Today In Wrestling History 8/21: Sting Delivers Message At Last Clash, Kurt Angle At WWF Camp, More

* 18 years ago in 1997, WCW aired Clash of the Champions XXXV live on TBS from the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. After over nine years of Clash specials, this was the last one. The move to monthly pay-per-view shows and the addition of Nitro being built around competitive matches including many that were star vs. star had rendered the shows kind of extraneous.

The big angle of the night closed the show. While Sting had made it clear that he was on WCW's side at Uncensored in March, he wasn't talking. So when WCW Commissioner J.J. Dillon would offer him a new contract and asked for his demands, Sting said nothing. Obviously, he wanted a match with Hollywood/Hulk Hogan, which made Dillon look stupid (especially when Sting brought a fan's "STING VS. HOGAN" sign into the ring), but he never said it. Eventually, Dillon gave Sting an ultimatum: Tell WCW what he wanted, or the contract offer would be rescinded.

So at the Clash, the NWO was holding their first birthday bash. A buzzing noise filled the arena, A spotlight shone on Sting in the rafters with a cro...err, a vulture perched on the railing as his new entrance music started playing. Quickly, A child's voice came over the public address system in the arena and said...well, this:

When a man's heart is full of deceit, it burns up, dies, and a dark shadow falls over his soul.

From the ashes of a once great man has risen a curse.

A wrong that must be righted.

We look to the skies for a vindicator.

Someone to strike fear into the black hearts of the same men who created him.

The battle between good and evil has begun.

Against an army of shadows comes a dark warrior.

The purveyor of good with the voice of silence and a mission of justice.

This. Is. Sting.

The lights went out in the arena for about 45 seconds, and when they came back on, the vulture was perched on the top rope of the ring. WCW being WCW, after the lights came on, they used a camera angle that showed the bird's trainer trying to duck out of camera range. The buzzing noise was back, and the NWO just kind of stood there, acting afraid of the bird. And...that was it. Why? The bird had a note that said what Sting wanted: "Hogan's soul." The bird dropped it during his trek to the ring. As a result, nothing happened for about 100 seconds until they went off the air, but it felt like several minutes. The highlight was Kevin Nash trying to steal the show by cocking his tag title belt like a weapon he'd use if the bird flew at him.

The rest of the show was, even with both the United States and World Television titles changing hands, largely uneventful. It just felt like a Nitro.

* 17 years ago in 1998, the WWA independent promotion ran a show in Newburyport, Massachusetts that was built around WWF training camp wrestlers. Tom Prichard and Dpry Funk.Jr. ran the camps that included a number of future stars. While the WWF did have a developmental territory at the time in the form of Memphis Power Pro Wrestling, the system was in its infancy, with some developmental wrestlers were told to continue working indie dates while under contract. In matches featuring names of note:

Scott Taylor and Tom Prichard defeated Matt and Jeff Hardy. While the Hardys had been on TV for years as the flashy job guys in flashy tights (especially at this point, when they looked like the Young Bucks do now), they had yet to get a TV push. Now that they were under contract, that was about to change, and they got a big win over Kaientai members Shoichi Funaki and Men's Teioh on the pre-shw of the next PPV, Breakdown.

Kurt Angle, who made his pro debut the day before against Prichard, had his second match here, the first against a non-veteran: Shawn Stasiak, who was also in the camp. When he made his main roster debut 15 months later, it was against...Shawn Stasiak.

Edge, who was already on TV, defeated Christian Cage. Like his future rivals, the Hardys, Breakdown would be a big deal for Christian, as he'd make his main roster debut, aligning himself with Gangrel against his "brother" Edge. Being that these two had trained together and were long-time friends/opponents/tag team partners, this was likely one of the best matches on the show.