Clash of the Champions I

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions I

March 27, 1988 from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC

 

Commentary: Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone

 

The Clash, like the Royal Rumble, started as a direct result of the Jim Crockett Promotions/WWF scheduling wars that started in the fall of '87. Round 1 was WWF putting Survivor Series opposite Starrcade on PPV and murdering their buyrate. JCP tried to recover those losses by putting the finals of the '88 Bunkhouse Stampede on PPV, but WWF countered with the first Rumble on basic cable USA at the same time. Now JCP is finally firing their first salvo back, putting this new special on TBS directly opposite Wrestelmania 4. This show also represents the beginning of a deepening relationship between JCP and TBS parent company Turner, which will directly lead to Turner buying the promotion when its finances completely collapse later in the year.

 

One good thing about this show right from the start: after experimenting with holding big shows well outside their normal area for Starrcade '87 and Bunkhouse Stampede, tonight they're back in their home arena of the Greensboro Coliseum. Another good thing- the intro. Title belts. Smoke. Lightning. It's fantastic. One of the all time great show intros, PPV or anywhere. They even use the correct belt graphics all through the show for their respective title matches.

 

College Rules Match for the NWA World Television Championship: Mike Rotunda (c) (w/Kevin Sullivan) def "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) in 6:10- Both Rotunda and Sullivan came over to JCP full time from Florida at the start of the year. At the same time they formed a new heel stable, the Varsity Club, along with former UWF wrestler Rick Steiner. The gimmick was that everyone in the group had a legitimate amateur wrestling background, and all repped their respective universities with their gear. Most of them anyway, Sullivan always dresses like Sullivan. Rotunda defeated Nikita Koloff for the TV title just a couple of days after Bunkhouse Stampede. Of course Sullivan being Sullivan there's some weirdness going on too, in this instance Sullivan seeming to have some kind of fascination with Precious, a feud that will run through the summer. Playing off the Club's gimmick, this match is amateur style rules with three 5 minute rounds and one count pinfalls. That's right, one. Lockups and Rotunda gets the first takedown. Garvin stays with him pretty good on the mat. Garvin wants to GO and, of course, Rotunda goes right into stall mode. Quick armdrag from Rotunda and he celebrates with some mocking jumping jacks. Next lockup Garvin gets an armdrag, plus hiptoss and slam. Rotunda slides out to break the momentum. Is that part of amateur rules? Back in Garvin grabs a top wristlock and Rotunda immediately pulls his hair to get free. Whip reversal and Garvin hits a back elbow. He covers but Rotunda quickly kicks free since all it takes is a 1. Garvin works a front facelock. Rotunda backs him into the corner. A big shove from Garvin puts Rotunda down. Another corner break and this time Rotunda hits a cheap shot over ref Teddy Long and drops Garvin on the top rope. Clothesline from Rotunda. He tries to get Garvin into a pining position but Garvin fights him on the mat, running out the clock to end round 1. During the 30 second rest period Rotunda goes over and gives Garvin a cheap shot. Bell for round 2 and Rotunda is all over Garvin again. Slam and Rotunda goes up top. Garvin catches him and slams him down. Backdrop from Garvin. Sullivan tries to get in the ring. Precious runs over and grabs him. Sullivan grabs Precious by the throat! And I mean for real. Garvin runs over to save his woman. Rotunda comes from behind, rolls Garvin up, and gets the 1 count for the pin to retain. This didn't really work. If they were going to do the silly rules it needed more time to play out, but 1 count pins in the pros is a terrible idea to start with. *

 

After the bell Garvin hits Rotunda with the brain buster. Rick Steiner runs in and attacks Garvin. Precious hits Steiner from behind with a 2x4! Jim Duggan must have left that laying around. Then she chokes Sullivan with a coat hanger! I guess that has something to do with their ongoing thing, I don't remember.

 

After commercial Bob Caudle welcomes back "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, back from one of his All Japan tours and I guess over how horribly JCP booked him as the last UWF World champ the previous year. Doc Death lives up to his name by murdering his promo. Talking was never his strong suit. The gist is he wants next for whoever wins the World title match. 

 

NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Midnight Express (c) (w/Jim Cornette) def The Fantastics by DQ in 10:15- The Fantastics are also recent JCP signees after becoming near legends across other southern territories. They participated in the first Crockett Cup in '86 as a UWF team and pretty much stole the entire tournament despite getting knocked out in the quarterfinals. When they made their official JCP debut a couple of weeks prior to this they defeated the Midnights in a non-title match, which is what led them to getting the shot tonight. Cornette has a fan section ringside of what looks like college age guys. Wonder if that was legit or if they were plants for the show. As soon as the Fantastics hit the ring we're off! Tom Miller has to bail before ever introducing the Fantastics. Fulton and Eaton go to the floor while Rogers hits Lane off the top rope in the ring. Eaton tries a wild swing with a chair and misses everything. Fulton then gets the chair and nails Eaton with it. Double backdrop on Lane in the ring. All four go back to the floor and a table gets randomly thrown. Rogers gets thrown into a Cornette held chair. This is CHAOS. But good chaos. Lane gives Rogers a chairshot. Cornette is still tossing chairs all over the place. Ref Pee Wee Anderson finally gets a semblance of control as Rogers and Eaton get in the ring and their partners take their places on the apron. Blind tag from the Fantastics and Fulton slams Eaton. So much for order, all four guys are right back in there again. Both Midnights fly upside down into the corners. Fulton mounted punches on Eaton. The Midnights finally manage to work Rogers into a nice high/low double team to change the momentum around. Karate kick from Lane. Eaton pounds on Rogers. Cornette lifts a table up and Rogers is run into it! Legdrop from Lane. And an elbow drop. Rogers fires back with a shoulder to Lane's gut. Eaton tags in and powerslams Rogers. Elbow off the top rope from Eaton! That hurt him too and he has to tag out. Gutwrench suplex from Lane. Decapitation Device style double team from the Midnights. Rogers tries to fight back again on Eaton but is cut off. Mounted punches form Eaton. Rogers flash sunset flip on Lane, but the ref is distracted by Cornette and Fulton arguing. Thrust kick from Lane to the back of Rogers' head, then he tosses him out to the floor. Eaton slams Rogers on the table! It wasn't standing so it doesn't break, but for '88 that's still a big hit. Then Eaton bulldogs Rogers on the table! Sadly mostly off camera. Fulton finally manages to go over and be a shield to help Rogers recover. Back in the Midnights hit another double team as Rogers is so out of it he can barely move off a whip. He does try to fight back again. He dives onto Eaton and gets a tag! But Lane had the ref distracted and it's disallowed! Fantastic (no pun intended) timing, much better than the usual telegraphed phantom tag spots. Cornette comes in and hits a racket shot! Fulton sees and it's DONNYBROOK CRAZY again. I think the ref went down at some point. The whole show is being shot from tight ringside cameras so it's hard to tell, and they're cutting so often they're missing stuff. Cornette tries for another racket shot. Fulton ducks and Eaton takes it! The Fantastics hit the rocket launcher! Backup ref Tommy Young comes in and counts 3! The Fantastics win the titles! BUT WAIT! With the ref swap you can smell the Dusty Finish coming. And yup, Anderson calls for a DQ for an over the top rope throw at some point again there. After the decision the heels whip the hell out of Fulton with Cornette's belt until Rogers saves him. Crap finish aside that was a hell of a match, absolute nonstop action from start to finish with a great balance between classic tag formula and pure chaos. ****1/4

 

On replay we see that Fulton deliberately threw Anderson over the top rope in the end of match melee. The ref *was* the over the top rope throw! OK, that was actually a justified DQ. Far from the worst Dusty Finish I've ever seen. The Fantastics would manage to wrest the titles from the Midnights at a TV taping in April, and the two teams would continue to trade the titles between them the rest of the year.

 

After commercial we get some TBS cross promotion symmetry, with a very weird pretaped bit featuring Jim Cornette and a character from The New Leave it to Beaver (a sequel to the original '50s sitcom Turner had just picked up to pair with reruns of the original), with the actor playing it as his TV character and not himself. After that Gary Hart and Al Perez are with Caudle to lay down a formal challenge to Dusty for the US title. We then get some promotion for JCP's next major event, the third annual Crockett Cup, taking place in April right here in Greensboro. The top 10 seeds for the tournament are revealed. I want to get into that like I did the first two Crockett Cups, but the only copy available in the WWE Vault or anywhere else I know of is the original VHS copy with all the matches clipped and cut down. I hate reviewing clipped matches if other options are possible so it's just going to have to wait and hopefully we'll get a more complete release at some point. But it's a story I'm eager to tell because the whole thing turned into a major fiasco. Another signpost on the road toward JCP having to sell out to Turner before the end of the year. 

 

Barbed Wire Match: NWA United States Heavyweight Champion "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes & The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering) def Ivan Koloff & The Powers of Pain (w/Paul Jones) in 3:39- This was set up by a famous weightlifting segment on weekly TV, where the POP "accidentally" dropped a barbell right on Animal's face. Animal is wearing a full face mask for this match because of the unspecified injuries he sustained. Dusty's also got some Road Warrior style facepaint on. The heel team are actually wearing belts on their entrance. I can tell you those are the almost never seen on a major show NWA 6 man tag titles. True to form, commentary doesn't even mention them. To make this a "barbed wire" match the ropes all around the ring have been loosely draped with barbed wire. I know if it was real barbed wire it wouldn't take much but still, the visual looks pretty half assed. There's really not a lot to say about this one, it's an all around three on three brawl with some barbed wire gouging and bleeding that's thankfully kept very short. JR actually does mention the 6 man titles in passing. Animal hits Warlord with a powerslam, Barbarian goes for a headbutt off the top but hits Warlord, and Animal gets the pin. Naturally after the bell the heels get Animal's mask off and go to work on his injured face some more until the others save him. Next. 1/2*

 

While JR and Tony try to do a stand up some wild drunks hilariously walk behind them and yell to try to steal the shot. After that Caudle is with a "new look" Nikita Koloff, who's back after being out since losing the TV title. Only difference I see is he's wearing a white suit. Nice to see he's finally spending some of those American dollars he's been earning since realizing the errors of the Party's ways. 

 

NWA World Tag Team Championship: "The Total Package" Lex Luger & Barry Windham def Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (c) (w/JJ Dillon) in 9:35- Luger was a Horseman at the start of his JCP run, but after his loss to Dusty for the US title at Starrcade blamed Dillon's screw up in the match for his loss, was kicked out of the group and turned face. Which was all part of the long term plan for him, he was only put in the Horsemen in the first place so he could be an even bigger face when he turned on them or vice versa. Windham was a natural partner as he'd been butting heads with the Horsemen ever since his JCP arrival. All the music on this show sounds like it's been dubbed over. I wonder if that was by TBS on the original broadcast. Luger and Blanchard start. Luger quickly shows his superior strength. The Horsemen run in and try to double team Luger. Luger fights them off with clotheslines. Powerslam on Blanchard and Luger calls for the Torture Rack already. He gets Blanchard up in it! Arn breaks it up and tags in. He goes right after Luger's leg. Typical smart strategery. Cut the big man's support off. Luger pushes Arn with his leg and he runs into Blanchard! Tag to Windham. Double noggin knocker on the Horsemen. Flying lariat on Blanchard. Powerslam for 2. Sleeper on Blanchard! Blanchard steps all the way to the floor but Windham keeps the hold on! Blanchard goes out and Windham lets go. Arn runs over and tries to revive his partner. Blanchard snaps Windham over the top rope, then tries going up top. Windham slams him back down. Now Windham gets an abdominal stretch on Blanchard. Dillon distracts ref Tommy Young complaining about a phantom tights pull, allowing Arn to come in and hit Windham, then plant him with a DDT. Cover for 2. World's Greatest Spinebuster! Windham kicks out! Arn tries for a leverage pin and crotches himself on Windham's knees. Blanchard just barely cuts a tag off. Blanchard hits some punches and covers for 2. Windham gets momentum running the ropes and hits a crossbody for 2. Midring collision! After recovering they do some mat counters and work into the bridge up spot. Windham uses that to hit a gutwrench suplex! Arn tags in while Windham is still clearing the cobwebs and cranks Windham's arm. Snap mare from Arn. Windham dodges a kneedrop. Simultaneous punches! Both guys slowly flop down. Again Arn falls right and Blanchard just cuts off Windham from tagging. Blanchard hits the slingshot suplex! Windham kicks out! Windham punches Blanchard, then literally flops down in the right direction and reaches out to tag Luger! Brilliantly done. Luger goes nuts on both Horsemen. Clothesline on Arn. Another one. Double noggin knocker. Blanchard catches Luger with a knee from the apron. Luger quickly recovers and powerslams Arn. EVERYONE IN THE POOL! Dillon has a chair in the corner. Arn is run into it! Luger covers and gets the pin for the titles! INSANE pop! The crowd wanted to see the Horsemen get taken down so bad, and they got it. They didn't get much time and had to rush their usual stuff, but they did it brilliantly. Like the other tag match, nonstop though more traditional action from start to finish aided by a nuclear hot crowd. ****

 

The celebration would be short lived. Barely a month later Arn and Blanchard would win the titles back in one of the best angles of the year. During the match Windham shocked, I mean SHOCKED, everyone by turning on Luger and joining the Horsemen, taking the spot that had been left vacant by Luger's own departure from the group and forming in my opinion the greatest and definitive version of the Horsemen. Soon after that in May Windham won a tournament for the vacant US title (Dusty was stripped for attacking Jim Crockett) to once again give the Horsemen all the major gold in the company.

 

As was and would not be uncommon for JCP and later WCW we have a group of judges for this match because in the words of Tom Miller "there must be a winner". If there's any kind of draw the decision is kicked to them. As judges we have NWA official Gary Juster, former wrestler Sandy Scott, and then a cavalcade of unqualified celebrities. First is Patty Mullen, the 1988 "Pet of the Year". What, from Penthouse? On TURNER?! The ultimate family channel? Besides The Family Channel of course. Yes that was a real thing. That's.....something. She certainly does live up to the billing though. Next up is Ken Osmond, the New Leave it to Beaver actor that appeared with Cornette earlier. And finally is The Wonder Years star Jason Hervey, making the first of what would be quite a few WCW appearances as he was a legit fan. More than that, he'd actually end up working backstage in later years for TNA. The real deal. 

 

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) & Sting 45:00 time limit draw- Sting was one of the wrestlers JCP acquired when they bought UWF in '88. They quickly knew they had something special, though still a bit raw and needing a bit more development. He's been an instant hit with the crowd as well. This is his first sniff of anything related to the main event. And he's up against The Man at his absolute peak. Flair's got the crappy synth version of his music again that he also had at Starrcade. I guess that sadly lasted longer than I remembered. As part of the stipulations for this match JJ Dillon is being suspended above the ring in a cage so he can't interfere. Fortunately he doesn't argue too much as we need to get going since we're on "TV time remaining", hence the time limit being 15 minutes less than usual for a World title match. Bell ring, Flair gives us a "WOOOOOOOO" and we're off. Lockup, corner clean break and Sting gives us his yell. Flair cranks an arm wringer and pulls Sting's hair. That tiny little mini ponytail dangling the back that was somehow a trend in the late '80s. Sting kips right back up and Flair quickly backs off. Top wristlock fight. Flair actually has the early edge before Sting fights back up. Flair is very cautious getting back into it. Sting wants a test of strength knucklelock and Flair goes for it. That's an easy Sting win. Flair backs him into the corner. First chop. No effect! Sting hiptoss and dropkick! Flair rolls out to rethink things. Back in Flair does his hammerlock workaround. Despite his efforts Sting reverses it and cranks on Flair's arm a bit. Long speed run and Sting hits a press slam. Flying headscissors from Sting! That's one he won't keep for long. Headlock takedown from Sting and he works that a bit. Flair tries some escapes but keeps ending up back in the headlock. Flair manages to back Sting into the corner and hits another chop. Again no effect. Sting goes for mounted punches then decides better of it. Instead he punches Flair across the ring. Another hiptoss. Flair dodges a dropkick.....then Flair Flop! A fantastic one. Flair tries to throw Sting out but Sting hops right back into the ring. This time he hits some mounted punches, then back to the headlock. I'm just noticing Sting has a cut on his chest. Might be from one of Flair's chops, but it seems like it's on the wrong side. On a rope break Flair hits a sneaky shot to Sting's ribs, which finally seems to hurt Sting. More chops in the corner that this time do have an effect. Sting fires back though. Another press slam with a phenomenal sell from Flair. Bear hug! Flair, of course, sells it to the cheap seats. Flair slowly pushes and gets close to the ropes, but then goes down and Sting gets a couple of near falls. "OH GOD MY BACK!". Sting, maybe showing some inexperience, lets go of the bear hug. He hits some ground and pound punches, then goes for a big elbow drop. Flair dodges! Corner whip. Flair dodges, almost flopping back down, and Sting crashes elbow first into the corner. Sting still comes after Flair hurt arm or no and Flair begs off. He tries more mounted punches. Flair counters with an inverted atomic drop. He drags Sting out to the floor, an area Flair very much has the advantage. Sting is whipped into the guardrail. More chops back in. Hard corner whip and Sting goes down. Another one. Snap mare/kneedrop combo. That gets some "WOOOO"s from the crowd. Another kneedrop. Flair continues to slowly pick Sting apart, clearly thinking he's got the kid pretty much taken care of. Another toss to the floor. Flair gets a chair. Tommy Young takes it away! Flair settles for another guardrail whip instead. Back in Flair pounds Sting in the corner. Sting starts hulking up off chops! A punch sends Flair 360 over the top rope to the floor! Flair dodges and Sting clotheslines the post! Second time he's hit that arm hard. Back in Flair zeroes in on the target. Again Sting uses the crowd to fire back up. Another hair pull and kip up. Sting hits knees, chokes Flair in the corner, and gets another hiptoss. Clothesline for 2. Big Sting yell and the crowd's going nuts for him. Suplex from Sting. He stands over Flair. Scorpion Death Lock! Flair quickly fights it and gets to the ropes for a break. Another Flair chop that Sting barely notices. Punch and Flair Flop 2! Flair ducks a wild Sting dive and Sting goes over the top rope to the floor! Coming back in Sting goes up top. Crossbody for a long 2! Sting grabs another headlock. Flair uses that to hit a kneebreaker! Here we go. Get your jackets and head to the bus stop kids, we're going to school. Flair kicks Sting's leg out of his leg as the work on it really begins. Another kneebreaker. Sting falls out to the floor. Flair teases coming off the top rope to the floor but Young stops him. More shots on the knee back in. Back suplex. Flair, with much moment milking, slaps the figure four on! With rope leverage. That gets a near fall. Sting fights with all he has, then fires up and drags Flair away from the ropes! Sting reversal! Flair is stuck there for a bit shouting in pain before the hold is finally broken. Both guys limp back up. Flair gets the first shot on Sting's knee. He gets on the apron and teases suplexing Sting over the top rope all the way out to the floor! Sting blocks it and suplexes Flair back in the ring! He tries a big splash but Flair gets his knees up. Sting gets Flair in an abdominal stretch! We get the 10 minutes left call as Flair hiptosses out. He tries going up top and as usual gets slammed back down. Cover for 2. Sting drags Flair over and crotches him on the post! Sting puts on a figure four! Another inexperience mistake, he should be going for his own hold instead of Flair's. He does get a couple of near falls. Flair finally gets a rope break. Sting gets back up and shouts "Do you know how to party or what?" at Dillon, all kinds of fired up. More mounted punches and another hiptoss. Flair begs off. Sting stays on him with more stomps on Flair's bad leg. Flair shoves Young out of frustration and of course Young shoves him back down. Corner whip and Flair Flip! He falls all the way to the floor, right by the judges' table. Though not quite "over" as JR tries to make it out as. Sting gives Flair a shot on the judges' table. Post shot and Flair flops over the guardrail into the crowd. 5 minutes left. Flair tries a sunset flip back in. Sting's having none of it. Flair's bleeding a little bit off the post shot but way less than his usual. More mounted punches. Flair tries an inverted atomic drop counter. Sting blocks it and hits a clothesline! Flair barely gets a foot on the rope before 3! Flair dodges a Stinger Splash and Sting flies all the way out to the floor! 3 minutes. They trade shots back in. Flair gets a sleeper on! Sting runs Flair into the corner! Flair Flop 3! Flair grabs Sting and tosses him out again. Sting quickly comes back in with a sunset flip. Flair tries to fight it. He drops down on Sting and grabs the ropes for leverage. Young sees it and kicks him off! Sting cradle! Flair just kicks out! The crowd bit pretty hard on that one. Another Flair Flip! Flair runs across and gets a crossbody off the top. Sting reverses it for another long 2! Flair hits shots that do nothing to Sting. One minute left. Sting goes to mounted punches again. The Stinger Splash hits! One last Flair Flop! The Scorpion Death Lock is on! 30 seconds left. Can Flair hang on? 20. 15. 10....the bell rings! Flair might have gone out, but it was a tick too late. Time limit draw. Absolutely amazing match that instantly made Sting a megastar. At this stage of his career getting a hard fought draw with Flair was just as good as a win. Sting's inexperience did show as he was still learning and developing, but Flair ring generaled him absolutely perfectly and you can easily see the potential for much more. We already know that Flair's base "wrestling a broomstick" match in this peak period is already really damn good, so he doesn't need much from the other side to get into true greatness. He got that here, and for Sting it's just the start. ****1/2

 

After commercial Tom Miller announces the final decision of the judges. Two for Flair, two for Sting, and somehow one of the judges managed to score the match a draw. Is that even an option? So much for "there must be a winner". The only reason for this was to keep people tuned in during the last commercial break. 

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- After a middling at best Starrcade and the epic disaster that was Bunkhouse Stampede, this was a win JCP desperately needed. A true PPV level show on cable TV. Put aside two short undercard duds, which is easy, and the wrestling the rest of the show is incredible. Two fantastic tag title sprints, and an absolute star making main event that will be talked about for decades after. Off the success of this show the Clash will immediately become a regular feature, with three more taking place just over the course of '88.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: A

 

v2.0 posted 8/20/26