Through the Years: NWA Matches & Angles from Clash 2 to Clash 3

 

It’s time to cut back a little, to a few things that happened in June. There isn’t much to write about here, but I’m going to try my absolute best. This year is hard to do, and for whatever reason when Turner takes over, things from that era are more easily accessible. It also turns out that some of the things I was going to watch were deleted. With Turner moving to buy the company, I’ll share some stuff about that.

 

– Taped to air June 19th, 1988, on Main Event, from Exhibition Center Arena in Sumter, South Carolina

 

The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) vs. Steve Williams & Nikita Koloff

Pre-Match Thoughts: The Express are not yet US Tag Team Champions, and on this taping they worked three matches. I really hope that they had something in the tank for this one. With there not being much to review here, I absolutely had to pounce on this.

Match Review: The match begins, after Eaton and Cornette do their customary hug. Nikita and Eaton will be the wrestlers who get it going, and they tie up. Nikita nails Eaton with a shoulderblock, and the announcers now bring up The Sheik making a return in Detroit. More on that later. Eaton puts a headlock on Nikita, and after being tossed into the ropes, Nikita gives him an arm drag and dropkick. Nikita bodyslams Eaton, and that fit his gimmick so perfectly as the slam looked extremely sloppy. Made him look tough. Dr. Death tags in, and puts an armbar on Eaton as Ross rattles off all of his legitimate credentials. Doc gives Eaton a press slam after some rope running, and Eaton goes out to take a break. When he comes back in, he hits Williams with some punches and tags out. Williams gives Lane a hip toss, and tags Nikita. Strange makeshift team is what this is. Nikita applies a wristlock, and gives Lane an atomic drop after reversing a bodyslam. Williams tosses Lane back into the ring, and Nikita slams him for 2. Eaton tags in and is given a hip toss, and Nikita puts an armbar on him. Lane tags in and hits Nikita with an enziguri, which knocks Nikita to the floor. Eaton has the tennis racket, and he cracks Nikita across the back with it. He pushes Nikita into the ring, and tags in. Nikita starts no-selling elbows, and is able to make his exit. Dr. Death gives both his opponents backdrops, and follows that with a hip toss on Eaton. He places Eaton on the top rope, and knocks him to the floor. All four guys wind up on the outside, and naturally they get counted out at 10:24.

The match is over, but the war is not. Cornette climbs into the squared circle, only for Williams to realize what he’s doing. He picks Cornette up for a press slam, but Eaton nails him with the racket, just like he did to Nikita. That’s too bad.

My Thoughts: That was a decent enough match, but it wasn’t as long as the listed time, nor was there a point to it. One thing I always liked about NWA/WCW is that sometimes they’d put on random matches that didn’t mean anything, or seemed like they meant anything. Oftentimes they turned out to be really good, or they would set up something later that wasn’t clear at the time. Booking through wrestling rather than angles can be enjoyable. It was the first 10 minutes or so of a good 20 minute match. **.

 

– July 16th, 1988, from War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro, North Carolina

 

The Four Horsemen & JJ Dillon vs. Lex Luger, Paul Ellering, Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes, and Steve Williams in WARGAMES

Pre-Match Thoughts: It’s funny how Ellering gets involved when he isn’t feuding with any of these guys. It appears that the Road Warriors were involved in a scaffold match on this show with Ivan Koloff and the Russian Assassin. If it were up to me, I would have thrown Sting in there. It wasn’t up to me though. I believe I’ve watched this, but to be honest I don’t remember.

Match Review: The first men in will be Dusty Rhodes and Arn Anderson. That’s the way the first WarGames started, that’s the way this one will start. Arn attacks Dusty upon his entry into the ring, but Dusty fires off some elbows. Arn walks into the other ring, trying to gain the advantage that way once again. Dusty isn’t so quick to go for that, but when he does, he nails Arn with a right hand. Dusty follows that with a DDT, and throws Arn into the fence. Arn juices big, and the blood is already gushing down his face. Arn comes back with a kick to the leg, which puts Dusty down for a while. I can’t believe how big this guy is getting. Into the other ring they go, and Dusty is now busted open. Arn decides to head up to the second rope, but Dusty catches him with a punch on the way down and puts on the FIGURE-FOUR. It’s time for the coin flip, and as has happened in every WarGames to this point, the heels win it. Our next entrant is…

BARRY WINDHAM! Dusty attacks him from the jump, and this is exactly what people want to see after the PPV. Arn and Windham eat Dusty’s elbow a bunch of times, and eventually when Dusty focuses on one, the other attacks. There’s already so much blood in this match, it’s ridiculous. Arn holds Dusty in place for THE CLAW, and Windham keeps that on until the next guy enters.

DR. DEATH IS IN! Now that things are evened up, Windham should probably let go of the claw. He does, and Williams nails both Horsemen with a clothesline to an enormous pop. He takes Windham out with a clip, then Arn with a clip, and again to both of them. Williams and Arn go into the other ring, while Dusty beats up Windham in the original one. Dusty launches Windham into the other ring, and throws him into the cage as well. Williams flings Arn into the cage once again, and after a snap mare, Arn misses a knee drop.

IT’S RIC FLAIR, and it’s going to be weird as hell if he deals out all kinds of offense. He hits Williams with chops, and williams no-sells them. He doesn’t no-sell a shot to the balls, though. Flair runs Williams into the cage, and now he’s bleeding. I still don’t know if Windham has been opened up, but I can assume so. Flair spits at Luger, who is going to be the next guy in. Maybe that’s not smart.

When Lex Luger enters, he goes for Windham first. After taking him out with a clothesline, it’s Flair’s turn. He gives both Flair and Windham a clothesline, as the crowd just explodes. A powerslam for Flair, and one for Windham too. He puts Flair in the RACK, but Windham goes low and takes him out. Windham and Flair take turns beating Luger up, but eventually Luger stops selling. He blocks Flair’s attempt to throw him into the cage, as Dusty is taking out the other two guys with elbows. Luger hits Flair with 10 punches in the corner, and into the cage Flair goes. He hits Arn with a clothesline, and works him over with punches too.

Tully Blanchard heads in, and comes off the top with an elbow on Williams. He sends Dr. Death into the cage again, and has a chair! He hits Luger with it, but Luger hits him down low. Tully drops the chair, and Williams hits him in the nuts. Luger is held in place for a knee drop from Flair, as Tully is introduced to the fencing. Arn plants Luger with a DDT, and it’s time for our next guy, who is…

NIKITA KOLOFF! He also no-sells everything, which has become a familiar pattern here. He hits Flair and Windham with clotheslines, as Dusty does the same to Blanchard in the other ring. Nikita puts a figure-four on Flair, and Williams gives Arn a powerslam. Nikita hits Flair with 10 in the corner, and finally Luger hits Arn in the nuts. It’s about time for a babyface to return a ball shot.

JJ Dillon enters the cage, and I don’t think anyone’s scared of him. He and Windham hit Luger with a double clothesline, then he tries to choke Nikita. Nikita reverses that into his own choke, as Dusty takes out three guys at the same time. Give me a break. Dr. Death repeatedly kicks Flair, as Dusty gives Tully and JJ a noggin-knocker. I’ve just now noticed there is no commentary on this match. A classic like this doesn’t really need it.

Here comes Paul Ellering, who signals the beginning of…THE MATCH BEYOND. SURVIVE OR SURRENDER! Tully holds Ellering in place for a knee drop from Flair, as things have hit the point where the match should be finishing. The Horsemen are in full control now, but that ends when Luger blocks Flair’s attempt at ramming him into the fence. Ellering evades a dropkick from JJ, and gives him an atomic drop. Dusty rushes over, and puts JJ in the FIGURE-FOUR while holding onto the ropes…and that’s it at 21:07!

My Thoughts: That was a whole lot of fun. Like I said, I didn’t even notice that there was no commentary, that’s how well the match kept moving. I would place this at just a notch below the original, but it was hilarious how things turned out here. The no-selling was rampant, which is so typical of a JCP match. It’s like a time capsule. I’m going to give it **** and recommend it, although I do have some issues. One is the finish. Clearly somebody needed to come up with a way to finish the match in the manner it deserved. Controversially, with some juice, all of that stuff. The first two worked with the spike. This one did not, and obviously they couldn’t do the spike again, as it was not only repetitive but the Road Warriors weren’t part of the match. The programs also weren’t nearly as hot heading into this match, which is reflective of the booking. In a lot of ways the promotion was running on fumes. They needed to make changes. That isn’t a critique of the match, it’s one of the promotion. This article reflects what was wrong with the booking and the talent situation. Much like WWE does now, they didn’t mix up anything, everyone maintained their positions on the card, they pushed the wrong guys, and they waited to push young talents for way too long. Simple as that.

 

It should also be mentioned that after this show, Bruiser Brody was stabbed and murdered in Puerto Rico. I have never really looked into the case and educated myself, but after reading the WON issues pertaining to it, I feel that I should do so. They were excellent pieces of writing.

 

– Taped to air in July and August of 1988

 

DUSTY BEING DUSTY

Dusty’s star has certainly been burning out, and that is reflected in the interest level of the promotion and the attendances. It’s a bit weird to me because whenever I watch a Dusty Rhodes match, he consistently gets the second biggest cheers on the card behind Sting. First up, we have this…

 

This promo is in reference to a match in Detroit. Crockett ran a show there, and THE SHEIK was making his return in a cage match. They also put together a thing where fans could meet wrestlers, and the duo of Jimmy Garvin and Brad Armstrong were the only two guys to show up. What a scam. The big main event was Dick Murdoch and Kevin Sullivan against The Sheik and Dusty Rhodes. Sheik and Dusty won the match, and after the match, Sheik turned on Dusty. Murdoch saved him, and the Texas Outlaws were reunited. Once again, some shit that tries to position Dusty as the top guy. Who knows what he had going through his head or what he had in mind for Starrcade. I don’t know yet, but when I get to the WON issues, I expect to find out! This was stupid as hell. They ran all kinds of TV for the Texas Outlaws thing, and after running Detroit again and doing a match that didn’t even have Sheik as a part of it, they dropped the whole deal.

 

Secondly, we have this interview here from Gary Hart. This touches on Ron Garvin’s interference in the Dusty vs. Windham match at the Great American Bash. As stated in that article, Dusty wanted Garvin to put him over, and Garvin left. I find it interesting because this program is actually an example of Dusty pushing himself down the card. Whether he was going to win or lose, that’s what the interest level would have been. In truth, I wouldn’t have really cared. Hart does a good job of putting over this program as being a big deal, which is what it seems like everyone has to do when it comes to Dusty Rhodes, no matter what they’re doing. When Garvin left, they tried to go with the story that Dusty beat him up and took him out. What a joke.

I’m going to throw this bit in here too. Robert Gibson wound up quitting the company over payoffs on the Great American Bash tour. He was paid $1,100 for a week’s worth of shows. I’m no expert when it comes to wrestling payoffs, but I’m pretty sure he was worth more than 150 dollars a night. These were big shows after all. Ricky Morton stuck around for a little while, but much like those fans in Detroit, it seems like Gibson got scammed. I may be wrong.

 

– Taped to air September 3rd, 1988, on World Championship Wrestling, from WTBS Studios in Atlanta, Georgia

 

Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) vs. Mike Rotunda (w/Kevin Sullivan) for the NWA Television Championship

 

This feud between Garvin and the Varsity Club has been going on for quite a while, and if you read the comment sections of my articles, it would explain why. During Garvin’s entrance, Sullivan is ready, and he grabs Precious. Garvin attacks Sullivan, and they’re brawling on the concrete floor. Sullivan eventually pushes Precious down, and grabs some cinder blocks to throw on Garvin’s leg. Those things didn’t shatter, either. Eventually some wrestlers come out of the back, as Garvin screams that his leg is broken. Nice shorts that Sting is wearing. The real reason they wrapped this up is that Garvin needed knee surgery. That’s the end of the feud.

 

To wrap things up, here’s a summary of where the sale of the company to Turner is headed. Borrowing from the WON for this. In July, some of the family members did not want to sell. There were rumors about Ole Anderson helping to set up a new company. Obviously that did not happen. Along the path of making the sale, the company had to take out loans to make payroll. There was also an issue with regards to talent possibly deciding to leave the company, but before the Clash, nobody left who I haven’t already mentioned. As of the beginning of September, Dusty Rhodes is supposed to remain the booker. There will be a lot of updates about this stuff in the next assorted column about this promotion.

I’m a little pissed about how these two months turned out, but it isn’t under my control and they didn’t run many angles for me to share anyway. I’m going to write about SummerSlam 1988 next, but I nearly forgot about one thing, which I absolutely must mention. Steve Williams was charged with attempting to export cocaine. The list of drugs that he allegedly had was…insane. 22 grams of marijuana, 3 grams of cocaine, 2 grams of mushrooms…and 241 steroid tablets. Uh, that’s kind of a lot. As we know, nothing really came of it.

Best: WarGames. Not even close.

Worst: Lack of material. I was sad!