Nitro Charged: WCW Clash of the Champions 33

Just under a week since Hog Wild, we're already knee deep in another big show for WCW. It's the 33rd edition of Clash of the Champions, the TBS WCW Special, emanating from Denver, Colorado tonight. Headline match sees Ric Flair challenge Hollywood Hulk Hogan for the WCW Title and a triangle tag match for the WCW Tag Team Titles as Harlem Heat defend against Sting & Luger and the Steiner Brothers.

-WCW CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: REY MYSTERIO JR. VS DEAN MALENKO-

Malenko gets in a snap suplex before the bell and drives an elbow to the throat of Rey. Rey slides out, goading Malenko to exit. this allows Rey to get back in, land a springboard elbow, and follows through with a baseball slide into a hurricanrana. Rey turns around an arm drag, then hits a springboard moonsault, covering for two. He hits a spinning wheel kick, sending Malenko in retreat once again.

Malenko follows up with an alley-oop of sorts, sending Rey throat-first into the ropes. Brainbuster follows. Cover, but Rey kicks out at two. Rey gets on the shoulders and tries a sunset flip, but Dean tries a punch, only to hit the floor. Roll up by Rey for two. Malenko transitions into a chinlock and a body scissor. Rey breaks free, but Malenko is right on him with a knee to the midsection as we go to commercial.  When we return, Malenko is still in control as he throws Rey to the ropes, only for Rey to land on the ropes. Malenko catches him, but Rey turns it around into a briding pin for two. Kind of sloppy, but a cool spot.

Malenko locks Rey into a leg grapevine. He follows witha flapjack that gets some wicked height. Slow to a cover, but Rey kicks out at two. Rey manages to send Malenko out of the ring, then dropkicks him through the ropes and follows with a massive senton over the ropes. Malenko throws him to the guardrail, but Rey jumps the rail and hits an impressive moonsault. Sloppy, but impressive. They return to the ring as Rey hits a big springboard dropkick, covering for two. Malenko tries a tilt-a-whirl, but gets countered by Rey. Rey then hits a frankensteiner, covering for two.

Malenko sets Rey up top for a super gut buster and lands it with massive impact. Cover and the three, but Rey got his foot on the rope. Referee Randy Anderson is forced to keep the match going as Rey hits a rolling cover for the three to retain in an awesome match, despite the controversial ending. Another classic from two of WCW's finest.

-HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN VS V.K. WALLSTREET-

After another Glacier vignette (still counting it as week 16) it's Irwin taking on Hacksaw. So that ring quality is taking a nosedive immediately. Hacksaw gets a good reaction with his USA chants. An exchange of wristlocks early on and some buckle rams on Irwin by Hacksaw. Arm drag and a clothesline from Hacksaw. He does the three point stance, but Irwin escapes the ring. He checks under the ring, then guillotines Hacksaw. Elbow drop and a cover, but Hacksaw kicks out immediately. We go into the chinlock, but Hacksaw escapes with ease. Irwin gets an elbow and covers, but Hacksaw still kicks out at one. Another chinlock, Hacksaw lands a stunner-like jawbreaker. Hacksaw lands some punches, then hits a big spinning scoop slam. He then wraps up the wtist tape, but the referee gets caught up, allowing Irwin to roll Hacksaw up for three in a match.

Mean Gene is backstage with the Nasty Boys. They've still been dogged about the NWO stuff, but they say they're still going to fight nasty. Knobbs says their loyalty stands with the Nastys, but the politics are screwed up. They're not in the triangle match tonight, but they'll have to make a nasty statement tonight. Regardless if it's the Steiners, Harlem Heat, or Sting and Luger, they'll bash some heads tonight.

-KONNAN VS ULTIMO DRAGON-

Dragon tries to intimidate Konnan with some spin kicks, but Konnan would rather jaw jack the crowd. Dragon jumps out of a headscissors, but Konnan clubs him with a clothesline. Konnan ties him up and locks in a submission. Dragon escapes, but Konnan hits a shoulder block. Dragon escapes, asking for a time out. He converses with Sonny Oono and returns to the ring. Dragon dropkicks Konnan on the outside and Oono gets in some kicks. Konnan grabs Oono as Dragon lands an apron ax handle. Somehow there's no disqualification as Dragon returns to the ring and hits a moonsault to the back and a mahistral cradle for two. He follows with a suplex, but Konnan rolls him up with a hold of the tights for three. Post-match he boots Dragon. A super fast match, which felt a bit sloppy, but Dragon looked super impressive.

We see Ice Train at the WCW Compuserve center, answering questions, when suddenly Scott Norton blindsides him with a clothesline.

-MENG VS "MACHO MAN" RANDY SAVAGE-

Savage's music plays for a while, but there's no sign of him from the entrance way. Mean Gene grabs the microphone and makes his way to the ring. He informs Nick Patrick that Meng must win via a forfeit due to Savage not being here after Hogan laid him out with the chair shot on Nitro. So, that happened I guess. 

Interview time with Mean Gene and The Dungeon of Doom. He doesn't like Savage and he's been hitting people with chairs his whole career. But he was right about Hogan all this time. He chastises Okerlund for being on the Hogan bandwagon. Gene then kind of makes a shot at Thunder in Paradise, which is something for Gene. As they rant, here's Braun the Leprechaun, running around the ring and drooling.

Wrestling is weird.

-BULL NAKANO VS MADUSA-

Madusa starts with some kicks and chops, but she misses the dropkick, allowing Nakano to get in a massive hair drag. She follows through with a second. She then pulls out some nunchucks and strikes Madusa in the midsection while the referee is distracted by Sonny Oono. Splash and a cover only gets two. Madusa hits a really bad cross body, then gets a trio of hairpull slams. Cover, but only two. Some woman in the crowd can be heard screaming "Come on Madusa, kick her in her fat ass" as Madusa goes for a sunset flip, but Nakano drops her weight, covering for two. She then goes up, but Madusa dropkicks her and hits a flying ax handle, crashing into Sonny Oono. Nakano brings Madusa back in, and calls for Oono, who accidentally kicks her, allowing Madusa to roll up Nakano for the three in a decent match. The two have definitely had much better.

Mean Gene backstage with Flair, Woman and Elizabeth. Flair says that tonight it's the nature boy, the girls, the four horsemen and the NWO. A 13 time champ taking on a one time NWO champ. It's another very rambly Flair promo as he says that tonight he'll walk that aisle and be the best. Hogan's changed his outfit, but not his makeup. Nash and Hall try to run in, they'll deal with the enforcer and the Mongo.

-BATTLEBOWL TITLE: EDDIE GUERRERO VS DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE-

Eddie is in control early, until he ends up running full force into a steel post. This allows Page to choke Eddie with his boot. He follows that up with a gutbuster. Heenan is annoyed that Page isn't working the arm after the post ram. He instead lands another tilt-a-whirl slam, covering for two. Page wastes no time and locks in a chinlock, using the ropes for leverage. This leads into an arm drop spot, but Eddie recovers and breaks free and sweeps the leg. Exchange of punches with Eddie winning out. Slingshot plancha from Eddie over the ropes as Eddie covers for two. Page hits a jawbreaker and follows with a sitout powerbomb for two. He sets Eddie up for a superplex, but Eddie knocks him down and lands a frogsplash for the three. Eddie wins the Battleboawl ring in a fast, but decent match.

Then, like a fool, he shakes Page's hand, which leads to Page hitting a diamond cutter and getting his heat back. He throws the referee out and hits a second diamond cutter. Chavo comes to Eddie's aid, but Page shoves him off and hits a third diamond cutter off the top rope to Eddie. Eventually Page leaves.

But nevermind that, it's Hollywood-Senpai's time. He has Okerlund by the shoulder and is screaming at him for his burial of Thunder in Paradise. The NWO rules, so he'd better watch his step. He hears all of Flair's fans, and in due time he's going shut all those chumps up. Because Flair, in all his glory, couldn't lace his boots. 13 is an unlucky number. Only one man will be the Babe Ruth, the Michael Jordan and the Hollywood Hogan of wrestling. Ric Flair brags about styling and profiling, but with the NWO, that's just standard procedure. He tries to get "Stupid Little Man" over again with Ric. He then tells Gene to stay out of his face.

-CHRIS BENOIT VS THE GIANT-

Woman grabs at Benoit's vest, allowing Giant to hit a dropkick. Massive chokeslam and a cover for three. So, all that buildup of Benoit taking out Ron Studd on Nitro amounted to nothing.

-TRIANGLE MATCH FOR THE WCW TAG TITLES: STING & LEX LUGER VS THE STEINER BROTHERS VS HARLEM HEAT-

No sign of Colonel Parker tonight after the issues from their past two title defenses. Only Sherri is in their corner as they make it to the ring. But, nevermind that. Colonel Parker makes it to ringside with a determined look on his face. One two legal men can enter at one time with one team being left at ringside. Anyone can tag anyone. First fall will give us a winner. Scott Steiner and Booker T start with Booker getting in a side kick. Booker goes up top, but gets thrown groin-first into the ropes, allowing Luger to clothesline him off. Harlem Heat regroup on the outside. Tag to Stevie and a surprising tag from Scott to Lex Luger. Stevie beats down on Luger in the corner, until Luger fires back with punches and boots of his own.  Clothesline from Luger. Stevie ducks a clothesline, but Rick Steiner comes up with one to both men. Bulldog off the top and a cover, but Luger breaks it. Side kick from Stevie.

After a commercial break, it's Booker and Rick in. Rick hits a slam as Sting tags in and lands a flying chop on to Booker. Cover, but only two. Sting manages to hiptoss Booker over the ropes, but referee Nick Patrick says it's unintentional. Impartiality from the controversial official. Press slam and a cover, but Stevie saves it for his team. Tag to Luger who lands an ax handle to the back of Booker and follows with a nice suplex. Cover, but Stevie again breaks it. Tag to Stevie Ray who rakes the eyes of Sting and beats him down as Sting is now legal again.

Scott Steiner tags himself in and it's now Steiner and Sting. Scott applies a hammerlock, but it turns into a headlock and shoulder block spot, then into a stun gun sending Scott throat-first into the ropes. Flying clothesline by Sting who covers, but Rick makes the save. Luger and Rick brawl for a bit, but Nick Patrick controls it.

Scorpion Death Drop by Scott. He then hits the underhook slam and a cover, but Luger makes the save. Tag to Rick who works on Sting, but Luger tags in. Both men brawl as Bobby Heenan is confused by the rules, thinking Harlem Heat need to be pinned to lose the belts. Luger collides into the buckle and gets hit with a German suplex. Tag to Scott, who lands a belly to belly suplex. He goes up, but Luger catches him and locks a torture rack. Rick makes the save as Sting brawls. Booker comes back in with a side kick. As everyone brawls outside, Steiner lands a frankensteiner.

Cover, but Nick Patrick looks over to the Outsiders at ringside and calls for a DQ. Scott is pissed and about to lay out Nick Patrick. He tries to explain the NWO's interference was the reason for the DQ, and as such, Harlem Heat retain the titles. Good match, if not a bit chaotic. Not really a fan of the triangle match booking as it leads to some messy stuff. But at least it wasn't a majority "face in peril" tag match. Good continuity with the questionable decisions of Nick Patrick.

Gene interviews Nick Patrick who says that any rule book says that outside interference is a disqualification. Gene argues that the Outsiders never got in the ring. Patrick says that what makes a referee great is to see two things at once. It's a bad break for the Steiners, but he followed the book to the T. There's been unfortunate incidents, but he's totally innocent. WCW All the way.

-WCW/NWO WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: RIC FLAIR VS "HOLLYWOOD" HULK HOGAN-

 It's the main event as Ric Flair and Hogan renew their rivalry. Giant's nameplate still on the belt BTW. Though this time it makes more sense. Lots of stalling early on. Headlock by Flair, taking Hogan down who tries to roll him up for two. Hogan jaw jacks Elizabeth and Woman as Flair reapplies the headlock. Hogan sets him on the top buckle, but Flair comes back with a slap to the face. Hogan takes Flair down and locks in a hammerlock, then goes for a whip. Flair ducks a clothesline and lands some chops and strikes, sending Hogan down and out of the ring to regroup.

Flair goes outside to brawl before returning to the ring. Hogan calls a test of strength until Flair bites the gloved hand. Flair and Hogan brawl some more, with Hogan flipping Flair over the ropes and to the outside. Hogan rakes the eyes then throws Flair into the steel post. Hogan breaks the count and argues with Woman and Elizabeth some more. He rakes the back and throws Flair back in. He beats down on Flair with some more rights, then throws Flair over again. Flair ducks a clothesline and gets a shot on Hogan. Suplex by Flair. But Hogan hulks up, which makes no sense to do as a heel. Hogan blocks the punches and lands some more and nails the boot. Leg drop is avoided by Flair who locks a figure four. Hogan tries to turn it, but Flair rolls out.

Hogan throws the referee out of the way as Hall and Nash come in to assault Flair. The Horsemen, Sting and Luger quickly chase the heels off. Flair wins by DQ, but Hogan is still the champ. Basic Hogan/Flair work, but it was fine for what it is. Hogan still doing his face-ish work doesn't make sense if his intent is to be hated. Either way, it still continues the stories going forward.

Clash of the Champions 33 was alright. Can't say the in-ring was super amazing throughout. Rey and Malenko was a hot opener, if not a bit sloppy in places. Hacksaw/Irwin was a nothing match, as was Benoit/Giant. Seemed pointless to advertise Savage/Meng if it didn't happen either. Konnan/Dragon disappointed as I thought they could have put on a better outing, same with Madusa and Bull Nakano. Eddie getting the shock win on DDP to take the Battlebowl ring was a nice moment... until Eddie looked like an idiot and Page got his heat back. Then there's the main events which were both okay. The Triangle match was messy, but could have been worse. I like the continuing conspiracy involving Nick Patrick. And the main event was standard Hogan/Flair stuff. Overall, not the hottest night of action, but a good show in continuing storylines going forward. A B rating for Clash 33.