Clash of the Champions XII: Mountain Madness/Fall Brawl ’90

After the Bash PPV this is what followed:

The Black Scorpion saga began as promos started to air of a cloaked figure calling Sting out. Sting accepted a World title match against him at the Clash, sight unseen.

Ric Flair blew out his knee in a tag match at a house show and his main event spot was taken by Harley Race at a number of house shows.

The Horsemen laid a beating down to Lex Luger as a warning to all of Sting’s friends that the Horsemen were still to be feared. This led to Lex vs. Flair being signed for the Clash. Flair wanted the US title as a stepping-stone to getting a rematch with Sting.

Paul Orndorff continued to pursue Arn Anderson’s TV championship.

Jobber Lou Perez got a mini-push, beating Dutch Mantel on TV and having a competitive match with Arn Anderson.

El Gigante won a series of Battle Royals at house shows to try and put him over in a similar manner to Andre the Giant.

The Rock and Roll Express kept pressuring DOOM for a rematch of their Bash match.

The Wild Eyed Southern Boys and the Freebirds feuded over a trophy representing the “Southern tag team championship”. This feud led to Buddy Roberts and Bob Armstrong returning to the area.

WCW found a creative means to work around Stan Hansen’s limited availability. During a TV match against Tommy Rich, Hansen assaulted the referee and that earned him a 30-day suspension. During another squash match, Hansen apparently accidentally fractured a jobber’s skull. Yikes!

Norman is no longer a “lunatic” and was given a trucker gimmick instead. Storyline was Norman’s dad died, and since he was a trucker, Norman wanted to dress that way.

Brad Armstrong and Doug Furnas formed a team and made it known they intended to seek out the Midnight Express’ US Tag Team titles. The Express would lose the titles to the Steiners not long after, although it took a few weeks for WCW to acknowledge the title change since it was taped for a later airing. As far as Armstrong and Furnas’ team…I didn’t find any results of them actually working together. WCW everybody.

At the end of August, “Mean” Mark Callous gave his notice and planned to jump to the WWF.

“The Pearl” debuted. This was merely Ranger Ross doing a Muta-lite gimmick.

Bobby and Jackie Fulton debuted as The “New” Fantastics. Terry Taylor came in as a babyface and had the task of wiping the stench of “The Red Rooster” off of himself. Hector Guerrero and Ivan Koloff were both brought in to add more aging talent to the undercard. The Master Blasters, Maximum Overdrive and The Nasty Boyz were added to the tag team ranks.

Clash of the Champions XII took place on September 5, 1990

Bob Caudle and Jim Ross call the action.

The Wild Eyed Southern Boys vs. The Fabulous Freebirds

Based on scanning the results, this pairing has to be approaching double digits in how many TV matches they have had. This was supposed to be a 6-man match but Buddy Roberts is injured. In reality, the WCW execs decided that they didn’t want to showcase old guys like Armstrong and Roberts on TV.

Smothers dominates Hayes to start so Michael hugs Garvin for some good heel heat. Garvin tags in and fares no better. Trapping Smothers in their corner for a double team slows Tracy down, but he sneaks out and lures the Freebirds to the center of the ring and Armstrong launches across the ring on top of both of them. The heels bail. Back in they both eat dropkicks and bail again.
Hayes punches the turnbuckle in a wild swing, but his next punch sends Smothers to the floor where Garvin cheap shots him. Both heels take turns wearing out Smothers and Hayes caps it off with his signature bulldog. Smothers catches Garvin on the top rope to free himself up for a chance to tag in Armstrong.

Bullet Bob sneaks in and pops Hayes. Roberts tosses in a foreign object but the heels are both rolled up before they can use it. The heels are simultaneously pinned. Bob Armstrong is attacked and nailed with a double DDT after the match.

Mike Rotunda vs. Buddy Landell

Feeling out process to start as they trade headlocks, armbars and hip tosses. Landell locks on an abdominal stretch and a suplex. Rotunda nails a flying elbow and snags a backslide for the pin. Match was basic as can be.
A vignette airs of the Fabulous Freebirds in Hollywood. They are mobbed by fans, dance while eating hot dogs(?) and look at tourist traps. Ok then.

Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner vs. The Master Blasters

The Blasters are Kevin Nash and Some roid head who isn’t Al Green. Green would later be The Dog in WCW’s dying days and do a skit where he drank from a toilet. He wouldn’t join the team until a few weeks after this event. Nash chucks Horner around and clubs away. Roid head clubs away too. Nash eats a punch but avoids a dropkick. Roid head attempts a diving headbutt and unintentionally misses his mark. Then he tries a flying headbutt and misses Horner again. Botchamania. He manages to nail Armstrong with a flying shoulderblock. Nash nails a power slam but misses a feeble follow up elbow. Roid head hits another flying shoulder block as his moveset is obviously small. A four-way breaks out and the Blasters win with a double shoulder block. Bowling shoe ugly.

Jackie Fulton and Terry Taylor vs. The Nasty Boyz

Bobby Fulton is working in Japan. Knobbs slugs away to start. Fulton manages to flip both Nasties over and then launches himself into them. Taylor and Fulton make quick tags as they work over Saggs arm. Saggs tries to make things a fight and it backfires as Saggs is sent into the ringpost. Knobbs is out wrestled as well when he tries to change the heels fortunes. Taylor is caught and ends up absorbing blows from both heels. Terry manages to make the heels collide and Fulton is tagged back in. He gets a near fall off a German suplex and that spawns a four-way brawl. Fulton is caught with a power slam off a cross body attempt and Saggs hits a flying elbow for the win. Solid match and a surprisingly clean win for the newcomers.
Sid Vicious cuts a promo on Sting and the camera view reveals a litany of empty seats in the balconies.

Tommy Rich vs. Bill Irwin

Irwin was AWOL for like a year, what a random appearance. Rich out punches the Cowboy and sends him to the floor. They trade punches and kicks as we stick with the basic brawling. Rich is flung off the apron and into the barricade. Rich nails the Lou Thesz press for the pin soon after. Just a glorified squash.

WCW TOP TEN:

10. Buddy Landell
9. Tommy Rich
8. JYD
7. Brian Pillman
6. Stan Hansen
5. Sid Vicious
4. Barry Windham
3. Arn Anderson
2. Ric Flair
1. Lex Luger
World Champ: Sting

Stan Hansen is going to fight because he has a fat wife and a bunch of kids at home. His pick up truck is going to be repossessed. He is looking for Sting and Luger’s titles.

Women’s World Champ Susan Sexton vs. Bambi

There was no women’s division; this is just a special attraction. Both women appear to be faces, but the crowd boo’s Sexton because Bambi is cute. Sexton does some extensive armwork but Bambi manages to trap her in a headscissors. Sexton goes back to the arm. Bambi goes for a small package but Sexton reverses it for the pin. Short and inoffensive.

US Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers vs. Maximum Overdrive

Overdrive are both big muscular fellows. Neither did anything of note after this. Scott takes the big man down and uses a modified Scorpion Death Lock to ground the roid head. Even JR doesn’t know which guy is which. Steiner nails a stiff hip toss. Scott tosses both heels around and Rick nails a double Steinerline.

“The Silencer” eats a belly to back suplex. Rick chases him around on all fours. Rick dumps him on his neck on a body slam. “The Hunter” tags in and is Steinerlined and then Rick props him on his shoulders and Scott delivers a top rope DDT! That ends things obviously. The heels were green as grass but The Steiners were able make things watchable.

Tom Zenk vs. Stan Hansen

Hansen jumps Zenk as soon as he got in the ring. Hansen takes the brawl to the floor and tosses Zenk into the barricade. A chair shot follows that. Hansen nails a suplex and drives elbows into Zenk. Z-man manages to fire off a handful of chops but Hansen no sells that and back suplexes Zenk. Hansen runs Zenk over with a big shoulderblock and nails the lariat to end the squash.

US Champion Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair

Flair’s chops are no sold and Flair is press slammed as this immediately becomes every single Luger/Flair match ever. More chops no sold. Another press slam. Luger clotheslines Flair over the top rope. He chases Flair down and lays him out on the cement. Flair tries a stun gun but Luger no sells that and hits another press slam. Flair manages a sucker punch and he sends Luger into the barricade. Flair screams “Ted Turner…Jim Herd…This one’s for you” as he chops Luger. Flair drives Luger into the barricade several more times.

Flair starts to work over Lex’s leg. After that goes on for a bit, Luger starts to no sell. Lex unloads with fists and nails a big clothesline. Flair is slammed off the top rope. He’s then whipped over the turnbuckle and dropped with a clothesline. Another press slam. Luger locks in a bear hug and delivers a superplex. Both men end up toppling over the top rope. Lex no sells a toss into the barricade but Stan Hansen runs in and assaults Luger. Stan wraps his bullrope around Luger’s neck. Match was as paint by numbers as any Luger/Flair match I’ve covered in the past year. Technically it was a good match, but I’m bored with this combination.

World Champion Sting vs. The Black Scorpion

Sting is bent out of shape and is pacing the ring. The Scorpion just stands emotionless in the middle of the ring. They slug it out with neither man scoring a decisive blow. Scorpion chokes away. Sting dumps The Scorpion on the railing at ringside and he barely registers any pain. Sting goes for the mask and that allows the Scorpion to take control again. Sting is slammed on the ramp. Sting again goes for the mask and downs the masked man with a drop kick. Sting manages a press slam and connects with a flying crossbody. A Stinger splash earns Sting the 3 count. As Sting attempts to unmask the Scorpion, another mask is under the first one. Then a larger Scorpion appears on the ramp. Match was nothing special, very punch heavy. It was Al Perez under the hood, in case you were wondering.

WCW still had no clue where the Scorpion angle was going and as of this moment the plan was for World Class Championship Wrestling mid-carder Dave Sheldon aka “The Angel of Death” to play the role ultimately.
Sid Vicious confronts Sting and declares his desire to become champion. He then lays a beatdown on Sting to make his point.

Final thoughts:

With 10 matches squeezed into just under 2 hours, the pace was quick and the time flew by. I enjoy seeing new and different faces and this card certainly had them in droves. WCW gave Sting a nice supporting co-main event with Flair vs. Luger, which was a wise move since the main event angle is/was so hokey.