Post by TheShowJordanRichards on Oct 21, 2016 10:22:35 GMT -5
NWA Clash of the Champions I in Greensboro, NC (Greensboro Coliseum), on 3/27/1988 (Dave Meltzer's star ratings are included)
◾NWA World Television Championship ~ "College Rules" match (three five-minute rounds; only a one-count was needed for a victory)~ Mike Rotunda w/"Gamesmaster" Kevin Sullivan (c) defeated "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin w/Precious in a total match time of 6:10 = **1/2
This was a feud that sort of began between Garvin and Rotunda and became one where Garvin and Sullivan began to feud over Precious. It was an odd program to say the least. At one point, Sullivan smashed a cinder block over Garvin's ankle, breaking it. This eventually led to Garvin and Sullivan touring the "Prince of Darkness" (blindfold) match throughout the territory (awful, as you might imagine). This "College Rules" match was proposed by Rotundo, who graduated from Syracuse University and was in the midst of his "Varsity Club" gimmick at the time. The match itself was passable, if not average. It did what it needed to do, although I never thought these two clicked well in the ring.
◾NWA United States Tag Team Championship ~ "The Midnight Express" ("Beautiful" Bobby Eaton & "Sweet" Stan Lane) w/Jim Cornette (c) defeated "The Fantastics" (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers) by disqualification in 10:15 = ****1/4
Phenomenal match in a phenomenal feud. You know how good these four were in the ring due to the fact that a ten-minute match got 4.25 stars from Meltzer. The chemistry between the four was on point every time out. This was another building block in the magnificent payoff on World Wide Wrestling a couple of months later, where Fulton and Rogers finally captured the gold. In this match, fans were elated when they thought "The Fantastics" had won the titles, only to be disappointed with a "Dusty Finish," as they were disqualified when Rogers threw the referee (Randy "Pee Wee" Anderson) over the top rope before the pinfall occurred, giving "MX" the win via DQ. For my money, this was the best feud Bobby and Stan ever had outside of the legendary wars with "The Rock-n-Roll Express."
◾Six-Man Tag Team Barbed Wire match ~ "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes & "The Road Warriors" (Animal & Hawk) w/"Precious" Paul Ellering defeated "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff & "The Powers Of Pain" (The Barbarian & The Warlord) w/"Number One" Paul Jones = *
This match was a cluster from the word go. I get why it happened. This stemmed from the infamous "Warriors-Powers of Pain" feud in which Animal had his orbital rim "broken" after being thrown face-first into a set of weights during their weight-lifting contest that took place in Greensboro several weeks prior. He actually wore a hockey mask during this match. "PoP" and Koloff were the reigning NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Champions (having defeated Rhodes and "LoD" in February '88), thought the titles were not on the line in this contest. Honestly, this match would have been better served at a house show or on another program. But, Dusty Rhodes was the booker for JCP, so he was going to get on the show, no matter what! There was a considerable delay on the live broadcast while the barbed wire was set into place. The barbed wire was sort of woven around the ring ropes, rather than having been stretched around the cornerposts in straight lines (which was commonplace in other territories for this type of match). Essentially, it was a six-man "Texas Tornado" match. There was no way to make this a traditional tag match, so it was a free-for-all, with everyone bumping into each other. It was ugly. One star is the best it was going to get, and that was mainly due to the starpower in the match.
◾NWA World Tag Team Championship ~ "Twin Towers" (Barry Windham & "The Total Package" Lex Luger) defeated "The Horsemen" ("Enforcer" Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard) w/James J. Dillon to capture the championship in 9:35 = ***1/2
This was a short-lived feud as the thrown-together tandem of Windham and Luger, known collectively as the "Twin Towers" for a short while, took on reigning NWA World Tag Team Champions and members of "The Four Horsemen," Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. AA and Tully are the greatest tag team ever, in my opinion. They could wrestle two broomsticks and have a 4-star match. The fact that they were in the ring with Luger only proves that point. He was not much more skilled than a broom stick. However, Windham was a thoroughbred and could go with anyone. The crowd erupted at the finish of this one. Manager James J. Dillon attempted interference when he held a steel chair up in the corner. Anderson went to whip Luger into it, but was reversed, sending him crashing headfirst into the cold steel. Luger made the pin and fans went ballistic at the three-count. It was a really good match, all things considered. In actuality, this was a precursor to Windham's heel turn, which would occur three weeks later. In the title rematch, he attacked Luger and left him for dead, as Anderson pinned him and "The Horsemen" would regain the championship and Barry would walk out with Dillon holding up four fingers.
◾NWA World Heavyweight Championship ~ "Nature Boy" Ric Flair w/James J. Dillon (c) and Sting battled to a (TV) time limit draw in 45:00 = ****3/4
This was the match that made Sting a star. He has said it and everyone in the business agrees. Ric Flair made Sting look like a million bucks in his first high-profile match on a grand stage. The extracurricular pieces of the match were a little overbooked by Rhodes, in my opinion. There were five separate judges for the match (JCP officials Gary Juster and Sandy Scott, Penthouse Pet Patty Mullen, "Wonder Years" star Jason Hervey, and Ken Osmond from "Leave it to Beaver" ("Eddie Haskell"). James J. Dillon was suspended above the ring in a small cage as well. All of that notwithstanding, the match was an epic masterpiece, especially for Sting. Flair bumped like a madman for him. He pulled out all the stops to make Steve Borden look like Superman. Sting credits Flair and that match to this day as being a career-defining moment. Meltzer gave it 4.75 stars, which is a travesty. He later said he deducted the quarter-star due to the match lasting forty-five minutes instead of the customary sixty for World Title bouts. Thanks, Dusty! If it weren't for that stupid barbed wire match taking so long to set up, they could have gone sixty in the main event! Either way, the world considers it a 5-star match and so do I. There was drama, excitement, ebbs and flows, and non-stop action throughout. Sting had Flair caught in his signature "Scorpion Deathlock" for nearly a minute to end the match. Flair did everything he could to withstand the pain and pressure and not submit, including biting his own fingers in an attempt to block out some of the excruciating agony his back was going through. It was a well thought out finish that left Flair laying and Sting standing tall, without taking the strap off Flair. Sting was not ready to carry the company yet, but he proved he could go toe-to-toe with the best in the world. The gimmick finish saw Juster give the match to Sting, Mullen give the match to Flair, and Scott declare the match a draw. For some reason, Hervey and Osmond's results were not noted. Either way, Sting was a made man after this match.
All in all, this event was a massive success. It was Jim Crockett's only triumph over Vince McMahon. You see, "Starrcade '87" on Thanksgiving night was set to be JCP's first ever true pay-per-view offering. Vince McMahon decided to hold the first "Survivor Series" on the same night, then strong-armed cable and satellite companies into carrying his event only or he would pull it from their PPV line-up. Of course, the vast majority of the PPV industry dropped "Starrcade," with only a handful of cable/satellite companies running it. "Starrcade" was a financial failure and that signaled the beginning of the end for Crockett. Even though the PPV companies told McMahon never to run a PPV event simultaneous with Crockett again, Vince found another way to do it in January '88. Vince ran the first "Royal Rumble" for free on the USA network against Crockett's "Bunkhouse Stampede" PPV. Crockett decided to turn the tables when he ran "Clash of the Champions" on TBS against WrestleMania IV. This "Clash" scored a monster 5.6 rating and "WrestleMania IV," which featured Randy "Macho Man" Savage winning the WWF World Championship tournament, got one of its weakest PPV buyrates ever. This event was critical success for Jim Crockett, although it only delayed the inevitable and he would sell controlling interest to Ted Turner (for $9 million) a few months later.
◾NWA World Television Championship ~ "College Rules" match (three five-minute rounds; only a one-count was needed for a victory)~ Mike Rotunda w/"Gamesmaster" Kevin Sullivan (c) defeated "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin w/Precious in a total match time of 6:10 = **1/2
This was a feud that sort of began between Garvin and Rotunda and became one where Garvin and Sullivan began to feud over Precious. It was an odd program to say the least. At one point, Sullivan smashed a cinder block over Garvin's ankle, breaking it. This eventually led to Garvin and Sullivan touring the "Prince of Darkness" (blindfold) match throughout the territory (awful, as you might imagine). This "College Rules" match was proposed by Rotundo, who graduated from Syracuse University and was in the midst of his "Varsity Club" gimmick at the time. The match itself was passable, if not average. It did what it needed to do, although I never thought these two clicked well in the ring.
◾NWA United States Tag Team Championship ~ "The Midnight Express" ("Beautiful" Bobby Eaton & "Sweet" Stan Lane) w/Jim Cornette (c) defeated "The Fantastics" (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers) by disqualification in 10:15 = ****1/4
Phenomenal match in a phenomenal feud. You know how good these four were in the ring due to the fact that a ten-minute match got 4.25 stars from Meltzer. The chemistry between the four was on point every time out. This was another building block in the magnificent payoff on World Wide Wrestling a couple of months later, where Fulton and Rogers finally captured the gold. In this match, fans were elated when they thought "The Fantastics" had won the titles, only to be disappointed with a "Dusty Finish," as they were disqualified when Rogers threw the referee (Randy "Pee Wee" Anderson) over the top rope before the pinfall occurred, giving "MX" the win via DQ. For my money, this was the best feud Bobby and Stan ever had outside of the legendary wars with "The Rock-n-Roll Express."
◾Six-Man Tag Team Barbed Wire match ~ "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes & "The Road Warriors" (Animal & Hawk) w/"Precious" Paul Ellering defeated "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff & "The Powers Of Pain" (The Barbarian & The Warlord) w/"Number One" Paul Jones = *
This match was a cluster from the word go. I get why it happened. This stemmed from the infamous "Warriors-Powers of Pain" feud in which Animal had his orbital rim "broken" after being thrown face-first into a set of weights during their weight-lifting contest that took place in Greensboro several weeks prior. He actually wore a hockey mask during this match. "PoP" and Koloff were the reigning NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Champions (having defeated Rhodes and "LoD" in February '88), thought the titles were not on the line in this contest. Honestly, this match would have been better served at a house show or on another program. But, Dusty Rhodes was the booker for JCP, so he was going to get on the show, no matter what! There was a considerable delay on the live broadcast while the barbed wire was set into place. The barbed wire was sort of woven around the ring ropes, rather than having been stretched around the cornerposts in straight lines (which was commonplace in other territories for this type of match). Essentially, it was a six-man "Texas Tornado" match. There was no way to make this a traditional tag match, so it was a free-for-all, with everyone bumping into each other. It was ugly. One star is the best it was going to get, and that was mainly due to the starpower in the match.
◾NWA World Tag Team Championship ~ "Twin Towers" (Barry Windham & "The Total Package" Lex Luger) defeated "The Horsemen" ("Enforcer" Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard) w/James J. Dillon to capture the championship in 9:35 = ***1/2
This was a short-lived feud as the thrown-together tandem of Windham and Luger, known collectively as the "Twin Towers" for a short while, took on reigning NWA World Tag Team Champions and members of "The Four Horsemen," Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. AA and Tully are the greatest tag team ever, in my opinion. They could wrestle two broomsticks and have a 4-star match. The fact that they were in the ring with Luger only proves that point. He was not much more skilled than a broom stick. However, Windham was a thoroughbred and could go with anyone. The crowd erupted at the finish of this one. Manager James J. Dillon attempted interference when he held a steel chair up in the corner. Anderson went to whip Luger into it, but was reversed, sending him crashing headfirst into the cold steel. Luger made the pin and fans went ballistic at the three-count. It was a really good match, all things considered. In actuality, this was a precursor to Windham's heel turn, which would occur three weeks later. In the title rematch, he attacked Luger and left him for dead, as Anderson pinned him and "The Horsemen" would regain the championship and Barry would walk out with Dillon holding up four fingers.
◾NWA World Heavyweight Championship ~ "Nature Boy" Ric Flair w/James J. Dillon (c) and Sting battled to a (TV) time limit draw in 45:00 = ****3/4
This was the match that made Sting a star. He has said it and everyone in the business agrees. Ric Flair made Sting look like a million bucks in his first high-profile match on a grand stage. The extracurricular pieces of the match were a little overbooked by Rhodes, in my opinion. There were five separate judges for the match (JCP officials Gary Juster and Sandy Scott, Penthouse Pet Patty Mullen, "Wonder Years" star Jason Hervey, and Ken Osmond from "Leave it to Beaver" ("Eddie Haskell"). James J. Dillon was suspended above the ring in a small cage as well. All of that notwithstanding, the match was an epic masterpiece, especially for Sting. Flair bumped like a madman for him. He pulled out all the stops to make Steve Borden look like Superman. Sting credits Flair and that match to this day as being a career-defining moment. Meltzer gave it 4.75 stars, which is a travesty. He later said he deducted the quarter-star due to the match lasting forty-five minutes instead of the customary sixty for World Title bouts. Thanks, Dusty! If it weren't for that stupid barbed wire match taking so long to set up, they could have gone sixty in the main event! Either way, the world considers it a 5-star match and so do I. There was drama, excitement, ebbs and flows, and non-stop action throughout. Sting had Flair caught in his signature "Scorpion Deathlock" for nearly a minute to end the match. Flair did everything he could to withstand the pain and pressure and not submit, including biting his own fingers in an attempt to block out some of the excruciating agony his back was going through. It was a well thought out finish that left Flair laying and Sting standing tall, without taking the strap off Flair. Sting was not ready to carry the company yet, but he proved he could go toe-to-toe with the best in the world. The gimmick finish saw Juster give the match to Sting, Mullen give the match to Flair, and Scott declare the match a draw. For some reason, Hervey and Osmond's results were not noted. Either way, Sting was a made man after this match.
All in all, this event was a massive success. It was Jim Crockett's only triumph over Vince McMahon. You see, "Starrcade '87" on Thanksgiving night was set to be JCP's first ever true pay-per-view offering. Vince McMahon decided to hold the first "Survivor Series" on the same night, then strong-armed cable and satellite companies into carrying his event only or he would pull it from their PPV line-up. Of course, the vast majority of the PPV industry dropped "Starrcade," with only a handful of cable/satellite companies running it. "Starrcade" was a financial failure and that signaled the beginning of the end for Crockett. Even though the PPV companies told McMahon never to run a PPV event simultaneous with Crockett again, Vince found another way to do it in January '88. Vince ran the first "Royal Rumble" for free on the USA network against Crockett's "Bunkhouse Stampede" PPV. Crockett decided to turn the tables when he ran "Clash of the Champions" on TBS against WrestleMania IV. This "Clash" scored a monster 5.6 rating and "WrestleMania IV," which featured Randy "Macho Man" Savage winning the WWF World Championship tournament, got one of its weakest PPV buyrates ever. This event was critical success for Jim Crockett, although it only delayed the inevitable and he would sell controlling interest to Ted Turner (for $9 million) a few months later.