Today In Wrestling History 8/24: Hulk Hogan - Ric Flair Sets Records, Brawl For All Finals, & More

* 21 years ago in 1994, WCW held the 28th Clash of the Champions special live on TBS from the Five Seasons Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. With the top two matches being Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes' first match in WCW/on TBS in five and a half years, the TV broadcast was a gigantic success, setting new records for pro wrestling on cable. The tally was as follows:

** They did a 4.5 rating (percentage of homes with TBS watching the show) and a 7.7share (percentage of homes with TBS watching TV at the time that were watching the show), making it the highest rated special on TBS in 1994,

** It was the second most watched pro wrestling show in TBS history with 2,754,000 households, behind only Clash of Champions 12 in September 199 with Sting vs. The Black Scorpion and Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger (2,769,000 households).

** Highest rated pro wrestling show on cable since Clash 12, which did a 5.0 rating.

** Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair was the most watched match in the history of cable television up to that point with 4,126,000 households (3,800,000 households watched Clash 12's double main event).

** With a 6.7 rating and a 11.3 share, Hogan-Flair was the seventh highest rated main event in the history of pro wrestling on cable, but obviously that's because everything above it was from when there were less cable homes.

The main event saw Flair defeating Hogan by countout when Hogan couldn't return to the ring due to a knee injury, The injury was caused by a man in a black mask and bodysuit (Arn Anderson, but nobody said it was him) attacked Hogan by hitting him in the knee with a pipe. It was supposed to be a take-off on the attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan earlier in the year, which became a giant news story. Hogan was taken to a nearby medical facility while Sting flew in from an appearance in Chicago to be a standby opponent. Of course, Hogan made it, and Sting was just the guy to help him in the end. Flair was originally supposed to regain the title here, but Hogan vetoed it.

While Hogan-Flair was clearly the main event, Dusty Rhodes' return certainly couldn't have hurt the rating. This was the match set up by Dusty's famous "the view never changes" promo at the Macon Coliseum. Dustin had asked Arn Anderson to help him against Terry Funk and Bunkhouse Buck of the Stud Stable, and of course Arn turned on him. So when Dustin needed a partner again, his father made the offer in one of the greatest promos of his career. Think of the ground that covers. Arn Anderson interfered for a disqualification, setting up Wargames at Fall Brawl: Dustin, Dusty, and The Nasty Boys vs.Buck, Funk, Anderson, and manager Col. Robert Parker.

* Ricky Steamboat won the last title of his career, defeating Steve Austin to win the WCW United States Championship. It was a tremendous match, the best of a feud that lasted two years on and off. The title could change hands on a disqualification stemming from Austin trying to save the title in their previous match, but when Steamboat had a chance to win by DQ after Austin threw him over the top rope, he skinned the cat back into the ring so he could earn the title. it was also the beginning of the end for Steamboat, as just days later, he injured his back, ending his career except for his brief WWE run with Chris Jericho and Drew McIntyre. He forfeited the title at Fall Brawl and WCW cut him while he was hurt.

In a special attraction, Antonio Inoki defeated WCW World Television Champion Lord Steven Regal by technical submission with a "choke sleeper" in a non-title match. Set up by an angle at the Bash at the Beach pay-per-view event, his was part of Inoki's "Final Countdown" retirement tour and he specifically picked Regal to be his opponent here. It wasn't pretty, but Inoki loved it (even when Regal accidentally hurt his rib), so the match got Regal a spot and push in NJPW.

* 17 years ago in 1998, Bart Gunn knocked out Bradshaw (JBL/John Layfield) to win the shoot Brawl For All tournament on a live WWF Raw is War broadcast from the Corestates Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. If you've thankfully managed to avoid Brawl For All, it was a cross between toughman contests (three one minute rounds, huge gloves, punches are the only legal strikes and more legitimate combat sports like shootboxing, Strikebox, San Shou, and Draka (takedowns are legal and score, but you get stood back up). The original plan was for something more "anything goes," like doing shoots with pro wrestling rules, but that went out the window when Steve Blackman asked if he could throw low kicks to try to take out his opponents' knees.

Gunn has some toughman experience but was the surprise winner. The favorite was former amateur wrestler and legendary pro wrestling tough guy Steve "Dr. Death" Williams, In a second round fight, Gunn shot a surprise takedown on Williams, with Doc tearing his hamstring on the way to the mat, He was a sitting duck and got knocked out in the most memorable moment of the tournament by far. Gunn, who knocked out three of his four opponents (and he likely hld back in that fight to shoot a worked angle afterwards) won the six figure prize money and largely disappeared.

Somehow, someone thought it was a good idea for him to fight Eric "Butterbean" Esch, the semi-famous toughman fighter and super heavyweight gimmick boxer, at WrestleMania 16. The WWF had only fulfilled half of Butterban's two match contract when he had a worked boxing match with Marc Mero, so this got booked. A gimmick boxer is still a lot more of a boxer than Bart Gunn was after a single training camp, so he got knocked out badly in less than a minute.