Clash of the Champions IX: The New York Knock Out

Clash of the Champions IX: The New York Knock Out
Troy, NY
November 15, 1989

MATCH #1: World Tag Team Championship: The Freebirds v. The Road Warriors

The circumstances surrounding this one are actually kind of funny. As it turns out, the Freebirds aren't really the champions. How does that work? Well, turns out they had jobbed the belts a few days earlier but because the match hadn't aired yet, thus this is their final match as champions.

This one is kept nice and short, the way it should be. The Warriors start potatoing the bejesus outta the Freebirds and Garvin and Hayes want absolutely nothing to do with that and start doing their fun stalling, hip swivelling and attempting to, as JR says on commentary, "cut corners" so that they can get in control of the match. Of course they eventually iscolate Animal and all kinds of aggitate Hawk who blows his stack and comes a running on in, propelling the referee across the ring and causing the DQ.

This is worked ok, but is pretty run of the mill stuff. It does it's trick and they kept it short and sweet enough. This isn't really much of anything to get wow'd about though. *1/2

Match #2: DOOM (w/ Woman) v. Eddie Gilbert and Tommy Rich

This is another one of those extended squashes, but man, Eddie Gilbert deserves a medal for this one. He performed pretty darn great. DOOM is still in their masks at this point and lookin' good. Gilbert, like mosquitos, stick and move like crazy men but eventually get caught by the big mangs and get pulvarized. It's a bad night for whitey. *1/4

Match #3: The Midnight Express v. the Dynamic Dudes

This is a decent enough match with a super great finish, as is per the usual with the MXE.

Basically Cornette is in a neutral corner for this one as he's got man crushes on both teams. You can tell the Midnights are the ones with the bigger problem here as he's been their manager for forever and then some. The Dudes just do what the Dudes do.

Despite having an exceptionally lame gimmick, Johnny Ace and Shane Douglas make an ok team and repeatedly frustrate the Midnights and consistently present a compelling case that maybe Cornette should get behind the neon pink-o's and ditch the playboys. Everytime the Midnights get something going, the Dudes cut them off and frustrate them. There isn't ever a part where the Midnights can string together a consistent enough string of offense.

Because of this, you see the gradual heel turn here which of course comes to a head with a classic Midnight Express screw job finish. Bobby Eaton goes to use a chain on Shane Douglas but Cornette jumps in the ring and takes the chain away from him and chucks it into the crowd, admonishing Bobby. He encourages Shane to give Eaton the business and as soon as Shane does, he eats a racket shot to the back of the head.

Cornette choose the DUDES over his homies? Right. Fun match with a sensational finish. **1/4

Match #4: Steve Williams v. The Super Destroyer

This is Jack Victory's 9 millionth jobber in a mask who so happends to be a heel he's played on a Clash show. Yikes this is thankfully quick and painless. Williams is too goody goody gum drops here again but thankfull is a goody goody gum drop with a big power slam. This isn't anything memorable. *

Match #5: The Steiner Brothers v. The Skyscrapers

The Steiners are the great up and coming wrestling team, the Skyscrapers are the new big boys on the block. Granted this had some cool heat through the match, it's actually pretty bad. Vicious and Spivey give away WAY too much freaking offense in the early going. Steiner popping off hurricanrannas on guys who're 6'11 is pretty shitty too. Thankfully, DOOM interfere and bring Woman's bodyguard along for the fun and start whoopin' that ass. Spivey and Vicious like playing that game too, so they join. Unfortunately for the bad guys, the Road Warriors come charging to the Steiner's aid, getting a mega-pop in the process, and we've got a wild super brawl in the middle of the ring. Bad match with a fun run in infested ending. I'll give it a star for the brawl at the end. *

PS- This was the match where Sid Vicious punctured his lung which led to the introduction of a certain clown named Marc Calloway. Wonder what ever happened to him?


Match #6: United States Championship: Lex Luger v. Brian Pillman

This is a really great and likely forgotten match. Luger's really in more of a feud with Sting at this point, but Pillman's chasing him at the same time. Luger's been billed as the next big thing and thus far, with the exception of Ric Flair, has mowed down everyone tossed in front of him. Pillman, oddly enough, has been on a hot streak of HIS own and has been dominant in his own regard. After screwing Pillman out of the win at Halloween Havoc, Luger is forced to give Brian a rematch for the belt on this show.

This is a great Luger-formula match. Luger tries to wrestle, Pillman outwrestles him. Luger does the over power em thing, and Pillman tops him again. Luger starts to think his way around things and look for Pillman to make mistakes and capitalize on them, but Pillman recovers too quickly for Luger to get anything going.

A great and late Latino who liked cheating once said: If you can't win, cheat until you win. If that doesn't work, cheat harder. Luger gets into the whole douche-ish looking for any excuse to cheat he can. Eventually, he grabs a chair and absolutely potatoes (I like that word) Pillman in the grill with it. The official is dazed and Luger gets the win. After the match Luger needlessly beats down Pillman and the Stinger comes in to make the save. Fun enough I suppose.

Another one of those formula matches where Luger's great ability to look really frustrated is amplified by Pillman's ability to play an even pluckier vanilla babyface. I'm a little torn here between which defense I like better, the Rich defense or this one, because it's a really close call. ***

Match #7: I Quit Match: Ric Flair v. Terry Funk

Well, there's been a lot said about this one and with good reason. It's really fuckin' good.

I really like this match, but to be honest, I ALWAYS wonder how it'll hold up every time I watch it and EVERY time I watch it I wonder why i'm such an idiot sometimes. I think watching Funk-Steamboat enhanced this for whatever reason as it's just that match ratcheted up two or three clicks.

Steamboat didn't have a reason to hate Funk, but as you all know, Flair sure did. This just makes for a super intense brawl that doesn't have a lot of goofy table spots, sick chair shots, etc. This is fundamentally, what any feud ending gimmick match should be and that's just overflowing with hate, energy and most importantly, closes the book. This does all of that.

Flair's chops have extra mustard on them and he's all over Funk at all times. There's never a 'down' spot in this... like literally. There's never a point where one guy is laying around rolling around on his back. The selling is superb as a lot of it is delayed selling and that's tough to pull off well without making it look like overkill (see anything Pro Wrestling NOAH related). Funk looks like he's fighting for generations of Funks and Flair's fighting for his manhood.

I miss the day when matches like an I Quit match or a Last Man Standing sorta match didn't involve six million table spots, etc. I like a high spot as much as anyone, but in the end, there's always someone whose going to be willing to do a zanier stunt than you do. There's no replacement for keeping things simple but making sure things are intense. Table spots pop the crowd because they just saw the act.. the stunt... The pain... This match is good because the spots create DRAMA. It generates sympathy for the WRESTLER.

This is considered one of the first real hardcore-type brawls in the US up to this point, but really, by today's standards, it's hardly hardcore. And that's a-ok. Hardcore ain't about tables, chairs and thumbtacs, it should be about hate and intensity. This is what those matches are out and is really everything a final blow off match should be. ****1/4

Overall: Take the final two matches off this cards and it's scary-bad, but the last two matches make things ok enough. Flair-Funk is required viewing for anyone who considers themselves a wrestling fan, but Pillman-Luger is really worth going out of your way to see too. The Dudes-Midnights is fun for what it is too, but really, the rest of this is a lot of filler crap. Some of it's hit filler crap and some is miss filler crap, but it's still all relatively meaningless in the end. C

The one thing that's fun to watch is how much Turner's production team brought to the table when he bought the organization, both good and bad. We get some super terrible gimmicks, but a much needed production overhaul. If you look at the NWA shows towards the end of 1988 and look at WWF at the same point, the difference in polish is huge. The WWF looks flat out better and is a way better overall production than the NWA. Turner though, sees the need to clean up the look and puts a lot of effort into lighting and presentation. The jump from late 88-early 90 is pretty dramatic and cool to watch unfold.


Clash of Champions On Going Top 10 (Through Clash IX)
1. Ricky Steamboat v. Ric Flair, World Hvt Title, Clash VI *****
2. Ric Flair v. Terry Funk, I Quit Match, Clash IX ****1/4
3. Ricky Steamboat v. Terry Funk, Clash VII ***3/4
4. The Midnight Express v. Ric Flair & Barry Windham, Clash IV ***3/4
5. Sting v. Ric Flair, World Hvt Title, Clash I ***1/2
6. Ric Flair & Sting v. Great Muta & Dick Slater, Clash VIII ***1/2
7. Midnight Express v.The Fantastics, US Tag Titles, Clash I ***1/4
8. Sting v. Barry Windham, US Title, Clash III ***1/4
9. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard v. Barry Windham & Lex Luger, World Tag Titles, Clash I ***
10. Lex Luger v. Tommy Rich, US Championship, Clash VIII ***

Dropping Out
10. The Fantastics v. Ron Simmons & Eddie Gilbert, US Tag Titles, Clash IV **3/4

Clash of Champions VII: Guts N Glory

Clash of Champions VII
Fort Bragg, NC
June 14, 1989

Match #1: Tag Team Title Tournament Semi-Final: The Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) v. The Dynamic Dudes

Say what you will about the brutally cheesy Dynamic Dudes gimmick, this is a pretty good tag match. The Freebirds are ones uncorking the big angle though, unveiling Garvin as the newest member of the faction. The Dudes are the cinderella team here, as Ross puts them over as the more inexperienced and undefeated team that's managed to earn a few surprise wins here and there to get themselves here. Still, they're huge underdogs.

The match starts out with some good cheesey heel stalling from the 'Birds before we get into the meat and potatoes of it all. The Birds looked rather surprised right off the bat and surprisingly, despite the organization being as great as it was, Hayes and Garvin are obviously inexperienced in terms of tagging with EACH OTHER, so this works ok.

Once the Freebirds start playing the numbers game, it's just a matter of time and sure enough, they cheat and cheat and cheat to maintain their advantage. Eventually Shane Douglas gets the big hot tag but the fun doesn't last long, as Terry Gordy super-involves himself, distracting the ref long enough for Hayes to absolutely murder Douglas with a nasty implant DDT to win the match.

Overall, this is surprisingly strong but is just agreat showcase of how freaking good the Freebirds are at making a team look good. Not that the Dudes get dragged to something decent, as they definately carry their weight here, but everything they do is magnified times seven thanks to Hayes, Garvin and Gordy. **1/4

Match #2: World Tag Title Tournament Semi Final: The Midnight Express v. The Samoan SWAT Team

This match is basically the Clash VI match with a HELL of a lot more intensity. Both teams go through their stuff for extended periods of time before we get a hot tag. The hot tag sequence comes off well until all hell breaks loose and Cornette's being a douche, Paul E. Dangerously is being a douch, hell, it's a douche-fest.

The end though, is dirty, dirty, but sets up the final well. The Road Warriors hate the SWAT's and Dangerously too, and feel the need to inerject themselves in the match and do quite gloriously. Thanks to the leg up, the Midnights win.

This isn't anything super spectacular, but it's amazing how much better this comes across with a hot crowd behind it. The hate works better, Cornette is a better douche, same with Dangerously.. just everything works better. **1/4

Match #3: Ranger Ross v. The Terrorist

Ranger Ross is basically here to pop the army boys and go home. That's basically, err, literally all that happends. Ross comes out, waves a flag and kicks a terrorist. *******3/4.2's

No really, probably 1/4* for practically nothing happening except a kick-y.

Match #4: The Ding Dongs v. Cougar Jay & George South

Good lord fuck. I never imagined i've EVER review a Ding Dongs match, but hell is a chilly place today.

It's AMAZING how bad the crowd shits on these guys. Like amazing. They're also amazingly annoying with the dinging bell in the corner and not being particularly in sync at all. In fact, had Cougar and South not sold their backsides off, this could have been a nuclear-disaster type bad match. The Dongs blow a ton of spots in a relatively short period of time and spend the rest of the time shedding little bells all over the ring. Funniest part of the mat is Jay leaning down and going 'what the fuck' when picking up the bells on the mat. Honestly, for that moment alone, this isn't a total dud, but it's DAMN close. 1/4*

Match #5: Steve Williams v. Terry Gordy

Ah man, I love these two in a match. Any match. Even in a spaghetti eating contest.

This starts off super fast and super intense with these two basically beating the fuck out of each other with lots of big man super fun. Both struggle to move the other man around the ring at will and both aren't easily able to eat the other guy's offense. Big man matches are best when it's like two bricks clacking off each other. The beginning of this is all that.

Then it plateaus big time unfortunately. Not that anything's bad, but the crowd chills five minutes into this and Gordy and Williams struggle to get them back into it, despite even fighting into the crowd, which of course causes the countout, but still, you'd have figured that'd have done them SOME good.

Overall this is fun, but doesn't go long enough for it to go to the next level and they lose the crowd pretty quickly. The good sequences are awesomely awesome though. **1/4

Match #6: The Varsity Club (Mike Rotundo & Kevin Sullivan) v. The Steiner Brothers

This is a really good short match. Basically Scott's come to the NWA to give his big brother some backup against the cocky Varsity douches. Thus, the Steiner Brothers are born.

Anyways, this match is awesome with the Steiners coming out to Hot Stuff. They surprise the Varsity Club clowns early in the match, especially Scott, whose looking pretty plucky. Eventually though, Scott gets caught and basically gets wrecked by Sullivan. This is the best part of the match and Scott plays an excellent babyface in peril here as the Varsity Club subject him to all sorts of dastardly treatment, including a nasty table bump and a particularly stiff shot with some wooden ring steps.

The hot tag sequence is done well and the Varsities cutting it off and getting the cheating win, over Scott no less, leaves the door open for more stuff down the line as well as something for Scott and Rick to continue to strive for. Very well structured short match. **1/2

Match #7: NWA World Television Championship: Sting v. Bill Irwin

This is another short, utterly pointless match on this card. By now, the crowd's starting to get a little sick of getting good initial stuff and losing it as we get into the match. This only goes about three minutes and is a cute Stinger squash, who brings some ok stuff here, but really, it's still pretty bleh. *

Match #8: NWA World Tag Team Championship Tournament Finals: The Freebirds v. The Midnight Express

How can you NOT get up for THIS? I'm betting there'll be a lot of hip swiveling and cock thrusting here in a non homosexual way.

Unfortuantely though, this doesn't really deliver at all. They start with a fantastic premise. Paul E Dangerously jumps Jim Cornette with a loaded rackett and leaves him mildly retarded on the floor. The Dynamic Dudes help Cornette to the back, leaving the Midnight Express in deep trouble, as they're up against the numbers of the Freebirds. Basically, they're done before the match starts.

They do some sorts cardboard tag stuff, of course executed well, but nothing mindblowing before heading into the "Bobby Eaton is a punching bag" part of the match. Eaton's one of the best sellers the business ever had and is outstanding here and the crowd gradually gets behind him. They play to the numbers thing with Lane CONSTANTLY protecting him on the outside as often as possible.

Then, they just don't do much with it, or at least from the babyfaces perspective. Basically Lane gets the hot tag and we're working the SAME EXACT formula we've used in TWO previous tag matches in the night where it gets cut off, Gordy interjects himself and then that's it. Now, playing to the numbers in that respect works ok but I feel empty here for whatever reason.

I REALLY think this could and would have benefitted greatly from Cornette coming back from the locker room or the Dudes or some other babyface team coming to the corner of the Midnights while they're in peril. They never really worked beyond that. Lane's hot tag gets a big pop, but his offense looks awkward in that role and of course nothing really ever gets going with it, as we do the dirty finish we've done twice already tonight, which is frustrating in a way.

This goes about ten minutes and hell, it didn't need anymore time to be great, it just lacked a real swerve or hot spot to get it really going. Normally I wouldn't give a crap if it wasn't two of my favorite tag teams of all time meeting for the first time. Regardless of that, I can't really FAULT them for it in the match, but dammmit I feel like they could've gone the extra mile with it, even with the time alotted to them. **1/2

Match #9: Norman the Lunatic v. Mike Justice

Ah, Bastion Booger pre-Bastion Booger days. It still blows. 45 seconds of Herd crap. DUD.

Match #10: Ricky Steamboat v. Terry Funk

Finally, a match i've REALLY been waiting to see and FINALLY, a match that doesn't really dissapoint.

Steamboat really brings the good here and Funk is Funk. The story here is that Funk's an unstoppable psycho and Steamboat ain't gonna be intimidated by him. The strikes from Steamboat really have some, uh, steam behind them and he seems totally content to work the wild style Funk wants.

The thing I love about this is that it's a wild brawl without one really crazy spot, fighting into the crowd, or baging of heads off of tables. Just punches and chops gallore and a whole lot of 'tude. NO ONE worked that match as well as Funk and everything he does makes him look like a killer and totally out of his mind.

Oddly enough though, as Funk tends to do, his performance fades to the background and his craziness just amplifies the sympathy Steamboat is able to garner by eating so many of Funk's big moves like the pile driver, the pile driver on the floor, etc. He comes off as a pseudo badass even, as Funk bounces around and sells his tail off for Steamboat all while maintaining and enhancing his maniac persona.

This is a real treat on a lot of levels and it's worked tightly, which works well. The fourteen minutes is the perfect ammount of time because they minimize the chances of the crowd ever fading out of it. This is a really great match i'd say is probably in my top three, but I still can't decide if I like the Midnight-Flair/Windham tag better. It's tough call. ***3/4

Overall: This is probably the weakest Clash show i've seen yet, although it is entertaining and a good show all around. I guess the biggest thing about this show is that many of the match ups prove to be really dissapointing. Gordy-Williams never takes off, the Midnights-Freebirds never get going, etc. It's like everyone sat in the back and were like, 'ok, we've got a limited amount of time for our matches, let's work five great minutes and then just work in a finish'. The main event is really worth going out of your way to see though, while the crap is awesomely crappy in a way that only the Jim Herd run WCW could be. Overall, a dissapointing show, but not entirely bad on any level. C+

Clash of Champions On Going Top 10 (Through Clash VII)
1. Ricky Steamboat v. Ric Flair, World Hvt Title, Clash VI *****
2. Ricky Steamboat v. Terry Funk, Clash VII ***3/4,
3. The Midnight Express v. Ric Flair & Barry Windham, Clash IV ***3/4
4. Sting v. Ric Flair, World Hvt Title, Clash I ***1/2
5. Midnight Express v.The Fantastics, US Tag Titles, Clash I ***1/4
6. Sting v. Barry Windham, US Title, Clash III ***1/4
7. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard v. Barry Windham & Lex Luger, World Tag Titles, Clash I ***
8. The Fantastics v. Ron Simmons & Eddie Gilbert, US Tag Titles, Clash IV **3/4
9. Road Warriors v. The Varsity Club, World Tag Titles, Clash VI **3/4
10.The Fantastics v. The Sheepherders **1/2, Clash II

Dropping Out
Mike Rotundo v. Brad Armstrong, TV Title, Clash III **1/2