In the late 1980s, Vince McMahon had his heart, mind, and wallet set on dominating the wrestling world. He was on an effective path, acquiring several territories around the country. In order to claim a complete victory, he'd have to upend the already struggling WCW (then, the NWA), which Jim Crockett ran.
The rivalry between the two wrestling minds got heated and downright dirty during the emergence of both cable television and Pay-Per-View. Vince McMahon and the WWE would come out on top in most battles. But, on March 27th, 1998, Jim Crockett finally one-upped McMahon on the most important day of the entire wrestling year; WrestleMania day!
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The Wrestling War Between Vince McMahon And Jim Crockett
In 1987, Jim Crockett announced that his annual Thanksgiving Day event, Starrcade, would air on PPV for the first time. Thirsty for a fight, Vince McMahon chose to run his Survivor Series PPV on the same day and at the same time. Crockett feared that a head-to-head PPV battle would be detrimental to his business. So, Crockett changed the start time of Starrcade so it wouldn't be counter-programmed with The Survivor Series.
McMahon smelled blood and went in for the kill. WWE announced that any company that aired Starrcade would not be allowed to air The Survivor Series or the next WrestleMania. This act of war was a punishing blow to WCW. Given that WrestleMania was by far the highest-selling wrestling event of the year, most companies chose to stick with McMahon.
For Crockett's next PPV, Bunkhouse Stampede, WWE decided to take another vicious swing. McMahon counter-programmed the first-ever Royal Rumble event against Bunkhouse Stampede. Not only was the Royal Rumble a fresh and innovative idea for a wrestling show, but it aired for free on the USA Network. The Royal Rumble did a remarkable 8.2 rating (the highest ever for a wrestling show on the USA Network). Crockett's company was on the ropes. It was "do or die" time.
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Clash Of The Champions Vs. WrestleMania 4
Jim Crockett took a page out of Vince McMahon's playbook. During WWE's biggest PPV event of the year, WrestleMania, WCW ran the inaugural Clash Of The Champions for free on TBS.
This plan proved to be somewhat successful. The show was critically acclaimed and pulled in an average of 5.8 million viewers, peaking at 7.2. Despite the fact that McMahon had used this exact same tactic a couple of months earlier, the cable companies were furious with Crockett. The play to run Clash Of The Champions against WrestleMania dented the PPV buys.
Clash Of The Champions was an inarguable success, but WCW was still broke as a joke, so too was Crockett's morale. Even Jim's victories were tainted. It was clear that McMahon had the cable companies firmly in his corner at that point. Even clearer was the fact that McMahon was the better businessman.
Which Was Better? WrestleMania 4 Or Clash Of The Champions?
Regardless of his troubles with the cable companies, the inaugural Clash Of The Champions was a very well-received show. It is widely considered a better show than WrestleMania 4, which was, by all accounts, atrocious.
WrestleMania 4 lacked the energy and spectacle that the previous installments held. On top of that, the matches stunk. A tournament for the vacant WWE Championship occupied most of the drab PPV. The tournament lacked drama. Superstars like Hulk Hogan, Jake The Snake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat, and Andre The Giant saw early exits, which deflated the already muted crowd. The main event saw Macho Man Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase for the Championship. The match was decent but nowhere near good enough to salvage the boring WrestleMania.
Clash Of The Champions, on the other hand, saw more than a few terrific matches. The NWA World Tag Team Title match between the Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard) against Lex Luger and Barry Windham is worth revisiting. The show was main-evented by one of the best matches of the 1980s: Ric Flair vs. Sting for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The match went to a forty-five-minute time-limit draw. The match is considered by many to be a classic. It was a career-defining performance for Sting.
History shows that Jim Crockett lost the war to Vince McMahon; there's no doubt about that. However, he can always hang his hat on the crucial battle he won. For one night only, Crockett got the better of McMahon, and the wrestling fans reaped the benefits.
