AWA SuperClash III (December 1988)

Original Airdate: December 13, 1988

From Chicago, Illinois; Your Hosts are Lee Marshall and Ray Stevens in front of a pitiful 1,600 fans for the AWAs first (and subsequently only) pay per view effort

Opening Six-Man Tag Team Match: Cactus Jack and The Rock 'n' Roll RPMs v Chavo Guerrero, Hector Guerrero, and Mando Guerrero: The RPMs try to double team Hector to start, but it doesn't go well for them, as he flip-flops around. Tags to Cactus and Mando, and Mando hooks a sunset cradle for two, but gets pounded and dumped to the floor. God, Mick Foley was positively skinny at this point. Brawl on the floor ends in Cactus taking a bump onto the exposed concrete (because of course it does!), and inside, the Guerreros go to work on his leg. He manages to get the tag off to Tommy Lane, but Chavo takes him down with headscissors and armdrags, so Mike Davis comes in, but the Guerreros triple up to take control again - running the RPMs out of the ring. Hey, Blake Beverly is the referee for this! Dust settles on Cactus and Chavo, but even a few cheap shots from the RPMs can't slow down a tag to Hector. That ignites a big brawl, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a kettle on! Finish comes when Chaco hits Lane with a well executed flying moonsault press at 6:35. Not much to this one, but it was peppy, and that's what you want in an opener. *

WCCW Light Heavyweight Title Match: Jeff Jarrett v Eric Embry: Speaking of 'positively skinny,' Jeff Jarrett looks he's still riding a school bus at this point. Lots of reversals to stalemates to start, until Jeff manages an armbar, but Eric armdrags out, and clocks him with a clothesline. Criss cross allows Jeff to respond in kind, but a bodypress misses, and Jarrett takes a spill to the outside - hurting his shoulder. Back in, Embry goes right to work on it with an armbar. It's so weird to see Jarrett work as a white bread sympathetic babyface. He manages a 2^nd rope missile dropkick and a sunset flip for two. Backslide gets two and an inside cradle gets two. Another sunset flip, but this time Eric is able to reverse the cradle for the title at 4:13. This probably could have been something with a few more minutes, but it was too short to really go anywhere. ** ¼

Jimmy Valiant v Wayne Bloom: Ah, fuck me, it's Jimmy Valiant. Oh, and speaking of the Beverly Brothers! Luckily, there's not much to this one, as Bloom attacks from behind before the bell, but quickly gets put down with a backelbow and an elbowdrop at 0:24. Less is definitely more when it comes to Jimmy Valiant. DUD

WCCW Texas Title Match: Iceman King Parsons v Brickhouse Brown: Parsons is dressed like a ghetto Willy Wonka tonight. Big criss cross to start goes Brown's way, and he dropkicks Iceman to the outside. Back in, Brickhouse grabs a standing side-headlock, and wins another criss cross with an ugly looking backslide for two. That sends Iceman bailing again, but breaking the momentum doesn't save him from another headlock on the way back in. He suckers his challenger into another criss cross, and blasts him with the Butt Butt for two. That's enough to turn the tide, and Parsons snap suplexes him for two. Brown throws a bodypress for two, but Parsons quickly shrugs him off with a series of jabs for two. Piledriver, but Brown counters with a backdrop, and starts mounting a comeback with fists of fury. Diving forearm looks to finish, but Parsons is in the ropes at two. Brown celebrates like he won anyway, and walks into a loaded fist at 5:41. Well, that was his own fault for being an idiot. Watchable, but nothing special overall. *

AWA World Tag Team Title v AWA Women's Title: Mixed Tag Team Match: Madusa Miceli and Badd Company v Wendi Richter and The Top Guns: Bad Company are the AWA World Tag Team Champions and Richter is the Women's champion, both of those titles on the line in this as well. Big brawl to start, with Wendi and the Guns cleaning house. The dust settles on Pat Tanaka getting worked over by the Guns, and a tandem backdrop gets Derrick Dukes two. He works a wristlock, so Tanaka tries criss crossing, but gets blasted with a clothesline (sold with a nice spiral) for two. Dukes with a shoulderblock and a dropkick for two, but he runs into a cheap shot from Paul Diamond to turn the tide. Paul tags in with a sidewalk slam and a double-underhook suplex for two, as Badd Company cut the ring in half on Dukes. Charge in the corner misses, however, and that allows the tag to Wendi. Of course, since women can only wrestle women in this thing, that means we automatically get Madusa in regardless of a tag, which is one of the logical fallacies of these mixed tag matches. It's a little better in this one since the tag teams can work together to cut the ring in half, but internal logic for stuff like the WrestleMania VI mixed tag, for example, especially annoy me. Madusa actually gets the better of her with a vertical suplex, but gets driven into the mat with a facebuster, and Wendi powerbombs her for two - saved by Diamond. That triggers a brawl, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a kettle on! Tanaka decides to superkick Wendi in the chaos, but ends up hitting Madusa - Richter scoring the fall at 5:43. Did Ricky Rice even tag in here? He does aid in spanking Madusa after the match, however, so this wasn't a total waste of time for him, I suppose. That result means Wendi retains her title, as do Badd Company, but someone gets their signals crossed here, and the Guns walk away with the belts despite not having actually won them. **

AWA International Television Title Match: Ron Garvin v Greg Gagne: This is for the vacant title, held up after a controversial finish to another match between these two. Greg gets the best of an exchange in the corner with a turnbuckle smash, but he misses a charge, and Garvin snapmares him over for a nervehold. Greg slugs free and hits a backdrop for two, then grounds Garvin with a wristlock. Ron uses a pair of headbutts to escape, but a backdrop is countered with a sunset flip for two. Greg holds an armbar, but Ronnie wants to duke it out - which he gets the better of. Garvin with a ten-punch count in the corner, so Gagne fires back with chops, and unloads a ten-punch of his own. Dropkick misses, however, and Garvin hooks an inside cradle for two. Gagne tries a headscissors takedown that ends in both guys taking a spill over the top (in a badly executed spot), and Ron eats post out there to get counted out at 5:51. Pretty dull stuff, that felt like it never got past the feeling out process. ¼*

$10,000 Nine-Woman Lingerie Battle Royal: We've got: Luna Vachon, Bambi, Peggy Lee Leather, Laurie Lynn, Brandi Mae, The Syrian Terrorist, Malibu, Nina, and Pocohantas. Eliminations are either standard over the top, or getting stripped down to lingerie. David McLane sits in on commentary for this one, fittingly. Luna is dressed like the Nasty Boys' long lost manager here. The usual catfighty fare, until we get down to Luna, Brandi, and Terrorist. They gang up on Brandi, but Luna makes the mistake of going to the top rope, and gets knocked out. Brandi tries to strip Terrorist down to win it, but ends up getting send over the top at 8:34. This was kind of interesting for the novelty of a T&A match way back in 1988, but not it wasn't 'good,' or anything. DUD

Boot Camp Match: Sgt. Slaughter v Colonel DeBeers: Why Slaughter always has his rank abbreviated, but DeBeers always gets the full thing spelled out is one of those wrestling mysteries that will never be solved. Sarge blitzes him with the riding crop at the bell, but a shot to the throat stops that effort, and DeBeers chokes him with a belt. We're getting kinky here. I think we're about to find out just how many shades of green there are. Sarge fights back with a snapmare, and they spill to the outside for more brawling - Slaughter getting two out there off a series of rights. DeBeers responds by clobbering him with the guardrail (not as impressive as it sounds - the 'rail' is a rope, and DeBeers hits him with one of the metal posts holding it up, like what you'd see in a line for concessions at the movie theater, or something). Back in, DeBeers puts on a helmet and charges, but ends up hitting manager Diamond Dallas Page, and Sarge clotheslines him down to take control of the helmet. He puts it on for a few headbutts, and the Cobra Clutch finishes at 5:38. This was slow and dull. DUD

WCCW World Tag Team Title Match: The Samoan Swat Team v Michael Hayes and Steve Cox: The Samoans wearing matching loud orange Jagermeister t-shirts is an odd sight for a kid who grew up knowing them as savages who couldn't master the concept of footwear. Samu starts with Hayes, and Michael actually holds his own in a slugfest. Quick tag to Steve, and Cox works a wristlock. Really making the most of his time in there, I see. Long feeling out process, until Fatu pulls down the top rope as Cox is running them, and then rams him into a table on the outside. That's enough to allow the champions to cut the ring in half, which gives us Michael Hayes playing babyface cheerleader. Cox fights off Samu long enough to tag, and Hayes is a disco of fire! Big brawl breaks out, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a kettle on, boy! Finish comes when Cox dives onto Samu with a tope suicida as Hayes DDTs Fatu, but Buddy Roberts comes in and attacks Michael - putting Fatu on top for the pin at 7:51. The Swat Team looked good here. * ½

Indian Strap Match: Wahoo McDaniel v Manny Fernandez: This has potential! To suck! Wahoo controls with the strap early on, but Fernandez rakes the eyes, and pounds him in the corner. He goes to work with the strap himself, but fails to drag McDaniel to even a single corner. He tries a front-facelock to subdue Wahoo, but McDaniel gets the ropes, so Fernandez responds by wrapping the strap around his fist, and pounding Wahoo until he bleeds. Well, that's one response, I suppose. He gets one corner out of the deal, before Wahoo starts whooping him with the strap to bust him open as well. That's enough for two corners, but Manny decks him to stop the effort, and follows with a 2^nd rope kneedrop. He gets three corners, then foolishness goes to the top rope instead of finishing, and that proves fatal - McDaniel hitting four corners at 7:46. Not good, but not as bad as I was expecting it to be, either. ¾*

Main Event: Unification Match: AWA World Title v WCCW World Title: Jerry Lawler v Kerry Von Erich: Al Lerner acts as the special guest ring announcer for this. It's fitting that whenever Verne used to have celebrity guests, they tended to be radio stars. Kerry, not surprisingly, managed to accidentally cut his arm back in the dressing room beforehand, and he keeps looking at it over and over while also trying to not call attention to it and pretend that everything is fine (since they haven't even, you know, made contact yet). Smooth. Jerry quickly covers up by ramming the arm into the turnbuckle to explain the blood (yeah, because that's a spot that ALWAYS draws blood, right?), though Kerry quickly ignores it, and starts strutting. So, for those of you keeping track, we're under a minute into the match, and Von Erich has already sold an injury before the spot happened, then no-sold that same injury afterwards. That's gotta be some kind of record. Lawler stalls for a good while, with Kerry sticking and moving whenever he can manage to catch up to him. Schoolboy gets two, and Von Erich controls a test-of-strength, but Jerry sweeps the leg - only to miss a fistdrop, and eat a Discus Punch for two. Jerry bites at the arm to cut Kerry off, and a big right hands sends the Texan flying over the top. All that sell was missing was Kerry shooting a bit of spit up into the air, like Curt Hennig or Shawn Michaels. Von Erich with another Discus Punch from the apron to setup a slingshot splash, but Jerry lifts the knees to block. Piledriver, but Von Erich no-sells it completely, and hits another Discus Punch for two. This match is playing out like a video game, with all the repeated signature spots so early on. Speaking of 'signature spots,' Kerry tries for the Iron Claw, but Jerry blocks, so Kerry tries a kneedrop, but misses that as well. Lawler capitalizes with a snapmare for two, but Von Erich ignores it, and piledrives the King for two. They spill to the outside, where Von Erich tries a Discus Punch against the rail, but misses, and smashes his hand into the steel. Jerry then busts him open with one of his patented phantom foreign objects, and a 2^nd rope fistdrop leaves Kerry a bloody mess. Another one, but Von Erich counters with the Iron Claw to the stomach! Von Erich is bleeding so badly that he's literally dripping blood down into Lawler's mouth. Yuck! Jerry won't submit, so Kerry reapplies it to the forehead, but Lawler is in the ropes. Back to the Claw at center ring, but Jerry still won't give, and pops him with another phantom weapon. Jerry zeroes in on the head wound with mounted punches, and a series of jabs leave Von Erich so dizzy that he falls out of the ring. Kerry starts slugging back, and another Discus Punch is worth two. Iron Claw, and things look bleak for the King - only for the referee to stop the match due to blood loss at 18:52 - despite Von Erich being in control, and having his finisher applied. Ugh, that is one terrible finish. It's one thing to stop a match due to blood loss, but quite another to do it while the supposedly incapacitated wrestler is actually in a position to win the match. ***

The Stud Stable v Rock 'n' Roll Express: What a weird choice to close this show. The Stable are the CWA Tag Team Champions, but this is non-title. Jimmy Golden starts off with Ricky Morton, and a criss cross ends in Ricky reversing a hiptoss. That brings Robert Fuller in, but Robert Gibson cuts him off, and the Express clean house. Dust settles back on Golden and Morton, and another cheap shot attempt by Fuller ends in the Express cleaning house. Dust settles on Gibson and Fuller, and a big criss cross ends in Golden taking a cheap shot as Robert runs the ropes - allowing Fuller to dump him to the outside for Miss Sylvia to whack with her kendo stick. Back in, the Stable cut the ring in half on Gibson, which is certainly an unusual choice to make. He manages to escape an abdominal stretch to tag, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a kettle on! Tandem Dropkick looks to finish Golden, but Fuller manages to save, and the referee disqualifies both teams at 7:11. No reason this couldn't have been for the title. *

BUExperience: With this being the AWAs only foray into pay per view, as well as all the cross promotional stuff, there’s certainly a lot of historical significance. However, as far as the actual in-ring product goes, the Unification match is about the only thing worth checking out, with everything else being pretty much worthless.

The show isn’t recommended unless, like me, you’ve been waiting literally twenty years to finally see it, in which case it’s worth checking out for the novelty alone

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