Clash of the Champions XII

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XII: Mountain Madness/Fall Brawl '90

September 5, 1990 from the Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, NC

Commentary: Jim Ross and Bob Caudle

The show so nice they subtitled it twice. Or something. There's a whole lot of empty seats on the arena wide shots.

The Southern Boys (w/Bob Armstrong) def The Fabulous Freebirds (w/Buddy Roberts) in 8:34- This worked so well as an opener the last Clash, why not do it again? These two teams had been feuding and wrestling often on weekly TV. This was originally scheduled as a 6 man tag before Roberts got injured. Hayes and Smothers start. Smothers comes out hot and Hayes leaps into Garvin's waiting arms for a recovery hug. Smothers jumps over a Garvin backdrop attempt and hits a superkick. The heels roll out to have a think. Smothers maneuvers the Freebirds in and Armstrong nails them both with a crossbody off the top rope! After a double pin attempt the heels powder again. The Boys try the crossbody spot again. This time the Freebirds duck, but when they get up they're pelted with dropkicks. Another conference on the floor. Smothers leaps over Hayes in the corner and lands on the apron. Hayes clocks him with a straight left and Smothers falls to the floor. Garvin gets a cheap shot in. Smothers leaps and kicks Garvin coming back in but the tag is cut off. Hayes bulldog for 2. Smothers tries a sunset flip. Hayes punches out. Armdrag out of a chinlock by Smothers, but Hayes nails him with another straight left. Garvin goes up top, but Smothers catches him and slams him off. Dive and tag! Armstrong goes wild with backdrops and dropkicks. Roberts gets on the apron and hits Armstrong with his cast. Hayes rolls him up but there's no ref, he's busy with Smothers. Bullet Bob comes in and punches Hayes into next week. Armstrong covers but Garvin just breaks it up. Double diving tackle on Garvin. They try for one on Hayes but he dodges. Roberts throws the ol' "international object" in (you can hear the sarcasm in JR's voice every time he's forced to say it), but overshoots the target. The Boys hit stereo sunset flips and pin both Freebirds for the win! Pretty fun stuff from two teams that had worked together a lot, but most if it felt like the opening act to a much longer match. **3/4

Tony Schiavone is with the newly crowned US tag champs the Steiner Brothers, who say (through a lot of garbled words, it's the Steiners) that Doom told them to start again from the bottom after winning the world tag titles from them, that's just what they did and look what they've got now. Doom is next.

 

Captain Mike Rotunda def "Nature Boy" Buddy Landell in 5:39- This is Rotunda in his short babyface yacht captain phase in between the Varsity Club and Michael Wallstreet. Landell gets pointy in the corner and both guys get shovey. Rotunda tries to push out of a headlock but Landell keeps him in it. Rotunda gets a diving clothesline and some power moves. Landell heel 101 bitches about a phantom tights pull. After some more basic exchanges Rotunda works the arm. Landell blocks a hip toss and hits a clothesline. Arrogant cover for 2. Slugfest with both guys on their knees. Landell hooks in an abdominal stretch and uses the ropes. On Rotunda, that's damn near gimmick infringement. Landell hits a suplex but hurt his own head going down. Rotunda blocks a hiptoss and gets a backslide for the pin. Bare bones basic. *1/4

The Freebirds cut a promo demanding respect, followed by a video package of a trip they made to Hollywood with dozens of adoring fans greeting them. You'd think someone, somewhere on the production team might have said "Yeah, that giant Holiday Inn sign behind the limo, is that really conveying the message we want it to?".

 

The Master Blasters def Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner in 4:52- The Master Blasters (Iron and Steel, from Detroit, see where this is going?), making their debut here, are not to be confused with the classic NES game Blaster Master. Steel is none other than Kevin Nash in his major company debut, and he's sporting a crazy orange mohawk. Armstrong and Horner had a long history teaming as the Lightning Express, but aren't called that here. Horner is still "White Lightning", but Armstrong is being billed as the, er, "Candyman". Really. It's Jim freaking Herd, I have no idea why. Steel scoops Horner up and....gently puts him down in their corner. OK then. Iron goes for a diving headbutt and completely misses. A stationary target. And he misses. He tries to correct by crawling up to Armstrong and Armstrong sells it anyway. Oy vey. And then he almost whiffs *another* one while Armstrong is sitting up! Steel powerslam for 2. Armstrong walks green Nash through a decent reversal sequence before eating a big boot. Horner tries to put a sleeper on Iron but he blind tags out. The Blasters hit a double tackle to finish it. Iron sucked so hard he was let go and replaced by another guy named Blade before the month was over. 1/4*

Missy Hyatt interviews Ric Flair, who throws in some innuendo but manages to stay PG.

The Nasty Boys def Terry Taylor and Jackie Fulton in 7:11- The Nastys are also making their NWA debut. Jackie Fulton is the brother of Bobby Fulton of the Fantastics. The Nastys jaw with the crowd a lot before getting going. JR: "I don't know if Missy was trying to get into her dress with Flair or out of it." Holeeeeee crap wow. JR's read the dirt sheets. Fulton flips out of an double team and hits a double Japanese armdrag on both Nastys, then a double crossbody. Taylor has armdrags for everyone. Saggs hits Taylor with a forearm and tosses him to the floor. Taylor counters a push and Saggs gets posted. Back in, Taylor hits a crossbody for 2. Fulton with a missile dropkick for 2. Knobbs plants Taylor's head on the mat and the heels get a slingshot avalanche for 2. Taylor sunset flip for 2. More heel double teaming. Taylor gets them to run into each other and tags. Fulton hits a German suplex on Knobbs with a bridge! Nice. Saggs breaks the pin up. Fulton tries coming off the top but Knobbs catches him in midair and powerslams him. Saggs hits an elbow off the top rope and we're done. Acceptable. Interesting debut for the Nastys, as they didn't get much offense in yet still came out looking good. They'd actually get some traction in the crowded tag division as the year wore on, only to be plucked away by Vince before the end of the year. **1/4

Sid Vicious challenges Sting for the world title. That match would take place at Halloween Havoc, an attempt to get someone fresh in the main event scene that had been no one outside Flair, Sting and Luger the entire year.

 

"Wildfire" Tommy Rich def "Wild" Bill Irwin in 3:59- Two guys going nowhere. Rich was making a living off his fluke territory politics world title win over Harley Race in '81. Rich charges in hot. Irwin responds with a big boot and shoulderblocks. Multiple hiptosses lead to Irwin going over the top and out. Back in Irwin chops and Rich kips up. Rich back suplex for 2. He grabs Irwin in a headlock as the pace slows down a bit after a really hot start. Irwin catches a leaping Rich but Rich rolls back into a headlock. Irwin hits a side suplex. Rich ends up on the apron and a Sheamus-style Irwin clubbing blow sends him falling down into the guardrail! Slugfest in the ring. Irwin scoops, but Rich rolls around into a sleeper. Irwin backs him into the corner. Rich hits the Thesz Press and wins. Shockingly, I didn't hate this. Yeah, it's two guys not doing anything long term that the crowd doesn't give a damn about, but they went out there and worked hard anyway. Gotta respect that. **

Next up is the weekly singles and tag team top 10 rankings. Yes, this is where AEW got the idea from. Stan Hansen is with Tony after and is super pissed off he's only #6. Tony tries to stay out of the flying chewing tobacco juice line of fire.

 

LPWA Championship: Susan Sexton (c) def Bambi in 4:11- The LPWA was a short lived women's wrestling promotion that billed itself more as "straight wrestling", in contrast to GLOW which was very much WWF/E style sports entertainment, similar to how the NWA always presented themselves compared to the WWF. The NWA didn't have its own women's title anymore because the Fabulous Moolah had legal possession of it rather than the company for obscure reasons I won't detail here. The belt used for the WWF women's title in the '80s was actually the old NWA belt. JR: "What's Bambi's last name, Deer?". Oh hell, as my cousin and brother from a related mother Trevor would say, that's one for JR. Sexton gets a drop toe hold and does some leg work while Bambi puts on a headscissors. But never mind that shit, Caudle says next month at the Omni in Atlanta is STING WRISTWATCH NIGHT! Ted Turner owned the Braves at the time too, so he'd know a lot about minor league promotions. Bambi gets a small package, Sexton reverses it for the pin. Technically sound but completely heatless and nothing special. 3/4*

 

NWA United States Tag Team Champions The Steiner Brothers def Maximum Overdrive in 6:23- Maximum Overdrive is one of those one night "we have no idea who these guys are" teams, and frankly neither guy is worth knowing now. Their names in this match are Hunter and Silencer. It's an extended squash match with the Steiners tossing them around and Steinerlining them out of their boots, but not as much as you'd expect so it's a bit disappointing. A cool top rope DDT by Rick while one of the Overdrivers is up on Scott's shoulders is the finish. *1/2

 

Stan "The Lariat" Hansen def "The Z Man" Tom Zenk in 3:19- Zenk gets his usual high pitched pop. This is a complete squash, but a spunky and entertaining one with Hansen going full murderdeathkill and taking Zenk's head off with the lariat at the end. *

 

NWA United States Heavyweight Championship: "The Total Package" Lex Luger (c) def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair by DQ in 15:28- Flair's in the unusual position of challenging. This and the later Horsemen/Doom tag title feud were just to give him something to do while being fully out of the world title picture for a while for the first time in almost a decade. These guys knew each other very well after extended world title feuds in '88 and earlier in '90. Nose to nose at the start. Luger hits a shoulderblock and Flair takes his time getting back up. WOOOOOOOO! Flair suckers Luger in with a test of strength but Luger is quickly no selling chops. Press slam! Flair rolls out and sells the hell out of his back. JR gets the plane crash story in. Flair chops Luger as he comes off a corner bump. Luger no sells again and we have press slam 2. A clothesline sends Flair 360 and out. What top rope rule? Luger jumps down and clotheslines Flair from behind! Flair baits Luger into a sucker punch again. Luger with another no sell and it's press slam 3. Flair dodges the follow up elbow drop. Chops, corner whip, WOOOOO, Luger pops out with a clothesline! Flair hurt his shoulder on the bump. Or did he? It's a RUSE! Flair dumps Luger to the floor and whips him into the guardrail. JR mentions Flair's a 4 time US champion, which is a good reminder as those reigns were before the wrestling cable TV boom and hardly anyone knew or remembered. The internet to look those things up on was still a gleam in Al Gore's eye. Flair backs Luger into the corner and says "Turner! Herd! This is for you!" into the camera and lays in more chops. He throws Luger out again and goes for a chair. Ref Nick Patrick stops him. Flair kicks Luger's knee to start softening it up. Luger punches back. Slugfest. Flair Flop, but on the way down he eye pokes Luger! Fantastic. More corner chops. Luger reverses and hits mounted punches. Flair tries an inverted atomic drop counter but Luger blocks it and clotheslines Flair out of his RF boots. Flair gets a snap mare and tries some covers. He goes up top and gets slammed off over halfway across the ring. Flair Flip! Clothesline on the apron! Press slam 4. Flair screams "NOOOOOOOOO" as he's being whipped. Luger powerslam. He grabs a bear hug and places Flair on the top turnbuckle. Luger superplex! Cover. Flair just gets a foot on the rope. Flair hits a crossbody and both guys tumble over the top to the floor! Brawl on the floor. As Luger gets back in Stan Hansen runs in and attacks him. He chokes Luger with his rope before leaving. Guess they should have ranked him higher than 6. Hansen would end up being the guy to end Luger's record US title run at Halloween Havoc. The match was a condensed version of a typical Flair/Luger match with some extra riffs thrown in. Given more time and a clean finish, it might have been one of their best. ***1/2

We get a prerecorded promo of Ole Anderson the Black Scorpion telling Sting if he can beat him tonight, he'll find out who he is. The original concept of the Black Scorpion was not a bad one- a mysterious masked man claiming to be from Sting's past wanting revenge for reasons unknown. The problem was the vaudeville-esque stage magic he used to get into Sting's head, which took away any possible edge the character might have had.

 

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Sting (c) def The Black Scorpion in 8:13- Scorpion's robe could easily make people think it's Kevin Sullivan, but once he takes it off you know that's impossible. Sullivan could never dream of being that ripped. In fact it's Al Perez, who many involved have since said was a frontrunner to end up being the real Scorpion. After a lot of moment milking Scorpion finally disrobes after the bell, jumps Sting and pounds away. Sting gets a shoulder to the gut for some separation. Scorpion chokes. And chokes. And chokes. They go outside. Sting scoops Scorpion up and drops him on the rail. Scorpion is quickly back in control with more bland punchy offense. Sting gets a slam and goes for the mask. Scorpion eye rakes to get away. Yay, more chokes. The fight moves to the ramp. Scorpion slams Sting on the ramp. Sting does a leg takedown and goes for the mask again. Back in Sting gets a backdrop and dropkick. After some more brawling Sting (barely) hits a press slam. Sting crossbody off the top for 2. Scorpion snap mare and knee drop for 2. Sting ducks, well, nothing, and hits a clothesline. Stinger Splash! That's enough to get a pin. Some terrifying opponent. Sting takes his mask off....and there's another mask underneath! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! Another robed man appears on the entrance ramp. Through the power of knowing the storyline commentary deduces that's the real Black Scorpion and Sting just wrestled a fake one. Terrible match, but as always the Black Scorpion stuff is amusing crap. 1/2*

JR is in the ring with Sting to close the show. He mentions "1986 and California" being the keys to the Scorpion's identity, keys that would go out the window when all the other options went away for various reasons and they said "screw it, just make it Flair". Sid Vicious runs in the ring and challenges Sting for the title because Sid gives no fucks about your other angles. Sting says that's up to the championship committee and walks away. Sid hits him from behind on the ramp and beats him with the belt to close the show.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Outside of Flair/Luger there's not a damn thing worth watching here, and even for that there's better matches of theirs on other shows. The second half of '90 is when the Jim Herd doldrums really sunk in, and sadly it'd get worse before it got better.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D+