Clash of the Champions II

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions II: Miami Mayhem

June 8, 1988 from the James L Knight Center in Miami, FL

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone and Bob Caudle

 

The first Clash was a resounding success both creatively and commercially, so Turner and JCP quickly penciled in more onto the TBS schedule to be held on a roughly quarterly basis. We're also on the road to the Great American Bash, which this year is not only the traditional live event tour, but also JCP's next attempt at breaking fully into the PPV market by putting the July 10 Bash show from Baltimore on PPV after WWF killed Starrcade's buyrate with Survivor Series and Bunkhouse Stampede just flat out sucked. After three rounds of it we've reached a bit of a detente in the JCP/WWF scheduling wars so no counterprogramming here.

 

JR has been relegated from commentary to the arena's back entrance, where various grandees in limos are making their way to the show. Do you smell that? No, it's no Miami. It's the obvious upcoming parking lot beatdown. 

 

Some necessary notes for our opening match: Both Barry Windham and the US title have been on a journey since the last Clash, when Windham and ex-Horseman Lex Luger defeated the Four Horseman team of Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard for the World tag titles. A month later, Windham pulled off the most shocking heel turn of the year by betraying Luger to help Arn & Blanchard win the titles back, then filled the vacant spot in the Horsemen left open by Luger's own departure and face turn. Around the same time, Dusty Rhodes was stripped of the US title when he attacked Jim Crockett Jr with a baseball bat during a big brawl on weekly TV. Incidentally, that would also be the end of Dusty's final reign with any title in a major company as his in ring career continued to slowly wind down. Newly minted Horseman Windham won the tournament for the vacant title in May, defeating Nikita Koloff in the final. That once again gave every member of the Horsemen gold. 

 

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: Barry Windham (c) (w/JJ Dillon) def Brad Armstrong in 13:35- Windham's new heel status is very obvious as he's in no hurry to get going. There's a supposed armdrag but we don't see it because TV is focused on someone's sign at ringside. Sadly that's going to be a theme all night. The second one is just barely caught before cutting away to a closeup of Dillon. Armstrong slams out of an armbar and Windham quickly slides out to rethink things. Back in Armstrong slides under into a hiptoss and headlock takedown. Windham quickly counters into a headscissors. The crowd gives him some serious hate. The Horsemen are definitely not popular here. Windham builds up even more heat by going back to the floor and asking for a time out. Another headlock/headscissors exchange back in. Ref Teddy Long says Windham pulled hair and they have an extended argument about it. More delaying tactics from Windham. After a couple more corner breaks Windham finally gets the opening to hit a cheap shot and change momentum. Slam. Armstrong dodges a fistdrop and yet again Windham goes to the floor. Armstrong grabs another headlock when Windham gets back in and walks up the corner to flip Windham over in a takedown. When Windham gets up Armstrong does it again and gets a near fall out of it. I've lost track of how many crowd cutaways we've had already. It's like Kevin Dunn snuck into the truck and started slamming on his favorite buttons. Long speed run. Armstrong catches Windham in a leapfrog and slams him, then hits an armdrag. He tries yet another corner walk up. This time Windham counters it into a back suplex. To the well one too many times. Powerslam from Windham for 2. Straight slam. Windham puts on a figure four! Dillon adds some extra torque. Armstrong tries to reverse it but Windham counters to keep himself on top. Long continues to question why the ropes are moving on their own. Big breeze off the ocean. Finally he catches Windham getting extra rope leverage and forces a break. Windham stays in control after. He tosses Armstrong out to the floor and drops him on the guardrail. When Armstrong gets on the apron Windham flips him back in over the top rope. He goes up top. Armstrong dodges an elbow drop! Dropkick from Armstrong. Kneelift. Setup slam and now Armstrong goes up top. Crossbody! Windham kicks out at 2. Armstrong immediately springs up and goes up top again. Another crossbody. Windham rolls through it and gets the Claw on! Armstrong goes down and Windham gets a pin! The first half was a bit pedestrian, like they were setting up to go 30 minutes instead of less than 15, but they slowly cranked it up better the second half and that was a FANTASTIC finish. ***

 

The Rock N Roll Express make their way out to announce their return to JCP. It's not mentioned on air, but they had been embroiled in a contract dispute for months, mostly due to the fact they clearly were not the top draw they were back in '85-'86 anymore. The return celebration wouldn't last long either. Robert Gibson would be gone from the company again due to continued contract unhappiness before the Bash tour was even over. Ricky Morton played a bit nicer, running out the string on his contract before he too left in September. They wouldn't be back until 1990, well after the WCW takeover.

 

After that we get taped footage from "earlier today" from the luxury ship Blackhawk (so named because it's the ship of the owner of the Chicago Blackhawks) of the contract signing for the NWA World title match on the Bash PPV between Ric Flair and the rapidly rising Lex Luger. Tony calls it "the biggest contract signing in NWA history", which is just a bit of a stretch. But far from the first time Tony would call something the greatest thing in the history of our sport that wasn't. Since they're on a fancy ship everyone plays nice and signs the contract with no shenanigans. Flair, however, does give Luger a subtle warning, saying the Bash tour starts on June 26 and "he better make it to Baltimore".

 

After commercial we go back to JR at the arena's back entrance. Dillon runs up to greet the rest of the Horsemen as their limo arrives. Flair says again Luger still has to make it to Baltimore. We cut back to the arena for intros for the next match, then as soon as that's done cut right back outside because Luger's limo is arriving. As soon as he steps one foot out the door the Horsemen jump all over him! They pound Luger down and tear his tux off! Flair says "You want to be a World champion! I DON'T THINK SO!" and rams Luger's head into the limo's trunk. Luger's bleeding. He takes a few more shots and JR says "Let's go to a break" as the Horsemen leave. And you thought the NXT parking lot was the only unsafe parking area in Florida. Absolutely classic Horsemen beatdown.

NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Fantastics (c) def The Sheepherders (w/Rip Morgan) in 17:03- We come back from commercial with both teams on the floor. The match might have already started during the beatdown or break, we're not sure. There's no bell so I'm thinking it did. Reset in the ring and the Herders get Rogers down. Rogers gets into dodge mode, hits the ropes, hits a crossbody, then springs up and tags out. Fulton hops in with a dropkick on Luke and he falls out to the floor. The Herders quickly brawl Fulton down too. Back elbow from Butch for 2. Luke tags in but for some reason ref Teddy Long won't let him in. Thought he was a tag team expert. They sort it out and the Herders stay in control. Fulton manages to catch Luke with a dropkick and they fight out to the floor. Morgan comes in from behind and hits Fulton. Fulton ducks and Morgan clotheslines Luke! The Fantastics beat Morgan down on the floor, then get Luke cornered in the ring. Luke's counter shot is lost thanks to another crowd cutaway. Fulton floats over Luke and gets a sleeper on! Butch quickly runs in and breaks it up. Fulton crawls over and tags out. We get the 5 minute call, which either means we didn't miss anything at all and the bell never rang, or someone ringside doesn't know how to keep time. Rogers slam/elbow drop combo on Luke for 2. He tries for what I think is a crucifix but it doesn't come off right at all and they both flop down to the mat. Luke goes to the old eye rake to turn things back around. Fistdrop from Butch for 2. Rogers dodges around, flips out of a backdrop, then slams both Herders. DONNYBROOK! Double noggin knocker for the Herders and they go to the floor to regroup. Back in Butch gets Rogers down again. When Rogers fires back Luke runs in and takes him out. Abdominal stretch from Luke. A wrestling hold?! Wonders never cease. Rogers powers and hiptosses out. Butch gets a knee up in the corner and covers for 2. Rogers dodges and Butch knocks Luke off the apron! Roll and tags to Fulton! He pounds Butch around, but ends up in the wrong end of town. Luke hooks his arm from the apron, allowing Butch to put him back down. Elbow drop from Luke for 2. Fulton hits a shoulderblock and kneelift. Speed run and Fulton runs Luke over with a tackle. Both guys are down. Fulton tries to fight Butch off to make a tag but can't. Blind tag. Fulton crossbodys both Herders! They do a silly but fun sequence where both Fantastics get near falls covering both of the Herders at the same time over and over. The Herders get the hell out of town again to break the momentum. Back in the Fantastics string together their first real sustained offense of the match, working on Luke's arm. Butch pulls the top rope down and Rogers tumbles out to the floor! Guardrail shot for Rogers. Some wiseass fan ringside pokes Rogers with his or her foot and security quickly swoops in to tell them off. Morgan must still have Long distracted because Butch hits Rogers in the back with one of the tag belts. And a (plastic) chairshot to Rogers' back from Luke. Rogers finally manages to stumble back in. Luke covers but Long is still trying to restore order. Backdrop from Luke. Rogers dodges and Butch takes out Luke with a double ax handle off the second rope! But Luke manages to cut the tag off. Rogers pops out of the corner with a clothesline on Butch. Again the tag is cut off. Ripcord knee from Butch for 2. Luke puts a sleeper on. Rogers counters a double team and Luke goes right into a chair being held by Butch! Tag to Fulton! He rolls Luke up, and despite Butch's attempt to break it up gets a pin to retain! Damn good wild all around brawling stuff. Not as good as their classic from the '86 Crockett Cup (which I personally don't rate quite as highly as others do anyway), but like that match the Fantastics took a backseat and let the Herders' wild brawling style lead. ***1/2

 

After commercial, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams is SHOCKED the Horsemen would attack Luger like that. So shocked he can barely get through his promo. But that's not really shock, that's just Doc Death. Williams is joining commentary for the next match as he's been beefing with the Varsity Club lately. 

 

"Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin & Ron Garvin (w/Precious) def The Varsity Club in 13:11- It's TV champ Mike Rotunda (sans belt) and Rick Steiner representing the Club tonight. Kevin Sullivan is going to be locked in a cage on the floor, ostensibly so he can't interfere, but also to try to keep him away from Precious. The local ring announcer, who's been very bleh all night, says Ron Garvin has the "fists of stone". Close enough I guess. But before the match starts we cut back to JR for a Luger update. JR calls the attack "heinous" and says Luger's been taken to a local hospital. We then get a replay of the entire attack like it's Raw or Nitro. After commercial we're finally ready to start this match. It's been a very disjointed presentation tonight. Sullivan is in the cage and the Garvins are all over the Club in the ring. Stereo sleepers from the Garvins. Things settle down with Ron and Steiner in the ring. TV is only half focused on what's happening in the ring, they're just as if more concerned with Sullivan trying to get Precious' attention while holding a piece of paper he wants her to see. Steiner does an insane spinning sell of a Ron clothesline. "Fist" of stone from Ron for 2. Jimmy works on Steiner's arm for a bit. Steiner slides backward to the floor to get free and consults Sullivan. Rotunda tags in and fireman's carry takedowns Jimmy. Hammerlock exchange and Jimmy gets his own fireman's carry into an armbar. Another slow reset with Ron and Rotunda while Jimmy talks to Precious amid Sullivan's continued beckoning of her. The heels swap without a tag behind tag expert Teddy Long's back. Jimmy gets all the way off the apron to talk to Precious and keep her focused. But she continues to inch toward Sullivan while bugger all is happening in the ring. Jimmy runs over and kicks Sullivan's cage. Oh, Precious has the key to the cage. That's what Sullivan wants. The Club continue to kill time with heel shenanigans and armbars. There's no less than two phantom tag spots that we see as Long is not having a good night. Rotunda hits something off the top rope and covers for 2. Ron finally gets a real tag to Jimmy. Dropkick on Steiner. Snap mare/legdrop combo for 2. Now Jimmy kills some time with a front facelock. Williams slowly describes it for all those at home as a front....facelock. Thanks Doc Death. Ron tags in and rolls Steiner up for 2. Jackknife cover for 2. Sunset flip on Rotunda for 2. Ron finally hits a big chop on Rotunda. Rotunda responds with a backdrop/legdrop combo. Sullivan continues to point out the paper that he really really badly wants Precious to see. The Club get Ron in the wrong corner and choke him with Rotunda's workout rope. Ron gets tossed to the floor which kicks off a big brawl down there. Rotunda brings Ron over to the cage and Sullivan manages to hit him. Somewhat. Ron comes back in the ring, headbutts Steiner, and tags out. EVERYONE IN THE POOL! Ron and Rotunda get into it on the floor. Precious finally gets close to the cage and Sullivan grabs her trying to get the key. Meanwhile, something we don't see happens in the ring and Jimmy pins Steiner. Great camera work, guys. Back to what's clearly more important here, Precious is digging around in Sullivan's robe trying to get that piece of paper. I assume. The camera then cuts back to the brawl still going on, so we don't see what happens next over there. Tony says Sullivan grabbed Precious and was choking her. We do see Williams leave commentary and save her, carrying her all the way into the ring. More crack camera/directorial work. Precious then shoves Jimmy away in the ring and leaves by herself to the ABSOLUTE SHOCK of Tony. Pretty nothing match, but the whole thing was completely second fiddle to all the Precious/Sullivan stuff. I don't think we ever learn what was on that piece of paper either. *1/4

 

Tony and Caudle recap the ongoing Road Warriors/Powers of Pain rivalry that started with the famous live weightlifting segment where the POP "accidentally" dropped a weight on Animal's face. They say a scaffold match has been signed for the GAB PPV between those two teams. That will end up being a "card subject to change" due to the POP jumping to WWF just a couple of weeks after this show. After that we see a diagram for the structure that's going to feature in another match at the GAB PPV, the final blowoff for all the Sullivan/Precious stuff in the Tower of Doom. Three levels, 40 feet high, each level slightly smaller than the last. It's the first appearance of a structure design that WCW will use off and on all the way to their final year. It's also going to suck donkey balls, at least this first time out. Most other times too. Caudle then pulls out a supposed ancient parchment that he says Sullivan found "somewhere" that depicts the FIRST EVER Tower of Doom, which is where he got the idea from. Looks more like one of the huts from the cannibal village in the first Monkey Island to me.

 

Nikita Koloff def Al Perez (w/Gary Hart) by DQ in 11:51- Physically Koloff is still going, but mentally he's completely checked out due to his wife suffering from health problems, which would sadly end up taking her life in '89. This is a feud that I think started during the US title tournament. Rough lockup stalemates to start. They start swinging fists around in a believable real fight way. Koloff gives Perez a hard corner whip. Both guys trade off arm holds. Perez tries to armdrag out but Koloff hangs on to an armbar. Koloff then shows his strength (despite his obvious loss of muscle mass) by countering a corner whip attempt into a hard arm takedown. Perez misses a wild senton or elbow drop or something and reset. Perez backs Koloff into the corner and hits the first real shots of the match. Dodge and Koloff runs his shoulder right into the top turnbuckle. Perez is all over it and kicks Koloff out to the floor. Hart gives Koloff a shot on the table next to commentary, collapsing the table. Or breaking its legs off, one or the other. Perez backs Koloff's back into the ring apron. Hart gets another cheap shot in. Koloff goes back out and stalks Hart, allowing Perez to ambush him from behind. He slams Koloff on the unpaded floor. Perez tries to suplex Koloff back in but Koloff fights it off into a cover for 2. Perez quickly gets back on offense. Koloff snap mares out of a chinlock but misses an elbow drop. Perez puts on a double chinlock. Koloff powers Perez up into an electric chair and drops him. Koloff comes off the ropes and they have an ugly as hell midring collision where neither guy seemed to know what they were going for. Perez quickly recovers to drop a knee into Koloff's gut. He tosses Koloff back out to the floor. Koloff tries a sunset flip back in but they back up all the way into the ropes behind them. Koloff blocks a suplex and hits his own. Back elbow from Koloff. Flying tackle. Mounted punches. Another back elbow sends Perez crazily flying over the top rope out to the floor. Larry Zbyszko runs in and attacks Koloff! That draws a DQ. A 3 on 1 gang heel beatdown follows. They seemed to have been planning a Zbyszko/Koloff match at the GAB PPV for Zbyszko's Western States Heritage title, but then they realized no one gave a shit about that title and changed plans. Not much happening here either, but Perez looked good just in trying his level best to keep Koloff on track. *1/2

 

NWA World Tag Team Championship: Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard (c) (w/JJ Dillon) and "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes & Sting double DQ in 10:58- Sting was a fully made man after his already legendary draw with Flair at the first Clash, but everyone knew he still needed some seasoning before he was fully ready for main events full time. That's a very different face paint design he's going with tonight. Sting and Arn start. They quickly do the hair pull/kip up stuff and Arn rolls out for a rethink. Arn hits a cheap shot in the corner over Long, who's reffed every single match tonight. Back to the floor. Sting ducks a shot and Arn hits the ring post. Sting then cranks Arn's arm around it and goes to work on it in the ring. After a couple of escape attempts Arn goes to the eye rake to get free and tag out. Blanchard walks into a Sting armdrag. Hiptoss and flying headscissors from Sting. Dusty tags in to a big pop (Florida was Dusty's longtime home territory) and immediately lays into his longtime old foe Blanchard. Blanchard tries coming off the second rope, but right into Dusty's waiting arms. More elbows and jabs from Dusty follow. Dusty slowly gets Blanchard in a figure four! Dillon distracts Long so Arn can go over and rake Dusty's eyes to get his partner free. Dusty ends up on the apron and Dillon gets a cheap choke in. Back in Dusty gets some counters and hits a flying tackle, which from Dusty is a really big hit. Whoever's in the TV truck seems more interested in getting every kid in the arena that has Sting facepaint on a cutaway shot than showing the match. Supposed dropkick from Dusty and he tags out to Sting. Press slam on Blanchard. Stinger Splash! After losing his place a bit he goes for the Scorpion Death Lock. Arn runs in to break it up and the Horsemen double team Sting. Arn drops him on the guardrail. Back in Arn counters an ill advised backdrop attempt for two. Slam and Arn goes to the second rope. He tries a Vader bomb but Sting gets his knees up. Blanchard tags in and cuts the tag off. The Horsemen do their usual expert job of keeping the ring cut in half and Sting in peril. Sting blocks a suplex attempt, leading to a beautiful sunset flip/clothesline Horsemen counter of the counter. Blanchard covers for 2. He tights pulls Sting back out to the floor (with a bit of difficulty as Sting got caught up in the ropes). Arn DDTs Sting on the concrete! Dillon picks Sting up and rolls him back in. Long is distracted by Dusty trying to get in and the Horsemen can't get the pin. Sting starts slugging back on Arn. Backlside from Sting for 2. While in that Arn tagged out, superb ring awareness as usual. Sting hot shot on Blanchard! Arn tries to stop it but Sting gets the tag to Dusty! DDT on Arn! Dusty drops the big elbow. Blanchard breaks the pin up and things completely break down. Sting tosses Long to the mat so they can keep fighting. Dusty then pushes Long aside. Windham runs in, now wearing a suit, and puts the Claw on Dusty! Long has no choice to call for the bell, completely throwing the match out due to all the chaos. Just fine but no more. You know there's a much better match here with more time and a real finish. **3/4

 

Windham Claws Dusty all the way up the entrance aisle while Arn and Blanchard beat Sting down in the ring. Oh, I think Flair's in there too. That continues all the way to commercial. After the last break JR is with commentary and promises an update on Luger on weekly TV this week. Tony says the Braves are up next. The 1988 Braves? Yeesh. I think I'd rather watch a three hour loop of the Tower of Doom match.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Just fine, perfectly average. There's a couple of good matches but nothing amazing or mind blowing. The whole thing does serve as a good buildup for the GAB tour and PPV however.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C

 

v2.0 posted 9/8/26