Clash of the Champions

The Clash of the Champions were a series of professional wrestling television specials aired by World Championship Wrestling. The specials were supercards intended to feature pay-per-view caliber matches, similar to World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) Saturday Night's Main Event. 
The first Clash of the Champions was held on March 27, 1988 by Jim Crockett Promotions and was entitled NWA: Clash of Champions. Jim Crockett Promotions was sold to Ted Turner and renamed World Championship Wrestling in 1988, and in 1991, World Championship Wrestling withdrew from the NWA, whereupon the Clash of Champions event was renamed Clash of the Champions. WCW continued to air the events until 1997. The rights to Clash of the Champions now belong to WWE.
==History==
Through 1987 and 1988, a bitter event scheduling war broke out between rival wrestling promoters Vince McMahon and Jim Crockett, Jr. On Thanksgiving night 1987, McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF) aired Survivor Series against Starrcade from Crockett's National Wrestling Alliance (NWA): two pay-per-view (PPV) events on the same day. At that time, many cable companies could only offer one live PPV event at a time, and furthermore were presented with an edict from the WWF saying that any cable company that chose to carry Starrcade would be barred from carrying any future WWF events. Hence, the proven WWF PPV was cleared 10-1 over Starrcade. 
Following this incident, McMahon was warned by the PPV industry not to schedule PPV events simultaneously with the NWA again. However, he was still not willing to fully cooperate with Crockett, and on January 24, 1988, another scheduling conflict took place between the WWF and NWA. The NWA presented the Bunkhouse Stampede on PPV, while on the same night, the WWF aired the first ever Royal Rumble for free on the USA Network.
In 1988, with the WWF's WrestleMania IV around the corner, Crockett decided to give McMahon a taste of his own medicine. He would develop his own PPV-caliber event and air it for free on TBS. The result was the Clash of the Champions.
On March 27, 1988 – the same night as WrestleMania - the first Clash of the Champions aired. The first show was of PPV caliber and it made Sting a star after he wrestled NWA World Champion Ric Flair to a 45-minute draw. WCW would repeat the practice again the following year with a Clash coinciding with the WWF's WrestleMania V. Although the main event of NWA Champion Ricky Steamboat defeating Ric Flair in a best of three falls match was widely considered the best wrestling match that took place among the two promotions on that day, ratings and attendance for the event fell well below expectations and the practice of conflicting major events would cease until the Monday Night Wars began in 1995. 
Clash events continued on a sporadic basis over the next nine years, quickly changing focus to become a free marketing vehicle for NWA/WCW PPV events, similar to the WWF's Saturday Night's Main Event. WCW aired the 35th and last Clash of the Champions on August 21, 1997.
==NWA Clash of the Champions dates and venues==
Event 	Date 	City 	Venue
Clash of the Champions I 	March 27, 1988 	Greensboro, North Carolina	Greensboro Coliseum
Clash of the Champions II 	June 8, 1988 	Miami, Florida 	James L. Knight Center
Clash of the Champions III 	September 7, 1988 	Albany, Georgia 	Albany Civic Center
Clash of the Champions IV 	December 7, 1988 	Chattanooga, Tennessee 	UTC Arena
Clash of the Champions V 	February 15, 1989 	Cleveland, Ohio 	CSU Convocation Center
Clash of the Champions VI 	April 2, 1989 	New Orleans, Louisiana 	Louisiana Superdome
Clash of the Champions VII 	June 14, 1989 	Fort Bragg, North Carolina	Ritz-Epps Fitness Center
Clash of the Champions VIII	September 12, 1989	Columbia, South Carolina 	Carolina Coliseum
Clash of the Champions IX 	November 15, 1989 	Troy, New York 	Houston Field House
Clash of the Champions X 	February 6, 1990 	Corpus Christi, Texas 	Corpus Christi
Clash of the Champions XI 	June 13, 1990 	Charleston, South Carolina	McAlister Field House
Clash of the Champions XII 	September 5, 1990 	Asheville, North Carolina 	Asheville Civic Center
Clash of the Champions XIII	November 20, 1990 	Jacksonville, Florida 	Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum
==WCW Clash of the Champions dates and venues==
Event 	Date 	City 	Venue
Clash of the Champions XIV 	January 30, 1991 	Gainesville, Georgia 	Georgia Mountains Center
Clash of the Champions XV 	June 14, 1991 	Knoxville, Tennessee 	James White Civic Coliseum
Clash of the Champions XVI 	September 5, 1991	Augusta, Georgia 	Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center
Clash of the Champions XVII 	November 19, 1991	Savannah, Georgia 	Savannah Civic Center
Clash of the Champions XVIII 	January 21, 1992 	Topeka, Kansas 	Kansas Expo Center
Clash of the Champions XIX 	June 22, 1992 	Charleston, South Carolina 	McAlister Field House
Clash of the Champions XX 	September 2, 1992	Atlanta, Georgia 	Center Stage Theater
Clash of the Champions XXI 	November 18, 1992	Macon, Georgia 	Macon Coliseum
Clash of the Champions XXII 	January 13, 1993 	Milwaukee, Wisconsin 	The Mecca
Clash of the Champions XXIII 	June 16, 1993 	Norfolk, Virginia 	Norfolk Scope
Clash of the Champions XXIV 	August 18, 1993 	Daytona Beach, Florida 	Ocean Center
Clash of the Champions XXV 	November 10, 1993	St. Petersburg, Florida 	Bayfront Arena
Clash of the Champions XXVI 	January 27, 1994 	Baton Rouge, Louisiana 	Riverside Centroplex
Clash of the Champions XXVII 	June 23, 1994 	North Charleston, South Carolina	North Charleston Coliseum
Clash of the Champions XXVIII	August 28, 1994 	Cedar Rapids, Iowa 	Five Seasons Center
Clash of the Champions XXIX 	November 16, 1994	Jacksonville, Florida 	Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum
Clash of the Champions XXX 	January 25, 1995 	Las Vegas, Nevada 	Caesars Palace
Clash of the Champions XXXI 	August 6, 1995 	Daytona Beach, Florida 	Ocean Center
Clash of the Champions XXXII 	January 23, 1996 	Las Vegas, Nevada 	Caesars Palace
Clash of the Champions XXXIII	August 15, 1996 	Denver, Colorado 	Denver Coliseum
Clash of the Champions XXXIV 	January 21, 1997 	Milwaukee, Wisconsin 	Wisconsin Center Arena
Clash of the Champions XXXV 	August 21, 1997 	Nashville, Tennessee 	Nashville Municipal Auditorium
==WWE Clash of Champions dates and venues==
Event 	Date 	City 	Venue
Clash of Champions 2016	September 25, 2016	Indianapolis, Indiana 	Bankers Life Fieldhouse
Clash of Champions 2017	December 17, 2017 	Boston, Massachusetts 	TD Garden
Clash of Champions 2019	September 15, 2019	Charlotte, North Carolina	Spectrum Center
Clash of Champions 2020	September 27, 2020	Orlando, Florida 	Amway Center
==DVD==
File:Clash of the Champions DVD cover.jpg|Clash of the Champions boxset on DVD
==Logos==
Clash of the Champions Logo.jpg
WWE Clash of Champions logo.png
==See also==
*National Wrestling Alliance
*World Championship Wrestling
*World Wrestling Entertainment
==External Links==
* on WWE Network
* WWE Clash of Champions on WWE Network
Clash of the Champions
NWA
Clash of the Champions
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events
Category:Clash of Champions