Sage Cortez
Season’s Beatings is not the best name for a Clash of the Champions, but we’ll have to roll with it. After the pile of crap SNME that I just watched, I’m looking forward to watching some real wrestling. There are some issues heading into it, though. The TBS crew is working production, which they had not done on the previous specials. That could lead to some snafus. Lex Luger is in the role of host here, when he should either be wrestling or running into Flair’s match later on. This time, the company was smart and ran their show in a Southern city that was sure to show up to watch their wrestling. I hope it’s better than the last Clash. Heading into Starrcade, they have a lot of stuff going on and these two cards have been properly built.
– December 7th, 1988, from UTC Arena in Chattanooga, Tennessee
Really strange introduction, as pictures of wrestlers are interspersed with Civil War memorabilia and locales. We dive straight into the first match, which is…
NWA United States Tag Team Championship Tournament Final: Ron Simmons & Eddie Gilbert vs. The Fantastics
Pre-Match Thoughts: They ran the tournament on their syndicated TV, but I was not able to watch any of it. I’m glad to see the final at least. The Fantastics being former champions and all, I expect them to win those straps back. I don’t know the result of the match (although the chapter markers on WWE Network indicate that it is very long), so it should make for an interesting watch. I’m guessing that Simmons and Gilbert will naturally fall into a heel role because the Fantastics are far more popular. Jim Ross and Bob Caudle are our commentators here.
Match Review: Simmons and Fulton begin the match by locking up, with Simmons being by far the biggest guy in this match. Fulton tries to run him over, but bounces off him like a big. He comes back with some dropkicks, and Simmons catches him in a backbreaker. Simmons follows that with a press slam, and Fulton comes back with an arm drag so he can tag out. Rogers comes in and dishes out a dropkick, which causes Gilbert to come in for the first time. He gives Rogers a hip toss, but misses his elbow drop attempt. Rogers gets out, and Gilbert has his sunset flip broken immediately upon completion. The fans seem to like Gilbert a lot, and pop big for his posing. They boo Fulton when he struts, which was certainly not expected. Gilbert uses a head-scissors to get control of him, but that doesn’t last too long and Fulton tries a small package for 2. He and Gilbert get angry with each other, as the idiotic production crew keeps showing pictures of fans on camera. This is wrestling…keep the action in the ring, brother. Simmons tags in and uses a hammerlock, but gets dumped out to the floor. Fulton tries another small package upon Simmons getting back in the ring, it gets 2. Simmons tries his own roll-up on Rogers, which also gets 2. Rogers comes back with another dropkick, and heads up top for a flying elbow that misses. Simmons hits him with a flying shoulderblock, and tags in his partner. Gilbert and Rogers exchange holds, causing the anger to rise. Rogers ends that with an arm drag and tag out, but Fulton comes in and puts on his own armbar. Gilbert gets out of it, and he’s pissed now. They start shoving, and Gilbert gets out of there. Simmons rolls Fulton up for 2, and uses a front face-lock on him. Simmons misses a charge to the corner, and the Fantastics are going to go to work. They tie Simmons up for a while, but Simmons gives Rogers a big backdrop. He misses the elbow, and gets taken down again with an arm drag. Simmons gets out of there after a back elbow, and Gilbert gives Rogers a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Gilbert follows that with a suplex, it also gets 2. Rogers comes back with one of his own, and brings in his partner, as does Gilbert. Simmons gives Fulton a bodyslam, but he misses yet another elbow drop. So, Fulton leg drops him for 2. Fulton tags out, and Rogers lands a knee lift for 2. After a back elbow, Fulton covers again for 2. Simmons drives Rogers back into the corner, destroys him with shoulder charges, and gets out. Gilbert gives Rogers an atomic drop, and a back suplex as well for a very close 2 count. Simmons tags in once again, and he misses a charge to the corner again. Fulton tries to finish him with a dive from the top, but Simmons catches him in mid-air and powerslams him. That was really impressive. Gilbert tags in, gets thrown through the turnbuckles and into the post, then knocked off the apron. Now his left arm is hurt again. Rogers takes him down and goes to work on it, and Fulton comes in to use a single-arm DDT. After multiple armbars by both Fantastics, during which Gilbert does a great face-in-peril act, Fulton gives Gilbert a bodyslam. He misses a diving headbutt, gets hip tossed, and tags out before Gilbert can make the switch. Rogers keeps a hammerlock on him, but Gilbert ducks down as Rogers tries to throw him into the buckle. He still can’t tag out, even though he hits Fulton with the HOTSHOT! After a whip to the corner, Gilbert misses a charge and gets hurt again, leading to Fulton rolling him up…for 3 at 27:03. Didn’t see that coming, but the Fantastics are the new United States Tag Team Champions!
My Thoughts: The Fantastics got booed a lot at the end, which is to be expected given how the closing segment of that match went. I didn’t like the way it wound down that much, but I appreciated the way it didn’t fit in the hot tag formula. Doing so leads a fan to come up with a lot of different ideas. One of those is that they could have been turning the Fantastics heel, but I don’t think so. Another is wondering if Simmons would be turning heel on Gilbert right after the match, or at a later date due to his not being given the opportunity to tag in. It was interesting to see how both teams danced around either one of them having to embrace heeling it up, but they did a good job of mantaining their status. This was Simmons first chance to have a big match and I thought he did a nice job too. *** for the match, I’m not giving it more than that due to the pace leading up to the ending. Another thing I would say is that it isn’t good to have the Fantastics get booed after putting a tag title on them, but I completely understand why that happened. The crowd was really into Gilbert, so it did play a part.
“Dr. Death” Steve Williams (w/Kevin Sullivan) vs. The Italian Stallion
Pre-Match Thoughts: Lex Luger and Tony Schiavone have a hosting role here, and they talk about the last match before this one. Luger didn’t do a great job talking about it. Williams turned heel via interview, so he gets a showcase match here. I have no idea why they would pick the Italian Stallion to be his opponent, though. Before the match, Jim Ross interviews Kevin Sullivan and Mike Rotunda. Ross talks about the TV Title match between Rotunda and Steiner at Starrcade, and the two Varsity Club members repeatedly talk about how stupid Steiner is.
Match Review: Dr. Death gets hip tossed to start the match, and dropkicked to the outside. Is the Stallion getting a push or something? Williams gets back in the ring, and trips his opponent. Stallion gets up and clotheslines him, but Dr. Death gives him a Samoan drop in return. After a bodyslam, Williams misses an elbow drop. Stallion covers for 2 after a leg drop, and puts a short-arm scissors on Williams. When it gets broken, Stallion gives him a cross body for 2. Williams dumps him to the outside, which allows Sullivan to run over and punch Stallion. Dr. Death beats Stallion up on the outside, and Stallion has to crawl back to the apron. Dr. Death suplexes him back in for 2, but Stallion isn’t ready to give up just yet. They blow a high knee spot, and Williams winds up putting a sleeper on his foe. That turns into a chinlock, which goes on for some time. Stallion comes back with another clothesline, and misses an elbow drop. That move sequence occurs far too often in wrestling for my liking. Williams takes Stallion down with a shouldertackle, and follows with a dropkick. He rolls Stallion up for 2, and holds him down with a weird version of a half-crab. Stallion reaches the ropes, and gets kicked down to the floor. Sullivan takes him out again, and back in they go again. Stallion gets hit with an inverted atomic drop, and has an elbow drop put on his neck for 2. Stallion breaks the hold, but gets bodyslammed. Williams heads up top, but misses his big splash. Imagine getting hit with one of those by that big hoss. Stallion gives him a dropkick, then a powerslam. Stallion tries a cross body, but Williams catches him and gives him the OKLAHOMA STAMPEDE. That’s it, Williams picks up the 3 count at 15:35.
My Thoughts: That was thoroughly dull. Who the hell thought this match should go that long? Jim Crockett booked the show, so it stands to reason that he did. Look at the lack of words I put down for a 15 minute match, that’s all you need to know. Total DUD. This made Dr. Death look weak, because no legitimate wrestler should need 15 minutes to beat a job guy. Also remember that the NWA’s ring announcers always note how much time has passed in a match, so everyone got reminded of that right before the finish. Somebody named Dr. Death should never give a lower card wrestler that much offense.
Hey, it’s Magnum TA’s turn to interview someone! It’s the Junkyard Dog. Can’t even feign excitement about that, but I am glad that Magnum has been given a job. It appears that JYD and Ivan Koloff will be facing the Russian Assassins at Starrcade. If JYD and Koloff win, the Assassins have to unmask. That could be trash. I find it very unlikely that there will be any unmasking. Why was Starrcade 1988 given the tag line of ‘True Gritt’? That’s not even spelled correctly.
Paul Jones vs. Ivan Koloff, who is facing Jones with ONE HAND TIED BEHIND HIS BACK
Pre-Match Thoughts: Jones is the manager of the Russian Assassins, so this match is based on Koloff being attacked by them previously. This could be really terrible, but I love the stipulation. It’s nothing but cheese, and frankly will be more entertaining than the last match. I’m trying to think of how to phrase this…it’s an old school Crockett holdout type of match. He may not own the company anymore, but this is his talent.
Match Review: Once Ivan’s hand is tied up, we get things going. He chokes Jones, and hits Jones until he doesn’t want to fight anymore. He follows with a headbutt, and once again Jones doesn’t want to wrestle. This is silly. Ivan throws Jones into the buckle, and chokes him again. Jones finally lands some punches, and an elbow drop. Jones starts to choke Ivan with the rope that is tying his hand behind his back, and he throws him into the post outside the ring. Jones celebrates his non-victory, as he waits for Koloff to roll back in. Ivan fires off some right hands, as Jones reaches into his tights for something. He hits Ivan with it, then tries again, only to drop it. Ivan hits him with it, and covers for 3 at 8:21.
Now that the match is over, it’s time for the Assassins to run down and clean house. They attack Ivan from behind, and this gets a LOT more heat than the match did. One gives Ivan a knee drop from the second rope, and JYD runs down with his chain to chase them out of the ring.
My Thoughts: This was super bad, very boring, and not remotely more entertaining than the last match. I’m quite sad about that. Can’t say anything good about this at all. The crowd didn’t care, there was no action, and the match was way too long. -**. I don’t know why anyone would book matches like the last two. This isn’t 1985 anymore, some of these ideas are dead and tired.
Magnum TA is with Rick Steiner, who talks a bunch of garbage. His gimmick of a wrestling machine who just so happens to be an idiot is pretty good, especially for the time period. Looking forward to his match with Rotunda at Starrcade, it’s time for the TV Championship to change hands.
Road Warrior Animal (NWA Tag Team Champion, w/Paul Ellering) vs. Dusty Rhodes for the NWA Six Man Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: The winner will gain control of these titles and will be allowed to pick their co-title holders. Considering this is building to a match at Starrcade, Animal cannot win this match clean. To get Dusty to do a job of any kind is rare enough as it is. In this match, a disqualification will be enough for the winner to gain control of the titles. Stating that there is such a stipulation is a giveaway that a DQ is likely to happen, at least from my perspective. I really hope not. Dusty is sporting an eye patch due to his being attacked, and here we go!
Match Review: Dusty rushes the ring quickly, and goes right to work. Animal misses a charge and flies over the top, then Dusty gives Ellering a BIONIC ELBOW to get him out of the ring. Animal gets tagged with a clothesline or two, as the crowd is going crazy. Dusty misses an elbow drop, and Animal lands one of his own. Animal misses a charge to the corner, so Dusty rams his leg into the post. Dusty winds up elbowing the referee for no reason, and Ellering climbs into the ring. He hits Dusty with something, and Animal tries to rip that eye patch off. NO MORE PIRATE STYLE FOR YOU. Dusty hits him with a low blow, and here comes Hawk! Hawk nails Dusty with a punch from the second rope, and Sting rushes out to the ring too! He clears Hawk out of it, and Dusty grabs a chair. He hits Animal in the leg with it, and referee wakes up to ring the bell for a DQ at 2:54. That means the Road Warriors are the champions, along with a partner of their choosing.
My Thoughts: This was barely even a match, but it was very entertaining. The concept of this being a feud is excellent as Dusty and the Road Warriors were still really over with the crowd. They responded to this far better than anything else so far. The Starrcade match with Dusty and Sting facing the Road Warriors should be really hot. * for this, but recommended due to length and what happened. Great build.
Ric Flair (NWA Champion) & Barry Windham (US Champion, w/JJ Dillon) vs. The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette)
Pre-Match Thoughts: This match sounds awesome and I don’t know how it could turn out not to be. First chance the Express and Flair were on different sides they were immediately put together in a match. Had to be done! The middle of this show has been terrible, hopefully this match can save it. To have a card bookended by two great tag matches would be rare. Luger sounds like an idiot talking about this match. I believe a lot of interview segments have been cut out of this show, which is too bad. Weird seeing the Midnight Express without a title belt of some kind.
Match Review: Flair and Eaton will start the bout, with Flair wearing pink boots and purple trunks. Eaton slaps him, which fires the crowd up. They trade shots, and Eaton gives Flair a backdrop. He throws Flair into the corner, onto the apron, and Lane clocks him. He tags in, and follows with a karate kick. Lane hits Flair with an enziguri, and in comes Windham. Lane dropkicks the big Texan, who comes back with a bodyslam. He goes up top, but misses a big elbow drop. Lane dropkicks Windham again, and kicks him over the top rope! Back inside, Eaton tags in as does Flair. Eaton gives Flair a hip toss after some great rope running, and he gives Windham one as well. After a pair of bodyslams, Flair pokes Eaton in the eye. Eaton gives Flair and Windham a double clothesline, which clears it out again. Flair and Lane get it restarted, with Lane taking Flair down with a drop toe-hold. He puts a FIGURE-FOUR on Flair, and Eaton knocks Windham down to put one on him! The crowd is really enjoying this match, and who wouldn’t? Flair throws Lane to the outside after the holds are broken, but Lane jumps back in to give Flair a back elbow for 2. Eaton tags in, as JR brings up the feud between both versions of the Midnight Express. That is good commentary. Flair starts hammering Eaton with chops, and Eaton comes back with punches. Lane comes in, and Flair tags him with an elbow. We get a Paul E. Dangerously INSERT PROMO, as Windham gives Lane a powerslam for 2. I am thankful for this promo. Flair comes in after a missed knee drop, and heads up top. Of course, Lane slams him down from there and tags out. Eaton gives Flair a bunch of punches, then gives Flair a neckbreaker. Both Express members come in and give Flair a double flapjack, it gets 2. Eaton tries a cradle, it also gets 2. Windham hits Eaton on the back of the head, and maybe the heels will be able to get some control. Windham tags in legally, and gives Eaton an inverted atomic drop. He knocks Eaton to the floor, and suplexes him back into the ring from the apron. Windham follows with a powerslam, and tags in Slick Ric for a knee drop. About time the champion gets in some offense. Flair distracts the referee, which allows Windham to drop Eaton on the railing outside the ring. Flair comes out there and chops him, then tags out. Windham nails Eaton with the LARIAT, Eaton kicks out at 1. That strikes me as some sort of mistake. Windham gives him a gutwrench suplex, and he drops a knee too. Barry puts a sleeper on Eaton, as JR ties that into Barry’s title defense against Bam Bam Bigelow. This is great announcing. Windham tags out, and Flair has to keep Eaton from tagging. He does so with chops, but Eaton knocks him down with a hard punch to the nose. Flair makes the tag out, but so does Eaton!
Lane cleans house with kicks, to a huge ovation! He gives Windham a backdrop, and Flair gets one too. A noggin-knocker follows, and he tags Eaton back in. They give Windham a high-low combination move, and kick Flair over the top. Eaton flies down from the top with a leg drop, and all hell breaks loose. JJ gets on the apron, and Cornette whacks him with his racket. Dillon’s shoe falls into the ring, and Flair hits Eaton with it. Windham goes for the cover, and picks up the victory for he and Flair at the 17:41 mark. Well, shit.
My Thoughts: As good as this match was, it could have been even better. The finish was really well done, although shorter than expected. I’m surprised they went to the finish so fast, but in the WON it says Eaton couldn’t catch his breath. So, there you go. I’m not sure what the best part of this was. Perhaps it was the commentary, which tied three different Starrcade matches into this one. Perhaps it was Flair, who took more bumps in 17 minutes of a tag match than most wrestlers do in 30 minutes of a singles match. The finish is old hat, but at least a team went over via pinfall rather than DQ in a big main event. It was a great match, but due to the finish wasn’t a classic. I’ll give it **** and recommend it. In many ways the combination of Flair and the Midnight Express was a dream match. I think it lived up to that.
After the commercial, Jim Cornette is irate. He rattles off a ton of great lines, being sure to point out how Flair won the match. He says that Flair won’t be able to do that at Starrcade, and he’s right! A disqualification would cause Flair to lose his title. After the commentators and hosts recap the show, it’s over!
This was solid Clash of the Champions build, but the second and third matches didn’t make any sense at all. I know why they happened, but they did not need to happen. Ordinarily I would say that a show with the main event and opener of this one was good, but there was really nothing else to the show. Going into Starrcade I think we have an acceptable card. There are some matches on the under that will wrap up huge storylines, and a main event that will finish the Luger/Flair feud. That feud wasn’t even hot anymore, and their dragging it out played a part in things that went wrong during 1988. Next up, it’s going to be Starrcade, and then we’re on to 1989!
Wrestling Time: 1:11:34. Factor in edited out segments and commercials, and this was far longer.
Best: Ric Flair & Barry Windham vs. Midnight Express. This was really fun.
Worst: Ivan Koloff vs. Paul Jones. Horrific, negative star quality match. I can’t think of anything good to say about it.
Card Rating: 6/10. Solidly average!
