Clash of the Champions IV

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions IV: Season's Beatings

December 7, 1988 from the UTC Arena in Chattanooga, TN

Commentary: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

This show takes place about a month after the Turner buyout of Jim Crockett Promotions. However, the formal formation of WCW would be slow and the shows still take place under the NWA banner for a while. We're on the road to Starrcade '88, the first December Starrcade after Vince's hardball move of also putting Survivor Series on Thanksgiving.

 

The infamous "overhead cam" makes it's debut on this show. Think the top down camera WWF/E has used in ladder and TLC matches, but higher up. Needless to say, it didn't catch on.

Tournament Final for the Vacant NWA United States Tag Team Championship: The Fantastics def "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert and Ron Simmons in 27:04- The Midnight Express took the world tag titles off Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard about a week after the last Clash (Arn and Tully's last match before leaving for their WWF run), and as a result had to vacate the US tag belts. This was originally supposed to be The Fantastics vs The Sheepherders, but after winning their semifinal match the Herders also packed up to go up north and become The Bushwhackers. The team they defeated, Gilbert and Simmons, got the finals spot instead. Simmons and Fulton start. Long lockup. Fulton plays some stick and move but his attempts to shoulderblock Simmons go less than optimally. Simmons catches Fulton on a crossbody attempt and hits a backbreaker. Press slam. Fulton flips around Simmons during a test of strength lockup and tags. Nice Rogers/Gilbert speed sequence. Gilbert and Fulton have a bit of a strut off and handshake after. Counter wrestling sequence. Gilbert heels it up a bit, getting in Fulton's face. Fulton counters a backdrop into a small package for two. Now Gilbert *really* gets in his face. They shove a bit before cooling off and handshaking again. Fulton gets out of a Simmons hammerlock by leveraging him out to the floor, and trying another small package as he gets back in. Taking the kid to school. Simmons dodges a Rogers elbow off the top and hits a football tackle. Rogers maneuvers Gilbert into a roll up for 2. More solid chain wrestling. Rogers flips out of a hammerlock and hits a dropkick. Fulton and Gilbert stare down again and the tension is really sparking now. This is why it's important to slow down in matches and not just constantly hit big moves all the time. Fulton dodges Simmons and his shoulder drives into the top turnbuckle. The Fantastics go to work on it. Simmons powers out and tags. Good Gilbert/Rogers back and forth. Both guys wear down and tag out. Fantastics double team on Simmons for 2. Simmons powers Rogers into his corner and squashes him. Back suplex from Gilbert for 2. Fulton tries to come off the top rope, but Simmons catches and powerslams him! Gilbert rolls Fulton up, but Rogers' kickout sends him all the way into the post shoulder first. This is an arm that had been hurt previously in the tournament and Gilbert is in agony. He lays on the floor to recover. Simmons helps him back in. Rogers hesitates for a minute but in the end takes advantage as both Fantastics target the arm. The next 5-6 minutes is the Fantastics working the hurt arm and Gilbert valiantly trying to hang on. The crowd even gets restless and turns on the Fantastics a bit. Eventually Gilbert manages to hot shot Fulton but unwisely decides not to tag. Fulton dodges another charge, Gilbert posts his shoulder again, and Fulton rolls him up to win. Everyone hugs it out after. Pretty damn good for a thrown together match. The final stretch drug with all the arm work and could have been tightened it up a bit. ***

"Dr. Death" Steve Williams (w/Kevin Sullivan) def The Italian Stallion in 15:17- Williams had just turned heel and joined the Varsity Club after feuding against them on Jimmy Garvin's side most of the year. Back and forth start. A Stallion dropkick sends Williams out. They have a hammerlock tradeoff until Williams deadlifts and Samoan drops Stallion. Williams puts on a reverse cloverleaf type hold and tries to use the rope for pin leverage. JR says Sullivan taught him that one, there's NO WAY he learned to cheat at OU. Especially not when Barry Switzer was running the show. They go speed for a bit and Stallion hits a crossbody for 2. Stallion gets thrown out. Sullivan gets a shot in and Williams rams his back into the Hardest Part Of The Ring TM. Suplex back in and Williams floats over for 2. A Stallion comeback is killed with a knee to the gut. Williams with a sleeper. Stallion tries to power out but Williams hair pulls him back in. Stallion comes back with a clothesline but misses an elbow drop. Williams roll up for 2. A knee sends Stallion out again, and Sullivan is waiting with another shot. Williams double ax handle off the apron. Back in Stallion tries another comeback. Williams counters mounted punches into an inverted atomic drop but misses a splash off the top rope. Stallion powerslam. Williams catches a Stallion crossbody and hits the Stampede to win. Not completely terrible, but they could have gotten the same point across in half the time. A very extended squash. *1/2

 

Ivan Koloff def Paul Jones in 8:21- Koloff is wrestling with one arm tied behind his back. Really. That's the stipulation. After a lot of fuss checking the rope Koloff chokes and Jones bails. Lots of caution. 3 armed slugfest in the corner. Koloff headbutt's Jones' shoulder. Another headbutt sends Jones down. More choking. Jones tries to punch out but goes down. Jones punches back and chokes Koloff with the rope. They go outside and Koloff's posted. Koloff comically hits the ropes at barely 25% speed and punches back. Jones goes outside to get an international spike out of his tights and hits Koloff with it. Koloff eye rakes. Jones drops the spike. Koloff hits him with it and gets the pin. After the bell the Russian Assassins run in and beat Koloff down until JYD runs them off. DUD

 

For Control of the NWA World Six Man Tag Team Championships: Road Warrior Animal (w/Paul Ellering) def "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes by DQ in 2:54- The 6 man belts show up on a major show! Dusty and the Roadies had been 6 man champs virtually forever, but after the Roadies turned heel by attacking Dusty (the attack where Animal tried to gouge Dusty's eye out with a spike that lead to Dusty getting fired as head booker by Turner) this match was set up to determine who would be champs going forward. The Roadies were also finally the NWA World Tag champs, having defeated the Midnights in October. Dusty's wearing a patch over the eye that was attacked. As he gets in the ring he dodges Animal and pops Ellering with a bionic elbow. Back and forth until Dusty dodges a corner charge and posts Animal's knee. Dusty slowly puts the figure four on, pushing Tommy Young out of the ring while he does it. Why? That lets Ellering break it up. Animal goes for Dusty's hurt eye. Dusty flips it over and goes for one of Animal's eyes. Hawk runs in and the Roadies double team until Sting comes in to make the save. Dusty gets a chair and goes to town on Animal's knee with it as the bell rings. There's about 5 things Young could have DQ'd Dusty for, and he goes with the chair shot. Even Dusty didn't give a damn about the 6 man belts. The Road Warriors would choose Genichiro Tenryu as their new champion partner for the short time the title would continue after this. Barely a match, but not a bad angle to set up the world tag title match at Starrcade. 1/4*

NWA World Heavyweight Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair and NWA United States Heavyweight Champion Barry Windham (w/JJ Dillon) def The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) in 17:41- This is a kind of sideways revenge match. The Express beat the Horsemen for the world tag titles, so with Arn and Tully gone the remaining Horsemen are out to get even. The Express are also faces here, having turned when Paul E Dangerously recently came into the territory with the Original Midnight Express. Flair and Eaton start. We get a bit of Slick Ric. Flair does a huge taunt in the corner after breaking clean, then drops like a rock when Eaton slaps him. Hilarious. First of many chop/punch exchanges between Flair and Eaton. Flair Flip! He runs right into Lane on the apron! Lane hits an enzuguri. After a tag Windham pounds Lane down in the corner. Lane dodges a Windham elbow off the top rope. A Lane kick sends Windham 360 and out. Eaton hiptosses and slams everyone. The Horsemen try to double team but Eaton hits them with a double clothesline. The Horsemen go out to confer. Lane gets a drop toe hold on Flair and hooks in a figure four! Eaton catches Windham running in and we have stereo figure fours! The heels eye rake out. Flair throws Lane out. Lane jumps back up, jumps over the top rope and elbows Flair for a 2 count. Another Flair/Eaton chop/slugfest. We get a picture in picture Paul E promo as Windham hits a powerslam for 2. Flair goes up top, and that goes about as well as usual. Flair Flip 2! He runs across and jumps back up top and gets off, but Eaton's waiting for him with a punch in the gut. The Express double team. Eaton with a roll up for 2. While he's got Flair down Windham hits him in the back of the head to put him in peril. Another Windham powerslam, followed by a Flair kneedrop. Eaton rolls out. Windham drops him on the guardrail. Windham lariat for 2. Sleeper. Eaton armdrags out. One last Eaton/Flair exchange, ending with Flair taking a strong shot in the nose and doing a very delayed Flair Flop while reaching to tag. Tags on both sides. Lane backdrops both Horsemen. The Express hit the goozle. Eaton goes up top and hits the Alabama Jam! Dillon gets on the apron but Cornette fights him off. In the confusion Flair got Dillon's shoe. He whacks Eaton in the back of the head with it, drapes a still out of it Windham over, and he gets the pin. Just four of the best in their primes having what's basically their floor match. ****

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGTS: Two great tag matches bookend several crappy singles matches. The Turner purchase caused a little momentum that would carry over strongly into '89 with Flair taking over the book, leading the company both in and out of the ring to what would be a very successful year.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B-