NWA (WCW) Clash of the Champions IV (Version II)

Original Airdate: December 7, 1988

From Chattanooga, Tennessee; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

Opening NWA United States Tag Team Title Match: The Fantastics v Eddie Gilbert and Ron Simmons: This is a tournament final to crown new champions - the belts vacated when champions the Midnight Express won the NWA World Tag Team Title. Jason Hervey serves as the guest ring announcer for this one. Go Wayne! Bobby Fulton starts off with Simmons - Ron still a fresh new babyface addition to the roster at this point. Bobby tries using his speed advantage to evade Ron, but makes the mistake of stepping to him, and gets dropped with a few shoulderblocks. Bobby sticks and moves with a couple of dropkicks, but runs into a press-backbreaker, followed by a press-slam for good measure. Tag to Tommy Rogers for some sticking and moving of his own, until Ron passes over to Eddie. Gilbert grabs a side-headlock, but Tommy escapes with an armdrag, and holds a wristlock on the mat. Tag back to Bobby, but they fail to cut the ring in half when Eddie throws a sunset flip for two. They trade off on the mat for a bit, stopping for handshakes every few moves to establish that they're both babyfaces. Ron tags in and holds Bobby on the mat in a hammerlock, and a schoolboy on Rogers gets two. This is taking forever to get going, with lots of face/face feeling out process stuff. Rogers dropkicks him down, but misses a flying elbowdrop, and Simmons blasts him with a jumping shoulderblock for two. Tag to Eddie, and he grounds Tommy with an armbar, as the announcers already start talking about the thirty minute time limit, and how a third of it has elapsed. Oh no. Gilbert and Nakamura cut the ring in half on Fulton, but Ron misses a jumping shoulderblock in the corner, and hurts his arm. The Fantastics go right to work on it, cutting the ring in half with tandem stuff. They do some nice storytelling with powerful Ron being able to overpower the Fantastics, but being too young and inexperienced to know not to try things like elbowdrops with a bad arm, and get trapped on the mat again before he can tag. He finally manages to fight off Rogers long enough to tag, and Eddie delivers a swinging neckbreaker for two, and a hanging vertical suplex for two. The Fantastics manage to knock Gilbert into the post and to the floor to take over, working his shoulder as they cut the ring in half. Gilbert manages to fight Fulton off with a stungun, but makes the mistake of trying a blind charge into the corner instead of tagging out - banging his bad shoulder into the post, and getting rolled up at 27:03. Fine stuff for the most part, with good storytelling, but there's no reason this couldn't have been wrapped up in half that runtime. Far too long for what they were going for here, resulting in them stretching a fifteen minute match (at most) out by slowing down their stuff, and working a long feeling out process. ** ¼ (Original rating: *** ¼)

Starrcade '88 promo

Tony Schiavone and Lex Luger analyze the opener

Mike Rotunda and Kevin Sullivan think Rick Steiner is pretty stupid. Well, they're not wrong

Steve Williams v Italian Stallion: To give you an idea of what we're working with here, Stallion messes up taking a simple armdrag in the early going. He does manage a nice hiptoss, however, and he dropkicks Williams to the outside for a tête-à-tête with Kevin Sullivan. Back in, Steve tries hammering him, but gets reversed into the corner, and Stallion clotheslines him out again. You know, for a guy who goes around calling himself 'Dr. Death,' he's not looking too impressive thus far. Back in, Steve manages to win a wrestling sequence and drop Stallion like a Samoan, but an elbowdrop misses, and Stallion legdrops him for two. Stallion grabs a wristlock, and Williams counters into a cradle for two. Stallion throws a bodypress, but Steve ducks it, and Stallion crashes to the outside to turn the tide. In, Steve turnbuckle smashes him for two, then dumps him to the floor for Sullivan to abuse. I can only imagine how much JR was getting off watching two guys (one being his man-crush Steve Williams) in Oklahoma Sooners gear, heeling it up. Like, seriously, this is about what I'd imagine JR's deepest, darkest fetish fantasies are made of. Williams brings him back in with a hanging floatover suplex for two, and Stallion someone messes up taking a knee to the midsection. This Stallion is an interesting fellow. Williams with a sleeper, as the camera crew amuse themselves by taking about a dozen cuts to the crowd - focusing primarily on underage (and bored) looking girls. Not sure what type of message they're trying to send there, but this isn't Memphis. Stallion fights out of the hold, but the crowd can't even be bothered to feign excitement as he starts making his superhero comeback. Williams shrugs it off anyway, and a dropkick sets up a schoolboy for two. Seems like they're set to go home, but then Williams grabs an anklelock to give Stallion something else to fight out of instead. Steve knocks him to the floor for an axehandle off the apron, but Stallion makes another comeback on the way in, and unloads a ten-punch - only for Dr. Death to counter with an inverted atomic drop for two, and slap on a mat-based front-facelock. Oh, just fucking go home already! Stallion fights free, then dodges a flying splash to setup one last comeback effort - only to run into the Oklahoma Stampede at 15:35. Another decent match that just went on for far longer than it needed to here. * ¾ (Original rating: DUD)

Junkyard Dog makes his NWA debut in a podium interview with Magnum TA. And, apparently he thinks this is some kind of strip club, because in the span of about eighty seconds he loses several pieces of clothing and accessories for no apparent reason

We take a look back at the Road Warriors attacking Dusty Rhodes by jamming one of their spikes into his eye. Man, a lot of people were turning on Dusty during this period, weren't they? I guess he figured if Ron Garvin wouldn't play ball, he'd just keep turning guys until someone goes along

Starrcade '88 promo

Ivan Koloff v Paul Jones: Eww, really? Koloff has one arm tied behind his back for this, since Jones is a manager. Paul takes advantage by attacking in the corner, but Ivan easily fights him off, and knocks him to the floor. More crowd cutting gives us a look at some fat doof in a bright pink Tiffany shirt - which is more entertaining than literally anything going on in the ring. Gotta feel bad for that guy, though. Between being a wrestling fan, wearing t-shirts targeted at middle school girls in public, and living in Tennessee, he couldn't have had it very easy. Meanwhile, Jones cautiously tries to approach Koloff, but keeps getting swatted away, and hammered. That goes on for a while, until Paul finally manages to take him down, and start choking away with the rope that's tying Ivan's arm. Out to the floor, Paul uses the post, but he can't put Ivan away, and Koloff starts slugging at him. Jones thinks fast and pulls out a foreign object to wallop Koloff with (sounds fair: foreign object for use on the foreign guy – he’s just trying to make him feel at home!), but Koloff grabs it away from him for the pin at 8:21. As soon as the bell sounds, the Russian Assassins run in for a beat down, however - until Junkyard Dog makes the save. More angle than anything else, which is fine for TV, since they're building Starrcade. Doesn't mean I enjoyed having to watch it, though. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Starrcade '88 promo

Tony Schiavone and Lex Luger offer more analysis. If you're gonna book him, book him. Don't subject us to his bolo ties and 'analysis' of matches and feuds he has nothing to do with

Starrcade '88 promo. Enough already! I may not do a review now, just out of spite

Rick Steiner is ready to prove that he's not an idiot by talking to a hand puppet and confusing suplex and soufflé. Still smarter than Scott, though

Starrcade '88 promo. I'm now officially boycotting this show

NWA Six-Man Tag Team Title Match: Animal v Dusty Rhodes: Dusty and the Road Warriors are the Six-Man Champions, but the Warriors turned on Rhodes (with the infamous 'spike to the eye' angle, that ultimately ended up getting Dusty fired), so the winner of this claims the belts, and can select partners of their choice. That sounds like a really fucking great deal for that selected guy. Dusty is sporting a bloody eye patch for this one, which is pretty bad-ass. Give it to him, he may have been a glory hog, but he wasn't useless. The Warriors try to jump Dusty on the way in, but he fights them both off, and wraps Animal's leg around the post a few times. Back in, Rhodes slaps on a figure four, but takes out the referee along the way - allowing Paul Ellering to go after the eye, and Animal to escape. Both Warriors attack, so Sting makes the save - triggering a brawl. Dusty grabs a (plastic) chair in the chaos, and starts hammering Animal with it - triggering a DQ at 2:54. Not that I'm really pushing for a longer match from these two, but this barely qualified as a match at all. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Lex Luger's adrenaline is flowing, baby!

Main Event: The Midnight Express v Ric Flair and Barry Windham: Bobby Eaton starts with Ric, and Flair plays some mind games. Bobby responds to his taunting by paintbrushing him so hard he nearly goes flying out of the ring, and we have a slugfest, baby! Eaton controls it with a backdrop, and Flair flips onto the apron - and right into a shot from Sweet Stan Lane! Tag, and Stan savate kicks the Nature Boy down, then throws an enzuigiri before Ric tags out to Barry. Watching the Midnight's and Jim Cornette play babyfaces is so damn weird. And not because they're bad at it (they're not), it just seems wrong. Stan with a dropkick, but he gets trapped in the corner with some rights from Windham, and Barry bodyslams him - only to miss a big flying elbowdrop. Stan capitalizes with a dropkick and a savate kick to send Windham to the outside, where Bobby is ready with some abuse. Both men tag out, and a well timed criss cross ends in Eaton reversing a hiptoss, then bodyslamming Flair. The Horsemen try double-teaming, but Bobby double-clotheslines them down to clean house, and a brawl between the two teams ends in the Express hooking stereo figure fours! Flair takes a cheap shot to try to put Stan down, but Lane just keeps on coming with a backelbow (looked like he wanted to do a slingshot move there, but Flair was out of position - LEARN TO WORK, RIC), and another savate kick puts Ric down. Tag to Bobby, so Flair throws another cheap shot, but loses a slugfest. Back to Lane, and a criss cross goes Ric's way with a backelbow, and quickly passes out to Windham to powerslam him for two. As the Horsemen begin cutting the ring in half, Paul E. Dangerously shows up on the split screen to talk about the Original Midnight Express - very early into Paul's WCW run. Lane manages to slam Flair down off the top rope to allow the tag to Bobby, and he unloads on Ric with a ten-punch. Eaton with a swinging neckbreaker, and the Express tandem-flapjack Flair for two. Rollup gets two when Barry saves, and now Bobby is in trouble – Windham tagging in and punishing him with an inverted atomic drop. Vertical suplex and a powerslam follow, and Flair tags in with a kneedrop. The Express' tights tonight look like a PBS gay rights special. The Horsemen abuse Bobby on the floor (a tights-inspired hate crime, perhaps?), but Bobby manages to fight them off and tag. Lane passes savate kicks around like it's Halloween in Samoa, and a brawl breaks out between the two teams! Eaton hits Windham with the Alabama Jam, so Flair steals a shoe from JJ Dillon, clobbers Bobby with it, and Barry scores the pinfall at 17:41. Really well fun, paced match, with non-stop action for twenty minutes here, and great timing throughout. *** ½ (Original rating: *** ½)

Starrcade '88 promo. That's coming up later on this month, you say?

Jim Cornette doesn't appreciate Vince Russo. But, they haven't met yet, so he focuses his anger on Flair and Windham instead

Tony Schiavone and Lex Luger analyze the main event, for one final bit of Starrcade hard sell

BUExperience: Aside from the main event, this is a pretty dull card, though it does make a good companion piece to Starrcade ’88, if nothing else