NWA (WCW) Clash of the Champions XIII: Thanksgiving Thunder (November 1990)

Original Airdate: November 20, 1990

From Jacksonville, Florida; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Paul E. Dangerously.


Opening Match: The Fabulous Freebirds v The Southern Boys: Yep, this is indeed the third straight Clash these two teams have opened against each other. Once again, this is scheduled as a six-man tag (with Bobby Eaton and El Gigante), but Gigante is a no-show due to an off camera Freebirds attack (kayfabe), so we get another regular tag match. The boys clean house with dropkicks at the bell, before they settle on Michael Hayes and Tracey Smothers to start. The Freebirds waste no time trying a double-team, but Steve Armstrong comes off of the top rope with a flying bodypress to take out both Freebirds. They keep trying to go back to Hayes/Smothers, but Jimmy Garvin keeps getting involved - finally successfully knocking Smothers into the guardrail on the outside. That allows the Freebirds to briefly cut the ring in half before Smothers manages to slam Jimmy off of the top rope, and tag Armstrong. That triggers a four-way brawl before Armstrong even has a chance to set the house on fire, and Hayes catches Smothers with a DDT in the chaos for the pin at 4:47. Really condensed version of this match here, but time constraints are never a negative thing with the stall-happy Freebirds. ¼*

Brian Pillman v Buddy Landel: Landel jumps Pillman at the bell with a flurry of forearms, but Pillman counters a backdrop with a quick cradle for two. Backslide gets two, and Pillman fires off a pair of clotheslines to knock Buddy onto the elevated ramp way. Brian follows with a dive, but a piledriver attempt gets him backdropped on the ramp. Landel tosses him into the rail for fun, and then into the post for good measure. Back inside, Buddy chops Brian in the corner, but a cross corner whip gets countered with a hiptoss, and Pillman dropkicks Landel to the outside. Brian follows with a nice looking springboard bodypress to knock Buddy into the rail, but Landel manages to tie him up in a rope-assisted abdominal stretch on the way back in. Buddy backbreaker gets two, and he goes for a superplex, but Pillman counters with a flying bodypress for the pin at 5:48. Pillman was ready to go, and ready to bust out cool stuff, but Landel just wasn't the guy to hang with him - slowing Brian's roll at every turn. ¾*

Brad Armstrong v Big Cat: Armstrong tries to use his speed advantage to frustrate Cat, but a bodypress attempt gets countered with an impressive three-alarm backbreaker. Bodyslam gets two, and Cat keeps working the back with a few cross corner whips and stomps. Bearhug, but Armstrong breaks free to blast Cat with a standing dropkick. Another dropkick misses though, and Cat hooks him up in a torture rack for the submission victory at 4:30. Psychologically sound enough, but nothing notable here. ¼*

Z-Man v Brian Lee: Brian Lee with bleach blond hair is just weird. He looks more like 1993 Crush than a bootleg Undertaker at this point. Z-Man must think so, too, because Lee can't manage to get much offense in. Z-Man tries a weird flying bodypress (it looked like he missed it on purpose - Lee was way out of position, and left Zenk looking like an idiot who jumped at nothing), and the match completely falls apart from there as they try and recover from the botch. Lee tries to take it down into a chinlock, but Z-Man starts a comeback and mercifully finishes with a missile dropkick at 3:10. More botches than a Sabu match and terribly sloppy, though thankfully over quickly before it turned into a real train wreck. DUD

Michael Wallstreet v Starblazer: This is Wallstreet's 'debut' as Mike Rotunda had his 'name legally changed,' and is now managed by Alexandra York. Wallstreet has no problem outwrestling Starblazer in the early going - outmaneuvering him through a series of amateur exchanges. Starblazer throws a pair of dropkicks to break that up though, and Wallstreet bails to the floor to regroup with York. Inside, Starblazer tries an armbar, but Wallstreet whips him into the ropes, and wins a criss cross by chucking Starblazer through the ropes to the floor. Inside, Wallstreet hooks a rope-assisted abdominal stretch, but Starblazer won't quit, and manages to nail Wallstreet with a backelbow out of the ropes. Bodyslam sets up a dropkick, but a second try gets countered with a Boston crab. Starblazer quickly wrestles out, but Wallstreet is sick of him, and finishes with the Wallstreet Crash at 4:14. Just your basic TV match. ¼*

Pat O'Connor Memorial Tournament Qualifying Match: Sgt. Krueger and Col. DeKlerk v Kaluha and The Beast: Krueger and DeKlerk work out deKinks in their offense during the early going, but they run into a wall when Beast uses his size to block their offense. That doesn't last long though, as a handy double-team finishes Beast at 5:49. It may seem like I glossed over a lot of stuff there, but no. DUD

Lex Luger v Motor City Madman: Big Cat is back to attack Luger in the aisle before the match, but his sneak attack doesn't even take Luger off of his feet before the usual gang of referees breaks it up. Into the ring, Madman takes advantage of the confusion by catching Luger with a series of forearms, but Lex manages a bodypress out of the ropes, and he blasts Madman with a backelbow. Luger with a suplex, but his leaping elbowdrop misses, and Madman clotheslines him. Sidewalk slam sets up an awkward looking piledriver, but Luger backdrops free before Madman can break his neck, and finishes with a running forearm smash at 2:35. Too short to become a true train wreck, but Madman was looking horribly sloppy - I'm surprised no one got hurt during a couple of spots there. DUD

The Nasty Boys v The Renegade Warriors: The Nasties were hot stuff after their match with the Steiner Brothers back at Halloween Havoc, and this is pretty much a total squash for them, as they take turns destroying Chris and Mark Youngblood. Finally, the Steiners get sick of it, and run in to attack - giving the Nasties a cheap disqualification victory at 5:02. Geez, no wonder they bailed to the WWF shortly after this - they couldn't even go over the freakin' RENEGADE WARRIORS clean? Fuck that! DUD

Sid v Nightstalker: Sid stares Stalker down, but Nightstalker still offers a test-of-strength. Sid wins it, and they do an awkward bit where Sid whips Stalker into the ropes, but both seem lost as to what spot they're doing, and just sort of stand there. Nightstalker breaks the awkward tension by hooking a bearhug less than a minute into the match, but Sid slugs free ('sold' by Nightstalker by blinking at him), so Nightstalker tries working the arm next. Sid counters that with a couple of jabs, so Nightstalker decides to target the shoulder with a weird clawhold that looks like he's leaning on Sid for support more than hurting him. That draws Big Cat out again (I guess when there's that much suck going on, he just materializes), but Sid grabs Nightstalker's axe, and chops him with it for the pin at 3:30. Wow. Short, but it still managed to be one of the worst, most awkward matches I have ever seen. They seemed absolutely lost out there, and the result was a lot of random standing around, and the most poorly worked 'spots' you'll ever see. Probably the only time a three-minute match manages to fall into negative stars, but there you go. -*

NWA United States Tag Team Title Match: The Steiner Brothers v Magnum Force: This is barely a match, as the Steiners just destroy these doofs with glee, and Scott finishes with the Frankensteiner at 1:56. The whole thing is just filler to set up a Nasty Boys run in after the match. Early 90s Steiners destroying guys is fun, but this was too short to allow them to get properly evil on these jobbers. DUD

Danger Zone: Paul E. Dangerously interviews NWA World Champion Sting, but the mysterious Black Scorpion magically appears in the aisle, and grabs a random fan from ringside. He 'hypnotizes him' before putting a box on his head and making his head spin around. This fails to terrify the audience (little kids sitting on their fathers shoulders are clapping!), so he carries the guy over to an animal cage, and turns him into a live tiger! Scorpion then disappears as Sting stands around like an idiot. Wow, they sure flushed any intrigue the Black Scorpion had down the toilet, and FAST. This was monumentally stupid, and embarrassing as a fan. I don't even want to know what non-fans would think of this. You think Total Divas is embarrassing? It's got nothing on the Black Scorpion. Nothing.

Main Event: Ric Flair v Butch Reed: If Flair wins, he and Anderson get a tag title rematch against Doom at Starrcade. If Reed wins, Doom and manager Teddy Long win Flair's yacht and limousine. Oh, and if Flair wins, Teddy Long has to drive the Horsemen around in said limousine. Anyway, goofy stipulations aside, Reed and Flair fight over the initial lockup - Reed taking control by using his power advantage and hitting a shoulderblock. Flair responds with a low blow to set up some chops in the corner, but Reed returns fire with chops of his own, and then ups the ante with a few closed fists. Flair Flops before Reed scoops him up for a press slam, and Butch fires off a series of clotheslines to put Flair on the floor. That allows Ron Simmons to get off a few shots at Flair, and Ric is bailing up the aisle when Reed chases to blast him with another clothesline. Flair manages to take Reed to the mat as they re-enter, but Reed quickly powers up into a bridging reversal sequence - ending in a backslide for two. Reed with a ten-punch count, and a dropkick, so Ric rakes the eyes. He quickly capitalizes with a series of punches and chops, then makes sure to distract the referee by taunting Simmons - allowing Flair to casually toss Reed to the floor for Arn Anderson to beat. Back in, they get into another chops v punch exchange, but Butch is no bitch, and Flops Flair again. Flair Flip to the floor allows Ron to ram him into the rail, but Ric manages to get the best of Reed on the way back in - and hits a shindrop. A second one misses though, and Reed is quick to capitalize with a figure four. Flair howls in pain, but Anderson is there to pull him towards the ropes, and force a break. Reed keeps at him with a hanging vertical suplex for two, and a slam sets up a 2^nd rope elbowdrop - which misses. Flair is too dazed to properly capitalize though, and Reed hits a big clothesline for two. Butch unloads mounted punches, and hits a quick press slam followed by a backdrop. Another press slam, but Anderson pulls the referee out of the ring at two. Undeterred, Reed goes to the top with a flying shoulderblock, but the referee is still out arguing with Anderson and Long on the floor, and can't count. Frustrated, Reed tries to finish Flair off, but gets himself backdropped to the floor, and whacked with a chair by Anderson - allowing Flair to get the pin back in the ring at 14:18. Fun, well paced match here in the style of Flair/Luger, with good power stuff from Reed (playing the babyface in the heel/heel showdown), and Flair making him look like a proper beast by selling everything wonderfully. Not quite enough to save this shitstain of a show, but fun nonetheless. ** 

BUExperience: Not really worthy of a Clash special, this squash filled, jobber laden card was more of an extended episode of weekly TV programming then anything particularly intriguing or notable. DUD