Sage Cortez
Clash of the Champions 9 was the NWA’s first real adventure to New York under Ted Turner, and regardless of how well it was going to work or not, they were hellbent on doing it. All the real companies go to New York was one of the talking points used to explain the decision to their employees, I’m sure. Tell that to the UFC. The match here was expected to be Terry Funk’s last match. It’s unfortunate that he wasn’t around to do more and be programmed with other people. Besides that, I really don’t know anything about this show. I do know that they announced the Starrcade lineup and had commercials with it. The show sounds completely unappealing to me as too few workers are on the show and I don’t like the round robin format. In any case, I’ll get to it when I get to it. To the Clash!
– November 15th, 1989, from RPI Fieldhouse in Troy, New York
At the opening, we have Terry Funk talking about not wanting Flair’s belt. HE WANTS HIS PRIDE. THAT’S WHAT I WANT TO HEAR, A TRUE BLOOD FEUD. It’s time for New York Knockout or whatever they’re calling this mess, and we have Jim Ross and Gordon Solie as our commentators. They’re doing a hell of a job getting me hyped for the main event, but first we have…
The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) vs. The Fabulous Freebirds for the NWA Tag Team Championships
Pre-Match Thoughts: This should be a hell of a match to get the crowd going. The people are hungry for a title change and I’m sure they’re thinking they may see one here. Style-wise, who knows what to make of the match. It probably won’t be good but it’s going to get a ton of heat. Awesomely, this show has the cool entranceway that we really need. It has a giant platform and stairs! The Road Warriors pop was gigantic I tell you.
Match Review: Hawk and Hayes start the match, and of course Hawk scares him out of the ring. Hayes extolls his intelligence for doing that, so Animal press slams him back into the ring. Garvin rushes in and Hawk clotheslines him, so the Freebirds have to take a bit of time. When that’s over, Hawk picks Hayes up for a real press slam, and hits him with a flying shoulderblock as well. Garvin tags in, and gets chopped until Hawk hits him with a dropkick. Animal tags in, and it’s time for a double back elbow. Garvin comes back with a suplex, but Animal pops right back up and clotheslines him. Garvin goes out for another break, and tags out this time. The crowd loves the Road Warriors. Animal no sells a back elbow this time, and crushes Hayes with a clothesline. Hayes dodges a flying shoulderblock, and in comes Hawk. The Freebirds have done absolutely nothing in this match. Hawk clotheslines Hayes, and both guys tag out shortly after. Animal stops on Garvin in the corner, and Garvin dodges a charge to the other side. Finally! Hayes throws Animal out of the ring, and the Freebirds exchange tags while clobbering on Animal with chops and punches. Their offense is consisting of nothing resembling wrestling, but that’s just fine at this stage. Hawk gets tired of it and decides to throw Tommy Young across the ring, which leads to the Road Warriors being disqualified at 5:19 right as Animal gets thrown over the top by Garvin.
Hawk decides to beat up the Freebirds by himself, and hits Garvin with a big boot to knock him out of the ring, and Hayes a clothesline. The Road Warriors also hit Hayes with a double clothesline, and out from the back comes Terry Funk for a promo before the teams even leave the ring area.
My Thoughts: This match was all wrong. The Freebirds didn’t have their titles when they came out to the ring, even though this match was for them. The Road Warriors got all the offense because they knew the Freebirds were having their title loss aired on TV. The finish was brutal, almost beyond belief in how bad it sucked. I don’t know what the purpose was, this certainly didn’t hype up the Freebirds match against the Steiners at all. 1/2*.
Jim Ross was with Terry Funk for a live promo in the arena, sounds great. Funk talks about the contrast between the two wrestlers, and says that the only thing they have in common is loving wrestling. HE IS NO QUITTER, and Gary Hart says that TEXANS DON’T QUIT. If Funk quits, it’s an embarrassment to Texas. Funk doesn’t want his help to win this match, though. If you believe that…
We now have Bill Apter here to present an award, for the most popular wrestler in the NWA. It is STING. THE STINGER GETS A TROPHY, but the most popular wrestler doesn’t get a match. That sounds pretty stupid when you think of it like that. Ric Flair was named WRESTLER OF THE DECADE.
Tommy Rich & Eddie Gilbert vs. Doom (w/Woman)
Pre-Match Thoughts: If you need to know where Rich stands as a wrestler, this sums it up. That’s the case for Gilbert too, but apparently he was on the booking team, so he may not have cared. Obviously, Doom is going to be made to look like a powerhouse of a team. Woman had some sort of promo where she hyped herself up, don’t know why it was shot from a hotel room though. Rich looks worse by the day, it seems. Four dudes in tuxedos escorted Woman to the ring, I thought that was a good touch.
Match Review: Simmons and Gilbert start the match, these guys are former partners! Simmons shoves Gilbert to the canvas, then tosses him across the ring look a sack of potatoes. Gilbert runs up with a cradle, and doesn’t even get a 1 count. After ramming Simmons face into the mat, Rich tags in and comes off the second rope with a double axehandle. Reed tags in, and Rich takes him down with a hip toss. Gilbert tags in now, and Reed plants him into the canvas with a side slam. He follows that with a suplex, and Simmons tags in for a huge gutbuster, where Simmons headbutted Gilbert’s stomach. Never seen that. Reed tags in, and punts Gilbert in the gut. He follows that with a swinging neckbreaker for 2, then Gilbert makes a tag out. Rich hits Reed with an elbow to the head, then backdrops him. His offense was so lame. All four guys fight with each other, until Reed picks Rich up and Simmons flies off the top with a clothesline on him. Reed covers, and there’s a win for DOOM at 5:16.
My Thoughts: The crowd only popped for Doom’s offense, especially when it was given to Rich. I think everyone sees what I see when it comes to Rich. He didn’t fit at all. Doom had a stupid gimmick, but as a team they were a really good fit with each other and could put on good matches. Merely *1/2 for this, as I appreciate the finish, opposed to what happened in the first match. Not a great start to the show though.
Up next we have a LOUISVILLE SLUGGER segment, which was Jim Cornette’s hosted show. He’s going to talk to the STEINER BROTHERS. The first thing that happened, was Scott Steiner finally naming his amazing looking move, and it’s called the FRANKENSTEINER. They started talking trash about the Skyscrapers too, then went back to talking about Doom as they hate them. Scott threatened to hit Woman! That uh…sounds absolutely fucking terrible. Good thing the interview didn’t go on for much longer.
The Dynamic Dudes vs. The Midnight Express
Pre-Match Thoughts: With these teams having argued about Cornette, it’s time for them to face each other. Cornette is at ringside but not cheering for or helping either team, he will remain neutral. The Dudes looked so lame with those skateboards. At least Ace tried to ride his. Looking forward to this match as it should end the mini-program between these four guys.
Match Review: The Express did not want to shake hands, that was very rude. Eaton tried to convince Cornette to go in his corner, but it was not to be. So, he and Douglas start the match, and fight over hammerlocks. Douglas takes Eaton down with an arm drag, and Eaton tags out of there. Douglas hip tosses Lane and dropkicks Eaton, then takes Lane down with an arm drag. Lane comes back with a drop toe-hold and Douglas reverses to a hammerlock, Lane reverses that by pulling hair. The crowd is on Douglas already, they don’t like him. Cornette tells the referee that Lane pulled hair, and that’s not neutral at all. Douglas rolls Lane up for 2, and Ace tags in shortly afterward. Lane misses an enziguri, then gets dropkicked a few times by Ace and bodyslammed. Eaton tags in, and gets dropkicked too. Ace hits Eaton with a baseball slide, then Douglas flies out with a running plancha that looked absolutely incredible. About time these guys do something DYNAMIC, it took months. Lane tags in to face off with Douglas, and he back suplexes him. Misses an elbow drop though, and Douglas uses an arm drag. Eaton slaps him to break the armbar, then puts him atop the top rope for a superplex that Douglas reverses. He cradles Eaton up, it gets 2. He goes with a cross body for 2, and Ace tags in. Eaton tries a hip toss, but Ace dishes it out instead. After a monkey flip, Ace tries a flying head-scissors and Lane pops him to break it. Lane takes Ace down and gives him a Russian leg sweep, then tags in Eaton for the ROCKET LAUNCHER which Ace blocks. Douglas tags in, and backdrops Eaton. He follows that with a Samoan drop for 2, and all four guys are in there now. Eaton tries to hit Douglas with a chain and gets backdropped, then Cornette runs into the ring. He grabs the chain, throws it into the crowd, and when Douglas turns his back Cornette cracks him with the LOADED RACKET. YES, IT WAS ALL A RUSE. Eaton pins Douglas, and that gets the win for the Midnight Express at 9:25!
My Thoughts: The impact of a heel turn is lessened greatly when the people cheer the acts of the supposedly evil guys. This was a major misjudgment of their current audience, thinking that they’d actually boo the Midnight Express. Of course that wasn’t going to happen. I think the best thing about the turn was that Cornette teased being on the Dudes side at the beginning of the match. It made things better. I’d actually be surprised if the Express were ever booed as long as they were facing this team, perhaps ever again. One can hope they won’t be as I love when it backfires to shoehorn people into roles they shouldn’t have. ***1/4 for the match, the spot when Douglas jumped out of the ring was excellent. He did a particularly notable job in making the match better.
The Super Destroyer vs. “Dr. Death” Steve Williams
Pre-Match Thoughts: I assume that the Super Destroyer is another one of Jack Victory’s gimmicks. The story about the match was great. Dr. Death was supposed to face the Cuban Assassin, and that match got cancelled. Doc went to the show anyway. Zenk was supposed to face the Super Destroyer, who was Bill Irwin. Irwin went on a tour of Japan, and Zenk showed up late to the show. Zenk got pulled from the match with the Super Destroyer, who was now Jack Victory. There you go. I love watching Dr. Death but I could not care less about this match, even though I presume it’s the start of a renewed singles push. For some inexplicable reason, Norman the Lunatic is at ringside wearing a Santa Claus costume. I actually know why, but that doesn’t make it any less stupid.
Match Review: Super Destroyer attacks Doc early on, and clotheslines him. Doc comes back with a shoulderblock, then gets thrown out of the ring and lands on his feet. So, Dr. Death clocks this masked man, and press slams him. This guy is huge too, that was really impressive. He clotheslines Destroyer out onto a table, then sends this poor guy back in the ring for more punishment. He picks Destroyer up for the OKLAHOMA STAMPEDE, and gets the pin after that at 1:39.
Norman gives Doc a teddy bear, and they hug it out. WHY?
My Thoughts: This was the good kind of squash where my attention didn’t get divided at all. * for it, and I really don’t understand why they’re putting Norman with Doc. I think Norman’s gimmick is funny, but they’re burdening the wrong guy with helping him out. The Norman gimmick also loses something when Teddy Long isn’t out there harassing him.
The Skyscrapers (w/Teddy Long) vs. The Steiner Brothers
Pre-Match Thoughts: Oh shit, they’ve come up with something as good as the last Skyscrapers match I watched, from Halloween Havoc. This sounds great! The Steiners did have a tag title match that was already announced to take place a little while after this, so you know they’re not going to lose the match. For some reason, Rick Steiner entered through the crowd and threw popcorn all over the place. What a guy!
Match Review: Rick steals Teddy Long’s hat, which gets the crowd awfully riled up before Spivey and Rick start wrestling. Rick throws him with a German, and clotheslines Spivey over the top for good measure. That looked amazing. Spivey comes back in and spikes Rick with a TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER, so Scott has to break the cover. Rick hits Spivey with a STEINERLINE, then tags out so Scott can takes him down with the FRANKENSTEINER. He follows that with a BLOCKBUSTER SUPLEX on Sid, who then leaves the ring along with his partner. Sid makes a real tag in, and locks up with Scott. Sounds great. Sid misses a charge to the corner, and Scott puts an armbar on him until Sid can tag out. He destroys Scott with a clothesline, and Spivey drops Scott with a weird bodyslam. A big boot follows that, then Scott comes back with a suplex. He takes Spivey down with a Steinerline, and his brother tags in. He hits Spivey with a monster Steinerline, and a powerslam as well. They hit Sid with a double clothesline to knock him out of the ring, then one of the Doom members runs out from the back for Scott to give him a FRANKENSTEINER. The other runs out too, and the Skyscrapers have been disqualified at 6:06. Woman tries to hit Rick Steiner with her shoe, and some GIANT WALKS DOWN TO THE RING BAH GAWD WHO IS THIS IT’S A BODYGUARD. Rick gets planted with a spike piledriver, and here comes the ROAD WARRIORS BAH GAWD WE GOT ANARCHY OUT HERE. YES! Sadly, they went right to a commercial.
My Thoughts: This match wasn’t great, but the post-match was absolutely amazing. The huge guy jumping in the ring didn’t do anything other than protect Woman, I don’t know what that was about. Spivey missed a few moves here though, it wasn’t a good performance on his part. Having an 8 man brawl at the end was a great idea, not only did it hype up the Starrcade round-robin concept, but it made me want to see an 8 man WarGames with these guys. *3/4 for the match, it was a bit short too, sadly. The crowd was extremely hyped up when the Road Warriors ran out to the ring, that was just great.
With the match over, we have Jim Ross with the Steiners and Road Warriors, who are going to have some comments about what just happened. Scott sounded like a total moron.
“Flyin'” Brian Pillman vs. Lex Luger for the NWA United States Championship
Pre-Match Thoughts: We did need a rematch, so I’m totally cool with watching this again right after I just watched it. Lex Luger having pyro for his entrance is pretty awesome, especially considering the era this match is taking place in. That was so unusual at the time. Gordon Solie has been great on commentary, by the way.
Match Review: These two lock up almost immediately after Luger gets in the ring, then Luger takes time to trash talk the crowd. Pillman takes Luger down with a set of dropkicks, so Luger leaves the ring. He was so effective at getting heat. When he gets back in, the two wrestlers lock up again, and Luger misses a charge to the corner after a whip, so he leaves the ring again. After that, they struggle again, and Luger gets tagged with some chops. Luger tries an atomic drop, Pillman reverses it and has a cradle blocked, then misses a clothesline and flies over the top. Pillman skins the cat back in, and hits Luger with an ax kick to the face. That was great. Luger slows it down a bit, then throws Pillman into the corner and runs into knees. Pillman heads up top, and down he comes with a missile dropkick for 2. He wrenches Luger’s arm on the top rope, then rams it into the post as well. Brian sends him into the rail next, and chops him down to the floor. They get back in the ring, and Pillman has the champion in an armbar for a bit. Luger breaks out of it, and follows with a back suplex. His chest is bleeding from the chops, but it’s not stopping him. He picks Pillman up for a press slam and threatens to throw him out of the ring, but instead it’s merely onto the canvas. The crowd couldn’t help but pop for him doing that. Luger does it again, then drops the challenger. He drops an elbow too, then Pillman fights back with more chops until Luger dumps him to the outside. Lex follows that, hits him with a double axehandle to the head, and slams him on the floor. Luger suplexes Pillman back into the ring, it got a 2 count. Pillman gets up with a roll up for 2, then Luger powerslams him. It’s time for the TORTURE RACK, but Pillman tries another surprise pin that gets 2. He and Luger trade punches and chops for a long time, then Pillman nearly stumbles but is still able to clothesline him. He backdrops Luger and heads up top once again, and comes down with a cross body that hits both Luger and the referee. What an incompetent piece of shit. In kayfabe, why would Nick Patrick not be fired for that? Pillman rolls Luger up in a cradle for a while, but there’s no referee. After a dropkick, Luger heads out to the floor, and grabs a chair. He cracks Pillman in the head with it, and Nick Patrick wakes up to count the pinfall at 12:52. Look at the cheers this guy got for that.
The match was over, but they absolutely had to get Luger booed. So, he goes back for the chair, and brings it into the ring to clobber Pillman with. He hits him on the back with it repeatedly, then picks Pillman up for the TORTURE RACK. HE’S TRYING TO BREAK HIS BACK. HERE COMES STING! Luger drops Pillman, then grabs the microphone and tells Sting that it’s good he finally has the guts to meet Luger face to face. Sting responds by saying that Luger is arrogant, and he SLAPS HIM. STING RIPS HIS SHIRT OFF TOO, and wants a fight. Luger does the heel thing of looking at the crowd, then turns tail and leaves to a huge chorus of boos. THAT’S how you get Luger booed. Guess we’ll have to wait until Starrcade! Or not! Sting hits Luger to knock him back, and Luger makes sure to leave after that.
My Thoughts: This was pretty much exactly equal to their Halloween Havoc match while being completely different. That’s just perfect. The chops got over the realism of the match, and the finish was great in that it cemented Pillman as someone legitimate in that Luger had to cheat to beat him. Sadly, the NWA didn’t continue down that path with Pillman. This was really good to the point of not being able to explain why it was so good. The structure, the moves used, and the chemistry was just right. The crowd was also on fire for the whole thing. ****, and after it they really made shit crazy. I loved the post-match, involving Sting in that mess was perfect. Brian Pillman hurt his knee, so he went on the shelf for a while and I think that cut his push off a bit.
Terry Funk (w/Gary Hart) vs. Ric Flair (NWA Champion) in an I QUIT MATCH
Pre-Match Thoughts: This is a non-title match, because the title isn’t the issue here. It’s the feud. I haven’t watched this match in a while but I remember absolutely loving every moment of it. This was built up to so well and was the perfect capper to an amazing feud, albeit a feud in which Funk never won a match against Flair. Perhaps the best one-sided feud to ever take place, thinking about it that way. The loser was also stipulated to shake the hand of the winner. Before the entrances, Ric Flair had a promo in which he put over wrestling as a SPORT, and said the entire point of this match was to humiliate somebody on national TV. He said that if he quit, he would be humiliated enough to RETIRE. Funk’s entrance was strange, two cowboys with mustaches accompanied him to the ring. Don’t know what the point of that was.
Match Review: At the very beginning, Funk gave Flair a chance to quit before the match starts. Haha, that was a good bit. It’s time for the match now, so these two lock up and Flair chops Funk over the top rope! Funk gets back in and thrown from pillar to post, then knocked out of the ring with another chop. Flair chops him like they’re still in the ring, then waits for Funk to get back in. When he does, they lock up and Funk takes Flair down with a shoulderblock. These guys then start choking each other, and Funk pokes Flair in the eye. They fight on the apron, and Funk gets the better of that. He headbutts Flair, then brings him in for more punishment before tossing him out again. There are NO RULES, BROTHER. He rams Flair into the rail, then hits him with the microphone. Flair just wrecks Funk with another chop, and they get back into the ring where Funk beats Flair up and screams for the microphone. “DO YOU WANNA QUIT?” Flair doesn’t respond, then uses an inverted atomic drop on Funk. Funk comes back with a neckbreaker, and slaps Flair relentlessly afterward. Flair grabs hold of Funk’s neck, then Funk tumbles backwards out of the ring and gets pushed into the rail. He gets rammed into the rail a few more times, then chopped like crazy. Flair sends him to the other side of the ring where he does the same thing, then they go back in the ring. Flair tells Funk it’s time for him to say it, and Funk says no as Flair has a hand around his throat. Hart distracts Flair so that Funk can attack him from behind, then Funk follows with a swinging neckbreaker. He threatens to break Flair’s neck, then goes for a piledriver and asks Flair if he wants to quit. He won’t, so Funk has to follow through with that piledriver. Flair refuses to quit after it, so Funk drops a leg on him. Funk throws Flair out of the ring again, and he wants to PILEDRIVE HIM ON THE FLOOR. Funk does it, and Jim Ross explains that it’s particle board that the floor is made up of. Flair still will not quit, so Funk slams him onto a table. Flair comes back with some chops, then rams Funk face-first into a different table. He jumps on Funk from behind and drives him into the rail, then they do a spot where Funk slides across the table and goes head-first into a chair. Flair drops an elbow on Gary Hart, then hits Funk with a chop so hard the entire front row cringes. He crotches Funk on the guardrail, then chops him back down to the floor. MAN. This match is as good as I remember it. Back in the ring, Flair drops a knee on Funk and Funk has to scurry back out of the ring. Flair gives Funk another inverted atomic drop, and it’s time to go to work on his legs. Funk can’t stand up anymore, but he tries to leave and Flair tackles him again from behind. He follows that with a shin-breaker on the floor, then suplexes Funk back into the ring. Flair finally tries for the FIGURE-FOUR, only for Funk to gouge the eyes. He puts Flair on the apron and goes for a suplex, but Flair suplexes him out to the apron. Amazing. They crawl back in and the Nature Boy finally slaps the FIGURE-FOUR on, and Funk just doesn’t want to quit. He says “never” a few times, then HE QUITS at 18:33!
Hart is pissed about what Funk has done to Texas, but Funk’s leg was going to break so he doesn’t really care about that part. He told Flair he would shake his hand, and being the man Terry Funk is, he does exactly that. Hart then hits Funk from behind, and Flair runs over to DEAL WITH HIM. HELL YEAH, BROTHER. Then, the Great Muta and the Dragon Master run out from the back, and in the very good building fashion they had done, STING MAKES THE SAVE! He hits the Dragon Master with the Stinger Splash and puts him in the SCORPION DEATHLOCK, and Flair puts Muta in the FIGURE-FOUR. Now, to get revenge from earlier, Lex Luger is there and HAS A CHAIR. He cracks Sting from behind with it, and Flair and Luger start going at it. Muta hits Flair with the chair, and we have a triple-team on Flair after that chair blast knocked Sting out. Luger then walks over to Sting’s trophy that was presented to him earlier, AND BREAKS IT. WHAT A SON OF A GUN. Solie and Ross both put over exactly how immature it was for Luger to do what he did, so the company really doubled down on trying to get Luger booed.
After a commercial, the show was over!
My Thoughts: What can you even say about this stuff? The post-match angles that this company ran at the end of their 1989 shows are just outrageous. Ric Flair was a great booker in that he knew how to make sure there was something to keep people hooked in for the next big show. That being said, the next big show was something that would be hard to get people into due to the round-robin format. The match was excellent, Funk put in the performance of a lifetime. The table slide was one of the best things I’ve ever seen in wrestling as he controlled his body so he could ram his head straight into the chair that was sitting there. The selling is what made the match, not only through visual action but with the microphone. The microphone made the match, otherwise some of the physicality of it is lessened as we don’t get to hear it nor their actions and words when it came to the matter of quitting. Instead we did. The guys also had a lot of great spots besides the table slide. Obviously, it’s a ***** match that every wrestling fan should watch.
Their idea to get Lex Luger booed was the absolute best idea they could have come up with, at the best time. When Sting was feuding with Muta, they couldn’t do it. Then, they did it, and Sting got hurt a few months later. So they needed Luger to come back to the face side and get cheered like a top face, which didn’t work the way they wanted it to. It wasn’t always incompetence that hurt WCW, it was bad luck too. Of course people weren’t going to cheer Luger the way they wanted after he had gone so full blown in the heel direction. I’m sad that Terry Funk “retired” after this match, I think he had a lot more to offer their company, but he must not have felt the same. He could have been a great gatekeeper to the top or had solid co-main event feuds. The way this show started, I expected the worst until the main event, which I already knew about. The first two matches were garbage. The last two matches though, were as good as you’d find. From 4 to 5 stars with the last two just makes it so good. That being said, can’t quite forget the start. Starrcade was coming up, and as I said I don’t really like the concept, but the idea of watching those wrestlers have matches for 3 hours is pretty good and in all likelihood will be better than watching some of the stuff they had put on with mid-card wrestlers. Next up, it’s Survivor Series!
Wrestling Time: 59:10. This was nearly two hours, so half and half. I thought the Cornette interview with the Steiners was a complete waste of time, possibly the first time I’ve seen something on one of these shows that seemed like blatant time killing. The trophies served their purpose, though.
Best: Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk. It’s a perfect match the whole way around, one of the essentials of wrestling.
Worst: The finish in Road Warriors/Freebirds is one of the worst finishes I’ve seen.
Card Rating: 8/10. Can’t ignore that the first half of the card was terrible, but the back end certainly made up for it. Hell of a show.
