-Today we look at Clash of the Champions XXVIII from WCW.
-Clash XXVIII was shown on TBS on August 24, 1994 from the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There were 4,200 in attendance.
-Presented in the most complete form possible. It must have been the National Anthem performance or something at the beginning because we open with The Nasty Boys headed to the ring. Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan are the announcers for the event.
-The Nasty Boys Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags vs. Pretty Wonderful Paul Orndorff and Paul Roma: Pretty Wonderful are the tag champions, but they bill this as a grudge match. A Nasty chant goes out. Knobbs and Orndorff start. They lock up. Nasty Boys with the early advantage. They beat both Paul's around. Knobbs knocks Orndorff down. Sags and Roma tagged in. Roma slammed down. More double teaming. Pretty Wonderful isolates Sags outside and beats him down. They choke Sags with a TV cord. Sags thrown over a barricade. Back and forth on the outside. Sags ran into the ring post. Sags thrown in and Roma slams him. Orndorff tagged in and stomps Sags. He gets a chin lock on. Roma tagged in. He knocks Sags around. Roma with a chin lock. Sags up, but Pretty Wonderful quickly knocks him back down. Roma gets a two count. Orndorff tagged in. He gets Sags down. Roma tagged in and gets a dropkick for a two count. Orndorff back in. He goes for a piledriver, but Sags turns it into a backdrop. Knobbs tagged in and cleans house. Pretty Wonderful double team Knobbs to knock him down. Pretty Wonderful do the suplex and swan dive on Knobbs, but Sags hits Orndorff with an elbow drop from the top rope to get the pin. That was just a mess.
-Mean Gene Okerlund brings out Hulk Hogan. Jimmy Hart comes out first and then Hulk Hogan. As soon as Hogan comes out, a man in black comes from behind and hits Hogan in the knee with a pipe. Hogan is down. Officials out to check on Hogan. They scream for help. A Hogan chant goes out. They put a brace on the knee. They bring out a stretcher. They say they are searching for the person who did it. They load Hogan up to go to the hospital.
-United States Championship Match. Steve Austin vs. Ricky Steamboat: Steamboat suffers a career ending injury in this match. Steamboat out first and does his fire breathing gimmick. Austin comes out, and he is looking more and more like Stone Cold every day. They say the disqualification rule is waived as they show Hulk Hogan being loaded into an ambulance. Eric Bischoff gets in with them, and I can tell you that doesn't happen. The bell rings, and they circle each other. Austin with a side headlock takeover. Steamboat back to his feet, and Austin complains about hair pulling. Steamboat says no. They slap each other. Austin slapped down in the corner. Steamboat with a side headlock takeover. They ask one of their production people what happened to Hogan. Back and forth. Steamboat with a series of chops. He follows it up with dropkicks. He gets a slam for a two count. Steamboat with an arm bar. He gets a roll up for a two count. They trade counts. Steamboat with an arm drag back into an arm bar. They keep showing Barry Darsow as the Blacktop Bully in the crowd. Steamboat back to the arm bar. Austin throws Steamboat out between the ropes. Steamboat drags Austin out with him. Steamboat with a throat thrust to Austin. Austin with a sleeper. Steamboat reverses, so Austin hits what will become known as the Stunner to Steamboat. They say Sting has boarded a chartered airplane from Chicago after what has happened to Hulk Hogan, and I think we are slipping into the ridiculous. They trade moves. Austin ran into a corner. Austin's arm jammed into the ropes. Steamboat back to the arm bar. Austin gets Steamboat down. Back and forth. Austin with a two count. They subtly try to allude to it being Curt Hennig who attacked Hulk Hogan as Steamboat chops Austin. They trade counts. Austin drops a knee from the second rope. He follows it up with a suplex for a two count. Steamboat puts Austin on the top rope, and goes for a superplex, but Austin headbutts him off. Austin goes up top, but gets crotched by Steamboat. He goes for the superplex again, but Austin slams Steamboat off. Steamboat catches Austin with a shot as he comes off. Steamboat goes for a crossbody, but Austin slams him to the mat. Austin taunts and slaps Steamboat. Steamboat comes back. Steamboat attacks Austin. He chops Steamboat down. He gets a two count. He gets a spinebuster and gets a series of two counts. Back and forth. Steamboat gets an inside cradle to become the new US champion.
-Mean Gene, Tony, and Bobby talk about the attack on Hulk Hogan. They show Hogan arriving at the hospital. Eric Bischoff says Hogan felt something snap in his knee. Gene says he will try to talk to WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel.
-They shown the Honky Tonk Man's latest video as he is coming to WCW. I'm sure all involved regret that in hindsight.
-Mean Gene talks to Nick Bockwinkel and recaps what has happened so far. Bockwinkel says if Hulk Hogan can't make the match, he would have to relinquish the title.
-Flashback to what led to the next match. This to me is Dusty's best promo, even as good as the Hard Times promo is. He has them eating out of the palm of his hand here, and the emotion is unmatched.
-Bunkhouse Buck and Terry Funk with Col. Robert Parker and Meng vs. Dusty and Dustin Rhodes: They start brawling as soon as Dusty and Dustin get to the ring. The heels knocked to the outside of the ring. They regroup with Meng. Buck in against Dustin. Dustin gets Buck down. The heels get Dustin in their corner. Dustin cleans house on the heels. Dusty tagged in. He hits Buck with the elbow, and he wants Funk. Buck beats Dusty in the corner. Dusty with a double elbow to the heels. Dustin tagged in and hit a power slam on Buck for a two count. Buck takes his boot off and hits Dustin with it. Funk tagged in. He hits Dustin with a series of headbutts. Dusty tagged in, but referee Randy Anderson didn't see it and won't allow it. Buck goes up top to hit Dustin with his boot, but Dustin ducks and Funk gets hit instead. Dusty tagged in. Parker up on the apron, and Arn Anderson comes in. Anderson trips Dusty. Funk and Buck are trying to break Dusty's arm. Dustin tagged in. He gets both heels down and hits the lariat on Buck. He runs the heels into Dusty's elbow. Dustin with the bulldog to Buck, and Anderson comes in for the disqualification and DDTs Dustin. Anderson gets blasted by Dusty, but Meng comes in. Dusty goes out and gets a chair. He hits Meng with the chair, and it does nothing like Big Bubba Rogers in 1986. He puts a nerve hold on Dusty as Anderson and Funk keep Dustin away. Officials and wrestlers come out, but they are being kept away. They finally get the heels off Dusty.
-Eric Bischoff at the hospital, and Henry Holmes, Hulk Hogan's lawyer, says Hogan is in x-ray, and he has advised Hogan to relinquish the belt, but Hogan says he is determined to wrestle.
-Mean Gene talks to Ric Flair. He comes out with Sherri. Flair says he wants Hogan to walk down the aisle and give the belt to him. They say Hogan is on his way back to the building.
-Challenge Match. Lord Steven Regal with Sir William vs. Antonio Inoki: Regal and Sir William out first. Inoki jogs out and gets a respectable ovation. Regal attacks him immediately to prevent him from getting in the ring. Referee Nick Patrick makes Regal get back. They lock up. Regal with a front face lock. Inoki gets to the ropes and comes back with chops to Regal. Regal gets Inoki down. They trade holds. Regal back to the front face lock, and they get into the ropes again. Regal with a headbutt to get Inoki down. Inoki comes back with a front face lock. They trade shots. Regal choking Inoki. He kicks Inoki to the apron. Inoki comes back in and gets Regal down. Inoki with an arm hold. They trade moves as Hulk Hogan is shown arriving back at the arena. Back and forth in the ring. Inoki with a takedown. Regal gets to the ropes. Nick Bockwinkel joins commentary and says Hogan has decided to wrestle. Regal with an arm bar. Inoki powers out. He gets a sleeper on Regal. Regal back with a front face lock. They trade holds. Inoki gets the choke sleeper on and Regal goes out. Inoki wins.
-WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match. Hulk Hogan with Jimmy Hart and Brother Bruti vs. Ric Flair with Sensuous Sherri: Flair out first and gets more boos than I thought he would. He gets on the mic and tells Hogan to bring him the title now. Michael Buffer makes the introductions. Hogan's music hits. He finally comes out. He gets a great ovation. His knee is bandaged heavily. He gets helped into the ring and attacks Flair right away. He beats on Flair, who still has his robe on. Flair chokes Hogan, who hulks up. Hogan chokes Flair with his bandanna and bites Flair. The crowd loves it. Flair up and over on the corner to the outside so TASIYDAH. They fight out to the floor. Flair ran into a barricade. He throws Flair back in. Flair begging off. Hogan choking Flair with a towel. Flair with a snap mare. He goes up top, but gets caught and slammed off, so take another shot. Hogan with clotheslines and Flair knocked outside again. They fight outside again, and Hogan is attacking Flair. He headbutts Flair as a Hogan chant goes out. Flair ran into a ring post. Hogan misses a chair shot when Flair moves. Flair with a suplex and Hogan right back up and clotheslines Flair. Hogan attacks Flair with punches. Flair up and over to the apron and clotheslined off. Another shot. Hogan out and biting Flair again. Hogan grabs the belt. He then drops it, and they get back in, and Flair attacks the injured leg. He distracts referee Randy Anderson so Sherri can come in and attack Hogan. Flair back to attacking the knee. He goes for the figure four, and Hogan kicks him off. It goes back out, and Flair attacks the knee again. He continues the attack in the ring and puts the figure four on as the Hogan chant goes out again. Hogan fighting the pain. He powers out, and Flair attacks the knee. Hogan hulks up. Big boot, but Hogan goes down as well. He gets back to his feet and hits the leg drop. Hogan can't cover. He tries to stand, but can't. Flair puts the figure four on. Hogan screams why. He won't give up. He reverses the figure four. They get to the ropes as Hart knocks Sherri down. Anderson is distracted, and Sherri hits Hogan with her shoe. Hogan falls out of the ring and gets counted out. The crowd doesn't like it. Buffer accidentally says Flair is the new champion. Flair grabs the title and raises the belt high. Buffer corrects himself, but says DQ, and Bobby Heenan says count out, do I have to do everybody's job here? I laughed. Hogan attacks Flair. The masked man attacks Hogan again. He holds Hogan for Flair to attack and then leaves. Flair puts the figure four on. Sting comes in and runs Flair and Sherri off. Sting raises Hogan's hand. Hogan is up and limping and wants his belt that Flair took. Hogan limps back to the dressing room and then holds up a Hulkamania rules sign a fan had. They review what happened before signing off from Cedar Rapids.
-Final Thoughts: You get a great Dusty promo followed by the mess that was the main event because Hogan didn't want to drop the title back to Flair.