#1 – WCW Clash of the Champions
There's another really interesting history lesson behind the debut of Clash of the Champions. Prior to WrestleMania, the NWA ran annual supercard events on closed-circuit television called Starrcade. But fearing their success, and in his attempt to take over the wrestling world, Vince McMahon created the Survivor Series, and threatened all the major cable companies that if they didn't exclusive run the PPV, they would lose the rights to broadcast WrestleMania.
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Not to be out done, Ted Turner created Clash of the Champions, a PPV-quality product that he gave away on free television. When? Well, the night of WrestleMania, of course!
The first Clash drew a 5.6 rating on TV, and its success spawned an entire series of events that lasted over ten years. Clash of the Champions holds some of the best matches in WCW history, and in wrestling history. Classics like Ric Flair and Sting fighting to a 45-minute draw. Flair and Ricky Steamboat's iconic 2-out-of-3 falls match. Steamboat and Funk, Flair and Funk, half a dozen matches with the Steiner Brothers, and later on some of the best cruiserweight matches you ever did see.
During the late '80s and early '90s, prior to the business model shift and the embracing of sports entertainment as a viable television product, WCW represented the pinnacle of in-ring wrestling. They had the best workers in the world, the best rivalries and matches anywhere in the United States, and their success was defined by two events. We already have access to Starrcade, now it's time to give us Clash of the Champions!
