Clash of the Champions XIV

Legacy Review

Clash of the Champions XIV: Dixie Dynamite

January 30, 1991 from the Georgia Mountains Center in Gainesville, GA

Commentary: Jim Ross and freshly WWF returned Dusty Rhodes, who has also taken back over as head booker

 

Sting and WCW United States Champion "The Total Package" Lex Luger def WCW World Tag Team Champions Doom by DQ in 10:33- No Teddy Long for this match. JR mentions he's not there with no explanation and it's not brought up again. Sting and Reed start. After a long lockup Reed gets some clubbing blows in and Sting counters with some basic wrestling. Luger gets a swinging neckbreaker. Luger/Simmons shoulderblock standoff. After that they take turns knocking each other down. Simmons hot shots Luger to put him in peril. Mid-match commercial, which is something Clashes had been able to avoid to this point. We come back with Luger still in peril. Simmons hits a powerslam for 2. Luger tries to fight back but Reed cuts him off. Simmons and Luger badly mistime a backdrop counter, one of several rough exchanges between the two of them. Luger gets away from Reed and gets the hot tag to Sting. While Sting's cleaning house Dan Spivey, who's challenging Luger for the US title at the upcoming Wrestle War PPV, comes out and takes Luger out in full view of the ref who lets it go like Red Shoes. Sting dodges a Doom double team tackle and the ref goes down. Reed backdrops Sting over the top rope. The ref sees it from the floor and calls for the DQ. So a wrestler not in the match coming in and beating up a wrestler in the match is OK, but an over the top rope dump, call for the bell! Meh. Crap finish, and a sloppy match considering the talent that was in there. **

The results of WCW's fan poll for sexiest wrestler have been "counted", and the winner is Tom Zenk. Segue!

 

WCW World Television Championship: "The Z Man" Tom Zenk (c) def "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton in 7:08- The match where Zenk dropped the title back to Arn Anderson had already been taped but didn't air until the next week. There's an audio issue, after an awkward silence we can hear a countdown before Eaton's piped in "Bobby!" chants start. I really don't know what the deal with that was supposed to be. Shoving start. They go into some nice extended counter and stalemate sequences. Eaton does some arm work. He goes up top, and Zenk dropkicks him off and down to the floor! Just as Dusty says Eaton is thinking about nailing someone in the chops, Eaton nails Zenk in the chops. Zenk pops Eaton back. Eaton wants to slow down and offers a test of strength. On a rope break he gets another cheap shot in and works some high impact offense. Eaton goes up top again and Zenk slams him off. Zenk charges in the corner and Eaton nails him with a back elbow. He tries the top rope again, and this time is successful, but instead of hitting the Alabama Jam it's just a kneedrop. Zenk flash small package for 2. Eaton neckbreaker for 2. Zenk slips out of a suplex and gets a roll up for 2. Then Zenk blocks an Eaton hiptoss, works it into a backslide, and gets a questionable pin as it looked like Eaton kicked out. Not sure if that was a planned controversial finish or just a mistake. Slow start, good finish. There was definitely a good match in there if they had more time. **1/2

Alexandra York promises to reveal the newest member of the York Foundation later tonight.

 

The Fabulous Freebirds def "Wildfire" Tommy Rich and Allen Iron Eagle in 5:53- Eagle is an extremely green Joe Gomez, who would come back as a low carder/jobber during the Bischoff years. Hayes and Rich start. Rich powerslams Hayes and catches Garvin coming off the top. Eagle hits mounted punches on Garvin and cuts Hayes off from getting a shot in. Garvin gets a blind tag and the Freebirds take the kid to school. Eagle doesn't sell Hayes' straight left punch. JR's "He hit him so hard he stunned him!" is a pretty funny attempt at cover. Hayes clubs him in the back and tosses him to the floor, looking legit pissed off and wanting to teach the rookie a lesson. Eagle dodges a charge and Garvin wraps himself up in a one legged tree of woe. Donnybrook! When the dust settles Eagle gets a suplex and tags, but the ref doesn't see it. While Rich is arguing with the ref the Freebirds hit a double DDT and get the pin. Not much of a match, but it's amusing to see the veterans make Eagle pay some dues. 3/4*

 

Sid Vicious def Jumpin' Joey Maggs in 1:11- Special entrance for Sid with a turntable and spotlight. WCW was poised to push him to the moon before he jumped to WWF during the summer. The match is sanctioned kayfabe murder, with Sid tossing Maggs around and planting him with the powerbomb to win. Sid's personal EMTs try to stretcher Maggs out but Sid dumps him over. NR

 

Terry Taylor def Ricky Morton in 11:53- Taylor being announced as "The computerized man of the 1990s" should be a bit of a giveaway as to where this is going. Good back and forth with stalemates start. Morton gets a series of armdrags and Taylor gets a little hot but they keep the match face vs face friendly. Morton works a headlock and walks up the corner to keep it on. They go speed, almost too fast as they nearly miss each other, and Morton gets a crossbody for 2. Commercial as Taylor rolls out to regroup. Back to Taylor working a hammerlock. Morton jawbreakers out. Taylor blocks a roll up, Morton ducks a clothesline and hits an armdrag. Alexandra York appears at ringside. Taylor asks Morton if she's here for him, then hits him with a forearm from behind while he's distracted. Yup. We get a picture in picture promo with York announcing Taylor as her stable's newest member. Taylor with a side suplex and kneedrop for 2. Morton small package for 2. Taylor, punctuating his heel turn, keeps going for eye rakes. He gets a boot up in the corner and a bulldog for 2. Morton gets his knees up on a splash attempt. Slugfest. Morton goes for a senton-like dive. Taylor dodges and covers for 3. Not sure that went the way they planned. Ugly finish aside, this was a rock solid wrestling match as you'd expect from these two. The heel turn for Taylor made sense as he'd been making a lot of noise about being disrespected by WCW officials and the championship committee, but it didn't come off as well as it should have because it was all done for the TV audience and the live crowd wasn't fully clued in to what was happening. Ironically Morton would also end up joining the York Foundation after turning on Robert Gibson when he came back from his injury a few months later. **3/4

Video of Sting being presented the PWI Wrestler of the Year award for 1990 from Bill Apter.

 

Ranger Ross def El Cubano in 3:05- We're about two weeks in to Operation Desert Shield becoming Desert Storm so WCW got Ross out of mothballs for the patriotic pop. Cubano ambushes as Ross is getting his jacket off and hits a reverse springboard crossbody for 2. A Ross dropkick sends Cubano to the floor. After a chase Cubano ambushes again as Ross is getting back in. Ross does a nice piece of wrestling, taking a drop toe hold but then countering into a hammerlock. Cubano goes for a splash off the top rope that's dodged by Ross and he sends Cubano to the floor again. Ross gets a head of steam, barely leaps over the top rope and *just* sticks the landing. In Olympic gymnastics that'd be a deduction, but a small one. As they're getting back in Ross gets an ugly overshot sunset flip for 3. Not nearly as awful as it could have been. *

 

Arn Anderson and Barry Windham def The Renegade Warriors in 7:30- The Horsemen get a small pop. The Youngbloods shock the world by jumping the heels and clearing the ring. That sets up the first half of the match, which is the Horsemen getting outwrestled and beaten to the punch time and time again by the Warriors and being absolutely shocked that they're bringing it that good. Arn gets a drop toe hold and goes for a figure four. Chris Youngblood pushes out, Arn ricochets off the corner, and Chris rolls him up for 2. After a Windham eye rake the Horsemen finally settle in and get some control. The Youngbloods fire up again and double team Arn. He counters with the World's Greatest Spinebuster and tags. Windham suplex and DDT for 2. Arn gets overhand chopped by Mark from the apron, backs up into Chris and they bang heads. Arn goes for a Vader bomb. Chris is supposed to get his knees up but doesn't. Arn sells it anyway. Hot tag to Mark and he cleans house. Donnybrook. The Horsemen take Mark out, Windham hits Chris with a huge lariat, and the superplex finishes it. Perfectly competent tag wrestling. The consummate pros Windham and Arn are the first team I've seen to try to make the Youngbloods look respectable. **1/4

Footage of a Vader/Stan Hansen match from the Tokyo Dome, with Japanese commentary. You talk about two guys stiffing the ever loving snot out of each other. Hansen is with Tony to hype up their US match at Wrestle War, which was fine but nowhere near the level of their Japan classics.

 

"Flyin'" Brian Pillman def Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker in 3:17- Parker is best known as the longtime head trainer at WCW's wrestling school that started during the Bischoff years, the Power Plant. They start with a test of strength. Pillman goes down but bridges back up. He flips over and hits a hiptoss, dropkick and armdrag. Pillman crucifix for 2. A flying headscissors sends Parker to the floor. Parker gets on the ramp and jaws with the crowd. Pillman goes up top and FLIES over onto Parker a good 10-15 away on the ramp! Another crossbody off the top finishes it. A squash, but a spunky and fun one. Pillman was prepping for a massive "all heart no quit" push in the War Games match at Wrestle War that would lead to him being the face of the new Light Heavyweight division later in the year. *1/2

 

Next up is an arm wrestling contest between Paul E Dangerously and Missy Hyatt. Not sure what the beef was here, other than Paul E and Hyatt worked together on one of the multitude of WCW shows on TBS, and part of Paul E's gimmick was he hated all women. Hyatt takes her jacket off and hypnotizes Paul E with her cleavage, beating him before he even realizes what's happening. That's it, that's the whole segment. Next.

There's a lot to set up for the main event: After being revealed as the Black Scorpion at Starrcade to try to salvage that disaster Flair won the world title back from Sting at a house show in the Meadowlands on January 11. That win gave Flair his seventh world title and actually tied him with Harley Race for the most world title wins in history to that point, but that's not mentioned because WCW had just pulled out of the NWA. Meanwhile, everyone in WCW knew they had a special talent in Scott Steiner and this is his early tryout in a main event spot. Word is Flair was even willing to drop the title to him here, but Scott knew he wasn't ready for that yet and wasn't interested. Maybe he's not such a meathead after all. New Japan's Hiro Matsuda is here, as the winner of this match will face IWGP Heavyweight champ Tatsumi Fujinami in a title vs title match in the Tokyo Dome as part of the first joint WCW/NJPW show. Flair's in his weird phase where the top half of his hair is normal, but the bottom half is cut short. That's from Jim Herd trying to get him to change his gimmick, reportedly to a gladiator named Spartacus, but of course Flair rightly wouldn't hear of idiocy like that. Despite all his issues with Herd Flair really goes all out much of this match to make Steiner look good.

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair (c) and Scott Steiner (w/Rick Steiner) go to a TV Time Remaining Draw in 24:25- TV time remaining was a common NWA/WCW gimmick, where if a match didn't end before the show went off the air it was considered a time limit draw. Flair gives us a WOOOOOOO and a strut and we're off. Flair wants a pose off, which Scott wins easily. Scott hits a shoulderblock and Flair looks almost eager at the challenge. After an amateur fireman's carry takedown Flair has a think in the corner. They fight for wristlock leverage with Scott winning that too. Flair goes to the ropes and jaws with Rick. After a Scott backdrop and side suplex Flair bails. After getting back in he goes to work in the corner with a forearm and chops. Scott gets an armdrag and there's some good mat wrestling with hammerlock tradeoffs. Flair gets a kick to the knee. Scott counters with a Steinerline. Flair rolls out again, clearly working the match to make Scott go at his pace. Scott suplexes him back in. Mounted punches are countered with a Flair inverted atomic drop. Scott's tossed out, but he instantly pops back up and comes in with a sunset flip. Flair punches out. After getting a boot up in the corner Flair tries an illegal leverage pin. Rick pushes his feet off the rope and we go to commercial. Back with a Scott drop toe hold. He hooks Flair in a figure four! Flair pretty quickly gets to the ropes. After a couple of running dodges Flair hits a crossbody that's supposed to send them both over the top to the floor, but Scott doesn't make it over and has to blatantly plant and relaunch himself over. Flair kneebreaker on the floor. 10 minutes left, and we're going to school. Flair works on the knee some more and hooks in the figure four. He tries for rope leverage but Rick gets the ref to notice. Flair hooks it in again in the middle of the ring. Scott fights a bit and reverses. Comeback mode for Scott with punches and a neckbreaker. Flair Flip! He falls down to the floor. Scott hits a charging Steinerline on the floor. Flair Flop! Rick rolls him back in. 5 minutes left. Scott beats Flair down in the corner. The ref grabs his arm to stop him and Flair takes advantage. He tries for another figure four but Scott rolls up a small package for 2. Scott gets a sleeper. Flair falls into the ropes. A Steinerline sends Flair 360 and out. "Judgement call" by the ref. Man, I hate that rule. I'm glad no one tries to use it today. 3 minutes left. Flair does the snap mare/kneedrop combo. He tries for leverage pins again and Rick pushes his feet off again. 2 minutes left. After a headlock/headscissors/bridge up sequence Scott hits a double underhook powerbomb! Flair rolls to the floor. Scott like an idiot stands in the ring instead of showing some urgency with time almost up. At one minute left Rick rolls Flair back in again. Flair begs off. Diving Steinerline! 30 seconds. Scott mounted punches. Flair Flip 2! He goes up top and gets off but Scott nails him in the gut coming down. After some fumbling Scott hits a belly to belly suplex long after time already elapsed, but they don't ring the bell until after a 2 count to make it look like a near fall. Good match overall, and a mostly successful first dip into major singles action for Scott. There was the usual issue with obvious stalling for the time limit, but it was nice that Flair tried something a bit different and didn't work his usual Sting/Luger/big man formula. ***1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Well, it's certainly an improvement over the last couple of Clashes, which to be fair is an extremely low bar. The main event is definitely worth checking out as a historical curiosity. Wrestle War would turn out to be one of the few highlights of the Jim Herd era, and led into a mostly successful Tokyo Dome show. The bottom would quickly come out again however as the year turned to summer.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C-