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WCW Clash of the Champions XXVI

Live from Baton Rouge, LA

Airdate: January 27, 1994

Attendance: 3,200 (1,600 paid)

Gene Okerlund welcomes us to "Cajun country." After receiving word through his earpiece Gene introduces...Bobby "The Brain" Heenan! Holy legendary hirings,Batman! Heenan was last seen getting thrown out of an arena on WWF Monday Night RAW on 12/6/93. What a great grab by WCW! Anyways, Gene compares Heenan to Tonya Harding with a "thin ice" joke. Heenan joins Tony Shiavone at ringside to call the action.

Match 1: Pretty Wonderful (w/ the Assassin) versus Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Too Cold Scorpio (w/ Teddy Long)

Highlights:

Rating: **

Summary: Not a bad opener. Bagwell and Scorpio will face the Nasty Boys for the tag titles onSaturday.

Match 2: Ice Train versus Ron Simmons

Highlights:

Rating: 1/2*

Summary: While it was a nice display of power wrestling by Ice Train his inexperience exposed him here.

Call the hotline after the show to speak directly to "The Brain!"

In a funny bit US Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin is dressed like Colonel Robert Parker while Parker wears a Hollywood Blonds t-shirt and trunks. Additionally, in an effort to mock the no-longer-employed by WCW Sid, the back of Parker's t-shirt reads "Col. Parker rules the world." Austin uses a thick Southern accent to reveal that he has a manager's license for tonight.

Gene then introduces the new commissioner of WCW--Nick Bockwinkel. WCW has now added a touch of classs to its leadership.

Match 3 for the WCW World TV title: Lord Steven Regal (champion w/ Sir William) versus "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes

Highlights:

Rating *1/2

Summary: Lots of mat wrestling here, so your mileage may vary. Regal's stalling made the draw all the more obvious. Dustin Rhodes continues to underwhelm me since his feud with Rick Rude ended.

Gene interviews Aaron Neville. His interview is as exciting and watching paint dry.

Don't miss SuperBrawl IV on February 20. It's subtitle is "Double Thundercage Live."

Match 4 (non-title): The Nasty Boys (w/ Missy Hyatt) versus Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne

Highlights:

Rating: **1/2

Summary: A tremendous upset by a unique team. This was a bar room brawl type of match minus weapons. More matches between these teams should they up the ante could be quite intriguing.

After the match Missy entered the ring but got kissed by both Payne and Jack.

Gene plugs the hotline. Next highlights of the match fromWCW Saturday Night (taped 12/13/93,aired 1/15/94) where Pillman beat Austin in a non-title match are shown. Before Parker can place the chicken head on Pillman with Austin assistance Dustin Rhodes rescued Pillman.

Match 5 (Loser wears a chicken suit on WCW Saturday Night): "Flyin'" Brian Pillman versus Colonel Robert Parker

Highlights:

Rating: *

Summary: This wasn't a bad comedy match, but it wasn't the blow-off match that the Hollywood Blonds deserved either.

Tony shills SuperBrawl IV on PPV. Two cage matches are scheduled: WCWWorld Champion Ric Flair will defend his title against former champion Vader as well as a six-man match.

Match 6 (Elimination tag team match): WCW World Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair and Sting versus WCW International World Champion "Ravishing" Rick Rude and Vader (w/ Harley Race)

Highlights:

Rating: ***

Summary: While quite entertaining the match lacked a certain something. The elimination rule appeared to be botched/rushed/whatever in an effort to reduce the participant count to two. I realize this match was set up as a prelude to the cage matches at SuperBrawl, but it left something to be desired. Another factor in the match was the absence of Rude's workrate. It appears that he was just satisfied becoming a World Champion because he didn't put forth a ton of effort while being champion. On the other hand, at least WCW sent the fans home happy.

Conclusion: Bobby Heenan's introduction to WCW was the only historically significant portion of the show. While Clash XXVI attempted to promote SuperBrawl it only accomplished so much. Conversely the promotion of the January 29th edition of WCW Saturday Night was tremendously strong with the offerings of seeing Colonel Parker in a chicken suit, Bagwell/Scorpio getting another title shot, and a bout between Johnny B. Badd and Shanghai Pierce where Pierce lost his mask. Unless you're a die-hard WCW fan like me take a pass on this show and fast-forward to SuperBrawl IV. See you soon with its review!

TV Rating: 3.50

Comments? Suggestions? Send them to me at rsg@rockstargary.com and follow me on Twitter (@rockstargary202).

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