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The ''Clash of the Champions'' was a series of professional wrestling television specials aired by World Championship Wrestling. The specials were supercards intended to feature pay-per-view caliber matches, similar to World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) ''Saturday Night's Main Event''. Clash Of Champions shows were famous for typically not airing commercials during matches even though many of these matches were 20 minutes or more. The first ''Clash of the Champions'' was held on March 27, 1988 by Jim Crockett Promotions and was entitled ''NWA: Clash of the Champions''. Subsequent Clash events had different subtitles, i.e. ''Clash of the Champions II: Miami Mayhem'', up until ''Clash of the Champions XVI: Fall Brawl 1991'' which was the last to feature a subtitle. Jim Crockett Promotions was sold to Ted Turner and renamed World Championship Wrestling in 1988, and WCW continued to air the events until 1997. The rights to Clash of the Champions now belong to WWE. All 35 episodes are available for on-demand viewing on the WWE Network. ==History== Through 1987 and 1988, a bitter event scheduling war broke out between rival wrestling promoters Vince McMahon and Jim Crockett, Jr. On Thanksgiving night 1987, McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF) aired ''Survivor Series'' against Starrcade from Crockett's National Wrestling Alliance (NWA): two pay-per-view (PPV) events on the same day.〔 At that time, many cable companies could only offer one live PPV event at a time, and furthermore were presented with an edict from the WWF saying that any cable company that chose to carry Starrcade would be barred from carrying any future WWF events. Hence, the proven WWF PPV was cleared 10-1 over Starrcade. Following this incident, McMahon was warned by the PPV industry not to schedule PPV events simultaneously with the NWA again. However, he was still not willing to fully cooperate with Crockett, and on January 24, 1988, another scheduling conflict took place between the WWF and NWA. The NWA presented the Bunkhouse Stampede on PPV, while on the same night, the WWF aired the first ever Royal Rumble for free on the USA Network.〔 In 1988, with the WWF's WrestleMania IV around the corner, Crockett decided to give McMahon a taste of his own medicine. He would develop his own PPV-caliber event and air it for free on TBS. The result was the ''Clash of the Champions''.〔 On March 27, 1988 – the same night as ''WrestleMania'' - the first ''Clash of the Champions'' aired. The first show was of PPV caliber and it made Sting a star after he wrestled NWA World Champion Ric Flair to a 45-minute draw. WCW would repeat the practice again the following year with a Clash coinciding with the WWF's WrestleMania V. Although the main event of NWA Champion Ricky Steamboat defeating Flair in a best of three falls match was widely considered the best wrestling match that took place among the two promotions on that day, ratings and attendance for the event fell well below expectations and the practice of conflicting major events would cease until the Monday Night Wars began in 1995. ''Clash'' events continued on a sporadic basis over the next nine years, quickly changing focus to become a free marketing vehicle for NWA/WCW PPV events, similar to the WWF's ''Saturday Night's Main Event''. WCW aired the 35th and last ''Clash of the Champions'' on August 21, 1997. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Clash of the Champions」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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