WCW Clash of the Champions XXXI
August 6, 1995
Daytona Beach, FL
Ocean Center

The current WCW champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Hulk Hogan (7/17/1994)
WCW U.S. Champion: Sting (6/18/1995)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Bunkhouse Buck & Dick Slater (7/22/1995)
WCW World Television Champion: The Renegade (6/18/1995)

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Bobby Heenan.

• Meng & Kurasawa (w/Col. Robert Parker) vs. Sting & Road Warrior Hawk

Big brawl to start as Sting and Hawk clean house on Parker’s boys. Once it becomes a tag match, Hawk pairs off with Kurasawa. Hawk NO-SELLS anything thrown at him and tags Sting. He avoids a corner charge and hits a suplex for two. Tag to Hawk, he goes down to a clothesline from Kurasawa. Meng tags in and hits Hawk with a clothesline, which Hawk NO-SELLS. We go back to Kurasawa and Hawk. It looks like Hawk is messed up on pills tonight. Hard to tell the difference anymore. So sad. On the floor, Kurasawa gives Hawk a backdrop slam. Back in, Kurasawa runs into a boot and gets nailed with a clothesline. Meng tags, but he ducks low off a whip and takes a swinging neckbreaker. Kurasawa gets another tag. A kick has no effect on Hawk as he picks him up for a slam and then a powerbomb. WHAT! Meng makes a save, which brings in Sting for a flying clothesline. We’ve got a pier-six brawl on our hands. Hawk levels Meng in the corner with a clothesline to set up a Stinger Splash. Meng gets dumped as Sting and Hawk deliver a Hart Attack to Kurasawa for the win. (7:24) While Sting and Meng brawl on the floor, Kurasawa grabs hold of Hawk and snaps his arm. Won the battle, lost the war type stuff for Hawk. ¾*

They show Randy Savage and Sting saving Hulk Hogan from a Dungeon of Doom attack on the Main Event prior to the Clash after Hogan battled Kamala. The Giant ran down and choked Hogan, but we don’t get to see that for some reason.

Gene Okerlund is standing by Bunkhouse Buck, Dick Slater and Col. Robert Parker. The Colonel’s on a roll today, brother. They all agree that Sherri is a woman in a man’s world and that just shouldn’t be. Slater says something about wanting to hyperextend Sherri, which can mean so many different things from that guy. Don’t worry though – after the match, Parker will be ready for romance! How delicious!

• Diamond Dallas Page (w/The Diamond Doll) vs. Alex Wright

Maxx Muscle must have got a hold of horse steroids and couldn’t make it tonight. Looks like the winner gets a TV title shot at Fall Brawl. Lots of cocky gesturing from Page to start, so Wright gets a bunch of nearfall rollups on him afterwards. Wright dropkicks Page to the floor and follows up with a no-hands plancha! DDP snaps Wright’s neck on the top rope to take over. He works the arm, but Wright flips away from the pressure into an armbar of his own. Wright nails Page with dropkicks and gets yanked out to the floor, but comes back in with a shoulder butt and a slingshot splash for two. He catches DDP with a crossbody for two. A wild right hand from Page turns the tide back in his favor. A big gutbuster gets a ten from Kimberly Page, but he doesn’t cover. Swinging neckbreaker gets two. Wright blocks a hiptoss into a backslide for two. Page misses a corner charge and goes right into the post. HERE COMES WRIGHT! Spinning Heel Kick and a high knee gets 1-2-NO! MISSILE DROPKICK from Wright! Cover, 1-2-NO! They go to the corner where you can hear Page calling Wright to go up top for the ten-count corner punch. He gets a few punches in before DDP drops him face-first on the top turnbuckle. Cover, 1-2-NO! Wright switches on a waistlock and delivers a German Suplex for 1-2-NO! Wright knocks Page to the floor and tries another plancha, but this time DDP gets out of the way and Wright hits the floor. At that point, Wright is out of it. Page rolls him back into the ring and covers for 1-2-3. (8:15) Good match from two guys you wouldn’t expect to have a good match. **¾

Gene’s with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson now. Flair pretty much tells you his game plan – let Arn Anderson do the dirty work and then he take all the glory. Not cool, Ric. Not cool.

• WCW World Television Champion The Renegade (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Paul Orndorff

This is the rematch from the Bash at the Beach show when Orndorff got his shoulder up at the count of two, but got counted anyway. Orndorff tries for a quick attack right at the bell, but Renegade comes back with a clothesline and a powerslam. Orndorff heads to the floor while Renegade poses (to a chorus of boos). He hops back in the ring and gives Renegade a back suplex from the second rope. Orndorff finally takes off his robe and covers for two. He pulls Renegade’s TV belt off his waist and threatens to beat him with it, but the ref gets it away from him. Orndorff stomps and buries some knees. He does all he can to get heel heat, but people just don’t care for Renegade. Orndorff throws Renegade to the floor and knocks him off the apron several times as Jimmy Hart tries to boost his confidence. When Orndorff walks away to yell at the ref, Renegade slingshots himself onto Orndorff for 1-2-3. (4:00) It’s just a matter of time before Renegade heads back to the Power Plant. *

Gene Okerlund is with Vader now. Can Flair back up what he says? We’ll find out later. No fear, no pain. It’s Vader time.

• Bunkhouse Buck, Dick Slater & Col. Robert Parker vs. Harlem Heat & Sister Sherri

If the Heat win, they get a tag title shot. Stevie Ray starts off beating the crap out of Slater. Buck and Booker give it a go. Booker crotches Buck and dropkicks him to the apron. After Sherri gets in her shot from the apron, Booker misses an elbow drop so he can do the SPINAROONIE! Back to Slater and Stevie Ray. Stevie Ray continues what he started before by beating down Slater. He tags Booker in for a Jumping Hook Kick as we go to a break. When we come back, Buck drops Booker with a hotshot to take control. Meanwhile, Schiavone hypes Nitro and mentions an Emmy award winner will join the broadcast team. He’s speaking of Steve McMichael who I believe won an Emmy for his football show on the radio. Dropkick from Buck! The champs switch off on a bearhug to set up a false tag spot. With Booker down, Col. Parker tags in and puts the boots to him. Booker reverses a corner whip on him and connects with a gut shot for a double-team suplex. Sherri gets the tag and lands a flying bodypress on Parker for 1-2-NO! She legdrops the balls and heads up for another flying bodypress, but crashes and burns. So much so that she is completely out of it. Parker allows her to get to her feet and when she does, she pounces on Parker for a big kiss to land him flat on his back for 1-2-3. (8:10 shown) She hits her head and falls madly in love for Parker. If only real live worked that way. I’d have a baseball bat waiting for you, Scarlett Johansson! Parker tries to leave through the crowd, but he and Sherri wind up rolling in the aisleway choking one another instead. Well that’s love if I’ve ever seen it. *½

In the back, Gene Okerlund interviews Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart as he prepares to head into the DUNGEON OF DOOM! Jimmy Hart twists a little bit of Psalm 23 around as though it came from the Gospel of Hulkamania. Hogan talks about a kid pulling a tape measurer to see just how big the pythons were. Yikes. When that kid was near him, Hulk was ready to rip his own shirt off. Whoa! He decides not to do it though because that would have probably gotten weird, so he’s decided to wait until he gets into the Dungeon of Doom. Hogan namedrops the McMahon as he mentions common Irish last names for whatever reason. He’s not scared of Andre’s son because he’s the Mega Maniacs behind him, brother. Somehow Hulk Hogan bikini briefs get brought up in this interview too and that’s enough for me.

Randy Savage makes an appearance and meets a kid in the wheelchair from the MDA. For every PPV buy for Fall Brawl, the foundation will get one dollar. The kid seems…freaked out – and not in a good way.

A Randy Savage montage airs.

Hulk Hogan heads over to the Dungeon of Doom: Kevin Sullivan and Curtis Iaukea who looks like he’s got flour all over his face babble on about how Hogan fell for their trap. Hogan shows up and tells Sullivan that he’s already destroyed his army of fatties and psychos – now he wants the giant. Well, Giant shows up and rips off Hogan’s crucifix which is exactly what happened with Andre. The difference is that it didn’t happen in some weird cave. Giant chokes Hogan down into the fog as the rest of the Dungeon of Doom stomp away. Next thing you know, VADER makes the save and beats everybody off Hogan except the Giant. His blows have NO EFFECT! He finally lets go of Hogan and goes face-to-face with Vader. Sting, Savage and Jimmy Hart pull Hogan to safety while Vader keeps the Giant at bay. Giant ~ “You can run, but you can’t hide from the one true immortal. HAHAHAHAH!” Scary stuff! I remember seeing this as a nine-year old kid thinking how odd it was to see Vader helping out the good guys for once.

• Vader vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson – Handicap Match
  

As expected from the pre-match interview, Anderson works the majority of the match. Vader does his usual pound and ground in the corner to a huge face reaction from the crowd. So weird seeing Vader work face in WCW. Vader clotheslines Arn to the floor. Flair tries to build him up so he doesn’t have to get in the ring. Vader beats Arn down again, but a whip reversal sends him right into a Spinebuster! The man do it to anybody! With Vader on his back, Flair welcomes the tag. He stomps the face of Vader and struts, but turns around into an angry Vader for a pair of guerilla press slams. That’ll get you over as a babyface quicker than most anything. Flair Flip leads into a Vader clothesline on the apron. Vader climbs the turnbuckle to pose for the crowd, but forgets about Arn who runs behind him for a knee clipping. Flair runs back into the ring to stomp Vader’s knee. Tag to Arn, he delivers the DDT and tags Flair for the FIGURE-FOUR! Vader makes the ropes and slams Flair off the top. Backdrop and a splash gets two. Arn makes the save. Vader connects with a flying splash and once again Arn makes the save. Arn gets a tag and a double-team clothesline fails on Vader. Both Arn and Flair are dropped with clotheslines, but it’s Arn who takes a POWERBOMB for the 1-2-3. (8:06) Just when Vader was getting over big as a face, this would end up being his last big match in WCW once he gets into a fight with Paul Orndorff in a few weeks from now. He was supposed to join Hogan, Sting and Savage for Wargames against the Dungeon of Doom, but of course that was scratched. After the match, Flair yells at Arn for losing the match. Flair starts to leave, but AA pulls Flair back into the ring by the hair. The crowd goes insane thinking that Arn’s going to deck Ric as the argument continues. Flair walks out before anything physical can happen. This was a case where the AA/Flair angle got in the way of a really good match. **½

Unlucky for Gene Okerlund, he’s got a mic in his hand. Hulk Hogan and friends find him and whine to him about his broken crucifix. One day, he’ll get his revenge on the Dungeon people, but right now he wants to know where Vader’s head is at. Vader tells Hogan off because he doesn’t tell Vader what time it is. Well that’s because Hogan doesn’t wear wrist watches, he wears wristbands! I wouldn’t believe that guy either if he told what time it was. Anyways, Hogan declares WAR! And we out!

Final Thoughts: This is essential viewing for you Hogan/Dungeon of Doom feud fans out there. Otherwise, it’s completely passable like most Clashes in the Bischoff era. For me, it’s loaded with enjoyable nostalgia. But for you star people out there, you can clearly see this show is lacking. Since I have to give a final word on these recaps, I’ll go with a mild thumbs up not because of the match quality, but because its rather important to WCW since it’s the end of the Vader era and the end of pre-Nitro WCW as far I’m concerned. Most of you would probably say good riddance, but it’s actually kind of bittersweet for me.