NWA (WCW) Clash of the Champion VII (Version II)

Original Airdate: June 14, 1989

From Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

Lieutenant General Carl Stiner (not 'Steiner,' sadly) joins us to note that tonight's event, live from a military base, takes place under the 'gaze of Iron Mike, the symbol of the United States Army.' Luckily, Vince McMahon isn't booking, because he'd probably have trolled them by booking Iron Mike Sharpe to do a two minute job on this show

Missy Hyatt and The Steiner Brothers hang out on the military base. Fuck the matches, let's just watch that for two hours

Opening NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Semifinal Match: The Dynamic Dudes v The Fabulous Freebirds: This is Jimmy Garvin's debut as a Freebird, as a mystery partner. Man, has any team even pandered harder or phonier than the Dynamic Dudes? No wonder people turned on them! Though, this crowd is so hot and so rowdy tonight that even the Dudes can do no wrong here. Big brawl to start, with the Dudes cleaning house. The dust settles on Johnny Ace and Michael Hayes, and Johnny sticks and moves to control, so Michael rakes the eyes. Unfortunately for Garvin, he fails to capitalize, and the Dudes work him over with quick tags. Back to Hayes, as the Freebirds desperately look to turn the tide - managing to do so when Ace misses a bodypress. They're using the wrong corners tonight, which is a pet peeve of mine. Garvin bodyslams him for two, then dumps him to the outside for Hayes to abuse with the guardrail. Back in, the Freebirds cut the ring in half on Johnny, as I notice that approximately half the crowd is shirtless tonight. Way to play into every stereotype about wrestling fans, guys. Though, given that this is the infamous show where the air conditioning broke and temperatures inside the building climbed to around a hundred degrees, maybe that's understandable. Anyway, Shane Douglas gets the tag and is a bingo hall of fire, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a brawl! The Dudes control, but Douglas runs into a DDT from Hayes, and Garvin scores the fall to advance at 7:05. Nothing special, but solid stuff, and sans any stalling from the Freebirds, even! ** (Original rating: ½*)

THE Wrestling Hotline promo (that plays like an infomercial)

Ranger Ross v The Terrorist: Classy gimmick to run on a military base, guys. As usual, the man under the mask is played by Jack Victory. He Pearl Harbors Ross, but runs into a jumping forearm while coming out of the ropes, and Ross hiptosses him to setup a dropkick. Bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop for two, and a jumping clothesline follows. Criss cross, and Ross superkicks him to finish at 1:25. Quick and to the point. ¼* (Original rating: DUD)

Road Warriors music video

Great Muta comes out to demonstrate a Dragon Shi match against two jobbers, but manager Gary Hart doesn't feel these guys are worth his time, and calls out rival Eddie Gilbert. Eddie shows up, and stupidly tries to throw a fireball at Muta, but ends up taking out on of the job guys instead. That's gotta suck

The Ding Dongs v George South and Cougar Jay: This is the debut of the legendary (infamous?) Ding Dongs. The WWE Network doesn't even show them the respect they so deserve, fucking up the match listing with the opponents listed as 'George Sall and Poker J.' Though, to be fair, these two are such losers that even the WCW production crew in 1989 couldn't be bothered to care - putting up the nameplate graphic for Jay, but forgetting to input his name, resulting in a blank nameplate. Ha! What's really sad here is that they're not even the worst guys in the match! Not that the Ding Dongs are bad wrestlers, exactly... the gimmick is just death. Energetic little squash for them here, and a flying elbowdrop/flying kneedrop combo puts South away at 3:36. Not bad at all, once you get past the stupidity of the gimmick. * (Original rating: DUD)

Congressman Charlie Rose wishes us all a happy Flag Day

NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament Semifinal Match: The Midnight Express v The Samoan Swat Team: Jim Cornette makes the mistake of opening his big mouth before the bell, triggering a big brawl to start. The Express get the best of it, and the dust settles on Stan Lane and Fatu to start. The Express control with quick tags, but Bobby Eaton makes the mistake of going to the well once to often with a bulldog, and runs into a superkick from Samu. The Swat Team go to work cutting the ring in half on Eaton, but a missed charge in the corner allows the tag back to Stan, and he's a house of arson! Russian legsweep on Fatu gets two, but he misses a corner charge of his own, and suddenly the Road Warriors run in! They take Fatu out, and the Midnight's advance at 6:22. ** (Original rating: ¼*)

We take a look back at WrestleWar, where Terry Funk attacked Ric Flair after his World Title win, and put him out of action with a piledriver onto a table. It's still a tremendous angle, but it's funny how tame it seems today. That beat down was considered the epitome of brutal in 1989, and put Flair on the shelf for months, but today it wouldn't have even resulted in the guy missing the rest of the show

Triple Crown King of the Hill promo, to hype up The Great American Bash Tour

Steve Williams v Terry Gordy: Hopefully JR doesn't wet his shorts here. Slugfest won by Williams, and he backdrops Gordy around, but runs into a clothesline while trying a cross corner charge. Gordy with a cross corner clothesline, and they go back to slugging it out in methodical fashion, with Williams controlling. Gordy manages a side suplex to escape a headlock, and a snapmare sets up a chinlock. I don't know if it's the heat getting to them, or what, but they're moving like they're covered in molasses here. Gordy with a bodyslam, but a second one gets reversed, and Williams adds a second of his own. Criss cross ends in Steve hitting a bodypress for two, but a dropkick knocks Terry to the outside, and Williams follows for a brawl that ends in a double countout at 6:34. Not great, but easily hossiest hoss match to ever hoss. * (Original rating: DUD)

Norman the Lunatic v Mike Justice: Another debut here tonight. You know, I now notice that everyone is getting those blank nameplate graphics tonight for whatever reason (we'll go with 'because WCW'), but let's pretend it was only South and Jay earlier on because otherwise I'll have to go back and edit that joke out, and I don't feel like it. Besides, if I'm busy editing, I'll miss this classic, which sees Norman crush him with an avalanche and a splash at 0:46. DUD (Original rating: DUD)

Another Triple Crown King of the Hill promo

Jim Ross brings The Fabulous Freebirds out for a ringside interview, presumably to find out what it felt like when the 80s shat on their faces

Brian Pillman vignette

The Varsity Club v The Steiner Brothers: This is so early in their run that Scott Steiner is still wearing short tights here, and not the more familiar singlet. He starts with Kevin Sullivan, and immediately dominates him to the point where Mike Rotunda comes in to try and save, but gets fought off by Rick Steiner. The dust settles back on Kevin and Scott, and a criss cross goes Scott's way with a powerslam. Both men tag, and their own criss cross ends in Rick hiptossing him to setup a Steinerline. That brings Kevin in illegally, so Scott cuts him off, and Rick grabs a side-headlock on Rotunda. Mike uses the hair to get back to a vertical base, then escapes with a nice saito suplex. Tag to Kevin, but Rick rebounds during a cross corner whip, and blasts Sullivan with a Steinerline. The Club try to sucker Rick into their corner, but he fights them off - though, you can't fault their strategy, really. Scott tags in and hits Mike with a bodypress for two, but Rotunda manages to block a vertical suplex, and dumps Scott over the top with Kevin's help. Sullivan quickly throws Scott into the post out there, then throws the steps at him for good measure, before bringing it back in, where they cut the ring in half on Scotty. Rotunda misses a dropkick to allow the tag to brother Rick, and he's a doghouse of fire - including a neat double-ten punch count spot on both guys in the corner! Roseanne Barr the door, and Rotunda manages to sneak a chair in to suplex Scott onto for the pin at 8:37 - despite Rick being the legal man. Just non-stop and hard hitting action here. *** (Original rating: *)

Jim Ross brings Jim Cornette out for a ringside interview, presumably to find out where the nearest Wendy's is located. This was a time before smart phones and apps, you see

North Carolina Governor Jim Martin wishes us all a happy Flag Day

NWA Television Title Match: Sting v Bill Irwin: Irwin tries to keep Sting from entering the ring with his bullwhip, which seems like kind of a flawed strategy given that he can't win the title if Sting doesn't come into the ring. Sting manages to get by and blitzes Irwin with a bulldog and a dropkick, but gets cross corner whipped. Bill follows in with a shoulderblock, then drops Sting throat-first across the top rope. Backelbow puts the champion down, but Irwin fucks up a backdrop, and Sting vertical suplexes him for two. Bill makes a last ditch effort by dodging the Stinger Splash and following with a spinebuster slam, but he wastes time going for the whip, and Sting Splashes him from behind to retain at 3:32. Didn't care for the finish, but the match was energetic enough. * (Original rating: ¼*)

Scott 'Gator' Hall vignette. The future Razor Ramon is hardly recognizable, looking more like he just stepped off the set of Boogie Nights than Scarface here

Yesterday, Jim Ross visited NWA World Champion Ric Flair at his home to discuss his recovery process following the attack by Terry Funk at WrestleWar. Flair wearing shades even inside his own house is a pretty awesome touch here

Triple Crown King of the Hill promo. Apparently they were really excited about this gimmick

NWA World Tag Team Title Match: The Fabulous Freebirds v The Midnight Express: Paul E. Dangerously takes Midnight manager Jim Cornette out of the match with an attack before the bell, with the Dynamic Dudes helping Cornette to the dressing rooms. With that out of the way, we start with Michael Hayes and Stan Lane, and a criss cross goes Stan's way with a hiptoss and a bodyslam. Lane with a pair of armdrags to send Hayes bailing for Jimmy Garvin, but Jimmy runs into a drop-toehold/elbowdrop combo from the Midnights, and Lane adds an enzuigiri. Superkick and a tandem-backelbow put Garvin down for two, so the Freebirds start doing what they do best: stalling. Pissing off a bunch of drunk, rowdy military men (who are already probably on edge due to sweltering heat) on their own base. Yeah, that's a great idea. The Freebirds manage to stall their way into control of the match, and they dump Bobby Eaton to the floor for a beating. Inside, the Freebirds cut the ring in half on Eaton, as the previously packed house starts thinning out like crazy due to the insane temperatures in the building. Yeah, can't blame 'em there. Watching Jimmy Garvin is difficult enough when I don't have sweat running down the crack of my ass. Lane gets the hot tag, and Roseanne Barr the door, it's brawl time! The Midnight's control, but here comes Terry Gordy, and he powerbombs Bobby for Jimmy to pin at 9:11 to give the Freebirds the tag title. Decent match for the most part, but kinda all over the place. * ¾ (Original rating: ¼*)


Main Event: Ricky Steamboat v Terry Funk: Funk powers him into the corner for some chops, but Steamboat responds in kind, and that doesn't end well for the Texan. Criss cross goes Ricky's way with a big double-chop, and a pair of dropkicks send Terry to the floor. Back in, Funk switches from chops to punches, and has a little more success with that strategy. To the floor, Terry sends him into the rail, but Steamboat throws chops, and tosses Terry into the barricade as well. Back in, Terry gets the better of some mounted punches, and a well executed neckbreaker sets up a splash across the neck for two. Terry works the neck, but Steamboat throws chops again to send Funk back to the floor, and he dives out after him with a flying tomahawk chop. Ricky adds a bodyslam on the outside where he carries Funk around literally the entire ringside area before dropping him, then lets him get back in - only to slam him over the top back to the floor! That's some nice dickish-ness from the Dragon! Cross corner charge misses, however, and Terry starts laying into him with chops. He pops him with a backelbow to setup the Piledriver, but it only gets two, and the referee goes down during a criss cross. Funk capitalizes by throwing Steamboat over the top for a Piledriver on the floor, then vertical suplexes him back in, but STILL only gets two! Man, maybe Flair had a point when he said Terry didn't deserve a shot, you know? Frustrated, Funk goes to the top for a flying splash, but Ricky lifts his knees to block, and the Dragon starts mounting his comeback effort. Stomachbreaker sets up a flying tomahawk chop, and he adds an enzuigiri to send Funk to the outside, so Terry grabs a microphone on the way back in, and bashes Ricky with it to earn a DQ at 12:52. So now Funk wants to lay him out like he did Flair, but Lex Luger runs in with a chair to save - only to turn on Steamboat after the match, thus giving Ricky an excuse to fight Lex at the Bash pay per view, and free up Flair to defend against Funk in a grudge match. I really liked the story of this a lot, with Steamboat outclassing Funk in every respect (including kicking out of his finisher), until the Texan had to resort to weapons to avoid losing - thus proving Flair right in not wanting to give him a shot at the title to begin with. That said, I still can't seem to like this one as much as a lot of other people seem to, and this is effectively the only match on this show that didn't get an rating upgrade from Version I. ** ¼ (Original rating: ** ¼)

BUExperience: Not a great wrestling show, but a fun episode, with lots going on in the way of promotion for the upcoming Great American Bash pay per view, and buoyed by a (literally) hot crowd