NWA (WCW) Clash of the Champions VIII: Fall Brawl (September 1989)

Original Airdate: September 12, 1989

From Columbia, South Carolina; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Jim Cornette.


Opening Match: The Road Warriors v The Samoan Swat Team: Animal starts with Fatu, and absolutely destroys him with slams and clotheslines - completely shrugging off any and all offense. Fatu bails to Samu, but Animal doesn't have enough patience to kill two Samoans, and lets Hawk do it. The Road Warriors take turns tearing Samu apart, but he tags Fatu before they can finish the job. He does no better, as the Warriors trade off on him with power offense - until Hawk misses a blind charge, and spills to the floor after bashing his shoulder into the ringpost. Samu goes after him out there to capitalize, and Fatu hits a powerslam on the way back in for two. Bearhug, but Hawk decides that's about enough offense for any non-whites, and the Doomsday Device finishes Fatu at 6:46. Pretty much just an unapologetic squash, but energetic. ¼*

Tom Zenk v The Cuban Assassin: This serves as Zenk's WCW debut. Zenk wins an early criss cross with shoulderblocks and armdrags, and then dropkicks Assassin to the floor to assume control. Assassin fires off a closed fist to try and turn the tide, but Zenk blocks a backdrop attempt with another dropkick, and hooks the Assassin in an armbar on the mat. Assassin tries to make another comeback with a bit of token punch-kick offense, but again gets fucked when he bends over for a backdrop (not literally - Zenk just counters into a sunset flip), and Tom finishes him off with a sleeper at 3:37. Just a debut squash. Not like anyone gave the Assassin a shot in hell; he wasn't even a masked Assassin. Guess everyone had to make sacrifices under Castro. DUD

Sid v Ranger Ross: Sid jumps Ross at the bell, and rushes him into the ropes - clotheslining him over the top right away. Sid dumps him into the rail out there, so Ross tries his Combat Kick on the way back in - Sid shrugging it off with a DDT, and hitting a helicopter powerbomb, then a regular version for the pin at 1:10. Man, Sid was awesome during this period - and the crowd let him know it. ¼*

NWA World Tag Team Title Match: The Fabulous Freebirds v The Steiner Brothers: Michael Hayes starts with Scott Steiner, and actually has the balls to moonwalk in Scott's face and not even offer to buy him breakfast. Steiner responds by slamming the shit out of him, and then giving Jimmy Garvin the same treatment to prevent jealousy. Garvin reminds him that he'd only ever be jealous of another dude's hair (and Prince's thighs), so Scott ups the ante to suplexes. Tag to Rick Steiner to knock both Freebirds around with lariats, but even Hayes backs off once Rick starts humping the mat. And you have to be a pretty sick fuck when even Michael Hayes is, like, 'nope - I'm out.' Rick forces him into the corner for a ten-punch count, but misses a blind charge, and Hayes passes back to Garvin. Jimmy drops Rick with a DDT, and Hayes dumps him to the floor for a shot into the rail - the Freebirds taking control. They manage to cut the ring in half for a bit, but Rick brushes Garvin off with a suplex, and makes the tag to Scotty. He passes out ranas like herpes, and looks to finish Hayes for the titles, but accidentally gets tripped up by his own manager (Robin Green - the future Woman), and Hayes DDT's him to retain at 10:25. They may have blown it here, but fear not Steiner's fans: they'd win the titles from the Freebirds a couple of months later. As for this one, nothing groundbreaking - but once it got past the initial obligatory Freebirds stall session, it was watchable. *

Brian Pillman v Norman the Lunatic: Pillman charges right at the larger Lunatic with a series of dropkicks, and hits a springboard clothesline to put Norman on the floor. Brian follows with a flying bodypress before Norman can catch a breather, but makes the mistake of turning his back, and gets squashed in the corner. Norman adds an exclamation point with a 2^nd rope splash, and takes the grease stain left of Pillman, and avalanches it into the post on the floor. A second try misses, of course, and Pillman rolls him in for a missile dropkick followed by a bodyslam. Backdrop, but Norman counters a 2^nd rope bodypress with a powerslam for two. Clothesline gets two, but another try is countered with a crucifix, and Pillman pins him at 3:31. Surprisingly fun quickie from two former Stampede running mates, this was fast paced, hard-hitting, and innovative - one of the few times any of those adjectives are used to describe Mike Shaw's work. **

Steve Williams v Mike Rotunda: Williams chases Rotunda out of the ring during the intros, but a chase around the ring allows Mike to catch him with a boot to the face. He walks into a clothesline shortly after though, and Williams gives him a four-pump press slam. Stampede, but Rotunda fires off a lariat, and dumps Steve to the floor to cool his jets. Inside, Mike hooks a rope-assisted abdominal stretch (is there any other kind?), but the referee catches him, and forces a break. Rotunda keeps it going with a snapmare into an elbowdrop for two, and he hooks a chinlock - again using the ropes for leverage. The referee doesn't get wise to it this time (bet he'd give a convicted sex offender a job at Toys R Us, too), so Williams finds his own way out with a stunner. Not as famously as the OTHER Steve Williams did, of course, but still. Rotunda keeps after him with a pair of knux (the referee again missing the whole thing), but an attempt to finish with a bodyblock is reversed, and Williams pins him at 7:04. Pretty energetic little match, Rotunda's heel work always fun to watch when he's putting in an effort. *

NWA United States Title Match: Lex Luger v Tommy Rich: Luger uses power to control the early going, but Rich gets the best of a slugfest, and backdrops the champion. Bodyslam sets up an armdrag, and Luger cowers in the corner to break the momentum. Luger gets back to business with a big shoulderblock out of the ropes, but takes a fist to the face at the tail of a long criss cross, then taken to the mat in an armbar. Luger powers back up to a vertical base with a powerslam for two, and starts firing off forearms to the lower back. A series of pointed elbowdrops to the back get two, but Rich busts out a sunset flip for two, then dodges a charging Luger to send the champ tumbling to the outside. Rich suplexes him back in, but Lex shifts the momentum into a bodyblock for two, and then drops him with a sidewalk slam for two. Another powerslam sets up the Torture Rack, but Rich counters into the ropes before Lex can get it applied. Luger responds with a superplex for two, but an arrogant attempt at a flying splash misses, and Rich unloads fists of fury! 2^nd rope fistdrop gets two, and a Thesz press for two, but Luger counters a sleeper with a snap across the ropes for the pin at 10:38. I was expecting another squash, but this was actually a really energetic, well paced, and well worked match - these two had nice chemistry. * ½

Main Event: Ric Flair and Sting v The Great Muta and Dick Slater: Slater is replacing an injured Terry Funk here - which is about the equivalent of replacing an Morton's steak with a Big Mac. Sting starts with Muta, and Muta keeps his distance with threat of lightning kicks. He suckers Sting into a test-of-strength, but Sting manages to shrug off the cheap shot, and knock Muta to the floor, where he regroups with Slater and manager Gary Hart. Muta challenges to another test-of-strength, but Sting pulls him in for a lockup instead - managing to get Muta on the mat with an armbar. Muta pulls it up to a vertical base, but is rewarded with a tag to Flair - who unloads chops in the corner. Tag to Slater, and Flair looks like he's having trouble not laughing in 'Dirty Dicks' face. He manages to hold himself together long enough to beat Slater into the corner, and hits a flying axehandle. It spills to the floor for Muta and Sting to get involved, and the crowd goes bonkers as Flair and Sting leave the heels begging off on the outside. The dust settles on Sting and Slater - Sting working the arm with an axehandle into an armbar. He and Flair take turns abusing Dick, and a Sting snap suplex gets two before he bails back to Muta. Sting manages to shrug off a double-team by press slamming Muta, and Ric comes in with a side suplex. Shindrop, but Muta rakes Ric's eyes before he can set up the Figure Four. Handspring elbow by Muta allows Slater to work Flair over with a barrage of right hands, and he hits a swinging neckbreaker - the part Funk injured back at WrestleWar. Muta works it with a nervehold, but Flair manages to pass to Sting, and he's a house of arson. A four-way brawl quickly breaks out, and Sting creams Muta with the Stinger Splash, but Gary Hart breaks up the Scorpion Deathlock before he can get the submission. Muta capitalizes with a nasty powerbomb for two, but a Slater sleeper gets countered with a stunner, and both men are left looking up at the lights. Flair gets the tag to trigger another four-way brawl - this time the referee disqualifying the heels for a whole variety of offenses at 19:00. Afterwards, Terry Funk runs in with a plastic bag, and tries to kill Flair dead at center ring - leaving the World Champion a bloody mess as the show goes off the air. A good, intense tag match here – nicely setting up the blowoff for Halloween Havoc the next month. **

BUExperience: No classics like Flair/Steamboat or Flair/Sting to be found, but a well booked and solid card top to bottom makes this a winner. It’s also interesting to note how many of the workers debuting or getting heavily pushed only a few months prior (Norman the Lunatic, Ranger Ross) had fallen into JTTS territory already by fall, after failing to catch on with fans.  **