out and blew every one of them.  No way is he ready to work at the level
hes being pushed at.  He *really* looked lost.  At times he hesitated as if
confused.  This hurt because the other three were totally unspectacular.
Rating: 1/2*

    Match 3: Badd boxes Flamingo: Flamingo came out with the Vegas Connection,
Badd with Teddy Long.  After round one, DD Page filled Flamingo's glove with
water(?) and Flamingo got the knockout in a terrible spectacle.  It's so hard
to pull a boxing punch without making it look totally rigged, and these two
blew several punches totally.  They'll have to call him Johnny B. Worse after
this.  Rating: DUD

    Match 4: Simmons and Walker vs. Atlas/Barbarian/Cactus.  Simmons shows up 
with a different partner.  At first I thought, "Are they so hard up they can't 
even get *Robbie Walker* to show up?"  Then I saw the guy work.  UNBELIEVABLE!
He did a dive over the ropes onto the heels outside the ring a la Liger.  Then
he was doing all kinds of wild flips and spinning kicks that occasionally missed
the target but were great to watch.  He pinned Atlas after doing an absolutely
positively remarkable complete flip onto him.  He faced frontward on the top
rope and did a complete flip like a high diver does (holding his knees in)
so that he landed on Atlas's stomach.  That move is easily the equal of
anything Liger has ever done.  It's better than the moonsalt.  Flame away, but
there's no denying the guy was amazing.  After the bout, he said his name was
Stone Cold Scorpio, or something else silly.  But OH MY!  He's very green, but
he was still great.  Wow.  Everybody sucked except this guy.  Rating: *** for
"THE MOVE" off the top rope.  Scorpio blew a couple moves, but some of the
others were remarkable.

    Drawing for Battlebowl. I'm massively confused.  The match: they drew
Dan Spivey and Van Hammer vs. Cactus Jack and Johnny B. Badd.  Pardon me?
Then, during the drawing, they had a split screen with Steve Austin, Tex
Slesinger, Shanghai Pierce, and a man who appeared to me (maybe I'm wrong)
to be Paul Orndorff.  No explanation given.

    Match 5: Madusa vs. Paul E.  The jobber that Steve Austin knocked out on
WCW Saturday Night (who earlier had said he wasn't paid for the sparring
session with Paul E. last week) came out dressed as Madusa.  Paul E. knocked
him out with the phone.  Paul E. of course thought he knocked out Madusa.
Then, with absolutely no suspense whatsoever, Madusa strolls out to the ring,
and the match commenced.  They looked like they didn't know what they were  
doing, moving around very slowly with no emotion.  It ended when Paul E.
ran from the ring and Madusa chased him until the time limit expired.  How
completely goddamn stupid.  She pulled his pants off right before the limit
expired.  He had on white pants underneath(?).  Rediculous.  Rating: DUD.

    Match 6: Rude vs. Sting.  I am convinced Watts told them to put on a bad
match.  It was that obvious.  They were so lethargic you'd think the match
was being held posthumously.  They made Baba look like Manami Toyota out 
there.  Horrendous.  They spent most of the match trading (God help us) 
*camel clutches*.  There is no way on national TV these two could have worked  
the match this badly unless a) one was seriously injured (didn't appear so), 
or b) they were told to work a bad match. Zbyszko, Ole, and Hiro Matsuda
judged the match in case it went to the 20 minute time limit, which of course
it did.  Matsuda and Ole ruled for Sting, Zbyszko for Rude.  Sting advances
to the King of Cable final to be held at BattleBowl.  Rating: 1/2*.

    Match 7: Dustin/Barry vs. Steamboat/Douglas.  No heat at all (after that
Sting/Rude match I don't blame them).  Barry and Steamboat yelled threats at
each other all night.  Dustin accidentally hit Steamboat with a low blow.
Steamboat was incapacitated, writhng in pain, but Dustin wouldn't pin him.
He tried to help Steamboat, but Barry kept screaming "PIN HIM! PIN HIM!"
Dustin and Barry argued until Barry slapped Dustin's hand and got into the
ring, but Barry couldn't get a pin.  Finally after a reverse atomic drop
Barry tried for a pin but Dustin made the save!  This resulted in a fistfight
in which Dustin and Barry traded blows. While Steamboat got the tag to
Douglas, Dustin hit Barry with a haymaker.  Barry staggered into Douglas's
waiting belly-to-belly and Douglas got the pin!  We have new unified champs!
After the bout, Dustin and Barry brawled and Barry got the best of him.  Then,
while Jesse was interviewing Steamboat and Douglas, Barry came in and
really tagged both of them pretty stiffly with a chair.  He rammed their heads 
into the lockers  and got in more shots with the chair.  I guess the heel turn 
is complete.  Thank God for Barry.  He really made a horrible evening end on a
positive note.  Rating for match: **1/2.  Rating for post match: ***1/2.

    Even Barry and that Stone Cold Sorpio guy couldn't save ths clash.  I am
totally disappointed with WCW.  After the crowd really reacted to Scorpio's
flying (only Sting's entrance got a bigger pop) it escapes how they can keep
booking matches to be intentionally bad.  Absolutely awful.  It's getting to
where they really need to do something fast to improve the product, or they
will be very, very sorry.  Overall Grade: D.  Yuck.
    BTW, here's an item that truly deserves to be called a footnote: they
had a taped segment of the new tag team of Johnny Gunn and Tom Zenk buying
suits at a tailor(?).  The two will be pushed as a team.  Maybe if they
hang around awhile, then do a vicious heel turn and take somebody like Kevin
Sullivan (with his old Satan-worshipper gimmick) as their manager, they can
become something.  Otherwise, as a face team they'll be jobbing for the Vegas
Connection by mid-December.
    A really bad event overall.

**************************************************
Eric Chmiel***************************************
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Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling