Sage Cortez
I’ve been looking forward to watching this Clash a lot as I don’t know the results. I’m a little bit surprised to see all the Flag Day promotion surrounding this show. They did it at a military base that wasn’t air conditioned, so the crowd should be hot both figuratively and literally. Know thy audience is something I’d say that every company should aspire to. This company knew their audience, but they couldn’t get enough people to watch their show. That’s very unfortunate. The tag team tournament ends on this show and we have a match between Ricky Steamboat and Terry Funk. Wrestling wise, does it get better? No, it does not. Apparently they were running so many angles and had so many big decisions on this show that they delayed their TV taping until after it was over, instead of putting shows in the can and having them ready to go.
– June 14th, 1989, from Ritz-Epps Fitness Center in Fort Bragg, North Carolina
To start the show off, the COMMANDER OF FORT BRAGG tells us a story about Independence Day and defending our country. These lily livered LIBERALS need to watch this speech and see what a real American is. Tonight, we have a TOP TEN SHOWDOWN between #10 Terry Funk and #1 Ricky Steamboat. Then, in the tag team tournament, we have a debuting Freebird! I already know who that is! I like the tag-line here, it’s GUTS AND GLORY.
Jim Ross and Bob Caudle are our hosts, and this crowd is absolutely rowdy. No way this show can suck. Ric Flair is going to be interviewed on this show too, this owns. We have a singing of the national anthem, and some videos of the Steiner Brothers, Missy Hyatt, and Ranger Ross doing military training. Jim Ross has done a great job of getting this stuff over, but one thing was a major flaw that stretches the believability of what wrestling is. Why was Missy Hyatt laughing and smiling when Muta had just sprayed her face with green mist? Shouldn’t she have been injured, or not even at the show in any way? Sell the angles.
NWA Tag Team Championship Tournament Semifinals: The Fabulous Freebirds (w/Terry Gordy) vs. The Dynamic Dudes
Pre-Match Thoughts: I’m really interested to see the crowd reactions to these two teams. I’m thinking the Freebirds get cheered and the Dudes take some hellacious boos. In actuality, the Dudes got cheered. I may have underestimated the meathead aspect of the crowd here. The Dudes had frisbees that they tossed out to the fans. That’s quite funny. The Freebirds entered to “Freebird,” but of course it was dubbed over. The new Freebird is…JIMMY GARVIN! I don’t know why Gordy couldn’t wrestle here, but this was a good fit. The Freebirds got cheered so loudly upon entering the ring, I still think they’ll be the babyfaces in this match.
Match Review: Perhaps they aren’t going to be the babyfaces, as Gordy is drawing a ton of heat and people are throwing trash at him. The Freebirds attack early, and throw the Dudes into corners. They get out, give the Freebirds stereo atomic drops, and stereo back suplexes. The Dudes head up top, and Ace comes down with a sunset flip onto Hayes, and Douglas tries to pin Garvin…that was silly. Things normalize and we have Ace facing Hayes, and Hayes missing a big boot. He gets taken down with an arm drag, and Garvin tags in after an eye poke. Ace takes Garvin down with an arm drag, and jumps off the top with a double axehandle. The Dudes give Garvin a double hip toss and double elbow drop, but Garvin makes it to his corner and gets out of there. Hayes gets taken down with a sunset flip for 2, and in comes Ace. The Freebirds are definitely the heels here, I underestimated the crowd. Hayes accidentally clocks Garvin, so Ace hits Hayes and covers for 2. Ace misses a cross body, and Garvin heads in. He drops Ace throat-first on the top rope, that’s worth a 2 count. A bodyslam also gets 2, and he throws Ace out to the floor. Hayes chops Ace, rams him into the rail, and Ace has to crawl back in. Garvin takes Ace out with a shoulderblock, but it hurts him too. Douglas makes the tag in, gives both Freebirds backdrops, and a noggin knocker as well. He pins Garvin for 2, and now both guys are in. Ace and Douglas ram their heads into the turnbuckles, and give Hayes a double dropkick! Garvin is given a double backdrop, and Hayes has to throw Ace to the outside. Ace returns the favor a few seconds later, and Douglas tries a cradle on Garvin. Hayes rushes over to hit Douglas with the DDT, Garvin covers Douglas, and that gets the win for the Freebirds at 7:05. They move on to the finals!
My Thoughts: I loved the finish, not only because the right team won, but because of the way it happened. The Dynamic Dudes didn’t belong anywhere near those titles. The match was good enough and filled the time well. **, good start to the show seeing how well the crowd responded to it. They were on fire. The Dudes did a lot of strange moves that didn’t really make sense. It was kind of like hipster wrestling…except dumb. I don’t know how else to put it.
The commercial with Jack Victory as a secret service guy is the best damn thing ever. Sadly, he wears a garbage suit in the ring, so it’s terrible. It’s also wasted on the Wrestling Hotline. Boo.
THE TERRORIST vs. Ranger Ross
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is the awesome kind of cheap heat. THE TERRORIST, on a military base. He wears a black mask! This is too good to be true. You don’t have to be an idiot to figure out who’s going to win this match. Ross got the biggest cheap pop imaginable. It would be amazing booking if Ross didn’t win, though.
Match Review: The TERRORIST attacks Ross from behind, and hits Ross with a back elbow. Ross hits him with a flying forearm, takes him over with a hip toss, and lands a dropkick. Ross bodyslams the TERRORIST, and that gets a 2 count. He hits the TERRORIST with a flying clothesline, and some martial arts shots. Ross uses his COMBAT KICK, and that’s the end of the match after a pin at 1:25.
My Thoughts: This was hilarious. This was also not good by any standard. Ross has offense that drives me nuts seeing as it looks extremely silly. DUD. The TERRORIST was Doug Gilbert, poor guy.
Seeing as the match is over, we have a promo video of the Road Warriors. Fortunately, the ripoff theme hasn’t been dubbed over at all. Those tunes make the whole video. The Road Warriors are the bestest, that’s all you need to know about this. They don’t have a match on the show, but it’s good to remind people of their presence. These guys have the superstar look that nobody in the business today has.
Looks like it’s time for our…
DRAGON SHI DEMONSTRATION
Muta is in there with two pumped up jabronis, one of whom is actually wrestling later. Gary Hart speaks on Muta’s behalf, and says these two guys are gaijin and not worth his time. Hart says that in Japan, the women know their place. That’s referencing Missy of course, but they already completely blew this angle. Eddie Gilbert runs into the ring and tries to throw a fireball at Muta in retaliation over what’s happened to Missy, but he accidentally hits one of the jobbers with it. Poor guy. I hope he was paid well for his participation in that.
THE DING DONGS vs. George South and Poker J
Pre-Match Thoughts: THE. DING. DONGS. Why in the hell would Jim Herd think of something like this? Poker J looks like a super trashed out version of Marty Jannetty. This Ding Dong’s thing is just the biggest joke I’ve seen in my life. They have bells set up in their corner!
Match Review: I don’t know what the fuck to call these guys. One of them hits Poker J with a mongolian chop, and the other keeps ringing the bell in the corner. The one inside the ring botches a sunset flip spot, and South tags in only to be arm dragged. The second Ding Dong tags in with a terribly botched kick, and they do some absurd head-scissors segments. They also had little bells on their ankles that have been falling off. They do a criss-cross with South and give him a double hip toss, then one lands a Thesz press. How dare they. After a bodyslam, the other DONG tags in and falls on top with a big splash for 2. I can hardly even review this. They blow another spot, and South gives the poor guy a bodyslam. After a missed knee drop, the Ding Dong uses a belly to belly suplex. He tags the other guy, one lands an elbow drop from the top and one lands a knee drop from the top, and the Ding Dongs win after a pin at 3:36.
My Thoughts: It was great how JR made a terrible pun regarding their name and made sure to say “that was horrible.” Not such a subtle shot at this idea being pushed through the booking committee by Jim Herd. This was out and out shit. The worst gimmick, like…ever. There were so many botches, and so many things wrong with this match. The little bells falling off the Ding Dongs boots was hard to ignore. The missed moves, the fans shitting all over the gimmick, and the awful ideas for moves. Just dreadful. -*****, it absolutely deserves it. If it doesn’t, nothing else does. Masked men gimmicks where both guys look exactly the same do not work, and then there were all the other additional factors.
NWA Tag Team Championship Tournament Semifinals: The Samoan Swat Team (w/Paul E. Dangerously) vs. The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette)
Pre-Match Thoughts: Considering they just brought the Midnight Express back, you have to assume that they’re going to win. That being said, they’ve had the Samoan Swat Team built up into a program with the Road Warriors. This is a case of booking into a corner, or rather thinking that nobody will care. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. Cornette did his usual introduction, and apparently some guy ran up to the apron. Don’t know why, but Cornette said they’re going to let the guy sleep it off instead of attacking his Express. That ruled. The Samoans have a great entrance too, and Dangerously does their intro. Cornette vs. Dangerously is a great feud. Really, really great.
Match Review: Cornette took a swing at Dangerously, and here we go. All four wrestlers fight, Samu tumbles over the top, and Fatu fails on a backdrop bump. Some strange mistakes by the wrestlers here. Lane and Eaton dish out their drop toe-hold and elbow drop combination to Fatu, then a double back elbow follows. Eaton hits Fatu with a swinging neckbreaker, knocks Samu off the apron, and tags in Lane. Their double teams help make tag team wrestling a lot better. Eaton comes back in with a bulldog, but gets kicked in the face when trying it again. Samu and Fatu are COVERED in sweat. They use a double press slam to take Eaton out, and Fatu destroys Eaton with a clothesline. This is the best crowd ever, they’re reacting to every single move. Samu tags in, chops Eaton out to the floor, and Fatu suplexes Beautiful Bobby. Dangerously is on his cell phone, as Eaton keeps getting punished by the SST on the way back in. Samu takes Eaton out with a big hair pull that rams his face into the canvas, and Samu drops the leg. Fatu tags in and misses a huge rush to the corner, and Lane finally makes the tag in. He nails Fatu with a flying forearm, and follows with a Russian leg sweep for 2. Eaton and Samu run into the ring, and we’re headed for a finish! Lane eats a kick on the way to the corner, as the referee gets taken out at some point. THE ROAD WARRIORS now rush out from the back to an ENORMOUS pop, and Animal slams Fatu down from the top to the floor. The Road Warriors destroy Fatu with a double clothesline, and Lane falls on top of Fatu for the pin at 6:22.
My Thoughts: I didn’t actually see the finish initially, as the production team missed it while showing the Road Warriors celebrating their success. If you want to know who the real stars were, that’ll tell you. Seeing as babyface wrestlers running into the ring to help the other babyfaces win wasn’t yet an overused trope, I was really hyped up to see it here. This wasn’t an exceptional match, there were some mistakes and it wasn’t very long, but it did have a finish I’d count as being exceptional. It was a failure on the NWA’s part to not have their major stars taking part on all of the Clash specials in some way. So, they’re fixing that problem. **1/2. The crowd popped so big for the last minute of that match, the atmosphere in this arena added a TON to the show.
Two ring battle royals on the Great American Bash tour. Hooray!
Terry Gordy vs. Steve Williams
Pre-Match Thoughts: They turned Dr. Death when he was in Japan, by having Kevin Sullivan cut promos on him about how the Varsity Club losing the tag team belts was his fault. These two worked for different companies in Japan, so I wonder how this was promoted there. It’s so hot in this arena that the fans appear to be drenched in sweat. The angle they’re going with as a reason for this match, is that Gordy sucker punched Williams in Japan.
Match Review: Dr. Death rushes the ring, and we’re underway. He hits Gordy with a football clip, and a huge shoulderblock as well. This is a Jim Ross style matchup. Dr. Death charges towards Gordy and gets destroyed with a clothesline, then Gordy hits him with another in the corner. My God. Both guys trade bombs, with Dr. Death clearly getting the better of it. They struggle with each other for a bit, as Jim Ross plugs Coors Light once again. Please stop, man. Gordy picks up Doc for a back suplex, and puts him in a chinlock afterward. The crowd mugs for the crowd during the hold, it’s very funny too. Gordy bodyslams Doc, then picks him up for another only to be bodyslammed. Doc plants Gordy with another, and they tumble to the outside. I thought they would be counted out, but they climbed back in after some punching. Doc uses a cross body for 2, and a dropkick sends Gordy back out of the ring. He gets back in, is nailed with a flying forearm, and back to the outside he goes. Gordy walks to the back, and Doc follows him, which will no doubt lead to them getting counted out. Of course, it does at 6:35.
My Thoughts: This was a strange match. It seemed like they kept trying to time the finish only to be told that they needed to keep wrestling. That was the way I saw it, anyway. The match was nothing spectacular, although the early trading of clotheslines was great. *, sadly this was a waste of time. The military stuff as commercial bumpers is getting a bit tiresome too, I must say.
Mike Justice vs. NORMAN THE LUNATIC (w/Teddy Long)
Pre-Match Thoughts: On a show with the Ding Dongs, we have Norman the Lunatic making his debut too. It’s bad for Teddy Long to be associated with this. Long has keys dangling in front of him, and Norman has a seat belt wrapped around his forehead. Everything about this gimmick is bad. His outfit is brutal, and his big fat gut hangs out of his shirt. Haha.
Match Review: Norman gets in the ring and clotheslines Justice, then crushes him in the corner with an avalanche. A splash finishes things off after 46 seconds.
Alright, the best thing about this, was the way they brought orderlies and a stretcher out to the ring. I think they’re putting him back on it to wheel him back to the hospital. He willfully gets on, and the fans serenade him as he leaves.
My Thoughts: I don’t have a lot to say about this one, as I touched on everything before the match. The way it finished was impressive. DUD. The post-match was awesome.
The Freebirds are interviewed before the next match, and Jimmy Garvin talks about his joining the group. Not a bad promo at all. Gordy has some things to say about being high on Freebird Mountain, not much code there.
Once that was over, we got a video about Flyin’ Brian. Pretty sure I’ve seen this one.
The Varsity Club vs. The Steiner Brothers (w/Missy Hyatt)
Pre-Match Thoughts: The complete no-selling of Missy’s attack is a major issue to me. I know they wanted to give the military guys some eye candy, but…man. The Varsity Club now solely consists of Mike Rotunda and Kevin Sullivan, by the way, if it’s even the Varsity Club anymore. This was also called an Australian rules match, but I don’t even know what that shit means. Scott Steiner is extremely roided up, and this is years before he’s at his biggest.
Match Review: Scott and Sullivan start the match, with Scott drilling Sullivan with a clothesline. Rotunda and Rick Steiner rush into the ring, and the Steiners clear it as Scott does an Ultimate Warrior impression with some rope shaking. Back inside, Scott powerslams Sullivan, and Rotunda finally makes a reluctant tag in. Rick tags in too, as Jim Ross says hello to the NWA fans in Stamford, Connecticut. Bush league line. Rick nails Rotunda with a clothesline, and takes him down with a headlock after that. Rotunda throws him with a belly to belly suplex, and tags his partner back in. Sullivan gets drilled with a clothesline, and now Ross is talking about DEATH WISH 2! YES! Scott and Rotunda are in there now, and Scott gets rammed hard into the buckle. He comes back with a cross body for 2, and they follow with an insane spot. Rotunda picks Scott up for a suplex, and he throws him all the way out to the floor. I think poor Scott cracked his head on the announce table. Sullivan throws him into the post, then throws the stairs at him. Wow. Scott’s back has a giant welt now. Scott eats a boot on a charge to the corner, and Rotunda tags in. He dropkicks Scott hard in the face, this might explain why the Steiners treated jobbers like shit. They’re getting fucked up with some of these stiff shots. Rotunda uses a double underhook suplex, it gets 2 on poor Scott. Scott eats a clothesline now, and the referee doesn’t see the Steiners make a tag. That sucks. Scott forces Rotunda to miss a dropkick, and finally he gets out of there. Rick comes in with huge punches in the corner, knocks Sullivan to the outside, and the Steiners use a double clothesline on Rotunda. Sullivan puts a chair in the ring, as Scott bodyslams Rotunda. After a missed splash by Scott, Rotunda suplexes Scott on the steel chair. Nick Patrick counts the pin, and Rotunda gets the victory for his team at 8:37.
My Thoughts: I don’t really understand why the Steiners lost this, but this was a hell of a match. Both teams busted out everything they could have thought to use, brought some violence into the equation, and made sure the crowd was involved. The finish was very well executed and perfectly fitting for the hard hitting match that had just taken place. ***1/4. I believe these teams face each other again at GAB ’89. The Steiners absolutely must win that match.
Jim Ross is with Jim Cornette, who has some things to say about his team’s chances of winning the NWA Tag Team Championships in the tournament final later in the show. He says that the Freebirds date ugly women, and that in this clash of the two iconic names in tag team wrestling, his team is going to win.
“Wild” Bill Irwin vs. Sting for the NWA Television Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: Sting should be especially over in this building. This is his kind of crowd. I’m going to guess that this match is under 3 minutes. Irwin is a good opponent though, and should make things interesting. He repeatedly whipped the canvas with his bull whip, and I think Sting may want to steer clear.
Match Review: The referee takes the whip away, and Sting takes the opportunity to attack Irwin and give him a bulldog. He follows with a dropkick, but Irwin comes back with a high knee. He drops Sting throat-first on the top rope, and hits him with a back elbow. Sting blocks a backdrop, and rakes Irwin’s back. That’s good Hogan-like offense. Sting suplexes the challenger for 1, and Irwin gets up for another knee to the gut. Sting comes back with right hands, and misses the STINGER SPLASH. Sting then tries a springboard cross body, but Irwin catches him and plants him with a big SPINEBUSTER. Irwin decides to go for his whip, but gets hit with a STINGER SPLASH from behind and rolled up for the victory at 3:32.
My Thoughts: That was entertaining enough, but very sloppy. I enjoyed it more than the match between Williams and Gordy, though. *1/4. Right guy went over in the right way, and all that stuff.
YES, it’s a video about SCOTT “GATOR” HALL. These vignettes are truly hilarious. Is his gimmick supposed to be that he’s an aligator hunter? Where are his aligator boots?
After that, we have a pre-taped interview where Jim Ross was speaking to Ric Flair. Anyone think that mansion was really Flair’shouse? I’m not so sure. Ross is there to find out if Flair is going to wrestle again. He had a Lakers jacket on, as well as a neck brace. My kind of guy. It was risky to take him off TV after his big win against Steamboat, but he needed time off. No doubt about that. Flair is supposed to defend the title every 30 days, and as we know, he did not. The NWA decided to grant an extension to those 30 days, but if Flair can’t compete, the title will be taken away from him. On July 1st, he’ll make an announcement regarding whether or not he’ll return. Good way to pop a TV rating.
NWA Tag Team Championship Tournament Finals: The Fabulous Freebirds (w/Terry Gordy) vs. The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette)
Pre-Match Thoughts: I’m hyped up to see this match. The tournament as a whole, and specifically the first round, was a total dud. The final can make up for that, though. It was nice for the fans watching live to know that a new set of champions would be decided on this card. Makes it seem like watching the card was worthwhile. It was also a reason to stay tuned in even though they’ve put some absolute shit on this show. Many of the fans have left, or went to concessions, or are now on the floor area. The bleachers are sparse.
Match Review: Dangerously attacks Cornette from behind with a tennis racket, and I suppose that starts the match. There was a horseshoe and metal chain wrapped inside of the racket cover. What a SCUM. The Dudes carried Cornette away from the ringside area, I don’t expect to see him again. Lane gives Hayes a hip toss and bodyslam, then takes him down with arm drags. Garvin tags in, as does Eaton, for the drop toe-hold and elbow drop combination by the Express for 2. Lane tags back in and lands an enziguri, then some karate kicks following that. Eaton’s back in, and there’s a double back elbow for 2. Garvin and Hayes heel to the crowd and get a ton of boos in reply, and that goes on for a long time. I don’t like having such a delay in the match, but it’s the wrestlers prerogative. Garvin and Eaton are in there now, and Garvin hits Bobby with a knee to the gut. He bodyslams him too, and tags back out. Hayes throws Eaton to the outside, which sends him all the way into the rail. Back in we go, and Hayes throws Eaton out of the other side of the ring. Hayes hits him with a back elbow when they get back in there, then Garvin uses a hotshot on Eaton, sending him back into the rail. Interesting use of that move. Garvin tags in, and the Freebirds use their own double back elbow. Garvin wraps Eaton up in a chinlock, but Eaton doesn’t even have to fight out of it in order to ram Garvin into the buckle. He finally makes the tag out, and Lane hits Garvin with many kicks. He misses a charge to the corner, and Hayes comes back in. Lane uses a DDT on Hayes, and both guys tag out again. Eaton uses a noggin knocker on the Freebirds, and Hayes gets dropkicked to the outside. Garvin gets double backdropped, and Lane knocks Hayes to the outside again. The Express brings Garvin in from the apron the hard way, and follow with a double flapjack. They go for the cover, and they’re in a position where Garvin has to kill the finisher by kicking out. Pretty sure Gordy was supposed to break the cover somehow. Then, the referee goes to get Hayes and Lane out of the ring, and Gordy folds Eaton up with a POWERBOMB. Gordy had to tell the referee where to go, that was bad. Garvin covers at 9:11, and the Freebirds are the new tag team champions!
My Thoughts: This was not a good match at all. Expecting guys to wrestle two good matches in an arena that was approaching 100 degree air temperature was tough. It has to be difficult to go about that. The finish was completely botched, as explained above. *1/4, not quite what I’d expected. The championships being on the Freebirds may not be the best of things, either.
Terry Funk vs. Ricky Steamboat
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is a top ten rankings match. One of the only good uses of this rankings system, even though they could have used it far better than that actually did. Steamboat was ranked #1 and Funk was ranked #10, so the assumption is that Funk catapults to the top with a win here. This is an amazing matchup to say the least, I go into it expecting greatness.
Match Review: Steamboat and Funk lock up, tangling in the ropes with each other. Funk hits Steamboat with the first few chops of the match, and Steamboat replies with his own. Funk tumbles out of the ring, and when he gets back in there, Steamboat hits him with a double chop and dropkicks to send him back out. Funk comes back in with hard punches, and throws Steamboat to the outside. I guess it’s his turn. Terry follows, and nails Steamboat with a running elbow. Steamboat hits Funk with chops, then he launches the poor guy into the rail. Back in they go, and Funk mounts Steamboat for some punches. Funk uses a neckbreaker on Steamboat, then splashes the back for 2. Funk blocks a backdrop now, and uses that left hand to do more damage. Lex Luger was supposed to do color commentary on this match, and he has a problem with the rankings as we know. Hm, that’s interesting. Steamboat throws Funk into the corner and over it to the outside, then Steamboat teases a big dive to the outside. Just do it! He flies out with a chop to the head, then carries Funk around the ring for a bodyslam. That ruled. Steamboat then brings Funk into the ring and powerslams him out to the floor, what a great copycat spot from Funk’s matches against jobbers. Back inside, Funk takes control with chops, and drills the former world champion with a back elbow. Funk picks him up for the PILEDRIVER, and down Steamboat goes as Funk covers for 2. Steamboat then leathers Funk with a few more chops, and they do a dosey-do in the corner that ends up in Nick Patrick taking a bump. Oh no. Funk throws Steamboat over the top, and JR points out exactly what I was going to. He can do whatever he wants! He piledrives Steamboat ON THE FLOOR, and suplexes him back into the ring. Funk goes for the cover, but Patrick isn’t ready to do that yet. He tries anyway, and the count is 2.99999. Great kick-out! Funk decides to head up top now, and flies down with a big splash that lands on a set of knees. Steamboat hits Funk with a shot to the gut, then uses a gutbuster. Steamboat heads up top again, and comes down with another flying chop. He sends Funk to the outside with an enziguri, but Funk grabs a microphone and cracks Steamboat over the head with it for the DQ at 12:52.
Funk continues to stomp on Steamboat,and decides to grab the mic again. Here comes Lex Luger with a steel chair, and Funk gets the hell out of there. Luger then grabs a microphone, as he has something to say. He gets an ECW-esque chant before speaking, then he says that there have been accusations about him becoming arrogant. He says to Steamboat that it’s time to leave, then DESTROYS HIM WITH A CLOTHESLINE. Even the military police at ringside reacted to that turn. Luger then grabs his chair, and wallops Steamboat with it. To finish things off, Luger picks him up and puts him in the TORTURE RACK. Luger grabs the microphone again, and says that the #1 contender has been taken out. WHAT AN ANGLE. Sting walks out to help Steamboat to the back, cementing his status as a true babyface. Not that it was ever in doubt.
A replay of the angle ends the show!
My Thoughts: That’s how you do a heel turn. The match was outstanding, both guys were about as good as it got in the ring, and they brought a high effort and energy level. The finish was exactly the right one to get themselves out of having a guy take a clean job, as Funk was crazy and absolutely would use whatever weapon he could find to do the job. It was obvious he couldn’t beat Steamboat after the piledrivers, so it made complete sense. Pretty much non-stop action in the bout, and I’m sure they could have wrestled an easy 5 star match. The piledriver spots and ref bump worked out perfectly. ****1/4 and recommended, you have to see this match.
The angle afterward was absolutely perfect as well. What is it with this booking committee booking great angles to end shows? It’s amazing. Luger definitely needed to go heel, there was no reason for he and Sting to both be on the face side. It was also very well done on the parts of both Luger and Steamboat, and a perfect way to build towards a PPV match. The commentary team sold this like it was an extreme betrayal on Luger’s part, but he already hijacked Steamboat’s interview time once, and had been acting like a dick for weeks.
Seeing as the show’s over, it’s time to talk about a few things I didn’t like at all. The constant military ad bumpers drove me nuts. It was a nice touch for a while, but it was aggravating. Of course, that had to be a concession on their part to have the show there. Despite some of the terrible things that happened on this show, I feel like the overall product was on the way up. It was getting great on multiple fronts. Not on the Ding Dongs and Norman the Lunatic fronts, but besides that…we have a good program. Eddie Gilbert feuding with the Great Muta seems like an afterthought in the context of this entire show, but that’s something I’m looking forward to seeing. I think I touched on everything except for how things look with Flair coming back. That return should add a lot more to the show! This wasn’t the best card in the world, the main event had to save it and it did. The crowd also added a lot to the event. Next up, I’m wasting no time at all. I’ll be watching matches and angles to bridge the gap, and then right after that it will be time to watch Great American Bash ’89!
Wrestling Time: 1:00:01. Funny how the time was nearly an exact hour. The ad bumpers didn’t waste a lot of time, but they were annoying and took up a lot of the show. You consider that with commercials this show was 3 hours, and…that really sucks.
Best: Ricky Steamboat vs. Terry Funk. This ruled.
Worst: THE DING DONGS. They don’t rule.
Card Rating: 6/10. The main event saved the show. There were a lot of bad things on it, just a few good things, but those good things took up a lot of time. So yeah, 5 or 6 out of 10 is just right.
