Through the Years: Clash of the Champions 2

 

It’s time for Clash of the Champions 2! Of course I’m looking forward to it after the last one. It has that chance of being hugely successful, or conversely being a big failure as Bunkhouse Stampede turned out to be. I really don’t know. I have done absolutely everything to avoid results for this, but I do know that a Ted Turner takeover of the company was becoming increasingly likely at this stage. I’m going to fly right into this because I don’t care about the nonsense. To the action!

 

– June 8th, 1988, from the Knight Center in Miami, Florida

 

The intro for this was pretty sweet. After it’s over, some limousines show up where Jim Ross is standing. It appears that Lyle Alzado and Frances Crockett were in one of them. In the other car, it was two dudes from the NWA. Who really cares about that stuff? That leads to another introduction, and it appears that Tony Schiavone and Bob Caudle are on commentary. Little angry that Jim Ross isn’t doing that job tonight. Barry Windham is defending his United States Championship against Brad Armstrong! The Fantastics defending against the Sheepherders! The Garvins against THE VARSITY CLUB! Al Perez vs. Nikita Koloff! Lastly, Tully and Arn vs. Sting and Dusty Rhodes! What the hell…no Flair on there is a major mistake. Whatever.

 

Brad Armstrong vs. Barry Windham (w/JJ Dillon) for the NWA United States Championship

Pre-Match Thoughts: This is the first time I’ve seen Windham with his new strap. This is the first time I’ve seen Windham wearing that black glove, too. As usual on these live events, there are some Horsemen fans and Windham gets some cheers. That’s to be expected. This could be a great match if both guys have their shit together. Perhaps Windham should be changed his look by growing a beard or something like that.

Match Review: They lock up, and Windham gets taken down with an arm drag. Windham responds with one of his own, and Armstrong slams his way out of the armbar. Armstrong gives him a hip toss, and a big headlock takedown as well. Windham switches to a head-scissors, and Teddy Long makes them break due to a hair pull. Nice to see him officiating here. Windham takes a break, comes back in, and tries that hair pull into a head-scissors again. Once again, he’s forced to break. Windham slugs Armstrong, and slams him too. He goes for a fist drop, but Armstrong evades it. Armstrong takes Windham down with another headlock, and they stand up for him to do it again. It gets a count of 2, then they stand up and get tangled in the ropes. Armstrong slams Windham, and takes him down with another arm drag. Armstrong puts him in the headlock again, but Windham stands up and gives him a back suplex. Shouldn’t try three of the same headlock takedowns. Windham gives Armstrong a powerslam, it gets 2. After a bodyslam, Windham puts on a figure-four! JJ helps his man cheat by holding onto him for leverage, and stops Armstrong from reversing the hold as well. Finally Long sees Windham holding the ropes, and breaks the hold. Windham dumps Armstrong to the outside, where there are no pads. He picks Armstrong up, and drops him on the railing. He slingshots Armstrong back into the ring, and gives him a bodyslam. Now Windham climbs up top, and comes down with an elbow drop that he misses. Armstrong gives Windham a dropkick, and a knee lift as well. Scoop slam by Armstrong, and up top he goes. Down with a flying bodypress, and it gets 2. Up top again, and Windham reverses the flying bodypress to put…THE CLAW on Armstrong. That’s what the black glove is for! 1-2-3, Windham wins via pin at 13:56.

My Thoughts: I liked this match, it was a good opener. These two worked the match under the premise of setting the pace for the rest of the card. They didn’t try to tear the house down, but a solid contest was what they put together. The CLAW is somewhat silly as a finisher, but I don’t mind it. Armstrong was a good hand and honestly, I’m surprised this match wasn’t a little better. **3/4.

 

This wasn’t on the Network version, but there’s now an interview with Lyle Alzado. Fitting that he would be associated with wrestling. He’s hyping up this show he made called ^^Learning the Ropes. There used to be a WrestleCrap entry for this, but now there isn’t. It was a sitcom where Alzado played a teacher and started working as a wrestler. So all kinds of wrestlers from this company would show up. Intro above.

Once that’s over, Schiavone has a surprise related to the Great American Bash tour. Here they are…it’s the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express! I think they’ve outlived their usefulness, but it’s nice to have a good tag team around. The funny thing is that I have no plans to watch them in any tag team matches before things fall apart and they leave again. These guys have aged very quickly. This was their first appearance since coming back into the company, and they say they’re here to stay. Alright. I don’t even know why people cheer these guys. They aren’t good

Now, with the Great American Bash PPV upcoming, we have a contract signing. Flair and Luger are going to do so…on a yacht. This is supposed to make the company look high class, but these things are supposed to happen in an arena. I wonder if they paid to use this yacht. It seems like it would be a major waste of money if they did.

Jim Ross is in the parking lot again, and it appears that the Four Horsemen are arriving. They’re late! Windham and JJ were already in the building, but Flair, Arn, and Tully were not. They’re wearing tuxedos! The next match is about to start, but we go to the back again, as Lex Luger is arriving! Luger gets out of the limo, and the Horsemen are on him. They kicked his ass and JJ not so subtly blades him after he gets rammed into the back of the limo. That was funny. That’s a lot of blood too. I guess there was a reason for the signing being where it was and how it was. No complaints about that now.

 

The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan) vs. The Fantastics for the NWA United States Tag Team Championships

Pre-Match Thoughts: These two teams have had great matches before. It’s a good mix and I’m interested to see how it turns out. Rip Morgan got involved with the challengers because they turned on Johnny Ace. Pretty straight forward! Butch’s heeling before the match was spectacular. I’m going to try to keep this pun-free.

Match Review: We come back from a commercial after the Luger beatdown and this match is well underway. Butch and Rogers are in the ring with each other, and Butch tags right out. Rogers gives him a cross body for 2, and tags in Fulton for a dropkick. Luke puts a headlock on Fulton and switches out, allowing his partner Butch to land a flying back elbow for 2. Butch gets clocked with some stiff punches, then taken down with a headlock. He gets up, tags out, and Luke gives Fulton a headbutt. Fulton hits Luke with a dropkick, and to the floor they go. Morgan attacks Fulton from behind, and accidentally nails Luke with a clothesline. Fulton gives Morgan and Luke a noggin knocker, and the two participants get back in the ring. Fulton puts a sleeper on Luke, but Butch attacks from behind to break it up. Rogers is in, and he gives Luke a bodyslam and elbow drop for 2. He does a sloppy roll-up for 2, and Luke tags out. Butch drops his fist for 2, and Rogers flips through a backdrop. He gives Butch a dropkick and bodyslam, and Luke rushes in to get bodyslammed. The Sheepherders get rammed into each other, and leave the ring. When Butch gets back in, he takes Rogers down and hits him with a hard knee drop. Luke tags in, and puts an abdominal stretch on. The Herders cheat with some leverage moves and the like, until Rogers can get out of the hold with a hip toss. Luke is able to tag out, and Butch blocks a charge to the corner for 2. Butch accidentally runs over his partner, and Rogers is able to make the tag out.

Fulton winds up in the Sheepherders corner, and gets clobbered. Luke tags in and drops an elbow for 2. Fulton gives him a knee lift, but isn’t able to tag back out. He hits Luke with a hard shoulderblock, but Butch is in position to keep Fulton from tagging. Fulton kicks him in the face, but once again Butch stops the tag. Fulton gives both Sheepherders a flying bodypress for 2, and they do this ridiculous pinning sequence where the Sheepherders are pinned repeatedly for 2 counts after splashes. Luke and Rogers restart the match, after a double axehandle by Rogers. He gives Luke an armbar, but the Sheepherders come back with Butch pulling the top rope down and Rogers tumbling over the top. Rogers gets thrown into the rail, and kicked by a fan too! Security admonishes the idiot in the crowd, as Butch nails Rogers with the US Tag belt. Luke hits Rogers with a hard headbutt to keep him from climbing into the ring, and when Rogers tries again, Butch hits him with a chair! So much cheating and distraction going on here. Rogers finally gets in the ring, but Fulton breaks Luke’s cover attempt. Luke gives Rogers a backdrop, and a forearm for 2. Butch accidentally hits Luke iwth a double axehandle, but Rogers still can’t tag out. Rogers back gets rammed into Butch’s knee, and Butch makes the switch in. Rogers hits Butch with a clothesline, but Butch comes back with a huge knee for 2. Luke heads in and puts a chinlock on Rogers, but Rogers gets up quickly and drives his way back to the corner. Luke draws Fulton in, and Butch grabs a chair. Luke tries to send Rogers face-first into the chair, but Rogers reverses and Luke takes the chair shot! Crowd got loud for that bit. Rogers finally makes the tag out, and Fulton is on fire. He comes in with a dropkick to Luke, and shoots him into the buckle. He follows that with a cradle, and Butch was unable to get in the ring in time, so the referee counts 3 for the Fantastics at 19:29!

After the match, Butch stomps on Fulton and the two teams continue to brawl. The Fantastics get dumped to the floor, and I believe that’s it.

My Thoughts: This was a nice match. It was quite long, and had two face in peril segments. The Sheepherders were a good team before they became a comedy act. I don’t really understand the male appeal of the Fantastics, and maybe that’s something that will be made more clear over the next few weeks of watching their matches. Both teams looked really hard and kept a good pace without very much resting. I also liked their brawling sequences with the chairs and stuff. It was a pretty big contrast in styles and looks between these two teams. ***.

 

The Varsity Club vs. Ron & Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious)

Pre-Match Thoughts: Steve Williams is at ringside for commentary. I hope he’s a lot better than the last time I saw him speak. At first I’d have to say…no. Sadly, he’s replacing Bob Caudle, and only for this match I hope. It looks like Kevin Sullivan is going to be locked in a cage at ringside. This match is as a result of things that have happened during the previous months. I’ve written about them! Hard to believe that Ron was their champion just a few months before this. Before the match starts, Jim Ross states that Lex Luger was rushed to the hospital. Alright.

Match Review: Sullivan gets put in his cage, and it isn’t raised up above the ring. That’s kind of a giveaway that something is going to happen during this match. The Garvins attack, and put the Varsity Club in sleepers! Eventually they let go, and it appears that Rick Steiner and Ron Garvin are the legal men. Ron takes Steiner out with a shoulderblock and covers for 2. Jimmy tags in and works the left arm, as Dr. Death stumbles through his commentary. Steiner leaves the ring, and gets a consultation from Sullivan. Rotunda switches in, takes Jimmy down with a fireman’s carry, and Jimmy responds with one of his own. Ron tags in, and Rotunda takes him down into an armbar. Steiner switches in illegally, as it is now made clear that Precious has the key to Sullivan’s cage. Rotunda works the arm of Ron Garvin, as Sullivan makes Jimmy angry enough to walk over to Sullivan’s cage and tell him something. Weird. The Garvins make a tag behind the official’s back, and the Varsity Club takes the opportunity to beat up Ron as the referee ushers Jimmy out of the ring. Steiner has Ron in an armbar, and Jimmy gets pissed off again. So, after more double teaming, Rotunda tags in. He comes in with an elbow, and gets a 1 count. Steiner tags back in, and Garvin chops him back into the corner. Jimmy Garvin tags in, and gives Steiner a dropkick. After a leg drop to the arm, he covers for 2. Jimmy puts a front face-lock on Steiner, and eventually Steiner gets out of it. Jimmy puts a chinlock on now, and tags in Ron for a roll-up which gets 2. Ron tries another for a 2 count, and Rotunda tags in. Ron gives him a sunset flip, and it gets 2. I hate the spot where the referee kicks the hands of the wrestler off the ropes when they’re blocking a sunset flip. Rotunda gives Ron a backdrop and two leg drops, then tags in Steiner. I wonder what’s up with this piece of paper Sullivan has. Rotunda chokes Ron with a rope, and Ron gets dumped to the outside by Steiner. Sullivan punches Ronnie in the face repeatedly. Inside the ring, Ron comes back with a headbutt, and makes his tag out. Jimmy cleans house, and all four guys fight in the ring. Ron and Rotunda tumble to the outside, and Steiner lands an elbow on Jimmy. Now Precious walks over to Sullivan, for reasons that are escaping me at the moment. Sullivan grabs her, and takes the key. The match is over at 13:14 after Jimmy rolls up Steiner, but the segment is certainly not.

Sullivan gets out and grabs her by the neck, and Dr. Death is just not going to take that shit. He leaves his commentary position and lights up Sullivan with right hands, then Precious pushes Jimmy Garvin and leaves. Huh?

My Thoughts: This match was secondary to the angle at ringside. I almost don’t know what to even make of the match. It was weird for sure, pretty disjointed and felt very out of place. It picked up at the end, but I don’t think it was good or anything like that. *1/2. The crowd popped big for Dr. Death and was hot about what happened after the match, at least. The presentation was also such that it rendered the match irrelevant. I don’t know what’s going on with Precious, nor do I know if I should even care. I’m extremely confused.

 

After the commercial break, Bob Caudle is back and we have some Great American Bash hype! There’s supposed to be a scaffold match between the Road Warriors and Powers of Pain, but we know what happens there. There’s a TOWER OF DOOM match! The drawing makes the match look extremely dangerous. Three-tiered cage! Precious has the key at the bottom of the cage to let out the winning team.

 

Al Perez (w/Gary Hart) vs. Nikita Koloff

Pre-Match Thoughts: First time seeing Perez wrestle, and first time I’ve seen Nikita wrestle with his new hair style. I can’t stop laughing at it. Nikita has been de-pushed strongly of late. He has also went off the juice and that’s very obvious. He looks kind of old now.

Match Review: Perez and Nikita lock up, and nothing much happens. They stare each other down, and exchange shoves. Nikita throws Perez into the turnbuckles, which makes Nikita look pretty tough. The crowd is liking this. Perez decides to work on Nikita’s left arm, and Nikita exchanges the favor. Perez takes Nikita down with a big arm drag, which during the same hold is turned into a Nikita arm drag. That was a good spot. Nikita throws Perez across the ring while holding the arm, and Perez trips him when they get up. Perez misses a running elbow drop, and they’re back to square one. After they lock up again, Perez doesn’t break cleanly and hits Nikita with some forearms. Nikita misses a charge after a whip to the corner, and Perez hits him with weak looking kicks, knocking Nikita to the floor. Hart rams him into a table at ringside, and Perez rams Nikita into the apron. Nikita is able to crawl back in before the count, and Hart punches him. Nikita falls back to the outside, and Perez hits him with a double axehandle from the apron. He also slams Nikita on the concrete floor, and when trying to drag Nikita into the ring with a suplex, Nikita falls on top for 2. Perez quickly responds with a chinlock, and Nikita powers out of it. He takes Perez down with a snap mare, and misses an elbow drop. Back to the chinlock now, and Nikita powers out again. This time, he picks Perez up on his shoulders and slams him back down to the mat. They blow a spot, to the degree that I don’t even know what they were going to do, and Nikita gets thrown to the outside again. Nikita sunset flips back into the ring, and they wind up in the ropes on the other side of the ring. Nikita gives Perex a suplex and a big right hand to follow. After a back elbow, Nikita hits him with a flying shoulderblock. The fans want the SICKLE, but Nikita gives Perez 5 punches in the corner. He hits Perez with another elbow to knock him over the top, and now Hart is on the apron. Larry Zbyzsko runs into the ring to attack Nikita from behind, but Nikita hits him with the SICKLE. Perez loses via DQ at 11:50, but that’s not the end of this thing.

Perez grabs a chain that Zbyzsko brought into the ring, and begins to work on Nikita with it. Hart is choking Nikita with his jacket, and the crowd wants Dusty to come out to save his friend. Will he? No.

My Thoughts: I liked this match a fair bit until the blown spot. It took me out of it. It was fun up to that point. First impression of Perez is that he’s a good worker. Nikita on the other hand, while a good worker in the right setting, is clearly nearing the end of his run. I don’t really like his new look. ** for this one. This show has been somewhat disappointing thus far.

 

Dusty Rhodes & Sting vs. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (w/JJ Dillon) for the NWA World Tag Team Championships

Pre-Match Thoughts: This is the main event, as it should be given the lineup that has been put out there. Unlike in many of the usual Crockett areas, Dusty Rhodes is very much over in Miami. There have been some major issues with this show and who was on this show, but I’ll get to that after this match. This should be a solid match at the very least. Dusty in a tag team setting should be able to work much more quickly. Only marks would think that Sting and Dusty would win the straps here.

Match Review: Sting and Arn will start the match off, and Sting does his kip-up after getting hair pulled bit. That got a big roar out of this small crowd. Arn nails Sting on the break, and dumps him down to the floor. Arn tries to clothesline him, but winds up clotheslining the post. Sting wrenches the arm against that post, and tosses his opponent back into the ring. Sting puts an armbar on Arn, and eventually gets raked in the eyes. Tully tags in and Sting arm drags him, then Sting gives him a hip toss. A flying head-scissors follows, and here comes Dusty. Man, he’s over big in Florida. He nails Tully with his best punches and elbows, but misses a charge to the corner. Tully tries to come off the second rope, but Dusty catches him and throws him back into the corner. Tully pinballs back and forth between Sting and Dusty, then Dusty puts a figure-four on Tully. Arn rushes over to force a break, and distracts the referee for JJ to choke Dusty. That was great. Tully and Arn exchange tags, and eventually Arn throws Dusty into the railing. Rhodes crawls back into the ring, and Tully is in there waiting for him. He tries for a suplex, but Dusty reverses. Tully reverses that, and Dusty clotheslines him. Dusty hits Blanchard with a dropkick, and Sting tags in. Sting gives tully a big press slam, then hits him with…THE STINGER SPLASH. Sting goes for the SCORPION DEATHLOCK, but Arn heads into the ring to break it up. Sting takes him out, but Tully hits Sting with a knee from behind to send him to the outside. Arn drops Sting on the rail, and Tully deposits Sting back inside. Arn has tagged in, and hits Sting with an elbow to the neck for 2. Arn follows with a bodyslam, and heads up to the second rope for a splash which gets blocked. Sting tries to make the tag, but Tully switches in and cuts him off. Arn heads in, and tries to set Sting up for a double team. Arn goes for the suplex, but can’t do it. So Tully comes off the top with a sunset flip, and Arn nails Sting with a clothesline to cause a 2 count. Sting gets pulled to the outside once again, and Arn DDT’s him on the floor! JJ puts Sting inside, and Sting trades punches with Anderson. Sting puts him in a backslide, and gets 2. Tully’s in now, and Sting gives him a hot shot! Dusty makes the big tag, and cleans house with elbows. He gives Arn a DDT, and a back elbow as well. Dusty drops the elbow, and gets 1. All four men are in the ring, and Sting throws Teddy Long out of his way. Pretty sure he’s been the referee for every match! Dusty throws him out of the ring as well, meaning it’s over at 11:01. I don’t know who won, but it should be Arn & Tully winning via DQ.

Here comes Barry Windham from the back! He flies off the top to attack Rhodes, and puts THE CLAW on him. Flair is here, and the Horsemen are triple teaming Sting while Windham deals with Dusty. Windham keeps that claw on until Dusty bleeds, and we head to a commercial. No! That’s the end of the show!

My Thoughts: I can’t believe they went with that finish a second time. Not just a second time on the show…but the second time in a row. Fans notice that stuff pretty easily, I believe. The match was really fun until that point. I liked the way things were going with Dusty making those short burst appearances and Sting getting beaten up. It’s weird that as big as Sting was, he was easily able to garner sympathy. That doesn’t always happen, but Sting connected well with kids. Other wrestlers cannot. I have also noticed when watching these shows that this company doesn’t really have anyone else who can connect with kids. That’s not JCP/NWA’s demographic, but Sting is valuable in that way. *** for the contest. Was just as good as the previous tag team title match.

 

One thing about this card was that they couldn’t even fill the building up to half capacity. The ad shared in the WON was pretty bad. The TV rating was good. I didn’t like how some of their talents were used. First and most notably, Ric Flair didn’t have a match. No Midnight Express nor Jim Cornette. Jim Ross in the parking lot. Steve Williams doing bad commentary. No Road Warriors! I’d say something about these mistakes being standard procedure for WCW, but this isn’t even WCW yet! Another thing I would say is that the beginning of the show did absolutely nothing to hook the viewer. This being on cable and all, without that Ric Flair match and all, they probably should have done something about that. The beginning was tough to get through. This show was just there, basically. It was nothing special, nothing terrible. Pretty much the definition of average. The presentation during Garvins vs. Varsity Club was a major issue to me, otherwise nothing bothered me too much. Next up is Great American Bash 1988. I can’t wait for it, even the stuff that sounds bad like Tower of Doom sounds very appealing.

Wrestling Time: 1:09:30. That’s 20 seconds more than last time. Some weird timing to get that close. They didn’t really do the most with that time, though. No comparison between this show and the last Clash, and that wasn’t the point anyway. There was no WrestleMania to compete with!

Best: Sting as face in peril. This was a tough choice but I loved his performance in that match.

Worst: Misused talents. It was pretty annoying.

Card Rating: 5/10. Average!