Chi-Town Rumble

Legacy Review

Chi-Town Rumble

February 20, 1989 from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago

Commentary: Jim Ross and Magnum TA

The new Turner regime is experimenting with new PPVs to start what would turn out to be an all-world 1989, headlined by the first match of the legendary Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat trilogy. Surprisingly, there was no counter punch from Titan Towers for this show.

The show open has some of the worst music I've ever heard for a wrestling show. Or, ever. The Turner boys are still figuring out how they want to do the presentation. Things open up at a snail's pace with JR and TA listing all the matches, then a long, generic video package of mostly Starrcade '88 footage. Guess they hadn't bought the Crockett tape library yet.

Michael PS Hayes def Russian Assassin I (w/Paul Jones) in 15:48- Assassin I is the Angel of Death. Badstreet USA is still awesome entrance music. This is in a short period where Hayes and fellow Freebird Terry Gordy were both working singles (Jimmy Garvin was out with an injury). Assassin tries a leapfrog. Hayes stops, waits for him to land, and nails him with a punch. Hayes poses on the 2nd rope, senses Assassin coming, and turns around and hits him with a diving punch. Twice. Assassin tries an eye rake but Hayes no sells the following punches and gives us the Freebird strut. A Hayes sunset flip gets 2  Assassin gets a couple of knees to the gut, then kinda nudges Hayes with a .3 Russian Sickle for a 2 count. Long chinlock spot. Hayes powers out and gets a crossbody for 2. A slightly better .5 Sickle puts Hayes right back in Chinlock City. It's like Suplex City, but with chinlocks. Things move slow there. The crowd is pretty dead. Hayes tries for a bulldog but Assassin counters out of it. Hayes dodges a corner charge and Assassin posts his shoulder. Assassin tries for a backdrop, but Hayes counters it into a DDT for the pin. This should have been a 5 minute squash but it went three times as long. Hayes had a pretty big singles push coming so he was trying. *3/4

Steamboat muddles his way through a promo. Never his strong suit. Little baby Richie wants the mic to show dad how to do it.

Before we go any further, I should take a minute and lay out what's going on in this period with the Four Horsemen, because it's a little convoluted. Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard left for the WWF in mid '88. With only Flair, Barry Windham and JJ Dillon left, the group was called just the Horsemen. The powers that be toyed with the idea of adding new guys to the group (Butch Reed and Windham's jobber brother Kendall being options), but when the calendar turned to '89 another wrench was thrown in: JJ Dillon was leaving to take a backstage job in WWF. WCW wrote him out by having Flair turn on him after losing the tag match where Ricky Steamboat was reintroduced into the company. To fill the managerial gap WCW turned to another old Horsemen "associate", Hiro Matsuda. The group was renamed the Yamazaki Corporation to play into thoughts that were prevalent in the late '80s that Japan's economy, booming from their dominance of the electronics and computer industries and starting to challenge the US in car manufacturing, would soon overtake the US as the world's #1 economy.

Sting def "Hacksaw" Butch Reed (w/Hiro Matsuda) in 20:07- A jobber entrance for Sting?! Oh, looks like the intros happened during Steamboat's promo. Sting ducks a punch and hits an atomic drop with a super sell from Reed. They go power vs speed for a bit. JR says Reed used to be a steer wrestler. Yeah, but did he ever wrestle a bear? Sting does a nice Destino like flip to switch from a blocked hip toss to an armdrag. He then shows some strength by holding onto a headlock while Reed tries to push him off into the ropes. Another nice Sting counter, a blocked hip toss into a backslide for 2. Reed gets some punches in but Sting dodges a corner charge. Reed uses Sting's momentum off the ropes to send him outside. A ringside cameraman gets caught on hard camera gesturing to fans in the crowd to boo. Reed works through punches and chokes. Matusda-san gets a choke in. Reed goes to the heel 101 playbook to keep Sting in a chinlock. Sting twists Reed into the turnbuckles to get out. He tries a Vader Bomb (he's too small!) but Reed gets his knees up and we're right back in the restholds. Sting jaw jacks out, ducks under a couple of clothesline attempts and hits one of his own. The crowd loves him. Sting gets a sunset flip. Reed grabs the top rope to keep from going over but for some reason ref (and future Reed manager) Teddy Long kicks him off. Reed drops down and covers Sting's shoulders with his knees, but tries to grab the rope for leverage and Long catches him. Sting rolls him over to complete the sunset flip and gets the pin. Another rung on the ladder of Sting's rise to the top. Reed was not the kind of guy to carry a match, but he could be a decent complimentary piece to a good worker. Another match that went twice as long as it needed to be. **1/4

Promo with Paul E Dangerously and the Original Midnights. Wait, that's not the Originals. That's Randy Rose and....Jack Victory? Dennis Condry pulled another one of his famous disappearing acts before this show, necessitating a last second substitution. Paul E plays it off as strategery.

Loser Leaves NWA Match: The Midnight Express & Jim Cornette def The Original Midnight Express & Paul E Dangerously in 15:51- Just to clarify, only the loser of the fall has to leave, not the whole team. Loopholes are fun. And convenient. Paul E's warm up "punches" are amazing. Cornette wants to start and he wants Paul E, but Lane and Rose end up starting. Rose gets the Flair throw off the top. The faces TRIPLE team Victory. Yes, Cornette even gets a shot in. Eaton gives Rose a series of stiff right hands, then another triple team sequence and another Cornette shot. The heels work Eaton into their corner and Paul E goes for a shot, but hits Rose instead. Rose is miffed. Rose throws Eaton off the apron and into the guardrail. Paul E tags in, gets a bunch of kicks in on Eaton, but Eaton no sells it all (realistic) and Paul E skedaddles for a tag. Cornette tags in and tries to get at Paul E, but Rose ambushes him from behind. Once Cornette is safely down Paul E tags in again. The managers work a proper match and do a pretty nice job of it. While Paul E plays to the crowd Cornette nails him from behind. The heels work Cornette over more until Eaton intervenes, allowing Cornette to tag out. Paul E distracts Lane and Victory gets him with a knee in the back. Lane is face in peril. After a bit Lane dodges a corner charge and gets the hot tag to Eaton. Beautiful missile dropkick from Eaton. Eaton physically forces Victory to tag Paul E in. Cornette is back in. Cornette hits a .4 clothesline and covers but Rose makes the save. Cornette tags out. DONNYBROOK! Rose misses a dive off the top. Lane covers but Victory breaks it up. The heels have a midring collision. The Express get Rose up and hit him with a double flapjack, and that gets the 3! Randy Rose is out of the NWA. Not as good as their Starrcade match, but considering the last second substitution it went about as well as it could have. Cornette and Paul E played their roles perfectly, and would continue to feud off and on the next few years. ***1/4

Bob Caudle is in the back with Flair, who shows Steamboat how to cut a promo. Whether you like it or don't like it, learn to love it, because it's the best thing going today! WOOOOOOOOO!

NWA World Television Championship: Mike Rotunda def Rick Steiner (c) (w/Scott Steiner) in 16:21- This is Scott's NWA/WCW debut. Steiner beat Rotunda for the title at Starrcade in the (supposed) culmination of probably the hottest feud in the company at that time. The same heat is not there for this rematch. Rotunda gets straight to the stalling, but overall it's not as bad as usual and a much quicker start than the Starrcade match. Lots of amateur takedowns showing off both guys' backgrounds. Rotunda takes advantage of a rope break to get the first punch in. He ducks to the outside to avoid a Steinerline, but a minute later gets clobbered with one and get his foot up on the rope to break the pin. Rotunda offers an insincere handshake. Abdominal stretch! Scott tries to tell Teddy Long that there's a 141 2/3% chance Rotunda is using the rope. Long breaks it up and Steiner reverses into a pin but they're under the ropes. Rotunda gets another rope break cheap shot. He goes for a reverse crossbody off the 2nd rope (and damn near botches it by landing on his feet) but Steiner reverses it for 2. They go outside. Steiner gets posted and starts bleeding. What happened to the no blood rule? Steiner recovers and gets a powerslam for 2. Kevin Sullivan has slithered out to ringside. He grabs a mic and tells Steiner "That's a nice dog you have in the dressing room." Steiner walks out and is clearly worried. I would be too. Knowing Sullivan he could either be sacrificing that dog to The Great Mowjal or eating it. Or both. Rotunda grabs the distracted Steiner and Saito suplexes him for 2. Steiner gets his head back in the game and hooks in a sleeper. Rotunda is going out but he's laying on top of Steiner and Steiner's shoulders are down. Long counts the 3 as Steiner pins himself! Weak ending. Sullivan's run out was completely pointless in the end. Steiner's singles push was cut short but he's moving into teaming up with his brother and I think that turned out OK. Rotunda winning the belt back would just be a transition as Sting would beat him for his first title a month later. This match didn't have the heat or great moment of Steiner winning that Starrcade did, but thanks to a faster pace and less stalling turned out as the better match. ***

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: Lex Luger def Barry Windham (c) (w/Hiro Matsuda) in 10:43- Luger shoves Windham during instructions. Luger locks in an early sleeper but Windham suplexes out. Luger no sells it. Press slam! Luger does a unique whip, holding on while Windham tries to reverse it and still sending Windham into the corner. Luger tries a dive of the top but crashes and burns and slides all the way outside. Windham goes to work with the glove and busts Luger open above his right eye. They go out again and Luger eats barricade. Windham charges but Luger ducks out and Windham punches the ring post. Ow. Both guys take time to recover. Luger's bleeding above his eye. Windham's wrist is bleeding and barely functional. Windham manages to stay in control but hurts himself as much as Luger when he tries to punch. He hooks on the Claw, but after a minute his wrist gives out on that too. Tommy Young tries to check it but Windham refuses. Windham manages to hoist Luger up and superplexes him for a close 2 count. Windham gives Luger a bridged suplex and they do the finish where all four shoulders are down but Luger gets one up at 2 and Windham is pinned. Luger wins the title! Windham snaps and gives Luger a piledriver, indicating the feud must continue, but Windham was actually on his way out to the WWF (for a run that was cut short due to real life scandal and he'd be back in WCW within a year). It would have been nice if the wrist injury had played more directly into the finish, and the finish was a little redundant after the Rotunda/Steiner match having a similar one, but it was still very well done. ***1/2

NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Road Warriors (c) (w/Paul Ellering) def The Varsity Club in 8:27- The Road Warriors are kinda popular in their native Chicago. We've got three guys perfect for a stiff hoss match....and Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan and Animal start. Animal no sells a clothesline then kills Sullivan with one of his own. Sullivan tries to go off the top but Animal catches and powerslams him. Animal and Williams have a good shoulderblock standoff. Animal gets a powerslam. Williams takes a quick powder. When he gets back in he gives Hawk a press slam. Hawk answers back with a stiff clothesline. While Sullivan has the ref distracted the Roadies double clothesline Williams. Not a normal double clothesline. One from front and one from behind. Sensational. That gets a long 2 count. After another ref distraction Animal is thrown over the top and out, and Sullivan follows with a chair shot to the arm that had been hurt during the build. The heels work the wounded arm for a while and use toe and leg holds to keep Animal face in peril. They're keeping the pace up very well. Williams almost slips coming off the ropes. Double clothesline. Hot tag to Hawk! DONNYBROOK! Animal gets Sullivan in Doomsday Device position. Williams comes from behind and chop blocks Animal down. Hawk says eff it and clotheslines Sullivan off the top rope anyway, and gets the pin! There was a lot of promise here. I wish time had been cut off the first two matches and given to this one. **3/4

MAIN EVENT FEUD RECAP- Ricky Steamboat came back to the NWA at the start of '89 and in his first match back got a pinfall win over Ric Flair in a tag match at the original NWA studio. An enraged Flair laid down the challenge right after. The feud was soon framed as the limo riding, jet flying, expensive suit wearing, women dripping off arms Nature Boy vs family man Steamboat. In the last standoff before the big match Flair told Steamboat "Why don't you go back home and help the missus with the dishes?". Steamboat attacked and ripped Flair's expensive suit off, and Flair beat Steamboat up in his tightie whities.

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) (w/Hiro Matsuda) in 23:18- Flair's got all the women with him tonight. He gets a pretty decent ovation. Chicago. And, Flair. This is the feud that would lead to an organic face turn for him at the end of it. Chicago being Chicago, there's audible "Steamboat sucks" chants at several points in the match. Steamboat goes for a quick cover 10 seconds in. Flair takes a step back. Flair drops down for a trip attempt. Steamboat stops and wraps him in a headlock. Flair tries to flip out, Steamboat turns it into a roll up for 2. Flair takes a breather. Here come the chops! They go to them regularly throughout the match and they never get old. After a huge backdrop Flair begs off. More stiff chops. They stand and stare for a few seconds before locking up again, a subtle but very effective tension builder. Steamboat slides between Flair's legs and hits a dropkick. Flair's chops are absolute cannon blasts. Steamboat's aren't far behind. If this was HD you'd be able to really see both guy's chests welling up. Steamboat tries another flash pin and Flair takes another short walk. Flair wins a shoulderblock exchange to get some momentum, but on a run Steamboat gives him a two handed chop and Flair does a Flair Flop through the ropes and out! Steamboat teases coming off the top but backs off. Flair cautiously tries to lock up then backs of and screams at Steamboat for being a coward. Mind games. We get a run of several high octane flying moves from Steamboat. That's the 1989 equivalent of Ricochet or Ospreay. Flair nails Steamboat with a back elbow. Steamboat comes back with chops. The last one sends Flair over the top and out again. Flair takes his time at the apron getting back in, suckering Steamboat in. He grabs Steamboat's feet, drags him under the ropes, and gives him a guardrail shot and more chops. Flair starts working through his usuals, including the knee drop for 2 and a double underhook suplex that only gets 1. Another stiff chop exchange. Flair Flip! He lands on his feet, runs across the apron to the other side, hops up to the top rope, AND ACTUALLY GETS OFF! Crossbody! Steamboat reverses it and locks his fingers but it only gets 2! The crowd is going crazy. Flair with an inverted atomic drop. Figure four! Flair plays the rope leverage game. Steamboat is in it for a long while. Tommy Young finally catches Flair using the ropes but Flair isn't worried, he's got Steamboat where he wants him. He thinks. Steamboat tries to come back with chops. Flair chops and punches back. Flair ducks a clothesline and on the rebound goes for a jumping crossbody, but it's close to the ropes and both guys tumble over the top and out! Steamboat gets posted. Flair suplexes him back in for a long 2 count. Flair tries for pins with his feet on the ropes but Steamboat won't stay down. While Flair argues with the crowd Steamboat rolls him up for 2. Flair dodges a Steamboat dive off the 2nd rope. They do the bridge up spot, but instead of a backslide Steamboat hits a double underhook suplex and Flair JUST gets a foot on the rope at 2. Steamboat goes up top and hits the flying chop. He goes up top again and nails the crossbody! But Young was in the way! Ref bump! No one is there to count! Flair grabs the tights and rolls Steamboat up, but there's still no ref. Flair throws him over the top but Steamboat half skins the cat to get on the apron, goes up top again, and misses! Flair goes for the figure four again, but Steamboat rolls him into a Paul Smackage! Teddy Long is in the ring and counts the 3! Steamboat wins the title! Absolute perfection. This was quite possibly the best wrestling match ever to that point, until Flair and Steamboat get in the ring together again. ****** (yes, that's 6)

Bob Caudle is in the locker room as the faces bury Steamboat in champagne. Steamboat promises Flair an immediate rematch.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- The magic NWA year of 1989 is off to a good start. The undercard has nothing awful and a few pretty good matches, and it's topped off by one of the most legendary matches ever.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A-