11 Great Moments From WCW Clash Of The Champions

9. The Dean Malenko Master Class

Eddie Guerrero Brian Pillman Clash of the Champions
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Dean Malenko is my favourite professional wrestler of all time, and as such I'm going to write about him whether it is warranted here or not. It totally is by the way, as Malenko gave us two glorious Cruiserweight matches in consecutive Clashes towards the end of the shows tenure.

At Clash XXXIII Malenko took on his old rival Rey Mysterio with Rey's Cruiserweight Championship on the line. This was a legitimate Malenko master class in pacing and match construction, as he managed to accentuate the strengths of Rey whilst making the champion vulnerable in the process. He truly was a master of ring psychology, and this was a great example.

Thank the lord Mike Tenay exists as well, as he joined the commentary team to provide something approaching clarity .

That match might just have been bettered at the next Clash, as Malenko once again took on a masked superstar for the Cruiserweight Championship. Ultimo Drago was the champion here, and the chemistry these two had was well-documented. Less flashy than the Mysterio match, this one is a little more old-school with limb-work aplenty. Malenko won with the Texas Cloverleaf.

Dean Malenko is my favourite wrestler, and these two matches are part of the reason why I have no issue saying that.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.